Tag Archives: bite marks

A Savinelli de Luxe Milano 431KS Reborn Twice – PART 1: reshaping a broken stem.

Blog by Steve Laug

You will see by the end of this blog why I say the pipe was reborn twice. Suffice it to say in this opening paragraph that a near pipe repair tragedy occurred when I had all but finished the first rebirth.When I picked up the pipe it was one of two that I found while on a pipe hunt in Bellingham, Washington with a friend. The other pipe was a Custom Bilt that I have already blogged about. The grain on this pipe attracted my attention and made me want to see what I could do with it. When I brought the pipe to the work table most of the issues were with the stem. The bowl had originally had a natural finish so it was dirty but not stained. There was no finish on it or varnish that needed to be removed so the clean up would be quite simple. The rim was caked with a thick tar and oil buildup that was shiny and hard. The bowl had a cake of the same material and had the sweet smell of an aromatic – lots of vanilla. The main issue with the stem was twofold. The top surface of the stem from the button up the stem about 1 inch there were many dents and bite marks. The underside of the stem had a large piece of vulcanite missing from the stem and the airway had been clamped down by biting. It also was oxidized and calcified. The fit against the shank was fairly decent with a slight gap on the left side, top and bottom at the shank.

The next two close up photos of the stem show the damage to the top and bottom side of the surface next to the button. The underside is the most damaged with a huge chunk missing. The second photo shows the top of the stem with the many tooth marks and bumps that created a thin surface on the top of the stem.

I took the next photo to show the rim. All edges are intact but the surface is coated with a thick, hard coat of oils and tar. The tenon had an inner tube insert in it. I have had several of these Savinellis but never had one with the tube. It would turn out to come in handy later. I weighed my options with the stem for several days before I decided to cut off the damaged portion of the stem. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum and took the stem back to solid material.

The next four photos show the look of the pipe with the shorter stem. Personally I like the more compact look of the stem as it seems to fit proportionally well with the pipe.

I decided to work on the button on the pipe before turning to the bowl. You can see from the photo below that the underside of the area where I would cut the button was quite thin. I did not want to cut back the stem any further so I built up that area with black super glue. I applied the glue and set the stem aside to cure. It would take several coats before the button was built up.

While the glue cured and hardened I worked on the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and working up to a head that would cut back the cake to bare briar.

With the bowl reamed back I could tackle the top of the bowl. Even using the reamer did not chip or crack the buildup on the top of the rim. It was like rock. I scrubbed the rim with oil soap and a tooth brush. I picked at it with a dental pick and was not able to break through the rock. I decided to lightly top the bowl to remove the buildup. The idea was not to remove any briar but merely to take of the rock hard tars on the rim. I used my topping board and 220 grit sandpaper and worked the rim carefully to ensure that I only took the rim down to briar. Once I broke through the rock I took several more turns on the sandpaper to finish up the rim.

I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the soiling and oils in the briar. It did not take much to bring the briar back to its natural state.

I decided to rub down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil to protect the briar and give it some life. I applied the oil with a paper towel and rubbed it in and rubbed it off. It also served to highlight the grain and make it stand out.

I cleaned out the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. For the amount of build up of tars and oils on the rim the shank was quite clean. I decided to use a cotton ball and alcohol soak on the bowl to remove the sweet smells of the aromatics that had been smoked in the bowl. It had a thick vanilla smell that needed to go in my opinion. I set the stuffed bowl in an ice cube tray and used an ear syringe to fill it with alcohol. I let the bowl soak overnight to leach out the oils in the wood.

By the time I had finished setting up the bowl I called it a night and went to bed. The next morning I worked on cutting and shaping the new button on the stem. I used my usual knife blade file to make the initial cuts and shave back the slope of the stem.

When I had the slope and look right I sanded the newly shaped button and stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I then repaired some of the low spots with clear super glue. I recut the button with the needle files and sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the edges.

With more sanding and shaping I had it where I wanted it and then sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to clean up the scratches in the vulcanite.

With the button shaped in I worked on the slot in the airway. I used my usual three needle files – a flat oval, an oval and a round file to work on the slot. I always start with the flat oval and work to the round file.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inside of the slot. At this point I worked some more on the surface of the button. It still was too rough to my liking. I sanded and filed it to reshape it. The next two photos show it before I worked it over with files and papers.

Once I had the button shaped to my satisfaction I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads, rubbed down with Obsidian Oil and then set it aside to dry. I was pleased with the overall effect of the new button and could not wait to finish polishing it. This is where I made the first mistake in this repair.

Instead of leaving it on the work table and calling it a night I brought the pipe upstairs with me from the basement work area. I wanted to show the girls in my family the result of my work. I know that they are not that interested but they attempt to humour the old man. I stopped at the fridge to get some water and that is when the disaster struck. I could not believe it. The pipe simply slid through my fingers and hit the hardwood floor in our kitchen. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened with no issues. But this time there was going to be a major issue and it came with a vengeance. When it hit the floor, really only 2 feet as I was bending over, I heard the awful click and the stem and bowl separated. The tenon snapped at the shank. All that work done and now what to do? I was sick with the thought of starting over. I carried the broken pipe down the stairs to the work table and left it in the dark and went to bed – just a tad frustrated. If you are interested in seeing what I did to try and redeem this disaster make sure to read Part Two of the work on this pipe.

Restoring one of my favourite pipe shapes – an Edwards Author 722

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Blog by Steve Laug

This Edwards Author 722 came to me in the gift box I received. The shape has always been one of my favourites. This one is stamped Edwards in script on the left side of the shank. On the right side it is stamped Algerian Briar over 722. I am guessing that the 722 is the shape number. I have looked but cannot find any information on the Edwards shapes. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with a large number 5. On the underside of the stem was stamped the word FRANCE.

From what I could find Edwards left all of their pipes with a natural finish, as was the case with this one. It was dirty and had darkened from smoking but it did not have a finish or stain on the briar. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned and the shank was clean. The briar had fills on the topside and the underside of the shank and on the left side of the bowl. They were white putty and some of them were shrunken and missing bits of the putty. The rim was dirty and slightly damaged.

