Tag Archives: Bowl – refinishing

Life for a Karl Erik Carved Wenhall Langelinie Made In Denmark 1 Freehand

Blog by Steve Laug

I thought with this blog that I would take a different tack in the write up and take you through my process of working on each pipe that we purchase. Jeff has set up a spread sheet to track where the pipe came from, the date of purchase and what we paid for it so that we know what we have invested in the pipe before we even work on it. This takes a lot of the guess work out of the process. This particular pipe was purchased on 04/09/2022 from Cleveland, Ohio, USA from a seller we bought quite a few pipes from. I also want you to understand why we take the photos we do. It is not accidental or chance as the photos have been taken to help me make an assessment of the pipe Jeff sees before he starts his clean up work. We do this to record the condition that the pipe was in when received it and to assess what kind of work will need to be done on. When I look at these photos this is what I see.

The finish is dirty and flat but underneath there is some excellent grain. There are also some leaves carved on the left side of the bowl and around the heel. These were typically done to obscure flaws in the briar.
The plateau rim top and shank end are dirty. In the rim top plateau there is a lot of lava overflow from the cake in the bowl. Along with that there is dust and debris in both the plateau on the rim top and shank end. Its overall appearance is very dirty looking.
The bowl has a thick cake in it but the inner edge of the bowl actually looks to be undamaged from what I can see at this point. There does not appear to be any burning or reaming damage to the edges of the bowl. You would be surprised (though maybe not) in how many pipes we pick up that have major issues in this area.
The stem is vulcanite and has straightened out from heat and sitting and will need to be rebent to match the flow of the shank and bowl.
The stem had some oxidation and tooth marks and chatter that are visible in the photos below. Nothing to deep but nonetheless present.

Overall my impressions of this pipe is that it is a beauty that once cleaned up will look pretty amazing. The cake does not seem to hide any burns or checking and the exterior of the bowl does not show any hot spots or darkening. When I look it I immediately think of the carver Karl Erik. It has a lot of his stylistic touches that I have come to expect as I have worked on a lot of his pipes over the years. The photos below confirm the assessment above. Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl and rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and the plateau on the rim top is almost filled in with lava and debris. You can also see the condition of the inner and outer edges of the rim. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. While there is lava and darkening there is no visible burn damage at this point and the previous reaming has not left damage either. The bowl is still fairly round. The plateau on the shank end is very dusty and dirty as can be seen in the fourth photo below. His photos of the stem surface confirmed and heightened my assessment of the condition. You can see the oxidation (particularly around the turned area and the speckled surface of the button area) and what appears to be a gummy substance on the stem surface. Note also the tooth marks on the edge of the button on both sides. It is actually more damaged than the surface of the stem. I always ask Jeff to take photos of the sides and heel of the bowl. While this definitely shows the grain patterns around a bowl it also allows me to do a more thorough assessment of the condition of the briar and the finish. In this case I look at the finish around the carved portions to see if there are any cracks or splits radiating from the pits in the centre of each one. I also look for flaws in the grain as those can also hide cracks or damage. In this case the bowl exterior is sound and should clean up very well. I love the grain patterns and even the odd leaf carvings do not detract too much from that for me. I also ask him to take photos of the stamping so I can see if it is faint in any spots or double stamped or unclear. It often takes several photos to capture what I am looking for. The stamping on the underside of the shank is relatively clear in the picture below. It reads Wenhall [over] Langelinie [over] Freehand [over] Made In Denmark [over] 1. The Wenhall stamp is faint at the top of the stamp but still readable. You can also see that part of the Langelinie is double stamped. The rest of the stamp is clear and readable.Before I start working on any pipe in my hands I want to confirm its provenance. I want to know for certain who made it rather than just counting on my memory. In this case in the back of my mind I remembered a connection between Wenhall and Karl Erik pipes. I could not remember the details of the connection but I remembered there was one. I have several sites that I turn to for this work. First I turned to Pipephil’s – Pipes, Logos and Stampings website and found that there was no information on the brand there.

Then I turned to Pipedia and looked up Wenhall in the Pipe Makers list that is included there. I found the link there I was looking for (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Wenhall). It was a short article but it made a lot of connections to names that I was familiar with from working on pipes. I include the majority of the article because of the pertinent information that it provides and for ease of reference in the future.

Wenhall Pipes Ltd. was a distribution company out of New York City.

By the end of the 1970’s Wenhall approached Michael Kabik and Glen Hedelson, at that time operating from a farm house in Glen Rock, Maryland to create a line of freehands called Wenhall. The situation was favorable, because Kabik & Hedelson had ended their cooperation with Mel Baker of Tobak Ltd. to produce the famed Sven-Lar freehands shortly before.

Upon Wenhall’s offer the partners got a bank loan and set up a studio of 2000 square feet in a fairly new industrial park in Bel Air, Maryland and took on the name Vajra Briar Works. Wenhall initially wanted 500 pipes a week! But Kabik & Hedelson doubted that they could move that much product and told them they would produce 250 pipes per week. Happily, some of the old crew from Sven-Lar joined them at Vajra Briar Works, and thus they rather quickly met the production demands.

Furthermore during this time, Wenhall requested to create a line of pipes consisting of 12 different shapes. The line was called The Presidential and, while they repeated the same 12 shapes for this series, each one was freehand cut. Although they came up with interesting designs, mainly developed by Hedelson, especially Kabik was never really happy with the line or the concept, but, by this time, they had nine people on full-time payroll.

The stint with Wenhall lasted a couple of years, at which time they asked them to join Wenhall in a move to Miami, Florida. But by this time Kabik and Hedelson felt very uncomfortable with the owners of Wenhall and decided that they’d rather close the shop than make the move. Time proved that decision very wise, as Wenhall folded shortly after the move. All the same they had to close Vajra, but scaled down to the two of them and moved the operation to the farm house Glen was currently living in.

