Tag Archives: finishing

Giving a Large No Name Imported Briar Cutty a New Look

Blog by Steve Laug

In the box of pipes that I was gifted was a large cutty shaped pipe that looked to be in pretty decent shape. It appeared that it did not need a lot of work to bring it back. The finish looked pretty good with birdseye on the sides and cross grain off to one side of the front and back of the stem. The grain followed a similar pattern on the shank. The bottom of the bowl had some mixed grain patterns. The stem was not oxidized. The bowl had a minimal cake in it. The only issue appeared to be the outer edge of the rim. On the back side it was very beat up and the briar was broken and nicked. All of this is what I assumed when I took it out of the box and took a closer look at the pipe.

The pipe is large, at least for me. It is seven inches long from button to the front of the bowl. The bowl is 2 ¼ inches tall. The chamber is ¾ inch in diameter. Proportionally it is a well made pipe. There are no fills in the briar. There are no sandpits. But there were issues! The bottom of the bowl had been flattened but the flattened portion was not centered on the bowl and shank bottom. It was off to one side. This gave the bowl and pipe a distinct cant to the right. The damage to the rim was deep on the back outer edge. The stem had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. All of these would need to be addressed in a restoration of this pipe.

I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer. I seem to default to this T handled reamer as first choice in most of the refurbishing that I do. It is an easy tool to use. The T handle is small enough in diameter at the junction of the cutting head that it can be pushed deep into the bowl which was necessary with this pipe. Since I was planning on topping the bowl to repair the rim damage I decided to remove the finish from the pipe so that matching stain would not be necessary. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The finish dulled but it did not completely come off the bowl. It has the feel of a Urethane coat. Once I topped the bowl I would deal with that issue.

I set up my usual topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I would need to remove quite a bit of briar from the surface of the rim to take care of the damage. I also found that the cant on the bowl and shank left me with a canted bowl top as well. I sanded the bottom of the shank until the pipe sat upright and then had to work on the rim to make it horizontal without a slant. As usual I collected the briar dust for later use on fills and repairs.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge of the rim and lightly bevel/chamfer it and remove the charring.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium grit sanding sponge to break through the urethane finish. I wiped it down further with acetone until it was gone. I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath to soak while I worked on the stem. I have found that the stain darkened alcohol bath works really well to give some patina to briar once the finish has been opened up. For such a large piece of briar the bowl was surprisingly light weight and it floated on the surface of the bath. I sanded the bite marks on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until they were removed. I followed that by sanding the stem surface with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratches in the stem.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside. I took the bowl out of the bath. The finish had completely disappeared with the soak and the entire bowl, including the rim had picked up a nice patina. The grain just popped in the clean surface of the bowl. It would be easy to stain and polish.

The colour of the topped rim matched the bowl colour perfectly – in fact it matched so well that I was unsure that I would even stain it. The next photos show the bowl as it stood after the soaking and drying. I love the way that the grain stood out.

I ran a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs soaked in isopropyl alcohol through the shank to clean it out. I was surprised with how dirty the shank was. The buildup of tars and oils was heavier than I expected. I set up a retort and boiled alcohol through the pipe until the alcohol came out clean.

After the retort I used a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the alcohol and remaining tars from the shank. With the bowl and shank clean and ready to go it was time to finish the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry.

I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil to highlight the grain. I did not stain the bowl as I really liked the natural look of the briar. I gave it a buff with White Diamond and did the same with the stem. I then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and a buff with a soft flannel pad. I took the photo below to give some idea of the size of this pipe. It is sitting next to the Kaywoodie Prime Grain Lovat that I finished restoring recently. The finished pipe is shown below. The first four photos show the overall look of the pipe. The last three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem. The pipe is like new. The new finish is far better than the one that came with the pipe. The look of the grain and the way the bath and olive oil highlights it is quite stunning. This pipe will make someone a great addition to their rack and should be a great smoking pipe. It is too large of a pipe for me at this phase of my pipe smoking. I am much more drawn to smaller bowls and lighter pipes, but that being said, the grain on this one makes it very tempting.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Prime Grain 40 Saddle Stem Billiard??

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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.

