Tag Archives: Bowl – refinishing

Rebirthing a Schoenleber Hand Made – A #3 Apple

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the queue is another one that Jeff picked up – this one is a Schoenleber Hand Made – a straight shank Apple with some beautiful grain around what appears to be an oil cured bowl and shank. The entire pipe has some beautiful mixed birdseye, cross and swirled grain around the bowl and shank. But it is under a thick coat of oils, grime and dirt. The carver did a great job utilizing the block of briar to maximize the grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank. It reads Schoenleber over Hand Made. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Imported Briar with a number 3 which is either a shape number or size designation. The saddle stem is vulcanite and has a single small blue dot on the top side. I think that this will be another nice looking piece once it is cleaned up. The bowl is thickly caked with a thick overflow of lava on the crowned rim top. The exterior of the briar was dirty with grime and dust. The stem has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. It is lightly oxidized and has some calcification. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the crowned rim top and inner edge. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the sides of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is faint but readable in the photos below and is as noted above – on the left side it reads Schoenleber Hand Made. He did not take a photo of the right side but it reads Imported Briar and the number 3 at the shank/bowl junction on the right side. The stem has a light blue dot on the top of the saddle. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface. When I worked on a Schoenleber pipe for Alex in the past I had done the research on the brand. I knew that the pipe had been made for a shop in New Jersey but went back and reread the previous blog I had written on the brand. I have included the information from Pipedia that I included before. I quote the article in full (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Schoenleber).

Louis Schoenleber lived in North Arlington N.J. and was an Austrian immigrant and skilled artisan in pipe making. His hand carved pipes were available in his shop, ‘Schoenleber’s Newark Pipe Shop’, at 26 Branford Pl., Newark NJ, thought to open in the 1920’s. Schoenleber’s carried a full line of tobaccos as well as related pipe smoking accessories. It’s thought the shop operated until the late 1960’s, and Louis Schoenleber died in 1976. It’s also fairly certain they may have sold to other brands such as Jelling, also in Newark and are very similar in design and finish.

There was also an advertising card on the site that I have included below. It speaks to my assumptions about the curing process and the finishing process on the pipe. It also connects the pipe to Schoenleber’s Newark Pipe Shop in Newark, N.J. It also has a comment on the fact that pipes were made to order.Armed with those reminders about the brand I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. The stamping on the side of the stem was very light and the white that had remained was gone. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see some damage and darkening on the inner edge and crown of the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are almost invisible in the photos. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is faint but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I started my part of the restoration by polishing the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm 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 to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem. I started the polishing of the surface with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone! 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. With both parts of the pipe finished, I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich oil cured finish and the grain came alive with the buffing. The finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a well-proportioned, nicely grained Schoenleber Apple. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This Schoenleber Hand Made Straight Apple will be going on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers shortly. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this older American Made pipe.

A Norm Thompson Catalogue Store English Made 15 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts and turns out to be a catalogue pipe from Norm Thompson in Portland, Oregon. It is a Norm Thompson Billiard that is in decent condition. It is stamped with a Ram’s Head logo over Norm Thompson on the top left side of the shank. On the right side it is stamped Made in England. That is followed by the shape number 15. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a medium brown finish and overall some nice grain that the shape follows well. The finish had a shellac or varnish coat and it was very dirty with grime ground into the shiny finish of the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and some light lava overflow on the beveled inner edge of the top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge and the top of the rim. The stem was in surprisingly good condition. There was not a tooth mark and there was no chatter to be found on the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the beveled inner edge of the rim. The photos show the dark spots on the rim top.Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It was otherwise free of damage. I found a discussion on Pipesmagazine.com about the brand and one of the responders gave some helpful information on the brand (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/thompson-pipes.72989/). I quote the section:

A USA Norm Tompson was started in Portland, Oregon. Here’s a brief history:

