Tag Archives: Bowls – refinishing

Topped, Reshaped and Restored a Kolding Old Briar 17

This old Kolding Old Briar is also one of the pipes that belong to the Vancouver Pipe Club lot. It is stamped Kolding over Old Briar on the top of the shank and Made in Denmark over 17 on the underside of the shank. I have a very similar pipe to this one made by Stanwell – same overall shape and oval flat saddle stem. Mine is a great smoking pipe. This one appears to have been much-loved as well. As with the others in this lot it was in dire need of attention. The briar had been given the standard coat of varnish that is on all of them. The varnish is put over the top of some buildup on the rim and some significant rim damage to the top and the edges of the bowl. There was a small piece of briar missing from one spot on the left front side of the bowl’s outer rim. The inner rim also was rough. The bowl had been coated with a black rubbery bowl coating. The stem was in very good shape with no tooth marks or damage and no oxidation.

The close up photo below shows the rim damage – both burning, buildup and marks that went quite deep and broke the grain of the briar. Steaming would not work to lift the damage on this rim as it was compromised.

Topping this bowl would be far more involved than the previous bowls I had topped. It needed to be topped to remove the damage to the surface, flattened to take care of the deep cuts in the briar, and then the inner edge beveled and the outer edge rounded. I set up my topping board and sandpaper and began to sand the top of the bowl.

I took it down far enough to remove the damaged portions of the rim and then worked to bevel the inner edge with a folded piece of sandpaper. I sanded the rim and the inner bevel with a medium and then a fine grit sanding block. I also used the block to reshape the curve of the outer edge of the rim into the flow of the bowl.

I wiped the pipe down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the finish on the remainder of the pipe in preparation for the new coat of stain.

I decided to use two different colours of stain to restain the pipe. The first stain was a MinWax Medium Walnut stain. I rubbed it on and then rubbed it off. I buffed the pipe with White Diamond to polish the briar before giving it the second colour of stain.

For the second stain I used MinWax Red Mahogany stain. I rubbed it into the bowl and then rubbed it off. I polished the pipe with a soft cloth. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and hand buffed the stem.

I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond again and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I gave it a final buff with a clean flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. It will now join the others in the Pipe Club box until I finish those that remain. I love the rounded look of the bowl top and the bevel on the rim as it adds to the feel of the pipe. I think this one will also bring a good return for the club.

Topping and Refinishing a Dansk Handvaerk Thorshammer Bruyere

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This is yet another one of the Vancouver Pipe Club lot – it is stamped on the left side of the long shank Thorshammer over Bruyere. On the right side it is stamped Dansk Handvaerk. On the underside of the shank is an interesting stamping next to the stem shank junction – it reads A/ES with the / being the image of a pipe. It also has the shape number 5 on the underside. The shape is either a long shanked billiard or a long stemmed lumberman or Liverpool. When I took it out of the box the finish had a coating of varnish that had the fingerprints of the varnisher imprinted in them. The pipe has a small band of light briar near the stem. I thought that maybe this was done when the pipe was restemmed, but upon examination I believe the stem is the original. The light band could also have been a thin silver band or such but that was missing. The rim was a mess as with the majority of the pipes I am doing for the club box. The outer edge had burn marks on the right side and had been badly beaten against whatever the smoker used to empty his bowl. It was missing chunks of briar and steaming would not bring out the damage. The finish was also spotty under the varnish so I decided to strip the bowl and start over.

The picture below gives a fairly good view of the damage to the rim. In later photos of the topping process I show a few more of the damaged areas of the rim.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper and began to top the bowl. I checked often to make sure that I would stop at the right point in the process. I wanted to remove as little of the height of the bowl as possible while smoothing out the damaged areas.

The next two photos show the outer edge damage after a little bit of sanding on the board. It was really quite rough to the touch as I ran my fingers around the bowl.

I continued to sand the top of the bowl until the damage was minimized. I sanded it with a fine grit sanding block afterwards to smooth out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. I also beveled the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out that area as well. This will become visible in the later photos.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish and the stain. I sanded the bowl with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the stubborn varnish areas and then scrubbed it down with acetone again. Once I had the finish removed the bowl was ready to be stained.

For ease of use, since I have a lot of these to do for the pipe club stash, I am using MinWax stain. On this one I gave it a coat of Red Mahogany stain followed by a coat of Medium Walnut stain. I rubbed them on and off to get the colour I wanted. The area at the stem junction stubbornly refused to take much of the stain no matter how much I coaxed it and heated it. In the photos below the lighter area at that point is better though still visible to me.

I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the vulcanite. Once it was dry I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of caranauba wax to protect and give it a shine. The rim came out exceptionally well and the stain coat looks far better than when I started. The red Mahogany stain kept the red undertones that were present in the original stain coat. I finished buffing with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to go back in the box of finished pipes for the Pipe Club. Still a few more pipes to fix and work on before I send them back to the club for sale or their fund-raising use.

First Experience Refurbishing – Working on Granddad’s Pipes – Cody Huey

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I am following Cody on Twitter and yesterday when he posted the final picture in the article on the before and after on these pipes and a teaser on where they came from I wanted to know the whole story. I wrote and asked him if he would be willing to write-up the story and the refurb for rebornpipes. He quickly replied and soon sent the piece below. I am happy to have Cody write for the blog. Some of you will remember the name with the Moustache Man tamper piece I wrote a while ago. You can read about it at the link below. https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/a-review-a-cody-huey-moustache-men-pipe-tamper/ Cody has posted his contact information after the blog post. Have a look at his website store for the tampers he carves. Thanks Cody for being willing to write this up for us. It is great to have you here. Without further ado here is the article.

My wife and I were visiting her grandparents the other day. They are at the age where they are starting to hand down the precious items that they have collected over the years. As my wife and her mom were going through the rooms looking at figurines, paintings, and other things, I hear from the other room “Cody smokes a pipe”. My ears perked up then I was called to the front room. I heard, “Hey, take a look at these” as two full racks of old used pipes were sat down in front of me. I was told “take whatever you like, I won’t be smoking them anymore.” I was informed that all of these pipes are at least 50 years old and most of them were purchased at a smoke shop across from the University of Texas in Austin, TX. I asked if I could take all of them and was granted permission.

When I arrived home I started to go through all of them reading the names. GBD, Dr. Grabow, Rocky W. Germany, Aldo Velani, Penthouse (I thought that was a magazine huh who knew), Irwin’s, one meerschaum, and one Peterson. I started examining them closely to see how much work would be needed. I found that three had holes bitten through the stems but other than that some teeth marks, heavy amount of cake, and even heavier oxidation on the stems. My first thought was of all the people I have met that do restorations and how much it would cost to get these restored but, being the go getter that I am that thought quickly left my mind.

I then started to consume as much information as I could about restoring pipes. Reading tons of articles, many on this site, watching video after video, and digesting every piece of data I could get. After about 24 hours of nonstop information gathering I decided that I wanted to try to do this myself with very minimal materials. I would start with three pipes. The Materials used were as follows, a pocket knife, Oxy clean, bristled pipe cleaners, isopropyl alcohol, kosher salt, q-tips, my 6″ grinder converted into a buffer, Tripoli, carnauba wax, a polishing cloth, and some good ol’ elbow grease (which seems to be missing from a lot of people’s toolboxes these days but that’s a story for a different time).

I started with the bowls and a pocket knife. I scraped all of the cake out being careful not to go all the way down to bare wood. I also used the knife to ever so lightly (and I mean ever so lightly) scrap the char from the rims of the bowls. I then used the pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol to clear out the draft holes. Next was the q-tips dipped in alcohol to clean out the tobacco chamber. This took quite some time but I was very persistent with it.

I then proceeded to the salt treatment. Typical treatment, fill the bowls with salt, not packing it but keeping it loose, then dropping the alcohol in. I sat the bowls in a dish with rice to keep them at the right angle and let them sit for 24 hours. I ended up doing 2 salt treatments when it was all said and done just to get more of the nastiness out of the chamber.

Next were the stems. Now when I say these stems had some oxidation I’m not kidding. These things were brown as a milk chocolate candy bar. I gathered a bowl, mixed in the oxy clean and proceeded to let the stems sit over night. The next morning I took them out of the dark beer colored water to discover that one stem was completely black now, one was a lighter shade of brown, and the last was half and half. I rinsed them off with water and rubbed them down with my handy cotton handkerchief (never leave home without it). I then started the second round of oxy clean concoction. I let these soak for about six hours and again the water changed colors but this time more of a light beer color. The black stem was still black, the dark brown was a lighter shade now, and the half and half was all black except for a small band of greenish brown at the base.

I took them out, repeated the steps as before and proceeded with the third round. I let them soak overnight this time and when I awoke, the water was almost as clear as when I began. The stems looked pretty much like they did after the second round of oxy so I proceeded to the next step, buffing. This is the part where I had to scratch my head a bit and figure out what exactly I was going to use to buff these stems with. I rummaged through my toolbox pulling out every kind of polishing compound and wax I could find.

Most everything I read is that white diamond polishing compound is the best but I didn’t have any and I wasn’t willing to order some and wait. Maybe next time. So I laid out all that I had. Dremel tool red polishing compound, the little yellow bar that comes with my Flexcut carving knives, and Tripoli. Wait Tripoli where the heck did I get Tripoli….oh yea it came with my waxes from Pimo. As far as waxes I had bees-wax and carnauba wax. I decided on Tripoli and carnauba wax.

I first started with the Tripoli. This stuff took all the brown and green off and put quite the shine on them. It took some time, going very slowly, trying to get into all the nooks and crannies but worked very well. Then it was on to the carnauba wax. Now this is where the real shine came on. I started with just the stems then attached the pipes and buffed the pipe in its entirety. The last step was just to give them a wipe down with the polishing cloth (which came from my high school days as a trumpet player) and that was it.

I was absolutely blown away with the outcome. These pipes are once again beautiful. I will give them many years of care and I know they will return the favor. If I could leave you with one thing to remember from this it would be that just because something looks run down and used up it might not be. With a little love, some patience, and whole lot of elbow grease you can bring it back to life, have fun doing it, and learn a whole slew of lessons in the process. If you have any questions I would love to help in any way that I can and I know Steve feels the same way. Take care and have a great day.

Cody Huey
http://www.codyhuey.com
codyjhuey@gmail.com

Topping and Refinishing an Evident Super Billiard

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This is yet another of the pipes from the lot of Vancouver Pipe Club pipes that I have been working on. This is not a brand that I have ever heard of and I cannot find any information on the web regarding it. If anyone reading this has any information on the brand please leave a comment and give us a few clues. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank Evident in script over Super in block print. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Old Briar. On the underside of the shank next to the stem it is stamped 760. The finish was covered with the standard varnish and the bowl coated with the black rubberized bowl coating. The rim was in very rough shape – the inner bevel was in good shape with minor nicks to it but the outer edge of the bowl had been hammered all around the top. There was also spillage from the bowl coating on the side of the bowl on the back and right side. The stem was clean other than some very minimal tooth chatter near the button. It seems to have a light stamp on the left side – the letters J.T.

I took some close up photos of the rim and edges of the bowl before and during the time I was topping it to give a clear picture of the damage that had been done to this pipe. The first photo below is a close up of the rim. It was an absolute mess and the edges of the bowl was hammered and broken.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper and began the process of topping the bowl. I took some photos after I first started to show clearly the edge damage.

I topped the bowl until the majority of the rim damage was gone. I then used a folded piece of sandpaper to re-bevel the inner edge of the rim. I used a sanding block to smooth out the rough edges that remained after topping the bowl. I decided that if I were to top the bowl to totally remove all of the damage it would change the profile too dramatically so I took the majority of the damage down and then lightly rounded the outer edge of the bowl with the sanding block.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish, bowl coating spillage and old stain. I reamed the pipe with the PipNet reamer to remove the black bowl coating and cleaned up the inside of the bowl with some Everclear.

As mentioned before I have been using a MinWax Medium Walnut stain as it is quick and easy to use on these pipes that I am working through for the club. It does a great job, the colour matches the old original stain quite well and it is a simple application – rub on and off. Each successive coat adds depth and richness to the final colour.

I sanded the tooth chatter on the stem to remove it and sanded it with micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem. I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the bowl and stem with red Tripoli and then White Diamond. Once I had finished I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the vulcanite. I buffed the stem and bowl one last time with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished with a soft flannel buff on the wheel. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to join the other finished pipes in the box of pipes for the Pipe Club. I look forward to seeing what they do with the lot.

Topping and Restaining a Lorenzo Ascona

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yet another pipe from the Vancouver Pipe Club donation was this triangular shanked Lorenzo. It is stamped on the left side of the top of the shank Lorenzo and on the bottom of the shank it is stamped Ascona over a series of numbers and letters – 42Y8716. I have no idea what the numbers mean and have been unable to find any information on them. Over the years I have had quite a few old Lorenzo’s but they always seem to find new homes as they tend to be too large to my liking. This one is a bit different – it is probably a group 4 sized bowl with a large triangular shank and saddle stem. The stem was in very good shape and still bears the cursive L logo stamped on the blade of the stem. The bowl was in very rough shape. There was a coat of varnish on the pipe and the bowl had the usual black rubbery bowl coating. The finish was an orange stain that was breaking up under the varnish and leaving light spots in the finish. The rim was beat up and all the outer edges of the bowl either were scarred or burned. The briar under the varnish is quite scratched and there are dents in the briar. I did not take the time to remove any of those other than the ones that came out through my cursory sanding of the bowl. The marks that remain are like character reminders and I decided to leave them. The close up photo below, of the top of the pipe shows the damaged rim -the rough outer edges of the bowl and the burn marks. The second photo below shows the burn damage on the side of the bowl below the edge of the rim. I set up my normal topping tools – a flat board and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and began to work on the top of the bowl. I wanted to remove as much of the damage as possible and sharpen the edges of the bowl. I wanted to reduce the burn damage on the front right side of the outer rim in the process as well. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the spotty orange stain coat. I stained it with two MinWax stains – I used a Medium Walnut first followed by a Red Mahogany stain. I wanted a reddish hue to the pipe that was thinned and lightened by the walnut stain. Once I had finished staining it I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to smooth out the remaining scratches and even out the stain coat. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it was dry buffed the pipe one more time with White Diamond. I finished the refinishing by giving the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffing it with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go back with the others that have been prepared for the Club to use as they choose.

Cleaning up a Partner Deluxe Fine Briar Lumberman 129

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next little pipe that I reworked for Vancouver Pipe Club donation of pipes is a nice lumberman. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Partner over De Luxe and on the right side it is stamped Fine Briar over 129. Further research has led me to information that this pipe was made by Savinelli. The shape number matches the number for a pipe shaped like this one. The finish was spotty with light and dark areas around the bowl and shank. The top of the rim had damage on the flat surface and burn marks all the way around the outer and inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge was rough to the touch. The grain was a nice combination of birdseye and cross grain. There were two repaired fills on the top of the shank. The stem had one tooth mark on the underside of the stem and there was tooth chatter on the top side of the stem.

The first photo below is a close up of the rim to show the damage to the surface of the rim and the inner and outer edges. The second photo below shows the burn marks around the outer edge of the bowl.

I topped the bowl using the method I have written about previously to remove the damage to the rim surface and edges. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to bevel the inner edge of the bowl and smooth out the damage and minimize it in the bowl.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads until I had removed the varnish coat and the stain as much as possible. It always makes matching the freshly topped rim with the rest of the pipe if the briar is as neutral as possible.

The tooth mark on the bottom of the stem and the tooth chatter on the top of the stem needed to be sanded. The first photo below shows the damage on the bottom of the stem next to the button. I sanded both surfaces with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge until the tooth chatter was gone and the tooth mark was minimized.

I continued to sand the stem with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then buffed the stem with White Diamond. I took the pipe back to the work table and restained the bowl and shank with MinWax Medium Walnut stain to bring life back to the briar. I stained the light areas on the rim and at the shank stem junction multiple times until they matched the rest of the pipe.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond a final time to remove any remaining scratch marks and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It joins the others I have refurbished for the Vancouver Pipe Club box of donated pipes.

Cleaned and Topped A Georg Jensen Pipes Deluxe Billiard Shape 720

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This particular pipe is another one that will go to the Vancouver Pipe Club. It was a pretty easy clean up in that only the bowl rim was a mess. Everything else was in ok shape. It is a billiard with great grain on the left side and bottom of the bowl and top and bottom of the shank. The grain on the right side and the back were lousy. There were also several fills on the poorly grained sides of the bowl. The finish was not in too bad shape though it too had been given a coat of varnish. The inside of the bowl had a black bowl coating that I think was applied to protect the thin back wall of the bowl. The top rim was in rough shape on the inside edge and had burn marks on the sides and front of the outer edge. The stem was in great shape with no damage at all. It is stamped on the left side of the bowl Georg Jensen over Made in Denmark Pipes. On the right side it is stamped 720 in the middle of the shank. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Deluxe.

The next series of three photos show the damage to the rim. The first one is a top view of the bowls showing the overall damage. The second is a close up photo of the rim. The third photo shows the burn damage to the front outer edge of the bowl.

I topped the bowl in my usual manner, sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge and wet sanded it with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. I wiped down the bowl and rim with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish and the finish. I sanded the inner bevel of the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the edge and to rework that bevel to give it a clean and renewed look.

I restained the bowl with MinWax Medium Walnut stain and rubbed it on and off until I had the blend of colours I wanted to highlight the grain patterns. I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond to polish the scratches.

There were some light spots on the shank and the bowl that took more coats of stain than the rest of the pipe so I retouched them and then polished the pipe and stem with multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a clean flannel buff to polish it. The photos of the finished pipe are below. It is ready to send back to the Pipe Club and provide someone with a great looking pipe for their collection.

Reworking a Poorly Done Topping Job on a Bulldog of Unknown Make

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This poor old bulldog came in the pipes that were donated to the Vancouver Pipe Club and I decided to work on it and see if I could repair some of the damage that had been done when someone tried to top it in the past. The rim looked as if whoever topped it tried to do it by hand and not on a flat board. Because of that the surface of the rim was wavy with high and low spots and the outer edge was lower than the inner edge in several places. The top was also at a slight angle as the sanding had not been done on a flat surface.

The first two photos below show the damage to the rim from the side profile. Note the wavy surface of the rim. The third photo shows some damage on the underside of the stem next to the button and the fourth photo shows the rim from the top view. In that photo the bowl appears to be seriously out of round and the front edge seems thinner than the rest of the bowl. This is a bit of an illusion due to the poorly executed sanding on the rim. The way the bowl had been sanded left the front of the bowl lower than the back of the bowl thus creating the appearance of a thin wall. The stamping on it had been buffed out on the left side of the shank and on the right side I could still see very faintly London England over 403S. I am uncertain of the maker. I checked the Comoy’s shape number chart, the GBD and the Orlik shape number charts and there is no such number. Perhaps other may have some idea of the maker.

I took a two close up photos of the top of the rim to show the damage more clearly. There was also significant burn damage to the front inner edge of the rim. Fortunately this damage was only surface and a retopping would take care of most of it.

I also took a close up photo of the end of the stem next to the button to show the tooth marks on the underside next to the button.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper to work on the rim and repair the damage. It took care to keep the high point of the bowl flat against the surface of the paper and sand until the rim flattened out. This took more time than usual as I had to continually check to see if the rounded spots, low dips and angle sanding of the rim surface were being removed. I also wanted to remove the burn damage as much as possible. The next five photos show the process and the results of the sanding. The profile views show the repair of the outer edge to a flat straight surface with a sharp edge. The top view shows the more even distribution of the thickness of the wall and the removed burned area on the front of the bowl.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the remaining finish on the bowl so that it would be easier to match the colour of the bowl and the newly topped rim.

I sanded the rim with a fine grit sandpaper and wet sanded with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove scratches and prepare the rim for staining. I stained the bowl and rim with MinWax Medium Walnut Stain and rubbed it on to the pipe and rubbed it off until I had achieved the colour and coverage that I wanted.

I sanded the damaged areas on the topside and the underside of the stem near the button to remove the tooth marks. I started with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge to repair the tooth damage.

The mark on the underside was deep and once I had sanded and cleaned it I put a drop of super glue on it to build up the divot. Once it was dry I sanded it again with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponge to blend it into the surface of the stem.

I used my usual array of micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem repair – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. When it was dry I rubbed the stem down and reinserted it in the pipe.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished the buffing with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go back to the Pipe Club and will make someone a nice pipe.

Comoy’s St. James Shape 62 Restored

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This oddly shaped Comoy’s came to me in a lot that was donated years ago to the Vancouver Pipe Club. It has been sitting for a long time needing a bit of care to bring it back to life before going to the Club to be sold or given away. It is stamped on the top of the shank, St. James in an arc over London Made in a straight line. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in England by Comoy’s followed by 62. The finish was rough on this one; the top of the rim had been beaten against something hard and had damaged the outer edge to the point that it was no longer sharp. The inner edge of the rim was not too bad but the bowl had been coated with a black rubbery bowl coating that was grim. There was one rather large fill on the right side of the bowl near the shank/bowl junction. The stem had some oxidation next to the button and some small tooth chatter there as well. The stem also had one silver bar inset in the vulcanite on the left side. It is not a logo that I have come to associate with Comoy’s but rather with Savinelli. I am not certain the stem is original. Perhaps someone here can shed some light on the stem logo and this particular line of Made in England by Comoy’s Pipes.

I decided to top the bowl and try to repair the outer rim damage. It was truly a mess. In the next photos you will see the set up for topping and also several photos of the bowl rim as I began to sand it out. The sanding dust stuck to the bowl coating.

When I finally got the topping done to the point where the rim was more smooth and crisp I also sanded the outer edge to minimize some of the deeper chips and rough areas that I left because I did not want to top too much of the bowl. I then cleaned out the bowl and the shank and wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat that had been put on the bowl. I reamed out the bowl coating with a PipNet reamer as I wanted to remove the sticky black substance and wanted to see what the walls of the bowl looked like underneath the ooze.

I sanded the bowl and rim with a medium grit sanding sponge and then with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the scratching that was present under the finish and that left behind by the sanding sponge. I wiped it down a final time with acetone on a cotton pad to clean and prepare it for restaining.

I used a black permanent marker to bring grain lines into the fill area and minimize the way it stood out. In the second photo you can see the effect of the marker and stain on the fill near the bowl/shank junction. Previously it had stood out and now it was muted. I restained the bowl with MinWax Medium Walnut stain. I rubbed it on with a cotton pad and wiped it off with a cloth and repeated the process until the stain had given the bowl a good coverage. I sanded the oxidation and tooth marks near the button on the top and the bottom of the stem with the medium grit sanding sponge.

I took the next photo to show the improvement to the damaged rim and the clean edges that were now present. The stain did a great job in bringing out the grain on the rim. It follows the pattern of the grain on the shank.

I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and then sanded it with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1200-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with White Diamond and rubbed in a coating of Obsidian Oil to protect against further oxidation.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. Soon it will go the Pipe Club for their benefit.

Refinishing and Reworking the Rim on a Comoy’s London Pride.

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I looked up some information regarding this line of Comoy’s on the internet as I was not familiar with its placement in the ranks of Comoy’s lines. There I found that Comoy’s introduced the London Pride as the second grade to the Blue Riband around the same time to meet the American demand for a lighter finish. It was priced in 1943 at $25 and in 1965 at $25, then in 1979 at $95. It was described as having a natural amber coloring and tending to be Birdseye/Cross-Grained pattern pipes. At the time this pipe was made it was the next-to-top-of-the-line. The original stem had a three-piece “C” logo and this one did not have that. Judging from that fact, the shape of the tenon and the stem shape I am confident that it is a replacement stem. The stampings on the left side of the shank are “Comoy’s in block script over London Pride” and on the right side the stamping is worn. The shape number is near the bowl shank junction on the right and reads 292. The next four photos show the pipe as it was when I brought it to the work table.

The pipe was in fair condition. The stamping was faint, the finish had a thick coat of varnish over it and the rim was heavily damaged. The previous refurbishing had rounded the inner and outer rim removing the characteristic bevel on the inner rim and the sharp out edge. The stem was a replacement and the person who had replaced the stem sanded the shank down to fit the new stem. Fortunately they had not taken off too much of the briar. It was visible from the lines of the pipe and from the lightening of the area around the shank/stem junction. I have included the next photo to show the rim damage that needed to be addressed.

I topped the bowl on a flat board and sandpaper to remove the rounded inner and outer edges. I removed only enough to clean up and sharpen the outer edges and reduce the inner rounding to a slight bevel. I also sanded the inner edge with a folded piece of sandpaper to redo the bevel. I sanded the top and the bevel with a medium grit sanding sponge and also with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the scratches.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish coat and the remaining stain on the pipe. I find it easier to match the new rim colour if the bowl is also clean and the stain removed as much as possible.

I stained the bowl and rim with Minwax Medium Walnut stain which brought the colour as close as I could to the photos I found of the original colour of the London Pride line. I applied the stain and hand buffed the pipe.

I probably should have cleaned the inside earlier in the process but I did not bother until this point as it was quite clean. I scrubbed out the bowl with a cotton swab and Everclear as this bowl did not have the same black bowl coating as some of the others from this box of English pipes. The shank and the stem were not too dirty and it only took a few cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to bring it back to clean.

The stem was in great shape so I did not need to remove tooth marks or dents. It was also quite clean so I rubbed it down with some Obsidian Oil and then took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed to a shine with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe – the combination of cross grain and birdseye matches the description I had found on the web regarding this line of Comoy’s pipes. It is ready to serve the next season of its life.

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