Tag Archives: Cleaning an aluminum stinger

Fresh Life for a “Captain Peterson” Made in England N24 Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my work table is another one that I have no idea where or when we picked it up. I know that it has been here for a long time. I figure that it probably came in the same lot as the Captain Peterson N23 Apple. The pipe is stamped on the left side and read “Captain Peterson” (upper case letters in two lines). On the right side it was stamped A “Peterson’s Product” [over] Made in England. That is followed by the shape number N24 near the shank/bowl union. There is a C in a Circle logo on the left side of the taper stem. The pipe had been reamed and cleaned somewhere along its journey which told me that it had come to me from Jeff after he had done is work. He also has no idea of the provenance of the pipe. The finish on the bowl was dull but very clean. There were burn marks on the right and left side toward the cap and on the rim top and edges. It appeared that the pipe had been laid in an ashtray. The bowl was reamed and the rim top was also clean. The inner edge of the bowl looked quite good. The taper stem was also very clean. It had no oxidation on the finish but there were tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem. There was a bite through on the underside next to the button edge. This one lacked a stinger. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. There was no lava on top and no cake in the bowl. You can see the burn marks or darkening on the rim top and edges – both the inner and outer.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The stamped white logo on the side of the taper stem is also clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of proportion to the pipe and to also show the unique stinger apparatus in the tenon end of the other Captain Peterson was missing on this one.I have included the information from the previous Captain Peterson restoration. For me this is a part of the restoration. I turned first to Pipephil’s site where I found both Captain Pete and Captain Peterson (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-peterson-rep.html#captainpete). I have included a screen capture of the Captain Pete information and also one of the Captain Peterson information. I also included the sidebar information as well.Captain Pete was a brand of Peterson’s English branch (1899-1960). Dublin continued to produce Captain Petes a couple of years after 1960. At the end of the eighties just as the Sherlock Holmes range was being issued, Peterson reintroduced the modern Captain Pete series.Captain Peterson was a brand of Peterson’s English branch. This English made pipe was crafted prior to 1960.

From there I turned to the “Peterson Pipe The Story of Kapp & Peterson” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg, page 295 to see what information I could find there. I quote:

Captain Pete – This line’s name was derived from the nickname of Charles Peterson, known affectionately by friends and employees as “Captain Peterson.” The first issue. C. 1940-62, was in a smooth finish produced for Rogers Imports with a white stamped P inside C or a circled P on the mouthpiece. CAPTAIN over PETE on shank, and MADE IN IRELAND in a circle. English made versions show CAPTAIN over PETE on the shank or “CAPTAIN PETERSON” and a PETERSON’S PRODUCT over MADE IN ENGLAND or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND. The second issue (1998-), features an XL bowl with Sherlock Holmes shapes and compact stems, in rustic or combination of smooth and rustic finish, with a nickel band between two narrow brass bands.

I knew that I was working on a pipe made before 1960 in London, England. Thus, the pipe was a first issue C. 1940-62. It is a beautiful pipe that will need some work but overall was in very good condition for a pipe made before 1960. It was time to start my work on the pipe.

I began by cleaning up the inner edge of the bowl and gently topped the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the edge to give it very slight bevel and minimize the damage. I also sanded the burnt spots on the sides of the bowl to blend them into the surface. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding the bowl and shank with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down with a damp cloth between each sanding pad. The bowl took on more of a shine with the completion of each sanding pad. I gave the bowl and shank a wash of Light Brown aniline stain and alcohol. I applied it with a wool dauber and flamed it to set it in the briar. Once it cured I buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. After buffing I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips. I let it sit on the bowl for 15 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth to raise the shine. It was a beautiful piece of briar. With the bowl finished other than the final buffing I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it in the button below the bite through. I filled in the bite through on the underside with black super glue and the tooth marks on the top side with you. I removed the pipe cleaner from the stem and then used a small file to flatten the repair. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and then started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the Circle C logo the left side of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it dried I sanded off the excess and the logo looked very good.I polished it with micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the stem down between each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. By the final pad the pipe stem looked very good. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) then wiped the stem down with another coat of Obsidian Oil. I am excited to finish the easy restoration of this “Captain Peterson” Made in England N24 Rhodesian. 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, taper vulcanite stem was beautiful. This “Captain Peterson” N24 Rhodesian turned out very well and 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 inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .99 ounces/28 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in carrying on the trust of this let me know through a message or an email to slaug@unserve.com . Thanks for walking through the cleanup 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.