The company was founded by namesake Norman Anchor Thompson, Sr. in 1949 as a way to sell his homemade flies for fly-fishing.[6][7] An immigrant from Britain, he had settled in Salt Lake City before fighting for Canada in World War I.[7] After the war he lived briefly in Los Angeles before settling in Portland where he owned seven pipe shops and later two nightclubs during World War II.[7] Thompson retired after the war as owner of the nightclubs and tobacco shops.[6]

He started the new business as a mail order only business by placing an advertisement in Field & Stream,[8] and around 1951 handed it over to Peter Alport, his son-in-law.[6][7] Alport was in advertising in New York City where he owned Parma Advertising.[6] He worked to expand the company’s product offerings beyond fly-fishing items and into clothing and other outdoor merchandise, plus he developed the company’s slogan of Escape from the ordinary.[6] During his tenure, Norm Thompson opened its first retail store in 1959, located in Northwest Portland.[6] Namesake Norm Thompson died in 1968 from complications related to his exposure to mustard gas during his World War I military service in Europe.[7]

A unique pipe with lots of history!

From there I turned to search the company on the net and found a long article on the brand on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Thompson_Outfitters). I quote a part of the article below.

Norm Thompson Outfitters is a privately owned catalog and internet retailer based in Middleton, Massachusetts [3] that was previously based in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States until September 2016.[4] The Norm Thompson offices were closed and consolidated due to Bluestem’s acquisition of their parent company, Orchard Brands, in July 2015.[5] Founded in 1949 by Norman A. (Norm) Thompson as a mail order business, it grew to annual sales of $200 million before it was sold to Golden Gate Capital Partners in 2006. The company sells clothing, gadgets, furniture, kitchen items, and gift items from its namesake catalog as well as from its Solutions and Sahalie brands. John Difrancesco serves as president and chief executive of the 500 employee company.

I followed another link to an article on the brand that identified the company with seven pipe shops in the Portland area (https://alchetron.com/Norm-Thompson-Outfitters). I quote:

The company was founded by namesake Norman Anchor Thompson, Sr. in 1949 as a way to sell his homemade flies for fly-fishing. An immigrant from Britain, he had settled in Salt Lake City before fighting for Canada in World War I. After the war he lived briefly in Los Angeles before settling in Portland where he owned seven pipe shops and later two nightclubs during World War II. Thompson retired after the war as owner of the nightclubs and tobacco shops.

I knew that I was dealing with a Norm Thompson 15 Billiard that was specially made for the Outfitters by a pipemaker in England. It is not clear who made the pipes for them. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He was able to remove the varnish or shellac coat in his clean up of the bowl. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the top on both sides. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and beveled inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the finish to remove the darkening on both. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed 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 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 Norm Thompson 15 English Made Billiard is a nice looking pipe. The Medium Brown stain highlights some mixed grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Norm Thompson 15 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. It is also a sitter with a flat bottom. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Breathing Life into a 1957 (or is it a 1967) Dunhill Root Briar 251 EX606 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts on the Oregon Coast. It is a Dunhill Root Briar Billiard that is in decent condition. It is stamped EX606 over 251 which is the shape number followed by Dunhill over Root Briar on the left side of the shank. On the right side it is stamped with the 3R (which is the Group size and the R for Root Briar) and to the left is reads Made in England with what looks like a 7 superscript to me and 0 which gives the date the pipe was made. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a medium brown finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grain around bowl sides. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the top and the inner edge of the top. There was a burn mark on the left outer edge of the bowl. It was hard to know the overall condition of the rim top and edges because of the grime. The stem was dirty, oxidized and had some calcification around the button. There was light tooth chatter and marks on the stem near the button on both sides. The stem has the Dunhill White Spot logo on the top of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the top and damage to the outer edge of the rim. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles.Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. Here is where the question comes in on the date – is the 7 after the D in England on the third photo below a superscript or is it the same as the D. To me it is a superscript. You can also see the White Spot on the top of the taper stem in the last of the four photos below. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface. I turned to Pipedia’s section on Dunhill Root Briar to get a bit of background on this particular Duhill finish (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill#Root_Briar). I quote:

Introduced in 1931 and highly prized because the grain is more pronounced in this finish (usually made using Corsican briar). 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.