The stem was very tight in the shank and I carefully twisted it slowly from the shank. There was a yellow waxy substance on the tenon like old and dried beeswax. The mortise area was clean briar and was unstained by tars or oils. The fit of the stem to the shank was perfect. It was a smooth transition with no ridges or gaps.

I wanted to know more about the brand. I have had several Edwards pipes over the years and still have them. I checked out my two usual sources Pipedia and PipePhil’s site. Reading on Pipedia I found the following information that I quote. http://pipedia.org/wiki/Edward%27s

“Edward’s pipes were originally produced in St. Claude, France when France actually was a world-class pipe maker with longstanding business & political connections to Colonial Algeria that allowed them to obtain the finest briar. During the tumultuous 1960’s, Edward’s created a business model to offer the finest briar available in both Classic and Freehand shapes – all at a fair price. They bought the company & equipment and cornered the market on the finest, choice Algerian Briar just before the supply vanished in political turmoil of Algeria’s independence. Edward’s packed up both machinery and briar-treasure to America, safely caching the essentials to create a new pipe-making dynasty. This was a coup, for the 70’s and 80’s were grim years for pipe smokers as quality briar all but disappeared.”

“Edward’s Design Philosophy is hard to pin down, think of their style as the “American Charatan” with unique & clever twists all their own. Today, they fashion pipes in several locations across the USA. All of Edward’s pipes are Algerian Briar – a fact very few pipe companies can claim, and all are oil-cured utilizing natural finishes – no strange concoctions are used to interfere in your tastebud’s dance with the briar. Algerian, Calabrian, Sardinian, Corsican – take your pick, but Algerian Briar is generally considered the finest smoking briar ever used. When combined with oil-curing, Algerian takes on a magical quality that even Alfred Dunhill recognized as far back as 1918 as the choice for both his Bruyere and Shell.”

There was also a non-working link to http://www.otcpipes.com that reference a collection of vintage Edward’s pipes and scans of Edward’s catalogs. I wish I could get that link to work. (If anyone has information on this please let me know as I would love to view this site and its information.)

I found a bit of additional information on the PipePhil site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-e1.html). I quote it here as well.

“Edward’s Pipes, headquartered in Tampa, FL, got its start importing pipes from France and continued to do so from 1958 to 1963 when it started producing pipes in Florida from prime Algerian Briar, a practice they continue to this day (2010).”

I also found an interesting exchange on the Pipes Magazine site regarding Edwards that was posted three years ago. http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/edwards-pipe I have copied one portion of that interchange by a poster named cypresspipe. He adds a personal dimension to the information having worked for Edwards in the 70’s. I quote him in full below.

“I worked at an Edward’s Pipe Shop in Jacksonville in the 70’s and I can provide more information about Edward’s pipes. Edward’s still exists with a few remaining shops around the country. Like the rest of the industry, they are primarily cigar stores and gift shops now. Edward’s pipes were and are their house brand and they were made in their factory in Tampa. I visited the Tampa store several years ago and they told me that Edward’s pipes are now made in Spain. They also told me that they were running out of Algerian Briar and, as a result, many of their pipes were no longer carrying that stamping.”

“If you are familiar with Randy Wiley pipes, he started out making pipes in the Edward’s factory in Tampa back in the 1970’s.”

“The models Skylark, Skipper, Royce, Benton, etc. are fairly recent name categories, probably starting in the 90’s. They didn’t use these names when I worked there, except the “Skipper” was a pipe with a particular style of etching on it. At the time they made some very nice high-grade freehands that sold in the $100-150 price range (several hundred dollars today).”

“While the individual Edward’s shops are franchisee-owned the parent company is FGT Enterprises of Tampa, Florida. The company makes pipes under the “Benton” brand for other shops around the country, and makes private label pipes for some shops as well. They are a leading wholesaler of smoking accessories. You can go to their website and download their catalog (www.fgtenterprises.com–you might want to check out the “About Us” page on the site. FGT at one time did not stress their connection to the Edward’s shops, as they wanted to downplay the fact that they were associated with stores that were competitors to some of their other customers.”

“I have about 20-30 Edward’s pipes from the time I worked there and they have always been good smokers. The only problem with them is that pipes in the 70’s tended to be smaller (about group 3) than they are today.”

“As far as I know, there are still Edward’s shops in Los Altos (CA), Englewood (CO), Tampa, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Dallas. In case you are interested Edward’s was named after Edward Rowley, a Tampa TV personality of the 50’s and 60’s who founded the company in partnership with Frank Smith (“Smitty”). Rowley was essentially the “face” of the shops while Smitty was the tobacco and pipes guy. Smitty bought out Rowley’s interest in the company sometime in the late 70’s or early 80’s.”

Armed with that information I went to work cleaning up the pipe. I started by topping the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board to smooth out the rim and even out the smooth surface. I followed that by sanding it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge.

I picked out the ugly pink/white fills with a dental pick. I scrubbed the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the dust from the fills. When the bowl was clean I refilled the sand pits with briar dust from the rim and clear super glue. I have learned that these turn almost black but that is far easier to work with than the pink/white putty.

I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I followed that by sanding with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads.

I have a dark alcohol bath – I filter out the sludge monthly but leave the alcohol dark. I have found that a soak in it not only removes the finish but also gives a patina to the briar. It tends to make blending the repairs and the topped rim much easier. While the bowl soaked in the bath I turned to the stem. I sanded the tooth marks and tooth chatter on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove it and smooth out the surface.

By the time I finished the initial sanding of the stem it was time to remove the bowl from the bath. I dried off the bowl and took the photos below to show the colour that the bath added to the briar.

I set it aside and finished working on the stem. I sanded it with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave it several coats of carnauba wax and lightly buffed it with a flannel buff. I am always careful when buffing the stem without the bowl (in fact I rarely do it) because it is very easy to round the shoulders on the stem making a tight fit against the shank impossible.

I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli and White Diamond to remove the surface scratches around the patches. I buffed the rim carefully with the same product. I took the next two close-up photos of the rim to show the repaired and polished rim.

The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The rich patina is only from the alcohol bath. I used a stain pen to touch up the light spots around the patches on the right side of the bowl and shank. I gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise a shine. All that is left to do is to load the bowl and fire it up. Something I hope to do before the end of the week.

