Tag Archives: contrast staining

Restoring a Kaywoodie Prime Grain 40 Saddle Stem Billiard??

Blog by Steve Laug

In my gift box of pipes to refurbish there was a small Kaywoodie pipe that I would have called a Lovat but as I learned in looking up the line and shape number I would find that Kaywoodie called it something different. The red arrow points to the KW shape 40.

It is stamped on the left side of the shank Kaywoodie over Prime Grain over Imported Briar. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number. The stem was a short saddle stem. The pipe is in decent shape – certainly restorable. The finish was gone but there was some great grain on the back, front and sides of the bowl. The rim was a mess – out of round, scratches and knocked about enough to lose its sharp profile and edges. The bowl looked as if it had been reamed with a pocket knife. There was an oddly formed cake due to the scraping with the knife. The stem was clean but the button was misshapen with a large part of the top edge missing. The inside of the shank was dirty and the threaded tenon was black with a tarry build-up.

Holding the pipe in hand I would call it a Lovat. Look at the pictures above and see if you would not agree to the shape designation. The problem is I turned to the Kaywoodie shape and line chart below and found that pipe shape #40 is designated as a saddle stem billiard. The first red arrow in the first shape chart below highlights the description on the catalogue picture. The second red arrow points out the line – Prime Grain – a mid-priced pipe in the KW line. So it looks like the pipe is a saddle stem billiard – even though personally I would still call it a Lovat. The next photo is a close of the state of the rim. You can see the knife damage on the inner edge of the rim and the scratches, dents, rounding that has been done to the top and outer edge of the bowl. The rim really was the part of this pipe that was in the worst condition. The next photo shows the rounded outer edges of the rim and the state of the KW thread stinger apparatus. It is a three hole stinger even though the inlaid black cloverleaf in white seems to point to an early era KW pipe. To begin work on repairing the rim edges I needed to ream the bowl. I used a PipNet reamer to take the bowl back to bare wood. I find that doing that gives me a clean surface to work on with the inner rim edge. The second photo below shows the freshly reamed bowl.

With the bowl reamed it was time to top the bowl. This would be a fairly serious topping job – not a light one. There was a lot of damage to remove and it would take a fair bit of sanding to bring the top back to flat with sharp outer edges. I used my normal topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to top the bowl. I sand it in a clockwise circular motion. I checked my progress quite often as I topped the bowl. I sanded until the damage to the top of the rim and outer edge were gone. The process also cleaned up much of the damage to the inner edge of the rim as well. I wiped the stinger and the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to clean up the aluminum stinger and to remove the remaining finish on the bowl and shank. The stem was overclocked about a ¼ turn. I used a lighter to heat the stinger until the glue was warm in the stem and then turned it back into the mortise and realigned the stem.

The bowl had some deep, sharply edged dents in the briar. I cleaned them out and then used clear super glue and briar dust collected from topping the bowl to fill the dents.

I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper and then with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the excess and blend them into the surface of the briar.

I built up the top of the button with black super glue until it was close to the original thickness. I would sand and reshape it once it had cured. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 3 parts to 1 part alcohol. I flamed it and restained until the finish had an even coverage.

I hand buffed the bowl and shank with a cotton cloth that served to give it a light polish and also smoothed out the stain on the surface of the bowl, rim and shank.

The stain was still too opaque to my liking and hid the grain on the pipe so I wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of it and allow the grain to show through the finish.

The photo below shows the pipe when I had finished wiping it down with alcohol. The finish is exactly what I was aiming for. I wanted it to be a warm brown that hid the repairs to the dings in the finish. It worked well. I sharpened the edge of the button with a needle file and then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I continued to sand with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. Between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then continued with the next set. When I had finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and then buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel.

I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond, cautiously around the stamping on the shank. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and lightly buffed the pipe with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below.

In the process of repairing the inner edge of the rim I used a folded piece of sandpaper to bevel the inner edge to bring it back to round and to deal with the divot out of the left side of the edge. The finished rim is shown in the close up photo below. The inner edge is better than it was when I started and looks close to round. I have included a variety of photos of the rim and the stem for your viewing. This should be a great smoking old Kaywoodie.

Breathing New Life into a Mastercraft De Luxe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Another one of the gift pipes that caught my eye was one stamped on the left side of the shank Mastercraft De Luxe in the shield like the one on the left. On the right side it is stamped Century Old Mediterranean Briar Israel. I have worked on quite a few Mastercraft pipes and know that the company never made pipes itself but had makers in Italy and other places make the pipes for them. I have written another blog on the lines within the Mastercraft hierarchy and know that the De Luxe was pretty high up the list of their pipes. Here is the link to the hierarchy blog https://rebornpipes.com/2014/06/23/a-mastercraft-pipe-lines-hierarchy/

When I took the pipe to the worktable my first impressions were that it was in pretty decent shape. But as I looked more closely I could see the issues that were there. The bowl had some fills in the surface on the front, left side and the underside of the shank that had shrunk and were pitted pink putty. The right side of the bowl had a deep scratch in the briar at a diagonal to the bowl that cut through the finish. The varnish coat that was on these older MC pipes was flaking around the damaged rim and around the pitted fills. The rim had some charring and darkening that would need to be addressed. When I took out the stem a previous owner had coated the entire tenon with very soft waxy substance that had gone rancid. It was all over the mortise and inside and outside of the tenon. It was thick and not easily removed. The stem was oxidized and the stamping on the side had been put on at an angle which meant that the whitening only was on one side of the MC oval. The aluminum band on the stem that fit against the end of the shank had marks on it like it had been turned with a pair pliers. It was more of a mess than first met the eye.

The next photo is a close-up of the rim to show some of the damage to the outer edge and the beveled top that would need to be addressed. This would be slightly more complicated than just topping the bowl and resurfacing things. I would have to hand sand the bevel and the edges to minimize the charring and the dents on the back outer edge. I would also need to work on the inner edge of the rim to bring it back into round condition. To facilitate the clean up on the rim I reamed the bowl back with the third cutting head of my PipNet reamer. The bowl is quite large with a diameter of 7/8 inches. I took the cake completely out of the bowl and took it back to bare wood in order to work on the inner edge of the rim. The next photo shows how the reaming with the cutting head smoothed out the surface of the inner rim considerably and made my work simpler. I decided to try to whiten the stamping on the stem (for a bit of a break from working on the bowl). I wanted to see if I could gain anything from the lighter stamping on the one side of the oval. I used a liquid white-out to fill the stamping and when it dried rubbed off the excess. It looked good initially but the stamping on the topside and the left leg and top of the M was too shallow to hold much of the whitener. I scrubbed out some of the mortise and airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the rancid smelling waxy substance (the more I worked with the more it smelled and worked like lard). It took quite a bit of scrubbing to remove the thick coat of this substance. I then used a retort on the bowl and stem and boiled it out three times before I was greeted with clean alcohol. The first boil the alcohol came out black, the second time it came out amber and finally the third time it came out clean. I scrubbed out the airway and the shank a final time with the pipe cleaners and cotton swabs and the shank and stem were finally clean.