The article also cited a section from John Loring confirming the above information and giving a bit more colour to the information.

“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 than LONDON was placed under DUNHILL, ROOT BRIAR rather than BRUYERE was used for the Root.” Loring, J. C., The Dunhill Briar Pipe, The Patent Years and After (self-published, Chicago, 1998).

I have also included a chart from the site from Dunhill spelling out the Standard Pipe Finishes and giving short information and a timeline.

I also wanted to understand the additional stamps on the shank. There were two I wanted to clarify. One the left side there was the EX606 over the shape number. On the right side there was the superscript Date code and a second number – an underlined 0. I continued to search the connected pages on Dunhill. There was a specific page or section on the Dunhill Additional Stamps that helped some (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Additional_Stamps).

“The reason for dating a pipe was due to a one-year-guarantee offered by Dunhill, that they would replace a pipe if it had any issues in its first year. Sometimes, a pipe would be made and stamped, yet wouldn’t leave the factory until the next year or even later, when it would then receive a current extra date-code. Due to this, there are several examples of pipes with double, triple, or even quadruple date-codes stamped onto them.” Steven Snyder.

These additional codes were added by the retail stores – that’s why they were not uniform. For example, situations that the pipes were not sold in the same year of production, it was a way to establish a new warranty period. In cases where the customer requested a F/T stem (for example) or some minor cosmetic issue was found, the pipe returned to the factory and, in some cases, received a new coverage date. In these situations the extra date-code is uniform.

“It might have been added by the point-of-sales (shop, when the pipe was actually sold, so the guarantee period was easier to identify.” Hener, K. S., Product Line Director – The White Spot Smoker’s Accessory Division and Walthamstow site.

There is a bit of question as to the date on this pipe. I have had people on the various groups on Facebook say it is a 1957 sold in 1960 pipe and others say it is a 1967 sold in 1970 pipe. All of the dating is dependent on how you see the 7 after the D in England. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/dunhill/cledat-en1a.html) to see what I could find out. Here is the chart I used and I have drawn a red box around the portion I used.I also captured the stamping on two separate pipes to show my conclusion. The first one shows the stamp on a 1967 pipe with the 7 being essentially the same size as the D in England. The second one is a 1958 pipe with a smaller superscript that is in the same placement as the 7 on the pipe that I have in hand. So I am pretty confident that the double date stamp was the year the pipe was made and the year that it sold. In this case it was a 1957 pipe that sold in 1960.

I turned to Eric Boehm’s part of the article on the Pipedia section on the Dunhill shapes. I found the listing for the Billiard that I was working on but still no information on the EX 606 number above it (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dunhill_Shapes_List). I quote:

251 Billiard, tapered bit (Relief bit) 3 5¾” 1950 3

That fits this pipe perfectly – a billiard with a tapered stem with a length of 5 ¾ inches. First used in 1950 in a Group 3 size.

I posted a question on the stamping on the Tobacco Pipe Restorers Group on Facebook and got this response from Alfredo Baquerizo:

This is a Root Briar from 1957 shape 251, group 3 and the R is for root. It’s an EX an exchange pipe by warranty Dunhill system. The 606 I think that is the exchange pipe number, I’m not sure.

I also posted on the Vintage Dunhill Pipes Group on Facebook and enjoyed the responses. One of the posters there, Jean-Paul Varon gave this information.

Ex606 = exchange of a pipe under guarantee.

That was the extent of the information that I could find at this point. It seems likely that the EX is the Dunhill Exchange Warranty system and the 606 could well be the Exchange pipe number. Is it possible that the EX606 could also include a date code in it? Possibly being the year 1960 and the sixth pipe of the year that was a replacement?