Cleaning up a Falstaff Diamond Shank Billiard 101

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Blog by Steve Laug

The second pipe I chose to work on from the gift lot of pipes I received was a long shank billiard that is stamped FALSTAFF over London England on the bottom left side panel of the diamond shank. The panel of the diamond with the stamping is smooth with the rest of the pipe being sand blasted. Next to the stem shank union there is a shape number on the same panel that reads 101. The photo below sows the stamping on the shaft. The pipe was relatively clean with no cake and the interior looked clean. The finish was natural though dirty, spotty and dry. The stem had some light oxidation and tooth chatter at the button. In my search for information I posted about the pipe on Pipe Smokers Unlimited and received a response from Dave (dmcmtk). Dave is a great source for information on British pipes so I was hoping he would have something to offer regarding the brand. To my eye the pipe had a bit of a Charatan look but I could not be sure. Dave did not let me down, here is his reply:

“The Falstaff looks like a nice pipe. My first thought, seeing the square shank and COM was Charatan’s. From Pipedia’s Charatan page
Sub-brands/Seconds
Mountbatten
London Straight Grain
Falstaff
Samirva
Vauxhall
Britannia”

The next series of four photos shows the pipe as it looked when I brought it to the worktable. I took some photos of the pipe right out of the work box. It has an interesting shape and blast to it. I like the intentional smoothing of the high ridges on the blast. I don’t think this is from wear as the pipe is virtually unsmoked.

There is a slight rim darkening but the bowl is not caked and there was bare briar from mid bowl down to the bottom of the bowl.

I took a close up photo to show the state of the bowl and rim. This was going to be a relatively easy clean up. I scrubbed the briar down with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get into the crevices and remove the dust and grime that was deep in them. I rinsed the bowl off with running water from the tap and dried it off with a cloth. The clean bowl is shown below after the scrub and rinse. The oils and waxes are gone and the finish is clean and dry.

I gave the pipe a light buff with White Diamond.

I lightly rubbed the bowl and shank down with some olive oil on a soft paper towel to get deep into the grooves and bring some life back to the dry briar. Once the bowl is rubbed down I set it aside to let the oils penetrate and dry off before I rub it down with a soft flannel cloth and give it a coat of Halcyon II wax.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the surface oxidation and tooth chatter around the button on the top and bottom sides.

I followed that by sanding with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper and then a fine grit sanding sponge to remove more of the scratching.

I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads next – 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 before sanding with the next three grits of pad. When I had finished with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time with the oil and let it dry.

Once the Obsidian Oil was dry I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I gave the bowl several coats of Halcyon II wax and then buffed the pipe with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below.

The next two photos give an idea of the shape of the pipe. It is quite unique in terms of the diamond shank but the diamond shape carries through the bottom of the bowl. The first photo below shows the shape of the pipe from the front. The second shows the shape from the rear, looking down the stem and shank.

I took the final two photos to give a close up view of the pipe and stem and show the blast finish on the pipe. It is a beautiful looking pipe and one that should serve well for many years to come. I don’t intend to leave it in its almost unsmoked condition but will break it in and enjoy the craftsmanship that made it what it is – a smoking instrument.

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):

A Custombilt Lovat Reborn

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I found this pipe on a recent pipe hunt in the US. It was sitting in a locked cabinet in an antique mall just waiting to be found. It has a long round shank with a saddle stem so it fits the description of a Lovat. It is a large pipe however – approximately 6 inches long. The combination of rustication and smooth is attractive. It has the standard Custombilt rustication but for some reason on this old pipe it looks more refined and less clunky (good scientific term, LOL!) than the other Custombilts and CustomBilts that have passed through my hands. I have several Custom Bilt or Custom-Bilt pipes stamped with a separation or a capital B on bilt. I remembered reading Bill Unger’s book on CustomBilt pipes and knew that the change of stamping reflected a change in the company. I turned to one of my reference sources – Pipedia, to see what they said. Here is the link to the full article by Rich Essermann http://pipedia.org/wiki/Custom-Bilt I quote from that article below:

“In 1946, the name was changed to Custombilt after Mincer began an association with Eugene J. Rich, Inc. There were some big changes in advertising and distribution. The slogan “AS INDIVIDUAL AS A THUMBPRINT” began at this time as well.”

