Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Restoring & Restemming the last the 8 Peterson Bowls – Republic Era System Standard 314

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I often purchase pipe bowl/stummels of brands that we like and want to restore. These have included a lot of different bowls. If you have followed us for long you know that some of these have included Peterson’s, Dunhill’s, and a wide range of Danish and English pipes. Awhile ago Jeff and I were sorting through the bowls in our collection and pulled out eight Peterson’s bowls that were dirty and stemless. A friend referred us to a contact named Silas Walls, of Walls Pipe Repair in Wallace, Idaho, USA as he seems to have a good supply of original Peterson’s stems. Our friend has had him fit stems for some of his Petes and was very happy with the work. We made contact with him and sent him eight bowls for restemming.

In the photo above I show the 8 restemmed pipes. I have marked the 7 I have worked on already with a red X). This eighth one that we cleaned up before mailing them out was a bowl that we received on 06/05/21 from a friend in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s [arched over] System [over] Standard. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) over the shape number 314. The ferrule is stamped K&P [over] Peterson’s. The before photos of this bowl were on a corrupted memory card and are gone. But needless to say the pipe was just as bad as the rest of this lot.

As with the others before this one I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson) and read through the article before starting on my work. I found an interesting note in the middle of the page. I quote the pertinent section below and have highlights some important information in red below.

From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

Since I found a new stem it was now it was time to work on this final bowl of the lot. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. It looked much better. I took pictures of the bowl without the new stem. It is a great looking piece of briar even with the gouges and marks on sides, top and heel of the bowl. The nickel ferrule has a few dents but otherwise looks very good. When the pipes came back to Jeff with their new stems they looked great. When the pipes arrived here I checked them out. Here is what I found. The first six pipes from the lot were flawless and quite beautiful. The last two – this 314 and a 313 I reworked previously, looked great at first glance but upon further examination it was clear that the stems were not Peterson’s style stems. The draught on the P-lip portion of the stem is on the top of the stem, but in the case of these two stems the airway came straight out the end of the stem like a Wellington pipe. I was not happy with them. I have already replaced the stem on the 313 and this 314 was the only one I still needed a stem for. Today I was gifted some Peterson’s P-lip stems and one was what I was looking for. It fit well but I would need to give it a bit more of a bend for a perfect look. With the new stem chosen, I turned to work on the damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner bevel of the rim and remove the damage on the rim top. Once I had finished I think that it looked much better. I filled in the deep gouges in the bowl on the right heel and the underside of the heel with CA glue and also briar dust. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them in. They looked significantly better. I stained the sanded areas with a Cherry stain pen to match the surrounding area around the rest of the bowl sides, top and heel.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each  pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is going to be a beauty.   I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Since it was a new stem I did not need to polish it. The stem was looking very good. I heated the stem with a lighter to soften the vulcanite and bent it to the shape that it needed to be for the shape of the bowl. I held it in place to let it cool and set the shape. It looked very good.  This Republic Era Ireland Peterson’s System Standard Bent 314 with a Nickel Ferrule and a vulcanite P-lip stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful grain that shines through the polished finish is stunning. As the pipe is smoked the patina should develop and look even better. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Peterson’s System Standard 314 Bent Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 44 grams/1.55 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Peterson of Dublin Aran 01 Bent Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a smooth Peterson’s Bent Pot. I am not sure where it came from or when we might have picked it up. This Bent Pot came with a nice nickel band on the shank end that was factory fitted to the stamping on the shank. The grime was ground into the finish on the bowl sides. The contrast of the brown stains gave the grain a sense of depth. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson [over] of Dublin [over] Aran. The right side had the shape number 01 stamped toward the bowl. The nickel band was stamped Peterson [over] a stylized P [over] Of Dublin. There was a moderate cake in the bowl and a light overflow of lava on the rim top. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks, chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. I took photos of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is moderately caked and the rim top and back edges have a thick lava overflow. The photos of the stem show that it was oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and the band. It is faint but readable and reads as noted above. The right side stamping is also faint but readable. The photo of the band shows how it was stamped on the nickel – centered and clean. There was some oxidation and sticky substance on the underside of the band next to the shank. I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the look of the pipe to show the relation of the size of the parts. It is a nice looking pipe.I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Aran line. On page 294 it had the following information.

Aran (1965-) First issue of line described as “handhewn” (rusticated) with black semi-matte finish, in P-lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue 1975, red sandblast, XL shapes. Third issue circa ’97, gold hot-foil P stamped on the mouthpiece, brown semi-matte smooth finish, no band. Fourth issue after 2010, with nickel band, no P stamped on the mouthpiece. Mounted and unmounted versions are available concurrently.