Restoring an old Wally Frank Ltd. Huntleigh Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

I gravitated toward restoring this old Pot shaped pipe next because it looked rough with a worn finish and what I thought was an oversized band on the shank. When I took it out of the box and looked at it more closely my first impression was that someone had banded it post manufacture. It covered the stamping on both sides of the shank so that on the left the HUNTLEIGH stamping only read HUNTLEI and the Wally Frank Ltd. on the right only read ally Frank Ltd. On the flat bottom of the shank it is stamped Imported Briar in a Germanic Script. You can imagine my surprise when I found that what had appeared as a band was not. It was metal mortise and cap fitting that held a threaded screw mount stem and tenon. The tenon had a stinger apparatus that extended into the shank. Now the mystery – I don’t know if this was how the pipe was shipped from Wally Frank or if it was a later addition to a favourite pipe. The saddle stem appears to be original and fits against the cap perfectly. It is the same diameter as the shank of the pipe.

The finish on this old boy was very tired. The finish on the top half of the bowl was worn off while on the lower half it had an old varnish coat that was peeling away. The outer edge of the rim was not beat up or worn at all. The inner edge was slightly damaged and had nicks in that made the bowl out of round. The top of the rim was damaged with small pin prick holes that look like they came from knocking out the pipe on a rough surface. The end cap/mortise insert was polished aluminum and it was oxidized. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter on both sides from the button up the stem about an inch. The button itself had nicks in it and there was a small tooth mark on the top and bottom of the stem next to the button in virtually the same spot. The stinger was quite clean. The bowl had been reamed out recently.

I decided to start with cleaning up the finish on the bowl. The peeling varnish and overall worn and tired appearance bugged me so I started there. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove as much of the finish as possible.

I mentioned above the damage to the rim surface so I have included the first photo below to show a close up view of the damage. I topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board and removed the damaged surface. I sanded until the rim was smooth and the pinpricks were gone.

With the rim clean and the finish partially removed I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath and let it soak awhile. I figured the alcohol would loosen what remained of the finish and also lend a patina to the sanded rim and the bowl. When I removed it from the bath after an hour of soaking it looked pretty good – as long as it remained wet!

Once I dried it off I could still see the line around the bowl where the finish had been and where it had worn off. This was a stubborn bowl. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I also repaired some of the fills that were pitted with super glue and briar dust. The next two photos show the bowl after I had sanded the finish off. It was finally getting to the point where I could start again with the finish. There were many imperfections and fills in the bowl and shank. This one was going to be a challenge. I knew I could not remove all of them but I wanted to give the old pipe a bit of dignity and take away the tired looking finish.

While I reflected on what to do with the bowl I worked on the stem. I sanded the tooth chatter and tooth marks with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of the tooth marks and chatter. The stem would clean up nicely.

I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. The stem surface was free of marks now but still needed to be polished to bring back the shine to the vulcanite.

I cleaned out the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The dirty portion of the shank was the grime in the threads of the mortise. The airway ahead of the metal mortise was clean. It took a bit of scrubbing but I was able to clean out the grime. The internals of the shank were clean. I ran pipe cleaners through the stem and stinger. I was surprised that I could easily run a pipe cleaner from the slot to the bowl without major issues with the stinger. Once it was clean I threaded the stem on the shank to see what the pipe looked like so far. It had come a long way and had the potential to turn out to be a good looking pipe. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth and then worked it over with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-3200 grit pads this time and then dry sanded with 3600-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I also used the later grit pads to polish the aluminum of the mortise insert. After sanding the stem with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and let it soak in before taking it to the buffer.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and a blue plastic polish bar that I picked up. It really gives the stem a deep shine.

I stained the bowl with several coats of a cherry aniline stain and flamed it. In the photos below the pipe is shown after a light buffing with a soft cloth. (These photos were taken before I polished the stem.)

I sanded the bowl with the 6000-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads and then buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. I have also included a photo of the reworked rim and the tenon and aluminum mortise just to show the finished pipe in all of its parts. It should make someone a good smoking pipe if the original condition was any sign of the smoke-ability of this pipe.

Restoring an Old Yello Bole 2033 Apple

10 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

This is the other pipe I got with the Doc Watson. Both came from the same owner estate sale – an old gentleman that had them has since passed on to glory. The two pipes have been together longer than I have been alive. It’s an early Yello Bole in that it has the Imported Bruyere stamp but no “Honey Cured Briar” along with the 2033 four digit shape stamp. I’m guessing 1930 – 1933 roughly.

The pipe as it was when I got it.

I started out by removing most of the cake, then sanding inner bowl with some rough grit paper leaving a thin coat of cake. Next I cleaned out inner shank and stem with 91% alcohol. On these large airway YBs I like to twist 2-3 shank brushes together for better scrubbing. I also scrubbed outer stem with 91% alcohol and a Scotch Brite pad to remove grease, oil, wax etc. This is easiest way I’ve found to remove rim cake. I mix up some Oxy Clean and warm water. Dip a piece of Scotch Brite pad in it leaving it not quite dripping wet. Lay it flat on surface and move rim along lightly. It takes it off pretty fast and will not harm under finish if you are trying to save it. It will leave it discolored but a little mineral oil will bring the color back to original.

Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. After getting a good look at the bowl after old dirt and such was removed the finish looks toasted. Sadly it cannot be saved.

So I went ahead and sanded bowl with 400-2000 grit sandpaper. Never touching the stampings with any grit sandpaper less than 1200 grit. I will leave a defect or mark near a stamping just so it won’t be harmed. Luckily the stain I had left over from the Doc Watson was a good match so I was able to use it. I applied three coats letting in dry in between. After third coat of stain I like to apply mineral oil to help the grain stand out and condition the briar. The mineral oil lets you see any defects in the finish and what the bowl will look like when waxed. I set it to the side and let it air dry. I had to do some filing on the stem and button to remove some tooth marks. If you noticed in before pic the stem did not fit tight to the shank, so I filed down tenon a little at a time until it fit tight.

I wet sanded the stem again using 400-2000 grit sandpaper. I put the bowl and stem back together and it is ready for some buffing and wax. On bowls I’ve stained I put about 3 coats of base wax then go back over with white Tripoli then go back to wax .

