Tag Archives: Bowl – finishing

Restoring 1957 Dunhill 252 Dunhill Shell Briar Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Billiard. It had a taper, vulcanite stem with a white spot. We purchased it from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark 01/22/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 252. That is followed with stamping on the shank Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in [over] England7. There is a 4 in a circle and an S which speak of the size of the pipe being a Group 4 and the finish S a Shell Briar. The rim has lava filling in the sandblast but the rim edges look very good. There is a moderate cake in the bowl. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. There was a sticky substance on the underside of the shank covering the Circle 4S stamp. There is a great sandblast showing through the grime. The vulcanite stem is quite clean with grime and grit on the surface. There were light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. The button edge had lost definition. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rugged sandblast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 252 is the shape number for a taper stem Billiard. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 7 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The 4S is the size of the pipe and the finish. The photo below shows some similar stamping.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a superscript 7 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with a 7 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1950 + suffix 7 which gives the pipe a date of 1957. I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs,pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl looked to be in good condition. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with some chatter and some wear on the sharp edge of the button.I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.

I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I recut the edge of the button with a small file. It took a bit of work to sharpen the edge and give it a better transition. I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1957 Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard with a Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Dunhill Shell 21051 Zulu

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Zulu. It had a taper, vulcanite stem with a white spot. We purchased it from an estate in Oregon City, Oregon, USA 03/21/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 21051. That is followed with stamping on the shank Dunhill Shell [over] Made in England11. The rim has a thick lava coat filling in the sandblast. The cake in the bowl has been trimmed recently but there is still a moderate coating. The inner edge of the rim actually looks quite good with little or no damage or burn marks. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a dullness. There is a deep sandblast showing through the grime. The vulcanite stem is oxidized and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There are some light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rugged sandblast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above.I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 21051 is the shape number for a taper stem Zulu. The Shell stamp refers to the finish. The number 11 following the D of England would give the date the pipe.

Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has the number 11 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4) or (11…39) led me to the section with an 11 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 11 which gives the pipe a date of 1971.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl looked very good and the bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. The stem had an aluminum inner tube in the tenon. It is a nice looking pipe.I cleaned up the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the dust that remained into the sandblast finish. It looked much better.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1971 Dunhill Shell 21051 Zulu with a Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell pipe’s mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell 21051 Zulu is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .74 ounces /21 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Lovely 1965 Dunhill Root Briar PO F/T ¼ Bent Bulldog

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Squat ¼ Bent Bulldog. It had a taper, vulcanite diamond stem with a white spot. We purchased it off eBay from a seller in Jordan, Minnesota, USA on 03/21/2024. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads PO F/T followed by Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in [over] England5. The is followed by 4 in circle followed by an R. The rim top has some lava on the top and thickly caked on the inner edge of the bowl. It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There were oils and grime ground into the smooth finish on the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. There is some great grain showing through the grime. There is some damage to the twin rings around the bowl cap on the right side. The vulcanite stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There were light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. The white spot on the on the left side of the stem was odd – it looked sunken and there was some glue over the top of it. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the spotty lava coat on the rim top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the condition of the stem and the light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the beautiful grain around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. Jeff also took a photo of the damage on the two rings and center ring around the cap on the bowl. It is heavy damage but I will see what I can do with it.He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above. He took a photo of the strange, almost soft white spot on the side of the stem. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/root-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number PO the shape number for a ¼ Bent Bulldog. The F/T stamp is used to designate Fish Tail stem. The Root Briar stamp refers to the smooth finish. The number 5 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The Circle 4R shows it is a Group 4 sized pipe and the R is the designation for a Root Briar. The photo below shows a pipe that is stamped similarly to the one that I am working on. Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a 5 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”.I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with a 5 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 5 which gives the pipe a date of 1965.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Root Briar

Introduced in 1931 and highly prized because the grain is more pronounced in this finish (usually made using Corsican briar – was made exclusively from that briar into the 60s). The Root Briar finish requires a perfectly clean bowl with excellent graining. Therefore, it is the most expensive of the Dunhill pipes. Corsican briar was most often used for the Root finish since it was generally more finely grained. This is a rare finish, due to the scarcity of briar suitable to achieve it. These pipes are normally only available at Company stores, or at Principle Pipe Dealers. Straight grained pipes were formerly graded A through H, but are now only “Dr’s” and graded with one to six stars, with the letters G and H still used for the very finest pieces.