I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show their condition. You can see the damage to the rim topo and inner edge. There a nicks and chip on the edge and top there is a burned area on the rear left outer edge. There is generally some heavy darkening on the top. The stem on the other hand looks very good in the photos. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening and damage on the rim top and edges of the top. I lightly topped the bowl to remove the damage on the top and the inner edge of the rim. It also helped with the damage to the outer edge as well. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge a bit more. It took work but I was able to remove the majority of it. There was still one spot of burn damage on the left rear outer edge but it was smaller than when I had started. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I stained the polished rim top with the lightest coloured stain pen I have – Oak and was able to blend it into the overall colour of the bowl. The rim top looked amazingly better than when I started and has some great grain that is parallel to that on the heel of the bowl.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed 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. Because it was in such good condition 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 decided to pause and go sit in the yard in the shade and enjoy a bowl of MacBarens HH Old Dark Fired in my Downie Pipe before I polished the Dunhill. Need a bit of a break!This uniquely stamped Dunhill Root Briar 251 Billiard is a piece of Dunhill’s Warranty History – made in 1957 and sold or exchanged in 1960 at least that is my call though others have seen it as made in 1967 and sold in 1970. It is a great looking pipe in spite of the remaining burn mark on the rim. The Light Brown stain highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. It has some of the most stunning birdseye grain I have seen in a while on the right side of the bowl. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the stain works well to highlight the grain. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and is eye-catching. 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 251 Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Life for a Comoy’s Christmas 1983 Bent 409 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts not far from where he is located. It is a Comoy’s 409 Bulldog that is in decent condition. It is stamped Comoy’s Christmas 1983 on the top left side of the diamond shank. On the right side it is stamped with the Comoy’s circular COM stamp Made in London in a circle over England. That is followed by the shape number 409. On the right underside it is stamped with the letter E near the stem/shank junction. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a medium brown finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grain around bowl sides. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflow on the top and the beveled inner edge of the top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge of the rim. The stem was dirty, oxidized and calcified. There was light tooth chatter and marks on the stem near the button on both sides. The stem has the inset C logo of Comoy’s on the top left side of the diamond saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the top and beveled inner edge of the rim. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. The stamping on each side of the diamond shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. You can also see the inset C logo on the top left side of the diamond stem. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface. I knew that I was dealing with a 1983 Comoy’s 409 Bulldog that was specially made as a Christmas Pipe. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the top. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and beveled inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the finish to remove the darkening on both. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed 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. Some of the tooth marks were deep – fortunately small but deep on both sides. I filled in the divots with clear super glue and set the stem aside to dry while I took my dog for a walk. When I got back I used a needle file to sharpen the edge of the button and flatten the repairs. I sanded out the repairs on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I began polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.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 Comoy’s Christmas 1983 Bulldog is a real beauty. The Medium Brown stain highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Bulldog 409 is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