On the stems I use brown Tripoli, white Tripoli and then wax. Here are pics of the finished pipe.

It was missing a stinger so I dug out an extra I had and cleaned it up.

It should make a fine daily smoker and better than most any pipe I could buy today for under a 100 dollars. I have less than 12 dollars in it.

Giving a Large No Name Imported Briar Cutty a New Look

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the box of pipes that I was gifted was a large cutty shaped pipe that looked to be in pretty decent shape. It appeared that it did not need a lot of work to bring it back. The finish looked pretty good with birdseye on the sides and cross grain off to one side of the front and back of the stem. The grain followed a similar pattern on the shank. The bottom of the bowl had some mixed grain patterns. The stem was not oxidized. The bowl had a minimal cake in it. The only issue appeared to be the outer edge of the rim. On the back side it was very beat up and the briar was broken and nicked. All of this is what I assumed when I took it out of the box and took a closer look at the pipe.

The pipe is large, at least for me. It is seven inches long from button to the front of the bowl. The bowl is 2 ¼ inches tall. The chamber is ¾ inch in diameter. Proportionally it is a well made pipe. There are no fills in the briar. There are no sandpits. But there were issues! The bottom of the bowl had been flattened but the flattened portion was not centered on the bowl and shank bottom. It was off to one side. This gave the bowl and pipe a distinct cant to the right. The damage to the rim was deep on the back outer edge. The stem had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. All of these would need to be addressed in a restoration of this pipe.

I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer. I seem to default to this T handled reamer as first choice in most of the refurbishing that I do. It is an easy tool to use. The T handle is small enough in diameter at the junction of the cutting head that it can be pushed deep into the bowl which was necessary with this pipe. Since I was planning on topping the bowl to repair the rim damage I decided to remove the finish from the pipe so that matching stain would not be necessary. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The finish dulled but it did not completely come off the bowl. It has the feel of a Urethane coat. Once I topped the bowl I would deal with that issue.

I set up my usual topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I would need to remove quite a bit of briar from the surface of the rim to take care of the damage. I also found that the cant on the bowl and shank left me with a canted bowl top as well. I sanded the bottom of the shank until the pipe sat upright and then had to work on the rim to make it horizontal without a slant. As usual I collected the briar dust for later use on fills and repairs.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge of the rim and lightly bevel/chamfer it and remove the charring.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium grit sanding sponge to break through the urethane finish. I wiped it down further with acetone until it was gone. I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath to soak while I worked on the stem. I have found that the stain darkened alcohol bath works really well to give some patina to briar once the finish has been opened up. For such a large piece of briar the bowl was surprisingly light weight and it floated on the surface of the bath. I sanded the bite marks on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until they were removed. I followed that by sanding the stem surface with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratches in the stem.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside. I took the bowl out of the bath. The finish had completely disappeared with the soak and the entire bowl, including the rim had picked up a nice patina. The grain just popped in the clean surface of the bowl. It would be easy to stain and polish.

The colour of the topped rim matched the bowl colour perfectly – in fact it matched so well that I was unsure that I would even stain it. The next photos show the bowl as it stood after the soaking and drying. I love the way that the grain stood out.

I ran a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs soaked in isopropyl alcohol through the shank to clean it out. I was surprised with how dirty the shank was. The buildup of tars and oils was heavier than I expected. I set up a retort and boiled alcohol through the pipe until the alcohol came out clean.

After the retort I used a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the alcohol and remaining tars from the shank. With the bowl and shank clean and ready to go it was time to finish the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry.

I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil to highlight the grain. I did not stain the bowl as I really liked the natural look of the briar. I gave it a buff with White Diamond and did the same with the stem. I then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and a buff with a soft flannel pad. I took the photo below to give some idea of the size of this pipe. It is sitting next to the Kaywoodie Prime Grain Lovat that I finished restoring recently. The finished pipe is shown below. The first four photos show the overall look of the pipe. The last three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem. The pipe is like new. The new finish is far better than the one that came with the pipe. The look of the grain and the way the bath and olive oil highlights it is quite stunning. This pipe will make someone a great addition to their rack and should be a great smoking pipe. It is too large of a pipe for me at this phase of my pipe smoking. I am much more drawn to smaller bowls and lighter pipes, but that being said, the grain on this one makes it very tempting.

A Restorfurb of a Doc Watson SR Billiard

12 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

I have read about some of Troy’s refurbs on Pipe Smokers Unlimited and on the Dr. Grabow Collector’s Forum so when I saw his work on this old Doc Watson and the unique stamping it had I wrote and asked him if he would be willing to post it on rebornpipes. It is a pleasure to have some of Troy’s work here. He did an amazing job on this particular old timer with the distinct purpose of trying to keep the original finish as much as possible as he worked on it. Thanks Troy for taking the time to send me this blog. I am glad you were willing to post it here. Welcome to rebornpipes as one of the contributors. It is great to have you here. You have shared not only a great restorfurb but some tricks that I will have to use in the future. We would love to read about and look at more of your work. Thank you. – Steve

Hi everyone, my name is Troy Wilburn and I live in rural Virginia near Roanoke. I have been a dedicated pipe smoker for a little over a year now and refurbishing my own pipes for about 8 months. I mostly hang out on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. My collection is mostly American made pipes. My favorite shapes are pokers, billiards and Canadians. Pokers are my most favorite with nearly 40 of them last count. I have kind of a tight budget to work with on my pipe smoking, pipe purchasing and pipe refurbishing. That’s why I got into refurbishing my own pipes. I’m always trying to find a bargain on pre 50s pipes as they are my favorite. Linkmans and Yello Boles are my most common pre 50s pipes with three Marxman’s thrown in. I do have a hard to find Marxman poker that is one of the prides of my pipe collection and is 100 % original finish.

I have browsed Reborn pipes for information and refurbishing info for a while.

This is my latest one and the pipe that got me here. It’s a Doc Watson pipe shape #51. I know from researching this pipe that Steve had restored a couple so I thought he might know some info on the odd stamping’s mine has. He invited me here to post my work on this pipe.