I knew that I was dealing with an Aran from the Fourth Issue of the Aran line that came out after 2010 because of the nickel band and unstamped stem. As such it was a newer pipe. Now it was time to work on the pipe. (Applicable information noted in red above.)

I started my work on the pipe by reaming it with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. I cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.I scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. I worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. I used a shank brush to clean out the inside. I rinsed the pipe with warm water and dried it off. I scraped out the inside of the shank with a dental spatula to remove the thick build up of tars and oils. Once I had removed that I scrubbed the inside of  the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I cleaned the airway in the stem at the same time. I cleaned up the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper until it was clean and undamaged. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the nickel band with a jeweler’s cloth to remove the tarnish and oxidation as well as add some protection to the band. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I rebuilt the button with black super glue. I flattened and reshaped it with a small flat file. I finished reshaping the button surface and end and sanded out some tooth marks on the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this Peterson of Dublin Aran 01 Bent Pot. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished nickel band and the black vulcanite stem. This Classic looking Peterson’s Aran Bent Pot is one of my favourite shapes and it feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/1.83 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Cleaning up a New Old Stock Meerschaum Sheik

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on is an unsmoked New Old Stock Meerschaum Sheik that Jeff and I picked up in a lot somewhere. Neither of us have any memory of where or when we picked it up. It had a lot of dust and debris in the grooves and on the smooth surface of the shank and bowl sides as well as the heel. It was dirty but unused. The bowl was clean on the top and inside. The stem was also clean and unused but still had stickiness on the top near the shank from the price tag that must have “graced” its surface somewhere in its life. There were no tooth marks or chatter on the stem and the pipe smell clean. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on to try and capture the condition it was in when I brought it to the table. I include those below. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of them both. The bowl and rim are clean and with a bit of polishing should clean up. The stem was dirty – it had sticky substances on the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button.I took photos of the carving on the bowl from the front and from both sides. It is a nicely done carving of a sheik with a tall turban and feather. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe as a whole to show the overall look of the bowl and the proportions of the pipe.I polished the meerschaum with micromesh sanding pads  – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wet sanded the grime that was on the sides of the bowl and shank. It was marked and a little dirty on the surface of the bowl. I worked several coats of Clapham’s Beeswax/Carnauba Mixture wax into the meerschaum and let it sit for 20 minutes. I buffed it with a soft cloth and repeated the process several times until the finish looked and felt right. I polished the tortoise shell acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish and buffed it out with a soft cloth. I don’t know if I would say that I am excited to be on the homestretch. But I do look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I hand buffed the bowl and stem with a soft cloth to polish the waxed bowl and stem. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The meerschaum looks much better with the wax and polish. The shiny tortoise shell acrylic stem is a beautiful contrast to the white of the bowl and thick shank. This Carved Sheik Figural Meerschaum was an interesting pipe to work on. The pipe is actually quite comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 3 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.15 ounces/61 grams. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store in the Ceramic & Meerschaum Pipes section. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Fresh Life for a Beautiful Butz-Choquin Maitre Pipier Flamme Extra Horn

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the queue came from a group of pipes a friend here in Vancouver passed on to me to restore and sell for him. The pipe is a beautiful Butz Choquin Maitre Pipier Flamme Extra pipe. It is almost a Danish shaped horn/scoop with a triangular shank and a uniquely shaped bowl. The entire pipe had some beautiful flame grain around the bowl and birdseye grain on bottom and top of the shank. The rim top was clean other than some burn or darkening damage on the back inner edge of the bowl. I could see that the carver had done an amazing job utilizing the block of briar to maximize the grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Butz-Choquin [over] Maitre Pipier [over] Flame [over] Extra. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Fait Main over St. Claude France. On the underside of the shank it is stamped J Berrod. The stem is vulcanite and has the inset BC circle on the left side of the uniquely fit triangular taper stem. I took photos of the rim top and edges and the stem surfaces. The rim top looked very good with some great birdseye. The inner edge had some burn damage and some darkening on the back inner edge. The stem had some oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It read as noted above and is very clear. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a picture of the pipe to show the general look and proportion of the pipe. It is quite pretty in terms of grain and shape. The stem is definitely a fitted blank rather than a hand cut one. I have worked on another Maitre Pipier not too long ago and wrote up a blog on it. It was a nice looking Calabash (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/02/14/a-butz-choquin-maitre-pipier-hand-made-calabash/). On that blog I included some overall information on the brand and I will repeat it here to set the stage.