Presumably for a shorter period only Wenhall had pipes made in Denmark by Karl Erik. (BTW K.E. Ottendahl ceased all sales to the USA in 1987.)

The last sentence in red above gave me the confirmation I was seeking. I knew that the pipe I had was made in Denmark and thus by Karl Erik. I also knew that it was made before he ceased all sales in the US so that it was made before 1987. That is when his time with Wenhall ended. I always love being able to pin down a time frame for the pipe I am working on and knowing that this one was made prior to 1987 meant this was an older pipe. Now on to the work.

I am sure many of you skip my paragraph on the work Jeff has done before the pipe gets here but it is quite detailed in its brevity. I know some laugh at my opening line Jeff did a thorough cleaning of this pipe. However, I want you to know the details of the work. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

When the pipe arrives here in Vancouver I have a clean pipe and I go over it keeping in mind my assessment shared in the opening paragraph above. I am looking for any significant structural changes in the bowl and finish as I go over it.

The finish is very clean and the grain stands out on the surface of the clean briar. The carved leaves looked good as well and appeared to have some dark stain tracing the lines in them and helping them stand out. There are no cracks showing up in the grain lines or in the flaws under the leaf carvings. It is sound on the outside. I will need to polish the briar and buff it to bring back the shine.
The plateau rim top and shank end are clean and have some faded spots due to the cleaning and removing of the tars and oils that were scrubbed off. This will mean that in need to restain them with black and buff them with wax to bring them back to what they looked like when sent to the US originally. The good news for me is that there are no cracks showing up in the rim top plateau or in the shank end plateau. Those two areas are also sound.
The bowl was very clean and smelled clean. The clean walls did not show evidence of checking or cracking. There were no hot spots or damage on the walls or around the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was clean and smooth which is great news for me. The inner edge of the bowl was undamaged and did not show any sign of burning or reaming damage to the edges of the bowl. Both the shank and the bowl were very clean showing no debris on a clean pipe clean run through them. I would need to give it a final cleaning with pipe cleaners and alcohol once I had finished with the external work to remove the debris that may have collected there in the process.
The vulcanite stem has clearly straightened over the years and that can be seen in the angle of the stem to the top of the bowl. I will need to heat it and bend the end to match the angle of the rim top. I always aim to get a basic straight line from the rim top to the curve of the stem when it is sitting in my mouth.
The oxidation was gone from the stem after Jeff’s work on it. The tooth marks and chatter will need to be dealt with once I finish the bowl.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I then spend some time going over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. Remember that with plateau tops there can be dips in the plateau that extend into the bowl edge and are not damage but rather a natural feature. You can see the fading to the black of the plateau on the bowl top and the shank end. It is clean but will need to be restained to match what it was when made. I also went over the stem carefully. There were dents in the stem that are visible in the photos. But the good news is that the tooth marks were not deep and did not seem to puncture the airway. They would clean up well. I examined the button edge as it was damaged with tooth marks as well but I was happy to see that there were no cracks in the button surface. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them.I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank in any way. I know Jeff is cognizant of this but I do it anyway and take a photo to show what I see when I examine it. In this case it has not changed at all from the pictures I included above. I also remove the stem from the shank and check the tenon and lay the parts of the pipe out to get a sense of the proportion that was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. It is a beauty in flow and shape.The question at this point of where to begin the restoration work is always a matter of personal preference. If you read this blog much you will see that each of the restorers who post here all start at different points. I personally almost always start with the bowl because I truly do not like the tedious work of stem repairs and polishing. I always leave that until last even though I know that it needs to be done. So if you are restoring your pipes choose where you want to start and go from there. Just know that it all will need to be done by the end but for me the encouragement of seeing a rejuvenated bowl is the impetus I need to attack the stem work.

For me then I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. I chose to deal with the faded plateau on the rim and shank first because I would be polishing the briar and always like to go over the rim top and shank end plateau at the same time. I find that polishing those areas with micromesh differentiates the high points of the plateau from the valleys. I used a black stain pen to restain both areas. Remember this is only the first step in rim top staining. Polishing the briar will come next and that will change these areas as well.From here I turned to polishing the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I also work over the plateau areas at the same time. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step. Pay attention to the changes in the briar and the plateau top in these photos as you work through them. To further sharpen the curves and grooves of the plateau on the shank and rim top I used a brass bristle wire brush. It is soft enough metal to clean up edges but not hard enough to scratch the surface of the briar.For the past few years now I have been using a product developed by Mark Hoover called Before & After Restoration Balm. I find that it is remarkable in its ability to really give the bowl deepened sense of colour and grain. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar and the plateau. The product works to deep clean the nooks and crannies of finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the grooves of the plateau. I let it sit for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar and the plateau really began to have a deep shine in the briar. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. You see the shine that the briar has taken on and the contrast finish on the plateau areas is very beautiful. It is a gorgeous pipe. Now it was time to address the part of the restoration I leave until last. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I wanted to repair the tooth damage on the stem surface and on the surface of the button. Before doing any repairs to a stem surface I try to lift the marks as much as possible. To do that I use a Bic lighter to heat the tooth marks and dents in the stem surface. I describe that as “painting” the surface. What I mean by that is that I hold the stem stationary and quickly move the flame of the lighter across the dents repeatedly. Typically I am able to lift the dents significantly and sometimes in totality with the heat. It utilizes the “memory” vulcanite and the heat raises the marks.In this case I lifted all but two – one on each side. The heat did not have any effect on the tooth damage on the edge of the button. To take care of that I filled the edge in with clear CA glue and let it cure. Once it was hardened I recut the button edge with a small file to clean up the damage. I finished the reworking of the button and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the scratches. This process makes the repairs almost invisible when polished and also takes care of scratching in the surface of the vulcanite.I usually heat a stem to be bent with my heat gun until it is pliable then set it with running water. Today however I ran into a problem. My heat gun is no where to be found. I evidently either loaned to someone who still has it or it is somewhere in the house where I have overlooked it in the hunt. So I had to resort to an older way of heating the stem that is a bit more tricky. I “painted” the underside of the stem at the bend that was present with the flame of a Bic lighter as described above. When it became soft and pliable enough to bend to the angle I wanted I set the bend with cold water and dried it off. I checked the angle of the bend with the shank repeatedly until I was happy with the new look. I took some photos of the stem and of the stem in place in the shank and have included them below. It is possible to bend a stem with minimal tools. With the bend in the stem finished I needed to polish the stem and bring back a shine. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the extra fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection from oxidizing quickly.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I first buff the stem and the briar with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. Blue Diamond is a plastic polish but I find that it works very well to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite and the briar. I work the pipe over on the wheel with my finger or thumb in the bowl to keep it from becoming airborne. It works well and I am able to carefully move forward with the buffing. I lightly buff the plateau on the rim top and shank end at the same time making sure to keep the product from building up in the grooves of the finish. I finished with the Blue Diamond and moved on to buffing with carnauba wax. Once I have a good shine in the briar and vulcanite I always give the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I following up the wax buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I follow that up with a hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished vulcanite stem. It really is a beautiful pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank show the grain shining through the rich brown stains of this Karl Erik Wenhall Langelinie Freehand. The black plateau on the shank end and rim top looked very good with some of the high points showing through in brown. The contrast in the combination looks very good. The finished pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.90 ounces/54 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Maker section.