“In the early 1950’s, Tracy Mincer developed severe financial problems that caused him to stop making the Custombilt, and he lost the name. In 1953, Leonard Rodgers bought the company and emphasized tobacco pouches and butane lighters. (However, it appears Mincer was working on his new pipe, the Doodler.) In 1968, Rodgers sold the Company to Consolidated Cigars. In the early 1970s, Wally Frank Co. bought the Custombilt trademark and began to produce their version of the pipe in 1974 or 1975. Hollco Rohr owned the Weber pipe factory, located in New Jersey, and produced the Custombilt pipes there. In 1987, the pipes were made out of the Butz-Choquin factory (France) and then Mexico until the late 1990s. Currently, the Custombilt name is owned by Tobacalera of Spain.”

From the above information it seems that the pipe I have could have been made between 1946 and 1953 if it is one made by Tracy Mincer. Otherwise it could have been made during the 1970’s. In my opinion the more refined less classic Mince CB look of the pipe, the variations on the rustication pattern from the bowl to the shank, the type and look of the stem all lead me to put it in the later era – the 1970s and attribute its manufacture to Wally Frank and Company. I may be wrong but that is my read on this particular Custombilt Lovat.

The pipe I found was in very good shape. The stem was slightly oxidized and had some roughness like it had never been finished well. There was no bite or tooth marks or tooth chatter on the stem. The interior of the stem and shank were also clean. The briar in the shank was unstained and looked new. The bowl had a very light cake. The finish was virgin/natural and originally had probably been oiled or just waxed. There was no stain coat or lacquer/varnish coat. Whew! The stamping on the pipe is simple. On the left side of the shank it is stamped Custombilt over Imported Briar. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 12 running horizontally next to the stem/shank union.

The closeup photo below shows the top of the rim with its unique rustication and the state of the bowl. The rim is in great shape and the bowl is fairly clean. I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to remove the light oils and tars. It took very little effort to clean this pipe. I gave it a light reaming with the PipNet reamer and took it back to bare wood so that whoever ends up with this pipe can break in and build an even cake of their own. I scrubbed the rusticated areas on the bowl and shank with a tooth-brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. The grooves and crevices had a buildup of dust in them that dulled the finish. After scrubbing I rinsed the pipe under running water to remove the soap. I put my thumb over the bowl to keep the interior dry. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the rinse and dry. The grooves are clean and the pipe is ready for the next step in its cleanup.

I use a plastic washer that I made out of a bread tab between the shank and the stem to allow me to sand up against the shank without damaging the finish and without rounding the shoulders of the stem or shank. It works like a charm and I have several of these that I have punched with a variety of holes to fit different tenon sizes. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughness and followed that with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. Once I had smoothed out the roughness of the stem I moved on to sanding with micromesh sanding pads. I followed my usual method of wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads.

I rubbed the bowl down with a paper towel and a dab of olive oil to bring the natural finish of the bowl back to life before I buffed it. I rubbed it down and let the oil dry overnight. In the morning I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and gave the bowl a light buff of carnauba and then rubbed it down with some Halcyon II Wax. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe is shown below.

The final three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem from various angles. There is something quite attractive about this particular Custombilt. It has a dignity that draws me to it.

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

12 Replies

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.

Rescuing a Scorched GBD New Era 549

5 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

After reading Al’s posts about his GBD pipes, I had to have one. I saw this pipe listed on eBay with a low buy it now price, obviously based on the scorch mark on the front of the bowl. I’m not sure whether it was a sense of overconfidence in my ability or naivety about the extent of the damage, but I bought the pipe. I realized when it arrived that if I couldn’t fix the scorch mark the pipe probably wouldn’t be worth my time. I nearly despaired when normal procedures failed to even lighten the mark. I put the pipe aside several times before finally deciding to take drastic measures and use a hand sander with 150 grit sand paper. I figured at this point there was nothing to lose and I knew I could still maintain the original shape if I was careful. After spending about a half an hour with the sander, I found myself at about an 80% solution. The mark was still too dark, so I took it to the next level of desperation: the rotary tool (that’s the generic name for a dremel that you buy at Harbor Freight Tools) with a sanding attachment.

I do not recommend the use of either a hand sander or the rotary tool except as a last resort. By this point I had accepted the fact that this pipe was beyond hope for a perfect restoration, so I lowered my expectations to a good restoration.

