Tag Archives: bowl topping

Restoring a Four-Digit Kaywoodie Canadian

Blog by Andew Selking

I have a weakness for Kaywoodies, especially those from the 1940’s or earlier; the briar is just amazing. I read somewhere that Kaywoodie was the largest pipe maker prior to WWII and used 100-year-old briar. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but this pipe was one of their mid-range pipes, yet it doesn’t have a single fill. Additionally, it weighs exactly the same as my Heritage Heirloom with the same shape number. (As an aside, the Heritage pipes were made in the 1960’s to compete with Dunhill. According to their brochures, only one pipe out of 300 made the cut.)

Here is a picture of the pipe when I received it. It had some heavy cake, tar build up on the rim, and a few dents in the stem. Cake doesn’t scare me, my reamer makes quick work of it, and tar build up often protects the rim from damage. The only problem from a collector’s standpoint was the stinger had been cut. I think pipes smoke better without the stinger, so that wasn’t a huge issue for me. One of the things that I do to make reaming heavy cake easier is soak the bowl in alcohol. Here’s the bowl getting dropped into the bath. After a good long soak, it was time to remove the cake. My Castleford reamer effortlessly removed the cake. I like to multi-task, so while the bowl was working, I soaked the stem in Oxyclean. I used a fuzzy stick and Oxyclean solution to get the worst of the gunk out of the stem. Here is the first pass. Although I usually retort the shank and stem separately, the screw in stem prevented that. I ended up retorting the whole pipe. The inside of the shank and stem were nasty. Next I turned my attention to the rim. It had some scars that necessitated topping.

I used 150 grit sandpaper on a piece of glass to remove the damaged section. To fix the dents in the stem, I used a three-pronged approach. First I used steam to raise the dents as much as possible. I have an old kitchen knife that I heated with my heat gun. I placed a wet cloth over the area and pressed the hot knife blade onto the stem. It raised it a little bit. This is after the application of steam. Next I used 400 grit sand paper. The underside of the button was kind of messed up, so I dressed it with a file. I still had a small dent, so I filled it with clear super glue and applied a drop of accelerator. The accelerator comes in a spray bottle, which I find makes a mess. My solution is to take the sprayer out and use the end as an applicator. I also use a thumb tack to apply a small amount of glue. I’m not very neat when using glue straight from the bottle and using a thumb tack gives me more control (it also means less material to sand after the glue dries). Once I had the stem sorted out, I used 400 grit wet/dry with water followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh with water. I used a progression of 1500-12000 micro mesh on the bowl. Next I used Pimo Pipe Supply medium walnut stain, cut with 50% de-natured alcohol, to make the rim match the bowl.

After an uneventful spin on the buffer (anyone who ever used a buffer to shine pipes understands the drama that can occur when the pipe gets away from you) this is the result.

Carrying on the story of a 1905 Imperial ITC Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The seller had marked this little pipe an Imperial ITC Silver Mount Birmingham 1934. Something about the gentle bend of the stem and shank, the shape and wear on the bowl made me want to have this diminutive pipe as my own. I bid on it and was the only bidder picking it up for about $22 Canadian. I think the seller wet down the stem and bowl for the photos because it is far too shiny looking. When I see an old pipe like this I immediately begin to wonder about the gent who owned the pipe. What was he like? What did he smoke in it? When did he purchase it and what did he smoke in it? Many of those questions can of course be answered by the pipe itself. The date in this case was suspect and would be formalized once I had it here. The vulcanite stem appeared to have an older rounded button that let me to surmise that it has an orifice button – a single round hole in the end of the button rather than a flared airway. The bowl was obviously well smoked telling me that it was a good smoking pipe. The stem unchewed telling me that the owner had cared for it well. Other than that I was left wondering about the last owner, was he the purchaser? How had the seller come into possession of the pipe? Questions for which I will not have an answer. When the pipe arrived I opened the box and excitedly cut through the layers of tape that held the pipe captive in the bubble wrap that protected it. I was proven correct in my assumption regarding the state of the pipe. The finish was indeed wetted for the photos of the seller as the pipe did not glisten like the photos. The bowl was in decent shape, the finish worn and tired. The rim was shot with built up tars and damage from tapping the bowl out. The silver had multitudes of dents and pock marks in it that showed its carriage in a coat or vest pocket and was tarnished. The stem was clean a lightly oxidized but showed no tooth damage. The bowl was caked with a thick build up of carbons but did not have a sweet or smokey smell so it was likely a Virginia pipe. The curve of the stem matched the curve of the bowl. The stamping was clear and readable – Imperial in script at an angle with ITC underneath the underline of Imperial. There was no other stamping on the briar.

I wanted to check out the date given by the seller as I suspected it was somewhat earlier than the 1934 date given by the seller. The stem and button shape and the threaded bone tenon all pointed to an earlier date in my opinion. The hallmarks on the silver band would allow me to do that with some precision as they were not badly worn. I wiped down the band with a silver polishing cloth to remove the tarnish enough that I could read the stamping. To the naked eye it appeared to have a W.H. in an oval followed by an anchor, a lion and a lower case k. I brought home a magnifying glass from work that had a built in light. I put the pipe under the lens and turned on the light. I lifted it to get the clearest magnification I could get on the silver hallmarks and what I had seen was indeed correct. It was a WH in two interlocking circles and the three hallmarks were correct.

I took this information to one of my favourite websites to process the information and gather what I could from the stamping http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilverhallmarks.html. There I found the following data. The anchor stamp told me that the pipe or at least the silver band came from Birmingham, England. The lion told me I was dealing with sterling silver. And the k told me the date – 1905 not 1934. The pipe was significantly older than the seller had noted. That excited me as I love these older briar pipes. I also wanted to know what the W.H. in the oval could tell me about the pipe. I dug a little deeper on the English silver marks page and found more information. The maker of the silver band was a William Harrison who was active in London. Various copies of Harrison’s marks in Chester Assay Office were registered by Imperial Tobacco Co between 1907 and 1916. The mark above shows a Birmingham 1908 hallmark. From that information I gathered that the W.H. was William Harrison and that the Birmingham Assay Office had stamped the band in 1905.

I unscrewed the stem from the shank in order to work on the bowl. The cake was thick and crumbling in the bowl so I reamed it back to bare wood with a PipNet reamer.

The rim would take some serious work to get it back to workable condition. I set up a topping board and carefully worked the top of the bowl against the sandpaper. The surface of the rim was not even so this took some care so as not to angle the rim. I sanded the rim until the surface was flat and the damage was removed. There was still some darkening to the briar but I chose to leave that rather than to remove more of the briar from the rim.

