Tag Archives: finishing

Reclaiming a Digby Conquest Canadian

Blog by Steve Laug

On the weekend I went pipe hunting to refill my box of pipes for refurbishing. I found some nice ones to add to the box. The first one that I took on was odd looking when I picked it up. The stem on it was an aftermarket replacement that proportionally was all wrong. The addition of the stem made the pipe over seven inches long. The stem was also a twin bore which was not standard on GBD line pipes. The stamping on the bottom of the shank is Conquest in script followed by Digby over London Made. That is followed by London England and the shape number 9519. Digby is a GBD second line. It has the same blast as a GBD Prehistoric which lends one more question mark to what makes a pipe a second. In checking the GBD shape numbers there is no shape #9519 listed on the GBD shape site. http://www.perardua.net/pipes/GBDshape.html

The blast on the bowl was quite nice while the shank was rusticated. The person who added the new stem to the pipe changed the shank to fit the new stem rather than the other way around. In doing so they sanded the shank and removed the blast/rustication on the end of the shank. They also tapered both sides and top and bottom to meet the new stem. While both of these “errors” in fitting a stem are a pain to deal with they are not irreparable. It just means that any new stem must follow the new lines of the pipe and that the rustication pattern needs to be repaired as well. The bowl itself was thickly caked and the rim dirty and with a slight buildup of tars. The finish was spotty and the reddish brown stain was worn.

I went through my can of stems to find one that would properly fit a GBD style Canadian with an oval shank and found several. I chose the acrylic one in the photo below and used the PIMO Tenon Turning tool to reduce the diameter of the tenon. I also used the Dremel and sanding drum and hand sanding to further fit the tenon to the shank.

With the tenon fitting well, the overall diameter of the stem needed to be reduced to fit the shank diameter. It was just slightly bigger so the work on it would not be difficult. The excess is visible in the four photos below. Note also the smoothing of the shank that had been done in the previous repair.

I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to remove the excess acrylic material and bring the stem into line with the shank. I took care to not nick the shank even though I later planned to rework the rustication on it.

With the fit roughed in I took it back to the work table to hand sand the stem and make fit seamless. To begin the process I used 220 grit sandpaper to do the hand work. On the right side bottom of the shank I noted that the oval was slightly out of round with the stem removed and gave the new tapered stem a bulge in that area. I sanded the shank and the stem together at that point to correct the previous damage.

With the fit nearly finished on the stem I reamed the bowl of the pipe with a PipNet reaming set. I began with the smallest cutting head and then ended with the proper sized head for the bowl. I cut the cake back to bare wood.

I worked some more on the stem shank junction with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches in the briar and the stem. I was more concerned with the briar as I wanted to give it a coat of stain.

Staining would be a complicated process of using a variety of stains to match the original stain colour on the prehistoric. For the first stain colour I used an oxblood aniline stain. I would use other stains later in the process to get the colour I was aiming for.

As I put the newly fitted stem in place so that I could lay it down to dry the tenon snapped on the new stem. As I examined it I could see the many small fractures in the acrylic. This is one of the frustrations of pipe repair. You get a pipe on its way to the finish line only to have something like this happen and have to begin again. I took another stem out of my can of stems. I once again had to go through the process of turning the tenon, using the Dremel and sanding drum and finally hand sanding to fit the tenon in the shank. I also had to trim back the diameter of the new stem to match the shank with the Dremel. One good thing is that doing it the second time everything is set up to do it again more quickly the second time.

Once I had a good fit on the stem it was time to re-rusticate the shank using an etching head on the Dremel. In the next two photos the cutting tool is visible and the rustication of the shank is completed. I did both sides of the shank and the top to match the pattern on the upper portion of the shank. On the underside I brought the pattern around the flattened oval stamping area of the shank and matched the pattern around that area.

I stained the newly rusticated shank area with the oxblood stain. The stained rustication is visible in the next four photos. I am pleased with the match on the pattern of the rustication on the shank that I was able to achieve with the tool.

I still needed to use several more colours of stain to achieve a match to the bowl. I used aniline black and an aniline dark brown stain to approximate the mix of stains to blend the repaired portion with the remainder of the pipe. I would still need to do a top coat of oxblood to truly blend in the repair.

I sanded the stem with the usual regimen of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.