The sanding on the top portion of the bowl changed the contour of the rim, so I used 400 grit sand paper and a piece of glass to top it. Normally I have a set order for restoring a pipe, but dealing with the scorch mark threw it all off. I don’t like to work on a pipe that has a dirty bowl, so I went ahead and reamed it. As you can see from this picture the scorch mark is fairly light. Next I retorted the shank. She was a dirty girl.

I retorted the stem after that, but did it four times. On a dirty pipe you can either spend time with lots of q-tips and fuzzy sticks, or do the retort multiple times. Now that I had the internals of the pipe cleaned, I turned my attention to the removing the oxidation from the stem. This stem was all angles and had some serious oxidation. I’ve felt for a long time that my stem work needed improvement. It’s especially difficult to clean the crease under the button and in the case of this stem the curved area where it meets the diamond portion. I know that when I work with wood I use a sanding block or wrap the sand paper around an object that would fit into the area to be sanded. With that in mind, I “borrowed” a small plastic scraper from the kitchen. You will notice that it has a beveled edge and fits the underside of the button perfectly.

Using the scraper wrapped with 400 grit wet/dry and water, the oxidation was soon gone. I followed with 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads and water. The bowl had a couple of dents so I decided to steam them out. One of my essential tools for this type of work is an old butter knife. I used my heat gun to get the tip of the knife very hot, then applied it to a wet cloth directly over the dents. Here is what it looked like after several applications of steam. The dents still needed some work, so I sanded them smooth with 400 grit sand paper. By this point the finish was completely uneven, with bare wood on the rim and side of the bowl, so I used acetone and 0000 steel wool to remove the remaining finish. I find that if I’m careful with the stampings, that grade of steel wool cleans the wood without damaging the stampings. This is what the pipe looked like after I took the bowl and stem through a progression of micro mesh pads, 1500-12,000. I decided to use a dark walnut stain from Pimo Pipe Supply to help cover the remaining scorch mark. Here is the bowl after the application of stain. I used white diamond buffing compound on the buffing wheel to bring out a shine. Let me digress a bit about buffers. There are three things that a buffer loves, angles, stem inserts, and nice pipes. When spinning at 3450 rpm’s the buffer will catch anything with an angle and fling it at a high rate of speed onto the nearest hard surface. Alternately it will catch any type of stem insert and rip it out of the stem. Finally if you have a nice pipe that you’ve invested time in, the buffer has a tendency to shatter it just as you finish. This pipe had all of those elements, so I decided to try something different; my rotary tool.

I took a felt buffing pad and loaded it with white diamond buffing compound. The results were spectacular. The rotary tool gave me more control, I didn’t have to worry about the stem flying out of my hand, and I was able to achieve a more consistent shine in the areas that are hard to get with a buffer. Not bad when you consider that I paid $19.99 for this thing at Harbor Freight Tools. I finished the bowl on the buffing wheel and here is the final result.

Refreshing an Older Heritage Antique #13 Dublin Pipe

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The Heritage brand was on I had no familiarity with until Andrew wrote up this blog for us https://rebornpipes.com/2014/12/23/refurbishing-a-heritage-heirloom/ He gave background, history, line information and the classic brochure from the company. I want to give a brief summary of what he found in the next two short paragraphs to set the stage for the one that I found once he highlighted the brand for me.

Heritage pipes were Kaywoodie’s answer to Dunhill. According to one of their brochures, Heritage pipes were made from “briar burls seasoned and cured for up to 8 months,” with only “one briar bowl in over 300 selected to bear the Heritage name.” “Heritage stems are custom fitted with the finest hand finished Para Rubber stems. Mouthpieces are wafer thin and concave.”

The Heritage line began in the early 1960’s, with the trademark issued in 1964. The line was started at the request of Stephen Ogdon, (who worked for Kaywoodie in 1962). Mr. Ogdon had previous experience working for Dunhill, either running the New York store or working for Dunhill North America. Mr. Ogden was made President of Heritage Pipes, Inc., Kaywoodie Tobacco Co.,Inc. and Kaywoodie Products Inc. as well as a Vice President of S.M. Frank & Co. Heritage Pipes were produced from 1964 until 1970 (Source Kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org).