Dunhill introduced its third major finish, the Root finish, in 1931. Corsican mountain briar is characteristically beautifully grained and the Root was made exclusively from that briar into the 1960s. The pipe was finished with a light natural stain to allow the beauty of the graining to show through. Although always available with a traditional black vulcanite bit, the Root was introduced in either 1930 or more likely 1931 and fitted with a marble brown dark and light grained vulcanite bit that has since become known as the ‘bowling ball’ bit because of the similarity in appearance between the bit’s finish and that of some bowling balls of the time. With the war, however, the bowling ball bit was dropped from production. Through 1954 (and after) the Root pipe nomenclature (including shape numbers) was identical to that of the Bruyere except that instead of the “A” of the Bruyere, the Root was stamped with an “R”. In 1952 when the finish rather then LONDON was placed under DUNHILL, ROOT BRIAR rather then BRUYERE was used for the Root. Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs,pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. Whoever had repaired the stem had used a soft substance and wood glue to fill in the white spot. With the cleaning it fell out and when it arrived here was missing. I was in a hurry to get started with that so I filled in the spot with white acrylic and used some clear CA glue to seal it. I forgot to take photos of the stem without the white spot so use your imagination. Other than that the pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was slightly damaged and there was some darkening on the top. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I would need to fix the white spot on the stem.I took a photo of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and it is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I decided to start my restoration work on the pipe by addressing the missing white spot on the stem side. I filled in the hole with some white acrylic nail polish. It dries hard and cures. I filled it in and worked it into the hole. Once it had hardened I scraped off the excess and sanded it with a worn 320 grit sanding pad to remove the excess.Once I smoothed it out I put a drop of clear CA glue on the dot to seal it. When the glue hardened I flattened it out with the 320 sanding pad. It was smooth and hard and looked perfect. I still needed to polish the stem but the base was good.I set the stem aside to cure. I turned my attention to the bowl. I addressed the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the damaged spots on the rim top by lightly topping the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I used an oak stain pen to stain the newly sanded top to match the rest of the bowl. I sanded the bowl and rim top with 3203500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The briar really took on a shine. The rim top matched the rest of the bowl very well. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar 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 and shoe brush to raise the shine. I turned back to the stem and I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This 1965 Dunhill Root Briar PO F/T ¼ Bent Bulldog with Vulcanite taper stem has a beautifully grained Dunhill Root Briar. It has a classic Dunhill Bulldog Shape that is perfect in the hand. The nicks in the twin rings around the bowl cap on the right side are present but not to obvious. The Root Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. The polished vulcanite diamond taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Root Briar PO F/T ¼ Bent Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/3.6 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Refurbishing An Early Butz Choquin “A Metz” Bent Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This pipe too came to me in that lot of 40 pipes purchased from Etsy.fr of which I have restored a few, the ROPP PNEUMATIC being the latest project. This pipe is a large billiard with a swan neck like graceful bend to the shank that extends over to the horn stem. The stummel appears dull and lifeless and yet through this, beautiful cross grains can be faintly made out over the sides of the stummel with bird’s eye grain at the foot. A copper band adorn the shank end with it’s crimped shank end edges covering the shank face. It is stamped over the left shank surface as “BUTZ-CHOQUIN” over “A” over “METZ”. The copper band has minuscule cartouche with some mysterious stampings that are neither visible under bright light nor under magnification.A couple of years ago, I had worked on an early Butz Choquin pipe that was very similarly stamped. I had studied the brand then and also before that when I had refurbished my inherited CHOQUIN PIPE from first era 1858. Given below is the link to the write up on the similarly stamped pipe. For the sake of brevity, I have avoided reproducing the information and implore readers to follow the link for better understanding the brand and establishing the provenance of the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/04/17/restoring-a-beautiful-older-butz-choquin-a-metz-pipe/).

After reading through the material and correlating the dates, I can, with certainty, claim that this pipe (broadly) is from pre 1951 when Berrod- Regad took over Butz Choquin and moved production from Metz to St. Claude as evidenced from the A METZ stamping.

Further narrowing down the period, I strongly feel that this pipe dates to pre 1920. This conclusion is based on the fact that; firstly, the stem and tenon material used is horn and bone respectively which were the preferred material after Amber during this period for making stems as hard rubber/ vulcanite gained prominence during 1920s. Secondly, the round orifice at the stem end was commonly used until 1920s when vulcanite/ hard rubber with elliptical slot end gained prominence subsequently. Thirdly, use of cork lining inside the mortise to firmly seat the bone tenon in to the mortise.

Any inputs and corrections to my above understanding are solicited and encouraged. Such healthy discussions not only promote interaction between us but also enhance knowledge about pipes and establishing its provenance by sharing information.