I am not sure I would call this AFG III Freehand pipe anything other than ODD

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up this pipe sometime in 2016 and I have had it in a box of bowls since he sent it to me. I have looked at it several times but it never called my name. It is a strange pipe. The upwardly curved portion of the shank is joined to the bowl and straight shank about mid shank. The grain is quite nice though there is a large pit on the left side of the shank. The pipe is a sitter with a strange notched rim top. The notches have a faux plateau pattern in the groove on the front and back of the bowl. The top of the rim is almost calabash like with a wide flat top. The curve of the shank made the drilling of the bent portion a mystery until you turn the pipe over and see the screw that is inset in the back of the shank where it is parallel with the airway in the straight portion. It was lightly smoked and dirty. The shank is stamped AFG III on the left side of the upper portion. The stem was pirated from a WDC Wellington and made to fit in the shank. The shank end was out of round and the mortise was quite large. The end was not flat so fitting any stem would be a trick. Maybe that is why the Wellington stem was used. The stem had deep tooth marks in the surface and really did not work with the bowl to me. Jeff took the following photos before he did his clean up on the pipe. Jeff took photos of the bowl top to show the condition of the bowl and rim top and edges. The pipe has almost a floral look to it from this angle. It is a dirty pipe and the interior of the bowl has some roughness on the right side. He took a photo of the screw in the underside of the shank. It looks like a brass wood screw that has been inset in the shank.He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to give a clear look at the grain on the briar. It is actually a nice looking piece of briar that some how the shape follows in a strange way all its own. The stamping on the left side of the shank reads AFG III which is not a brand I can find listed anywhere on the net so I have no information on the maker.The stem that had been made to fit is a WDC Wellington P-lip knockoff. It really did not fit in the shank and it was pretty chewed up. I would need to replace it.Today when I was sorting through my box of bowls without stems that I have and pitching out the worst of them I picked this bowl up and was drawn to seeing what I could do with it. I took it to my worktable and looked it over. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as I have come to expect after 4 years of working on pipes. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. Since the stem was not going to be used he did a quick clean up on it and sent it along. I had long since thrown it in the bottom of the box of bowls. The pipe was indeed an odd one. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took a photo of the wood screw in the shank and the flaw in the briar on the topside of the shank. You can also see the joint of the bowl and shank with the upward turned shank extension in the photos below. I drew a red box around then in the photos below. I went through my cans of stems to find one that would work with the diameter of the shank. I would need to turn the tenon to make it fit and also adjust the shank end and face it to make the taper stem fit.I took a photo of the shank end to show its condition. It was not flat and it was not round. The thickness of the shank around the mortise was also different on each side. The second photo below shows that angle of the shank end.I went through my brass bands to find one that would fit the end of the shank. I smoothed out rounded end on a topping board to smooth it. I also used my Dremel and sanding drum to bring the shank end back to round. I heated the band and pressed it onto the end of the shank. It looked good and it provided a straight flat edge on the shank end that would work well with the newly turned stem. I unscrewed the wood screw from the shank and found that it actually cut off the flow of air through the shank. When it was in place it extended into the airway. I used the Dremel and a grinding stone to take the screw down so that it would end at the wall of the airway. I used some all purpose glue to anchor the screw in the shank. It could be removed with a screw driver but it also was air tight.I filled in the flaw on the left side of the shank with briar dust and super glue. When the repair cured I sanded the repair smooth again with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper. I used the PIMO tenon turning tool on my cordless drill to reduce the diameter of the tenon and face the stem surface for a good fit on the shank.Once I had the fit right to the shank I used a heat gun to give the end a bend that matched the flow of the bowl. I may bend it a bit more but I like it at the moment. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I worked over the repaired spot on the shank to blend it in more. I touched up the stain around the band edge and the repaired pit on the shank using a blend of Oak and Maple stain pens. The colour matched well and once it was buffed would be perfect.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed 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 newly fit stem. I did some fine tuning of the diameter of the stem at the shank/stem junction with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!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 oddly shaped handmade briar pipe is strange enough to actually be quite interesting. From the shape of the extended shank to the flair of the bowl sides to the different looking top with the smooth top on the sides and the “dips” in the front and rear that are rusticated to look a bit like plateau. The mix of brown stains that the maker used really highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The band and the newly shaped vulcanite stem seem to work well with the pipe. The pipe is a beauty and really eye-catching in its own way. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand and is a sitter as well. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. This is not a pipe for everyone but someone is bound to love it. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Beautifully Grained Smooth Savinelli Punto Oro 114KS Saddle Stem Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts not far from where he is located. It is another Savinelli Billiard with a really rich red finish. The pipe has some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grain around bowl sides. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a some lava overflow on the inner edge of the top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge of the rim. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Savinelli over Punto Oro. It is stamped on the right side and has a Savinelli S Shield over Italy followed by the 114KS shape number. The stamping is clear and readable. The stem was dirty, oxidized and calcified. There was light tooth chatter and marks on the stem near the button on both sides. The stem has a brass dot of the Punto Oro on the top of the saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim top. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. The stamping and logo are on the underside of the shank and are as noted above. They look very good even though some of each line is stamped in the blast portion not just on the smooth panel.The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface.I turned to Pipephil’s site to get a feel for the Punto Oro line. All of the previous Punto Oro pipes that I have worked on were smooth finish with great grain. This was a great smooth finished pipe in the rich Mahogany finish. Here is the link (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent information on the line below.I turned to Pipedia to look at what information they had on the brand. I found a catalogue page on the Punto Oro which confirmed what I had surmised about the line having both smooth and sandblast finished pipe (https://pipedia.org/images/d/db/Sav_Punto_Oro.jpg). I have included a screen capture of the page below. It says that the line was available in 2 distinct finishes – a rich Mahogany smooth finish and a genuine sandblast. The current pipe on the table is a rich Mahogany smooth pie.The Savinelli shape number was 114KS so I turned to the Savinelli Shape Chart on Pipedia and included a screen capture (https://pipedia.org/images/4/41/Sav_Shape_Chart_2017.jpg). I have circled the 114KS shape in blue in the photo below.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. You can see the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the top. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. It reads as noted above.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed 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 out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!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 Savinelli Punto Oro Smooth Mahogany Finish Billiard is a real beauty. The Mahogany stain highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and the blast really is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