Hopefully this tack of writing this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe has been helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Reviving a Lovely Stanwell Freehand Volcano Designed by Sixten Ivarsson

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a beautiful Danish pipe from the fine pipemaking firm, Stanwell. The shape of this pipe is a freehand volcano. I acquired it locally from the estate of an old fellow who kept a lovely collection of pipes. As I mentioned, this is a Stanwell Flame Grain 70. It has gorgeous briar from the bowl all the way down the shank. I think this is going to be a beauty when I’m done. The top side of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] Flame Grain. The underside of the shank reads 70 [over] Made in Denmark. Finally, the stem’s top side also has the trademark S of the Stanwell company.Of course, 70 refers to the model number, and I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes here on rebornpipes. Interesting. Under shape number 70, we find the following:

Two versions of this shape number
a) Freehand, slightly bent, sitter, oval stem and mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson – 1967.
b) Canted Billiard with pencil shank.

My pipe is obviously not “b”, but what about “a”? Freehand? Check! Slightly bent? Check! Sitter? Check! Oval stem? Check! Oval mouthpiece? Check! Then this must be it – and designed by the man, the legend: Sixten Ivarsson!I did find some images from an old Stanwell catalogue from 1970. The image below for shape 70 matches mine perfectly. I know from information at Pipephil that the pipe I have is certainly more than 50 years old – and this corresponds to the catalogue above. My pipe has both the “Regd. No.” and the S logo with a crown. The screen capture below explains that clearly. Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.Anyway, this is a great-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, though not too beat up. There were some scratch/tooth marks on the stem – a little on the top and quite a bit on the underside, and some oxidation and calcification on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel had some very light charring. The insides were fairly dirty and would need a little work to clean out. In addition, there was also some weird white sticky goo on the outside. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. Then, I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It wasn’t too dirty and only required a few pipe cleaners. I then wiped down the stem with SoftScrub cleaner to remove surface oxidation. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. This allows me to clean the oxidation off in a couple of ways: by applying a mild cleaner to the surface and sanding the stem. The next day, I used SoftScrub again with some cotton rounds. Some of the more pronounced scratches had to be dealt with, so I whipped out my black cyanoacrylate adhesive to fill those in and let them fully cure. After curing, I used some nail polish to restore the letter S on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding. For sanding the adhesive, I used 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. Then I used a set of nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) which gradually erased the ravages of time and brought out the stem’s lovely black lustre. For the last five pads, I also lightly coated the stem with Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each scrubbing. The restored logo came out very nicely. At last, I set the finished stem aside. Off to work on the stummel! The bowl needed a bit of reaming, so I used the Kleen Reem to scrape off the built-up cake, and I followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. Generally, I prefer to sand the chamber down to bare briar. When restoring, it is important to ensure that there is no damage to the briar in the bowl under the cake. Fortunately, there were no hidden flaws in the briar on this pipe.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I also used some more Murphy’s here. There wasn’t too much filth in this one, fortunately. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to make it lovely and smooth. At this point, I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 15 minutes or so. I brushed it with a microfibre cloth. The B&ARB does wonderful things to the wood, and I really like the natural colour of the briar. Finally, it was off for a trip to the bench polisher. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax perfectly complemented the briar. The lovely shine made the wood look absolutely beautiful. This pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold.I thoroughly enjoyed bringing this Stanwell Flame Grain 70 Freehand Volcano back to life, and I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the “Danish” pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Stanwell are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 1½ in. (38 mm); bowl diameter 1¾ in. (44 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅜ oz. (42 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Rusticated House of Robertson Bulldog with a Clear Acrylic Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff and I visited an older gentleman near Vancouver, Washington recently and enjoyed a few bowls with him and views many of his pipes. After some viewing and conversation he showed me this House of Robertson Bulldog with a clear acrylic stem and gave it to me as a gift. It is a great looking pipe with a smooth rim top and shank end band. When Jeff and I returned to his home I took photos of it to capture what it looked like when I received it. The finish on the pipe was quite clean and had a great rustication around the bowl and shank. The smooth rim top and edges of the bowl had some wear and tear but was redeemable. There were scratches and nicks around the top and edges on the bowl. The pipe had been topped somewhere in its journey and the front of the cap was lower than the back side of the cap. There was a thin cake in the bowl and the inside was dirty with tobacco debris. The pipe had the House of Robertson etching on the left underside of the diamond shank. The clear acrylic stem fit to the shank very well. The tenon fit well in the mortise. There was some tobacco staining in the airway that would need to be dealt with. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. I took the following photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my clean up. I took a photo of the House of Robertson etched on the left underside of the diamond shank. It is clear and readable.The pipe has the name House of Robertson roughly hand-etched on the left underside of the diamond shank with an engraving tool. I am including the information that I found when I received my first House of Robertson Pipes a few years ago now. I found a link on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Robertson) that gave me the only information I could find on the brand. I include that in total as it is interesting to read.