Initial Visual Inspection
The elegant swan neck shape of the shank that extends into the stem is the USP of this pipe. The chamber appears to have an even thin layer of cake that appears to have been meticulously maintained by the previous owner. There are a few minor dings to both the inner and outer rim edges. The stummel boasts of beautiful cross grains over the surface with bird’s eye grains at the foot of the stummel. The briar looks dull and lifeless. The mortise has residual old oils and gunk making the draw hard. The horn stem with bone tenon is dull, dry and shows signs of beginnings of cracks over the surface. Both the tenon and orifice slot are clogged with old tars and grime. This one will require a ton of work to spruce it up to its former glory. Following pictures should provide a better understanding of the condition of the pipe before I begin my work. Detailed Visual Inspection
The first impression that I got at a glance of the chamber was an even well maintained layer of cake with practically no darkening of the rim surface or accumulation of carbon overflow. This definitely was either a well cared for pipe or the seller had done so for bargaining a better price. There a few dings on the right and left side of the outer rim edge (encircled in blue). The inner rim edge is intact save for some very minor divots that should be easily addressed with a couple of passes of a piece of 180 grit sandpaper along the edge. The rim top is nicely even and clean, requiring no topping, which I tend to avoid as much as possible. The stummel is dull, lifeless and lacklustre. Under all the dullness and poor appearance, lurks some beautiful cross grains and bird’s eye over the feet of the stummel awaiting exposure. The stummel has developed a deep dark patina from all the years of smoking and handling. There is one fill (encircled in yellow) that would need to be refreshed. Also a couple of minor divots (encircled in red) mark the stummel surface. The mortise is chock-a-block with old oils, tars and gunk and this leads me to the conclusion that it was the seller who had reamed the cake and cleaned the rim surface to ask for a better price. The copper band at the shank end is dull and covered in dust, grime and oxidation. The first issue that I noticed on close examination of the stem surface were a number of cracks all over the upper and lower surfaces. I drew out my magnifying glass and had a hard look at the cracks under bright light. Thankfully, almost all of these cracks were minor and very superficial, save for a few (encircled in red) over the upper surface and would need to be addressed. These cracks are caused because of drying of the horn material due to lack of usage and hot weather conditions. These cracks would need to be stabilized, repaired and hydrated. There are deep tooth indentations in the bite zone, very close to the button edges on either surface of the stem. The long bone tenon has darkened considerably and is covered in grime with the opening showing accumulation of oils, tars and gunk. This condition is similar at the orifice slot. The seating of the stem in to the mortise is very loose. The Restoration Process
The process of this restoration started with stem repairs. I first cleaned the stem airway by running a few hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol followed by further cleaning with anti oil dish washing soap and thin shank brushes. The pipe cleaners pictured below and the gunk that was removed while cleaning with the shank brushes of which pictures were not clicked, tell a story of how dirty the stem internals were. I continued cleaning of the stem air way till white foam was seen coming out from the air way. I also scrubbed the stem surface with a Scotch Brite pad and soap. The next step was to stabilize the cracks on the top surface of the stem. Using a 1 mm drill bit mounted on a hand held rotary tool, I drilled counter holes at the start and end points of these cracks. These counter holes prevent the further expansion of the cracks in either directions. I filled these holes, cracks and the tooth indentations in the bite zone with CA superglue and set it aside for the glue to harden. I was still sometime away from hitting the sack and with the stem set aside for the repairs to cure; I decided to work the stummel. I began with reaming the chamber with size 1 head followed by size 2 head of the PipNet reamer. The heap of dislodged carbon did surprise me as I had anticipated a far less cake formation along the walls. I further scraped the chamber walls with my fabricated knife to remove the remaining carbon deposits where the reamer head could not reach. Once the cake was reamed back to the bare briar, I used a 220 grit sand paper to remove all the traces of remaining cake and also to smooth out the inner walls of the chamber surface. Finally, to remove the residual carbon dust, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. The chamber walls are solid without any heat lines or fissures.While I was handling the bowl, the copper band at the shank end came loose and it was then that I saw the cork lining along the walls of the mortise that was in place to ensure a snug fit of the long bone tenon in to the mortise. This cork lining has dried and needs to be revitalized. This lining also means that I would have to be careful while I clean the mortise so as not to erode and break the cork thus disturbing the seating of the stem.As observed above, the mortise is completely clogged with old oils, tars and ash resulting in a very hard and laborious draw. This was the issue that I addressed next. Using dental tools and fabricated poker, I scraped out the entire gunk from the walls of the mortise taking care that the cork lining is not damaged in the process. I used the drill bit from the Kleen Reem to remove and open up the shank airway. It was a tedious and time consuming work, but well worth the caution and efforts. The heap of crud extracted from the shank confirms the reason for the hard and laborious draw. I ran a few hard and regular pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol through the mortise and airway to remove residual gunk. The mortise is now clean with a much better open and easy draw. I shall continue with the cleaning process when I clean the stummel surface.The last agenda for the night was the external cleaning of the bowl and further internal cleaning of the mortise. I cleaned the external surface with a hard-bristled toothbrush and concentrated Murphy’s oil soap. I scrubbed the rim top and stummel surface with the soap and Scotch Brit pad. I rinsed the stummel under warm running water and dried it with paper towels and soft cotton cloth. The grains are now clearly visible and awaiting a nice polish to pop out. This cleaning also brought a few dents and scratches over the stummel surface and outer rim edge to the fore that would need to be addressed and the fill observed near the foot has loosened that would need to be refreshed. I extended my work time for a while and cleaned out the shank internals. I cleaned the shank walls by scrubbing it with shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap while being careful around the cork! The bowl is now clean and fresh. I set the bowl aside to dry under a heat lamp.The next evening with the stummel now dry and the stem repairs completely cured, I had the option of either working on the stummel or the stem. There was this small step that was needed to address the fill that required to be refreshed and that is where I began. With sharp dental tool, I removed the old fill and cleaned the area with alcohol. Next, I mixed briar dust with CA superglue to form putty and applied this mix over the area to be filled. I set the stummel aside for an hour or so for the mix to harden, which is almost instantaneous over the surface.I set the stummel aside and worked on the stem repairs next. The repairs had completely hardened and all that needed to be done was to blend in these repairs with the rest of the stem surface. I began by sanding the fills with a flat needle file to achieve a rough match followed by sanding the entire stem with a worn folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. The button edges were also evened out and sharpened during the process. The fills will be further blended during the polishing cycle using various grit sandpapers and micromesh pads. I applied a generous layer of EVO and massaged it in to the horn stem to hydrate it and set it aside for the oil to be absorbed into the horn.Using the same tools and sandpaper, I blend in the stummel fill with the rest of the briar surface. This blending of the fill will be further fine-tuned when I sand the stummel surface with 220 grit sandpaper to address the issue of dings and scratches over the surface.I addressed the dents and dings to the outer rim edge by creating a bevel with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper pinched between fingers and running them evenly over the outer edge surface. I am quite happy with the appearance of the bowl with the bevelled outer rim. Next, I cleaned the copper ferrule at the shank end with “Pitambari”, a powder that is available all across India that is used to clean and shine brass, copper and silver ware. This compound is a very fine powder and is least abrasive with fantastic results. The band is now a nice shining piece and will provide a nice contrast between the shining horn stem and the dark brown stummel. I attached the band at the shank end with all-purpose glue.The next step was to sand the entire stummel surface with sandpaper to remove the scratches and dings that are visible. I used a well worn piece of 180 grit sandpaper to sand the surface. The sanding marks that are now visible will not be so once the bowl is subjected to polishing regime with micromesh pads and compounds. There are a couple of dings and scratches that are still visible, but I shall let them be as part of the pipe’s century old existence! I followed it by wet sanding the entire stummel with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads, wiping frequently with a moist cloth to check the progress. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” deep in to the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful grain patterns displayed in their complete splendor. The contrast of the dark browns of the Bird’s eye and cross grains with the natural patina of the rest of the stummel adds an interesting dimension to the appearance of the stummel which cannot be sufficiently described in words and be rather seen in person. I really like the looks of the stummel at this point in restoration. The grains and the clean lines of this piece of briar is really appreciable. With the stummel set aside, I polished the stem by wet sanding, starting with 400 and progressing through 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sandpapers. I rubbed a good amount of EVO in to the stem surface and set it aside to be absorbed.A few hours later, I wiped the stem surface with paper towels and began the polishing cycle using micromesh pads. I wet sanded the stem surface going through 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I set the stem aside after rubbing it down with EVO again.To complete the restoration, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and polished the stummel and stem with Blue Diamond compound. This compound helps to remove the minor scratch marks that remain from the sanding. With another cotton buffing wheel that I have earmarked for carnauba wax, I applied several coats of the wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is ready to join my collection. I only wish it could share with me its life story of the past years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it or maybe an English blend or maybe just keep admiring it! Big thank you to all the readers who have joined me on this path by reading this write up as I restored and completed this project.

