Tag Archives: bowl topping

Restoring a Father’s Legacy of 10 Brigham Pipes Gathered throughout his life #6

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

Last month I was contacted by Donna to see if I knew anyone interested in purchasing her father’s pipes. She wrote as follows: “I am wondering if you would be interested in my father’s collection of Brighams.” She further spelled out what he had in the collection. He had 1 – 2 dot pipe, 3 – 3 dot pipes, 2 – 4 dot pipes and 4 – 5 dot pipes. There was a total of 10 pipes. I asked for a photo of the pipes and she sent the photo below. I was very interested.We emailed back and forth and the short story is that I paid for the collection and she shipped the pipes to me. On Tuesday after Easter the box arrived and I was happy to be able to see them up close. They were obviously well-loved pipes and in varying degrees of needing work. I wrote her and told I received them and that I was pleased with the lot. I was looking forward to working on them. She asked me to send her photos along the way as I finished the pipes. I will be sending her the links to the blog so she can see the work and the process of bringing them back to a semblance of their original beauty. Thanks Donna for the opportunity to work on your Dad’s pipes.

The sixth of the pipes I have chosen to work on from the lot was the one sitting three down on the right column in the photo above. I would call the pipe a Bent Billiard shaped pipe with a vulcanite taper stem. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Brigham in script. To the left of that it is stamp with the shape number 523. The stamping will help me date the pipe. From the cake in the bowl and the other pipes I could tell her Dad love aromatic tobaccos. This pipe was heavily caked with an overflow of lava on the rim top and on the inner and outer edges of the bowl. There was burn damage on the rim top and inner edge and down the right side of the bowl. The shank end even that had a coating of tar build up. The finish was smooth with a rusticated panel on the left side of the bowl. The finish was washed out and very worn. It was probably the most worn of the lot of 10. The stem did not sit all the way in the shank so I assumed it was very dirty in the shank. I removed the stem and the Hard Rock Maple Distillator that was sitting in the tenon. The shank was black, tarry and oily. The stem was dirty, calcified and oxidized with thick oil and tar in the airway from the tenon to the button. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The left side of the taper stem bore five brass pins though I had to clean that area to even find them. That would also help with identifying the pipe. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl. The rim top had a thick coat of lava overflowing down the crowned top with heavy burn damage around the top, inner and outer edge. I took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the light tooth chatter on the vulcanite stem surface. It is heavily oxidized and calcified and is quite dirty on the surface of the vulcanite.The stamping is very, very faint and hard to read in the photo below. With a bright light and lens, it reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to show the parts of the pipe. The finish on the pipe is very worn and tired looking. The brass dots on the stem are hidden under the grime and oxidation. For the needed background I am including the information from Pipedia on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) has written book on the history of the brand. This article is a good summary. I have included it below.

Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).

He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.

About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.

Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.

They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…

I then turned to a second article by Charles Lemon called, “A Closer Look at the Dots, Dates, and Markings of Brigham Pipes” to be able to pin down the time frame that the pipe was made in and to help interpret the stampings and shape number on the pipe. Here is the link to his article (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings).

I have dubbed the decades between 1980 and 2000 the Late Canadian Era, a period that saw several changes at Brigham that are of note to the collector. First, the traditional 8-grade pinning system (the famous Brigham “Dots” which denoted the quality of the pipe) was changed to a 7-grade system to simplify pinning (more on this below), and the Norsemen and Valhalla series were merged to form the President Series, which represented the very finest pipes coming out of the Toronto factory. Early pipes from this era (left, below) are stamped with a shape number and “Brigham” over “Canada”;later pipes (late 1980s+, on right below) are stamped simply with a shape number and the Brigham logo.

I read further in the article to the section entitled Revised Dot System 1980. I quote from that below.

Brigham changed the Dot system in 1980, adding a 7 Dot at the top of the line, dropping the names of each series and eliminating the confusing vertical and horizontal 3 Dot configurations. The Norsemen and Valhalla series were combined to form the President series of freehand pipes, which adopted a 3 Dot pattern with a larger dot on the right as shown below. The 7- grade pinning system stayed in place from 1980 to 2001.

With the information from article and the chart above I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I learned that this Late Canadian Era was made between 1980-2000. The pipe is a Brigham (5-Dot) 523, a Bent Billiard to my mind. The Brigham Canada stamping pins it down to the period between 1990-2001 when the aluminum tenon was replaced.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the first and second cutting heads and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I scraped the rim top with the flat edge of the blade at the same time and removed most of the thick lava build up. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at his point in the process. I cleaned out the shank, the airway and the deep mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was a very dirty pipe which just meant that Donna’s Dad had really enjoyed and used this pipe. I cleaned the inside of the aluminum tenon and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners in the same way as I did the shank. It also was very dirty.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed  the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. The damage on the bowl front and rim top is very clear. The burn damage on the right side of the bowl, the rim top and inner bevelled edge were going to take a lot of shaping work. There was also a place on the right side about 2/3 up from the bottom that appeared to be a flaw in the briar. I topped the bowl on a 220 grit sheet of sandpaper on a topping board. I also used my Dremel and sanding drum at a slow speed to work over the burn damage on the right side of the bowl. I was able to remove most of it.Once I had sanded the rim top smooth and the right side of the bowl with the Dremel I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper. I filled in the flaw with clear CA glue and pressed briar dust into the flaw. I continued my sanding and shape of the rim top and side with the sandpaper until I had removed the majority of the damage. It looks much better in the photo below. I also sanded the repair at the same time.I forgot to take photos of the bowl after I had sanded it with the 220 grit sandpaper. I finished that and moved on to it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to finish minimizing the burn damage and reshape the rim top and the top half of the bowl. The briar began to take on a rich shine and the burn damage was by and large gone. The photos tell the story.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1200-15000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain really started to rise to the surface as I polished it. The depths of the rustication looked very good as well. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the rusticated portions. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I scrubbed the oxidation on the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and was able to remove a large amount of it. I sanded the area around the button edge and the remaining oxidation with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Progress was happening! I sanded the surface of the vulcanite with the 2 inch sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads to remove the remaining oxidation. I dry sanded the surface until I have removed all of the oxidation and the stem started to really shine.I refit the aluminum tenon with the new Brigham Rock Maple Distillator. It is a unique and cool smoking experience. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth, nicely grained bowl sides and the rusticated blaze on the left bowl side looks great with the vulcanite stem. The Brigham 523 Bent Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below.  The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Beautiful Royal Danish 989 Made in Denmark Pot