“House of Robertson” was in business for many years, but alas, closed their doors in 1999. They were located in Boise, Idaho. They are noted for making rather large and interesting pipes. Thayne Robertson was a Master Mason, AF & AM, and started the shop about 1947 and his son Jon started working there in 1970 when he finished college, along with Thayne’s daughter. Thayne and his son started making the big pipes at that time, and made them together until 1987 when Thayne passed away. Jon kept the store and his sister moved on to other things. The House of Robertson appears to have closed around 1999.

If you would like to read more about the carver, Thayne Robertson I am including a link to a blog I have included on the site. It is fascinating to read and gives some information on the brand.

https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/31/house-of-robertson-pipes-boise-pipe-carver-thayne-robertson/

I am also including a scanned version of a House of Robertson catalogue that I have in my collection. Give it a read for more information.

https://rebornpipes.com/2022/12/11/a-house-of-robertson-catalogue-filled-with-great-examples-of-thayne-robertsons-work/

I thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. I reamed it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the inside of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. The bowl was clean. I cleaned up the damage to the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once finished it was better. I worked on the back side of the rim top with 220 grit sandpaper followed by a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I wanted to bring the back of the rim cap down to the same thickness as the front of the rim cap to level out the top. Once it was even it looked much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. I cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove a lot of tars and oils from the shank and some of the darkening in the stem and slot.I polished the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It had a rich shine once I had finished. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the nooks and crannies of the rusticated finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, worked it into the rings with a cotton swab and into the finish with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the clear acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside to dry. I put the House of Robertson Bulldog back together and worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the stem. I buffed the bowl with a light touch so as not to get any of the buffing compounds in the grooves of the rustication. I buffed the stem to raise the gloss on the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished HOR Bulldog pipe is shown in the photos below. The medium brown stains on the rusticated Straight Bulldog with a smooth rim top works well with the clear acrylic stem. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 36 grams/1.27 ounces. This one will be joining my pipe rack as yet another example of House of Robertson Pipes. I thank my friend in Vancouver, Washington for the gift and will certainly enjoy smoking it very soon. Thanks for following my work on this blog.

Cleaning Up and Restoring A “Caminetto Business” 185 Cavalier KS1

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my worktable is a Caminetto Business Pipe was purchased on 03/30/22 from Plano, Texas, USA. It is a beautiful rusticated Cavalier with an acrylic end cap on the shank and an acrylic saddle stem. It was a good looking pipe but it was filthy with grime and oils ground into the rusticated finish on the bowl. The pipe had some rustic beauty shining through the dust and debris in the valleys of the rough finish. The rustication covered the rim top, bowl and shank with a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. The finish was dull and lifeless and dirty from sitting around. There was a very thick cake in the bowl with lava flowing out of the bowl and over the rim top. The lava had filled in the deeper grooves of the rusticated finish on the rim top. The inner edge of the rim appeared to be in good condition but it was hard to tell under the thick lava. The stamping on the underside of the shank read “CAMINETTO [over] BUSINESS”. To the right of that toward the stem it was stamped HAND MADE IN ITALY [over] CUCCIAGO (CO). That was followed by the shape number 185 and KS1. The golden variegated acrylic saddle stem had light tooth chatter and a few deeper tooth marks on both sides near the button. Jeff took the following photos before he started his cleanup work on the pipe.He took close-up photos of the bowl and rim top from various angles to capture the condition of the bowl and rim top edges. You can see the lava overflow and debris in the rustication of the rim top. You can see the cake in the bowl. This was a dirty pipe but it was the finish was in great condition. The next photos show the overview of the stem and the fit in the rusticated shank end as well as the light tooth chatter and a few deeper marks on the top and underside of the stem. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the beautiful incredibly deep rustication around the bowl. It is the same kind of rough rusticated finish that I really like on Castello Sea Rock pipes. You can see the oil, dust and debris in the finish on both sides of the bowl. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the shank. It reads as noted above. The stamping is clear and readable. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html) to see if he included not only information on this Caminetto Business 182. He gave some interesting information about the brand. It was created in 1986 by Guiseppe Ascorti, Luigi Radice and Gianni Davoli as the distributor. It states that in 1979 the first Caminetto period ended with Luigi Radic leaving the company. Guiseppe Ascorti continued making the pipe with his son Roberto. In 1986 the New Caminetto period began by Roberto Ascorti.I turned to Pipedia for more information on the Caminetto and how to date the pipe I had in hand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Caminetto_(shapes,_stamping,_articles,_etc.). I quote a pertinent paragraph:

Stampings and dating: First off, dating earlier Caminetto’s is nearly impossible. Nevertheless, there were three phases, some in which were much earlier, of development that occurred in the stamping process of Caminetto. Before that though, every pipe had the stamp of Caminetto in one of two ways: Caminetto in script or Caminetto within quotation marks in block letters (I do not know how it was decided which pipe got which stamp, as I have had EARLY Caminetto’s with both)…

The stampings are shown in the photo to the left. The stamping on this pipe is like #2.