Pipe Gods Smiled and I Got Not One But Three Les Wood Pipes…Restoring the Last of the Three Les Wood Pipes; a Smooth Bent Bulldog “Reo”

4 Replies

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

With this write up, I have reached a personal statistical milestone of 200th contribution on rebornpipes.com, a journey that I was encouraged to embark upon, helped and supported at each hurdle by my Guru, mentor and now a dear friend, Steve and without whom I would have remained alienated from this fantastic world of pipe repairs, restorations and pipe collection.

So, thank you Steve for making this platform available to me for learning and enjoying myself! And now, back to the pipe on my work table!

I had purchased three Les Wood pipes from a gentleman and had restored two of the three pipes and have added it to my personal collection. Given below is the link to the first write up posted on Reborn pipes and is a recommended read to know how I came to be in possession of this lot and brief research on husband wife duo of Leslie Wood and Dolly and the pipes they make.

https://rebornpipes.com/2022/08/05/pipe-gods-smiled-and-i-got-not-one-but-three-les-wood-pipes-restoring-a-les-wood-poker/

Below is the link to the second Les Wood pipe that I have refurbished and added to my personal collection. I would request you to read through the write up as the stampings are totally at a variance from those seen on the Les Wood Poker pipe.

https://rebornpipes.com/2023/07/15/pipe-gods-smiled-and-i-got-not-one-but-three-les-wood-pipes-restoring-second-of-the-three-les-wood-pipes-a-bark-silver-spigot/

The third pipe from this lot of Les Wood pipe is a large smooth bent pipe in classic English bulldog shape in dark brown and red color. The pipe oozes very high quality briar and a well cut handmade vulcanite stem, all in the hallmark of a Les Wood pipe! The pipe is stamped on the lower panel of the square shank with three stars one below the other on the far left side. It is followed by “FERNDOWN” in an arch over “REO”, all in block capital letters. These stampings are followed by “HAND MADE IN” over “ENGLAND” over “LES WOOD” towards the sterling silver shank end band. The Sterling silver band bears the stamp “L & JS” in a rectangular cartouche over “.925”. The vulcanite saddle stem is stamped on the left side of the saddle as “LJS”. In addition to the information that I have assimilated while working on the two Les Wood pipes above, I would like to reproduce the following snippet of information from pipedia.org

To many pipe smokers, Les Wood’s pipes embody the revival of great English pipe making initiated by Ashton in the early 1980s. The high-grade Italian and Spanish plateau he prefers is oil-cured in the tradition of both Dunhill and Ashton. The pipes are renowned for their pleasant, slightly nutty flavor and remarkable smoking characteristics. They feature impeccable craftsmanship extending to very good stem/bit work, though many pipes are often a bit heavier. The hallmark of his work, of course, is the excellent silver work. Almost all of his pipes feature rings or ferules for spigot stems. Grading is by finish: “Bark” (ca. 90%, rusticated, dark brown and black), “Antique Bark” (tan rusticated), “Reo” (brown and red, smooth), “Root” (orange, smooth), and “Tudor Root” (orange and brown smooth) and by size (one to four stars). He also designates straight grains with SG.

Due to the vagaries of international trademark law, he sold his earlier pipes as ” L.&J.S Briars”, “Ellwood”, “Les Wood” or “L. Wood”. Until recently, an average of 1500 – 2000 pipes a year were sold as “Ferndown” — named for the mansion he lives in — in the UK and US, but as “L. Wood” pipes in Germany.

Thus, from the above, the pipe currently on my work table is an early Les Wood pipe made in US/ UK and is one of 10% smooth pipe made in that year.

Initial Visual Inspection
The pipe is heavy! That’s the first thing that I noticed, heavier than even the Poker that I had restored earlier. The finish is dark and dull with dust and grime ground in to the surface. There is some darkening of the rim top surface, more noticeably towards the back of the rim in 6 ‘O’ clock direction. The rim edges are sans any damage. There is a thick layer of cake inside the chamber with a wad of unburnt tobacco at the heel of the chamber. The hand cut, high quality vulcanite stem is deeply oxidized with some very light bite marks in the bite zone. The mortise has some serious accumulation of old oils and tars that needs to be cleaned. There are serious ghost smells emanating from the chamber and the mortise. Overall, with some TLC, this pipe should regain its former glory when it first left Ferndown Mansion. Detailed Visual Inspection
The chamber has a thin layer of cake with some unburnt residual tobacco at the heel of the bowl. However, if my experiences of working on two previous Ferndown from this same estate are anything to go by, then I think the cake layer is thick, but evenly maintained. The chamber smells a rather strong fragrant hinting at being used to smoke English blend or an aromatic. The rim top surface is clean, smooth and even and so are the rim edges. I do not envisage any issues related to heat lines/ fissures along the chamber walls. The stummel surface is covered in a layer of dust and grime giving the surface a dull and lackluster appearance. From underneath this grime, a mix of bird’s eye swirls and cross grains can be seen that waits to be brought to the fore. The twin rings separating the cap of the stummel from rest of the bowl is without any nicks/ chips/ dents or dings. The mortise shows presence of some oils and tars, but should be easily cleaned. The Sterling Silver band is deeply oxidized and tarnished at places. Once cleaned and polished, this band will add a nice classy bling to the appearance of the pipe. The beautiful vulcanite stem is hand cut and oozes very high quality of material use and also craftsmanship of highest quality. The stem is oxidized with very minor tooth chatter and bite marks seen in the bite zone on both the upper and lower surfaces of the stem. These tooth chatter and tooth indentation should be easily addressed by heating the affected areas to raise the vulcanite and thereafter sanding it down to match the rest of the stem surface. The tenon end and the horizontal slot end show very minor traces of accumulation of dried gunk and grime.The Restoration Process
I started the refurbishing of this Les Wood by working the stem first. Since there were other stems that were ready to be put into the stem deoxidizer solution, I decided to clean the internals of this stem first so that it could be put in the solution with other stems. I cleaned the stem airway with a thin shank brush and anti-oil soap. I used a sharp dental tool to clean the horizontal slot and further cleaned the internals with regular and bristled pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol.The stem was immersed in the Deoxidizer solution, a product that has been developed by Mark Hoover. This solution helps raise the stem oxidation to the surface thus helping in easy removal and subsequently imparting a nice shine to the stem after polishing cycle. The pipe is indicated with a red arrow. The stem is allowed to soak into this solution overnight.The pipe next to the one indicated in the picture above, is also a Ferndown which is the next pipe in line. This one is a NOS un-smoked pipe that too came from the same gentleman’s collection as these three Les Wood pipes and was the last one that he intended to pass on to his family members. However, for reasons best known to the gent, he voluntarily offered the pipe to me at the price which I had first quoted for the very first Les Wood from his collection. I could sense a feeling of sadness in his communication and I made him a payment without further queries. The pipe made its way to me as I worked on the REO.

