Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Crafting a Churchwarden for a Lord of the Ring’s Enthusiast

3 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

After restoring 3 pipes which Tina chose to gift special men in her life, the final request was to fashion a Churchwarden for her oldest son Thomas, who is a Lord of the Rings “groupie” and of course, he wants a ‘Gandalf Pipe’ to aid in blowing inspired smoke rings!  Tina’s son has been married for a few years and apparently, he and his wife have a Lord of the Rings movie binge at least once a year!

In my research on the Churchwarden shape, as the story goes, there were men back in the days when they didn’t lock churches at night, who were employed as ‘wardens’ of the church – whose responsibility was to guard the premises.  To be faithful to their charge, they were not allowed to leave the walls of the church.  That created an unusual dilemma between guarding the holy confines and the desire to enjoy one’s evening smoke.  The moral dilemma was creatively solved by a stem.  The length of the stem enabled the church wardens to tend to their evening bowls as they stood vigilantly inside the church walls while the stems extended through the windows…so the story goes (see Pipedia’s article).  Of course, everyone knows that Churchwardens were prevalent in Middle Earth as Gandalf spun up fireworks and smoke rings!

I found a bowl that I put aside quite some time ago that

Courtesy of Gonzalo Kenny https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Balrogs

I believed would serve well as a repurposed stummel to be mounted as a Churchwarden.  I know that there are strict Warden purists out there who question the validity of repurposing a bowl for use in fashioning a Churchwarden.  Yet, I appeal to Bill Burney’s description of the Churchwarden in his excellent Pipe Shapes Chart published in Pipedia where he says: “Interestingly, all the other styles of pipe are identified by the shape of their bowls, but the churchwarden is identified by its long stem.  The stem can be bent or straight, but it is always very long – 9” to 18” long.”.  There may be ‘true born’ Churchwardens and there are also those Churchwardens who are adopted into the ranks through the promotion of a discarded and forgotten stummel surviving from another lifetime where they served among other mere mortal pipes that they used to be.  For a common bowl to be remounted onto a Warden stem and to experience that metamorphosis is perhaps like when Gandalf transformed through fire in his mortal combat with Balrog – transforming from The Grey to The White….  Perhaps, only Gandalf knows for sure!  The bowl and stem I chose for this transformation are now on my table.The pre-molded Warden Stem comes from my main supplier, Tim West at http://www.jhlowe.com/bits.htm.  The stummel has ‘Real Briar’ stamped on the side of the shank, but what I like a lot is the 1/2 bent shank.  This will yield a very nice sweeping bend in the Warden stem.  The bowl’s size is not too large – perfect for a Churchwarden. Looking closely at the stummel, I see potential grain underneath the dark, marred surface.  The rim has lava flow but has an attractive inwardly slanted rim.  The chamber has light cake.  I take some pictures of the stummel in its current condition. Before I start working on fashioning the new preformed stem, I clean the stummel.  I start by reaming the chamber using the Pipnet Reaming kit.  I only use the smallest of the blade heads and then transition to the Savinelli Fitsall Tool to fine tune the scraping and cleaning.  Then I sand the chamber using a piece of 240 grade sanding paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.  Finally, after wetting a cotton pad with alcohol, I wipe the chamber cleaning it from the carbon dust.  I inspect the chamber after finishing and all looks good. Next, turning to the external surface, I take a few more pictures to show the nasty layer of grime over this stummel!  I use Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted on a cotton pad and begin the scrubbing process.  I also utilize a brass wire brush to clean the rim. The results are good, but the reality is revealed by the cleaning!  The reality of the condition of the stummel is the reason it was in the box with other lonely stummels having given their all and discarded!  The finish is shot and the rim in mangled. Restoring this stummel to fashion a Churchwarden will be a noble endeavor! Next, I turn to cleaning the internals.  Using cotton buds and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%, I go to work.  The internals are nasty.  I also utilize and small dental spatula to scrape the mortise walls.  There was a lot of resistance, but the buds started lightening until I was satisfied that the largest part of the cleaning was accomplished.  I’m not too concerned at this point because I’ve already made the decision to put the stummel in a soak of acetone to totally remove all the old finish which will also take care of residual internal tars and oils. The next morning, I fish the bowl out of the acetone bath.  Some of the finish was removed during the soak, but with the use of 0 grade steel wool, I’m able to dispatch the old finish easily after the night’s soak softened the old finish.  The pictures show the raw briar that allows me to start over. With the stummel cleaning process completed, I turn now to fashioning the preformed Churchwarden stem.  I use an electronic caliper to measure the diameter of the mortise to mark the target sizing of the tenon of the preformed stem that will eventually be seated.  The mortise measurement is 7.38mm in diameter.  Using Charles Lemon’s (of Dad’sPipes) methodology, I add 50mm to this exact measurement to give me my ‘fat’ target.  The ‘fat’ target is what I will aim for when bringing the tenon down to size using the PIMO Tenon Turning Tool.  The ‘fat’ target is 7.88mm.  From this point, I will sand the tenon by hand which gradually and patiently custom fits the mortise. The first thing needed is to pre-drill the tenon airway with the drill bit provided by the PIMO tool.  This enlarges the airway slightly enabling the insertion of the PIMO tool guide pin.  I mount the drill bit to the hand drill and drill out the airway.Next, the PIMO Tenon Turning Tool is mounted on the hand drill and I cut a small test sizing to measure to give me the distance between the test cut and the ‘Fat’ target.  After cutting the test, I measure it with the caliper and record 8.72mm and subtract the ‘Fat’ target, 7.88mm leaving .84mm to remove using the PIMO tool. Using the Allen wrench provided with the PIMO tool, I close the gap of the cutting arm and cut again.  The measurement of the next cut after closing the gap of the carbide cutter arm took off more than I wanted – the measurement is 7.47mm – beyond the 7.88 fat target.  This is why you only to partial cuts at the beginning!I enlarge the gap of the cutter arm a small amount and cut again.  The next measurement is 7.75mm – much better, just falling under the 7.88mm fat target.With this measurement reached, I cut the entire tenon down to the 7.75mm width.  I take the cut to the stem shank facing so a nice straight edge is created, and a ‘shoulder’ is not left from the rough preformed stem.I begin the sanding process by wrapping the tenon with 240 grade paper and rotating the stem and applying pressure strategically with my finger and thumb. I smooth and shorten the tenon a little so that it looks better and doesn’t butt into a ridge that I detect in the mortise which would block the full insertion of the tenon.  I use a flat needle file to do this.The process is slow with a lot of tests and sands… But in time the tenon seats very nicely in the mortise.  Nice!With the tenon snuggly seated in the mortise, the work is far from finished!  The picture shows the offset of the stem and the lip of briar hanging over the stem.  No stem fits automatically!The preformed Warden stem also is not straight but bows to the left through the reach of the stem.  I’ll work on this when I bend the stem later.Using 240 grade paper I begin the process of sanding the junction of the stem and shank.  My goal is to have a seamless transition from shank to stem with no overhanging ridges.  The other issue I see is that both the shank and stem have high spots that need to be sanded down and blended into a uniform flow.  What I want to avoid is the bloomers or stuff-pants look – where the shank balloons out when the sanding has not tapered the flow of the shank from the stem width as it transitions into the shank. It takes time, but in time the ridges have been removed and the tapering through the shank to the bowl looks good. I continue sanding the entire stem with 240 grade paper.  The precast stem is full of ridges and the casting seam down both sides – all of which needs to be sanded away and smoothed.  I also use the flat needle file to form and shape the new button.  I want to retain the curved button slot.  It looks classy! After sanding out the main issues with the new precast Warden stem, I transition to wet sanding using 600 grade paper.  With the bowl and stem united, I sand not only the stem including the shaped button, but also the junction of stem and shank to continue to smooth and blend the tapered transition.  After completing the wet sanding with 600 grade, I use 000 grade steel wool to sand in the same way.  The distance pictures with a Warden stem are always too far away to see detail, but a close-up shows some progress.With the main fabricating and sanding completed with the Churchwarden’s stem, the next step is to bend it.  The 1/2 bent shank of the stummel provides a wonderful trajectory for the bend and sweep of the stem – which emulates more directly Gandalf’s style of Warden.  My goal is to bend the stem so that the final orientation of the bit is generally on a parallel orientation with the plane of the stummel rim which is what is suggested by the ruler in the picture. I remarked earlier that the stem is also a little catawampus to the left as you look down the shaft toward the bowl.  Interestingly, I set up a renewed picture to show this looking down the shaft and my second look at this isn’t as pronounced as it appeared to me before.  The sanding and shank tapering may have mitigated this to some degree. Bending the stem is usually by trial and error to get it right, but the good thing is that the vulcanite stem is very forgiving!  To be on the safe side, though I don’t really believe it to be necessary, I put a pipe cleaner into the end of the stem to protect the airway integrity.I use the hot air gun to warm the vulcanite.  As it’s warming, I gently apply pressure to the bend as the rubber compound becomes supple.  When the stem becomes pliable enough and the bend reaches what appears to be at the right place as I eyeball it, I transfer the pipe to a chopping board where I can use the flat surface and the overhang for the bowl and button expansion at both ends, I press down to straighten the shaft orientation as I hold the bend.  This works very well. The first time around, I decide I need a bit more bend, so I reheat, bend further and then hold the stem firmly against the chopping board until the vulcanite sufficiently cools so that I don’t lose the bend.  To make sure the bend holds I run cool tap water on the stem to seal the bend.I like the results!  The bend is perfect and will present a true Gandalf experience for the new steward of the Churchwarden taking shape.Before I put the newly bent Warden aside to turn to the stummel, I apply paraffin oil to vitalize the vulcanite.Turning now to what was a ‘throwaway’ stummel, I like the grain that made an appearance after the cleaning.  It’s in there!  It just needs some TLC to restore it to the condition that allowed for more beauty to come through.  The briar surface is in surprisingly good condition. There are a few dents and nicks to be expected. There’s a more significant heel bruise where it appears the bowl was thumped on a hard surface.The rim has an attractive inwardly sloping cant which will serve to my advantage in dealing with the residual burn marks and the right side (top in the first picture) of the rim.  The outer edge of the rim is also chewed up a bit. Starting with the rim, I begin by using a coarse 120 grade paper to clean and remove the scorched wood and the dents on the edge.  I follow this with 240 grade paper sanding the canted rim surface.  I’m hopeful this will remove the blemishes but also serve to freshen the rim canted pitch and lines.  I then fine tune with 600 grade paper. The results are great.  The transformation is more than hoped for!  The rim is actually very attractive and some grain peeking out.I do the same with the heel bruise.  I dispatch the blemish quickly with 240 grade paper followed by 600 grade paper.Continuing the sanding, I now sand the entire stummel using sanding sponges.  I start with a coarse sponge, followed by a medium grade then finish with the light grade sanding sponge.  The briar grain is showing up!Following the sanding sponges, I apply the full regimen of 9 micromesh pads.  First, I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  For a ‘throwaway stummel’ this piece of briar is looking very nice. Throughout the micromesh process, I knew I was approaching a decision point.  The natural briar came out way more than I had thought possible when I began with this stummel.  I can remain with the natural briar or apply a dye.  I decide to apply Fiebing’s Saddle Tan Pro Dye to the stummel not for the purpose of covering blemishes but to bring out the briar grain more which is still somewhat subdued as I look at it.  I assemble my desktop dying components.  After I wipe the stummel with alcohol to clean the surface, I insert two folded pipe cleaners into the shank to serve as a handle.I then heat the briar stummel with an air gun.  As the briar heats, this expands the grain enabling the grain to be more receptive to the dye when it’s applied.Using a folded pipe cleaner, I paint the bowl with the aniline based dye in sections and flame each section as I go.  I use the lit candle to combust the painted section of wet dye and it immediately combusts the alcohol in the dye leaving the pigment to set in the heated wood.  I eventually apply the Saddle Tan dye to the entire stummel and repeat the painting and flaming process again to assure full coverage.  I then put the dyed and flamed stummel on the cork to rest through the night. With the dyed bowl resting I take the Churchwarden stem through the full micromesh regimen.  I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 and then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Between each set of 3 pads I apply a healthy coat of Obsidian Oil to the stem to vitalize the vulcanite.  The newly polished vulcanite pops!  I take one concluding picture instead of the usual 3 because the picture shows no detail because of the size of the stem!The next morning, I’m ready to unwrap the flamed bowl.  After mounting a felt cloth buffing wheel on the Dremel, I set the speed to the lowest possible to reduce the heating factor.  I then apply Tripoli compound to the bowl to remove the flamed crust to reveal the briar beneath. With the assistance of my wife, she takes a few pictures to show the initial removal of the flamed crust.  It takes me a good bit of time to slowly and methodically go through this ‘plowing’ and polishing process.  I remove dye blotches to make sure what is revealed is the minutia of the grain texture.  Not pictured is after I complete the process with the felt wheel (pictured below) I change to a cotton cloth buffing wheel and increase the speed of the Dremel to 40 % of full speed and again go over the entire stummel with Tripoli compound.  I do this first, to reach into the crook of the shank that is too tight for the felt wheel to reach.  Also, I like the further fine tuning of the Tripoli compounds polishing of the briar surface.  The grain sharpens even more providing the contrasts between the harder and softer woods of the briar.I then wipe the bowl with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to blend the dyed finish.  The wipe of alcohol evens out the finish and blends it.  Wiping with alcohol will also lighten the finish if I continue to wipe, but I like the tone of the hue where it is so I only to a light wipe for blending purposes.I switch to another cotton cloth buffing wheel, keep the speed on the Dremel and 40% and apply Blue Diamond compound to the stem and stummel.  I don’t join the two because it is easier to work with each individually.  After completing the application of the compound, I wipe both stem and stummel with a felt cloth to remove the compound dust left behind.Finally, I reunite the Warden stem with the repurposed stummel and apply a few coats of carnauba wax to the Churchwarden.  When finished, I give the pipe a vigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to bring out the shine.