…Now, the question is which stamps are earlier and more likely to have been made by Ascorti and/or Radice. The answer is #1. The differences in #2 and #3 seem to be minute, as Cucciago is simply a suburb of Cantu. Pipes stamped like #1 are the most valuable Caminetto’s as they are the earliest production of the brand, as well as what some would claim the most perfect of Ascorti and Radice’s work. The last tidbit is, of course, debatable…

… There is also another factor in stamping, that is, which series the pipe falls in. The majority of Caminetto’s one sees are those of the “Business” series, which are stamped such with their collective shape (see photo of shapes below). Another stamp that sometimes follows the “Business” one is “KS,” which from what I know means “King-size” (this could be wrong, as there are pipes stamped with KS1, KS2, and KS3).

Now it was time to look at it up close and personal. Jeff had done an amazing job in removing all of the cake and the lava on the rim top. He had reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He took the cake back to bare briar so we could check the walls for damage. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime on the bowl and rim and was able to remove the lava and dirt. He cleaned out the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. He cleaned the stem and the trap at the end of the shank with Soft Scrub to remove the grime on the exterior and cleaned out the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. To show how clean the rim top and stem really was I took a close-up photo of the rim and stem. The bowl was clean and cake free. The rim top is very clean with no residual lava buildup in the rusticated finish. The inner edges of the bowl look good. The golden acrylic saddle stem cleaned up nicely. The surface had some light tooth marks but the button edge looked really good. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that is clear and readable as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the overall sized of the pipe. It is a great piece that combines the gold acrylic on the shank end cap and the stem with the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank.I started my work on the pipe by staining the areas on the rim top and rusticated finish were worn and faded. I used a Walnut stain pen to touch up the rim and around the top edge. The bowl looked very good so I did not need to do any further work on it. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers and with a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the nooks and crannies of the deep rustication of the finish on the bowl and shank. I let it sit for about 20 minutes to let it do its magic. I buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks with clear CA glue. I sanded the repaired tooth marks and chatter smooth with 220 grit. I started polishing the whole stem with 600 grit sandpaper until the sanding marks were gone. I touched up the mustache stamp on the stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I applied it with a toothpick working it into the stamp. There were places on the sides of the stamp that were faint. I buffed it off with a soft cotton pad. It looked better. I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the Caminetto bowl and stem back together again and buffed them with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I used a soft touch on the rusticated bowl so as not to fill it in with the polishing product. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I carefully buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I finished buffing with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe looks very good. The rustication is very tactile and feels great in the hand. It is comfortable and light weight. The finished Caminetto Business 185 Cavalier is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 3 1/2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 63 grams/2.26 ounces. This great looking rusticated Caminetto turned out very well. It should be a great pipe. It will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Italian Pipe Makers Section shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Bringing a Thoro-Kleen back from the dead

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is one of those pipes that makes you raise an eyebrow and wonder. It is the Thoro-Kleen made by the Greenwich House Corporation of New York. I acquired it from a lady who found a shoebox of pipes in her late-grandfather’s closet, so we can presume this pipe to be his. When Steve last restored one of these, more than seven years ago, he described it as reminding him of the Jetsons from Saturday morning cartoons! It certainly does have a futuristic, out-of-this-world look. To me, it is a striking example of mid-twentieth-century design. The only markings on the pipe were on the left side of the shank. They read: ‘Thoro-Kleen [over] Greenwich-House’.Our friends at Pipedia have a brief writeup on the Thoro-Kleen, which I copy here in its entirety:

The Greenwich House Thoro-Kleen was a metal pipe system sold with both a metal outer bowl with a briar insert and a full briar bowl. They are from the same family as the Roybrooke, Comet, and Original Gridiron pipes, and parts from all are believed to be interchangeable. The pipes were sold by the Greenwich House Corporation, located in 1947 at 939-M 8th Avenue, N.Y. 19, N.Y. The pipe set sold for $2.50 in 1947.Similarly, Smoking Metal (a website dedicated to metal pipes) also has a short writeup:

This family of pipes have been seen as Knowles Air Lite (believed to be Canadian version), Roybrooke, Comet, Original Gridiron and the Greenwich House Thorokleen. Seemingly sold in sets that comprised a normal briar bowl as well as the metal outer with a briar insert. The body of the pipe can be hexagonal, square (Thoro Kleen only seen this shape) or circular in cross section. Regardless of variant all parts are interchangeable. The unmarked version tends to be regarded as the COMET, all the others being stamped with a name.Some instances of this pipe appeared with an entirely-briar bowl, and some came with a metal bowl and briar insert. Some sources indicate that the pipes came with both bowls, and you could take your pick, but the one I have pipe has only the metal bowl and briar insert.