To remove the spotty and damaged finish on the bowl I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads and was able to take it back to the unfinished briar. The brown patina of the briar was not removed in the process and once finished would clean up well and still show some age. I wanted to take photos of the stem and tenon so that you could see the age and shape it was in. It was a bone tenon, threaded to match the threads in the shank. The end of the tenon has a funnel or tube that is part of the tenon to capture the smoke and bring it into the airway. The other end of the stem is the rounded orific button that I have come to expect on pipes from this time period.

Once the exterior surfaces were clean it was time to work on the interior of the shank and stem. I put the pipe back together and set up a retort. I filled the test tube with 99% isopropyl alcohol and put the stopper and apparatus in place. I stuffed a cotton ball in the bowl to keep the alcohol that was boiled through the pipe in the pipe and not all over the desk top. I use a small tea light candle to heat the alcohol and boil it through the pipe. I repeat the process twice, changing the alcohol between procedures to remove the tars and oils from the shank and stem. Once I removed the retort I cleaned out the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It takes far less pipe cleaners once the retort has finished its work.

I decided to stain the briar using the stain pens instead of the usual aniline stains. I wiped down the surface of the bowl with alcohol and then used the stain the medium brown stain pen to stain the bowl. When applied the stain is streaked but that is easily taken care of with a quick buff with a cotton cloth. I also cleaned the silver with a silver polish and a jeweler’s polishing cloth to remove the tarnish and bring up the shine. I removed the stem and sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to address the light oxidation. I then sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed down the stem between each set of three pads with Obsidian Oil. When I finished sanding with the 12000 grit pad I also gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and when dry took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond and then carnauba wax to protect the stem.

I decided to rub down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil. I find that on these older pipes it brings out the patina nicely. I put some oil on a paper towel and then rub down the pipe, wipe off the excess and repeat the process until it shines.

When the olive oil was absorbed and the bowl was dry to touch I took the pipe to the buffer and lightly buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax, buffing the silver with a very light touch so as not to damage the hallmarks and stamping. I finished by buffing it lightly with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It is ready to go back into service. I intend to enjoy it for many more years. I always enjoy smoking these old timers and only wish they could tell their stories. It is amazing to be able to load a bowl and smoke a pipe that is almost 110 years old. Speak to me, I am listening I want to hear your stories… and add my own to the saga you could tell.

The Resurrection of an old KBB Yello-Bole Premier Panel

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Blog by Steve Laug

In a recent trade with Andrew Selking I received an older KBB Yello Bole Paneled billiard. When I removed it from the box there was something about the older KBB Panel that grabbed my attention. It was stamped on the left side of the shank with the familiar KBB logo and the Yello-Bole next to it. Underneath that it bore the stamp Reg. US Pat. Off. Directly below that was stamped Premier over Cured with Real Honey. The pipe had been repaired at some time in its ragged existence with what appeared to be a homemade repair job. The tenon had broken somewhere along the line and a previous owner had drilled out the stem and used a piece of stainless steel tubing to make a new tenon. The metal tenon was stuck in the shank of the pipe and the stem just sat loosely on it. The fit of the stem to the shank was off with the stem sitting high and to the right. The previous owner had tried to compensate for the off centered stem by sanding flat spots on the stem sides and bottom that broke the smooth lines of the square shank and stem. There were two small hairline cracks on the shank – top right and bottom left that would need to be repaired once the tenon was removed. The bowl was out of round with damage to the inner edge of the rim and a tarry build-up on the surface. The outer edge rim crown of the bowl was also compromised and would need some work. The stem was not too badly oxidized but it had tooth marks on the top and bottom near the button.

Background Information
I wrote about the history of the KBB stamped Yello-Bole Pipes. The following link will give you the details: https://rebornpipes.com/2014/07/21/renewing-an-old-kbb-yello-bole-honey-cured-briar-billiard/
Yello-Bole pipes are one of my favorite older US brands doing the research would be enjoyable. As with other early brands made in the states I have found that older is better. A KBB in a cloverleaf stamp will date them back to the ’30’s. I have found through my reading that the 4 digit shape numbers are older than 2 digit ones. The pipes with the logo on top of the stem are older than ones that have them on the side. That is just some of the information that I found with a cursory read through the forums and a variety of websites.

The SM Frank website http://www.smfrankcoinc.com/home/?page_id=2 gives a wealth of historical information on Kaywoodies, Yello-Boles and the merger between KBB and SM Frank and later Demuth. It was a great read and I would encourage others to give the website a read. I also wanted to find some help in dating my old Yello-Bole Pipes and I came across this link to the Kaywoodie Forum: http://kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org/archive/dating-yello-bole-pipes__o_t__t_86.html . I am including some of the information I found there as it gives the only information that I found in my hunt to this point.
“…there isn’t a lot of dating information for Yello-Bole pipes but here is what I have learned so far.

– If it has the KBB stamped in the clover leaf it was made 1955 or earlier as they stopped the stamping after being acquired by S.M. Frank.
– From 1933-1936 they were stamped Honey Cured Briar.
– Pipes stems stamped with the propeller logo they were made in the 30s or 40s no propellers were used after the 40s.
– Yello-Bole also used a 4 digit code stamped on the pipe in the 30s.
– If the pipe had the Yello-Bole circle stamped on the shank it was made in the 30s this stopped after 1939.
– If the pipe was stamped BRUYERE rather than briar it was made in the 30s.”
Given the above information I discovered that the pipe I was working on was made sometime between 1930 and 1940. Thus it was an early Yello-Bole from the 1930s or 40s.

Restoration Process
I took the stem off the bowl and tried to remove the inserted metal tenon. It was firmly stuck in place and I could not move it even with pliers. I put the bowl in the freezer overnight hoping that the cold would contract the metal and briar differently (as is the case with the varied material and density). In the morning I took it out of the freezer and was able to turn the tenon out of the shank with pliers. Once it was removed it was clear to see that it had not been glued in the shank but merely stuck with the tars and oils of the tobacco in the shank. I found a threaded Delrin tenon in my box of tenon parts and it was a workable replacement for the metal tenon. I tapped the drilled out hole in the stem and screwed the threaded tenon into the hole. It was a perfect fit. I removed it once again and put some glue on the threads and screwed it into place and let the glue set. The diameter of the tenon would need to be adjusted as it was too big for the mortise. This was actually ideal in that I would be able to adjust the fit against the shank on the sides and the top. The bottom of the shank would take work to make a smooth transition.

I sanded the tenon with a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess Delrin. I hand sanded it with 180 grit and 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and fine tune the fit. I spread the hairline cracks with a dental pick and dripped superglue along the cracks and pressed them together until the glue set. The stem fit in the shank nicely. The photos below show the damage that had been done to the stem in the previous repair. It is especially visible in the photos of the pipe from the side and the bottom. The stem had been modified to the misfit of the previous tenon so work would need to be done to realign the fit against the end of the shank.