New Life for a Peterson’s Republic Era Kildare 87 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts or auctions. It is a beautifully grained Peterson’s “Kildare” 87 Apple. The shape follows the grain around the bowl which is a combination of cross grain and birdseye. The finish was very dirty but the grain shone through the grime. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner edge of the rim. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Peterson’s “Kildare”. On the right side of the shank In the Republic of Ireland followed by the shape number 87. The stamping is clear and readable on both sides. The stem was dirty and oxidized. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides and some on the surface of the button as well. There was the Peterson’s “P” on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim edge. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. The stamping on the sides of the shank read as noted above. The photos show that they are very clear and readable. The P on the left side of the stem is in good condition. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was light tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface. I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

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

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

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made during the Republic Era between 1950 and 1989. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The rim top and edges look very good. The stem looks clean of oxidation other than a little around the P-lip. There is also light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. It is very clear and readable.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It also shows the aluminum tube in the tenon end. It extends into the bottom of the bowl.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. The bowl began to take on a shine. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar came alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was in great condition so I polished out the tooth chatter and remaining oxidation on 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 Republic Era Peterson “Kildare” 87 Straight Apple is a beautiful pipe. The grain around the bowl sides and shank really stand out with the polishing. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite P-lip taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it is really is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the stamping on the shank during the process. 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 Straight Apple is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This Peterson’s “Kildare” will be added to the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Beautifully Sandblasted Savinelli Punto Oro 310KS Poker