Time to get to work. This pipe was a mess from every perspective. The stem had some serious dents in it. The metal was dirty and dull, and the insides were filthy. In the following picture, you can see the pipe as I disassembled it; there are seven pieces: the stem, the shank (or main section of the pipe), the metal outer bowl, the briar inner bowl, a screw that attached the bowls to the main part of the pipe, a valve screw at the far end, and a washer to go along with it. I don’t think this pipe had ever seen a cleaning! There was crud everywhere. The stem was first on my list. As usual, I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the bite marks and dents. This did help, but the dents were so substantial it would need much more than just waving a flame around. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was pretty darn dirty. Next, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be pretty straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. I built up the dents on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. I then sanded the adhesive with some needle files, then 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to smooth everything and highlight the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Since most of the pipe was made of aluminum, the cleaning procedures were different than usual. The inside of the shank was much more ‘cavernous’ than normal, too. I started with pipe cleaners and Q-tips for the inside, but that only worked so well. I ended up using SoftScrub to clean the metal shank, including the interior – and I made extensive use of some metal tubes brushes because the gunk was really tough. Since there was so much grime, it created a foul-smelling and foul-looking paste, which was revolting but satisfying to remove from the pipe. The metal bowl was also cleaned with SoftScrub, but it wasn’t so bad, as it hadn’t been in contact with the burning tobacco. I used my Micromesh pads to polish up the metal. This worked splendidly to shine it, but it’s important to note that the metal had received some battle wounds over the years, which wouldn’t be removed by the pads. They were to be left as part of this pipe’s life story. I also sanded and polished the two screws and the metal bowl. Below, you can the difference between the MicroMeshed bowl and the unworked shank.Now for the briar insert. This is more standard fare, since I’m working with wood again. I took a small wedge of machine metal and, holding it at a 45-degree angle, gently scraped the lava and carbon off the rim. I reamed it with the KleenReem, and 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much build-up as possible. I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. Then I used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside. The underside of the insert had some small cracks in the wood, presumably from overtightening of the screw, which attached it to the rest of the pipe. I repaired this by applying some cyanoacrylate adhesive to the cracks, letting it cure and sanding it down. I also used the Micromesh pads on the rim and bottom but not on the sides, as I thought they were fine as they were. Obviously, I didn’t apply the Before & After Restoration Balm on the metal, but I did for the briar insert. The buffing procedure was different because of the metal. I used Red Tripoli, but before I started down that path, I decided to protect the grooves on the side of the bowl from being filled with polishing compound. I wrapped four pipe cleaners around the bowl, in the grooves, which did the trick.I used Red Tripoli and White Diamond to polish the metal nicely. I then took a microfiber cloth to wipe off the remaining compound and finished the metal parts of the pipe with a jewelry cloth to make it shine and sing!This Thoro-Kleen looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by the next owner! I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘American’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (137 mm); height 1½ in. (38 mm); bowl diameter 1⅜ in. (35 mm); chamber diameter ⅝ in. (16 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (48 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading, and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Lovely Danish Pickaxe

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is a beautiful Danish pipe from Scandia. This terrific pipe came to me from an antique shop in the Fraser Valley (an area to the east of Vancouver). The price was reasonable, so I had to have it. The pipe is beautiful and a great example of Danish pipe-making. The pipe is a Danish pickaxe pipe by Scandia, produced from the esteemed pipemaker, Stanwell. The pickaxe is a very attractive shape and this one is no exception. It really makes an impression. It has beautiful, sandblasted briar from the bowl, down the shank and transitions into the vulcanite ferrule. It also has a fantastic push stem. The underside of the shank reads Scandia [over] Made in Denmark. There is a faint marking on the ferrule, which appears to show “10” or possibly “1C”. I don’t think this is a shape number, for reasons I will explain momentarily. Finally, the stem’s top also has the SC, indicating the Scandia make. Both Pipedia and Pipephil list Scandia as being a Stanwell sub-brand or second (and not much else), as per the photo below.Meanwhile, Pipedia has a good amount of information on the Stanwell brand and its history. I certainly recommend looking it over: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell.Despite the (possible) number 10 on the ferrule, I went to check the list of Stanwell shapes, here on Reborn Pipes, and I found that this definitely did not match. However, I did find something that was a match! Shape 1b is listed as “Freehand, Pick Ax, push mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson. (1975)”. To further confirm this, here is a page from an old 70s or 80s Stanwell catalogue which clearly shows the same shape of pipe with the matching shape number. I think we can safely assume that this is a pickaxe, designed by the legendary Sixten Ivarsson.Anyway, this really is a good-looking pipe. No major issues to resolve – just a few minor ones. The stem was dirty, and some small scratches. There were a couple of significant bite marks, as well as some oxidation and calcification on the vulcanite. The rim on the stummel was blackened and burnt – that would need to be addressed. The insides were fairly dirty and would need some work to clean out. There was also a small nick along the inside edge of the rim. The stem was first on my list. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. Unfortunately, this didn’t really work, but I have ways of sorting this out. Then, I cleaned out the insides of the stem with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.Once this process was done, I used SoftScrub and cotton pads to wipe down the stem before throwing it in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover overnight. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess and again scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. This worked well. I used some nail polish to restore the letters SC on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding. These letters were too worn to be fully restored, but they definitely looked better after I worked on them.Before I moved on to the Micromesh pads, I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.I used my miniature files to ensure that the repairs keep the shape and look like they should. I then sanded the stem down with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I did the same to the remaining tooth marks. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing.I repeated all of the above procedures for the vulcanite ferule, which only came off the stummel after applying heat and some gentle force. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and take the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. Fortunately, there were none.I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was lots of filth inside this stummel, and it took a good number of pipe cleaners etc. to sort that out. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. That removed any latent dirt. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.As I mentioned earlier, there were some small burn marks on the rim of the stummel that also needed to be addressed. Some of this was removed by the Murphy’s. For the burns that remained, I took some oxalic acid on a Q-tip and rubbed and rubbed. As you will see, the treatment worked reasonably well and the rim was improved. Some would remain, but that is part of the history of this pipe. I completed this step by gently sanding the interior rim edge to remove any remnants that remained. Then I addressed the nick on the rim by filling it with cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. I sanded it down and made it look great. After this, the entire stummel was treated to a rub-down with all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit). A light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s sandblast. There is some beautiful wood on this Danish pipe! In fact, as I was working, my youngest child came to watch me for a bit and said, “Is that a doggy?” I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she grabbed the stummel and pointed this out. That’s pretty funny!I glued the ferrule back I place and then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of conservator’s wax were just what this pipe needed. I had to be especially careful with the bench polisher, since the edges had a tendency to catch on the buffing wheels. This pipe was a delight from the start and its beauty only increased through the restoration process. This pipe is elegant, light, and incredibly comfortable to hold. Finally, I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Danish’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the Stanwell are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2½ in. (64 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅝ oz. (47 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Bari Made in Denmark Bent Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe was another interesting pipe that surprised both Jeff and me when it came in a lot of pipes that we bought it from the fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 2023. This one is another beautiful Bari pipe. It has great grain around the bowl and shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side and clearly reads BARI and on the right side it reads Made in Denmark. There is no shape number on the shank. The rim top is crowned curving inward with a bevel toward the bowl. The inner and outer edges clean. The bowl had been reamed recently and the rim top was clean. The finish was dirty with dust and grim ground into the briar but great grain still shone through. The vulcanite taper stem was lightly oxidized and dirty and had some light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the reamed bowl walls and the clean rim top. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was lightly oxidized and dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the rich grain around the bowl and shank sides. The brown stain adds depth to the finish. He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It was clear and readable. (There was no photo of the stamping on the right side.)Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to remind myself of the maker. I have worked on quite a few Bari’s in the past so rather than rework all of that I am including the information I found while working on a Bari Special Handcut Made in Denmark Dublin Freehand (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/07/22/cleaning-up-a-danish-made-bari-special-handcut-b-dublin-freehand/). I quote below from that blog.