Butz-Choquin was a brand that I was familiar with having worked on quite a few of them over the years. I decided to check on a few sites to refresh the memory of the brand. I turned first to Pipephil and as usual the site gives a great summary (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-butzchoquin.html). I quote:

The origin of the brand reaches back to 1858 when Jean-Baptiste Choquin in collaboration with his son-in-law Gustave Butz created their first pipe in Metz (France). Since 1951 Butz-Choquin Site officiel Butz Choquin, pipes de Saint-Claude jura. BC pipe de bruyere luxe is a brand of the Berrod-Regad group (Saint-Claude, France).

I also found the line of Fait Main Maitre Pipier pipes listed. The pipe I am working on is stamped the same way as the one in the screen capture below. The shape is different but the rest is the same. The capture has a small paragraph on the line that reads as follows: Pipes of the “Maitre Pipier” séries were crafted by Paul Lanier until he retired and after him by Alain Albuisson.I turned then to Pipedia to see what I could find out there (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Butz-Choquin). I quote the article in its entirety as it gives a clear history.

The pipe, from Metz to Saint-Claude. Jean-Baptiste Choquin of Metz started out as a tobacconist. This enterprise was prosperous; he had several employees. Among those, there was a certain Gustave Butz who was its first workman and who became his son-in-law by marrying Choquin’s daughter Marie in 1858.

In 1858 Jean-Baptiste Choquin created, in collaboration with Gustave Butz, the Choquin pipe. This bent pipe with a flat-bottomed bowl was finished with an albatross-bone mouthpiece, fixed with silver rings.

In 1858, still in Metz, Gustave Butz built an establishment for the manufacture of the Choquin pipe which took the name of . In 1951, the Berrod-Regad company bought the trademark, continuing manufacture until 2002. Departing from Metz, the workshop was relocated to Saint-Claude, then also called “the world capital of the briar pipe,” under the Berrod-Regad group. The Berrod-Regad group would go on to completely rebuild the network of representatives until finally entering the export market in 1960 and has since won several prizes, as well as the Gold Cup of French good taste.

In a few years, the brand’s collection increased from ten to seventy series. 135 years after it was founded, the pipe is still well-known not only in France but throughout the world. In 2002, the Berrod family, wishing to preserve manufacture of pipes in Saint-Claude, handed over the company to Fabien Guichon, a native of the area, who will continue to develop the brand during the 21st century.

I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape out the thin cake in the bowl. There was not much there but enough that it had to go. I also sanded the bowl walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls were smooth when I finished the work.  I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the shiny varnish coat as it was spotty on the sides and rim top. With it removed the grain really stood out clearly. It is a great looking piece of briar. I cleaned out the shank and the airway in the mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It was quite a bit dirtier than I expected from just the appearance. With the cleaning the pipe smelled cleaner. I worked over the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and to give the edge a slight bevel to remove the burn damage. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – polishing it with 1500-12000 grit pads. By the time I was finished the briar had a great shine. The grain on the pipe is quite beautiful.  I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the finish with my fingers. After it sat for 15 minutes I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter. It worked very well and I sanded out the remnants and oxidation on the top and underside with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.   I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.   As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Butz-Choquin Maitrie Pipier Flamme Extra Scoop was another fun pipe to work on. It is a nice piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store in the French Pipe Makers section. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring an Amphora Sandblasted Bent Billiard