I got this one and an early Yello Bole apple from a woman who got them at the same estate sale. They both came from the same owner. The Doc Watson’s were made by KBB and though I have seen a few, mine has odd stamping of a P in a shield and mine has the name SR applied. The others I’ve seen are stamped just plain Doc Watson and with the KKB in a cloverleaf. I know this is a KBB as it has the same shape number as KBB, YB and KW charts. The stem has the same logo as the KBBs. KBB stamped Watson’s are all marked Italian Bruyere not Algerian like this one is. I’m guessing this pipe is dated between 1936-1940 as it has the Bruyere stamp but lacks the four digit code.

Pipe as I got it…

After a reaming and a good cleaning I noticed that it had some discoloration spots from heat and the finish was all but gone on these spots. Also there were lots of scratches on the surface and some were deeper. So instead of stripping the whole thing I decided to try and blend in the spots with the original finish, to keep it as original as possible.

So after sanding the bowl down with some 600 grit sandpaper very lightly, being careful of the stampings and the stem with 1000 grit, I applied a matching dye that I mixed up to the spots. The dye pretty much only stuck to the bare finish parts and the excess rubbed off after I wiped it with a rag. After three coats I applied some mineral oil. I had to file out some tooth marks on the stem and button and then wet sanded the stem.

Below is a picture of the bowl and stem back together and ready for some base wax. After waxing the pipe late last night I saw some file marks still visible and the spots were not quite as well blended in as I would have liked. It was more visible in person that it is in the pic shown here. So I decided to back up and punt. After some sleep, morning caffeine and some Vitamin N from some Haunted Bookshop I was ready to go at it again. I sanded the whole pipe and stem with mineral oil and 1000, 1400 and 2000 grit sandpaper. Then I applied a thin coat of red sharpie as toner and buffed off the excess with a loose pad. It left just a red tint and helped blend the dye with the original finish. I lightly waxed the bowl to seal it in. The pipe is about 70-75 percent original finish with some slight blending and tone work. It still has some minor dings around the stampings but I didn’t want to damage them or buff them out any more than I could help. I guess you would call it a Restorfurb.

After several more coats and buffing…

Sadly the stinger is missing on this one. The Doc Watson pipes have a pretty near stinger. Here is a pic of one that I got off the web. I’ll try to find one for it but it may be difficult as these are not that common of a pipe and they were only made for a short time.

Restoring a Horn Stem Terminus Apple – An Early Version of a Reverse Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

I was gifted a beautiful rusticated Terminus apple from Anthony Cook. At least it has the potential to be a beautiful pipe to my eye. I have kept an eye out one of these old system pipes for a long time. They are like an early reverse calabash design. From my reading and observation it is both similar and different from the Keyser Hygienic pipes that I have written about before on the blog. It is similar in that it has an aluminum condensing contraption in the mortise of the shank with a centre tube that extends about ¼ inch beyond the end of the shank and rests in a larger tube in the military mount stem. This is the similarity – tubes, condensing contraption and the military mount stem. The dissimilarity is that at the end of the mortise where the flat base of the condensing unit sits there are two airway entries toward the top on either side of the centre tube. In the bowl there are also two airways at the bottom of the bowl. I found an online photo of the apparatus in the mortise and also how the stem and shank fit together. The Terminus I have is older than the one in the photo but the design is the same. Terminus was a St. Claude, Francepipe maker. This is one of the early models, dating from the beginning of the 20thCentury.The patent was for an inner tube in the shank with two draw holes either side and a smaller inner tube in the stem, thus keeping “gunk” to a minimum.A straight apple with cow horn saddle bit.5.25 inches (13.5cms) long. Bowl height 1.75 inches (4.5cms). Looking up the name on Pipephil Logo and Stampings website I found the following information. On the screen capture from the site above you will note the phrase patented anti gunk system by Jean Masson. I clicked on that and was taken to the following information. There are several differences that I can see between this diagram (pictured below) and the pipe I have in hand. The first difference is that the back end of the condensing chamber is flat and does not have an extension or well on the bottom side of the chamber. The entire chamber extends the length of the mortise up to the two airways. The second difference is that the condensing chamber actually continues in the stem and there is a larger draw tube that the smaller tube in the mortise rests in. The third difference is that the stem is military mount and fits into the mortise around the smaller tube in the mortise. The tube seems to extend as far up the airway in the stem as I can see with a flash light.Otherwise the diagram gives an approximate idea of how the system fits together. Anthony sent me several pictures of the Terminus Pipe he was sending to give me a feel for what was coming. Overall it looked to be very workable. There was nothing in the pictures that gave me pause in terms of what it would take to clean it up. It appeared that the finish was basically gone – or it may have been a natural finish it was hard to tell. The horn stem looked interesting. It looked to be quite large and the taper on it was unique to the horn stems that I have worked on and kept in my collection. The tars on the rim did not seem to hide damage to the inner or outer edge of the bowl. The twin draught holes in the bottom of the bowl seemed to be hidden in the cake on the sides of the bowl. The condensation chamber in the mortise had a thick build-up of tars and oils that would be a challenge to get out.

When the package arrived I quickly unwrapped it and took out the pipe. I really like the look and feel of it. It was comfortable in the hand and showed a lot of potential under the worn finish and dirt. It is stamped on a smooth rectangle on the left side of the shank with Serie No. 8349 in an arch over Terminus over Pipe. Under that it is stamped Brevete S.G.D.G. in a reverse arch. On the right side of the shank is a matching rectangle that is stamped 3036 over GP.The first four photos below show the pipe as it appeared to me fresh out of the box. The finish was slightly worn but underneath the tight rusticated pattern (almost a blast) was some beautiful ring grain that shone through the rustication. The bowl appeared to be unstained natural briar and would clean up very nicely. The stem was horn and had some tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides and also a deep tooth mark on both. The colour of the horn varied from a cream colour to a dark brown and seemed to move in waves that ran the length of the stem. When polished this stem would be beautiful.

The next two photos are close-ups of the top and bottom of the stem and show the tooth chatter and the deep bit mark on both sides.

I decided to address the chatter and bite marks on the stem first. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the tooth chatter and the wear around the button. I also wanted the surface of the stem smooth before I repaired the bite marks. I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the surface then wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used a drop of clear super glue to fill the holes on the top and bottom. And set it aside for ½ hour for the glue to cure.