Fresh Life for a “Captain Peterson” Made in England N23 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on my work table is another one that I have no idea where or when we picked it up. I know that it has been here for a long time. The pipe is stamped on the left side and read “Captain Peterson” (upper case letters in two lines). On the right side it was stamped A “Peterson’s Product” [over] Made in England. That is followed by the shape number N23 near the shank/bowl union. There is a C in a Circle logo on the left side of the tape stem. The pipe had been reamed and cleaned somewhere along its journey which told me that it had come to me from Jeff after he had done is work. He also has no idea of the provenance of the pipe. The finish on the bowl was dull but very clean. The bowl was reamed and the rim top was also clean. The inner edge of the bowl was nicked and sometime it had been reamed with a knife that damaged the edge. The taper stem was also very clean. It had no oxidation on the finish and there were no tooth marks or chatter on the surface of the stem. When I removed the stem there was a unique stinger apparatus in the tenon end. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how well it had cleaned up. There was no lava on top and no cake in the bowl. You can see the damage to the inner edge of the rim. It was nicked but still relatively round.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. The stamped white logo on the side of the taper stem is also clear and readable.I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of proportion to the pipe and to also show the unique stinger apparatus in the tenon end.Before working on the pipe, I decided to do a bit of work on the background information. For me this is a part of the restoration. I turned first to Pipephil’s site where I found both Captain Pete and Captain Peterson (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-peterson-rep.html#captainpete). I have included a screen capture of the Captain Pete information and also one of the Captain Peterson information. I also included the sidebar information as well.Captain Pete was a brand of Peterson’s English branch (1899-1960). Dublin continued to produce Captain Petes a couple of years after 1960. At the end of the eighties just as the Sherlock Holmes range was being issued, Peterson reintroduced the modern Captain Pete series.Captain Peterson was a brand of Peterson’s English branch. This English made pipe was crafted prior to 1960.

From there I turned to the “Peterson Pipe The Story of Kapp & Peterson” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg, page 295 to see what information I could find there. I quote:

Captain Pete – This line’s name was derived from the nickname of Charles Peterson, known affectionately by friends and employees as “Captain Peterson.” The first issue. C. 1940-62, was in a smooth finish produced for Rogers Imports with a white stamped P inside C or a circled P on the mouthpiece. CAPTAIN over PETE on shank, and MADE IN IRELAND in a circle. English made versions show CAPTAIN over PETE on the shank or “CAPTAIN PETERSON” and a PETERSON’S PRODUCT over MADE IN ENGLAND or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND. The second issue (1998-), features an XL bowl with Sherlock Holmes shapes and compact stems, in rustic or combination of smooth and rustic finish, with a nickel band between two narrow brass bands.

I knew that I was working on a pipe made before 1960 in London, England. Thus, the pipe was a first issue C.1940-62. It is a beautiful pipe that will need some work but overall was in very good condition for a pipe made before 1960. It was time to start my work on the pipe.

I began by cleaning up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the edge to give it very slight bevel and minimize the damage.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding the bowl and shank with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down with a damp cloth between each sanding pad. The bowl took on more of a shine with the completion of each sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips. I let it sit on the bowl for 15 minutes. I buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth to raise the shine. It was a beautiful piece of briar. With the bowl finished other than the final buffing I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the logo the left side of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it dried I sanded off the excess and the logo looked very good.The stinger in the shank end was removable. I took it out and cleaned it with a brass bristle wire brush to remove any remaining tars or oils on the metals twists of the stinger. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the stem down between each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. By the final pad the pipe stem looked very good. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) then wiped the stem down with another coat of Obsidian Oil. I am excited to finish the easy restoration of this “Captain Peterson” Made in England N23 Apple. 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 buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black, taper vulcanite stem was beautiful. This “Captain Peterson” N23 Apple turned out very well and 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 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.13 ounces/32 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in carrying on the trust of this let me know through a message or an email to slaug@unserve.com . Thanks for walking through the cleanup 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.  