I sanded the bottom, top and right side of the shank until the transition between the briar and the vulcanite was smooth. The left side was touchier in that I did not want to damage the stamping. I sanded this area while covering the stamping. The trick was to smooth out the transition without making a drastic dip in the briar – it just needed to be re-tapered until it flowed naturally into the stem. Sanding the top of the stem also took care as it had the insert of the white propeller. Too much sanding on the top would damage and compromise the insert. The photos below show the newly sanded and tapered shank/stem. I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper, medium and fine grit sanding sponges and a fine grit sanding block. I sanded the rim and curves of the rim with the same sandpapers. I folded a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the out of round bowl to clean it up as much as possible.

I wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the finish from the bowl.

I cleaned out the bowl and shank with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I cleaned out the stem as well at the same time. I sanded the bite marks on the top and bottom of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to minimize the damage and remove the tooth chatter. There were still some tooth marks that needed to be repaired.

I scrubbed the areas around the bite marks with alcohol to clean the sanding dust and grit from around them. I then used black superglue to fill the bite marks and sprayed it with and activator/accelerator to harden it.

When it dried I sanded the filled areas with 220 grit sandpaper to level them out with the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge and a fine grit sanding block to further blend the patches into the stem surface. In the next two photos the patches are blended into the stem but the blackness of the super glue and the blackness of the unpolished stem do not match so they show up as spots on the stem.

I stained the bowl and shank with a medium brown aniline stain thinned 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I wanted a medium brown wash to highlight the grain and show contrast in the finish. The wash provided just what I was looking for.

I sanded the stem further with fine grit sanding blocks and also sanded the flat areas on the transition between the shank and stem to work towards a more seamless look. The next photos show the smooth transition and the smooth stem. The patches are fading more into the vulcanite of the stem as well at this point in the process.

I moved on to sand the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed down the stem between each set of three pads with Obsidian Oil and then continued sanding. I have found that sanding the stem while the oil is freshly applied allows the grit on the pads to cut into the finish and raise a shine.

The next two photos show the finished stem. After the final sanding I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and let it soak in before polishing it with the buffer. I gave it several coats of carnauba wax. The patches on the stem by this point are fully blended into the vulcanite and cannot be identified.

The next photo shows the reworked inner edge of the rim to show my repairs on the out of round bowl. I sanded until it was as close to round as I could get it by hand. I bevelled the inner edge of the bowl with the sandpaper to make the transition smooth. The finished pipe is shown below. Thanks to Andrew for sending me this challenge. I really enjoyed bringing this old timer back to life. It will occupy a special spot in my older American pipe maker collection and join my other KBB Yello-Boles as favourites that I enjoy smoking. I buffed it with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. All that remains is to sit back and enjoy a bowl of an aged Virginia tobacco and read a good story!

Reviving a Peterson Dunmore 79 with my Son in Law

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Blog by Steve Laug

This past weekend my son in law came over with the Peterson Dunmore pipe that he had purchased on a recent pipe hunt in the US. He picked it up for $15USD so it was a good purchase. We finally got around to working on it. In a previous post on the Dunmore line I had found that the line from Peterson really is a stripped down pipe. The one that we worked on this weekend was in essence a system pipe. The lack of a ferrule is made up for by a stylized carving around the shank end. The stem sits snugly against the end of the shank but is not flush with the diameter of the shank. The saddle on the stem has a slightly different flair than a regular Peterson pipe. It had a Plip stem. It bore the stamping Peterson’s over “Dunmore” on the left side of the shank and Made in the Republic of Ireland and the number 79 on the right side of the shank.

The pipe was in pretty decent shape under the grime and tars on the bowl and rim. It had some beautiful birdseye grain under the grime that would really stand out with a bit of work. The rim was damaged along the back outer edge with small nicks. The build up on the rim was hard and uneven. The bowl itself was out of round and would need to be adjusted. The stem was oxidized but under the oxidation on the saddle it bore the stylized P stamp. The top of the stem near the button had a few small bite marks and some tooth chatter. The underside of the stem near the button had a pin hole in it that would need to be patched.

While my son in law, Lance worked on the bowl scrubbing and cleaning it I worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the tooth marks. I wiped it down with alcohol to clean the areas around the hole. I daubed Vaseline on a pipe cleaner and inserted it from the tenon end of the stem and then used black superglue to repair the hole. I gave it several coats of glue to build up the repair, sprayed it with accelerator and let it dry between applications. Once I had the patch solidly in place I set it aside and let it cure. After curing for about 30 minutes I sanded the patch with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches and further blend it.

Lance worked on the bowl while this was going on. He washed down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the remaining finish on the pipe. He softened the buildup on the rim surface and then lightly topped the bowl to remove the damage and the buildup. Once it was smooth, he sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge and then wiped the bowl down with another wash of acetone. We gave the bowl a coat of medium walnut stain mixed with Danish Oil and rubbed it onto the bowl and off again with a soft cotton pad. The bowl looked good when I had finished wiping it down and buffing it with a shoe brush. The grain is quite stunning.

I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond to remove more of the oxidation. I rubbed it down with some Obsidian Oil and set it aside for the pictures below. At this point in the refurbishing the stem is looking quite good. I still need to sand with micromesh pads and then reapply the gold in the P stamp on the left side of the stem.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads and then dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. In between each set of three pads I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I finished by buffing the stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad.

After sanding it with 3200-4000 grit pads I used a gold paint and applied it to the P logo on the stem and then sanded it again with the same three grits of pad.

I put the stem back in the shank and buffed the entire pipe with carnauba wax and with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. The first four photos give a close up look at the bowl so that you can appreciate the beautiful grain on the pipe. The last four photos show the pipe in its entirety. It is truly a stunning piece of briar with no fills or pits. It is ready for its inaugural smoke by my son in law. It looks as good as new and the stunning birdseye grain gives the pipe a rich look. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of his restored pipe and even more what he thinks once he has smoked it.

Radical Surgery, Amputation Extend Ben Wade’s Life

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Patient in Operating Room for 14 Days
by ROBERT M. BOUGHTON
RP Blogger

(Albuquerque, NM, USA) Two weeks after entering a restorer’s shop for a routine checkup, a tall billiard was released following emergency surgery to amputate more than half of its upper bowl and perform cosmetic adjustments, the restorer announced Wednesday.

Claiming the likely sole previous owner of the victim, a Ben Wade Standard, was suspected of chronic abuse of the English-born pipe for an unspecified number of years, the restorer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the identity of the perpetrator remained unknown.