Now it was time for me to work on the stummel. I did this by first reaming the chamber with size 3 and 4 PipNet reamer heads. I further scraped the chamber walls with my fabricated knife to remove the remaining carbon deposits where the reamer head could not reach. Once the cake was reamed back to the bare briar, I used a piece of 220 grit sand paper to remove all the traces of remaining cake and also to smoothen out the inner walls of the chamber surface. Finally, to remove the residual carbon dust, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. The huge pile of carbon dust that was reamed out is an indication enough to the amount of carbon that had accumulated in the chamber while the smaller heap is that of the un-burnt tobacco from the chamber. The chamber walls are solid without any heat lines or fissures. I further cleaned the mortise by scrapping out the dried gunk with a dental tool. I ran a few pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol to moisten the dried gunk and assist in its removal. I shall further continue the internal cleaning of the chamber and mortise with cotton and alcohol soak.I continued the cleaning of the chamber and shank internals with a salt and alcohol bath. I use cotton balls which is an at par substitute to Kosher salt as I have realized over the years. I draw out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; insert it in to the mortise and through the draught hole in to the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the inner rim edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next morning, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. With the internal cleaning now completed, I undertook the cleaning of the external surface. I wiped the surface with Murphy’s oil soap on a cotton pad and further cleaned it with a wet cotton swab to remove all the soap from the surface and wiped it dry with paper towels and cotton cloth. The usual process that I follow while cleaning the external surface is to scrub the stummel with oil soap and rinse under running warm water. However, in this case, I was keen to preserve the stain and finish to max extent possible and hence the slight modification to the process. I further dried the surface with a heat gun to ensure that there is no moisture in the surface. My exuberance to see the shine and gloss that this pipe is capable of, thanks to the processes employed by Les Wood’s wife; I decided to continue with the stummel refurbishment. I dry sand the surface with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads, wiping frequently with a dry soft cotton cloth to check the progress made. Once the micromesh polish cycle was completed, I massaged a small quantity of ‘Before and After Restoration Balm’ in to briar surface and set it aside for few minutes. Once the briar was rejuvenated, I hand buffed the stummel with a microfiber cloth to a deep and luxurious shine. It was here that I noticed that all the cleaning of the stummel had left the finish over the rim surface a bit splotchy and light. Using a dark brown wood stain pen, I stained the rim top surface and set it aside for the stain to set.Now that the internal and external cleaning of the stummel was nearly done and also the stem had now been soaking for more than 24 hours, I removed the stem from the solution. I first scrubbed the stem surface with a Scotch Brite pad, always being mindful of the stem logo on the left side. I followed this scrubbing with a nice cleaning of the surface using a 0000 grade steel wool. I rinsed the stem under running water to rid the stem of the thick deoxidizer solution. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners to remove any residual deoxidizer solution from the airway.To address the minor tooth chatter on either surface, I heated the bite zone with the flame of a soft flame lighter. The heat from the lighter expands the vulcanite and fills up the tooth chatter. The results are not always perfect, but in this instance, the results are very satisfactory.I followed it up by wet sanding the entire stem surface using320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and finally with a piece of 2000 grit sand paper. This progressive sanding with higher grit sandpapers serves to reduce the sanding marks of the more abrasive sand papers. I also sharpened the button edges while sanding. I wiped the stem with a moist cotton swab to remove all the oxidation and sanding dust from the surface. I applied a little Extra Virgin Olive oil over the stem and set it aside to be absorbed by the vulcanite.With a jeweller’s cloth, I polished the sterling silver band at the shank end to a nice shine.On the way to complete the project, I polished the stem and stummel surface with White Diamond. Next, I replaced the buffing wheel on the rotary tool with the one that has been earmarked for Blue diamond compound and polished the entire pipe. I like the way the pipe is polishing up at this stage. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I applied a coat of carnauba wax and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mounted a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks beautiful and is ready to be added to my personal collection of pipes. P.S.: The finished pipe has a fantastic glass like shine which has been a hallmark finish from Dolly and the pipe looks very beautiful. This entire project has been very close to my heart for a reason and shall find a place of pride in my Les Wood collection.

I wish to thank readers of rebornpipes.com who have spared their valuable time in reading through this work. I look forward to your comments and suggestions for improvements. I wish to make a mention of one follower of Reborn Pipes who had been regularly in touch. However, since last month there has been no communication. If you are reading this blog my friend, a simple message of your well-being will be highly appreciated. Cheers…

Restoring a Dunhill 156F/T Shell Briar Made in England 7 Bent Billiard and a Fishtail Stem

Leave a reply

Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Bent Billiard. It had a taper, vulcanite fishtail stem with a white spot. We purchased it from an estate sale in Oregon City, Oregon, USA on 03/21/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 156 F/T. That is followed with stamping on the shank Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. Next to that is stamped by Made in [over] England7. The pipe has a Sterling Silver repair band on the shank with a crack visible on the underside of the shank. The rim has a thick lava coat filling in the sandblast. It is from the overflowing cake in the bowl. It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. There is a deep sandblast showing through the grime. The vulcanite stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There were light tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl, the ream marks on the top portion of the bowl and the lava coat filling in the sandblast on the rim top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rugged sandblast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above.I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 156 the shape number for a taper stem Bent Billiard. The F/T stamp is used to designate Fish Tail stem. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The number 7 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The Sterling Silver band is stamped Sterling Silver. The photo shows a pipe that is stamped similarly to the one that I am working on.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a 7 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The third column (suffix 5…9) led me to the section with a 7 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 7 which gives the pipe a date of 1967.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs,pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was slightly damaged and out of round. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe. I sanded the inside of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge. I stained the sanded edge with a Mahogany stain pen to blend it into the surrounding briar surface. It looked much better.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with Soft Scrub Cleanser and cotton pads to remove the remaining oxidation. It looked better once I finished.I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further remove the oxidation remaining and tooth chatter on the surface. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1967 Dunhill Shell Briar 156 F/T Bent Billiard Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 156 F/T Bent Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.38 ounces/40 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Cleaning up one of my restorations from many years ago