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a pipe which was selected by a customer of mine in the prime of his youth. Understandably, this very young fellow wanted a handsome and inexpensive pipe and chose this Amphora sandblasted bent billiard. I acquired it in a lot of pipes from a gentleman living on Vancouver Island. It was quite an assortment of pipes, as they ranged from horrible to beautiful. The selected pipe looked like a handsome, solid pipe that would smoke well and my young customer took a liking to it immediately. So did I – the sandblast is really quite attractive and I felt that he had made a good choice. The underside of the shank had the pipe’s markings. They read as follows: Genuine Briar [over] Amphora-Holland. Next to that was Amphora [over] X-tra-845. Secondarily, the Amphora logo (and encircled ‘A’) was on the left side of the stem. This logo was quite worn and I was unsure if I could restore it. Clearly, this pipe had been well-loved, as it arrived with some marks and general wear, and the stem was pretty nasty. There were also a couple of fills, but I was confident that those would be easy to handle. Amphora is a Dutch pipe brand of long-standing and they are perhaps best known because of their pipe tobacco. I must admit that whenever I heard the word “amphora”, I immediately think of this:I have cobbled together the brief bits of information from Pipedia, Pipephil, and the forums of PipesMagazine. Amphora was a brand of the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory, owned by Elbert Gubbels & Sons B.V. They produced several other brands, such as Douwe Egberts and Royal Dutch. Dr Grabow also produced bowls for them for some time and I have reason to believe that this particular pipe was from the Grabow factory. The Royal Dutch Pipe Factory went bankrupt in 2012. For some further speculative information about Amphora, please read Robert M. Boughton’s article here. Off to work! First, I wiped the filthy stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. There was oxidation and calcification there and I needed to remove it.The bore in the mouthpiece was clogged with debris (yuck!) and I used a dental pick to remove it. I feared that this might hint at the filthy horrors awaiting me in the stem. Fortunately, although the stem was pretty dirty, it was not as bad as I had feared. I had no problem cleaning out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Before the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover, I used some SoftScrub to remove the first layer of filth and give the soak the best chance of working. It then went into the bath overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. Once clean, I took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the bite marks. This did very little, but I built up the bite marks on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. Following that, I sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem, with some Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Now for the stummel. Firstly, I decided to ream out the bowl. I used the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Following this, I cleaned the insides with the requisite pipe cleaners, Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. As the stack of cleaning materials show, it was a mess! I also took this opportunity to wash the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and remove as much grime as I could. The pipe’s rim was so caked with filth that I opted to soak it in a jar-lid of Murphy’s to soften it. Then I used a wire brush to dig out all the gunk. As the pictures show, the rim was badly worn and had lost a fair amount of colour. So, I took one of my furniture pens and touched it up. A bit later, you’ll see how much the rim improved. I decided the pipe needed some additional TLC and I chose to de-ghost it. I thrust cotton balls in the bowl (and plugged up the shank) and saturated it with isopropyl alcohol. I left it overnight and let all the evil spirits in the pipe leech into the cotton. Once complete, the pipe looked great and smelled even better.   I really liked the colour of the pipe and felt that it didn’t need any stain, so I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm which I massaged into the wood and let sit for 15-20 minutes. After that, I rubbed it with a microfiber cloth. The balm brings out the best in the beautiful wood. It makes things shine and really shows the lustre. Finally, it was off for a trip to the buffer. I used neither White Diamond nor carnauba wax because I didn’t want to lose any of the beautiful sandblast. Also, carnauba wax gets gummed up in the grooves. Instead, I used Conservator’s Wax and my bench buffer. One of the pictures below shows me holding two stems, but the stem in question is the one on the left (with the arrow). All finished! This is a handsome pipe with a beautiful sandblast and a classic look. I know the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come and he’s already told me that he’s thoroughly enjoyed several bowls with it. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Cleaning up a Lightly Smoked French Made Shop Pipe –  Butz-Choquin Made Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is an interesting piece of Vancouver Pipe Smoking History. It is a shop pipe that is stamped on the left side and reads R.J. Clarke [over] Straight Grain [over] St. Claude. The underside of the stem is stamped FRANCE next to the shank/stem union. For a bit of background, R.J. Clarke’s was my go to Tobacco Shop before its Gastown location closed down. To enter the shop was like a bit of time travel. It had been a Vancouver tradition for many years. The location had been a Vancouver tradition for years. Inside it looked like I imagined shops in 1800’s England must have looked. Inside, it was dark but wasn’t intimidating, fragrant but not overpowering. The owner was friendly and informative and I made it a Saturday tradition to visit there once I moved to Vancouver. There were chairs and couches in the back of the shop to sit and sip a coffee and a pipe or cigar and solve the world’s  problems with other like minded pipemen. Those memories will never leave me but the shop is long gone – closed around 2000 (give or take a year). This nicely made Pot shaped pipe has some nice mixed grain around it. There was a light cake in the bowl and some slight damage to the inner edge. The vulcanite saddle stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took photos of the pipe before I started my clean up work on it. It is a pretty pipe with some great grain around the bowl and shank. I took photos of the rim top and edges and the stem surfaces. The rim top looked very good with some great birdseye. The inner edge had some burn damage and some darkening all the way around. There was some darker spots on the right front and the rear left edges. The stem had some oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It read as noted above and is very clear. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a picture of the pipe to show the general look and proportion of the pipe. It is quite pretty in terms of grain and shape. The stem is definitely a fitted blank rather than a hand cut one.I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape out the thin cake in the bowl. There was not much there but enough that it had to go. I also sanded the bowl walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls were smooth when I finished the work.  I cleaned out the shank and the airway in the mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It was quite a bit dirtier than I expected from just the appearance. With the cleaning the pipe smelled cleaner.I worked over the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and to give the edge a slight bevel to remove the burn damage. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – polishing it with 1500-12000 grit pads. By the time I was finished the briar had a great shine. The grain on the pipe is quite beautiful. I wiped down the surface of the briar with acetone on a cotton pad. It cut through the thick varnish coat and with it removed the grain on the briar really shone through clearly.  I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the finish with my fingers. After it sat for 15 minutes I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter. It worked very well and I sanded out the remnants and oxidation on the top and underside with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper (in my late night work on this stem I forgot to take photos of the sanded stem after the 220 and 400 grit papers).   I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.   As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This French Made RJ Clarke Straight Grain St. Claude Pot was another fun pipe to work on. It is a nice piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/34 grams. I will be putting this pipe on the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipe Makers section. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Cleaning up a Second Peterson’s De Luxe System 8S Bent Billiard with a Sterling Silver Ferrule