Leave a reply

By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that we picked up in an estate lot from a seller in Sacramento, California, USA on 09/03/2024. The sandblast finish with two smooth panels looking like a Stanwell style pipe is what caught our eye. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Royal Danish [over] Made in Denmark to the right it is stamped with a shape number 989. That is followed by R. It has a classic sandblast finish and the smooth panels on the sides of the bowl are a stark contrast to vulcanite, faux military taper stem. There is Royal Danish Crown logo on the right side of the stem and looks to be in good condition. The seller sent the following photo of the pipes that we purchased. The pipe I am working on is the one on the top of the right column in the photo below.Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. The bowl appears to be lightly caked at first glance but could be thicker deeper in the bowl. The inner edge and the top show some lava overflow. The stem is oxidized and calcified which is quite normal for what I see. There are some tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button and on the button surface. He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. You can see the lava on the rim top and edges as well as part of the cake in the bowl. He included photos that show the top and underside of the stem. It is as described above. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos showed some great grain around the bowl and shank. It is a great looking piece of briar. He took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the Crown logo on the left side of the saddle stem. It shows the faint stamping on the stem.Regardless of when this specific briar was made, the shape is very much a 1960s Danish one. I turned to Pipephil’s site and quickly scanned the article on Stanwell getting a great overview of the history. I went through the photos and did not find the shape of the pipe that I was working on (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r6.html). There was one that showed the mixed finish of the Royal Danish line – sandblast with smooth patches on each side of the bowl. I have included a screen capture of that section below.I then turned to Pipedia and found that the Royal Danish was also listed as a second or a sub-brand made by Stanwell (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell#Sub-brands_.2F_Seconds). I have included the list of seconds from the site below. I have highlighted the Royal Danish in blue in the text.

Sub-brands / Seconds – Bijou (discontinued), Danish Quaint, Danish Sovereign, Danske Club, Henley (discontinued), Kong Christian (discontinued), Majestic, Reddish (discontinued), Royal Danish, Royal Guard, Royal Sovereign, Sailor (discontinued), Scandia, Sorn (discontinued), Svendson.

There was also an interesting advertising page on the Danish Briars by Stanwell. The first one on the list was the Royal Danish. The description of the line is clear and concise, be sure to read it below.Now I knew that I was dealing with a Stanwell made pipe in the line called Royal Danish. That line is described as “dark walnut sandblast with smooth side panels…” That matches the pipe I am working on now and now it is time to do the work on it.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the smooth bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the rim top and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in a bath of Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took a close up photo of the rim top and stem surface to show the condition after the clean up. The bowl was in good condition though the rim top and edges looked very good. The stem surface showed the light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. The stamping on the shank was readable as noted above. I took the stem off the pipe and took a photo of the pipe in proportion. It is a beautiful pipe.I polished the smooth portion of the bowl sides and the inner edge of the rim with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris. The smooth portions and bevelled inner edge looked much better at this point. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm working it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks on the stem and button surface. I was able to lift many of them. I filled in the remaining marks on the button and stem with rubberized black CA glue. Once it cured I use a small file to flatten the repairs. I sanded it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth after each sanding pad.I touched up the stamping in the vulcanite on the top of the saddle portion of the stem. I used white acrylic fingernail polish to refresh the Crown on the top of the saddle. Once it hardened I sanded it with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil. As usual at this point in the restoration process I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the Stanwell Royal Danish Made in Denmark 989 Saddle Stem Pot back together and it is a beauty. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain really pops with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite saddle stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl. This Royal Danish 989 Saddle Stem Pot was a great pipe to spruce up. It is a very comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 54 grams/1.87 ounces. I will be putting this pipe on the Danish Pipe Making Companies Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by email or message. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Karl Erik Handmade in Denmark 225 Rusticated Poker

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that we picked up from a seller in Ogden, Utah, USA on 12/21/2024. It is deep and uniquely rusticated Pot with a saddle stem. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Karl Erik [over] Handmade in Denmark [over] the shape number 225. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The pipe has some grime and oils ground into the rustication around the bowl and shank. The bowl had a thick cake and there was thick lava in the deep rustication on the rim top and edges. The inner and outer edges appeared to be undamaged. Cleaning would make that clear. The vulcanite saddle stem was oxidized and dirty with deep tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show what it looked like before he started working on it. Jeff took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl, lava overflow and the general condition of the pipe. The photos of the stem to show the condition of both sides of the stem as noted above. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to show the interestingly textured rustication around the bowl and shank. It really is a beautifully rusticated piece of briar. The finish is nice but it also dirty with dust ground into the deeper portions of the finish. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. If you have been following the blog for any length of time you have come to know that when I am working on interesting old pipes (even sometimes those not so interesting) I like to know a bit about the background of the brand. I like to “meet” the carver to get a feel for their work and style.