I found one online on Ebay that was stamped Heritage Antique 13. I scanned the brochure that Andrew provided and found this regarding the Antique Line: The Heritage Antique line is characterized by “Rustic Grain stands out in rugged relief.” “This pipe is so bold-looking, yet so light and smooth-smoking. A special sandblasting process exposes a greater surface area on the bowl, giving a cooler, more satisfying smoke. Centuries-old Heritage Antique is strikingly masculine in appearance.”The number 13 is the shape number for the Dublin shape. It can be seen in the first coloumn second pipe down on the left side of the brochure page below. The seller of the pipe I picked up on EBay included some basic information on the pipe. The said the stamping was Heritage Antique with a 13 on the bottom of the shank. The stem has an inlaid double white diamond on the left side. It is out of a Kansas City estate. It measures:
5-1/2 inches Long
1-3/4 Inches High Bowl
1-1/4 inches Bowl Width
3/4 inch of a Bowl Bore
3 inch long stem

The next eight photos were included with the EBay advert and give a pretty good idea of the type of blast on the briar as well as a good picture of the state of the stem. The pictures show the colour of the pipe in a more red hue than it actually appeared when it arrived. In reality the stain is a brown tone similar to that of the Dunhill Shell Briar.

When the pipe arrived in Canada I was very pleased when I opened the box. The briar was in good but dirty condition and it appeared that the finish was in great shape under the grime and tars. The blast was amazing and craggy – very much like that on my older Shell Briars. The rim had some buildup on it that was flaking off but the bowl was in round and there was no damage to the edges of the rim.

The stem was thin and quite clean. It was oxidized and had some waxy substance on the top side. There were two tooth marks – almost pin prick marks, on the underside of the stem visible in the first photo below. The second photo shows the waxy buildup on the surface of the stem and the oxidation.

The rim of the pipe, shown in the photo below had a thick buildup of tars that were flaking off the surface of the rim. I picked at it with a dental pick and could see that the sandblast surface was undamaged underneath. The bowl was in need of a reaming to smooth out the uneven cake on the sides and bottom of the bowl. The stem was frozen in the shank so a short time in the freezer and the stem was easily removed from the shank. The step down tenon was in great shape and showed no damage and the tenon itself was not tarry. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Reamer beginning with the first cutting head and finishing with the size 2 cutting head. I reamed it back to bare wood to restart the cake build up.

I picked the flaky buildup on the rim with a dental pick and the scrubbed it with a soft bristle brass tire brush to remove all the grit and take it back to the surface of the rim. I have used this method over years as the bristles remove the tars without damaging the sandblasted surface. Once I had the surface brushed clean with the wire brush I scrubbed the entire bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to get the grime out of the crevices of the blast and remove the oils from the previous owners hands. Once I had scrubbed it I put my thumb in the bowl and rinsed it off with cool water and dried with a cotton cloth. I put the stem back in place and set up the retort. I filled the test tube half full of 99% isopropyl alcohol and heated the alcohol over a tea candle. The alcohol boiled through the pipe and cleaned out the tars and oils in the stem and shank. The alcohol also rinsed the inside of the bowl which was plugged with a cotton ball.

With the inside of the pipe cleaned and the exterior of the briar scrubbed it was time to address the oxidation and the marks on the stem. I put a plastic washer between the stem and shank so that I could sand the stem right up to the shank without worrying about rounding the shoulders of the stem. I sanded it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the waxy buildup on the stem (turns out it was a varnish) and also loosen the surface oxidation. I followed that by sanding with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratching and oxidation.

Once the stem was sanded, I wiped it down with a cotton pad and alcohol in preparation for repairing the two tooth marks. I filled these with black super glue and set aside the stem to let the glue cure. When the glue had dried I sanded the two spots with 220 grit sandpaper and the two sanding sponges to smooth out the patches and blend them into the vulcanite. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads and also at the end of the sanding process.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I rubbed two coats of Halcyon II Wax on the sandblast of the bowl and then gave the pipe and stem a light buff with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The next photos give a clear picture of the finished pipe.

I end with three close-up photos of the bowl to give a good idea of the quality of the sandblast on this piece of briar. It is a stunning pipe with a blast that rivals that found on the Dunhill Shells that are in my collection. I intend to fire up this old pipe and enjoy its trust for many years to come.