Wow!  When I think of where this throwaway stummel was at the beginning of the process and what I see now, it is truly amazing. This Churchwarden’s 1/2 bent shank provides the perfect trajectory for the stem’s gentle, flowing bend to project a pipe that is truly Gandalf worthy!  The grain of the bowl is varied from a vertical flame, a knot with outwardly flowing concentric circles and some bird’s eye thrown in for good measure!  This Churchwarden is certified for Middle Earth distribution for Tina’s son, Thomas.  Tina commissioned  this Churchwarden project along with 3 other restorations (to learn more about commissioning pipes see: For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! ) and each will be boxed and heading to Birmingham, Alabama, USA, from Bulgaria.  All these pipes benefit our efforts here in Bulgaria working with women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited – the Daughters of Bulgaria.  Thank you, Tina!, and thank you for joining me!

 

A Challenging Restoration of my Grandfather’s WDC Stratford Pipe

1 Reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This is the third pipe which I received from Abha, my wife, which has been cleaned, reamed and with no “before” pictures!!

I have inherited a large collection of my grandfather’s pipes; a few of them are unique and quite collectible. There are many WDC pipes in this collection and the one now on my work table is a “WDC STRATFORD” in its original case (in fact there are quite a few pipes in their original cases!). This smallish bent billiards displays gorgeous densely packed straight grain all round the stummel, including the shank and a sterling silver band adorns the shank end. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “STRATFORD” in sentence case over the trademark “WDC” in an inverted equilateral triangle. The sterling silver band bears the American hallmarks of a STAR, EAGLE AND LETTER ‘D’ over “STERLING”. There are no other stampings visible on the entire pipe. The leather case, though worn by age and weather, is still solid and the inner golden hued felt lining is intact. This lining is stamped in deep red square with black border on the lid as “WDC” in a triangle and “STRATFORD”.INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe is third pipe that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed the cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned the sterling silver band using Colgate toothpowder. She followed it up with cleaning the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The felt lining inside the case was painstakingly cleaned up by repeated wiping with a cloth and warm soap water. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I enquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “it was in the worst of condition of all the pipes seen till date!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes clogged up and became unsmokable.

The cake was so thick that even her little finger would not go in and there was heavy and sticky overflow of lava all over the stummel and shank. This lovely little pipe must have been his favorite and has been extensively used. There are a few issues which are immediately noticed. Firstly, the stem is shorter than the case and does not sit flush in the mortise. The tenon end of the stem appears to be unevenly cut. Secondly, the brass tenon, though it fits snugly in to the mortise, is clearly not original to the stem. The tenon end is also uneven (circled in violet).Thirdly, there are two dings on the right side of the stummel and this will have to be addressed. There is not a single fill on the entire stummel.Fourthly, the bowl is completely out of round with the left side of the rim and chamber wall thinner than the right side. Topping the bowl rim surface should address this issue to an extent. As regards the comparatively thin wall on the left side, I shall decide once I reach that stage of restoration.Fifthly, the vulcanite stem has a round slot which is correct for the vintage of this pipe. However, from the shortened length, the brass tenon and the fact that the stem does not sit flush with the shank end are all pointers to the fact that the stem has undergone extensive repairs at some point in its existence. My assumption is that this pipe must have fallen down on a hard surface and the tenon must have broken at an odd angle. While fitting a new brass tenon, the repairman had to cut a small portion of the stem at the tenon end, drill a new hole for the shaft of the tenon and fix it afresh. Even though the cut to the stem is not a clean one, the repairs are solid. This, and the assumption that this pipe was my grandfather’s favorite, is evident from the damage to the upper surface of the stem. There are two large gaping holes, one near the lip edge (which is understandable and attributed to clenching) and the other is nearly half way down the stem towards the tenon end (and can neither be explained at this stage!!). The stem is oxidized. THE PROCESS
Since in this project, the stem has the most number of issues to be addressed, it is where I start the restoration. I flamed the surface of the stem with a Bic lighter to raise the tooth indentations and scratches on the stem. The heat from the flame of Bic lighter causes the vulcanite to expand and regain its natural shape, reducing the marks. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. I had a closer look at the tenon and its fit in to the mortise. I realized that the length of the tenon is slightly longer than the mortise and that is the reason why the stem did not sit flush with the shank end. Also the tenon end was uneven as can be seen in the above pictures (circled in violet). I addressed this issue by grinding the tenon end on a grinding disk, frequently checking the seating joint of the stem and the shank end. Before proceeding with any further stem repairs, I decided to run a pipe cleaner through the stem to clean out the fine dust left behind due to grinding of the tenon end and it was then that I understood the possible reason for the second hole on the stem upper surface. The pipe cleaner did not pass through the airway cleanly!! There seems to be some kind of protrusion in the airway. On further close scrutiny, I realized that the tenon end inside the stem airway was thicker than the airway and thus obstructing the passage of the pipe cleaner through it causing repeated slamming of the pipe cleaner on the stem upper surface. That explained the probable cause of the second hole!!