I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html) to see what I could find. I did a screen capture of the entry there and have included the side bar information below the photo. Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely hand made)

I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik) and reread the history of the brand. Give the article a read.

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 cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted 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 Briarville’s Pipe Stem 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 top and the inner edge of the rim look very good. There is a little darkening on the top that I will address and see if I can lessen. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. There is tooth chatter on the stem surface on both sides but otherwise it looks good.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank of the pipe. 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 worked over the rusticated rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the remnants of the debris. It looked much better. The bowl was very clean so I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips and into the deep rustication with a shoe brush. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and had mixed success. All of the marks on the topside were lifted. The one remaining on the back I filled in with some rubberized black CA glue. Once the repairs cured I used a flat file to blend them into the surface and followed that with some 220 grit sandpaper. It looked better. Polishing would finish the work. I continued the sanding process with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. After each pad I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil to clearly show me the scratches and areas that still needed work. It was really looking good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. Once again, I wiped it down between each pad with Obsidian Oil. I further polished it with Before and After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another rub down with Obsidian Oil. It looked very good. I am really happy with the way that this Heavily Rusticated Karl Erik Bent Poker/ Cherrywood with a saddle stem turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a unique shape and deep rustication completed by a vulcanite saddle stem. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Karl Erik Rusticated Cherrywood really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/1.83 ounces. I will be putting the pipe on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who come after us.

Restoring a Father’s Legacy of 10 Brigham Pipes Gathered throughout his life #4

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

Last month I was contacted by Donna to see if I knew anyone interested in purchasing her father’s pipes. She wrote as follows: “I am wondering if you would be interested in my father’s collection of Brighams.” She further spelled out what he had in the collection. He had 1 – 2 dot pipe, 3 – 3 dot pipes, 2 – 4 dot pipes and 4 – 5 dot pipes. There was a total of 10 pipes. I asked for a photo of the pipes and she sent the photo below. I was very interested.We emailed back and forth and the short story is that I paid for the collection and she shipped the pipes to me. On Tuesday after Easter the box arrived and I was happy to be able to see them up close. They were obviously well-loved pipes and in varying degrees of needing work. I wrote her and told I received them and that I was pleased with the lot. I was looking forward to working on them. She aske me to send her photos along the way as I finished the pipes. I will be sending her the links to the blog so she can see the work and the process of bringing them back to a semblance of their original beauty. Thanks Donna for the opportunity to work on your Dad’s pipes.

The fourth of the pipes I have chosen to work on from the lot was the one sitting at the bottom of the left column in the photo above. I would call the pipe a Bent Cherrywood or Poker Sitter shaped pipe with a vulcanite saddle stem. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Brigham in script. On the underside it has the shape number 363. The stamping will help me date the pipe. From the cake in the bowl and the other pipes I could tell her Dad love aromatic tobaccos. This pipe was heavily caked with an overflow of lava on the rim top and on the inner and outer edges of the bowl. There was burn damage on the rimtop and inner edge.The shank end even that had a coating of tar build up. The finish was smooth with two rusticated panels on the right and left side. There were some nicks on the edge of the heel on the right underside. The stem did not sit all the way in the shank so I assumed it was very dirty in the shank. I removed the stem and the Hard Rock Maple Distillator was missing in the tenon. The shank was black, tarry and oily. The stem was dirty and oxidized with thick oil and tar in the airway from the tenon to the button. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The left side of the taper stem bore three brass pins in a triangle or pyramid format. That would also help with identifying the pipe. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl. The rim top looked to have a coat of lava overflowing down the crown with some possible damage around the inner edge. I took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the light tooth chatter on the vulcanite stem surface. It is heavily oxidized and calcified and is quite dirty on the surface of the vulcanite.The stamping is very clear and it reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to show the look of the pipe. I have captured the pattern of the three brass dots on the stem. For the needed background I am including the information from Pipedia on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) has written book on the history of the brand. This article is a good summary. I have included it below.

Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).

He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.

About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.

Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.

They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…

I then turned to a second article by Charles Lemon called, “A Closer Look at the Dots, Dates, and Markings of Brigham Pipes” to be able to pin down the time frame that the pipe was made in and to help interpret the stampings and shape number on the pipe. Here is the link to his article (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings).

I have dubbed the decades between 1980 and 2000 the Late Canadian Era, a period that saw several changes at Brigham that are of note to the collector. First, the traditional 8-grade pinning system (the famous Brigham “Dots” which denoted the quality of the pipe) was changed to a 7-grade system to simplify pinning (more on this below), and the Norsemen and Valhalla series were merged to form the President Series, which represented the very finest pipes coming out of the Toronto factory. Early pipes from this era (left, below) are stamped with a shape number and “Brigham” over “Canada”; later pipes (late 1980s+, on right below) are stamped simply with a shape number and the Brigham logo.

I read further in the article to the section entitled Revised Dot System 1980. I quote from that below.

Brigham changed the Dot system in 1980, adding a 7 Dot at the top of the line, dropping the names of each series and eliminating the confusing vertical and horizontal 3 Dot configurations. The Norsemen and Valhalla series were combined to form the President series of freehand pipes, which adopted a 3 Dot pattern with a larger dot on the right as shown below. The 7- grade pinning system stayed in place from 1980 to 2001.