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a few pipes that I am working on for local folks who either have dropped them off or who are friends that I am catching up with. The next pipe on the worktable is the second of two more that belongs to an old friend of mine who is in the process of moving. He stopped by and asked me to clean up two more of his favourite pipe. This first one I worked on was a Whidbey Hand Cut CW ’76 Freehand (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/11/11/cleaning-up-a-chuck-whitmore-hand-cut-whidbey-freehand-for-a-friend/). This second on is another Peterson Deluxe with a Sterling Silver Ferrule. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s [over]De Luxe. The stamping on the right side reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (3 lines) over the shape number 8S. The ferrule on the shank is clear and readable under the tarnish. It reads Peterson’s [over] Dublin. That is followed by Sterling [over] Silver. That was followed by three hallmarks – The Hibernia stamp, the Crowned Harp stamp and finally the letter “m”. It has some stunning grain around the bowl and shank under the grime. There was a thin cake in the bowl and the top and edges of the rim had some scratches and damage on both. The stem was lightly oxidized and calcified. There were light tooth marks on the surface of both sides. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. The top and edges look quite good other than some darkening on the beveled rim top – heavier toward the back. The silver was badly oxidized but I could still read the stamping. The stem was oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I took photos of the stamping on the shank and the Sterling Silver ferrule to capture its condition. The stamping on the shank is readable as noted above. The stamping on ferrule is clear and readable as noted above. There was no “P” stamp on the stem side. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a picture of the pipe to show the general look and proportion of the pipe. It also shows the metal condenser tube in the tenon end. To help identify the shape number I turned to a Peterson Catalogue that I have on rebornpipes and looked up the System Deluxe pipes (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/peterson-hallmark-chart/). I compared the shape of the pipe in hand with the shape chart show below. I have put a red box around the 8S pipe shown in the catalogue page shown below. So now I knew it was an 8S Bent Billiard.I turned first to Pipephil’s site to reacquaint myself with the DeLuxe. Unfortunately there was no information to be found on this specific line. I then turned to Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes to see what I could garner from that information. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era  – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated…

…With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping on the pipe. It is a Republic Period pipe. I also wanted to be able to interpret the hallmarks on the silver band. I have captured a portion of the chart that include below that helps to clarify the meaning of each of the three hallmarks. I like the Hallmark feature on the higher end Peterson pipes with Sterling silver bands. It helps to pin down the date even further.

  • “Hibernia” seated, arm on harp represents Ireland (country of manufacture). There have been minor design changes over the years.
  • The “Harp Crowned” is the fineness mark denoting the high quality (purity) of the silver, and was used in a variety of designs until October 1992 when it was replaced by the new European Standard or Millesimal mark which gives the purity or quality of the silver in parts per thousand.
  • The Date Letter Code for the year in which the silver was hallmarked (see the chart below). In certain years a fourth hallmark is applied – for example 1966 – a Sword of Light for the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising 1973. There were also other marks used for the fourth hallmark.

The pipe on my table had the Hibernia seated mark (Ireland) followed by the Harp Crowned signifying Sterling Silver percentage and finally in this case a lower case “m”. Each of the hallmarks was in an octagonal cartouche. The chart below helps me identify the date mark to 1978. I have drawn a red arrow to point out the 1978 mark in the chart below.