I decided to smooth out the inside of the tenon to match the stem’s airway. Using a drill bit which was slightly larger than the tenon opening, I increased the tenon bore. With a round needle file, very carefully I filed the tenon end inside the stem till the pipe cleaner passed through it very easily. This was followed by sanding the stem surfaces with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation. I again cleaned the internal and external surface of the stem and proceeded to reconstruct the damaged upper surface of the stem. Once I was satisfied with the internal cleaning, I wiped the stem surface, particularly the damaged area, with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any traces of dirt and grime. To begin the stem repairs, I smeared a pipe cleaner with petroleum jelly and inserted it in to the stem airway. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and generously applied it over the gaping hole in the button of the stem and set it aside for curing overnight. While the stem repairs were curing, I decided to address the two dings on the stummel. I wiped the area with a moist cloth to remove the dust from the surface and spot filled it with a mix of briar dust and super glue. I use the layering technique, first fill with briar dust followed by super glue and again a layer of briar dust. I use this method since the moment super glue comes in contact with briar dust, the mix hardens instantaneously. I set the stummel aside to cure overnight and call it a day!!Once the filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured, using a needle file, I sand the fill to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220. At this stage, I observed air pockets in both the fills. This is the most dreaded observation for me as addressing this issue costs me more time and repeat of the entire process. Nevertheless, I again coat the damaged surface with clear super glue. While the fill was curing, with a flat needle file, I sand the stummel fill to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stummel surface. I further blend the fill with a 220 grit sand paper. This fill turned out satisfactory. I shall completely blend this fill during the micromesh cycle.Next issue to be addressed was the out of round rim top and the comparatively thin left side of the chamber wall. I approached this issue by first topping the rim on a 220 grit sand paper. This process also addressed the thinning of the rim observed on the left side to some extent. To further even out the inner rim edge, I created a bevel using a 220 grit sand paper. I am pretty satisfied with the way the rim surface appears at this stage. The uneven thickness on the left side is still apparent and to address this I had an option of increasing the thickness by lining the chamber wall with J B Weld followed by coating with a mixture of activated charcoal and yogurt. However, since I am not going to smoke this pipe ever, I decided to keep the appearance as it is, which incidentally does not look as glaring as it appears in the description.The next step in the process was to bring out the shine and highlight the beautiful grain on the stummel. I had an option of using more abrasive 220 grit sandpaper followed by micromesh pad cycle and loose the patina or straight away go to the micromesh cycle. Using the more abrasive sand paper, minor dents and dings would be further addressed but I would lose out the old sheen which the briar has taken over the years.  I decided on keeping the old sheen and went straight for the micromesh cycle. I wet sand the stummel with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and follow it up by dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. The stummel, at this stage, looks absolutely stunning with the straight grain popping out from every inch. The natural finish and hues on this pipe is something that I have not seen before on any pipes. The very dark brown hued straight grains contrast beautifully with the dark browns on the rest of the stummel giving it a very antique appearance. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. In my enthusiasm to finish this project, I forgot to take pictures of the results at this stage.

Once the second filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured, using a needle file, I sand the fill to match the surface of the stem. This time around the results were much more disastrous!!!! The entire filling collapsed in to airway, leaving the same gaping holes on the stem surface. I was so frustrated that I just did not have the heart to take pictures. To cut the rambling, I again repeated the procedure and made a fresh filling for both the holes and set it aside for curing. Once cured, I file the fillings with a needle file. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220 followed by 600 and 800 grit sandpaper. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. To finish the restoration, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further.The completed pipe looks fresh, vibrant and ready for its next innings with me. This piece of briar will find a place of pride in my collection, if not as part of rotation, as a part of the memories left behind by my grand old man. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and why did my grandfather love this pipe so much?!! PS:  There is one contentious issue which I have deliberately raised and left it open for discussion. I would like to encourage the readers to express their views in a frank manner as it will help me in understanding the minds of the esteemed readers while clearing my own thought process. The issue that I am talking about is my decision (temporary!!!!) to let the unequal thickness of the chamber wall on the left side to remain addressed to the extent I have managed and not address it completely as well as the way I had thought of completely addressing it, if at all I decide to do so. Cheers……….!

Getting Rid of a Foul Smell in a Tobaccobowl Canadian

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I have a box of some 25 pipes that I am working through for a friend here in Vancouver. The next batch I am working on came to me in a sour, stinky condition. Alex had smoked them and found that as he smoked them each one became fouler. From my experience this happens when a pipe has not been thoroughly cleaned in the process of restoration. Sometimes even if it has the first few smokes draw out a foul taste and in this case an odor that made me put the four pipes in a zip lock bad to keep the odor contained. They really stunk! On Sunday evening I decided to give the foursome a cotton ball and alcohol treatment to draw out the oils and tars in the briar. I pushed cotton balls into the bowl and a folded pipe cleaner in the shank and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I set the pipes aside to let the alcohol do its work overnight. I know many of you use kosher salt and alcohol and that certainly is your choice. For me however the cotton balls work just as effectively in providing a medium for the foul juices drawn out of a pipe to be deposited. They are also easier to clean up and they do not leave residual salts in the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the finished work. You can see the effectiveness of the treatment.I took the cotton out of the bowls of the pipes and wiped the bowl down with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to dry them out. The first pipe I decided to work on is the Canadian on the far right of the photo above. It is stamped on the top of the shank TOBACCOBOWL which I am assuming is a pipe shop. The underside of the shank is stamped Imported Briar which tells me that the pipe is American made. There are no identifying shape numbers of other stamps on the pipe so that is the extent of my information. Alex had picked it up eBay and was drawn to the grain and the shape which were very nice. It was purported to be clean by the seller but after his first smoke Alex deemed it unsmokable. It was now up to me to figure out what was going on. I examined the pipe when I took out the cotton balls and alcohol and I learned a few things about it that would need to be addressed. The outside of the bowl was oily and dirty – a thin film of oils was all over the bowl surface and had darkened the rim and the right side of the bowl. The rim top had some burn damage and some lava on the inward beveled top. It was messy. The stem, though it was said to be clean, had a lot of junk in the slot at the button. The airway entered the bowl toward the right side rather than the center and the shank was black with tars and oils. The bowl had a light cake that was oily to touch and would need to be reamed out. I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the damage to the rim top and light and the lava on the right side. The bowl had a malformed cake that needed to be cut back. It needed some more work to clean it up but at least the cotton ball alcohol treatment had rid the pipe of the rank smell. The stem itself was an interesting mess. It had been shinned and polished but there was still some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside just ahead of the button. I took a photo to capture the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. The first photo shows TOBACCOBOWL stamping as noted above. The photo is slightly out of focus but it was hard to capture the stamping. On the underside it reads Imported Briar. The stamping on this pipe is readable. I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the damage to the beveled rim top. Because of the bevel I could not use a topping board so I had to work on the damage with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and smooth out the rim top. I had to be careful not to damage the rim top and make it uneven but I wanted to get it back to bare briar so I could polish it and restain it.I polished the rim top that I had sanded and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim and bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the grime and sanding dust. Each successive grit of micromesh removed more of the darkening and started bringing the grain to the surface. The rim top looked considerably better but it was slightly lighter in colour than the rest of the briar so I stained it with an Oak coloured stain pen to match the colour of the bowl and shank.Once the stain was dry I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rim top and the rest of the bowl and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The following photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. The bowl and the rim top look really good and the darkening is gone. The finish looks very good with the rich oil finish on the bowl and rim. I am very happy with the results. With the externals cleaned and well on the way to being finished I turned my attention to the internals. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to get rid of the cake and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all remnants of the cake. When I was finished the bowl walls were smooth and clean. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I cleaned out the mortise in the shank with cotton swabs and alcohol until the mortise walls were clean and looked bare. At this point in the process the stink was gone.With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. The micromesh pads took care of the light tooth chatter and light tooth marks. I further polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. Now with both parts of the pipe finished, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. 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 came alive with the buffing. The rich brown finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a beauty and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 3/4 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This one will be going back to Alex with the rest of his pipes that I am working on. Thanks for walking through the restoration on this interesting TOBACCOBOWL Canadian.