“This is the worst, most depraved example of tobacco pipe abuse I have ever encountered,” the restorer said. “The briar pipe presented with first-degree burns on the rim and a chamber stuffed with carbon cake as well as acute scratches, pits, gouges and grime covering the outside of its body, and other mayhem of the stem.”

New Mexico law defines mayhem as the “malicious intent to maim or disfigure” any part of a body by means including cutting, mutilating or otherwise disabling.

Further examination revealed an almost fatal crack through the chamber to the outside of the bowl extending almost an inch downward from the right side of the rim, the restorer said, and added that was the wound requiring amputation of about half of the victim’s main body.

“Never before have I seen such a horrific case of compound commutated fracture,” the restorer said, showing photographs taken at the time of the initial examination.

“After the first look, the prognosis for this unfortunate former billiard was terminal,” the restorer said.“However, upon consulting some of my colleagues, we agreed that a combination of amputation, which was unavoidable if the pipe’s vital functions were to continue at all, and radical reconstructive surgery was the only viable course of action.”

Calling the complex work involved “a Hail Mary toss,” the restorer described the plan to remove half of the bowl and reshape the stump into a “squat pot.” Preliminary measures to determine the pipe’s structural ability to survive this highly invasive operation – including a thorough cleansing, soaking the chamber and shank with 190-proof alcohol and the beginning of a rigorous course of sanding the outside and the “mangled guts” – began immediately.

According to the restorer, the possibility that the pipe would reject the amputation and reconstruction was serious.

“Imagine if one day you awoke to find your head flattened to less than half its original size, but the rest of your body proportional to the way you had been,” the restorer said.“The shock of it could be devastating, dare I say catastrophic, not to mention the way you would stand out in public and the resulting open pointing, name-calling and general ridicule.”

The restorer said the ultimate decision to proceed with the surgery was his alone and based on a desire to save the pipe’s life if possible.

“Before I soaked the chamber and shank with alcohol, I drew incision lines downward at intervals around the rim, to the highest point of the bowl possible and yet still clear of the long scar of the crack, to guide me,” the restorer said. Choosing a hacksaw for the amputation phase, the restorer said no anæsthesia was used as the pipe was unconscious.

“Lopping off the dome of that tall, proud billiard was the most extreme measure I hope I ever have to take in the name of restoration,” the restorer said. “But the removal was clean, and the deed done, it was easy to see the problems I still faced to reshape the resulting bowl, from something that could not even be called a short billiard, into at least a passable pot.”

The restorer added that sanding down the shank until it was proportionate to the bowl was possible only by erasing Ben Wade’s identity, and therefore was never seriously considered.

“No, our friend Ben Wade will just have to learn to adjust to his new body,” the restorer, who was drenched in sweat and appeared haggard, said. “I have done everything possible, although there were complications.”

Using an electric Dremel for the first time, with a smooth sander bit and set at the lowest speed, the restorer began the process of increasing the curve of the bowl. He said he applied the least pressure possible to the wood but still noticed the tendency of the tool to remove uneven layers of briar.

When the restorer had made his first full circle of the bowl and observed the jagged beginning of the reshaping into what would become a very short pot due to the amount of wood on which he could work, he said he switched to a rasp for a fast initial leveling of the bowl’s underside to make it a “sitter.”

To finish the basic reshaping, the restorer said, he returned to the Dremel for a “touch-up of the rougher spots” before taking the rasp and using it with smooth, upward strokes from the bottom of the bowl to the top to make the shape still more curved.

“At the end of this phase, I was left with a very rough surface that I knew could be smoothed with sandpaper and micromesh pads,” the restorer said. “But the rim was uneven and required careful leveling. The hardest aspect of this part of the cosmetic work was moving the rasp in the correct direction to make the thickness of the rim uniform all around.”

The chamber was still coated with what the restorer called “never-ending cake.” He said he took a chance with the Dremel again and used it to loosen some of the carbon buildup.

“This was successful, but also revealed the beginning of another crack that in time was certain to work its way all the way through the bowl,” the restorer said and sighed. “This was when I knew the best I could do was to extend the life of the once whole and healthy pipe. Only God can say how long that life will be.” The restorer then sanded the remaining scratches from the bowl and made the chamber as smooth and free of the old cake as he could before starting what he thought would be the finishing touches: buffing the outer pipe with several grades of micromesh, re-staining the wood a dark red color and polishing the pipe with four kinds of wax.

“It’s funny how sometimes going all the way through the regular steps of restoration will reveal new problems,” the restorer said. “In this case, two blemishes in the forms of gashes showed up.”

The restorer explained how he used a black marker over the damaged areas to simulate the grain color and then applied small amounts of Super Glue, which he let dry. Once the glue dried and hardened, the restorer added, he rubbed it away with three grades of micromesh. The tenon of the replacement stem that was on the pipe when it arrived, despite the restorer’s attempts to fix it with Black Super Glue, no longer fit the shank.

“It was way too small, and I hated the idea of using beeswax to force it to fit,” the restorer said. “It is my belief that the previous owner, instead of cleaning the pipe regularly if ever, let the crud in the shank accrete until the stem became stuck and then sanded down the tenon to fit the goop. I guess it takes all kinds.” Finding a good Lucite replacement stem that fit the shank as if it were made for it, the restorer said he only needed to remove some minor scratches with high-grade micromesh and buff it with some waxes before re-finishing the bowl and shank.

“I decided to adopt the Ben Wade and care for it however long it has to live,” the restorer said with a hopeful smile. “But of course I wouldn’t dream of having its name legally changed to mine.”

http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

A Sweet KBB Yello-Bole Honey Cured Bulldog – Robert M. Boughton

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

You can’t stop us on the road to freedom
You can’t stop us ’cause our eyes can see
Men with insight, men in granite
Knights in armor intent on chivalry
She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as Tupelo honey
Just like honey, baby, from the bee — Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer-songwriter-musician, “Tupelo Honey” (1971)

INTRODUCTION
As my good friend and mentor, Chuck Richards, commented at a recent gathering of local enjoyers of the fair tobacco pipe in general, Kaufman Brothers & Bondy created the Yello-Bole line in 1932 as a less expensive alternative to its regular stable of Kaywoodie, Reiss-Premier and of course KB&B pipes.

Now the name Yello-Bole is synonymous with the terms second-rate and, worse still, just cheap, as though the measure of a good smoke were ever determined by its price. [See, for example, Peterson’s late great and noble attempt in years gone by to make pipes affordable to the Everyman.]