With the information from article and the chart above I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I learned that this Late Canadian Era was made between 1980-2000. The pipe is a Brigham (3-Dot) 363, a Poker Sitter to my mind. The Canada stamping pins it down to the period between 1990-2001 when the aluminum tenon was replaced.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used the first and second cutting heads and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and removed all the remnants of the cake. I scraped the rim top with the flat edge of the blade at the same time and removed most of the thick lava build up. I sanded the walls of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls look very good at this point in the process. I cleaned out the shank, the airway and the deep mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs, hard bristle and soft bristle pipe cleaners. It was a very dirty pipe which just meant that Donna’s Dad had really enjoyed and used this pipe. I cleaned the inside of the aluminum tenon and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners in the same way as I did the shank. It also was very dirty.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the lava on the rim top and overflow on the outside of the bowl with the soap. I rinsed  the briar with warm water to remove the grime and debris of the scrubbing. It looked significantly better after the scrubbing. The damage on the bowl front and rim top is very clear. The rim top and inner bevelled edge were going to take a lot of shaping work. I topped the flat portion of the rim top on a topping board with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I used a wooden sphere and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the bevel on the rim top and remove the darkening. I also cleaned up the front of the bowl to remove the darkening and reshape the top edge with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper.I sanded the smooth parts of the bowl and rim to remove the damage from the burns and to minimize the darkening on the front of the bowl. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the sanding and shaping marks as well as the darkening on the rim top. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1200-15000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain really started to rise to the surface as I polished it. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I scrubbed the oxidation on the stem with Soft Scrub cleanser and was able to remove a large amount of it. I sanded the area around the button edge and the remaining oxidation with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Progress was happening! I sanded the surface of the vulcanite with the 2 inch sanding pads – 320-3500 grit pads to remove the remaining oxidation. I dry sanded the surface until I have removed all of the oxidation and the stem started to really shine.I refit the aluminum tenon with the new Brigham Rock Maple Distillator. It is a unique and cool smoking experience. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth tall bowl sides and the rusticated blaze on the left shank side looks great with the yellow acrylic stem. The Brigham 363 Bent Poker Sitter with a vulcanite saddle stem feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.29 ounces/65 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restemming and restoring a WDC Wellington Jumbo

1 Reply

by Steve Laug

In the box that Jeff recently sent to me there was a large Wellington bowl without the stem. We purchased it from an antique shop in Vancouver, Washington, USA on 04/03/2024. We had cannibalized the stem and sent it to a fellow who needed a Wellington stem. The stamping on the left side of the shank read WDC in a triangle (logo). Under that it is stamped Wellington is script. The nickel ferrule is heavily dented and is stamped WDC in a triangle over three faux hallmarks. Though it is dented it still looks good. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls and an overflow of lava onto the rim top and edges. The smooth finish was very dirty with debris and oils. There were some fills in the bowl sides and some nicks as well from looked like the bowl had been dropped. The nickel ferrule was dented in spots and a little rough but still in solid condition. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started cleaning it up. Have a look. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the rim top. You can also see the lava on the rim top, inner edge and the cake in the bowl. He also took photos of the nickel ferrule to show the condition of the metal. You can see the nicks and dents in the metal sides and shank end.He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The second photo shows the nicks and scratches in the finish on the bowl heel.I turned to Pipedia’s article on WDC (William Demuth) pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/William_Demuth_Company). I have included one of the advertising flyers on the Wellington Jumbo below. Look at the price of this pipe when was sold.Armed with the information above, I turned my attention to the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners, shank brushes and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. I went through my stems and found a relatively new Wellington stem that was in excellent condition. I have a few here that I have set aside for use on the bowls that come across our path. I fit it in the shank and took photos of the bowl with its new stem. Have a look below. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge looked good. The stem was clean on the outside but I would need to clean the internals. There was light tooth chatter on both sides and some spots of oxidation.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the shank end to show some of the damage on the nickel ferrule. I heated the ferrule with a lighter and was able to remove it from the shank. I used a small furniture tack hammer and probe to tap out the larger dents in the metal. I fit it back on the shank end and tapped the shank end to carefully smooth out the damaged areas. I sanded the inner edge of the ferrule with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the sharp edges. While not perfect, it certainly was an improvement.I turned my attention to the briar. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to try and minimize the scratches in the wood. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad and by the end the briar was smoother and had begun to take on a shine. There were some fills in the briar but there was also some nice grain that stood out. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with the cloth. The bowl continued to develop a deeper shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the light chatter on the stem surface and the scratches on the shank end of the vulcanite with 220 grit sandpaper. It looked better. Polishing would finish the work. I paused the polishing for a bit to clean out the airway in the stem. I immediately felt something in the airway that was blocking and reducing the diameter of the airway. It took a bit of work with long pipe cleaners but I eventually removed a Medico/Grabow style paper filter that had migrated up the stem inside. It came out and was very dirty. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with long pipe cleaners and used them straight and then repeated the process with them folded. I cleaned from both directions and it is clean and smells better.I continued the sanding process with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. After each pad I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil to clearly show me the scratches and areas that still needed work. It was really looking good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. Once again, I wiped it down between each pad with Obsidian Oil. I further polished it with Before and After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another rub down with Obsidian Oil. It looked very good. I am really happy with the way that this WDC Wellington Jumbo Bent Billiard turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a unique shape and combining a smooth bowl, a nickel ferrule and a vulcanite stem. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Wellington Jumber Bent Billiard really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 9 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 95 grams/3.32 ounces. The pipe will be going in the mail to the pipe man who will carry on the trust with this old pipe. I think he will enjoy smoking it for years to come. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Restoring a Bjarne Handmade in Denmark War Club Billiard