I quoted a section from Pipedia on Bari pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). It is good to be reminded of the fact that Viggo Nielsen was the pipe maker.

Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers.

Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production.

Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand – thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

I did a quick look at Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html) and did a screen capture of the section on Bari pipes.Now that I was reminded about the Viggo Nielsen connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end.
Jeff had done a great clean up of the pipe. He had reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and the lava on the rim top. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the debris that had accumulated on it. The stem was soaked in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed clean. The pipe looked clean and ready for the next step in the process. Here are some photos of it when I brought it to the table. I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the clean bowl and rim top. The stem has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. It is dirty but otherwise great. It is a nice looking pipe.The next photos show the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is also a small portion of the Bari stamp on the left side of the stem in the first photo below.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the overall look of the pipe. It is really a nicely looking pipe that will look great once it is cleaned up.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It really began to take on a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with some Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, renew and protect briar. I let it do its work for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The pipe is really quite a beauty. I polished the stem on both sides using micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with the 1500-12000 grit pads, then wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Bari Made in Denmark Bent Dublin. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem with the golden acrylic spacer. It really was a beautiful pipe. The sandblasted grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on this Bari Made in Dublin is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Mysterious Rusticated Pot with an Amber Acrylic Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe was another interesting pipe that surprised both Jeff and me when it came in a lot of pipes that we bought it from the fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 2023. This one a mystery pipe that has no stamping on the shank or stem. It has a wire brush style rustication around the bowl and short shank. The rim top and shank end have some brass/gold finishings. The rim top is capped around the outer edge leaving behind a smooth rim top with clean edges. It is held in place by three small brads. The shank end has a band/ferrule carved with Celtic knots all the way around it with twin rings on each side and a cap over the shank end. The bowl had a thick cake and some lava overflow on the smooth rim top. The inner edge of the rim top appeared undamaged. The brass cap was slightly tarnished as was the shank end cap or ferrule. The finish was dirty with dust and grim in the wire style grooves of the rustication. The clear amber acrylic taper stem was lightly oxidized and dirty and had some light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was lightly oxidized and dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the unique rustication around the bowl and shank sides. The rich brown stain adds depth to the finish. He also took photos of the etching and marks on the rim cap and the shank ring/cap. It is a beautiful piece. Since there was no information on the pipe regarding the maker I decided to move ahead to the work on the pipe. Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime and dust off the finish. The cleaning had removed the debris and left the pipe looking very good. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove any remnant of oils and tars in the lightly used pipe. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the rim and bowl sides as shown in the photos below. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. It is a proportionally pleasing pipe with classic dimensions and an oval shank with a vulcanite stem.I started my work on the pipe by polishing 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. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean them. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it deep in the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I gave it a further polish with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the amber acrylic stem back on the Mysterious Wire Rusticated Pot and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to lightly buff the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Custom Made Pot with a tight rustication and a brass cap and shank band – the amber acrylic taper stem and the finish combine to give this Pot a great look. The polished stem looks really good with the deep grain shining through on the bowl and shank. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 4 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.15 ounces/61 grams. Since it came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark this pipe will soon be added to the rebornpipes store in the Pipes By Danish Pipemakers section of the store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restoring a Faaborg Special Old Briar Hand Shaped 36 Volcano

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe was another interesting pipe that surprised both Jeff and me when it came in a lot of pipes that we bought it from the fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 2023. This one is the first of the Faaborg pipes we have picked up from him. It is a great looking Volcano with a rusticated heel. The rustication goes up the edges on the underside of the shank in a thin line framing the area where it is stamped. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Faaborg [over] Special [over] Old Briar [over] Hand Shaped [over] In Denmark. To the right of that stamping at the stem/shank joint is stamped the shape number 36. The bowl had a thick cake and some lava overflow on the smooth rim top. The inner and outer edges of the thin rim top appeared undamaged. The finish was dirty and on the rusticated base was dusty and grimy in the grooves of the rustication. The vulcanite saddle stem was lightly oxidized and dirty and had some tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.He took photos of the rim and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was lightly oxidized and dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The rich brown stain adds depth to the finish. He also took photos of the stamping on the underside of the oval shank. The stamping was clear and read as noted above. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about the Faaborg brand and the carver who had made the pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-v2.html). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section from the site and have added the sidebar information below the photo. Artisan: Viggo Nielsen (1927 – †2009) starts making pipes during WWII. He establishes his own Bari factory in 1948. The business is sold to a German tobacco manufacturer in 1978 and from this period on he starts the “Faaborg Pipe” (Fåborg Pibe) with his two sons Jørgen Nielsen and Kai Nielsen. The “Jewel of Denmark” stamping is reserved for perfect pipes (flawless straight grain).