Restoring a Frederick Tranter Pipe Shop Bath Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

In 2002 my wife and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary and were gifted a trip to the United Kingdom. We landed at Gatwick Airport in London and took the train on a loop around the UK. We stopped in Cambridge and York for a few days. We traveled up to Edinburgh and then back to Oxford and Bath. We returned to London and spent a few days there. At each spot we stopped along the way we hunted down various tobacco shops. It was a real treat to visit shops around the UK. As I visited each one I was fairly certain that many of them would disappear over the years ahead. I was not sure when we would get back for another visit so I wanted to visit as many as possible (as of 2017 that turns out to be true). One of my favourite shops was the Frederick Tranter shop in Bath. It was not a big shop but it was packed with pipes and tobacco. It smelled and looked like a proper tobacco shop. I have written about it previously on the blog. Here is the link: https://rebornpipes.com/2014/03/01/remembering-my-trip-to-frederick-tranters-in-bath-england-in-2002/. I have included two photos of the shop that I took when I visited there. It really was a quaint shop and one in which I would enjoy spending a lot of time smoking a bowl and enjoying wares.Since the day I visited the shop and bought my first Tranter pipe, I have kept an eye out for Frederick Tranter Pipe Shop Bath pipes. When I saw this one on Ebay I liked it. It was a nicely shaped Lovat with a briar wind cap attached to the rim by a brass screw. The cap swivels right and left so that the pipe can be filled and lit. I put a bid on it and won. The next two photos are ones that the seller included. The pipe looked to be in good shape. The cap is not exactly the same diameter as the bowl but it does cover the bowl.The stamping on the shank of the pipe is very clear and sharp. On the left side it reads Frederick Tranter over Pipe Shop Bath. On the right side it reads Countryman. There are no shape numbers or other identification marks on the pipe. From my previous interaction with the shop and researching the brand I found that Cadogan made many of the pipes for them. I am not sure what the age is on this one but it is a great shaped Lovat. I took some close up photos of the wind cap on the top of the bowl. The first shows the cap in place over the top of the bowl. The brass screw in on the back side about middle of the rim top. There were four equal sized holes on the top and the edges crowned. The second photo shows the bowl with the cap removed by unscrewing the brass screw. The top of the rim had some tarry buildup and there was a light cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edge of the bowl were in perfect shape.I took a close up photo of the outside and the inside of the cap. The inside is slightly indented and had a carbon buildup. At first I thought it was burned however when I cleaned it up I found that it was only covered with carbon.I took photos of the stem surface on both top and bottom sides. It was oxidized and there was some gummy substance on the stem from what appeared to be a price tag.I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with alcohol on cotton pads to remove the grime. I scrubbed the rim top as well and I was able to remove all of the buildup. This was a nice looking piece of briar with birdseye and cross grain around the bowl.I reamed all of the cake out of the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took it back to bare briar. I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they were clean. I was surprised that the overall condition of the airways and shank were so clean.I rubbed the bowl and shank with Cherry Stain mixed with Danish Oil. I wiped it off and polished it by hand. The hand polished bowl is shown in the photos below. The stain made the grain really stand out and gave the pipe a fresh look. The stem needed a lot of work to remove the oxidation. I sanded the stem down with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the heaviest oxidation. The tenon had marks on it that I would need to leave to keep the snug fit in the mortise.I cleaned up the metal twisted stinger to remove all of the oils and tars that had collected there. I polished it on the buffing wheel and with a microfibre cloth. I put it back in the tenon. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and buffing it with red Tripoli. I reloaded the buffing pads with the Tripoli and worked over the angles of the stem and saddle to get as much of the oxidation out of those spots as possible. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down repeatedly with Obsidian Oil and after the final pad I left it to dry. There was still some oxidation remaining on the stem so I reworked it with the buffing pads and Tripoli. I worked on it until I had removed the remaining oxidation. I buffed it with Blue Diamond to polish it further. In the final photos there are still spots where the Tripoli showed up under the bright light of the flash but the stem now glows. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautiful looking older Lovat. The rounded button end and slot were smooth and comfortable. The vulcanite shone and the briar really looked good. I buffed the pipe with carnauba wax and then with a clean buffing pad to give it a shine. I took it back to the work table and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. Thanks for walking with me through the refurb on this pipe.