I gave the shank a final coat of the oxblood stain and lightly buffed the shank with White Diamond to blend the wear of the older portion with the new rustication. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and then buffed the stem with White Diamond as well. Once the buffing was done I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba on the wheel and then buffed it with a soft flannel buff. I rubbed in Halcyon II wax on the bowl and shank and then lightly buffed the bowl with a soft flannel buff. The “new” Digby Canadian is now ready for its inaugural smoke. It is shown below in the final four photos.

Restemming and Repairing a Meerschaum Lined Lancaster Billiard

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I have had this old meerschaum lined bowl for many years now. It has been sitting in a cupboard and should have rightly been pitched several times over. For some reason I could not bring myself to throw it away. I kind of figured that one day when I had nothing else to do I would experiment on a repair of the meerschaum lining. I had read of several repairs in the past and experimented with one of them previously. The two methods I had read of involved a non-acrylic tile grout without sand while the other one involved Plaster of Paris. I had used the tile grout on a pipe many years ago and still smoke it. The bowl has long since look repaired and you would be hard pressed to see where the repair was in the bowl. This old bowl had much the same damage as that one so I decided to experiment with the Plaster of Paris method. The pipe did not have a stem so I would also need to restem it once the patch was finished. The bowl is stamped Lancaster over Imported Briar on the left side of the shank and has no stamping on the right side. There were small fills present on the bowl – almost like small pin pricks that had been filled in the manufacture of the pipe. The finish on the bowl was virtually not present except for a few spots where the stain had held on stubbornly over the years.

I mixed a small batch of Plaster of Paris and water and stirred it with a dental pick. I also had some sanding dust from a meer bowl that I had save so I mixed it in with the Plaster of Paris mixture. I inserted a pipe cleaner into the airway to keep it open when I packed in the mixture to the bowl bottom and side. Once I had a good paste mixed up I used the dental pick to put pieces of it into the bowl. I used the head of a tamper to pack the Plaster of Paris into the bowl bottom. I also pushed the Plaster mixture into the side of the bowl and used the spoon end of the tamper to push it into place. I used the dental pick to carve the airway open at the bottom of the bowl and then a wetted pipe cleaner to smooth out the bowl wall and shape the bottom of the bowl in a slight cup shape. Once that was completed I smoothed out the whole bowl with the wetted pipe cleaner and feathered the edges of the patch into the existing meerschaum material.

I cleaned up the top of the bowl and the tools and set the bowl aside to dry. After one hour the Plaster of Paris set and I removed the pipe cleaner from the shank. I used the dental pick to shape the airway after removing the pipe cleaner. The bowl was ready to restem. I went through my can of stems and found an old stem that was the right length and close to the correct diameter of the shank. It had a brass stem band that would look great on the old pipe bowl. When I cleaned it up I found that it had a Delrin tenon. I used the tenon tool to turn the tenon down enough to fit the shank snugly. When I cleaned out the end of the tenon after turning it I found that it was set up for a nine millimeter filter.

I fit it into the shank and used the Dremel with a sanding drum to sand down the diameter of the brass band and stem to fit the shank. I nicked the shank a couple of times lightly with the drum as I worked on the brass band. The nicks were not deep but merely surface so they would clean up when I sanded the stem and shank for a smooth transition.

I took the pipe back to the work table and sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to make a smooth transition between the shank and the stem. I also sanded off the calcification that had built up around the button at the same time.

I sanded the bowl with the 220 grit sandpaper and then the stem and the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. I wet sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the finish before I stained it. I then wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone on a cotton pad to clean off the sanding dust.

I stained the bowl with a black aniline stain, flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage was even. I heated the bowl with a lighter to set the stain into the grain of the pipe. I wiped the freshly stained bowl with Everclear to remove the top coat of stain and reduce the black stain. The next series of three photos shows the bowl after the wash.

I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge to further remove the black stain. The next four photos show the pipe after I had sanded it and wiped it down with Everclear.

I dry sanded it again with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then stained it with a coat of Minwax red mahogany stain. I rubbed it on the bowl and rubbed off again to give a contrast look to the briar and to hide some of the fills that were present. I sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh to polish the remaining scratches in the briar.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh and then dry sanded it with 3200-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads.