2 Replies

by Steve Laug

This large rusticated bowl, smooth rimtop briar pipe was purchased from an eBay seller on 08/27/2-24 from Memphis, Tennesse, USA. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and clearly reads Bjarne [over] Handmade [over] In Denmark. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls and a heavy overflow of lava onto the rim top and edges. The smooth rim top and inner edges also had burn damage leaving the bowl out of round. It obviously had been lit repeatedly with a torch lighter and the damage told the story. The rusticated finish is very tactile but dirty with debris and oils. The previous pipeman had cut a piece of wine cork to make a cork spacer on the stem. It still had the makers marks on the cork. His drilling to fit the tenon was off and not centred. It was not the same thickness from the outside to the center drilling. With it in place the tenon was quite short. The vulcanite taper stem has a bj stamped on the left side of the taper. The stem was lightly oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I really like the rustication on the bowl and shank even through the grime in the finish. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started cleaning it up. Have a look. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the rim top. You can also see the lava on the rim top, inner edge and the cake in the bowl. The burn damage on the top is very visible and has left the bowl is out of round. He also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above. He also took photos of the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem. He took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the details of the rustication around the bowl. The rustication is deep and has interesting characteristics that show up in the photos around the bowl and shank. He took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There is a bj logo on the left side of the stem that looks deeper enough to touch up. You can also see the wine cork and some of the writing on it in the second photo. It is also poorly cut. The next two photos show the look of the cork spacer on the stem. It is an obvious home made addition and one that I plan on removing. I have had many Bjarne pipes cross my work table over the years but all had been stamped only Bjarne or Bjarne Handmade. None of them had his full name stamped on it and none had a letter stamp which I assumed indicated the grade of the pipe. I did some research on Pipedia.com and found some helpful information on both the stamping of my pipe and the history of Bjarne Nielsen himself. I am including the link to the full article on Pipedia and also some pertinent sections of the article that I have edited for quick reference. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bjarne

From the early 1990s Bjarne had seven pipemakers employed and the pipes were sold in no fewer than 32 countries. For more than six months each year, Bjarne traveled around the world to promote his pipes by meeting with dealers and customers. But sadly, it all ended in February 2008 when Bjarne, then 66 years old suffered a fatal heart attack. An unexpected blow first of all to his family, but also to the pipemakers who had been working for him, and to all lovers of his pipes from around the world. And as no one was willing to take over, the Bjarne pipe died together with its creator.

Among the pipemakers that worked for Bjarne were Johs (for the lower priced high volume pieces), and makers like Ph. Vigen, Ole Bandholm and Tonni Nielsen for high grade pieces. The cheaper line was stamped “Bjarne” while the highest grades were stamped “Bjarne Nielsen” (never with the pipemakers’ name) and graded, from highest to lowest, by the letters: AX, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J.

Now I knew that the pipe I had was made before 2008 and was one of his cheaper line stamped Bjarne.

Armed with the information above, I turned my attention to the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners, shank brushes and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. While I appreciated and understood the idea behind the cork spacer it bothered me. I looked at the tenon and could see that the length was the same as the depth of the mortise in the shank. I also noticed that there was hard glue on the stem that formed a ridge that held the cork in place. I used a flat file and a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to get rid of the glue and smooth out the surface of the tenon. It still needed to be polished but I wanted to see if it would fit. I turned it into the mortise and took photos of the look of the pipe without the cork. It was back to what it must have looked like when it left the factory. I like it and would proceed sans cork space. Have a look at the pipe without the cork spacer. What do you think? I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge had significant burn damage and was slightly out of round. The stem was clean and showed light tooth marks and chatter.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts.The rim top and inner edge of the bowl was in rough condition. I flattened out the damaged rim top by lightly topping it on a topping board with a new piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Once it was flat again I used a wooded sphere and half sphere to work over the inner edge of the bowl and give it a slight bevel to try and bring the bowl back to round. (NOTE: the second photo is staged as I had already put a coat of stain on the polished rim top before realizing I forgot this photo.) The third photo shows the rim top and edges after the sanding process. The burn marks are gone and it looks well. I sanded the rim top with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad and by the end the rim top had a shine and definitely looked better.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with the cloth. The bowl continued to develop a deeper shine. I restained the rim top with a Cherry and Mahogany stain pen to match the shank end and panel on the underside of the shank. It would matched well once waxed and buffed.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to get into the nooks and crannies. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and had success. I sanded the light marks that remained with 220 grit sandpaper. It looked better. Polishing would finish the work. I continued the sanding process with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. After each pad I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil to clearly show me the scratches and areas that still needed work. It was really looking good.I touched up the bj logo on the left side of the taper stem with white acrylic nail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and used a 1500 grit micromesh pad to clean it up further.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. Once again, I wiped it down between each pad with Obsidian Oil. I further polished it with Before and After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. It looked very good. I am really happy with the way that rim top and edge reworking turned out on this Bjarne Hand Made Large Rusticated Billiard turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a unique shape and combining a sandblast bowl with a smooth rim and shank end. The vulcanite taper stem is really nice. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown and black stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bjarne Rusticated War Club Billiard really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 102 grams/3.63 ounces. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Breathing Life into a Peterson’s 2012 St. Patrick’s Day 80S Bent Bulldog