I have included the entire Hallmark chart for ease of reference show any of you be looking to date the pipes that you are working on at present.I polished the silver to remove the tarnish so that I could confirm the stamping on the silver and the date noted above. It is indeed hallmarked with the year stamp identifying it as a 1978 pipe. I took photos of the polished silver to show what it looked like after polishing. It is quite stunning. I worked over the rim top and the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and to bring the bowl back to round as much as possible. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – polishing it with 1500-12000 grit pads. By the time I was finished the briar had a great shine. The grain on the pipe is quite beautiful. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the finish with my fingers. After it sat for 15 minutes I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter. It worked very well and just a few small spots were left. I filled them in with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. I sanded out the repairs and oxidation on the top and underside with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the vulcanite. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.   I cleaned up the condenser and then put it back I place I the stem. This condenser was metal instead of the older bone ones. It is an integral part of the System pipe.As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl and thick shank. This Peterson’s DeLuxe 8S Bent Billiard was another fun pipe to work on. The Sterling Silver Ferrule works as a contrast between the stem and the briar and binds it all together. It really is a quite stunning piece of briar whose shape follows the flow of the briar. The pipe is comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. This beautiful pipe will be going back with the other pipe to my friend. He will enjoy smoking it once again in his new place. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s Straight Grain X105 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is another Peterson’s pipe that has been sitting here in Vancouver for a while. It is a nice, beautifully grained Billiard. It came to us from an online auction 08/05/19 in Westville, Indiana, USA. This pipe was obviously a favourite of the previous trustee. It had been well smoked and there was a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflowing onto the rim top. The rim top had damage on the top and outer edge of the bowl. The well grained briar was dirty with grime and dirt ground into the finish and some small dents and scratches on the bowl sides and heel. There was straight grain all around the bowl and shank with birdseye on the rim top and heel of the bowl and top and underside of the shank. The stamping on the shank is clear and readable. The left side is stamped faintly Peterson’s [over] Straight Grain. On the right side it was stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (3 lines) and near the bowl it is stamped with the shape number X105. The number 12 is stamped on the underside of the shank. The “P” stamp on the left side of the taper stem is readable and faded. It was oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was also a white mark on the top of the stem that looked like a repair to me. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. Jeff captured the thick cake in the bowl lava overflow onto the rim top and inner edge in his photos. You can also see the damage to the outer edge of the rim in the photos. The heavily oxidized and calcified stem surface had a lot of tooth chatter and marks on the stem and on the button surface and edges. There was also a white spot on the top about an inch ahead of the button that looks like a repair. He took photos of the heel and sides of the bowl to show birds eye grain on the heel and shank and the straight grain on the sides. It was quite beautiful. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and stem. It is readable but faint in places. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era  – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson Company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

There was also a section on the Straight Grains on the site:

Straight grains: Peterson’s catalogue states that these pipes have Briars which are carefully examined for imperfections and have selected Briars of exceptional grain, known as Straight Grains, they are carefully selected, hand crafted and the increasingly rare skill required to make them is unique. Craftsmen shape, turn, sand and polish 150 year old roots of the Erica arborea tree/shrub. Only a very limited quantity of Straight Grains are available in any twelve month period. To my mind the sight of a beautiful natural straight grain bowl is truly a sight to behold. Pure class, they can be spotted a mile off! When coupled to the traditional high class Peterson gold or silverwork, these pipes are in a different quality league. Considering that such quality pipes when available, can be bought for prices starting at around $400 and upwards, they are to my mind a real bargain.

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Straight Grain. On page 314 it had the following information.

Straight Grain Scarce premium grade stamp on models with exceptional Straight Grain, P-lip or fishtail mouthpiece as a line, appears in 1997, 2000 and ’05 catalogs. Specimen documented with bone-tenon extension indicating availability of such pipes before 1963, indeed, the ’40 catalog notes that ‘Hundreds of grosses of pipes may be made before even one STRAIGHT GRAIN bowl comes to hand.

A further reference to the line is found on Page 240 of the above book. I quote:

Grain – But what if the first choice a pipeman makes has to do with grain, if, for example he is only interested in pipes stamped STRAIGHT GRAIN? This is the top category in Peterson’s grading system, where availability is wholly dependent upon chance, with fewer than 2 percent of all bowls being so graded and stamped. While Peterson was stamping pipes STRAIGHT GRAIN as far back as the 1940s, so few of them have been made that they didn’t appear in the catalogs until 1997. Finding a Straight Grain in a desired shape can thus take years. If, however, the smoker is willing to bump his expectations down a notch to A-quality bowls, he can still find some spectacular grain choices, but his other choices are now much wider, since all current De Luxe and Natural finish pipes are made from A grade bowls, which are always free of fills.