I finished the bowl by giving it a final coat of Minwax medium walnut stain. I rubbed it into the bowl and wiped it off and then hand buffed the pipe with a shoe brush. The rich red brown stain on the bowl turned out well with a variety of highlights.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then buffed the whole pipe with White Diamond to polish it. I finished by giving it multiple coats of carnauba wax to build a shine and protect the finish. The completed pipe is visible in the next four photos.

I also sanded the top of the rim and the inner bevel of meerschaum with the 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pad to polish the meerschaum edge. I gave this top edge a final coat of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine. The Plaster of Paris patch is drying and needs to cure for 24 hours before it is good to go. The box says that it does not shrink as it dries and so far it is good to its promise. I will have to see if it holds true tomorrow after it has cured a full 24 hours. If so, then it is time to fire it up and check out if it holds as well as the tile grout patch has held up over all these years.

Help Requested for Unknown Maker of a Threaded Pipe Bowl with an Aluminum Base

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In one of the lots of pipes I picked up on Ebay this threaded bowl was present. There was not a pipe base that it fit even though there were two threaded bases in the lot. One was a WDC Bakelite base that was wider and had different threads and the other was a no name older base also with a wider base and different threads on the bowl. I have not seen a bowl with this kind of set up before. The bowl itself is a tube of briar fit over an aluminum bottom. The bottom of the bowl is threaded on the end that screws into the pipe and the upper portion is inserted into the bowl. The top of the insert is a cup that extends a third of the way up the sides of the bowl. I have quite a few metal pipe bases and older Bakelite bases available here but this bowl does not fit any of them. It is truly a mystery to me.

When I got it the finish was worn and there was a crack in the bottom edge of the bowl where it sits against the aluminum. The crack went up about a quarter of the way up the outside of the bowl. The bottom of the threaded portion is stamped PATENT APD FOR, which I assume is the abbreviation of Patent Applied For. I have no idea about country of origin or manufacturer so checking for patent information is difficult. If anyone has seen one of these and has some information please let me know.

Since I am working with the bottom of my refurbishing box, I decided to clean up the bowl and restore it so that when I find a base that it fits it will be ready. The rim was rough so I topped the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper on a flat surface. I twisted the bowl into the sandpaper to remove the damage to the surface.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to clean up the inside. The outer edge of the bowl rim was damaged so I sanded it until it was smooth. I also used a piece of folded sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the inner rim. I scrubbed the aluminum base with acetone on cotton swabs to clean out the grooves/threads on the nub. I scrubbed the base on the outside and the inside of the bowl. I picked the threads with a dental pick to clean out the buildup of tars in each groove. I wiped down the exterior of the bowl with the acetone to remove the finish.

I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper and also with a medium grit sanding sponge. I sanded it with 1500-1800 grit micromesh sanding pads. Once the surface was smooth I cleaned out the crack with a dental pick and filled it with superglue and briar dust. I sanded that area until it was smooth and blended in with the rest of the bowl. I wiped it down a final time with the alcohol soaked pads to remove the dust before I gave it the first coat of the two step stain.

I stained it with a black aniline stain, flamed it and then restained and reflamed it again. Once the stain was set I wiped it down with Everclear on a cotton pad to remove the top coat of black. My intention was to set the black into the interesting grain pattern around the bowl and rim and then remove the excess before giving a second colour of stain as a top coat.

I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to finish removing the excess black and to also smooth out any existing scratches in the bowl. I sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge and then with 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next three photos show the bowl before I gave it the top coat of stain.

For the second coat of stain I used an oxblood aniline stain. I applied it and flamed it and then buffed it to give it a shine.

To finish the bowl I buffed it with White Diamond on the wheel and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and polish it. The finished bowl is seen in the photos below. It is ready for the mystery base that will allow it to once again be filled with tobacco and smoked.

Once again, I would appreciate any information that folks may have regarding potential makers for the bowl and potential bases that would hold this kind of threaded bowl. For information sake: it does not fit the Pacemaker, the Falcon, Alco, Viking or any of those pipes. It also does not fit the WDC bases or older Bakelite bases that I have tried. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

A Dr. Grabow Duke Billiard Reborn

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Two more pipes left in the box of pipes needing to be refurbished. The first is a Gr. Grabow billiard. It is stamped on the left side of the shank DUKE over Dr. Grabow and on the right side Imported Briar. It was a bowl without a stem. The bowl was in very rough shape. The top was no longer flat and had a large dip in the front where the bowl rim was burned down by a torch lighter or something like that. The finish was ruined and the fills on the left and right had fallen out of the briar. The bowl itself was caked heavily and appeared to be out of round. I sorted through my can of stems and found one that was close to the shank diameter. The oddity of this pipe was that the original shank was more oval than round so whatever stem I fit would have to be adjusted to fit the shape of the shank. I turned the tenon on this old stem and it fit quite well in the shank. I would need to adjust the diameter of the stem to the oval shape of the shank eventually.