 

RESTORING MY GRANDFATHER’S PIPE; “THE DOODLER”

Leave a reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The early Transition Era Barling #2639 that was recently restored was a breeze to work on and finished in real quick time, including the write up. The next pipe now on my work table has a lot of similarities to the Barling #2639; it is cleaned and spruced up by Abha, comes from my inheritance of pipes, has no serious issues to address (apparently) and in this instance too, she has not taken pictures before she commenced her cleaning regimen!!

“The Doodler” pipe on my work table is definitely not a looker by any stretch of imagination!!!! It is a simple straightforward billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem. What is unique though, is its design contribution in the ever progressing quest in the pipe world for a cool smoke and the man behind its design and development. The characteristic features of this pipe are a Custom-Bilt like worm rustications on the heel and shank, even and equally spaced out drilled holes and vertical slats which can be seen through the three rings of briar. From the design itself, it is apparent that all these features that have been incorporated in construction is with one and only purpose and that is to increase the dissipation of heat from the chamber while providing a nice cool smoke. The only stamping seen on this pipe is “THE DOODLER” in fancy block letters over “IMPORTED BRIAR”, on the right side of the shank. The saddle straight vulcanite stem is devoid of any logo.While restoring one of the 5 (or 6) Custom-Bilt from my inherited pipes, I had read about the legendary pipe maker from America, Mr. Tracy Mincer and his second innings after Custom-Bilt, The Doodler!!! To refresh my memory, I revisited rebornpipes.com and pipedia.org. These sites have all the information that one is looking for on “THE DOODLER”. Here are the links from these sites; https://rebornpipes.com/2013/05/22/a-unique-piece-of-pipe-design-history-doodlers-by-tracy-mincer/

https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_Doodler

From both the above articles, it is amply evident that the pipe that is on my work table is from the 1953 to 1960s era and is an integral part of history in mankind’s eternal quest for a cool smoke!!!!

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe is another that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed the cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned out all the nooks and crevices resulting from the design of the pipe. She followed it up with cleaning the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I inquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “surprisingly different from his (grandfather’s) other pipes!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes clogged up and became unsmokable. However, in this case, there was a very thin layer of cake and the stem was in good condition. From the present condition of the pipe, there are only two issues that I would need to address on the stummel; a heat fissure on the wall of the chamber and the heel has thinned out (or so it appears to me). To err on the positive, I intend to coat the chamber wall and heel with a mix of activated charcoal and yogurt. This coat will not only protect the chamber wall from direct heat, but will also aid in faster build up of the cake.

The vulcanite stem is surprisingly clean with only a slight damage to the lip on the upper surface. This issue should not be a major headache to address. The lip edge on both sides is distinct but will have to be sharpened. Also, the upper surface of the slot has thinned out. Why, I fail to comprehend!! The quality of vulcanite is good. The fit of the tenon in to the mortise is slightly loose. This is usually observed in pipes where the mortise wall has dried out due to non usage for a long time. THE PROCESS
Since in this project, the stem has the most number of issues to be addressed, it is where I start the restoration. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. To address the issue of thinned out upper surface of the slot, I layered the upper lip edge with a mix of activated charcoal and clear CA superglue and I set it aside to cure overnight. I applied a layer of this mix to the lower lip edge to ensure an even thickness on both surfaces.Once the filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured and I was satisfied with the thickness, using a needle file, I sand the layers of the fill to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 220 followed by 600 and 800 grit sandpaper. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. To finish the restoration, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further.The completed pipe looks fresh, vibrant and ready for its next innings with me. This piece of briar will find a place of pride in my collection, if not as part of rotation, as a part of history of pipes. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and why did my grandfather not smoke it as heavily as his other pipes?!!!! Thank you for having the patience to reach this far while reading the write up. PS:  The only issue that needed to be addressed was that of the thin line of heat fissure. I mixed activated charcoal and yogurt to a consistency where the mix is thin enough to spread evenly but thick to the point that it is not runny at all. Using my fabricated bamboo frond, I apply an even coat all along the chamber wall and drop a thick blob of the mix over the heel. I tap the foot of the stummel with my fingers to ensure an even spread of the mix over the heel and expel air bubbles.

 

Restoring the 2nd of Jennifer’s Dad’s Pipes – A 1960 Dunhill Shell Briar FE Prince

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is another one from the estate of George Rex Leghorn. I received an email from his daughter Jennifer who is a little older than my 64+ years about whether I would be interested in his estate. My brother Jeff and I have been picking up a few estates here and there, so I was interested. Here is the catch – she did not want to sell them to me but to give them to me to clean up, restore and resell. The only requirement she had was that we give a portion of the sales of the pipes to a charity serving women and children. We talked about the organization I work for that deals with trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and their children and she decided that would be a great way to carry on the charitable aspect of her Dad’s character. With some great conversation back and forth she sent the pipes to Jeff and he started the cleanup process on them. Once he had finished cleaning them all he sent them to me to do my work on them.

The second pipe I chose to work on from the lot was a craggy looking Dunhill Shell Briar Prince. It had a beautiful sandblast on the bowl sides and shank. It had the Dunhill Shell Briar rich brown stain. The stem was badly oxidized with tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. The transition to the button was worn to almost an angle. There was a thick cake in the bowl and it was dirty and tired looking. It had been sitting in boxes for a lot of years and it was time to move ahead with the restoration. Jennifer took photos of the pipes she was sending. I have included the two she included from this pipe.When the box arrived from Jennifer Jeff opened it and took photos of each pipe before he started his cleanup work on them. This rugged looking Dunhill Prince appeared to be in great condition underneath the grime and oxidation on the bowl and stem. The finish looked intact under the grime. The bowl had a thick cake that had hardened with time. The lava overflow on the rim could very well have protected the rim from damage. We won’t know what is under it until Jeff had cleaned it off. The stem was worn looking with a lot of deep oxidation and some tooth chatter and bite marks on both sides at the button. As mentioned above the button was worn. The danger of working on so many estates is the overwhelming desire to add yet another to my own collection. We shall see. Jeff took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. You can also see the grime down the sides of the bowl.The sandblast grain around the bowl sides and heel was quite beautiful. Lots of interesting patterns in the blast that would clean up very nicely. It was a beautiful pipe. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable. It read FE on the heel of the bowl which is the marking for the Prince shape. That was followed by Dunhill over Shell Briar. Next to that it read Made in England with a superscript 0 after the D making this a 1960 pipe. The final stamping was a circle 4 followed by an S which gave the size of the pipe and the fact that it is a Shell Briar.Jeff took photos of the stem – first the White Spot on the top side and then the top and underside of the stem at the button. You can see the tooth damage to the stem surface and the wear to the edge and top of the button. I am once again including the tribute that Jennifer consented to her Dad for the blog. She is also sending along some photos and an article that her Dad wrote for Jeff and me to be able to get a feel for him. When it arrives I will post the photo with the other blogs on his pipes and will add it to this one as well. In the meantime I asked her to also send me an email with a brief tribute that I can use until then. Here is her email to me.

Steve, I want to thank you again for accepting my dad’s pipes.  They were so much a part of my dad’s life that I could not simply discard them. But as his daughter, I was not about to take up smoking them either. *laughing* I think my dad would like knowing that they will bring pleasure to others.  I know that I do.

I’m not sure what to say about his pipes.   I always remember Daddy smoking pipes and cigars.

First a bit about my dad. Though my father, George Rex Leghorn, was American (growing up in Alaska), he managed to join the Canadian Army at the beginning of WWII, but in doing so lost his American citizenship.  He was fortunate to meet a Canadian recruiting officer who told him the alphabet began with “A” and ended with “Zed” not “Zee”, and also told him to say that he was born in a specific town that had all its records destroyed in a fire.  When the US joined the war my dad, and thousands of other Americans who had made the same choice*(see the link below for the article), were given the opportunity to transfer to the US military, and regain their citizenship.

After WWII, my dad, earned his degree at the University of California Berkeley and became a metallurgist. There is even a bit about him on the internet.

He loved taking the family out for a drive, and he smoked his cigars on those trips. (As a child, those were troubling times for my stomach.)

I most remember my father relaxing in his favorite chair with a science fiction book in one hand and a pipe in the other… Sir Walter Raleigh being his favorite tobacco… and the pipes themselves remind me of him in that contented way.  If I interrupted his repose, he’d look up, with a smile on his face, to answer me.

It seemed he smoked his Briarwood pipes the most, though he had others.  At the time, it was only the Briarwood I knew by name because of its distinctive rough shaped bowl.  And it was the Anderson Free Hand Burl Briar, made in Israel, which I chose for his birthday one year, because I thought he might like that particular texture in his hand.

At least two of his pipes, he inherited from his son-in-law, Joe Marino, a retired medical laboratory researcher (my sister Lesley’s late husband)… the long stemmed Jarl (made in Denmark), and the large, white-bowled, Sherlock Holmes style pipe.  I believe Joe had others that went to my dad, but Lesley was only sure about those two.