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another Peterson’s Pipe. We recently purchased it from a seller in Wellsville, Kansas, USA on Facebook Pipe Exchange on Facebook on 12/09/2024. It is a nicely grained Bent Bulldog with mixed grain on the sides and birdseye on the front and the back of the bowl. The capped rim top also had mixed grain across the top. It is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads St. Patrick’s [over] Day and on the right underside it is stamped with the shape 80S. The nickel band is stamped with a shamrock on the left side and around the outside of the leaf it is stamped Peterson arched over the top and the date March 17, 2012 arched underneath. There was a moderated cake in the bowl and some darkening around the inner edge and light lava spots on the rim top. The mortise smelled of oils and tars but surprisingly there was little darkening in it. The stem had some oxidation, some white/sludge built up ahead of the edge of the button. There were some light tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. He took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show the current condition. The inner edge and the rim top showed darkening and spots of lava as mentioned above. The photos of the bowl walls show the moderate cake on the walls. The stem photos show the oxidation and light marks on the rim top on both sides. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the condition of the bowl and the grain around the bowl. It is a beauty.He took photos of the shank sides to capture the stamping on the shank and the band. The white “P” logo on the left side of the stem is also very clean. On Mark Irwin’s Petersonpipenotes blog he gives a great history of the St. Patrick’s Day pipes. It is a great read and includes a pictorial tour of the line. It is very helpful. Here is the link (https://petersonpipenotes.org/84-a-visual-history-of-the-st-patricks-day-pipes-1998-2018/).

He includes the following information and a photo of the pipe that is very similar to the 80S I am working on. It is notable that he comments that the shape is a classy, English-style 80s bent bulldog: perfect for your favorite Latakia bomb!Now it was time to work on the pipe. Since Jeff always follows the same pattern of work in his cleanup we do not include photos but rather just a simple summary. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the spotty lava build up on the rim top and you could see the damages to the top and edges of the rim. I think this pipe may well been before we worked with Mark Hoover’s Before & After Deoxidizer so he cleaned the internals and externals. The stem was clean but lightly oxidized. I took photos of what the pipe looked like when I brought to my worktable. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge looked good. On the rim top on the right side there was a nick that upon examination was a spot where a fill had come out. I breathed a sigh of relief as when I first saw it I though it was a crack! I am thankful that is the case. The stem was clean and there were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is faint in spots but still readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I decided to deal with the flaw, or missing fill on the right side of the rim top first. It was very clean so I blew out any dust or debris the put a spot of CA glue and some briar dust in the area. I sanded it smooth with a small piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the exterior of the briar was clean and the grain really stood out. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I scraped the excess off. The stamp looked much better however, part of the P is missing on the right side. The pictures below show what it looks like.I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s 2012 St. Patrick’s Day 80S Classic Bent Bulldog with a polished nickel band and a taper vulcanite stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful birdseye and cross grain on the sides of the bowl. Added to that the polished nickel band and the black vulcanite stem was beautiful. This smooth Peterson’s St. Patrick’s Day 2012 80S Bent Bulldog is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 50 grams/1.76 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time reading the blog. I appreciated it.

Restoring a Blatter Montreal Long Lumberman

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that we picked up in the lot from a seller in Barrington, Rhode Island, USA on 08/22/2024. The smooth finish on this Canadian made pipe and the Blatter stamping are what caught our eye. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Blatter [over] Montreal. It has a classic Medium Brown stain on the smooth finish that is a stark contrast to the short vulcanite saddle stem. It is a long Lumberman shaped pipe with a vulcanite stem. The bowl appears to have been recently reamed and cleaned at first glance. The seller told us that he had cleaned it before selling it to us. The inner edge and the top look very good. The stem is lightly oxidized. It does not show any tooth marks or chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. It is dirty with some sticky substance on the stem surface. The Blatter two spot logo – a white and a grey dot are on the left side of the stem and looks to be in good condition. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. It is quite clean and the inside of the bowl is very clean and shows that the pipe has been lightly smoked. He included photos that show the top and underside of the stem. It is as described above. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos showed some great grain around the bowl and shank. It is a great looking piece of briar. He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. He also took a photo of the two dot logo on the left side of the saddle stem.Before I started my part of the restoration, I turned to Pipephil to confirm what I remembered about Blatter of Montreal. I wanted to read a bit of the history (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b5.html). I have included a screen capture of information on the site below. I have also included information from the sidebar below the screen capture.Blatter & Blatter Inc. Pipemakers since 1907. Artisan: Robert Blatter See also: Rettalb

I learned from the above information on the screen capture that the pipe I am working on was a 1 red dot + 1 grey dot: Machine carved pipe but with exceptional grain.

I turned to the section on Pipedia on Blatter (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Blatter_%26_Blatter).   I quote from the site below with the aid of Google Translate:

The Blatter house (first known as “Blatter bros.”) was founded in 1907 in Montreal. Handmade Blatter pipes (“Select”) have been signed by Robert Blatter since 1968 and, more recently, also by Patrick Blatter. A Blatter is characterized by a classic, polished design: little extravagance or sculptural prowess. Pipes first thought for the use that will be made of them: smoking! They are sometimes even more beautiful.

History of the House:

Blatter was founded in Montreal in 1907 by Frédéric-Georges Blatter. Originally from France, Mr. Blatter had learned his craft as a pipe-maker in his country of origin. He had subsequently practiced his art in England, then in South Africa where the excellence of his work had also been highlighted. In 1907, the company had a factory and a store.

Frédéric-Georges is supported by his son, Ernest Blatter, and his half-brother, Henri Blatter. In the years that followed, the company grew rapidly. Soon, the factory employs fifty employees who supply pipes to five stores. But the years of the Great Depression and those of the Second World War were not kind to the company, which had to reduce its activities. At the turn of the 1950s, production and sales activities were brought together in a single establishment.