As I had vaguely remembered the pipe was identified with Viggo Nielsen (Bari) and his two sons Jorgen and Kai (both famous carvers in their own right). I knew that the pipe was made after 1978 when he sold Bari and started the Faaborg Pipe.

I turned to Pipedia to see if I could gain a bit more information on the brand as it generally has a great digest of the history of the brand and maker (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Faaborg_Pipe). I quote the article in full below:

In 1978 Viggo Nielsen sold his previous business to a German tobacco manufacturer and he began making the Faaborg Pipe together with his two sons Jørgen Nielsen and Kai Nielsen. Even when Viggo had reached the age of retirement, he could not quite leave his workshop and he still made about 100 pipes a year, some of them based on the famous “Fåborg Pibe” but also a few “Jewels of Denmark”, until he passed away.

The name “Jewel of Denmark” was reserved for the very few 100% perfect blocks with no stains and with straight grain and birds eye, and is still used by his son Kai, who continues making pipes in the workshop they shared together in the latter years of Viggo’s life.

The Faaborg Pibe is sculptured by hand, from the best materials. Each piece of briar was carefully selected and seasoned before shaping began. By following the structure and the fine grains of the briar root the pipes were formed to become the pride of any particular pipe owner. They offered both sandblasted and smooth finishes.

There was also a catalogue included on the site and I have included the description of the brand from that catalogue below in the screen capture.What I learned is that the pipe was made post 1978 (as noted above) and was hand shaped from quality materials by Viggo Nielsen and his sons. He only made about 100 pipes per year so there are not too many. Now it was time to work on the pipe.
Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime and dust off the finish. The cleaning had removed the debris and left the pipe looking very good. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove any remnant of oils and tars in the lightly used pipe. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the rim and bowl sides as shown in the photos below. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. It is a proportionally pleasing pipe with classic dimensions and an oval shank with a vulcanite stem.I started my work on the pipe by polishing 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. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean them. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it deep in the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I smoothed out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I gave it a further polish with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the vulcanite stem back on the Faaborg Special Old Briar Hand Shaped 36 Volcano and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to lightly buff the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Viggo Nielsen Hand Shaped Faaborg Special Old Briar Volcano – the vulcante saddle stem and the grain combine to give this Brandy pipe a great look. The polished vulcanite stem looks really good with the deeply grain shining through on the bowl and shank. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.87 ounces/53 grams. This beautiful pipe will soon be added to the rebornpipes store in the Pipes By Danish Pipemakers section of the store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restoring a GiGi Castagna 1988 Collezion 721 Rusticated Brandy with a Cumberland Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe was another surprise to Jeff and me when it came in a lot of pipes that we bought it from the fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 2023. Most of what we have picked up from him are Danish Pipes and few interesting exceptions. However, this Italian Made rusticated Brandy was a unique addition. It is a rusticated oval shank Pot with a smooth rim top and band at the shank end. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads GiGi [over] Castagna. To the left is the shape number 721 and to the right is the line – Collezion [over] 1988. The bowl appeared to be lightly smoked with raw briar on the lower half. The smooth rim top was clean and the edges undamaged. The finish on the rusticated bowl was dull looking with dust in the grooves of the rustication. The Cumberland saddle stem is oxidized and dirty but otherwise undamaged. It came with a flannel bag stamped The Danish Pipe Shop in a circular logo. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work.He took photos of the rim and bowl to show how clean the inside was and the lightly smoked condition. The bowl and the rim top and edges were in flawless condition. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. It was lightly oxidized and dirty but did not have any tooth marks or chatter. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the rugged rustication around the bowl and shank sides. The rich tan stain adds depth to the finish. He also took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the oval shank. The stamping was clear and read as noted above.I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about the GIGI brand and the carver who had made the pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g3.html). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section from the site. The information I found was as follows:

Artisan: Luigi “Gigi” Crugnola made at Gigi Pipe Via Rovera, 40 21026 Gavirate Oltrona al Lago (VA).

Now I knew that the pipe was made by Luigi “GIGI” Crugnola. That was the extent of the information on that site. I turned to Pipedia to see if I could gain a bit more information on the brand as it generally has a great digest of the history of the brand and maker (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Gigi). I quote the article in full below:

Luigi “Gigi” Crugnola was born in 1934, the same year Giorgio Rovera founded a company in his own name in Varese, Italy along with partners Angelo and Adele Bianchi, who also happened to be Luigi Crugnola’s Uncle and Mother, respectively. The company produced pipes for 30 years, largely exported to America and elsewhere in the world. Crugnola took over the company in 1964 with the death of Angelo Bianchi, changing the name soon after to his own nickname Gigi, and continues to run the company today. The vast majority of Gigi pipes continue to be made for export.

What I learned is that the pipe was made post 1964 and was in all likelihood made for export. We purchased this pipe from our Copenhagen, Denmark connection so indeed it was exported. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime and dust off the finish. The cleaning had removed the debris and left the pipe looking very good. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove any remnant of oils and tars in the lightly used pipe. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the rim and bowl sides as shown in the photos below. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. The Cumberland stem was quite clean and just needed a good polishing. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. It is a proportionally pleasing pipe with classic dimensions and an oval shank with a Cumberland stem.I started my work on the pipe by polishing the smooth rim top 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. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm and a horsehair shoe brush to deep clean them. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers and the brush to get it into the rustication of the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I gave it a further polish with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the Cumberland stem back on the GiGi Castagna 1988 Collezion 721 Brandy and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to lightly buff the briar and the Cumberland. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful GiGi Castagna 1988 Collezion – the Cumberland saddle stem and the rusticated finish combine to give this Brandy pipe a great look. The polished Cumberland stem looks really good with the deeply rusticated bowl and shank. 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 1.62 ounces/46 grams. This beautiful pipe will soon be added to the rebornpipes store in the Pipes By Italian Pipe Making Companies section of the store. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!