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I have always liked the GBD 9438 shaped pipe and this one was one of the first that I picked up many years ago when I first started working on pipes. I found it at an antique shop. It was in the early days when I picked up most every pipe I found. I believe that like others I found in the early days this pipe cost me about $6CDN. Just remembering that reminds me how much things have changed over the years. It became a favourite shape of mine and over the years I have purchased many more 9438 pipes made by GBD for their main and their seconds lines such as Irwin and Dr. Plumb. I have added them to my collection. Here is a link to a blog I did on my collection back in 2013 (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/12/12/my-gbd-9438-saddle-stems-and-tapered-stem-rhodesians/). I have 12 – some were in rough shape and others not so bad. I have been sorting through my pipe collection and thinning out pipes that I am willing to part with. I have sold many already and others are currently on the store. For the most part these pipes have been early restorations and all need a bit of work to bring them up to my current standard. I have set aside three 9438 pipes that I decided to rework. The first of them is stamped on the left side Dr. Plumb [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped London England [over] 943810. While it was very workable and I had actually smoked it quite a bit over the years I knew that original restoration on it was less rigorous than my current standards. So, before I listed it for sale I wanted to work it over again. I took photos of the pipe to give a sense of the beauty and the work that needed to be done. I took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the moderate cake in the bowl and some damage to the inner edge of the bowl. There was also burn damage on the rim top and darkening on the rear and front right top of the bowl. I also took photos to capture the condition of the stem. You can see in the first photo below the dark dot on the top of the saddle. It was originally a Dr. Plumb style logo but over time it had darkened. Fortunately, I am not a biter or stem chewer so there were no deep tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem. There was some oxidation on the vulcanite stem and some chatter around the button.I took photos of the stamping on each side of the shank. It is readable and clear as noted above.I took the stem off the shank and took a photo of the look of the pipe. It really is a beauty.I decided to address the damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. To deal with the burned inner edge of the rim and the rim top damage I lightly topped it on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper on a wooden ball to give the rim top a light bevel. It took a bit of work to smooth out the damage and lightly bevel the inner edge of the bowl. I used a Cherry stain pen to restain the rim top and begin the process of blending it in. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to take out the cake. I removed ti back to bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth out the walls. It looked very good. No burn damage or checking on the bowl walls.I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. The shank was dirty though the stem airway was not too bad. It cleaned up well. I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge and start the polishing of the bowl. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar 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 and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem. It was in good condition other than the light tooth chatter so I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Dr. Plumb London Made 943810 Bent Rhodesian cleaned up much better this second time around and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dr. Plumb London Made Rhodesian 943810 fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.76 ounces/50 grams. I will be adding this one to the British Pipemakers Section of the rebornpipes store shortly. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

New Life for a 1961 Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard 4S

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a sandblast Dunhill Billiard. It had a taper, vulcanite stem with a white spot. We purchased it from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark 02/02/2024. The pipe is stamped on the heel of the bowl and on the underside of the shank. On the heel of the bowl it is stamped with the shape number 252. That is followed with stamping on the shank Dunhill [over] Shell Briar. That is followed by Made in [over] England1. There is a 4 in a circle and an S which speak of the size of the pipe being a Group 4 and the finish S a Shell Briar. The rim has a thick lava coat filling in the sandblast. It is from the overflowing cake in the bowl. It is hard to assess the condition of the inner edge of the rim due to the cake and lava overflow. There were oils and grime ground into the bowl sides gives the finish a flat look. There is a deep sandblast showing through the grime. The vulcanite stem is oxidized, calcified, and dirty with grime and grit on the surface. There were scratches and some deep tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. I have included them below. He took photos of the pipe’s bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava coat overflowing onto the top. It is another dirty pipe. He also took photos to capture the tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rugged sandblast around the bowl and the amount of grime ground into the surface of the briar. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable as noted above. I wanted to unpack the Dunhill stamping on the shank and work to understand each element of the stamp. I generally use the Pipephil site to gather as much initial information as possible (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/shell-briar1.html). The stamping is interpreted as follows: The number 252 is the shape number for a taper stem Billiard. The Shell Briar stamp refers to the finish. The superscript 1 following the D of England would give the date the pipe. The 4S is the size of the pipe and the finish. The photo below is of the stamping on a Don shape but the stamping is similar on this one.Pipephil also has some helpful dating keys on the site that are basically flow charts that you can walk through to date your pipe (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1.html). I turned to Part 1 of the Dating Key and followed the chart. This pipe has a superscript 30 following the D in England. There was no patent number so that took me to the section on the chart below (column one) which instructed me that the pipe could be dated as being made “posterior to 1954”. I followed the link under “Your pipe is posterior to 1954. Narrow down your dating”. That took me to Page 2 of the dating key (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html). The second column (suffix 1…4) or (11…39) led me to the section with a 1 after the D in England. There was a directive for dating the pipe spelled out as follows: 1960 + suffix 1 which gives the pipe a date of 1961.I then turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Shell Briar to get a bit of background on the Dunhill finishes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish (usually made using Algerian briar) – the color of the stain used has varied over the years. Although there is some doubt as to them being the first to sandblast pipes, Dunhill’s Shell pipes, and the sandblasting techniques developed to create them are considered one of Dunhill’s greatest and most lasting contributions to the art of pipe making.

The documented history of Dunhill’s inception of the Shell is largely limited to patent applications — there are no catalog pages or advertisements promoting blasted pipes at the time. The preliminary work on the English patent (No. 1484/17) was submitted on October 13, 1917. The patent submission was completed half a year later, on April 12, 1918, followed by the granting of the English patent on October 14, 1918. This was less than a month before the end of The Great War on November 11th.