When the glue had cured I sanded the two patches with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. The two photos below show the patches after sanding and before I worked over the stem with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to further blend in the repairs and smooth out the nicks in the surface of the horn.

I cleaned out the shank, condensing chamber in the shank and stem and the airway in the stem and two airways in the end of the shank using alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I did not use the retort on this one as I am not clear on how the boiling alcohol would affect the horn stem. It took a lot of soaking and scrubbing before the aluminum chamber in the mortise and the chamber in the stem were clean and shiny once more I reamed the pipe back to bare wood and the used a dental pick to clean out the debris from the twin airways in the bottom of the bowl. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush and then rinsed it off with running water. I dried it off then wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to further clean the dirt and wax from the bowl surface. I scrubbed the aluminum shank band with silver polish and then lightly sanded it with the 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad.

I worked on the tars and oils on the rim with saliva on a cotton pad and then used acetone on a cotton pad and was able to remove all of the build up. The grain really stood out on the rim and was a nice contrast to the rusticated pattern of the bowl. With the mortise and airways cleaned out I decided to use the cotton ball and alcohol treatment on the bowl to remove the heavy aromatic tobacco smell that still hung onto the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton balls and used and ear syringe to fill it with isopropyl alcohol. I let it sit all day while I was at work. When I returned in the evening the oils had wicked out of the briar into the cotton. Once I removed the cotton and the bowl dried out the smell was gone and the bowl was fresh. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the horn down with Obsidian Oil in between the sanding and while the oil was drying continued to sand with the pads. I find that the oil gives the micromesh the kind of bite on the horn stem that really raises the shine and removes the scratches and marks left behind from age.

After polishing with the micromesh I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I decided to rub down the bowl with some olive oil on a paper towel. I rubbed over the surface of the bowl so that oil went down into the grooves and soaked in. Once the oil had penetrated the briar I wiped it off with a soft cotton cloth and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. This morning I gently buffed the pipe and stem a final time and gave it a light coat of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buff to give it a shine and make the horn material glow. To me there is nothing more beautiful on these old pipes that the warm luminescence of polished horn. In this case the variations in colours from cream to dark brown and everything in between gave the stem an almost three dimensional look. The oil enlivened the old briar without muting the ring grain that shone through the rustication. To me this old pipe just glows with deep inner warmth that will make it a pleasure to smoke. I am looking forward to the interesting smoke that the twin airway in the bowl and the condensing chamber in the pipe and stem will provide. The draught on the pipe is quite open so it should smoke well. My guess is that it will deliver a cool smoke. The horn stem provides a unique feel in the teeth and mouth that nothing quite rivals. The finished pipe is shown below.

The final photos give a close up view of the parts of the pipe beginning with the cleaned and polished rim and walking you through the condensation chamber and a photo of how the two tubes intersect when the stem is in place.

Bringing a Herbert Love of Edinburgh The Queensferry Billiard 422 back to life

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Blog by Steve Laug

I received a gift box of pipes from a friend on Smokers Forums this week and it contained 23 pipes that presented a variety of challenges for repairs. Looking them over, I found that there were quite a few pipes with stampings that I was unfamiliar with. There were brands and sub-brands that were new to me. I chose to work on one of those I knew nothing about first. I had never heard of the Herbert Love Shop of Edinburgh. The stamping intrigued me. On the left side of the shank it was stamped Herbert Love of Edinburgh and on the right side it was stamped The Queensferry. On the underside of the shank it was stamped horizontally along the shank with the shape number 422. On the left side of the saddle portion of the stem it had a faint HL stamping.

I did my normal search on Pipedia and Pipephil’s site to see if I could find the stampings or the cursive HL on the saddle of the stem. There was nothing to be found. I posted a request for information on Pipe Smoker’s Unlimited Forums specifically asking several of the members there that are from Edinburgh to see if they had any information. I received a response from a collector of English pipes that included the photo and article on another Herbert Love Tobacco Shop in Glasgow. I also received a response from one of the Edinburgh folks, Chris with this information: … it closed down many years ago. It was on Queensferry St. (the road to the old ferry across the Forth before the rail and road bridges were constructed) at the West End, handily situated next to the iconic ‘Old Man’s Pub’, “Mather’s Bar”. At that time there were three pipe shops in Edinburgh (HL’s, one on George 1V Bridge and another in Leith); now only the latter exists… All I remember about the shop itself, apart from it being very old-fashioned, was that they used some interesting old scales for weighing out the loose tobaccos.

Here is the link to the article that I received about the closure of the Glasgow shop. http://www.heraldscotland.com/last-smokers-paradise-closes-1.828258 Sadly I could find no photos or information online regarding the now close Edinburgh shop to include in this post. If anyone reading has information be sure to let us know in the comments section below. Thank you.

When I brought the pipe to the worktable it is in pretty rough shape. The finish was damaged and spotty. The rim had a burn spot on the inner edge and the top at the front of the bowl. This damage also made a dip in the surface of the top of the rim. The bowl was filled with a crumbling cake that was uneven. The stem was oxidized and looked greenish yellow in colour. There were bite marks and tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides of the stem next to the button. The internals of the stem and shank were not too dirty and would clean up quite easily. There was no sweet smell of aromatics or the smoky smell of Latakia in the bowl so ghosting would not be an issue.

I took close-up photos of the shank on both sides to show the stamping. The left side bore the Herbert Love of Edinburgh and the right side the Queensferry. From my queries I had learned that the Queensferry was actually the street the shop was located on. Herbert Love Tobacconists seemed to be quite widespread in Scotland – I found them in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Aylesbury, and Edinburgh. There were also hints of it being found in other locations as well.

I scraped some of the oxidation away on the left side of the saddle stem and found that underneath was some faint stamping that read HL in script. I checked the right side and top and bottom for further marks and found none.