The Buescher, corncob pipe my older sister Lesley bought for Daddy while on one of her travels around the States.

A note on the spelling of my sister’s name…

My dad met my mother, Regina, during WWII and they married in Omagh, Ireland.  My mother was English and in the military herself.  The English spelling of Lesley is feminine, and Leslie masculine, in the UK… just the opposite of here in the United States.  I guess my mom won out when it came to the spelling of the name.

I’ll send you photos of my dad soon, along with his WWII experience story.

Jennifer

*https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/22/the_americans_who_died_for_canada_in_wwii.html

Once again Jeff cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top and the great condition it was in under the thick lava coat. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter in front of the button on both sides. I also took a photo of the stamping on the pipe – to capture the stamp in one photo. It read as noted above.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I worked it deep into the sandblast finish with a horsehair shoe brush. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of the blast really stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned back to address the damage on the stem surface. I used a needle file to redefine the sharp edge of the button and in doing so was able to remove much of the tooth damage. I followed that by sanding the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the file marks and tooth chatter into surface of the rubber and also to remove the oxidation that remained after Jeff’s cleanup. I polished it with 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the scratching that was left behind by the earlier sanding. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax 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 Shell Briar sandblast finish on this briar is absolutely beautiful and the shine on it makes the variations of colour really pop. The pipe polished up really well. The wax and the contrasting stain on the bowl made the grain just pop on the briar. The polished black vulcanite seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. The pipe is perfect in my hand and when it warms with smoking I think it will be about perfect. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 3/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is one that will likely go on the rebornpipes online store shortly. If you want to carry on the pipe trust of George Leghorn let me know. Thank you Jennifer for trusting us with his pipes. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners, we are pipemen who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

A Simple Restoration of an Early Transition Era Barling 2639

3 Replies

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Having worked on a few difficult projects from my Mumbai Bonanza, involving major stem reconstruction and addressing flaws in the stummel (read refreshing fills!!) taking a lot of time and heartburn and efforts which had left me drained, I decided to work on something simple and relatively quick refurbishing of pipes from my inherited collection.

The Barling pipe on my work table is an exquisite bent billiards with beautiful and very tightly packed bird’s eye grains on either side of the bowl and shank, extending over to more than half of the front of the stummel. Equally tightly packed cross grains are seen on the front left and back of the bowl and also on the upper and bottom surface of the shank. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “BARLING” in script hand over the numeral “2639” over “LONDON ENGLAND”. There is no other stamping seen on the stummel. The double bore vulcanite saddle stem bears the trademark Barling stamped in cross on the upper surface of the saddle.Even though there are quite a few Barlings in my grandfather’s collection, this beauty is the second of the Barling’s that I shall be restoring. During my reading while working on my first Barling, I had read about this brand, its passage through times and pointers towards their dating. To refresh my memory about the brand, the lines offered by the maker and attempt to date this particular pipe, I visited Pipedia which has a wealth of neatly cataloged heading-wise information on Barling’s pipes. From the stamping seen on this pipe and correlating it with my information, it was immediately apparent that this one is definitely not a Family Era pipe, but a later era pipe. Luckily, on the same page, towards the end, there is a link to 1962 Barling catalog, courtesy Yuriy Novikov. This catalog, on page 7 shows the pipe which is on my work table, here is the link to this catalog: https://pipedia.org/images/d/d9/BARLING_CATALOG_1962.pdf

From the above information, it is conclusive that this piece is a size 2, flat bent billiard from the Transition period/ Corporate era and was made during 1962. The minimalist stamping and the double bore stem indicate that this pipe was intended to be sold in the local markets.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
This pipe was one of the pipes that Abha, my wife had sent me after she had reamed out complete cake back to the bare briar and cleaned the stummel exterior and rim top surface with Murphy’s oil soap. She had also cleaned out the mortise and the shank using regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The cleaned up pipe on my work table now, can be seen in the following pictures. It really feels nice to work on a clean pipe; I must admit and cannot help but thank her for doing all the dirty work and saving me time while sharing my hobby. Unfortunately, she did not click any pictures of the condition of the pipe before she worked her magic on them. When I inquired about the condition before she had cleaned it, her one line reply was “no different from his (grandfather’s) other pipes!!!” For those who have been reading my previous write ups would recollect that my grandfather never really believed in cleaning his pipes, he would rather buy new ones when the old pipes chocked up and became unsmokable. From the present condition of the pipe, there are only two issues that I would need to address on the stummel; one is the darkened rim top surface with an uneven inner rim edge and the other is slightly deep gouges on the chamber walls. The vulcanite stem is heavily scratched and shows deep oxidation on the surface. Some heavy tooth chatter is seen on both surfaces of the stem towards the lip with few deep bite marks on the upper and lower surfaces. This issue should not be a major headache to address. The lip edge on both sides is distinct but damaged showing tooth marks. The quality of vulcanite is good.THE PROCESS
I flamed the surface of the stem with a Bic lighter to raise the tooth indentations and scratches on the stem. The heat from the flame of Bic lighter causes the vulcanite to expand and regain its natural shape, reducing the marks. I followed it up by sanding the entire stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper to reduce the tooth chatter while removing the oxidation from the area to be filled. I wiped the stem surface clean with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove all the dust and dirt from the surface. The tooth marks which were visible after the flaming and sanding were filled with a mix of activated charcoal and clear CA superglue and I set it aside to cure overnight. While the stem fill was set aside for curing, I decided to address the darkened rim top surface and the uneven inner rim edge issue observed on the stummel. I did not resort to topping straight away, but decided to try scrubbing the rim top with Murphy’s oil soap and scotch brite pad. The result of this scrubbing far exceeded my expectations. The rim top is now clean and there are no traces of rim darkening. To address the issue of an uneven inner rim edges, with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper, I created a slight bevel to the inner edge. The rim top and inner edge issues are now pristine. The next step in the process was to bring out the shine and highlight the beautiful grain on the stummel. I had an option of using more abrasive 220 grit sandpaper followed by micromesh pad cycle and loose the patina or straight away go to the micromesh cycle. Using the more abrasive sand paper, minor dents and dings would be further addressed but I would lose out the old sheen which the briar has taken over the years.  I decided on keeping the old sheen and went straight for the micromesh cycle. I wet sand the stummel with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and follow it up by dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. The stummel, at this stage, looks absolutely stunning with the grain popping out from every inch. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. Turning my attention to the stem, I first covered the stamping on the stem with whitener using a whitener pen. The filling of charcoal and CA superglue had cured and using a needle file, I sand the filling to match the surface of the stem. For a better blending, I further sanded the entire stem with 220 followed by 400, 600 and 800 grit sandpapers. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil. The internals of the stem was cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners. The finished stem is shown below. To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel (actually it is not the brand machine, but a local machine which is similar).  I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs in this case, do not do justice to the appearance of this beautiful little pipe. This beautiful piece of briar, without a single blemish to the stummel, will find a place of pride in my collection. If only it could tell me stories it had witnessed and experiences, trials and tribulations and joyous moments in my grandfather’s life journey!!!! Thank you for having the patience to reach this far while reading the write up. PS: This project was a welcome break from the previous difficult stem reconstruction and stummel restoration projects that had posed a challenging obstacle at every stage in the process. I must thank my wife, Abha, who had done all the dirty work and presented a simple and quick refurbishing project.

 

The Restoration of the First of Jennifer’s Dad’s Estate Pipes – A Comoy’s Deluxe 78

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable came from the estate of George Rex Leghorn. I received an email from his daughter Jennifer who is a little older than my 64+ years about whether I would be interested in his estate. My brother Jeff and I have been picking up a few estates here and there, so I was interested. Here is the catch – she did not want to sell them to me but to give them to me to clean up, restore and resell. The only requirement she had was that we give a portion of the sales of the pipes to a charity serving women and children. We talked about the organization I work for that deals with trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and their children and she decided that would be a great way to carry on the charitable aspect of her Dad’s character. With some great conversation back and forth she sent the pipes to Jeff and he started the cleanup process on them. Once he had finished cleaning them all he sent them to me to do my work on them.