In 1986 Dunhill released a line of premium Shell finish pipes – “RING GRAIN”. These are high-quality straight grain pipes which are sandblasted. Initially only Ring Grain, but now in two different finishes. In 1995 the “Shilling” was introduced with Cumberland finish – it is an extremely rare series. These pipes exhibit a deeper blast characteristic of that of the 1930’s – mid-1960’s (and the limited ‘deep blast’ pipes of the early 1980s) and show a fine graining pattern. These are considered the best new Dunhills by many enthusiasts today and are very rare. The finish is sometimes described as tasting like vanilla at first, with the taste becoming more normal or good as the pipe breaks in.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done an amazing cleanup of the pipe. He reamed the light cake with a PipNet reamer and cleaned up that with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the internals of the bowl and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs,pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the externals with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed the bowl off with running water. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe stem Deoxidizer and once it had soaked rinsed it off with warm water to remove the residual solution. He dried it off and rubbed it down to remove any oxidation that was still on the stem. The pipe looked very good when I received it. I took a photo of the rim top to show the condition. It looks pretty good with the tars and oils removed from the rim top. The inner edge of the bowl was slightly damaged and out of round. The bowl itself was very clean. The stem came out looking quite good with deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The photo shows the stamping and is actually more readable in person. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe parts to show what I was working with. It is a nice looking pipe.I sanded the inside of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge. I stained the sanded edge with a Walnut stain pen to blend it into the surrounding briar surface. It looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter. I was able to lift the marks on the stem top leaving light marks but the ones on the bottom side were much deeper and the flame lifted them slightly but they still remained. I filled in the marks that remained with clear CA glue. Once the repair cured I flattened the repair with a small file. It looked much better. I cleaned up the repairs with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to flatten them and blend them in very well with the surface of the vulcanite. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This 1961 Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard Vulcanite taper stem has a beautiful, unique Dunhill Sandblast finish that is very deep and craggy. The Shell Briar mixed brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique sandblast that Dunhill specialized in making. The polished vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Dunhill Shell Briar 252 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.23 ounces/.35 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the English Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Nicely Grained Churchill 999 Imported Briar Pot

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a text from Robert about restoring three pipes his brother had found in Eastern New York. There were two Kaywoodies and a Churchill. The Kaywoodies included a small apple stamped Campus and an octagonal pipe stamped Kaywoodie Standard. The Churchill was a 999 Pot shaped pipe. He sent along two photos of the pipes. You can see the condition of the three pipes. They are dirty and worn. The last pipe in the photo, the Campus has what appears to be a broken shank and a potential repair. It looks to be poorly done. Robert said that he was fairly certain that the stem was glued onto the shank with the repair. On Saturday he brought the pipes by for me to look at. I now had three more pipes to clean up and repair. The Churchill 999 Pot and the Kaywoodie Standard Oxagonal 44 Apple were dirty but were in good repair. I had finished the little KW Campus repair and the pipe looked good (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/21/repairing-and-restoring-a-kaywoodie-campus-apple/). I also cleaned up the second Kaywoodie, the Octagonal Apple and it looked good. Here is the link to that blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/22/restoring-a-kaywoodie-standard-octagonal-44-apple/). There was a moderate cake in the bowl with tobacco debris. There was a coat of lava on the rim top that was quite thick and the inner edge showed some damage. The outer edge looked very good. The finish was dirty but otherwise showed some nice grain underneath. The stamping on the pipe is very simple. On the left side of the shank it is stamped Churchill’s arched over 999 with Imported Briar underneath. The stem was very oxidized and there was light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The stem was also plugged with tars and debris in the slot and airway was narrowed down.

I have worked on several Churchill pipes over the years and have done research on the brand when I worked on them. Here is a link to one of them that I had worked on. Here is the link to the blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/09/08/churchills-bent-pot/). I am including that information below.I am fairly certain that the pipe came from Churchill’s Tobacco Shop in Norwich, England. I found the following information on the Pipes and Logos website http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c4.html On the site there is a small paragraph which I have copied as follows: “Churchill’s Tobacco shop is situated in St Andrew’s Street at the corner of Bridewell Alley in Norwich, England. The shop was next to a church and at the bottom of two hills, and that’s how it became “Churchill’s”. Former manager: John Elvin (retired on May, 31 2008). Current owner (2008): Keith Garrard.” I have included these pictures from that website as they show the stamping on both the shank and stem that is identical to the pipe that I have just refurbished.According to the Churchill’s website it is the last remaining specialist tobacconist in Norwich, originally standing at 32 St Andrews Street for over 23 years. http://www.churchillsofnorwich.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=1 The site also notifies the shop’s clients that Keith Garrard, who had a wealth of knowledge and was an avid pipe and cigar smoker himself, passed away on 23rd March 2012. His wife Coral continues to maintain the business in his honour.

I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the worktable. I wanted to show the general condition of the pipe before I started my work on it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The rim top appears to be good under the lava. The stem is dirty and heavily oxidized as noted and light tooth marks are on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show the condition of both more closely. The rim top and the inner and outer edges of the bowl heavily cake in lava and you can see the marks on the inner bowl edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the oxidation and the light tooth marks on the stem surface. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem for the shank and took a photo of the bowl and stem to give a picture of what it looked like. Now it is time to clean up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and the second cutting head. It cleaned up most of the cake. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and cleaned up the remaining cake leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grip sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I smoothed out the bowl walls and they looked very good. There was no heat damage or checking on the walls. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It works exceptionally well to remove unwanted oils from the briar and also the grime on the rim and the bowl sides. I rinsed it in warm water while scrubbing with the tooth brush. The pipe looks very good at this point. The rim top is clean enough to know the condition it is in and what I need to do to deal with it. There are scratches and nicks on the rim top and they are very visible now that the lava has been removed. I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.
I gently topped the bowl to remove the damage on the rim top and to minimize it on the rear edge where the most damage was. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper.There was some damage and wear on the front outer edge of the bowl. Built it up with CA glue and briar dust to fill in the damage. I smoothed out the damage with 220 grit sandpaper and reshaped it to follow the flow of the bowl. I sanded it further with 320 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair. It really started to look very good.I touched up the stain on the rim top and on the front of the bowl with a Walnut stain pen. It is a little streaky at this point. It will work better when I finish the sanding and polishing of the rim and bowl.I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge and start the polishing of the bowl. I used 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar 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 and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I scrubbed the stem oxidation with Soft Scrub and cotton pads. I was able to remove the majority of the oxidation. Then, I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point. To remove the remnants of oxidation from the vulcanite I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.The stem was in good condition so I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Churchill 999 Imported Briar Pot cleaned up really well and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Churchill 999 Pot fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. I know Robert is going to enjoy this last pipe of the three once I return them to him. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Standard Octagonal 44 Apple