Judging from the description above I believe that I am working on a rare Republic Era (1950 – 1989) Straight Grain Billiard with beautiful grain and a matte-finish and a fish tail stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

With that information at hand I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation and calcification as possible. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I started to work on it.   I took close up photos of the bowl and the stem. You can see the reamed bowl and the darkening and damage on the rim top and the edges. The stem surface was clean but there are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides on and ahead of the button. There was a white spot on the top side of the stem that looked like a repair to me.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a “P” stamp on the right side of the taper stem.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is really quite nice looking. You can also see the white spot on the top of the stem that I think is a repair.I decided to address the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl first. I cleaned up the inner edge and gave it a light bevel. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping surface with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the rim top. The rim looks much better at this  point. I filled in the damaged areas on the outer edge of the bowl with clear CA glue. I topped the rim again and cleaned up the bevel on the inner edge and the repairs on the outer edge with 220 grit sandpaper. Once I finished the rim top looked significantly better. I stained the rim top with a Cherry stain pen.I polished the rim top and the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The briar began to come alive. The bowl looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth and raised the shine. The bowl looks great at this point.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I used a dental pick to push the white repair patch out of the hole. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline to keep it from sticking in the airway. I used some black CA glue to refill the hole. I sprayed it with an accelerator to harden the repair, removed the pipe cleaner and set it aside to cure. Once the repair cured I used a small needle file to flatten the surface of the stem. I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the vulcanite. I started the polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the “P” stamp on the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I pushed it into the stamp with a tooth pick to get it deep in the stamp. I scraped off the excess acrylic and polished the stamped area with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. The curve of the “P” is weak but the stamp looks much better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry.   I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s Straight Grain X105 Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful straight and birdseye grain all around it. Added to that the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This Peterson’s Straight Grain X105 Billiard is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 40 grams/1.41 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and a rare one that I will be adding to my own collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Cleaning up a Chuck Whitmore Hand Cut Whidbey Freehand for a friend

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a few pipes that I am working on for local folks who either have dropped them off or who are friends that I am catching up with. The next pipe on the worktable is another one that belongs to an old friend of mine who is in the process of moving. He stopped by and asked me to clean up a few more of his favourite pipes. The next one is an interesting full bent freehand with plateau rim top and shank end. I use the term shank end loosely as rim top and shank are side by side and the plateau carries across them. There is also plateau on the heel of the bowl. The stamping, or rather etching on the back of the bowl under the shank is clear and readable. It reads Whidbey [over] Hand Cut. To the right of that it is signed C.W. ’76. Underneath that near the heel of the bowl it is stamped with my friends name. The bowl is an octagonal cone with almost fluted sides. The shank is literally a part of the back wall of the bowl. It has some stunning grain around the bowl and shank even in its unpolished condition. There was a thin cake in the bowl and the top and edges of the rim had some darkening on the left back edge. The freehand vulcanite stem is square at the shank end then has a twist that was interesting. It was lightly oxidized and had some calcification ahead of the button on both sides. There were light tooth marks on the surface. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took close up photos of the bowl and the stem. You can see the light cake in the bowl and the darkening on the rim top and the left and back edge. The stem surface was lightly oxidized and had some calcification on the end ahead of the button. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides on and ahead of the button.I took a photo of the back of the bowl to show the stamping. I have purposely left off the name of the person the pipe was made for as my friend asked to remain anonymous. You get the idea of the etched stamp on the pipe. It is clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. It is an interesting looking piece.Before working on it I decided to see what I could learn about the brand. I found a listing on Pipedia for Whidbey Islander Pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Whidbey_Islander_Pipes). I quote the information from that site below. It is brief but quite interesting to read. I quote it in full.

Whidbey Islander Pipes are high-praised, but very rarely seen freehand pipes. Hand-cut Briars by Master Pipe Maker Travers LaRue were made and sold in his shop “Virginia Tobacco and Pipe Shoppe ” in Langley on Whidbey Island, Washington between 1972-1983. LaRue died in 1983. He used 125 year old Sardinian briar and 150 year old Grecian Plateau briar with or without burl top. Trav custom designed ” free-hands ” or classic shapes. A sterling dot on the shank along with his signature marked his one of a kind designs and possibly one of the best smoking pipes around. Trav taught his son-in-law Charles Whitmore the trade and soon he became a pipe maker too. The shop produced a hand-cut from 75 year old Italian briar known as the ” Whidbey Islander “. These were mostly made by Chuck Whitmore that could be ordered with your own name inscribed. The shop was also known for hand blended pipe tobacco that was 100% pure premium quality American and imported tobaccos. The most famous being ” Brown Crock “. The 1936 Hollywood Pipe Shop recipe that Bing Crosby smoked exclusively and loved by many. The family still owns the recipe. Travers pipes are few and precious. You’re lucky if you own one.