The first pipe I chose to work on from the lot was a Comoy’s De Luxe 78 Military Bit Apple. It had some amazing grain on the bowl sides and shank. It had a Sterling Silver ferrule on the shank end that was oxidized and blackened. It had a badly oxidized stem with tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. There was a thick cake in the bowl and it was dirty and tired looking. It had been sitting in boxes for a lot of years and it was time to move ahead with the restoration. Jennifer took photos of the pipes she was sending. I have included the three she included from this pipe. When the box arrived from Jennifer Jeff opened it and took photos of each pipe before he started his cleanup work on them. This Comoy’s was a real beauty underneath the grime, tarnish and oxidation on the bowl and stem. The finish looked intact under the grime. The bowl had a thick cake that had hardened with time. The lava overflow on the rim could very well have protected the rim from damage. We won’t know what is under it until Jeff had cleaned it off. The silver work was tarnished but still looked classy on this old timer. The ferrule was undamaged with no dents of dings that are often found on these pipes. The stem was worn looking with a lot of deep oxidation and some tooth chatter and bite marks on both sides at the button. The overall look of the pipe made me think seriously about adding it to my own collection. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage.The grain around the bowl sides and heel was quite beautiful. Lots of cross grain and birdseye that would clean up very nicely. It was a beautiful pipe.Jeff took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. The left side was stamped Comoy’s De Luxe and the right side had the Comoy’s COM stamp and shape number. The COM stamp is a circle with Made and London arching around “in” in the centre. Underneath it read England. The shape number is 78. I am not overly familiar with this line of Comoy’s and will need to do some work to get an idea of both age and value in the hierarchy of the lines.He also took photos of the stamping on the ferrule and the three circle inlay of the C on the left side of the stem. The ferrule read HC in a box over STERLING LONDON. There were no hallmarks on the silver so I could not use those to help date the pipe. The C inlay looked very good and did not show damage to any of the three circles. Jeff did not take photos of the stem at this point. It is so easy to miss some photos in the processing of pipes.Jennifer consented to write a short tribute to her Dad for the blog. She is also sending along some photos and an article that her Dad wrote for Jeff and me to be able to get a feel for him. When it arrives I will post the photo with the other blogs on his pipes and will add it to this one as well. In the meantime I asked her to also send me an email with a brief tribute that I can use until then. Here is her email to me.

Steve, I want to thank you again for accepting my dad’s pipes.  They were so much a part of my dad’s life that I could not simply discard them. But as his daughter, I was not about to take up smoking them either. *laughing* I think my dad would like knowing that they will bring pleasure to others.  I know that I do.

I’m not sure what to say about his pipes.   I always remember Daddy smoking pipes and cigars.

First a bit about my dad. Though my father, George Rex Leghorn, was American (growing up in Alaska), he managed to join the Canadian Army at the beginning of WWII, but in doing so lost his American citizenship.  He was fortunate to meet a Canadian recruiting officer who told him the alphabet began with “A” and ended with “Zed” not “Zee”, and also told him to say that he was born in a specific town that had all its records destroyed in a fire.  When the US joined the war my dad, and thousands of other Americans who had made the same choice*(see the link below for the article), were given the opportunity to transfer to the US military, and regain their citizenship.

After WWII, my dad, earned his degree at the University of California Berkeley and became a metallurgist. There is even a bit about him on the internet.

He loved taking the family out for a drive, and he smoked his cigars on those trips. (As a child, those were troubling times for my stomach.)

I most remember my father relaxing in his favorite chair with a science fiction book in one hand and a pipe in the other… Sir Walter Raleigh being his favorite tobacco… and the pipes themselves remind me of him in that contented way.  If I interrupted his repose, he’d look up, with a smile on his face, to answer me.

It seemed he smoked his Briarwood pipes the most, though he had others.  At the time, it was only the Briarwood I knew by name because of its distinctive rough shaped bowl.  And it was the Anderson Free Hand Burl Briar, made in Israel, which I chose for his birthday one year, because I thought he might like that particular texture in his hand.

At least two of his pipes, he inherited from his son-in-law, Joe Marino, a retired medical laboratory researcher (my sister Lesley’s late husband)… the long stemmed Jarl (made in Denmark), and the large, white-bowled, Sherlock Holmes style pipe.  I believe Joe had others that went to my dad, but Lesley was only sure about those two.

The Buescher, corncob pipe my older sister Lesley bought for Daddy while on one of her travels around the States.

A note on the spelling of my sister’s name…

My dad met my mother, Regina, during WWII and they married in Omagh, Ireland.  My mother was English and in the military herself.  The English spelling of Lesley is feminine, and Leslie masculine, in the UK… just the opposite of here in the United States.  I guess my mom won out when it came to the spelling of the name.

I’ll send you photos of my dad soon, along with his WWII experience story.

Jennifer

*https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/22/the_americans_who_died_for_canada_in_wwii.html

I turned to my usual sources for information about the De Luxe line of Comoy’s and found nothing on the pipephil website. On the Pipedia site there was nothing clearly written identifying the brand but there was a page from a Comoy’s Catalogue advertising Specialty pipes from Comoy’s that included the De Luxe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Comoy-Specialty.jpg). I have included a screen capture of the page for you to have a look.It describes the De Luxe as being available in 14 Army styles in walnut and sandblast finishes. These fine pipes have their beauty enhanced by heavy gauge sterling silver bands hand fitted by silversmiths. It is also available in Blue Riband and London Pride on special order. So it seems that it is a specialty item and a beautiful one at that. Does anyone know anything else about the line?

Jeff cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. He was able to get most of the oxidation off of the silver ferrule as well. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top and the great condition it was in under the thick lava coat. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter in front of the button on both sides.I also took some photos of the stamping on the pipe – both sides of the shank and the Sterling ferrule. You can see the three part C in the stem as well. The ferrule is loose and will need to be glued in place again. You can see in the third photo below that it is on the top of the shank instead of aligned on the left side with the stamping on the briar.I decided to repair the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem so it could be drying while I worked on the bowl. I cleaned the tooth marks with a cotton swab and alcohol and dried it off. I filled in the deep divots with black super glue and set the stem aside so the repairs could cure.I turned my attention to the bowl. I painted some white all-purpose glue on the shank end and carefully pressed the ferrule onto the end of the shank. I turned it on the shank to align the HC Sterling London stamp on the ferrule with the Comoy’s stamp on the briar shank. I let the glue dry on the ferrule and once it had set I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The grain really began to stand out. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The grain shines through and really stands out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the results. I used some silver polish to remove the remaining oxidation on the Sterling Silver ferrule. I rubbed it in with a cotton pad and polished it once it had dried. It took some time to polish out the scratches in the silver and give it a shine. I followed that up by polishing the ferrule with a jeweler’s polishing cloth. The photos show the shine.I set the bowl aside at this point and turned back to address the cured repairs on the stem surface. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the surface of the rubber and also to remove the oxidation that remained after Jeff’s cleanup. I polished it with 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the scratching that was left behind by the earlier sanding.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I carefully worked around the Sterling Silver ferrule so I would not damage it. 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 grain on this briar is absolutely beautiful and the shine on it makes the grain really shine. The pipe polished up really well. The wax and the contrasting stain on the bowl made the grain just pop on the briar. The polished black vulcanite seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. Comoy’s really captured this shape in a way that no one else has in my opinion. The pipe is perfect in my hand and when it warms with smoking I think it will be about perfect. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is one that will remain in my collection. Once I figure out the value of the pipe I will make a donation on behalf of Jennifer’s Dad to the organization that I work for. It is a pipe like no other Comoy’s that I have seen before. I want to carry on the pipe trust of George Leghorn. Thank you Jennifer for trusting us with his pipes. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners, we are pipemen hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Life for a Knute of Denmark Freehand