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a text from Robert about restoring three pipes his brother had found in Eastern New York. There were two Kaywoodies and a Churchill. The Kaywoodies included a small apple stamped Campus and an octagonal pipe stamped Kaywoodie Standard. The Churchill 999 Pot shaped pipe. He sent along two photos of the pipes. You can see the condition of the three pipes. They are dirty and worn. The last pipe in the photo, the Campus has what appears to be a broken shank and a potential repair. It looks to be poorly done. Robert said that he was fairly certain that the stem was glued onto the shank with the repair. On Saturday he brought the pipes by for me to look at. I now had three more pipes to clean up and repair. The Churchill 999 Pot and the Kaywoodie Standard Oxagonal 44 Apple were dirty but were in good repair. I had finished the little KW Campus repair and the pipe looked good (https://rebornpipes.com/2024/04/21/repairing-and-restoring-a-kaywoodie-campus-apple/). I looked second Kaywoodie, the Octagonal Apple over carefully and this is what I saw. There was a thick cake in the bowl with tobacco debris. There was a coat of lava on the rim top that was quite thick but the inner edge looked very good. The outer edge had some damage on the back side above the shank bowl union. The finish was dirty but otherwise showed some nice grain underneath. The stem was dirty with light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button.

Dal had worked on a Kaywoodie Standard, but shape 33 and done a fair bit of research on the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/03/23/new-life-for-a-kaywoodie-standard-apple-for-a-special-pipe-woman/). I have included the link above if you would like to read it. I have copied the pertinent portion on the 2 digit shape numbers and dating of the pipe below.

The next picture in this set shows the Kaywoodie shape number ‘33’ on the right flank of the shank which points to the designation of a ‘Large Apple’ from the US production of Kaywoodie pipes (LINK).  According to this discussion on Tapatalk.com, the 2-digit system, employed from 1927 to 1972 when the system was changed to a 3-digit system, was when pipe production (for Kaywoodie, Yello-Bole and Medico) was moved to the Medico factory in Richmond Hill Queens NY as plans for new plant were in process.  The 3-digit numbers was used during this period for all Kaywoodie and Medico pipes, from 1972 to 1980.  The same article indicated that the 2-digit numbers were only for Kaywoodies produced in the US – that Kaywoodie of London (Cadogan) had their own three-digit system.  Putting all the information together, this Kaywoodie Apple is most likely a 1960s vintage.  According to the Kaywoodie Discussion at MyFreeForum the ‘Standard’ line of Kaywoodie started in the 1950s, but with the 2 digit shape number and the 3 hole stinger, the evidence points to the 1960s dating.

I included a portion of the shape number chart from Pipedia and the link to the chart as well (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers). I did a screen capture of the section with the shape 44 number. It is interesting in that the shape was available for only a few years – 1965 to 1970. That helps narrow down the date on the pipe I am working on. It also identifies it as an Octagon Apple.I also have included a portion of a chart with the pipe line names and the approximate date of manufacture below (https://pipedia.org/images/3/3d/Kaywoodie_Pipe_Names.pdf). It identifies the date of the Standard line production between 1950 and the present.I learned that the line was introduced in 1950 and the specific shape I had in hand was made between 1965 and 1970. The tenon/stinger was a typical Drinkless type and was threaded to screw into the fitment in the shank. From that I knew that I was working on an older pipe.

I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the worktable. I wanted to show the general condition of the pipe before I started my work on it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. The damage on the back edge of the rim top is also visible. The stem is dirty and lightly oxidized as noted and light tooth marks are on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show the condition of both more closely. The rim top and the inner and outer edges of the bowl heavily cake in lava and you can see the marks on the back outer edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the general dullness of the stem and the light tooth marks on the stem surface. I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. The right side has the shape number but it is almost filled in with dirt. It is still readable but I could not capture it in a photo. I removed the stem for the shank and took a photo of the bowl and stem to give a picture of what it looked like.Now it is time to clean up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and the second cutting head. It cleaned up most of the cake. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and cleaned up the remaining cake leaving bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grip sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I smoothed out the bowl walls and they looked very good. There was no heat damage or checking on the walls. I scrubbed out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned up the stinger with pipe cleaners, cotton pads and alcohol.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It works exceptionally well to remove unwanted oils from the briar and also the grime on the rim and the bowl sides. I rinsed it in warm water while scrubbing with the tooth brush. The pipe looks very good at this point. The rim top is clean enough to know the condition it is in and what I need to do to deal with it. I gently topped the bowl to remove the damage on the rim top and to minimize it on the rear edge where the most damage was. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper.I repaired the outer edge of the rim at the back with clear CA glue and briar dust. I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to start blending the repair into the rest of the briar. It was smooth to touch and did not stand out as a dark repair.I sanded the bowl and rim top to clean up the damage and repairs to the edge using 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It really began to take on a shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar 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 and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter. I filled in the deep tooth marks with black CA glue. Once it cured I sanded it flat to the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point. To blend the repairs into the surface of the vulcanite I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine. The stem was in good condition so I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Kaywoodie Standard Imported Briar 44 Octagonal Apple cleaned up really well and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the smooth finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished oval vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Kaywoodie Standard 44 Octagonal Apple fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. I know Robert is going to enjoy this second pipe of the three once I return it to him with the other pipes he dropped off. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.