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts not far from where he is located. It is an interesting Savinelli Poker with a really nice sandblast finish. The blast is quite rugged and defined and feels as good in the hand as it looks to the eye. The finish was very dirty with flecks of white paint in the crevices of the blast around the bowl. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a lava overflow on the rim top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge of the rim. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Savinelli over Punto Oro followed by the Savinelli S shield and the shape number 310KS Italy. The stamping is clear and readable. The stem was dirty and oxidized. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides and some on the surface of the button as well. I am not sure the stem is original though the fit is perfect. There are no marks identifying it as a Savinelli or Punto Oro pipe but that is not enough to be conclusive on the status of the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the damage, the tick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top filling in some of the crevices in the blasted rim top.. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully sandblasted pipe. The stamping and logo are on the underside of the shank and are as noted above. They look very good even though some of each line is stamped in the blast portion not just on the smooth panel.The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface. I turned to Pipephil’s site to get a feel for the Punto Oro line. All of the previous Punto Oro pipes that I have worked on were smooth finish with great grain. This was a sandblast one and I do not recall working on one before. Here is the link (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent information on the line below. It appears the line came out in both smooth and sandblast finishes.I turned to Pipedia to look at what information they had on the brand. I found a catalogue page on the Punto Oro which confirmed what I had surmised about the line having both smooth and sandblast finished pipe (https://pipedia.org/images/d/db/Sav_Punto_Oro.jpg). I have included a screen capture of the page below. It says that the line was available in 2 distinct finishes – a rich Mahogany smooth finish and a genuine sandblast.The Savinelli shape number was 310KS so I turned to the Savinelli Shape Chart on Pipedia and included a screen capture (https://pipedia.org/images/4/41/Sav_Shape_Chart_2017.jpg). Ihave circled the 310KS shape in red in the photo below.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. You can see the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the top. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.I took a photo of the stamping on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. The photo is a little blurry but the stamping is clear and readable.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I cleaned up the darkening of the edge and rim top with a brass bristle wire brush. I was able to remove some more of the darkening and while not perfect it is certainly better. There were also still some white paint flecks in the sandblast grooves. I cleaned them out at the same time. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the deep crevices of the sandblast. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The sandblast came alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!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 Savinelli Punto Oro sandblast Poker Sitter is a real beauty. The sandblast reveals some great ring grain around the bowl sides and birdseye on the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain under the blast on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and the blast really is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I buffed the sandblast with a light touch and carefully avoided the stamping on the shank during the process. 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 Savinelli Punto Oro Poker is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring a bit of an oddity – a Dri-Cool Briar Carburetor Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts or auctions. It is a strange pipe in many ways. The end of the stem is wrapped tightly with thread forming a protective bit cover to protect the stem from bite marks – or was it? Maybe it was a home down repair job and when we removed the thread we would see what was wrong. The other thing about the pipe is that it has a clip on the underside of the pipe with a patent number 2,166,172. Under the spring clip there was a Kaywoodie style carburetor in the bottom of the bowl. It extends up into the bowl bottom about1/4 of an inch. The post is split in the centre like a slotted screw. The airway enters the bowl at the base of the post. The rest of the shank and stem are normal. The bowl was very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and a lava overflow on the rim top. There was a large chip out of the outer edge of the bowl at the front of the rim top. The stem was dirty but lightly oxidized. There are not any tooth marks on the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the damage, the tick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. Jeff took several photos of the apparatus on the heel of the bowl. You can see the clip like piece of metal with a patent number on it over the carburetor/nozzle extending out of the bowl. The stamping and logo are interesting on the left side of the shank. They include the Dri-Cool Briar stamp and a pipe that illustrates the system. On the right side of the shank it reads Aged Imported Briar. The previous pipeman had wrapped the end of the stem in twine/thread to provide a homemade bite protector. We have seen this before and generally what is underneath is a mess. However Jeff took photos of the unwrapping this time and what was underneath was quite pristine. Whew a good surprise! Before I started to work on the pipe I decided to hunt down the patent number on the clip on the heel of the bowl. I did a patent search on the US Patent Site and found the following Patent Information. For some reason one of the pages was not available on the site but I have included what was there along with the patent drawings. It appears that the concept was patented on December 30, 1936 by A.B. Modine. While the pictures are slightly different from the pipe I am working on the parts appear to be the same. It is an interesting piece of the perpetual and ongoing search for a cool and dry smoke. I also found a picture online of a Dri-Cool Briar The Thermostatic Control Billiard and have included below.Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. You can see the darkening on the rim top and the apparatus in the bottom of the bowl. The chip out of the outer edge of the rim is visible and deep.I took a photo of the clip on the underside of the shank to show the Patent Number. Jeff was able to clean up around the clip as well and it looked very good. I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. It is clear and readable.I cleaned up the damage on the rim top and filled in the chip on the edge with briar dust and super glue. Once the chip repair cured I sanded it smooth and sanded the damaged rim top smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I polished it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 pads and wiping the surface down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to really shine as I worked through the various grit pads. I used a blend of Cherry and Maple stain pens to restain the rim top and blend it into the rest of the briar. Once it polished the colour will blend together with the rest of the briar.Once the stain cured I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. 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 was a fun pipe to work on. The “plumbing” on it made it quite fascinating to clean up and to restore. It seems to me that it functions a lot like a Kaywoodie Carburetor but externally is different. I wonder if the clip is not a way of regulating the airflow from the Carburetor in the bowl bottom. Anyway, I put the pipe back together again and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe on the wheel with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am really happy with how the pipe came out and the way in which the rim edge repair blended in with the rest of the bowl. The browns of the stain and the black of the polished vulcanite came out really well. This is a nice looking “contraption” pipe versus how often they are quite ugly! The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outer Diameter of the Bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is an interesting pipe and one that will reside in my “Search for a Cooler/Drier Smoking Pipe” Collection. Give the blog a read. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Replacing a Broken Tenon on a Stanwell RP Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday a fellow pipe smoker called to say he was in front of my house and had a pipe that he had dropped while on a walk and needed a replacement tenon. He put the pipe in my mail box and I picked it up and while he was on the front side walk I chatted with him from the front porch – very much observing social distancing. The pipe was a beautiful Stanwell RP Freehand. Sure enough the tenon was stuck in the shank and snapper off just ahead of the fancy turned ball on the stem. Tenon replacements on these freehand styles are some of the easiest to do. It means that the stem end is flattened and drilled out to accommodate a new tenon. He also pointed out some road rash on the left side of the bowl where the pipe had bounced off the sidewalk. While I am not taking on new work what could I say to a previous customer standing at my gate asking for help. Of course I took the pipe in and today decided to address the broken tenon. I took pictures of the pipe to show its condition before I started. I took some photos of the shank end to show the snapped tenon in the shank and the broken end on the stem. I tried to pull the tenon with some simple tricks and it was stuck in the shank. It would not budge no matter how I tried. I put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes to see if a change in temperature would loosen the tenon.I took the bowl out of the freezer and screwed a drywall screw into the airway in the tenon. It did not take much effort at all to wiggle it and pull out the broken tenon. I kept the piece of tenon so that I could match the replace tenon to the diameter of the broken tenon.Before moving on to make the new tenon I decided to address the road rash on the side of the bowl. I have circled it in red in the first photo below. For this application I used a wet cloth and heated the blade of a butter knife over the flame of my gas stove. I put the wet cloth over the damaged spot and when the knife became hot I touched it to the wet cloth. The heat generated steam from the wet cloth and began to lift the damaged spot. I knew that it would not come up totally as it was a rough area but I knew that I could improve the look. The second photo shows the area on the bowl side after the steam application. I enclosed the repaired damage with a red circle.The damage looked much better after the steaming, not perfect but better! I stained the upper portion of the bowl with an Oak stain pen to blend it into the rest of the surrounding briar. Once it was polished it would blend in very well.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I find that it also helps to blend a newly stained area into the rest of the bowl. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to replacing the tenon. I had a threaded tenon that I had started turning down to size for another pipe that would work perfectly. It is shown in the photo below next to the broken chunk of the original tenon. I would need to use a Dremel and sanding drum to finish turning the tenon portion down to match the diameter of the broken one. I would also need to reduce the diameter of the threaded tenon end because of the size of the end of the stem.I set the tenon aside and flattened the jagged portion of the broken tenon on the stem with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once it was flat I began the process of drilling out the airway to receive the new tenon. I always start with a drill bit slightly larger than the existing airway so that I do not chip of damage the stem. I don’t want create more work! I worked my way up to a ¼ inch drill bit as it was the largest one that I could get away with drilling into the stem end without damaging the external surface.I reduced the diameter of the portion of the tenon that fit in the shank and the portion that would be anchored in the stem using a Dremel and sanding drum to rough fit it. I straightened out the edges of the insert portion with a rasp and squared up the edge so that it would seat in the stem. Once I had a good fit in the stem and the shank I used slow setting super glue to anchor the new tenon in the stem. I coated the edges of the tenon and then set it in place and aligned it so that it was straight.Once the glue had cured I cleaned up the surface of the tenon so that it was not scratched with sandpaper and so that it fit well in the shank. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished the fancy turnings on the stem and area around the new tenon with Before & After Pipe Polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) using a cotton swab to get into the grooves and angles. When I was finished I rubbed the entire stem down with the polish and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. With that the pipe is complete. I buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond Polish and gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel and then hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is now ready to go back to the pipe man who dropped it off Friday afternoon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of his repaired pipe when he picks it up. Thanks for walking with me through this restoration. Cheers.