I took a close up photo of the rim and bowl to show the damage from the burn on the surface. You can see that it is deeper than the surface of the rim and extends from the inner edge to the outer edge of the rim. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the cutting head that fit the bowl properly. I took the cake back to bare wood on all sides of the bowl so that I could address the rim damage on an even and hard surface. The next photo shows the cleaned up bowl and further shows the damage to the inner edge and top of the rim. The first step in addressing this kind of rim damage is to top the bowl to even out the dip from the burn. I wanted the top surface to be smooth so that I could then chamfer the inner edge of the rim with a slight bevel to deal with the burned front edge. I used a flat board and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to top the bowl. I sanded until the top of the rim sat flat against the board. As usual I collected the briar dust in my box for repurposing on fills and repairs. The next photo shows the top of the bowl after sanding and smoothing out the rim. It really shows the extent of the damage on the rim. I decided to keep topping the bowl until I had evened out the rim and removed as much of the top damage as possible without dramatically changing the profile of the bowl. The next photo shows the bowl rim after I had finished topping it with the 220 grit sandpaper. It still would be sanded with 400 grit wet dry and fine grit sanding sponges before the surface was finished. While I worked on the bowl the stem was soaking in a bath of OxyClean to soften the oxidation. With the top of the rim smoothed out I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I chamfered or beveled the inner edge to minimize the damage and to give the entire inner edge a similar look. The next photo shows the beveled inner rim and how that process served to minimize the effect of the burn mark. With the repair to the rim finished I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and facilitate matching the restain on the rim with the colour of the rest of the bowl. It also removed the damage and spotty finish that covered the bowl. It appeared to have a thin varnish coat over the stain that came off quite easily with the acetone.

I used the Guardsman stain touch up pens to stain the rim. I chose the lightest coloured stain to get a proper match for the first coat of stain. When it dried I would then stain the entire pipe with a medium walnut aniline stain. The stain pen was the first step in matching the colours of the bowl. I cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank. It was an easy clean up so I decided not to use a retort on this one. It took very few swabs and pipe cleaners before the mortise and airway was clean. With the bowl at this point in the process I set it aside and took the stem out of the OxyClean bath. It had been soaking for several hours while I had worked on the bowl. The bath had done its magic and when I rubbed it down to dry it much of the surface oxidation came off and the deeper oxidation would easily be removed with a light sanding. I put the dried stem back on the bowl so that I could finish staining the bowl. I used a medium walnut aniline stain, applied it and flamed it. I lightly buffed the bowl with White Diamond to even out the stain coat. I took some photos to show the progress. Note in the first photo the HL cursive stamp that is on the surface of the stem.

I decided to use the Bic lighter trick that I have written about in other articles on the blog and painted the stem with the flame of the lighter to burn off more of the oxidation. It also helped to raise the tooth dents on the top and bottom of the stem next to the button. I put the plastic washer on the tenon between the stem and shank so that I could sand the stem and not damage the shoulders of either shank or stem. I lightly sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the remaining oxidation and tooth chatter.

I sanded the stem with my usual micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down one last time with the oil.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. The stamping on the stem was very faint to begin with and when I removed the oxidation it is still present but is not deep enough to repaint.

The last three photos give a closer picture of the top of the pipe – showing the rim edges and surface more closely. In comparison with where I started with this pipe the new look is dramatically better. The burn mark is much less visible and the grain on the rim looks sharp. The outer and inner edge are clean and crisp.

Refreshing an Older Heritage Antique #13 Dublin Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The Heritage brand was on I had no familiarity with until Andrew wrote up this blog for us https://rebornpipes.com/2014/12/23/refurbishing-a-heritage-heirloom/ He gave background, history, line information and the classic brochure from the company. I want to give a brief summary of what he found in the next two short paragraphs to set the stage for the one that I found once he highlighted the brand for me.

Heritage pipes were Kaywoodie’s answer to Dunhill. According to one of their brochures, Heritage pipes were made from “briar burls seasoned and cured for up to 8 months,” with only “one briar bowl in over 300 selected to bear the Heritage name.” “Heritage stems are custom fitted with the finest hand finished Para Rubber stems. Mouthpieces are wafer thin and concave.”

The Heritage line began in the early 1960’s, with the trademark issued in 1964. The line was started at the request of Stephen Ogdon, (who worked for Kaywoodie in 1962). Mr. Ogdon had previous experience working for Dunhill, either running the New York store or working for Dunhill North America. Mr. Ogden was made President of Heritage Pipes, Inc., Kaywoodie Tobacco Co.,Inc. and Kaywoodie Products Inc. as well as a Vice President of S.M. Frank & Co. Heritage Pipes were produced from 1964 until 1970 (Source Kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org).

I found one online on Ebay that was stamped Heritage Antique 13. I scanned the brochure that Andrew provided and found this regarding the Antique Line: The Heritage Antique line is characterized by “Rustic Grain stands out in rugged relief.” “This pipe is so bold-looking, yet so light and smooth-smoking. A special sandblasting process exposes a greater surface area on the bowl, giving a cooler, more satisfying smoke. Centuries-old Heritage Antique is strikingly masculine in appearance.”The number 13 is the shape number for the Dublin shape. It can be seen in the first coloumn second pipe down on the left side of the brochure page below. The seller of the pipe I picked up on EBay included some basic information on the pipe. The said the stamping was Heritage Antique with a 13 on the bottom of the shank. The stem has an inlaid double white diamond on the left side. It is out of a Kansas City estate. It measures:
5-1/2 inches Long
1-3/4 Inches High Bowl
1-1/4 inches Bowl Width
3/4 inch of a Bowl Bore
3 inch long stem

The next eight photos were included with the EBay advert and give a pretty good idea of the type of blast on the briar as well as a good picture of the state of the stem. The pictures show the colour of the pipe in a more red hue than it actually appeared when it arrived. In reality the stain is a brown tone similar to that of the Dunhill Shell Briar.

When the pipe arrived in Canada I was very pleased when I opened the box. The briar was in good but dirty condition and it appeared that the finish was in great shape under the grime and tars. The blast was amazing and craggy – very much like that on my older Shell Briars. The rim had some buildup on it that was flaking off but the bowl was in round and there was no damage to the edges of the rim.

The stem was thin and quite clean. It was oxidized and had some waxy substance on the top side. There were two tooth marks – almost pin prick marks, on the underside of the stem visible in the first photo below. The second photo shows the waxy buildup on the surface of the stem and the oxidation.