With the interior cleaned out it was time to work on the exterior of the bowl. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish topcoat and the grime from the finish. Then I picked out the pink putty fills and replaced them with briar dust and super glue. I put a drop of glue in the pit, tamped in dust and then a bubble of glue on top of the patch. The next two photos show the patches after they had dried and before I sanded them.

I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper and followed that with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to blend it into the surface and remove the scratches. Strangely the briar dust and super glue patch did not turn black this time as I was counting on. It was almost tan coloured. I would have to use a black permanent marker to etch in lines to match the grain around the repair and then sand them lightly to blend them in. I also sanded the horizontal scratch on the right side of the bowl until it was smooth. When I had finished sanding I scrubbed the bowl another time with acetone on the cotton pads.

I sanded the bevel on the rim and the inner and outer edges of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and then with the sanding sponges to minimize the damage and bring the bowl back into round. I wiped down the rim with the acetone to clean up the dust. I decided to stain the pipe with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 3:1 (3 parts stain to 1 part alcohol). I wanted the stain opaque enough to cover the fills and mask them so that they did not stand out but also did not totally hide the bird’s eye and cross cut grain on the shank and bowl. This mixture of stain worked well.

After I had flamed the stain to set it I rubbed the bowl and shank down with a coarse cotton cloth to blend the finish and hand buff it. I wanted to remove some of the opaqueness on the sides of the bowl and lighten the finish slightly. Once it was done I set the bowl on a cork to dry while I worked on the stem. I lightly sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and some of the oxidation. I used the lighter to paint the flame across the surface of the stem to burn off the oxidation and also heat the tooth marks to lift them. I was able to raise all of the tooth marks using this method. The key is to keep the flame moving across the surface and to not stop in any one place too long. Once I had flamed the stem I wiped it down and sanded it with the medium and fine grit sanding sponges. I also sanded the aluminum ring to smooth out the damage on its surface and prepare it for polishing.

With the oxidation removed I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. In between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil before moving on to the next set of pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time with the oil and when it dried put the stem on the pipe and took it to the buffer.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and gently buffed around the stamping on the shank and the stem. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The last two photos below show a close-up of the rim to show how the beveling and shaping worked to restore the look of the top of the pipe. It is ready to re-enter a life of usefulness for its next companion. It should be a great smoking pipe for whoever takes on the trust next.

Grooming a Ben Wade Golden Walnut Danish Freehand

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

“There is nothing like being left alone again, to walk peacefully with oneself in the woods. To boil one’s coffee and fill one’s pipe and to think idly and slowly as one does it.”
― Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), Pulitzer Prize winning Norwegian author

INTRODUCTION
When, a few years back, I became serious about collecting pipes, it was for the most part all about anything made by Peterson’s and Savinelli in particular and meerschaums in general, with an emphasis on the latter. While these pipes formed the basis for what has become a rather large, P.A.D.-fueled assemblage, I have, since those earliest days, branched out, so to speak, into many other fine brands.

Some of the brands of which I have various models greater than one include Barling, Butz-Choquin, Comoy’s, Dunhill, GBD, Karl Erik, Kaywoodie, V. Rimkus, Ropp, Stanwell and Don Warren, which do not include the large selection of individuals such as a Cavicchi 4C Silver Band Freehand, Burgundy Falcon, Charatan Make Deluxe Prince and Stefano FX Bean Pot. In short, I have become, as time passes, more attuned to the endless variety of great pipes out there, not to mention a few of more dubious origin such as a “The Pipe” (which nevertheless, in my opinion, no true collection should lack at least one sample) and a recent, still to be restored but excellent example of the odd but unique Doodler.

To use a term I recently coined in a previous blog, I am an omnitobacarius-phile, or lover of all things tobacco-related, at least as far as smoking pipes are concerned.

And, of course, there is my growing assortment of Ben Wade pipes, the latest addition to which this blog concerns.

Here are my other BW pipes, in order: a Town and Country Bent Dublin London Made with a 14K gold “Barling” band (don’t ask me how), Cheltenham Straight Billiard, Selected Grain Short Apple, London Made Dublin, Blue Diamond and Tall Canted Poker. There is also a BW that was once a Tall Straight Billiard but, due to extreme abuse by some unknown villain, suffered a large and fatal crack from the top of the bowl about halfway down, requiring a radical change in shape to a squat pot, as I call it. The result of that surgery is now a very special shop pipe.

What, you might well ask, do all of these pipes have in contrast to the one of which I will describe the light refurbish in this blog? They were all made in England, where BW is best known for its production, although it has also made pipes in France and Denmark. The uncommon country of origin, the unusual wood and the beauty of the freehand itself wangled my mind around the idea that I truly needed this fine specimen. Of course, I was also very strongly attracted to the Danish golden walnut freehand.

Of an incidental reason for my appreciation of this pipe, I came to suspect, during the research phase, that the beauty was crafted by the late great pipe maker, Preben Holm, who sometimes made his services available to BW. One reason is the inclusion of “Hand Made” in the nomenclature of another golden walnut freehand that Hr Holm just happened to make for BW, while a briar plateau freehand the master carver created for BW bore only the stamp “Made in Denmark.” For the rest of my reasoning, see http://www.pipephil.eu/ logos/en/logo-benwade.html to start, and click on the link to Preben Holm for more examples of his distinctive work and style.

THE GROOMING
Honestly, this was one of the few almost ready to enjoy pipes I have ever bought online. The only completely restored, cleaned and sanitized pipe I purchased by this medium was a Ropp Deluxe Cherrywood #901. I sold it for less than my cost to a prospective basic cleaning customer in Scottsdale, Arizona whose #815 of the same brand and general look was delivered to another Post Office Box holder who seems to have the deficient morals needed to abscond with it. What can I say? It seemed to be the right business thing to do, and the buyer of the 901 wrote that its condition upon arrival was “fantastic” and promised to send me future estate pipes he finds for cleaning. He will not, however, be sending them via USPS. And yo! To the deadbeat out there who stole the 815, if you’re reading this, feel free to let me do the cleaning it likely still needs, and I’ll give you the deal you deserve.

But returning to my subject, had our excellent host, Steve, not wanted to see what became of the pipe he explained was made from a piece of plateau walnut, so simple was the “refurbishing” process that I never would have bothered with a blog on it. Still, given that the Danish freehand did need slight chamber work, re-staining of the plateau rim and shank opening, minor scratch removal, retorting and stem shining, I could not help giving the pipe attention I have to rank even below refurbishing: what I call here a grooming, much as an unruly lad sometimes needs his face wiped, hair combed and shirt tucked in.

Making the dulled black stain of the plateau rim and shank opening the first order of business, I decided to remove the stain with a localized soak in Everclear. I had hoped that removing the old plateau stain would reveal a rim suitable for buffing in its natural state and color, but such was not the case. And so I re-stained it.

