Blog by Steve Laug

I have written about the restoration and restemming of the first pipe bowl I picked up while on a recent trip. It was found in an antique shop in Nanton, Alberta. It was an old AF Billiard from 1923. The second pipe bowl I found at the same shop is the focus of this refurbishing article. It is stamped on top of the shank with the words David’s Choice and stamped on the underside Italy and barely visible under the repair band Savinelli Product. The repair band was loose and when it was removed the shank had a crack on the bottom side. At the bowl shank junction there is also a small crack that extends back along the shank for almost an inch. It does not appear to go through the shank to the airway but it is visible. The rim of the pipe was clean but the outer edge was damaged and the top edge was badly dented. The finish on the bowl was gone and the briar, though it had stunning grain, was lifeless looking. The bowl was clean in the top ½ inch – looking to have been reamed. The rest of the bowl was badly caked to the point that a pencil would stand in the bottom half unaided. There was no room for additional tobacco. Surprisingly the shank was clean. The stem was long since gone but I found a stem blank in my stem can that would work very well with the pipe. The cake was like concrete in the bottom half of the bowl. I could not cut through it with either the PipNet or the KleenReem pipe reaming tools. I filled the bowl with cotton balls and then used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I let it sit for several hours while I worked on fitting the stem. I used the Pimo Pipe Turning tool to reduce the diameter of the tenon and cut a clean edge against the stem. I sanded it by hand to get it to the proper diameter to fit the shank. I still needed to fit the stem to the angles of the shank and make the lines straight and clean from shank to button. I fit it on the pipe and took some photos to get an idea of what I needed to sand. I took the cotton balls out of the bowl and then reamed the bowl. The alcohol softened the hard cake and it came out more easily. I finished scraping the bowl with a sharp knife to take out the remnant of cake. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the stem to fit the shank. I glued the band in place on the shank with an all-purpose wood glue. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the remaining finish from the briar. I would eventually stain the briar – not sure at this point what colour I would use but I wanted to have a clean surface for the stain. I also lightly topped the bowl with a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged top and edges of the rim. I heated the briar with a heat gun to open the pores in the briar to receive the stain and then used a dark brown aniline stain. I applied it and flamed and repeated the process until I had an even coverage over the surface of the bowl. In the past I have thinned the stain to lighten it but have lately just applied it and then wiped it down with alcohol and cotton pads to lighten it after staining. I sanded the bowl and shank with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to further lighten the finish and then wiped it down a further time with the alcohol wet pads. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and medium and fine grit sanding sponges. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. Once I had finished sanding I buffed the stem with White Diamond. I polished the band with silver polish and gave it a light buff with White Diamond as well. I put the stem back on the pipe and buffed it all again with White Diamond and gave it a several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. Though this old warhorse of a pipe has seen much use, the new finish and restored, rebanded and restemmed pipe should give many more years of service. It is cleaned and ready to load with its inaugural bowl. Though the pictures do not show it the pipe is a large one – it is 6 inches long with a bowl that is 2 inches tall. The diameter of the bore is 7/8 inches. It will certainly be a long smoke – and if the build of cake left behind by the previous owner tells any tales it will be a good smoking pipe.