Judging from the description above I believe that I am working on a pipe made on Whidbey Island, Washington made by Chuck Whitmore between 1972-1983. It is a very interesting hand cut Freehand pipe with great straight grain and a fancy vulcanite stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I decided to address the damage to the inner edge of the bowl first. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel on the inner edge to remove burned areas and blend them into the surrounding briar. It began to really look better.I reamed the light cake from the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then cleaned the internals of the shank and airway in the stem with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I polished the rim top, the repaired areas and the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The briar began to come alive. The repairs looked better than I expected and would not need to be stained. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and into the plateau with a horsehair shoe brush polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. . It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth and raised the shine. The bowl looks great at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the oxidation and calcification on the stem end with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I started polishing the stem by wet sanding it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Chuck Whitmore made Whidbey Hand Cut Freehand. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful flame grain all around it. Added to that the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Whidbey Hand Cut Freehand is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 70 grams/2.47 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and I will giving it back to my friend once I clean up his second pipe. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s “Kildare” 150 Straight Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is another one of those pipes that has been here for a long time and I have no memory where it came from. I had been cleaned somewhere along the way so I am guessing that Jeff had cleaned it. The bowl had been reamed somewhere in the journey and was quite clean inside. The shank and internals had all been cleaned and there was no residual stench to the pipe. The smooth rim top had some damage and darkening. The inner edge had some damages by burning and the bowl was slightly out of round. The smooth finish was quite clean other than the dust of sitting in my box. The stamping on the shank is clear and readable. The left side is stamped faintly Peterson’s [over] “Kildare”. On the right side it was stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland (3 lines) and near the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 150. The filter, “P” style stem was lightly oxidized and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the bowl and the stem. You can see the reamed bowl and the darkening and damage on the rim top and the back edge. The stem surface was clean but there are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides on and ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a “P” stamp on the right side of the saddle stem.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. It is really quite nice looking.I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era  – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson Company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s System Line. On page 314 it had the following information.

Kildare (1965-) First issue of line with matte-finish in Classic Range shapes, P-Lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue C.1979 as Kildare Patch, with rusticated patches on pipe surface. Third issue 2010, matte-brown, P-Lip or fishtail mouthpiece, no band. Fourth issue 2011-, burgundy sandblast finish, nickel army mount, fishtail mouthpiece, exclusive to smokingpipes.com.

Judging from the description above I believe that I am working on a First Issue of the line in the time period of 1965-1979. It is a late Republic Era Classic Shaped pipe with a matte-finish and a P-Lip stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I decided to address the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl first. I lightly topped the bowl on a topping surface with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage to the rim top. The rim looks much better at this  point. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel on the inner edge to remove burned areas and blend them into the surrounding briar. I wrapped a wooden ball with 220 grit sandpaper and turned the rim against the sandpaper and the ball. It began to really look better. I filled in the shrunken fill areas with clear CA glue and briar dust. I put the glue in place first and then used a dental spatula to fill the glue with briar dust. Once the repairs cured I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out and blend them into the surface of the surrounding briar. I polished the rim top, the repaired areas and the rest of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The briar began to come alive. The repairs looked better than I expected and would not need to be stained. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth and raised the shine. The bowl looks great at this point.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem and button surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks. It worked amazingly well and I was able to lift them significantly. I filled in those that remained with clear CA glue and set it aside for the glue to cure. I used a small file to smooth out the repairs and reshape the button edges. I sanded what remained with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I started polishing the stem by wet sanding it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry.   I touched up the “P” stamp on the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I pushed it into the stamp with a tooth pick to get it deep in the stamp. I scraped off the excess acrylic and polished the stamped area with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. The curve of the “P” is weak but the stamp looks much better.I am excited to finish this Republic Era Peterson’s “Kildare” 150 Straight Bulldog. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful flame grain all around it. Added to that the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Classic Peterson’s “Kildare” 150 Bulldog is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/1.31 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collections let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.