A small but clear rectangular pattern of black pits near the upper right area of the right side of the bowl annoyed me. Trying 1500 micromesh, I was able to lessen the downgrade the presence of the pits to dots, but 800 was needed to get rid of them altogether. A quick buff with superfine steel wool returned the natural golden glow of the walnut.

There were other small defects on the bowl too small even to show up in photos, but my eye saw them, and that was what mattered. I gave the entire bowl a going over with micromesh from 2400 through 4000 and found the walnut as smooth and fresh as could be.

Last of all, I attacked the stem. Although I like the look of the freehand style stem, in particular this one with two rounded bulges, for lack of a better term at the moment, near the shank opening, they are always more of a bother to sand away discoloration. I always have to do the process in stages, sanding the entire stem with 200-grit paper, wiping it down with a soft cloth, then focusing on the harder areas, sometimes three or even four times until the color is uniform. Then I apply the micromesh, starting with 1500 and progressing upward to 4000.

Ready for the final buffing, I used red and white Tripoli followed by White Diamond on the stem and those waxes plus a final coat of carnauba on the bowl and shank, including the black plateau spaces. I worried – as I perhaps too often do – that the resulting shininess of the plateaus was a bit much, but that’s my nature.

CONCLUSION
So there it is. After writing this up, I realize there was more work than I remembered, but then this pipe presented itself to me in such glory that I never considered the task as anything more than that.

I kept this one, as you might have surmised. I have come to have a genuine respect and weakness for the wonderful variety of pipes made by Ben Wade and their consistent quality of engineering, grace and high-grade pleasure of smoking.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AND INFORMATION

I made a comment on the blog thanking Steve for the great history he emailed me and the confirmation of the Preben Holm connection. I was troubled by not seeing the stem etching the pipephil.eu photos showed and then noticed on the pictures of the stem in my blog that the etch was still there! After filling in with a marker, I was able to make out the mark better. Here are the new before and after photos (the after shot, obviously, being before cleaning up the stem again):

Turbulence: Rusticating a Medico Jet Stream

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Blog by Anthony Cook

I recently completed work on another pipe in the batch that was sent to me by an online friend. This time, it was a Medico Jet Stream. These were produced by Medico from sometime around 1965 until 1971. There were a couple of shapes in the line and each was quite a departure from the classic forms. This one is by far my favorite. I think it has a nice, streamlined flow to it. The pipe is right at six inches long with a small bowl that is barely more than inch tall. Mechanically it was sound but it was obvious that it had let itself go cosmetically in its 44 years (at minimum) of existence.

There were no deep dents or scratches in the stummel, but it did have some light charring and a few nicks around the rim. It was coated with a thick layer of deeply tinted lacquer that had been worn to bare wood in spots. It looked like there might be some interesting grain under there, but the fills… Oh, Jeeze! The fills!!! It was so riddled with them that it looked like it had the pox. The nylon stem was in predictable shape for a pipe of this age with jagged chatter and tooth dents on both sides. You can see the condition of the pipe when it arrived in the following photos.

I began by cleaning the internals of the pipe. The cake in the bowl was light and reamed out easily enough. I think removing the old cake really helps to eliminate any ghosting issues that a pipe may have. So, I took it down to bare wood. I made a surprising and disappointing discovery at that point. The fills did not stop on the outside of the bowl. There were at least two fills in the inside of the chamber. Oh, Medico, say it ain’t so!

I took the opportunity to sand out a few of the nicks on the inner rim while I was working in the area, and then moved on to the rest of the pipe. There turned out to be quite a bit of residue inside the shank and stem. I took care of that by running a variety of alcohol soaked pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, and shank brushes through until they came out clean. When I was satisfied that the internals were clean, I gave the stummel an acetone wipe-down to get rid of the spotty lacquer coat, and then dropped it into an alcohol bath to remove the remaining of the finish. Usually, there’s a satisfying Ker-Plink! when I do this and the stummel goes right to the bottom. Not this time. This one actually floated belly-up like a dead fish. I had to put tweezers in to hold it down to make sure the entire thing was submerged. I’m guessing that it was the fault of the fills, but it’s a good thing that we weren’t in Salem, Massachusetts. If we were, I would have had to get out the pitchfork and call the Witch Finder General. While the stummel enjoyed a pleasant soak, I went to work on the nylon stem. The first step was to clean the surface with citrus cleaner and cubes cut from a Magic Eraser. There really wasn’t very much filth to remove and it cleaned up quickly. The photo below shows the stem after the surface cleaning. Next, I set out to remove the dents and chatter around the button. I began by roughing up the area around the dent with the point of needle file to give the patch a better surface to cling to, and then filled the dents with a drop of black CA glue (seen in the first picture below). When the glue had dried, I sanded it back with 220-grit paper and refilled the area with glue. I did this on both sides of the stem until the dents were filled and level with the rest of the stem surface. I then sanded out the high spots of the chatter with 320-grit paper (seen in the second picture below) and followed that with 400-grit, then 600-grit to give the area a completely smooth surface.

With the dents filled and the chatter removed, I lightly sanded the entire stem with 1200-grit paper to even out the surface. Then, I used the full complement of micromesh sanding pads 1500-12,000 to polish the stem. You can see the results of the finished stem in the photo below. The stem work was all wrapped up. So, I pulled the stummel out of the alcohol bath to see what I had to work with. The bath had done an excellent job of removing the old finish and exposing the briar wood. Unfortunately, it has also done an excellent job of exposing all of the fills. I counted fifteen of them in all and that’s not counting the ones in the chamber. After using a pick set to remove all of the pink fill material on the outside stummel surface, it looked like a block of Swiss cheese. At that point, I had to admit that I didn’t see any way that I could fill all of those pits and hope to have them blend them into the final pipe without the benefit of the tinted lacquer to cover them. Rustication seemed like my best way forward, but I really didn’t want to go that way. I felt that it would really break up the great flow of the shape and stop the movement. I know when I’m whipped, though, and with all of the pits it appeared to be partially rusticated already.

I decided to leave the rim, the shank end, and the area around the stamping smooth. That meant that I would have at least one pit on the rim to fill. I packed it with briar dust that I have gathered from work on other pipes, and then dripped a small dab of clear CA glue into the dust. When the glue was dry, I sanded it level with the surface. With that out of the way, I prepared to rusticate the surface.

I have a variety of tools that I use to carve into the briar. Some of them are handmade and others are off-the-shelf tools, but my favorite is an old Craftsman T-handle tap wrench. It has a chuck on the end that will accommodate any ¼”–½” bit. It makes it very easy to switch out any of the several bits of various sizes and shapes that I have modified for carving different textures. The chuck provides a tight grip without any of the “wobble” that I’ve encountered when using a bit in a standard driver.