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Once again I chose to work on another interesting pipe from the Michigan lot – a really nice Knute of Denmark freehand with great grain. The finish on the bowl is smooth around the sides and shank with a patch of rustication on the heel. The rim is plateau and the shank end has a horn extension. It is another totally unique pipe and different from any of the other pipes in the collection. The stamping on the pipe is on the underside of the shank just below the stem/shank extension junction. It reads Knute of Denmark and the stamping is coloured white. Knute of Denmark was a brand carved by Karl Erik and also used by Ben Wade. The stem is fancy turned vulcanite and has some damage around the button area on both sides. This is another nice looking piece much like the rest of those in this 21 pipe Michigan pipe lot. The Knute I am working on now is on cloth at the bottom of the rack. It is the second pipe on the left and I put a red box around it to make it easy to identify.Jeff took some photos of the pipe when he received them to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Like the rest of the pipes from the Michigan collection this pipe was dirty and well used. There was a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflowing onto the rim top. It was hard to know if the edges of the bowl were damaged or not because of the cake and lava. The flow of the pipe into the long horn shank extension is well done. The horn shank extension has a small split on the right side that extends from the end about ½ inch up the horn following the striations in the horn. The vulcanite stem is oxidized and has some calcification at the button. There are deep tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button edge and some wear on the button edge itself. There appears to be a small crack or chip on the bottom right side of the button but it is hard to tell. There are also scratches in the vulcanite where it looks like someone scraped off some of the calcification. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the large freehand. Jeff took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. The rim top had some thick lava overflow and some darkening. The thick lava on the rim top made it hard to know what the inner and outer edges of the bowl looked like. There is also a general accumulation of dust in the finish on the rest of the bowl and shank.He also took photo of the right and underside of the bowl and shank to show the interesting grain on the bowl and the rustication on the heel. The finish is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe.Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. The photo shows stamping as noted above. The stamping on this pipe is clear and readable.The next 3 photos show the stem surface. They show the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. You can see the chipped areas on the button surface. The stem is dirty, oxidized and has a yellow cast to it. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the plateau rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rim top and you could see the great condition of the bowl top and edges of the rim. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the rim top to show the condition of the plateau and the condition of the stem. The rim top had a washed out appearance and you could see the black stain deep in the crevices of the plateau. It would need to be darkened to be true to the original. The inner edge and the outer edge of the rim look really good. The stem photos show the tooth marks and the damage to the button surface on both sides.With this pipe there were a lot of little issues that needed attention before I could really start polishing and enlivening the bowl and shank. I decided to start with the split in the horn shank extension. It was at the spot where the horn changed from dark brown to a cream colour. I have drawn a box around it in the photo below. In examining the split I could see that it was starting to delaminate at that point. This is one of the draw backs with using horn. As it dries out it can start to split like this one had. I cleaned out the split with a cotton swab and clean water to remove the debris. Fortunately the split was neither deep nor wide so it would be a pretty straight forward repair. I filled in the gap with clear super glue to bind and stabilize the horn stem. Once the repair had cured I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and 400 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. Polishing it later when I polished the briar would take care of all of the scratches.The second issue I decided to address was the washed out looking rim top. I used a black Sharpie pen to darken in the rest of the plateau. I worked it into the crevices but did not worry about covering all of the plateau. I was good with the spots as they would give some variation once I polished and buffed the rim.With those repairs done I polished the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the bowl and shank with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the dust. The grain really began to pop and the horn took on a beautiful shine. The photos tell the story. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the plateau and the smooth finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I also worked the balm into the horn shank extension. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. The horn and plateau look like they must have when the pipe was first sold. I am very happy with the results. With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I cleaned out the tooth marks on both sides of the stem with a cotton swab and alcohol. I filled in the tooth marks and rebuilt the button edges with black super glue. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. Once the repairs had cured I used a needle file to flatten out the repaired areas and redefine the edge of the button. I filed it until the patches were smooth with the surface of the stem. I used a folded piece of 240 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the surface of the stem. Once the surface was smooth I sanded out the scratch marks and started the polishing of the stem with a folded piece of 400 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth and took the following photos.In the spirit of Dal Stanton, I thought I would add a photo of my study and work table with me polishing the stem and enjoying a bowl of Virginia in a Tinsky Coral finished Rhodesian/Ball shaped pipe and enjoyed it while tackling the stem. As I am relegated to the basement for my work area I have no mountain scenery photos to add! I tip my hat to Dal’s balcony view!I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad and gave it a final coat and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. 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 contrasting stain on the bowl made the grain just pipe on the briar. The polished horn and black vulcanite seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. The finished pipe is a beautiful freehand that has some resemblance to Ben Wade pipes but also the unique look of a Karl Erik. It is large and feels great in the hand. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. I will be putting this one on the rebornpipes store sometime in the days ahead. It may well be the kind of freehand you have been looking for. Let me know if you are interested. Thanks for walking through the restoration of this with me it was a pleasure to work on.

Breathing Life into a Chacom Paris Dress Black 43 Bent Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I finished the restoration of one of the pipes that Jeff and I picked up from a fellow in Pennsylvania, a Chacom Paris straight Brandy. I wrote about that restoration on the blog at this link: (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/03/22/breathing-life-into-a-chacom-paris-861-quarter-bent-brandy/). I had a second Chacom Paris in my restoration bin that needed some work. It had come to us from a fellow in New York who periodically picks up pipes for Jeff and me. It was a dress bent billiard with a shiny black painted coat around the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank Chacom over Paris and there is Chacom CC logo stamped in the left side of the tapered, vulcanite stem. On the underside of the shank next to the ferrule on the shank was the shape number 43. It was very dirty with a thin cake in the bowl and a light layer of lava overflowing on to the rim top. From the photos it appeared that the inner and outer edges were in good condition. Other than a few small nicks in the black paint and a dirty finish it appeared to be in good condition. The stem and the shank end had a decorative metal ferrule that was supposed to meet once the stem was in place. On this pipe the stem sat well in the shank and there was no gap between the stem and shank. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took a photo of the rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the light overflow of lava. The cake was thin and the lava overflow is a thicker toward the back of the beveled rim. The bowl and the rim actually looked very good. The next photo shows the right side of the bowl and shank to give a clear picture of the condition of the dress finish on the pipe. It was in very good condition. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the left side of the shank and the shape number 43 on the underside of the shank near the ferrule to capture the clarity of it even under the grime. He also included some photos of the CC logo on the left side of the stem and the FRANCE stamp on the underside. The vulcanite stem was in okay condition other than some tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button.Just a reminder from the previous blog on the Chacom Paris pipes:

The brand Chacom turned up (1934) after fusion of Chapuis-Comoy with La Bruyère. Yves Grenard (†2012), second cousin of Pierre Comoy headed the company from 1971. He was responsible for Chapuis Comoy’s recovering its independence from Comoy. His son Antoine Grenard took over the direction of the company in 2007. Chacom is a brand of Cuty-Fort Entreprises (Jeantet, Vuillard, Jean Lacroix, Ropp …) (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-chacom.html).

Pipedia gives a great historical overview of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Chacom). I have not included that here but if you are interested click on the link and you can read about the company from its inception to its current status.

I turned to address the pipe itself. Jeff had already cleaned up the pipe before sending it to me. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean the finish and the lava on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl in the earlier photos. There was some damage to the rim top at the back of the bowl. The stem had some tooth chatter and tooth marks on the surface of both sides.I removed the stem and set it aside to address the issues with the rim top. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim down with a damp cloth after each pad. I was able to polish out much of the damage. The finish on the rest of the bowl was in good condition. The rim top was worn and there was some paint missing along the inner and outer edges. I decided to rub the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. After it sat for a little while I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The pipe had 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 used a black Sharpie pen to touch up the damaged areas around the rim top. I touched up both the inner and outer edges of the bowl.I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the  process. The stem had tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside. I sanded the surfaces with 220 grit sandpaper and was able to remove the majority of the damage. I filled in the one remaining tooth mark on the top side with clear super glue and set the stem aside to allow the repairs to cure.After the repair had cured I blended it into the surface of the vulcanite with a folded piece of 220 and when finished started polishing the stem with 400 grit sandpaper. The repaired area looked good at this point in the process. There was a faint light spot in the repair that I could not sand out but it blended in very well.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I polished Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final hand buff with a microfiber cloth. I put the stem back on the pipe and the pipe to the buffer. I carefully worked the stem over with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I was careful not to buff the bowl and damage the painted surface. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and 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 really well and the rim top looked good. I was happy with the look of the finished pipe. The photos below show what the pipe looks like after the restoration. The Black Dress Chacom Paris with the metal fitments another very elegant looking pipe. The polished black vulcanite stem looks really good with the browns of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/4 inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes online store shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. The shape of the pipe and the bent stem give this pipe a great feel in the hand and the mouth. This one should be another great smoker. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on another beauty!

A Gift for a US Coast Guard Man – A Carved Bearded Sailor, ‘Ole Crusty’

3 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

Tina commissioned the restoration of 3 pipes and one Churchwarden project by repurposing a bowl.  Her purpose was to benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria while at the same time purchasing great vintage pipes that would be gifted to special men in her life.  The first of these pipes, the Lindbergh Select Poker, which came out beautifully, is for Tina’s brother who served as a naval aviator and flew on P3 airplanes flying over different bodies of water to do reconnaissance missions and who has many stories of his adventures.  I’m now looking at the Carved Bearded Sailor – my first try at restoring a sculpted face.  There are no identifying marks on the pipe, and I’ve searched closely with a magnifying glass.  I acquired the Carved Bearded Sailor from a Lot I snagged on French eBay, so my assumption is that this pipe has a French origin – it’s a good guess!  When Tina saw this pipe, she immediately took it in hand and said she knew who would receive this pipe – her older brother who started in the Army but later spent 25 years in the US Coast Guard as a helicopter pilot involved in such activities as law enforcement (boarding and inspecting ships) and search and rescue – aiding vessels in trouble on the high seas regardless of the flags they flew.  Here are the pictures I took of the Carved Bearded Sailor commissioned for the ‘Coastie’ on my work table: I love the old crusty look of the sailor’s face encased in this carving.  What I like most of all is that it is a nice carving, but the thick varnish makes it look like a tourist trinket pipe to me.  It is apparent that the steward who had this pipe smoked him well!  The moderate cake buildup in the chamber and the signs of lava and grime on the ‘cap’ – we don’t have a rim with this guy, we have a cap! – point to a pipe that was used and not put on a shelf to collect dust.  He’s got some history, but I can’t say how much and I’m guessing that his COM is France.  The only thing I’m not excited about with this crusty sailor pipe is the varnished finish – I’m not a fan of a heavy varnish, candy apple gloss finishes.  The challenge would be, if I were to remove the varnish as part of the restoration, and dive into polishing and buffing the nooks and crannies of the carving, it might prove to be a daunting task.  Another factor would be to maintain the roughness that gives it a rustic uniqueness.  The carving is not a porcelain doll smoothness – its crusty like the sailor depicted!  I want to clean up the carving but not lose the rustic, roughness that is to me, what makes it special.  The stem has some oxidation and tooth chatter but not much of an issue.