But its older products, such as the KBB Yello-Bole Imperial Bulldog of this discourse, “Cured with Real Honey” and with the KBB in a clover, as well as a tell-tale encircled “I” on the stem (might it be ambera?) – although crafted with briar deemed unsuitable for the older brothers of the family – nevertheless was still made from higher quality pieces of that fine wood than is, in general if ever, available today.

Also, the KBB Yello-Bole Imperial Bulldog is a definite vintage specimen (another present day determinant of value), based on the four key signs contained on the pipe, which date it to anywhere from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Beginning with the rim, I removed most of the blackening with a quick rub of purified water, and the rest except for one small, pernicious burn with a light touch of super fine steel wool that left no new scratches but also made clear the blemishes that were already present. I sanded the rim with 400-grit paper and micro-meshed with 1500, 2400 and 3600 grades. I later succeeded in removing the one remaining burn mark shown below. Moving on to the chamber, I was startled when most of the cake crumbled from the walls with a couple of turns of the reamer. Still more shocking was the sudden appearance of a thin coat of the original yellow product of honey curing. I knew I had a rare find and wondered at the short-term but intense enjoyment of the pipe that could have led to more than average cake but left the prominent yellowing intact. The rest of the cake came clean with gentle 400-grit sanding.

Staying with the 400-grit paper to remove scratches and dings on the beautiful briar, I lightened the color still more and found a few fills and other grain flaws that accounted for why this finely shaped bulldog didn’t end up with, say, a Kaywoodie stamp.

Using micromesh at an escalation from 1500 to 2400 and 3600 grades eliminated the remaining scratches.

The cleaning of this pipe was achieved with refreshing ease and the expenditure of few bristly cleaners soaked in Everclear.

In a difficult choice, I decided to re-stain the briar with a medium as opposed to the original light brown color. I applied Lincoln boot stain and flamed the alcohol out before removing the char with 2400 micromesh and smoothing it out using 3600.

To polish the prepped pipe, I used red and white Tripoli, White Diamond and carnauba, and after rubbing the wood with a cotton rag saw it needed another round on all of the buffers except the red Tripoli.

I finished the stem with red and white Tripoli before White Diamond.

CONCLUSION
This was a very pleasant and relaxing restoration, in particular following my Ben Wade and the Chamber of Horrors brush with terror.

Tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday and Thursday), before the monthly official meeting of my pipe club at the local Moose Lodge, I will attempt to power through as many of the easier prospects as possible from my recent online purchase spree. The highlights include what I believe is a Comoy’s Smooth Bent Satin Matt Short Brandy #1770 (Made in London in a circle); a Kaywoodie Silhouette Bent Rusticated Squat Apple; a Kaywoodie Smooth Bent Signet Billiard; an Ehrlich Rusticated Straight Billiard; a LHS Park Lane Smooth Straight Poker; a Reinhard’s Smooth Straight Billiard; an Amadeus Greek Bent Billiard; a Parker Tall Tan Straight Poker; a unique small Town and Country Round-Bottom Straight Squat Rhodesian; a no-name Gourd Calabash Meerschaum Lined; a trio of old Missouri Meerschaum corncobs…and another KBB Yello-Bole, this one a Straight Four-Panel, also with the KBB in a clover but a yellow circle on the stem.

The first person to post a response challenging my ability to pull off the restorations/refurbishes of the above pipes before tomorrow night, and willing to bet a free pipe from the loser to the winner, is on for the bet. I will post before and after shots in a blog on my business Website, noted at the top of this submission, by 9:00 p.m. MDT (U.S.) tomorrow.

Our host, I trust, will vouch for my honesty in this type of wager.

Ben Wade and the Chamber of Horrors – Robert M. Boughton

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” —J.K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (1998 U.K.)

INTRODUCTION
Never has one of the quotes with which I like to begin my blogs spoken with more directness to the heart of the matter at hand than the words of J.K. Rowling above. At the risk of kicking a dead horse, I must point out how the choices of the prior owner of the Ben Wade Tall Poker (Made in London England) effected this description of its harrowing restoration. I am sure the individual lacked not in ability, only decision-making. But where do I begin? Ah, the stem pops into mind. Just try to take in the scope of the mauling the perp inflicted on the bit and downward, from these photos alone: the complete gnashing away of the bottom lip and the gash in the upper side as shown on the left, and the chips in the top of the bit and great flat plain below it on the right. The only true cure for this degree of chewing, like a single piranha in frenzy that has been chased away by a bigger fish with no interest in pipes, is total replacement.

I believe someone even re-stemmed this pipe at some point during the old owner’s possession of it, as the bottom of the bowl is flat with ample room to stabilize it in a canted position yet the stem’s weight topples it. But that probability only serves to compound the undeserving person’s culpability. After all, imagine the debasement the original stem must have suffered. However, with another replacement in mind for the future, for now I took the mayhem as a challenge for some serious Black Super Glue practice.

Then there was the liberal, to use a kind adjective, distribution of deep pits and scratches covering the bowl and shank.

And at last, I come to the reason for the name of this blog: the chamber and rim. When I first saw this angle on the site where I ordered a three-pipe lot of Ben Wades (one of which, when it arrived, was a tall billiard with a huge crack extending down the side of the bowl that required amputation and is therefore now undergoing the trauma of drastic re-shaping, and the other a small apple, which I restored with success and already blogged), I thought the rim would be the biggest challenge of the project.

Although the rim did indeed present considerable obstacles to overcome, the greatest battle proved to be with the chamber of horrors itself, from which I emerged, torn and bleeding, but victorious – if there can be any genuine victory in war.

REFURBISH
Following my initial structural inspection with a couple of bristly cleaners soaked in Everclear 190-proof that I ran through the stem and shank, I concluded the pipe somehow was intact but filthy almost to the point of total clogging with black resinous goop. In fact, when I looked at the shank opening as shown in the second to last photo above and then tried to blow through it only to meet extreme resistance, I got my first clue that many sturdy cleaners would make the ultimate sacrifice before this BW was fit to enjoy.

I proceeded with the part of the restoration that has always been my first step: reaming the chamber. But this time, after about an hour of sweaty, hand- and arm-weakening cranking, I only prevailed, with repeated efforts applying the reamer at different levels and angles of attack, in dislodging multiple layers of cake that slowly made a pile of fine carbon amounting to more than half a dozen bowls. Even sanding with 80-grit paper only added another few bowls of carbon to the growing heap. It’s too bad all the pipe cake out there waiting to be converted to powder by folks of my persuasion isn’t recyclable as tobacco, but then again, there seem to be plenty of another kind of folk who enjoy the taste of massive congestion from carbon and other nasty accretions.

Deciding, based on the horrible pocks and craters remaining in the chamber, that the hallowed space would take work throughout the restoration process, I launched a concerted offensive on the rim, at first believing with reason based on experience that I would be able to salvage the nice inward curve of the briar there. However, after another considerable chunk of time flew away with each level of char I banished, all that I had done was reveal wounds so deep and close-spaced along the inside curve of the rim and several bad wounds at the top of the bowl that I knew I would have to level the rim.
Drastic situations call for equal measures, and so, not having a power sander, I chose the best weapon I possessed, said tool being a metal rasp. Thus began another arduous labor removing the once elegant curve of the rim, with heavy mental protest. I was filled with sadness as I applied the rough edge of the rasp with slow care to the rim and watched the slope disappear more and more over time.

That stage finished and the rim flat, I sanded the well-grained wood with 220-grit paper followed by 400 and then micro-meshed using 600, then 800, 1000, 1500, 2400 and ending with 3600. Even this view does not reveal the insidious nature of the cake buildup inside the chamber from hell. The ongoing task of removing all of the cake, every time I thought I achieved smoothness all around, only uncovered still more hidden holes, similar to microcosmic pits and craters on the moon, only black.

I decided the time had come to remove all of the dings and other rough spots in the bowl and shank and used 220 paper again for the worst areas, then 2400 micromesh followed by 3600.

Seeing the nice, lighter wood that lay beneath, but suspecting the dark stain was used for a reason (e.g., hiding fills), I nevertheless embarked on a removal of the original stain by hand using 400-grit paper.

I know, I know! I see here and noted at the time the scratches left by my removal method, but careful, even sanding and then buffing with several levels of micromesh took them off quite well. Two important goals were accomplished by this roughness. One, I satisfied my curiosity about the potential for fills. Yes, as you can see, they are present, but nowhere near to the extent that I anticipated. Two, I removed the dings, divots, dents and most of the other defects. Of course, some might reverse the order of significance of these resolved issues.

At this juncture, I became resolved to eradicate the stubborn, troublesome cake no matter what it might take. The determination was born not only of my own obdurate nature that exceeds that of any piece of wood, but from the fact that the Ben Wade Chamber of Horrors had managed to destroy my Senior Reamer – no joke. Not wanting to discard the fallen reamer, which had been so faithful to me until it met The Chamber That Must Not Be Named, by such callous means as tossing it in the garbage, I chose rather to retire it to a place of honor on my bench. But now I had to avenge my defeated brother in restoration, not to mention buy a replacement. I already ordered a new-in-box Castleford Five-Piece Multi-Fit Reamer Kit and a full set of micromesh pads (no more paper for me) online for just more than $30, postage included.

With no small sense of retribution fuelling me, I girded myself with an entire large sheet of the coarsest sandpaper I had and cut off a few small strips before bending one into the right shape to begin the ugly but necessary task with a vengeance. Unbelievable amounts of carbon spilling from the demon chamber every time I emptied it, and my fingers blackened with soot, I kept at it with gusto, thinking I must have made progress. My left index finger was developing scrapes and calluses.

Still, the evil chamber walls in spots felt like the bowels of a volcano. In desperation, I turned to a Dremel I borrowed for the amputated Ben Wade Billiard’s re-shaping. I changed the Dremel bit to a small, fine rounded piece of sandpaper and, at the slowest speed, began making circular turns around the chamber walls.

As some of you with more experience might imagine, this approach almost led to disaster, but instead turned the tables in my favor. Granted, the Dremel (not I) left several new chinked spots where none existed before. But these occurring after the power tool caught a scent of the pure briar, the cake crisis was solved with a bit more rapid sanding that also repaired the new nicks.

With the chamber vanquished of the dreadful cake as well as it ever would be, and the hollow area covered in blackness, and the shank still needing to be purged of its mess, I plugged the shank opening with several small squares of cotton and flooded the chamber with Everclear. I set the big chunk of briar aside for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, I felt a keen sting in my right index finger and noticed that under the True Coat of soot there appeared to be some blood and loose skin. I thought it wise to scrub my hands forthwith, with soap and water as hot as I could stand, and this ordeal ended up lasting about 15 minutes. When I was done, I realized I had no hydrogen peroxide to sterilize the cut caused by so much sanding of the wicked chamber.

But I did have Everclear, the pouring of which onto my already burning sore did not excite me. Better safe than sorry, I just got it over with.

Oh, my gosh, did it burn! I pulled the cotton plug from the shank and let the remaining coal-black liquid ooze from it like a suppurating wound, and began the still serious business of running both ends of so many bristly cleaners dipped in alcohol through the shank that I lost count. While the darker part of my brain, made meaner by the frequent sting of more Everclear running onto my exposed wound, whispered that the little hole would never come clean, the rational side assured me that before I knew it the job would be done.

But it wasn’t happening fast enough, and so I resorted to digging through my growing and a bit disordered supplies for the wire bristle brush I knew was there. At last I found it buried in the bottom of a drawer and at once started the repetitious but effective process of wetting it with alcohol, scrubbing the inner shank, rinsing it in a shallow bowl of alcohol that grew fouler each time, squeezing the bristles clean and dry, and repeating all of these steps over and over. Of course, my reward did come when I switched back to a normal cleaner soaked in alcohol and it came out clean.

Somewhere along the line, I finished the stem work by sanding down the excess Black Super Glue and smoothing the Vulcanite with vigorous rubbings of three grades of micromesh.

After inspecting the briar for any missed flaws I could fix and finding none, I gave the bowl and shank a final purified water bath, which proved to be necessary from all of the black powder that had transferred from my formerly dirty fingers.

Ready for the final countdown, I opened a brand-new bottle of burgundy-colored Lincoln boot stain and coated the entire outer area of wood using the small, damp applicator. As fast as I could manage, I flamed it all over with my Bic, reveling in the great poofs of blue flame that rose and dissipated as the alcohol in the stain burned off.

I rubbed off the char with a piece of 2400 micromesh until I could see the good grain through the fresh, dark red stain and then put on my magnifier glasses to do the finish work with 3600. It looked good to me, so I put it aside with the stem on a thick cotton cloth for about a half-hour.

That was all I could stand before taking the pieces to my bedroom/office/shop and focusing on the two buffing wheels I use to bring out the ever-anticipated shine. Taking a deep breath to steady myself for the always risky business of touching anything fragile to the high speed wheels, I turned them both on.

Starting with the stem, I turned it with all due respect and care first on the red Tripoli wheel and looked it over as I rubbed it with the cotton cloth, then the white Tripoli wheel on the other machine, and back to the first for the final coat of White Diamond. Much better, I thought and set it aside. To the wood I applied quick, thorough coats of white Tripoli, White Diamond and carnauba.I looked it over, noticed a spot that was duller than the rest and repeated the process there.

CONCLUSION
Fixing this pipe took me the greater part of a week, by far the longest I have spent on a project since my first real restoration two years ago. That is the reason why the concept of being finished with the Ben Wade Tall Poker is still taking time to sink in. After all the time I have spent with the BW – before the project began to make a plan of action I ended up throwing out the window, during the circuitous restoration itself and now afterward, writing about the experience – I have grown attached to the curious example of pipe craft. I would like to keep it to myself, to add it to my growing collection of Ben Wades. I have no doubt it will smoke at least as well as the others.

But I have decided to let someone else discover the accuracy of that prediction.

Converting an Old Briar Bowl to fit a Kirsten

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Blog by Steve Laug

After I finished fitting the old Maplewood bowl for my son-in-law’s Kirsten I took another bowl from my pipe parts box. This was another old bowl with the airway drilled on the bottom of the bowl and having a nipple fitting. This bowl came from part of an old hookah type set up. I had picked it up in the same bag of parts as the maple bowl. It had a rubber fitting that the bowl sat in and a glass pipette that extended from the bottom of the fitting. I removed the bowl from the rubber and then stripped it with acetone on a cotton pad and wiped it down until the finish was gone. I sanded the surface of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remnants of the finish. There were also fills in the bowl on two sides. Some of them had shrunken and needed to be refilled. I sanded the surface to clean up around the fills. I filled them with super glue and briar dust and sanded them flush against the surface of the bowl.

The underside of the bowl also had several fills. The nipple actually was not part of the briar bowl but was made out of maple. It was inserted in the bottom of the bowl. I wiped it clean to show the connections. I also topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface.

I used a hacksaw to cut the nipple off the bottom of the bowl. Once I had the wood portion of the nipple cut all the way through it came off the bowl. In the middle was a brass tube that ran the length of the nipple and went into the bottom of the bowl where it was flared against the inside bottom. I used a small hammer to drive the tube into the bowl.

When I had removed the tube I sanded the bottom of the bowl to smooth out the surface. Once it was clean I could see that the maple was inset into the bottom of the bowl. It is distinguishable in that it is white in the photos below. On one side of the white maple insert were two flaws in the briar that had originally been filled. One of the fills fell out of the bowl bottom when I drove out the metal tube. I drilled the airway in the bottom of the bowl larger with a drill bit the same size as the metal bottom cap that is part of the Kirsten bowl system. The cap would sit in the hole and a drilled screw would be inserted into the cap from inside the bowl. When I drilled out the hole the maple insert came out of the bottom. It left an inset area on the bottom that would be removed when I sanded the bottom of the bowl for the cap to sit flush against the bottom. I used super glue and briar dust to repair the two flaws in the bottom of the bowl. I dripped the glue into the holes and then pushed super glue into the flaws with a dental pick. I sanded the bottom of the bowl with a Dremel and sanding drum to shape the bottom edges of the bowl to fit on the Kirsten shank. I sanded the bottom edges of the bowl at a sharper angle to give it a more defined shape.

I used the Dremel and sanding drum to deepen the bottom of the bowl and give the internal screw a flat surface to seat against. I also used a PipNet reamer with the largest cutting head to flatten out the bottom of the bowl and smooth out the surface. Once it was smooth I inserted the screw into the bowl bottom and threaded it onto the bottom cap. Once I had the cap inserted and tightened with a Philips screwdriver I screwed it onto the Kirsten shank. The next four photos show the newly shaped cauldron bowl on the Kirsten.

I took the cap and screw off the bowl and wiped it down a final time before staining it with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied the stain and then flamed it to set it in the briar. I restained and reflamed it until the coverage was even.

I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli and White Diamond to polish the stain and give it a shine. In doing so the fills were highlighted. I used a permanent marker to cover the fills and then gave the bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff. I put the cap and screw in place and tightened it down. The photos below show the finished bowl.

I buffed the bowl with several new coats of carnauba wax and polished it to a shine with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished cauldron bowl is shown in place on the pipe below. It looks really good on the Kirsten stem. It provides a second bowl for one of my other Kirsten pipes. I like the overall look of the piece and it is great to have a repurposed bowl to use. I look forward to loading it up and giving it an inaugural smoke.

Fitting a Maplewood Bowl to fit a Kirsten Pipe Shank

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Blog by Steve Laug

My son-in-law brought his Kirsten with him on the pipe hunt we went on recently and mentioned that the bowl was too small to his liking. We were talking about hunting for a bowl that had a airway drilled in the bottom of the bowl that could be modified to accept the fitting – screw and cap – on a Kirsten bowl. These fittings hold the bowl on the shank. I remembered that I had a Maplewood bowl in my box of pipe parts that could work really well. It had a nipple on the bottom of the bowl. The nipple ended at a rounded cap and then steps up to the bowl. The original bowl can be seen in the photo below. The bowl was clean and unsmoked. There was a varnish finish on the bowl and the wood was quite rough. Around the hip at the base of the bowl there was a rough band around one side of the bowl. The bowl had some really interesting grain on it. Around the top third of the bowl the grain went around the bowl horizontally. Below that there was some vertical grain. The combination was attractive. This bowl would work well once I modified it to fit the pipe. I sawed the nipple off the bottom of the bowl with a hacksaw. I sawed it flat against the bottom of the bowl to make that surface flush. With the nipple removed it was clear that the airway was slightly off centre and would need to be adjusted once I drilled it to open it up to hold the bottom cap from the Kirsten. I measure the diameter and the length of the insert to figure out how much of the bottom of the bowl I would need to remove. I drilled it out with a drill bit the same size as the insert on the Kirsten cap. I used a knife to open the air hole and move it more toward the centre of the bottom of the bowl. I used the Dremel with a sanding drum to shape the bottom of the bowl. I had to remove about ¼ of an inch or more from the bottom of the bowl. I sanded it bring it down and begin to round the edges. The next three photos show the progress of shaping the bowl bottom. The third photo shows the bowl after I also sanded it with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper.

I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches. I fitted the bottom cap to the bowl to see what more I would need to remove for a proper fit between the bowl and the shank. I fit the screw into the bottom cap and used a Philips screwdriver to tighten it in place.

I sanded the bowl more to remove the finish and fine tune the shaping the bottom of the bowl. I wanted the finished bowl to look like a brandy glass shape.

When I had fine tuned the bowl shape and the bottom of the bowl I fit it on a Kirsten shank from one of my pipes. The fit was pretty accurate and the look of the shape worked well with the pipe. I would need to sand the bowl some more, remove the remaining varnish and then stain the bowl once finished. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the rim. Though the pipe was unsmoked the rim was roughly finished.

I took the bowl apart and prepared it for staining. I wiped it down with acetone to remove the remaining varnish and dust from the bowl. I used a dark brown aniline stain to colour the bowl. I stained it and flamed it with a lighter. I reapplied and reflamed the bowl several more times until the coverage was even.

I wanted the finish to be light brown in colour with dark grain patterns on the bowl. I wiped it down with alcohol on cotton pads to thin down the finish. I continued to wipe it until the underlying maple showed through and the grain patterns were darkened. I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli and also White Diamond. Once it was finished I sanded it with 1500-3200 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth it out. I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil and rubbed it into the finish. The bowl was complete at this point – I fit it back on the shank and took the next set of photos to show the look I was aiming for.

I took the bowl off the shank and buffed it with White Diamond once more. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff. The dark brown aniline stain had brought out the grain and contrasted nicely with the rest of the bowl. The horizontal and vertical graining makes this a nice looking pipe bowl.

I put the bowl back on the Kirsten shank and took the next set of photos to show the finished bowl and shank. It certainly fit the shank well and the larger bowl should meet my son-in-laws request for a longer smoking bowl for his Kirsten. He is away with my daughter for the weekend but when he returns home I look forward to seeing what he thinks of his new bowl.

Addendum: I was working my way through Ebay UK when I found a pipe that had the same bowl as the one used in this article. It is a tourist pipe from the Smokey Mountains National Park. It looks to be the same pipe bowl and looks identical to the one I used.

Rode Hard Put Away Wet – A Tired Julius Vesz shape 31 Zulu/Canted Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I walked by the display case in the antique mall and saw the classic Vesz finish and the O logo on the stem I knew I was looking at one of Julius’ pipes. It was in very rough shape. The stem was covered on the topside and underside from the button forward for about an inch with a lot of dents and bite marks. On the topside there was a bite through – not large, more of a pinhole sized hole. There was also a lot of calcified buildup on the stem. The stem was over bent and the flat bottom of the bowl and shank did not rest on the desk top when laid down. The stem arch kept it from happening. The button and crease had were also worn. The rest of the stem was oxidized. The bowl finish was dirty and worn with white paint spots on the bowl. The stem was very tight and hard to remove but when I did remove it the tars on the end of the tenon were thick. The inside of the stem was so filled that the airway was virtually clogged. The slot on the end of the stem was plugged but for a hole the size of a pencil lead. The rim was damaged and worn from tapping it out on hard surfaces. There were large dents and worn areas. The inner edge was blackened and on first glance looked to have burned damage. It was hard to tell for sure but it also looked to be slightly out of round due to the damage to the inside edge. The bowl was heavily caked with a concrete like carbon build up. I tried to ream it and found it too hard to cut as it stood. The inside of the shank had heavy carbon and tar buildup. The pipe is stamped on the flattened bottom of the shank. Toward the front of the bowl it is stamped Circle 3 which denotes the price point of the pipes. Julius stamped them 1-6 to denote the price. That is followed by the shape number – in this case 31. The final stamping is Julius Vesz over Hand Made. To soften the concrete like cake so that I could ream it more easily without damaging the briar I put the bowl into an alcohol bath to soak for a while. I also wanted to remove the grime from the rustication on the bowl and the soak would facilitate that. While the bowl soaked I worked on the stem. I cleaned the inside of the stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I also sanded the calcification with 180 grit sandpaper and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the build up from the surface of the stem. The tooth marks are very evident in the photos below. I took the bowl out of the alcohol bath to ream it and found that indeed the alcohol had softened the cake enough to make reaming a very easy task. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and working up to the size of the diameter of the bowl. I topped the bowl and removed the damaged surface of the rim. I set up a topping board and used 220 grit sandpaper to gently and carefully remove the damage. I sanded the bowl in a circular pattern on the board as I find that doing so does not leave as deep scratches in the finish. Once I had removed the damage I could see the state of the inner edge of the rim. It had some darkening but it was still solid. There were no deep burned areas that needed to be removed. I set up a heat gun and heated the bent stem to reduce the bend to a point where the pipe would sit up right on the flat bottom of the shank and bowl. I also heated the tooth dents to raise them as much as possible before I sanded them. Once the stem was heated and flexible I inserted it in the shank and pressed down on the bend to adjust the bend to allow the bowl to sit without falling over. The tooth marks did lift quite a bit and are visible in the last two photos of the foursome below. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to clean up the dents as much as possible. The surface needed to be cleaned and prepped for the work of filling the dents with black super glue. I washed down the dents with alcohol to remove the sanding dust. I filled the holes and built up the dents in the button lip with black super glue until they were overfilled, then sprayed them with the accelerator to harden the glue. I sanded the fills with 180 grit sandpaper and then with 220 grit sandpaper to begin the process of smoothing them and blending them into the surface of the vulcanite. I continued to sand with the 220 grit sandpaper to shape the crease and the button as well as the surface of the patches until they were at the same level as the surface of the stem. I sanded the stem after that with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further blend it into the stem surface. It took a lot of sanding to blend it into the surrounding vulcanite. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil to make the scratches and trouble areas very visible. I also rubbed down the bowl with olive oil and wiped it off and set it aside overnight to let the oil be absorbed into the wood. In the morning I took the following set of two photos to show the state of the pipe when I began to do the finishing work on it. I sanded the stem with fine grit sanding sponges to clean it up further and remove the deeper scratches. I then sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I finished the stem work by buffing the stem with White Diamond on the wheel to finish the polish. I gave it several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The bowl had a heavy ghosting of aromatics – it was overwhelming and no matter how many times I cleaned it the smell remained. I filled the bowl with cotton balls, pressed them down and then filled the bowl with isopropyl alcohol with an ear syringe until the cotton was soaked. I set the pipe bowl in an old ice-cube tray that holds it upright and let the alcohol and cotton do their work to pull out the oils from the briar and sweeten it. I have moved more and more toward using cotton instead of coarse salt. It seems to work just as well and is less of a mess in the clean up stage. I let the pipe sit with the alcohol and cotton balls for about three hours. The photo below shows the oils that were drawn out of the bowl. The cotton turned a yellow-brown and was almost dry. I took the cotton balls out of the bowl and cleaned the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners. I put the stem back in place on the pipe and gave the pipe a hand polish with some Halcyon II Wax. I hand buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. The look and feel of the pipe is far better than when I started. The repairs to the stem and button worked well and blended in nicely to the stem. The topping of the bowl removed the damaged portion and the blackening of the inner edge of the rim is merely a character trait. This is one that will stay in my collection. It smells sweet and is ready to smoke.