For this project, I began by using modified Phillips bits similar to what Steve has previously detailed here. First, I taped off the end of the shank with painter’s tape to make sure that I didn’t carve into that area. Then, I used a #2 bit to carve around the stummel, twisting and turning as I went. I wanted a deep, craggy texture to give some good contrast with the smooth areas. I switched to a smaller #1 bit for a little more control while I edged up to the smooth areas. The photo below shows the tool and the stummel after I had just started carving. After carving with the bits, I used a wire brush to remove any loose material in the texture. Then, I had the idea that I might be able to restore some of the movement in the shape by carving a few deep “waves” into the rustication. I used a Sharpie pen to sketch some curved lines onto the texture to test out my idea and to give me something to follow should I choose to go that way. I liked it well enough and decided to go ahead. I never pass up an opportunity to break out my trusty Dremel (it really is an addictive tool). So, I fitted it with a #107 engraving bit and etched in the lines that you see in the following photo. I then used a smaller #108 engraving bit to etch a few divergent “cracks” off of the curved lines. This was followed up with some more work with hand carving tools to give it a more natural, less machined, look. I went over it again with the wire brush, and then used 400-grit paper to slightly smooth the peaks for a better tactile feel. You can see the final rustication texture in the photo below (the dark spots are the remains of my Sharpie lines). Then it was time to stain. I used isopropyl alcohol to thin some black Fiebing’s leather dye 3 to 1, applied it to rusticated area with a cotton swab, and flamed it. Then, I heated the wood with a heat gun until it was very warm to the touch and used a 20/0 liner brush to paint the dye across the grain in the smooth areas. After allowing the stain to set, I lightly sanded the entire stummel with 600-grit paper. This included sanding the surface of the rusticated areas to give it some highlights to accent the darker crevices. I then gave the entire stummel two coats of dark brown stain thinned with alcohol, and flamed it between each one. The stummel was hand-buffed with a cotton cloth. The smooth areas were then lightly sanded with 1200-grit. I also lightly and strategically sanded a few of peaks in the rustication around the smooth areas to allow one texture to fade into the other a bit. I then used micromesh pads 1500-2400 in the same manner.

Another couple of stain coats were then applied to the stummel using the same mix and technique that I had used earlier. This time, it was an ox blood stain to add some brightness. Then, I continued with the remaining grits of the micromesh pads. When done with the pads, I gave the stummel a couple of coats of Halcyon wax to wrap up the work.

I think the rustication worked out fairly well and it has a great feel in the hand. You can judge for yourself from the photos of the completed pipe below. I’ll always wonder what could have been if I had left it smooth, though. I guess I’m on the hunt for another Jet Stream so that I can find out!

Anonimo, or the Modern Westminster Cathedral*

1 Reply

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

“…once I falsely hoped to meet the beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), English novelist, in “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus,” 1818

PREFACE
I was, as my ancestors, a native of Redondo Beach and its environs, and most of my family born in that temperate South Bay region of the California Republic was by any appraisal undistinguished, indeed, a study in dysfunction. Whilst every genealogy has its heritage of eccentricity and neurosis, mine is cursed with a spasmodic line of schizophrenia.

My grandfather, the one shining beacon, remains known the world round for his pioneering and influential photography of the sport that is known as surfing, owing to the vernacular origin peculiar to the American colonies. The good gentleman was a lifelong champion and active participant, with vigor, flair and skill, both in the sport and his avid documentation of its participants, famous and obscure, and the attendant culture. Who knew, in its inception, that his physician’s prescription, ordered in the middle part of the late twentieth century, for a hobby to aid the old man in recovering from a particularly tenacious bout with peptic ulcers, would spawn a latent talent and lead to eternal glory?

Indeed, one beguiled writer at a magazine that showcased most of the great photographers of the previous century – which renowned publication, alas, has now passed almost as thoroughly as my grandfather, remaining for the living and breathing inhabitants of this wayfarer’s station, before the Great Unknown, to appreciate only in the ether realm known as the World Wide Web – was so beside himself with giddiness as to dub the much beloved old man “the godfather of surf photography.”

My mother, being the first offspring of the great man, was the only one of her siblings to pursue a noted career, as a nurse now retired. Together the patriarch and eldest daughter formed the bulwark of the otherwise mostly listless, melancholy clan.

On the subject of my own eclectic interests, I have, since childhood, had a consuming hunger for the study of diverse subjects. This omniology put me on my present path, that is, to understand every facet of human knowledge concerning everything, particularly, in my case, the often seemingly unfathomableness of information relating to the genesis, history, science, study, culture, enjoyment and preservation of smoking pipes. One could call me an omnitabacariusphile, although in my zeal for this inclination, however well-meaning and innocent its beginning, the pursuit lead me to a monster I shudder to recall and doubt in my constitution to do so.

Some months have passed since I set upon the fearsome, God-like determination of restoring life to the creature that this narration shall endeavor to describe in the entirety of its awful nature, the frightful apparition of which you shall observe in its original form as I first perceived it in the mists of the cold, barren, lifeless wasteland that is called the Internet in these peculiar times we are fated to spend our lives. Nothing of that initial sighting, the image of the monster blurred by the swirling incorporation of sundry others similar in basic form yet far fairer in the details of their corporeal makeup, could prepare me for the spectre I beheld when the entire host of them arrived by poste.

Good God! Readers, had you been in my company at the instant when first I disrobed the fiendish animation that was hurled through space and time to alight in my quivering hands, then only would you comprehend truly the horror that consumed my entire humanity. Yet, think not for an instant that the visage I discerned was the genuine inception of my natural sense of loathing. The full nature of my revulsion sprang, as fast as the Trees of Truth and Knowledge, from the immediate and overwhelming understanding of the cruelty that was inflicted by Man upon this poor brute.

FIRST SIGHTING
Now, at last, I have regained enough of my stamina – which, for all of my life prior to the advent of the incident which forms the central theme of this account, was as vigorous as that of any young man who plays cricket almost every day – to reveal the thing as I found it, through the following crude illustrations.

I implore you, in the name of all that is Holy, to scrutinize the abominable disfigurements of the beast’s original form. Perceive with more than just your eyes, and especially with pity in your hearts, I further beseech you, the jagged wound inflicted just below its forehead, or rim; the dreadful rending of its skin from the right side of its torso – shank, rather – beside the artificial extension of the same, and lastly, the woeful bleeding of black stain, as blood, from this extension onto the very wood that was to be its natural makeup. At first I took the freak of nature, nay, far worse, the creation of a man, to be the first attempt of a novice at crafting a briar pipe of the freehand variety. Only later was I corrected by one whose opinion and experience in such matters I hold inviolate, my mentor and good friend Chuck Richards, who informed me to my astonishment and dismay that the egregious work was in fact of Italian descent with no name.

Read on at your own peril.

RESTORATION OF LIFE
Seeking no more than to breathe new life into the ruined corpse of a smoking pipe, one I envisioned in my mind’s eye as it could have been, had it been born into the good society so many take for granted, I proceeded with the course of action which I perhaps foolishly believed was pre-determined. Regardless of my motives, I felt a pull that led me inexorably to the conclusion I shall in good time reveal.

Having triaged the wounds to the unknown pipe, I found myself in the gravest sense of urgency whilst I resolved to expunge the haphazard spatter of bloodlike blackness betwixt the briar shank and its extension.

With the utmost surgical care, employing 220-grit paper, I erased the accursed stains.

Regarding the ridge of the odd, beak-like figure on the front of the bowl, the un-level aspect of the prominently scabrous feature was positively unnerving to behold. Though a full frontal view is not available before its correction, these left and right images reveal the disparity. The cruel hideousness of the misdeed inflicted upon a central feature of the freehand was so ghastly to behold, reminding one of the nose of an old man spotted and mangled by the advanced stages of alcoholism, that its repair was my second priority. With the aid of a flat filing tool, I corrected the flaw whilst also removing a gash above it. A cursory smoothing of the abraded surface resulted in the beginning of an almost intoxicating, God-like improvement, though minor work to finish the makeover I had begun was still necessary. Scarcely able to control my escalating excitement that was directed with all-consuming mania toward the ultimate re-animation of the pipe, I turned my gaze again to the frightful laceration to the cranium – that is to say, the rim. Devoid of even a dash of hope for correcting the near fatal head wound, and directly upon the heels of the greatest battle between my ever-intensifying lust to restore the spark that is life to this wretched pipe versus my thoughts of utter failure and ruin, I could envision no measure short of inflicting a deliberate pattern of the very same gouges round the rim and the immediate area of the bowl beneath it. Toward this remarkably heady end, I embarked upon a slippery path of utter destruction of the rim with naught but prayers that I could complete and then reverse, as it were, the radical procedure. The only implement available being a spring-loaded round hole-puncher with a small but sturdy grip, I commenced the initial task of creating matching and equidistant blemishes round the top of the bowl.

And then, with mounting glee at the sheer recklessness of the notion, onto the top of the skull – or rim – I repeated the same process with tighter punches. Oh, to formulate in words the wonder and terror that overwhelmed my senses is beyond the power of the greatest poet! In my crazed mind I entertained a vision of beauty like a newborn phoenix rising from the ashes! The mental snapshot was breathtaking in its audacity and execution! I was all but hopelessly mad in the ecstasy of the moment! I daresay some would now postulate that I had already surpassed that precipitant threshold.

Therefore it is without any sense of sin whatsoever that I confess my elation at the removal of the few remaining but festering sores that upon first sight of the beleaguered pipe put me in such a state of apprehension.

I performed a retort for a thorough purging of the accreted waste and other filth that continued to leech the innards of the reanimated Italian pipe with no name, though I retained hope that the poor thing would regain some of its more pleasant previous memories, if indeed it ever possessed any, as its recovery progressed.

Wishing to be done forever with the coarse, disheveled appearance of the still recuperating pipe, I applied a progressive regimen of micromesh from 1500 to 4000 upon the unfinished pocks covering the rusticated dome and the pale, sickly spots at various intervals of the pipe’s wooden body where once had flourished cuts, scrapes and crevasses.

The quick application of a double-coat of medium brown leather stain to the areas of the wood effected by the various degrees of sanding and more aggressive restorative measures, and the immediate removal of the dye’s alcohol by ritual of fire left a meager residue of ash that was banished with ease using the 4000 micromesh pad.

The stem, once oxidized to a uniform sickly green shade, glimmered again in its healthy black condition following a treatment with red and white Tripoli and White Diamond.

The wooden body, cured of every ailment that had at first glance so shocked me to the very core of my being, was ready for the final course of medicine, which included the same wholly natural elixirs and a gentle buff with carnauba.

CONCLUSION
Though mighty powers of science, craftsmanship and other forces beyond the comprehension of Man indeed coexist on some unseen dual plain of reality, the awesome dynamism behind them must be harnessed by the guardians of restoration before they can be utilized on a regular basis. I count myself among the fortunate to have survived this harrowing ordeal with my body, mind and soul intact.

I entreat all those who read this to consider it with open minds, but as a cautionary tale.

*Reconstruction of Westminster Cathedral, the mother church of English Catholicism, began in 1895, but due to the cost has never been completed – leaving much of the interior unfinished brickwork.

New Life for an Old and Tired BBB Own Make 701 Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

I saw a foursome on Ebay and the one pipe in the lot that caught my eye was of course this older Rhodesian. At first glance I figured it was a GBD 9348. Then I looked more closely at the photos and could see that it was not a GBD at all. It was clearly a BBB with the brass inset on the top of the stem. I bid and won the lot. While the other three pipes are probably fine in terms of additions to the pipes for sale this one was the one I wanted for my collection. It had two things going for it that caught me – it was Rhodesian and it was a BBB. Both fit the one of the focuses of my collection. Needless to say but the one in the roughest shape was the BBB. In the photo below you can see the hole in the stem and the roughening around the inner edge of the rim on the left side of the bowl. It was going to take a bit of work to bring this one back from the brink and keep the original stem.

When the package arrived I took out the BBB and unwrapped it from the bubble wrap. The stem was stuck in the shank and the damage to the bowl was quite extensive. The stamping on the left side of the shank read BBB in a Diamond and under that was Own Make. On the right side it read London England in a straight line over the shape number 701. On the right side of the bowl and on several spots on the shank it had dark stains from sitting in water or juice. It had discoloured the briar and damaged the finish. There were also some dents and dings under the dark discolouration from the bowl having been dropped on concrete or something that left the side of the bowl dimpled with dents and marks. The stem was quite gnawed on – the hole on the top was solid around the edges and the button was chewed and worn on the top side. The underside of the stem had bite marks and was worn from clenching.

I put the pipe in the freezer for 30 minutes and when I took it out I was able to easily remove the stem. I cleaned the edges around the hole in the top of the stem with alcohol and a dental pick to remove the buildup and the detritus that was caught in the edges. The good thing was the edges were solid and not crumbling. I put Vaseline on a nail file that I have here and use for more wide repairs on the stem and inserted it into the slot. It provided a solid base for me to drip superglue onto the hole. I built up the edges and worked my way to the centre of the stem bite. You will note that I grossly over filled the hole with the superglue. I have been having trouble with the accelerant that I am using. It tends to dry out the surface of the patch and the centre never sets correctly. I decided to set the stem aside overnight and let the patch cure overnight. I dropped the badly stained bowl into my alcohol bath and called it a night. The bowl soaked for over 12 hours and the stem cured while I slept soundly. In the morning I took a look at the stem and saw that it was pretty hard. I removed the bowl from the alcohol bath and dried it off. You can see the dark stains on the right side of the bowl and on other spots on the bowl. It was almost black in colour and the alcohol had not lightened it at all.

The top view of the bowl below shows the extent of the damage to the bowl. It was out of round and the gouge out of the left inner edge was rough. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and see if it would lighten the stains on the bowl. While it indeed lightened them it did not remove them. It was encouraging to see the grain through the stains however, so I knew that sanding the damaged areas would remove much of the darkening.

I lightly topped the bowl on my topping board to remove some of the damage to the rim surface.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare wood. I wanted to remove as much as possible and see if I could also clean up the inner edge of the rim. I used a retort as has become a habit lately and boiled alcohol through the stem and shank to remove the tars and build up. After the retort I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol.

I worked on the stem using needle files to recut the button and clean up the sharp edge. I sanded with 180 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair to the topside and underside of the stem. I followed that by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the scratches left behind by the lower grit paper.

While I had the 220 grit sandpaper out I sanded the bowl as well to remove the stains on the sides of the bowl and the cap. I also used a folded piece of sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim and give it a slight bevel to minimize the damage there. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol and then sanded it with a medium grit and a fine grit sanding sponge followed by 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. In the photos below you can see how it worked to remove the majority of the stain on the bowl. I very carefully sanded around the stamping on the right shank as I did not want to damage the stamping.

I used a hot knife and wet cloth to steam out the dents on the bowl sides, cap and rim. When I had lifted them as much as possible I sanded the bowl further with the 400 grit wet dry paper and also with the fine grit sanding sponge. I wanted to clean up the damaged areas on the sides and top as well as the stem repairs.

After the steaming and sanding I spent some more time on the inner edge of the rim. I wanted the bevel to smooth out the damaged side of the rim and also wanted to bring the bowl back into round. It took quite a bit of time to handwork the rim damage but I am happy with the end result. When finished I rubbed the bowl down with a soft paper towel and olive oil. I rubbed the oil into the bowl, paying special attention to the areas that were previously damaged with the stain and the dents. Again, I set the bowl aside for the night to let the oil soak in and be absorbed into the briar.

The next morning I worked on the stem with fine grit sanding sponges and then with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The higher grit pads allowed me to blend in the repair as much as possible and though still visible it looks very good. The patch is hard and solid with no give when pressed on.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it had dried I buffed it on the wheel with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and then finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It is ready for loading up and enjoying a good smoke. It should serve me well for a long time.

Bringing a Yello Bole Pot back to Life

4 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

Anyone who reads my previous postings know that I have a fondness for early KB&B pipes. Since the briar used in Yello Bole pipes was generally inferior to those used in Kaywoodies, most Yello Bole pipes are smaller. This was a work around for defects found in the briar. I saw this Yello Bole pot and was intrigued. It’s a full size pipe. Here is the seller’s picture. When the pipe arrived, the stem was nearly perfect with the original stinger intact (not that I planned to leave it there). The bowl looked decent with a minimal amount of tar on the rim and very light cake. I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath and soaked the stem in Oxyclean.

I noticed the first indication of trouble when I pulled the bowl out for reaming: it had a heavy varnish coating. That’s usually a sign that the pipe maker wanted to hide imperfections in the wood.

I quickly reamed the bowl then broke out the 0000 steel wool and acetone to remove the varnish.

I’ve seen some pits in briar before, but this is the first time I’ve encountered a pit so deep that I gave it a name. I named it the pit of despair. Here’s the picture before I removed the pink putty.

Here’s the pit of despair fully revealed. My dental pick had a good ¼ of an inch of room to explore.

Even with the pit I still liked the pipe and decided to fix it anyway. I filed a good amount of briar dust from a broken shank onto a piece of paper. The paper makes it easier to collect the briar dust. Or you could do like Steve and just have a big jar of briar dust. I packed the pit and added super glue followed by accelerator. After applying the super glue and accelerator, I had to add briar dust two more times. This was the final result. In addition to the pit of despair, there were three minor pits on the front of the bowl and two deep pits on the bottom of the shank near the juncture of the stem. I finally got the exterior of the pipe sorted out and turned my attention to the insides.
I did my retort on the bowl. There was some gunk on the brush, but the stinger did a decent job keeping the shank clean. After a few passes with the brush dipped in alcohol, I moved on to q-tips. Not a terribly dirty pipe. Next I retorted the stem. I anticipated it would be dirty, since stingers tend to make pipes smoke wet. I retorted it three times to be safe and had an easy time cleaning the remaining tar.

I next turned my attention to removing the oxidization from the stem. I used 400 wet/dry with water and my sanding wedge, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. I polished both the bowl and stem with a progression of micro mesh pads, 1500-12,000 in preparation for final finish. I used my rotary tool with white diamond, followed by carnauba wax on the stem. I have to say this will be the new standard from now on. I decided to use Pimo Pipe Supply’s dark walnut stain on the bowl. This would give me a fighting chance to cover the pit repairs while still allowing the grain to show. It turned out better than I expected. I now have a very classy looking short pot. I also had the chance to try extreme pit repair. Even though this pipe had several pits, the briar still had nice grain. This one is a keeper.

A Bit of Cosmetic Surgery in Restoring a Moistless Sandblast Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I saw this pipe come up on eBay I was struck by the combination of the colours and textures. The yellow Lucite stem and the dark reddish black sandblast went well together. The slight bend in the stem looked perfect. I had not heard of the brand before but decided to bid on it anyway. The first seven photos are from the seller and give different views of the pipe and the stem. In several of the profile photos there appeared to be a lip or ledge near the shank bowl junction. It was a curious thing that I would check when it arrived.

The stem also made me wonder about the material it was made of. It has the rounded end button that often appears on orific button stems but there no photos of the end of the stem so it would also be clear once I received it. The stem appeared to be in great shape other than some internal staining.

I did some research on the brand and found that there was a patent taken out for a Moistless Pipe in 1935 by a S. Guida. The pipe I purchased is stamped Moistless over Italian Briar. The patent is from the US Patent Office and the pipe I have is American made in my opinion. When it arrived I took it apart to see if the insides reflect the drawings from the Patent diagrams. They did not. The tenon on this one is a metal tenon but there are no any of the other parts of the insert shown. The shank is quite open and deeply drilled so it well could have had the apparatus inside. The inside of the tenon looks like it could have had an insert as it is tapered into a cone shape guiding the smoke into the airway. The inside of the pipe was clean and the bowl lightly smoked with no cake build up. I ran some pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol through the shank and stem. They came out remarkably clean.

When I examined the bowl there was a ridge that ran around ½ of the bowl just above the shank bowl junction. It was like a shelf and felt uncomfortable in the hand. The blast had taken some material but left a very distinct shelf and a ridge along the topside of the shank. In my mind it was an unattractive interruption in an otherwise classic shape. It would need to go to bring the most out of the shape of this pipe. The next seven photos show the bowl from a variety of angles to highlight the issue I am speaking of regarding the shelf. It is these issues that the impending plastic/cosmetic surgery will deal with.

It almost took more time to decide to remove the shelf and clean up the shape of the bowl and the shank than it did to do the work. I wanted a cleaner junction for the shank and bowl as well. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess material. The next three photos show the bowl after surgery – the cosmetic surgery/face lift had begun. The patient did not squeal too much even though there was no anesthesia. Within a matter of five minutes the foundational work was finished and what remained was hand work.

I don’t have a sandblaster so I decided to start with a basic rustication pattern and then work it with carving knives and sandpaper to give the rustication a more blasted look. I used the rustication tool that Chris made for me and it did a great job turning the smooth sanded surfaces into a more patterned look.

I then used a carving knife to give swirls and movement to the rustication and try to blend it into the surface of the sandblast. I used the dark brown stain pen to highlight the high spots on the rustication to enable me to better determine the pattern I was working on.

When I had finished the matching of the pattern as best I could I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the briar.

I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to smooth out the rough spots and specifically used a sanding block to flatten the rustication more. Then I stained the bowl with an oxblood aniline stain and flamed it. I set the bowl aside to dry. Overall I am happy with the rustication and the match to the sandblast of the bowl.

When the stain was set and dry I took the pipe to the buffer and gave it a light buff with White Diamond. I also buffed the stem lightly with it to give it a shine. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine. I rubbed the bowl down with Halcyon II wax and then buffed the bowl with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

I have included the next two close-up photos of the bowl to show the finished rustication after the two coats of stain and the buffing and polishing have been finished. I really like the finished shape and look of the bowl and the bothersome shelf is gone. The junction of the bowl and shank is much cleaner with a sharper angle. The pipe now fits the classic shape that it approximated previous to the plastic surgery! The patient survived the procedure and looks to be thriving in its post operative glory. Oh, and the stem had an orific opening in the button and it was in excellent shape only needed a quick polish.

Bringing an Everton Big-Boy 1025 Rhodesian back from the brink

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I saw the Everton Big-Boy pipe on a website and the shape hooked me. In the photos the bowl seemed squat and wide and the shank was thick. The bend in the stem appeared similar to an earlier Sina pipe that I picked up; in fact the entire shape was similar. I searched and could find nothing on the brand. There was nothing in any of the books that I usually check out and nothing on the various websites that I use when researching a brand. The brand was a mystery to me and that made me want the pipe even more. I could find Everton Tobacco which is a Danish pipe tobacco. I could find the Everton Football Club (Everton is a District of Liverpool) but no Everton tobacco pipes. I figured that when it arrived I might be able to see why the seller had labeled it an English made pipe. When the pipe arrived I checked the stamping and it was stamped Everton over Big-Boy on the left side of the shank. On the right side of the shank it was stamped 1025. The shape in hand is not as wide and squat at the above photo led me to believe it would be. It is actually very close to a GBD 9438 though I had never seen a GBD stamped with this number. This sent me on a hunt for potential English makers that had a similarly shaped Rhodesian. I looked through many of the Comoy’s charts and again could not find any reference to the number. On a lark I just typed in the shape number in a Google search and immediately had a hit for a 1025 shaped pipe made by the French pipe making company, Butz Choquin (BC). I opened the link from Google to find that it was indeed the pipe I was looking for. BC still makes the 1025 shape in several of their lines. The stamping is slightly different in terms of the name on the left side of the shank. All of them have the BC name and the Line underneath. The right side has the 1025 stamp and also a Made in France. I have included the next two photos from Tobacco Pipes.com. The first is the Bistro line 1025 Rhodesian, while it has the thick shank the stem shape is slightly thinner that the one I have. The second one is from the Manoir line. It has the same thick stubby stem as the one I have. From this exploration I can see that the pipe is an older BC pipe. I have no idea what the Everton stamping is – though it may well be a Liverpool tobacconist.

As I examined the pipe upon taking it out of the box I was troubled by the state of the pipe. There were no noted issues with the pipe either on his site or in email exchanges regarding billing and shipping. The trouble was that there were many issues with the pipe. All together they add up to a question mark for me regarding this pipe. The bowl was over reamed and out of round. There appears to be a sandpit in the inner edge of the bowl toward the front. There is a small crack on the underside of the bowl (the heel) directly below the over reaming. The top of the shank near the stem has a large pit that appears to have small spider web cracks that radiate from it. They are not deep but they are present. The stem is a mess. Evidently the previous owner found the stem to thick to his liking and had performed a butcher job trying to remedy that. It had been hacked with a knife blade on the underside from about mid stem to the button leaving the surface corrugated looking with a lot of file and knife marks. The top of the stem had also been hacked and filed in an attempt to thin it down. It is wavy and rippled. I think that most of the damages to the stem can be fixed as the stem is beefy and I should be able to smooth them out. In terms of the over reaming and the crack – time will tell what I can do with it. Needless to say I was disappointed when I opened the package from the seller.

From first appearance the pipe does not appear all that deficient. It seems like it is in pretty good nick. You can see the similarity in shape to the GBD 9438 Rhodesian in the photos below.

It is only when the pipe is viewed more closely that the problems become obvious. The first photo below shows the crack in the bottom of the bowl and the dents and scratches around that crack. The next photo shows the underside of the stem. The underside had been carved with a knife and with files and left maimed and decimated. The gouges were deep and crossed each other leaving a corrugated surface. The next photo shows the topside of the stem. It had much the same issues as the underside but was nearly as drastic. It had grooves, scratches and flattening. There were ripples in the surface of the vulcanite that left it marked. The filing had left grooves and damage and had been done at angles that destroyed the flow of the stem. The bowl was out of round and the rim had damage to the inner front edge of the bowl. There was a pit in the edge that had opened up. There was burn damage to the bowl edge and rim top. I started working on the stem to smooth out the ridges and corrugations on the top and underside. I used 180 grit sandpaper to begin the process and reduce the ridges. The next series of photos show the stem after this initial sanding.

I continued to sand with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the scratches and smooth out the surface. I followed that by sanding with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the progress in the shaping of the stem. The top side worked quite well. The underside still had one horizontal groove that would take more work but the overall look was getting better.

I continued to sand the underside with the 220 grit sandpaper to remove the groove and reshape the edges of the stem. Once I had the stem shaped and smoothed out I sanded the bottom of the bowl to clean up the glue and bumps on the bottom of the bowl. I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface. Once I had removed the glue I could see that the damaged area, the crack had been repaired with epoxy mixed with briar dust. I was glad to see that the crack had been repaired and that the repair while rough, nonetheless was solid and had stopped the crack. The round area in the center of the crack made me wonder if there was potential burnout that had been cleaned out and repaired. Examining the bowl interior I could not see evidence of a burnout though it was severely over reamed.

I topped the bowl to remove the sandpit in the surface and smooth out some of the out of round shape of the bowl. The rim was damage so a light topping would take care of the problems. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner rim of the bowl. I cleaned the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.

On the top of the shank there was a sandpit at the shank/stem junction that had spidering cracks around it. I sanded it smooth and refilled it with super glue and briar dust. I sanded the junction with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the flow of the stem and shank.

I sanded the stem and shank with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and wiped the bowl and stem down with a cotton pad. I wiped the bowl down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the finish from the bowl and prepare it for staining.

I sanded the bowl and stem with a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the finish and remove the wear and tear that had come with the bowl.

I mixed a small batch of plaster of Paris to repair the over reamed bowl. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the shank and then pressed the plaster into the bowl bottom under and around the pipe cleaner. I raised the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the airway.

I sanded the inner edge of the rim some more to bevel it inward and try to work in more into round. I finished that shaping and then prepped the bowl to restain. I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it. I restained and reflamed it until I had an even coverage on the bowl. I wiped the newly stained bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to lighten the bowl and make it more transparent. I wanted the grain to show through once the bowl was polished.

I sanded the stem with my usual pattern of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. Once the final rub had dried I buffed the stem with White Diamond.

The newly shaped stem is shown in the next two photos. The shine and polish came out well and the reshape of the stem took care of the ridges and cuts on the surface. The sanding had taken care of the issues with the stem.

After I put the stem on the pipe I buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. Once I shed this chest cold I intend to christen this one with a bowl of Black Parrot. I am looking forward to giving this old timer a re-entry into pipedom.

Trash to Treasure – Restoring a KBB Yello-Bole Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Aaron Henson

Last evening I received an email from Aaron to which he attached this writeup on his restemming of an older KBB Yello-Bole. It is great to have the various readers of the blog submit articles to the blog to share with others. The dream of rebornpipes when I started it was just that – to provide a platform where those of us engaged in refurbishing tobacco pipes could share our methods, successes and failures. This community would provide ongoing education for anyone who wanted to try their hand at restoring estate pipes. With that background here is Aaron’s restoration and the explanation of his process. Welcome to rebornpipes Aaron.

By way of introduction, let me begin by saying that I am relatively new to pipe restoration. This write up details my third restoration and I thought I would submit it for two reasons; 1) I have gotten so much help from the regulars posting here at rebornpipes and from forums elsewhere I felt that I would like to share my experience for others to glean from, and 2) although it is not very different from some of the other restorations that Steve has catalog for us here, some of my tools and techniques may be a little different. I also hope to get some feedback on ways to improve my process.

I was at local second-hand shop with my family around Thanksgiving and was looking for pipes when my son found a stemless KBB Yello-Bole stummel. After looking it over for cracks in the bowl and stem I realized that the briar was in relatively good condition. I noted a few chips on the edge of the rim and some blackening of the rim but no fills and not much cake in the bowl. The stem was clearly stamped with the KBB logo in a clover leaf just to the left of:

I did not know much about the Yello-Bole brand but I thought I should be able to find a stem easily enough (aren’t they somewhat universal in size?). Besides, with a $4 price tag I figured I would not be out anything if it didn’t work out.

I jumped on my computer as soon as I got home and found some interesting history on the Yello-Bole brand. I won’t go into it here because Steve has done a nice job summarizing it in one of his posts: Narrowing Down a Date for Kaufman Brothers & Bondy’s KBB and KB&B Pipes. From the data available I had to guess that this pipe was form the late 1950’s or 60’s.

After reading up on the history of the pipe I began looking online for a new stem. I quickly learned that not all pipe stems are created equal, nor are they interchangeable. For a while, I considered sending the stummel to someone to have a stem made but that kind of defeated the whole spirit of restoring the pipe myself.

It took a while to find a stem that I thought would look right on the pipe. I settled on a stem from Vermont Freehand (ebay vt_freehand), a 2½” tapered stem – No. 547. I ordered 3 of them, figuring that I would need at least one for practice.

While I waited for the stems to arrive I began working on the stummel. There was not a lot of cake in the bowl so I started there – low hanging fruit. Now, I don’t own a reamer, but I have found that a ½” dowel wrapped with 60 grit sandpaper answers very well. What cake there was came out cleanly.

Besides the chip there was some charring on the rim. The chip was not very deep so I thought I would take care of both issues by taking the top of the bowl down to clean briar. Using 120 grit sand paper mounted on a flat surface, I carefully worked the bowl in a circular motion trying to keep it level. I didn’t want to take off too much of the top so I gave the outside lip of the bowl a slight chamfer to remove the bottom part of the chip. I then gave the stummel a soak in a 91% isopropyl alcohol bath. This was for the dual purpose of removing the existing finish and loosening the crud in the shank. I removed the stummel after about 24 hours and wiped off the existing stain. I then cleaned the shank with a bristled brush, bristled cleaners and cotton swabs. I wanted to make sure the mortise was thoroughly cleaned before I began to size the tenon on the new stem. When the stems arrived, I realized that I probably could have been a little more attentive to the size I purchased. I was going to have to remove a lot of material to get the tenon to fit the mortise as well as flushing the stem to the shank. The best way to shape a stem is on a lathe, but not having a lathe I turned to my drill press. I found that a bamboo skewer fit very snugly into the air hole of the stem. Leaving about 1 inch of the skewer protruding out of the air hole, I chucked the stem into my drill press. I started out a little timidly, removing material with 120 grit sand paper but the vulcanite is so soft that it gums up the paper very quickly. I switched to 60 grit and still was not seeing much progress. I tried a metal file next and when that did not answer I rummaged around the tool box and found a rasp. A bit aggressive I admit, and I would not recommend it unless you are removing a lot of material, and I was.

The drill press method worked great but was not without its problems. Pressing too hard with the file or rasp would cause the stem to slip on the skewer. The stem would then have to be reseated before I could resume. The other problem happened about half way through the rough shaping; the skewer broke off flush with the end of the tenon. I admit I panicked a little when I could not get a hold of the skewer with my needle nose pliers. But using a small drill bit I was able to carefully drill out the wedged skewer.

Back on track I, stopped often to check the fit. As I neared the correct size I switched back to the file then to the sand paper again. I finished the tenon with 320 grit sand paper. I thought fitting the tenon to the mortise was going to be the hard part but shaping the stem to get that perfect flush fit with the shank turned out to be the big challenge. You can see in the picture above that I have a ways to go to get the taper from the shank to the button. I have also started to get a bit of a wave about a quarter of the way from the tenon.

To fix this I stapled a piece of 240 grit paper to a 3” sanding block and went to town. The sanding block kept the contact surface flat and helped to eliminate the wave. It took about an hour of work stopping often for fit checks. In the end I was rewarded with nice taper. Somehow I had rounded over the shoulder of the stem ever so slightly. This formed a little groove at the stem/shank connection. It was not terrible and I felt could live with it for now.

I finished the stem with 600, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 grit sand paper. Then set it aside to buff with the stummel once it was complete. I stained the stummel using one part Fiebing’s light brown diluted with 2 parts isopropyl alcohol. I applied two coats, flaming each coat. Once dry, I wiped it down with a clean cloth and attached with stem. I set my drill press up with an inexpensive Sears buffing system and started with the white buffing compound. I found on previous projects that gearing down the drill speed to 1200 rpms was important to maintain control of the pipe and not overheat the pipe. I finished with two coats of carnauba wax and buff with a soft cloth.

I needed a tooth pick to remove some of the wax from the sand blasted areas. And that little groove between the stem and shank collected some wax too. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this restoration. I am looking forward to smoking my first bowl in it.

Looking back, I am glad that I tried shaping my own stem. It was not without its challenges but the result was very rewarding. I now have two spare stems in my tool box, so I will be keeping an eye out for another stemless billiard.

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