I begin the restoration of the Carved Bearded Sailor by wetting a pipe cleaner with isopropyl 95% and cleaning the airway of the stem.  I then place the stem in a soak of Before & After Deoxidizer with other pipes in The Pipe Steward queue.After several hours, I take the Sailor’s stem out and let the Before & After Deoxidizer drain off the stem.  I then run another pipe cleaner wetted with alcohol through the stem’s airway to clean it of the Deoxidizer.  I also wipe off the raised oxidation with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%.  The Deoxidizer does a good job.I then apply paraffin oil to the stem to begin revitalizing the vulcanite.I haven’t yet decided how exactly I will approach the restoration of the stummel, but I decide to simply clean it the normal way first and see how things look.  The chamber is small, only 5/8 inches wide, and this is too small for the Pipnet Reaming heads.  So, I employ the Savinelli Fitsall tool to scrape the chamber walls in close quarters. As I scrape the chamber walls I find that there’s a good bit of cake build-up in the chamber.  After a while, I notice that there appears to be no draft hole at the bottom of the chamber.  Hmmm, not sure about this!  I try to push a pipe cleaner through the airway via the mortise and it is a no go.  I take a sharp dental probe and dig a bit at the floor of the chamber and a bit of cake crumbles revealing a hole, not where I was looking for it, but more toward the bottom.  I keep digging and another hole appears – forward of the other.  With the help of a stiff wire, I’m able to punch through the blockage allowing me to insert a pipe cleaner.  I take a picture to show what I’m seeing.  At first, I thought that what I was seeing was a cavity underneath what appears now to be a bridge of carbon cake between the two holes.  I continue to dig with the dental probe, and it appears that what I’m looking at is metal.  It appears to be a metal insert with two holes allowing air to pass through.  Interesting – I’ve never seen this before.  I’m not able to see anything through the mortise that looks like metal.I continue the cleanup of the chamber by sanding the chamber with 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.  I then wipe the chamber with a cotton cloth wetted with alcohol to clean the carbon dust. It seems that it is a 2-holed metal insert – like an internal stinger, which pushes my thinking more toward a French invention, but still only guessing.  Other than the interesting two-holed insert, the chamber appears to be in good shape with no heating problems.Next, to clean the external surface of the carving, I use undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and scrub with a cotton pad and bristled tooth brush to get into the curves, nooks and crannies of the carving, I use as well a bristled brass wire brush to work on the lava and discoloration on the cap. I then rinse the stummel with cool tap water.  The surface of the carving cleans up nicely as well as the rim/cap. Next, the internal cleaning.  Using pipe cleaners and cotton buds wetted with isopropyl 95%, I go to work. The design of the internal metal insert is interesting.  The airflow is pulled downwardly to the two holes that are on the floor of the chamber, not where the draft hole is normally located. I scrape the sides of the mortise with a dental spatula to excavate tars and oils.  I also employ a drill bit to reach into the chamber created by the metal insert below the chamber floor.  I hand turn the drill bit which pulls the crud out.  The internals are pretty nasty overall.  Eventually, buds begin to surface cleaner until I’m satisfied that the internals are clean.  I arrive at a decision point.  The question is, do I keep the thick varnish finish and work with it or do I remove it and figure out a different approach to the external surface – natural briar or dye?  In principle, I don’t like the shiny finish that varnish produces.  Why? You’re not looking at the shine of the briar, but the shine produced by the varnish.  I can understand, with a carving like this, it’s an easier and quicker way to produce a ‘finished’ shine, but to me it’s mediocre. The other problem is that when the finish is thicker, it can chip and leave portals to the raw wood which will obviously be a different hue and texture – mess.  I see evidence of this as I scan the carved surface.  In the end, my dislike of mediocrity when restoring pipes took over and I decide to renew finish on the Sailor so that hopefully, it doesn’t lose its quaint roughness but cleans and sharpens it so that the carving is enhanced not stifled!  So my plan is ratified taking some last pictures of the candy apple finish! To start over, I put the stummel in an acetone soak to remove all the old finish from the craggy and carved surface.  I leave it in the soak overnight.  Time to turn out the lights.The next day, I fish ‘Old Crusty’ out of the acetone soak.  The finish is partially removed but most is loosened.  I use 000 steel wool in combination with the brass wire brush to remove the residual varnish from the stummel surface. Parts of the old finish I scrape off with my thumb nail and it’s like congealed meat fat.  I use a dental probe as well to dig into the crevices to remove dirt and gummed up varnish.  Finally, most of the removal is completed – all that I can see of the old varnish is removed.  I take a picture to show the progress to this point.Next, I continue cleaning and clearing the surface by focusing the steel wool on areas of smooth briar to sand and buff up.  I aim for the flat surfaces to tease out the grain – which I find are many!  The obvious smooth surface is the cap and bill, but there are also the eyebrows, the nose and nose bridge, the cheek tops, the mustache, the top of the beard, the cheeks…  As I buff with the 000 steel wool on these surfaces, the carved face begins to emerge as a more distinct image.  I reach into all the major crevasses as well.  I’m please with the results of this stage.  I take pictures at the conclusion of the steel wool buffing sanding and shaping. After using the steel wool, I sand with the micromesh pads.  I start by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.   With each phase, I take a picture offering a different perspective of the face that emerges through the micromesh process.  I watch amazed! Before switching to the stem, I come to another decision point.  I had been thinking that I would apply a dye – probably a light Fiebing’s Saddle Tan hue to bring out more pop. After completing the micromesh pad process, the briar of this stummel needs no help with ‘pop’!  I decide to stay with the natural grain that has emerged and to deepen it, I apply Before & After Restoration Balm to the carved stummel.  I’m anxious to see how the Balm acts on the carved surface – how it will enhance the carved face.  I put some Balm on my fingers and work it into the briar.  It takes some effort and the help of a cotton bud and a toothpick to push the Balm into the crevasses of the sculpting.  After applying the Balm throughout and working it in thoroughly, after about 20 minutes, I use a cotton pad to start wiping off the excess Balm and again, reaching into the crevasses to remove Balm.  The Balm eventually dissolves and is absorbed.  I finish by buffing the stummel with a microfiber cloth.  Wow!  The Balm did a great job deepening the tone of the briar.  I’m already loving the profound difference between the buffed sheen and texture of natural briar and the candy apple varnish finish that I started with.Letting Ole Crusty rest awhile, I now turn to the stem.  The stem is generally in good shape – negligible tooth impact is found on the bit.  The button has one compression that will be easily addressed with sanding.  The only thing I notice that is not what I like is that the entire stem has a very rough texture to it.  The Before & After Deoxidizer did a great job removing the oxidation, but the resulting texture needs addressing.I use 240 grade paper to sand out the minor bit and button issues.  I also sand the entire stem to remove the roughness.  To avoid shouldering the stem shank facing, I use a plastic disk on the end to butt up against as I sand.I follow the 240 grade by wet sanding the entire stem with 600 grade paper and then using 0000 steel wool.I move straight away to sanding with micromesh pads by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400, followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  After each set of three pads I apply Obsidian Oil to rejuvenate the vulcanite. Now, on the homestretch.  I reunite stem and stummel and mount the Dremel with a cotton cloth buffing wheel and I apply Blue Diamond compound to stem and stummel.  In order not to load the crevasses with compound which would be a pure nightmare to clean out, I keep the buffing wheel on the high briar points where there is smoother briar.  What I discover though, after starting the Blue Diamond application, is that the troughs of the carving are wide enough that I leave behind no compound as I work the wheel in these areas.  I think that using a Dremel with it’s miniature buffing wheels, gives me an edge in situations like these.  After finishing application of the compound, I transition to applying carnauba wax in the same way.  I mount another cotton cloth wheel to the Dremel, maintain a speed of about 40% full power and apply the wax over stem and carved stummel. After application of the wax, I give the pipe a rigorous hand-buffing with a microfiber cloth to raise the intricate shine and to make sure there’s no wax caked up in the crevasses.

When I began this project, I had no idea what I would be able to do to improve the presentation of the carved sailor’s face.  I wanted to retain the rustic, rough feel but bring out more of the grain and contours of the face carving.  This is my first restoration of a carved figure and I’m very pleased with the huge difference in the quality of the carved presentation by uncovering it or freeing it from the thick candy apple glaze that entrapped it.  The minute appearances of briar grain have been teased out and now highlight the various facial components of the carving in a satisfying and attractive way.  In my view, the restoration took the Carved Bearded Sailor from a trinket-like feel to an expression of artistic beauty and creativity.  I started calling the bearded sailor, ‘Ole Crusty’, during the process of getting to know him better and helping him come out!  I think the name fits the image of the old bearded sailor who was weathered by life, that the carver was seeking to capture and bring to life in this pipe.  Tina commissioned this pipe for her brother, a Coast Guard man, and I trust that she and he will like ‘Ole Crusty’ as well I do!  Tina commissioned this pipe from the For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection and will have the first opportunity to acquire ‘Ole Crusty’ from The Pipe Steward Store.  This pipe benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Thanks for joining me!  I begin with a Before & After of Ole Crusty: