Tag Archives: Brigham Voyageur Pipes

Repurposing a Brigham Voyageur 109 into a Frankenpipe

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a bit of a Frankenpipe – one I have cobbed together from a variety of pipes. A Frankenpipe is simply a pipe composed of parts from a variety of sources. In this case it included a Brigham bowl, a Copper Plumbing fitting as a ferrule and a vulcanite freehand stem. Put together these parts create a totally unique pipe that is more than a total of its parts.

I originally received it in a lot of pipes that I worked on for a fellow here in Vancouver. It was a bowl sans stem that was in a bit of rough shape. I described it as follows when I first received it (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/08/03/converting-a-brigham-voyageur-109-into-a-churchwarden/). The pipe is an apple shaped bowl that is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Brigham [over] Voyageur [over] 109 Italy in a smooth panel on the rusticated bowl and shank. The shank end had nicks and chips but was in fair condition. There was no stem with the bowl. The stem would have had the lighter weight nylon system tenon since the pipe is one of the Italian made Brighams. It was another one of the fellow’s pipe finds on a recent pipe hunt in Vancouver. The rusticated finish had almost a scale like rustication pattern with flecks of paint in the finish. The rim top was damaged and was darkened toward the back of the bowl. The finish was very dirty and there was a thick cake in the bowl. When I first received the bowl from the fellow we talked about replacing the missing stem with an original Brigham stem. I talked with Charles Lemon and he sent me a stem blank and an aluminum system shank for the Brigham. When it arrived, I talked with the Vancouver fellow about that and together we concluded that a churchwarden stem might look good on it. I ordered some from JH Lowe and found that they only have one diameter size stem. I ordered it and when it arrived it was significantly smaller in diameter than the shank. I had an interesting copper ferrule that I thought might work to provide a different look to the pipe and provide a way of using the smaller diameter churchwarden stem. I slipped the ferrule on the shank and put the stem partially in place in the mortise and took the following photos to send to the fellow to see what he thought. He liked it so I moved forward with the restoration of the bowl and the fitting of the stem. I am including the cleanup description of the work on the bowl as it adds to the story of the next stage of the creation of the new Frankenpipe.I slipped the ferrule off the shank and took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is very clear and readable. I sanded the shank to smooth it out for fitting the ferrule. I cleaned out the inside of the shank with a dental spatula to remove the heavy tar buildup on the shank walls. The shank was ready for the new ferrule.I used a heat gun to heat the copper ferrule and pressed it onto the shank end. I repeated the process until it was set on the shank as far as I wanted it to be. To remove the paint flecks on the rusticated finish on the bowl I scrubbed it with a brass bristle wire brush and used a dental pick to remove the flecks. I wiped down the bowl with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the dust and debris from the finish. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Piper Reamer using the first two cutting heads to remove the majority of the cake. I cleaned up the remnants on the walls of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I used a dowel wrapped with sandpaper to sand down the walls on the bowl. I cleaned out the airway in both the bowl and stem with alcohol (99% isopropyl), pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until they were clean on the inside.When I restored the pipe originally I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I also polished the smooth portions of the rustication with the micromesh pads at the same time. I rubbed down the briar with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips and finished working it in with a shoe brush. The balm worked to clean, preserve and enliven the surface of the finish on the small bowl. The briar was coming alive so I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed the bowl with a shoe brush.

I finished the stem as well and put it in the shank of the pipe. I took photos of it to show the look of the Church Warden that we had designed.The fellow smoked the pipe and enjoyed for a while but decided the Church Warden was not for him. We tried different stems and looks but, in the end, it came back to me. It has been here in a small box on the shelf behind my desktop. I had several stems in the box along with the last stem I had fashioned for it a few years ago. Today I decided it was time to work on it again and finish crafting a new Frankenpipe. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. The rim top was and inner edge showed darkening and damage. The bowl was nicked and out of round. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the condition of the stem surface. There were marks and chatter on the stem ahead of the button on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank side. It read as noted above. When I had placed the copper ferrule earlier I was careful to not cover the stamping on the shank… surprising as I usually don’t worry about that when I am crafting a new pipe from a damaged bowl.I took photos of the elongated tenon on the stem that I crafted for the pipe. I wanted to not use a Brigham system filter so I worked to make a long tenon that left a small gap between the entrance of the airway into the bowl and shank end. It functioned quite well.Now it was time to rework the bowl and rim. I started by cleaning up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I gently topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board to remove some of the rim damage.I used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around it to give the inner edge of the bowl a bevel to help minimize the burn damage on the briar.I touched the stain on the rim top with a Walnut stain pen to blend it into the surface of the briar. I let it dry before I polished it with micromesh sanding pads.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sadded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down between the pads with a damp cloth. With that finished the bowl was very clean and the sandblast looked great. I rubbed the bowl and rim down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the sandblast surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I really like watching the Balm do its magic and bring the briar alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on both sides of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter and as expected I was not able to lift them at all. I filled in the tooth marks with clear CA glue and let the cure. I flattened out the repairs with a small file to start blending them in. I sanded the areas smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper, though I forgot to take photos of this part of the process. 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 to give the sanding pads some bite. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to keep the stem from oxidizing as quickly. I set it aside to dry. Once again at this point in making Frankenpipes I am excited to be on the homestretch. I look forward to the final look when newly fashioned Brigham Voyageur 109 Apple is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I lightly polished the bowl and the replacement stem with Blue Diamond. I gave the bowl and the newly fit 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 depths of the rustication come alive with the wax and polish. The shiny black vulcanite stem is a beautiful contrast to the browns of the bowl. This Frankenpipe Brigham Voyageur Frankenpipe with a copper ferrule and modified Freehand stem was fun to create. It really is a quite stunning looking creation. The pipe feels great in the hand will be better when warmed up while smoking. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.73 ounces/49 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipemakers Section if you would like to add it to your rack and carry on the previous pipeman’s legacy. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

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 Brigham Voyageur 165 Bent Acorn

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another that the Vancouver pipe man dropped off for me to work on for him. It was stamped Brigham Voyageur 165 and had a mixed finish of smooth top and rusticated bowl and shank. It is a Bent Acorn that was finished in a brown stain. It needed restoration on the bowl which was moderately caked and the shank was dirty. It also needed new stem as the current push stem was chewed and broken at the button. It was another pipe that I had previously repaired for him back in 2017. At that point it needed had done a complete restoration and fitted a regular push stem as requested. It had a thick cake at that point as well and was well used. The original stem had nylon Brigham system tenon that was broken as well. Here is the link to that restoration. (https://rebornpipes.com/2017/04/02/restemming-and-reconditioning-a-brigham-voyageur-165/). Here are some photos of the pipe when he picked it up in 2017 to give a bit for context for my work. When I took the pipe out of the bag of pipes he brought for me to work on it last evening this is what I saw. The finish on the briar looked very good. It was dirty but the colour had stayed true. It had a bit of patina on the bowl but it was beautiful. The bowl had a moderate cake and the airway in the shank was dirty. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had a large chunk of vulcanite missing on the underside. I took photos of the rim top and the thick cake in the bowl to show how it looked. There was also tobacco debris on the walls. The rim top had some darkening and there were nicks around the inner edge of the bowl. It will clean up pretty well. The photos of the stem show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks and chatter under the calcification on the stem surface.I took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the left side of the shank. You can see it is clear and readable and reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of the flow of the pipe.Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning and reaming the bowl The cake was quite thick but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer to cut cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean. I cleaned out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I worked over the shank and the airway in the stem. It took some work but once finished it was clean and smelled fresh.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It took on a real shine by the time I finished with the last sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth rim and the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. Now it was time to deal with the replacement stem. I went through my can of stems and found an interesting bent taper vulcanite stem that was a perfect fit. It was a 6 dot Brigham stem that someone had cut off to be a push stem. It would not hold a filter so it was relegated to my can. Since the pipeman wanted a replacement push stem I would be able to modify it to work perfectly. Because the modified Brigham stem was made for the Hardrock Maple filter it was a wide open draw. I used a piece of Delrin tubing to make a converter to fit in the tenon and change it to a regular bore. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to reduce the diameter of the Delrin so that it would fit into the tenon. It worked well as can be seen in the second photo below. It is longer than necessary in the photos below but I cut it and shaped the end like other converters that have been used on Savinelli pipes.I build up the damage to the button edge on the top and the marks in the top and underside of the stem with black CA rubberized glue. Once it had cured I used a small file to recut the button edged and flattened the repairs. I smoothed out the repairs and worked on the stem diameter at the shank with 220 grit sandpaper to get a good seat. I started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sand paper. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine Polish. I finished the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection from oxidizing quickly.I took the Brigham Voyageur 165 Bent Acorn bowl to wax and polish. I don’t buff the rusticated bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finis. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. 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 contrast of the dark stain on the briar with the shine of the polished acrylic stem is quite stunning. The rich sandblast finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Brigham Voyageur Bent Acorn is a nice looking pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 51 grams/1.80 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and the fourth of the five pipes left with me for work. Once I am finished with the lot he will get them back to enjoy once more. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Converting a Brigham Voyageur 109 into a Churchwarden

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is the last pipe I am working on from the fellow here in Vancouver that he dropped off. There were 8 pipes in the lot – I have all eight of them now. This one is a Brigham bowl without the stem or other parts. The pipe is an apple shaped bowl that is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Brigham over Voyageur over 109 Italy in a smooth panel on the rusticated bowl. The shank end had nicks and chips but was in fair condition. There was no stem with the bowl. The stem would have had the lighter weight nylon system tenon since the pipe is one of the Italian made Brighams. It was another one of his pipe finds on a recent pipe hunt in Vancouver. The rusticated finish had almost a scale like rustication pattern with flecks of paint in the finish. The rim top was damaged and was darkened toward the back of the bowl. The finish was very dirty and there was a thick cake in the bowl. When we had first spoken about this pipe we had talked about replacing the stem with a Brigham stem. I talked with Charles Lemon and he sent me a stem blank and an aluminum system shank for the Brigham. When it arrived I talked with the Vancouver fellow about that and together we came to the conclusion that a churchwarden stem might look good on it. I ordered some from JH Lowe and found that they only have one diameter size stem. I ordered it and when it arrived it was significantly smaller in diameter than the shank. I had an interesting copper ferrule that I thought might work to provide a different look to the pipe and provide a way of using the smaller diameter churchwarden stem. I slipped the ferrule on the shank and put the stem partially in place in the mortise and took the following photos to send to the fellow to see what he thought. He liked it so I moved forward.I slipped the ferrule off the shank and took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It is very clear and readable. I sanded the outside of the shank to provide a smooth seat for the ferrule. I cleaned out the inside of the shank with a dental spatula to remove the heavy tar buildup on the shank walls. I heated the metal ferrule with a heat gun and pressed it onto the shank against a solid board.I heated the copper ferrule over a heat gun and pressed the ferrule onto the shank end. I repeated the process until it was set on the shank as far as I wanted it to be. To remove the paint flecks on the rusticated finish on the bowl I scrubbed it with a brass bristle wire brush and used a dental pick to remove the flecks. I wiped down the bowl with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the dust and debris from the finish. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Piper Reamer using the first two cutting heads to remove the majority of the cake. I cleaned up the remnants on the walls of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I used a dowel wrapped with sandpaper to sand down the walls on the bowl. I cleaned out the airway in both the bowl and stem with alcohol (99% isopropyl), pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until they were clean on the inside. I rubbed down the briar with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the finish with my fingertips and finished working it in with a shoe brush. The balm worked to clean, preserve and enliven the surface of the finish on the small bowl. The briar was coming alive so I took some photos of the pipe at this point. I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I also polished the smooth portions of the rustication with the micromesh pads at the same time. I wiped the rim top down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and took the photos that follow. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I turned the tenon down on the churchwarden stem with a PIMO tenon turning tool. I took it down to about the diameter it needed to be for the shank. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to round down the edges of the stem above the tenon and also the casting marks on the stem. I wanted to make the stem more like a military mount stem. I heated the vulcanite with a votive candle until it was flexible and put a slight bend in it that fit the look I was going for with the pipe. I sanded the Dremel marks out of the tapered end of the stem and shaped the tenon some more with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked on the casting marks on the stem sides and around the button. I worked over the end of the stem to smooth out the area around the slot.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. After the final pad I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I used a light touch to keep the polishing compound from filling in the grooves in the rustication. I carefully avoided the stamping on the left side of the shank. I gave both the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is the last of his pipes that I have to work on. This has been a fun bunch of pipes to work on. Thanks for looking.

Restemming and Reconditioning a Brigham Voyageur 165

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Blog by Steve Laug

The eighth pipe from the lot of pipes that a pipesmoker dropped by for repair is a Brigham Voyageur. It is stamped on the left side of the shank with the Brigham name over Voyageur which is the model. The shape number is 165. It was rusticated in the classic Brigham style with a smooth rim, ring around the rim and the shank end and a smooth spot on the shank for the stamping. The pipe was dirty with dust and grime in the crevices of the finish on the bowl. The rim had a tarry buildup which had flowed from the cake in the bowl. The internals were very dirty with a lot of tar and grime. The overall condition of the bowl was good under the grime. The following photos show the pipe’s condition before I began to clean and restore it. I took a close up photo of the rim top and the bowl to show the condition of the cake and the overflow on to the rim top. I also took a photo of the stamping on the smooth left side of the shank. The pipe was a two dot Brigham. In talking with the owner he was not interested in preserving the Brigham system. He was only interested in having a pipe that he could fire up and enjoy. I would need to decide how I was going to fix this one but it was going to be another challenge for me.The stem was in rough shape. It had a split on the top side that ran from the edge of the button almost an inch up the stem toward the bowl. On the underside it had deep tooth marks and two cracks that ran through the button into the airway in the slot. The slot was compressed from the bit marks. There was a lot of oxidation on the surface and some calcification. The Brigham nylon tenon told me that the pipe is a newer one rather than those with the aluminum tenon. It was designed to hold the Brigham Hard Maple Filter tube that is specially designed for them. This one was clogged with tars. The end of the nylon tube was splitting and flared. It was ruined. The photos below show the damaged areas on the stem.I put the stem aside for a while and started on the bowl. I reamed the cake with a PipNet reamer and the Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to scrape the cake back to bare briar. I rolled a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and wrapped it around my index finger to sand the walls of the bowl. The cake was so sticky and crumbling that I wanted a hard, clean surface so that the owner could build a new cake to protect the bowl.I scraped out the shank with a dental spatula to scrape away the hardened tars that were on the walls of the mortise and airway to the bowl. I scrubbed the surface with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the shank and mortise was clean.To remove the hard buildup on the rim top and some of the damage to the front outer edge of the bowl I lightly topped it on the topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the burn marks and damage on the inner edge of the rim. I finished by sanding the rim with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the rim and remove the scratches.I scrubbed the externals of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a soft bristle tooth brush to clean out the crevices and grooves of the rustication. Once it was clean I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the dust on the finish to prepare it for a new coat of stain. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it with a lighter. I repeated the process until the coverage on the bowl was even.Once the stain dried I wiped it down with a cotton pad and alcohol to make it more transparent. I wanted the grain to show through on the smooth portions and the ridges of the rustication. I lightly buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave it a light coat of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush and a microfiber cloth. The buffed and restored bowl is shown in the photos that follow. The time between this picture and the next cannot be captured in photos as there were two days of work and time that went into trying various methods of repairing the original stem for the pipe. I cleaned out the split in the stem and roughened the surface with a file. I cleaned out the cracks on the button, the split on the top side and the tooth marks on the underside of the stem. It took a bunch of sanding and picking. I filled in the gaps with black super glue and charcoal powder to strengthen the repairs. I filed them smooth and sanded them to restore the finish. All was going well until I tried to slide a pipe cleaner into the airway. I pushed it through the airway and into the button only to have the repaired button fall off. The cracks gave way and the chunk fell free of the stem. No repairs would ever hold on this stem. It was finished. One day I may cut it off and use the shorter version for a different pipe but it is not worth a repair any longer.

That decision having been made for me I went through my stem can in search of a replacement. I knew the owner was fine with a non-Brigham stem so that was the way I was going to proceed. I found a stem that had the same dimensions as the original stem. It was a straight stem that I would need to clean up and bend the stem to match the original but it would look good on this old pipe.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to clean off the oxidation and remove the light tooth chatter and tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem. I turned the tenon down with a Dremel and sanding drum and fine-tuned it with a file to reduce the tenon to fit the shank of the pipe. I heated the stem with a heat gun until I was able to bend it to match the original stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I still had to work on the tenon to remove the file marks but the stem was beginning to shine. I polished the tenon with micromesh sanding pads to remove the majority of the file marks on the vulcanite. I buffed the tenon and then the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel to remove the final scratches on the stem. I gave the stem and the smooth portions of the briar several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and then buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I hand buffed the bowl and stem with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I think that the owner will really like the looks of his restored and restemmed Brigham. It looks really good to my eye. Thanks for looking.