In the meantime (in the 1930s) Ernest Blatter’s son, Henri-Georges, joined the team and led its destiny until his death in 1967. One of his sons , Pierre, who had been there for a few years, then took up the torch, soon (1968) supported by his brother, Robert, who had since been making Blatter pipes.

In 1997, Patrick, one of Pierre’s sons, joined the duo and learned the rules of the trade from his uncle.

Thus, for 100 years now, five generations of Blatters have succeeded in managing this company, recognized since then by pipe smokers for the excellence of its achievements and the quality of the various services (choice of tobacco, repairs and maintenance, advice) that it offers to its customers.

In 1993, the firm (which clients simply call “the Blatter Brothers”) deserved to be among a select group of a few companies recognized in Quebec for the excellence of their commercial services.

The current production of Blatter pipes is some 300 pieces per year, entirely handmade by Robert Blatter who has acquired, over the years, an excellent reputation among smokers who own one or more of the remarkable objects he makes. For a few years, Patrick has also been making them, under the supervision of Robert.

The firm sources its raw materials from major manufacturers in Saint-Claude (France), with whose managers the Blatter brothers have established, over the years, cordial relations that substantially go beyond the status of simple business relations. Blatter pipes are, to a large extent, sold in the Montreal market (although the firm has a few customers in the United States and Europe), and house regulars often fight over the new pieces.

The demand for these pipes far exceeds the production capacity of the company and on a few occasions in recent years opportunities to relaunch the business on a larger scale have presented themselves. But the Blatter brothers (in good pipe smokers that they are first and foremost!) preferred to give up their big dreams of glory in order to keep intact the quality control they can exert on a small production of pieces. unique.

Pierre and Robert Blatter were inducted into the Confrérie des maîtres-pipiers de Saint-Claude in 1982. (yc)

Here is the information to enable you to connect with the shop.

Blatter & Blatter Inc. Fabricants de pipes depuis

375 President Kennedy

Montreal, Quebec, CANADA

Tel / Fax: 514-845-8028

Website: Blatter & Blatter Inc.

E-mail: mailto:info@blatterpipes.com

I have worked on quite a few Blatter pipes (and enjoyed a fair number in my own collection) through the years and it is always a pleasure as they are well engineered and made.

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 cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl are in excellent condition. The bowl walls looked very good. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with shank brushes, 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. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The stem looked very good. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim top and stem to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was clean and the rim top and the inner edge look beautiful. The stem was clean and did not show either tooth marks or chatter.I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. It is very clear and readable and read as noted above. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I polished the bowl and shank with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pad – dry sanding it with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. It began to take on a deep shine. The exterior of the bowl look better after sanding. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit on the bowl for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a paper towel and soft cloth. The product is a great addition to the restoration work. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. It is a product I use on every pipe I restore. It was ready for the next step. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the surface down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. It is really shining. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil to finish this step. It was great to finish this Blatter Montreal Lumberman. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black, vulcanite, saddle stem was beautiful. This Blatter Montreal Lumberman is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.05 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipe Makers Section of the store. If you want to add it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing new life into a BBB Own Make Made in London England 636 Billiard

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a BBB pipe with a silver shank band and a vulcanite taper stem. We picked the pipe up from a seller in Ogden, Utah, USA on 12/12/2024. It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads BBB in a Diamond with Own on the left side of the Diamond and Make on the right side. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in London [over] England [over] 636. The silver band is stamped Sterling Silver under BBB in a Dimaond on the left side of the band. It is oxidized and scratched. The finish is a reddish-brown colour that really highlights the grain around the bowl and shank. The bowl colour is a stark contrast to the silver band and the black taper stem. There is a BBB Diamond brass logo inlaid on the top of the stem. The bowl was moderately caked and there was some lava on the inner bevelled edge of the rim and the top. The vulcanite stem had some oxidation and some chatter and light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. It also looks like it had a softee bit on the stem at one time as it left a defined line. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. He took some photos of the rim top and bowl from various angles to give me a clear picture of the condition of the rim top and bowl. You can see the moderate cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim edge and top. The next photos show the top and underside of the stem. It is oxidized and appears to have had a Softee bit on it at one time. Jeff took photos of the sides of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos showed some great grain. It is a pretty piece of briar. He took some photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank and the Sterling Silver band. The stamping was clear and readable on both shank sides and the band as noted above. He also took a photo of the BBB logo on the topside of the taper stem. Jeff did his usual thorough job cleaning the pipe which I really appreciate because of the freedom it gives me in dealing with pipes. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and had a soak in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. One it was rinsed off, it came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim top to show how clean the pipe was. The bowl was very clean and showed that the inner tube sitting in the bottom of the bowl. The stem looked good with very light tooth marks and chatter. Overall the pipe is a beautiful looking piece.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It read as noted above. It is very clear and readable. I also removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the look of the parts. I decided to start my work on the bowl by polishing the rim top and the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust and debris. I gave the bowl and shank a coating of Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the silver band with a jeweller’s cloth to remove the tarnish and oxidation. It took some elbow grease but the cloth works to clean and protect the silver from further tarnishing. It looks significantly better than when I started. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I finished polishing the stem with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. This BBB Own Make 636 Made in London England Billiard turned out to be a great looking pipe. With polishing, the grain shines through clearly. The black vulcanite stem is in excellent condition and works great with the polished briar. The polished silver is a touch of class. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished BBB Own Make 636 Billiard fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 43 grams/1.52 ounces. It is a great looking pipe that I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restoring a W.O. Larsen Handmade Made in Denmark 0