The rim of the pipe, shown in the photo below had a thick buildup of tars that were flaking off the surface of the rim. I picked at it with a dental pick and could see that the sandblast surface was undamaged underneath. The bowl was in need of a reaming to smooth out the uneven cake on the sides and bottom of the bowl. The stem was frozen in the shank so a short time in the freezer and the stem was easily removed from the shank. The step down tenon was in great shape and showed no damage and the tenon itself was not tarry. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Reamer beginning with the first cutting head and finishing with the size 2 cutting head. I reamed it back to bare wood to restart the cake build up.

I picked the flaky buildup on the rim with a dental pick and the scrubbed it with a soft bristle brass tire brush to remove all the grit and take it back to the surface of the rim. I have used this method over years as the bristles remove the tars without damaging the sandblasted surface. Once I had the surface brushed clean with the wire brush I scrubbed the entire bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get the grime out of the crevices of the blast and remove the oils from the previous owners hands. Once I had scrubbed it I put my thumb in the bowl and rinsed it off with cool water and dried with a cotton cloth. I put the stem back in place and set up the retort. I filled the test tube half full of 99% isopropyl alcohol and heated the alcohol over a tea candle. The alcohol boiled through the pipe and cleaned out the tars and oils in the stem and shank. The alcohol also rinsed the inside of the bowl which was plugged with a cotton ball.

With the inside of the pipe cleaned and the exterior of the briar scrubbed it was time to address the oxidation and the marks on the stem. I put a plastic washer between the stem and shank so that I could sand the stem right up to the shank without worrying about rounding the shoulders of the stem. I sanded it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the waxy buildup on the stem (turns out it was a varnish) and also loosen the surface oxidation. I followed that by sanding with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratching and oxidation.

Once the stem was sanded, I wiped it down with a cotton pad and alcohol in preparation for repairing the two tooth marks. I filled these with black super glue and set aside the stem to let the glue cure. When the glue had dried I sanded the two spots with 220 grit sandpaper and the two sanding sponges to smooth out the patches and blend them into the vulcanite. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads and also at the end of the sanding process.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I rubbed two coats of Halcyon II Wax on the sandblast of the bowl and then gave the pipe and stem a light buff with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The next photos give a clear picture of the finished pipe.

I end with three close-up photos of the bowl to give a good idea of the quality of the sandblast on this piece of briar. It is a stunning pipe with a blast that rivals that found on the Dunhill Shells that are in my collection. I intend to fire up this old pipe and enjoy its trust for many years to come.

Restoring a Frozen Kirsten Companion K Straight Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The last pipe I picked up on my recent Alberta trip was a Kirsten style straight pipe. The metal shank is stamped on the left side Companion and on the underside it is stamped Made in U.S.A and then K. On the top of the shank the previous owner scratched in his initials FWE. The bowl was stuck on the shank. The finish on the bowl was worn and dirty. The rim of the bowl had a thick tarry buildup and had some deep dents in the surface. There was a thick cake build up on the inside of the bowl that was shaped like a cone – the bottom was very narrow and the top was wide open. Normally the bowl on Kirsten pipes are more U-shaped with the walls similarly open to the bottom of the bowl where the drilled screw goes through. The stem had a tooth mark on the top and the bottom side near the button. The stem was frozen in the metal shank and I could not twist it at all. The airflow adjustment end cap that normally twists to either open or dampen the airflow was also frozen in place. The metal barrel and end cap had scratches and marks on it. The end cap ridges were worn and looked like someone had used a pair of pliers on it to try to break it free. I was able to twist the bowl off the barrel by carefully turning it back and forth slightly to break it free. The tars in the barrel threads and on the drilled out screw in the bowl were really gummed up and dirty.I put the barrel in the freezer and left it there during dinner. After dinner I took it out and was able to twist the stem from the barrel. Once I removed the stem and the metal tube plunger it was extremely tarred and sticky. The second photo below shows the black tars of the interior of the barrel and plunger. The end cap was still frozen in the barrel. I filled the barrel with alcohol and set it in an ice-cube try to let it soak. I knew that the tars on the plunger were also what held the end cap in place binding the metal of the barrel and the cap to each other. Typically the end cap had a rubber grommet on it that held it in place with a friction fit. In this case it appeared that the rubber grommet was compressed against the metal on the inside of the barrel and bound it in place.I cleaned the plunger and sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the hard tarry build up on it. I wiped it down with alcohol and then sanded it until the plunger was shiny and clean. I cleaned out the inside of the stem and the plunger with both bristle and regular pipe cleaners. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and used all sizes of the cutting heads to ream back the carbon build up in the bowl. The bowl was badly dinged and hammered leaving some deep denting. I topped the rim with a topping board to clean up the damaged top edge. I wiped down the bowl with alcohol on cotton pads and then used a flat blade screwdriver to remove the screw from the bottom of the bowl and remove bottom cap on the bowl. I wiped down the inside of the cap and cleaned the screw with a brass bristle tire brush. I wiped it down with alcohol and then sanded the outside of the cap and screw with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to polish them. The rim had two rather large fills that needed to be hidden with stain. I used the stain pens to restain the rim and the bowl. I started with the lightest colour pen and finished with the darkest colour.I buffed the bowl with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I put the metal cap back in place and turned the screw into the bottom of the bowl. The end cap still did not come off after I had soaked it with alcohol. I used a Robertson head screw driver with a long shank and inserted it in the barrel. I hammered the end with a hammer and tried to drive it out of the barrel. It cam half way out but I could not budge it further. I boiled a cup of water and let the barrel and end cap sit in it to see if I could loosen the tars. I repeated this three times with the cooling of the water. I then inserted the screw driver and was able to drive out the cap. It was covered with a black tar build up and the inside of the barrel was also thickly coated. I cleaned out the inside of the end cap and the barrel with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. I rubbed down the rubber grommet on the stem and the end cap with Vaseline to soften them again and then inserted them in place in the barrel.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the tooth marks and the oxidation. I then sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I gave the stem a final buff with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown below. I rubbed the stem down with some Conservator’s Wax – a microcrystalline wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. I avoid using the buffer on metal as it turns the pads black and does not shine the metal. I put it back together and it is ready for its inaugural smoke. I have two other Kirstens that are great smokers and this one with be added to that number until the day I pass it on to someone along the way.