Leave a reply

by Steve Laug

I love working on older W.O. Larsen Handmade pipes. The shapes, the finishes and the feel of the pipe in the hand always catch my attention. The way the carvers capture the grain in the shapes of these pipes. This one is kind of a Diplomat shape with a slight bend to the stem. It is a smooth finished pipe that is stamped on the underside of the shank and clearly reads 0 [over] W.O. Larsen [over] Handmade [over] Made in Denmark. We purchased this pipe on 05/22/2024 from a friend in Denmark. The pipe was in good condition in terms of the finish on the bowl – just a few nicks and scratches on the bowl sides. The bowl had a thick cake on the walls and the rim top and inner edge had some darkening and some lava overflow. Otherwise it was a beautiful pipe. There is a vulcanite taper stem was in good condition with light tooth chatter but no deep tooth marks on the surface. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up to capture the condition of the pipe when it arrived. It is a real beauty. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the lava on the top and inner edge of the bowl. It looks like a combination of burn damage on the front and back mid bowl. The stem was very dirty with grime and sludge build up from the button forward on both sides of the stem. Jeff captured the smooth finish and grain around the bowl sides and it is stunning. There is a lightly bevelled rim cap and inner edge. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in spots but it is still readable. The stamping reads as noted above.I wanted to refresh my memory about the pipes coming out of Ole Larsen’s Copenhagen tobacco shop. I knew that many famous Danish Carvers started their careers carving for the shop. I turned first to pipephil wesite to get and over view of the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l2.html). I did a screen capture of the section on the site showing a summary of the brand and the typical stamping. I have also included the information in the sidebar.In the 1960s Ole Larsen, owner of the Copenhagen tobacco store, retails pipes carved by Sixten Ivarsson, Poul Rasmussen, Sven Knudsen or Peter Brakner. Faced with the success and urged by Sven Bang (store manager), Sven Knudsen and Former (Hans Nielsen) are successively hired to carve pipes in the basement of the shop at the beginning and in the old Larsen cigar factory afterwards. Carver like Teddy Knudsen, Tonni Nielsen, Jess Chonowitch, Peter Hedegaard work a while in this context.

When Nils, son of Ole Larsen, succeeds his father he acquires the Georg Jensen pipe factory to focus on less expensive pipes. This turns out to be an error ending with the sale of W.O. Larsen trademark to Stanwell.

The famous tobacco shop at Strøget, Amagertorv 9 closed down for good on Dec 31, 2004.

I then turned to Pipedia to do a bit more reading about the brand and the various lines making it up. Here is the link (https://pipedia.org/wiki/W.%C3%98._Larsen). The link took me to some pages on the finepipes.com website. Here is the link to the summary of the history of the brand. I quote it in full. I have marked the pertinent section with bold font to mark out the section on the SELECT series (https://www.finepipes.com/pipes/danish/w-o-larsen?sort=20a&page=2&zenid=562ff4b9d62f4f612d0f6ee60cab1224).

W.O. Larsen was one of the most famous tobacco shops in Copenhagen, with a beautiful store located on Copenhagen’s famous “Walking Street.” During the flowering of the Danish pipe in the ’60’s, they first began retailing pipes by such carvers as Sixten Ivarsson, Sven Knudsen, Poul Rasmussen, and Brakner. Urged on by his store manager Sven Bang, the owner, Ole Larsen, decided to begin making pipes in the basement of the shop. He first hired Sven Knudsen as the pipe maker, who soon passed the job to his protégé Hans “Former” Nielsen. Larsen’s fortunes rose along with the rest of the Danish pipe business, and Former was soon managing a group of carvers in the old Larsen cigar factory. Among these were Teddy Knudsen, Tonni Nielsen, Jess Chonowitch, Peter Hedegaard and others, who were responsible for the Select and Straight Grain series before they branched out on their own. After Former left to start Bentley pipes in Switzerland, his duties were taken over by Soren Refbjerg Rasmussen, while the straight grains were made by Teddy’s student Benni Jorgenson. As Ole’s health began to fail, the reins were taken over by his son Nils. Nils became convinced that the way for Larsen to prosper was by entering the low-end market, and acquired the Georg Jensen pipe factory to make an array of less expensive pipes. This turned out to be a fatal error, and Larsen was recently sold to Stanwell, who continue to produce so-called “Larsen” pipes in their huge factory. Thus, ended an important part of Danish pipe history.

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 cleaned up the inside of the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. The bowl walls looked very good. 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 undiluted 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 stem exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem 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 top and the inner edge of the rim show the darkening that I mention above. I am very pleased that it does not appear to be deep burn damage. The stem looks clean of debris and grime. The tooth chatter more or less disappeared with the cleaning.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank – it was faint in spots, but clear and read as noted above. The second photo below shows look of the bowl and stem taken apart.I started working on the pipe by addressing the rim edge and top darkening first. I started using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge and remove the darkening. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad to remove the debris from the sanding process. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It looks very good now and the bowl is back in round. The pipe was clean and free of debris. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sandpaper to smooth out the remaining chatter on the stem surface. It also removed the remnants of oxidation on the stem surface.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.I put the W.O. Larsen Diplomat back together and polished the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The grain on the natural brown briar came alive with the buffing. The finish worked well with the polished black vulcanite stem. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.73 ounces/49 grams. This beauty will soon be on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. It will make a beautiful addition to somebody’s pipe rack. Thanks for walking through the restoration of this Danish take on the Diplomat shape from the 60s with me as it was a fun pipe to work on.