I adjusted the diameter of the stem to fit the shank with a Dremel and sanding drum. I was able to bring it very close to the shank size and then did the rest of the work in fitting the stem by hand sanding.

The bowl rim was in rough shape. I debated whether to refurbish this pipe since I received it from a friend. I would take it out and look it over and then put it back in the box undecided. However, with the box almost empty I decided to give a go. The biggest area of damage was the front edge of the rim. The extent of damage to the rim is visible in the next two photos.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to clean up the inside of the bowl and assess the damage to the inner rim on the front. The front edge of the rim had the most damage. I topped the bowl using my usual method of sandpaper on a flat surface. The sandpaper was 220 grit. I placed the bowl top flat against the sandpaper and turned it into the sandpaper to remove the damaged material. I worked the rim down until it was once again flat. I worked on the inner edge of the rim with a piece of sandpaper to smooth out the surface and restore as much of the roundness of the bowl as possible.

I repaired the fills that had fallen out next. First I cleaned them with a dental pick to remove loose debris and the wipe them down with alcohol. I packed briar dust into the holes and mixed it with wood glue. I wanted to experiment with the wood glue to see if it would take stain better than the superglue patches that I have been using. Once the glue was dry I sanded the bowl smooth again with 220 grit sandpaper and also a medium grit sanding sponge.

I sanded the bowl smooth and then wiped it down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the stain and the remaining finish.

After wiping it down with the acetone I sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the remaining surface and prepare it for staining. (In the third photo below the reworked inner edge of the bowl is visible.)

I decided to use a two part staining process once again to give good coverage to the bowl and to bring out some of the grain on the pipe. I applied the first coat of stain – a black aniline stain – with a cotton swab, flamed it and reapplied and reflamed it until the coverage was good. I warmed the briar with the flame of the lighter to set the stain deep in the grain of the briar.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone again to remove the top coat of the black stain and bring the grain highlights to the surface. I continued to wipe it down until I removed as much as possible with the acetone.

I sanded the bowl with the medium grit sanding sponge and then wiped it between sandings with cotton pads and Everclear. When I had the finish looking the way I was hoping it would I gave it a final wash with Everclear.

I buffed the pipe and stem with red Tripoli to remove more of the stain and to see what the finish would look like with a buff. I knew that I would need to do more sanding to the bowl and shank to remove the scratches that remained before I gave it the second stain colour coat.

I sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then stained it with a top stain of walnut brown aniline. I applied it, flamed it and repeated the process until I had a good even coat of stain.

I sanded the bowl again and the stem as well with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit and then dry sanded with the remaining grits from 3200-12,000. When I had finished sanding the stem I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the stem.

When it was dry I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond and then gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax to protect and seal the stem against oxidation and to give some shine to the bowl of the pipe. The finished pipe is shown below. The finished look is far better than I expected when I started with the pipe. The rim looks better and the stain colour highlights the grain nicely. It should provide someone with a good smoking pipe for use in the yard or shop.

Reworking a Stetson Sport Zulu

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This pipe was gifted to me in exchange for a bit of stem work that I did recently for a friend of mine. It came in a box with the pipe to be repaired and two others. It was a brand that I knew absolutely nothing about. The pipe was obviously American made and had a coat of thick varnish on the bowl that was beginning to flake and peal. I decided to do a bit of research on the brand to see if I could find any information on it.

I found a document online for the John B. Stetson Company. Stetson is the manufacturer of Western hats but I was not aware that they also made pipes. One source seemed to point to the fact that the pipes were made by Marxman Pipe Company and branded with the Stetson name.

The document was written as a brand page for the company in application for a trademark. I have included that document below as I find the historical detail quite interesting. The source of the information is this website: http://www.legalforce.com/stetson-78583631.html I quote the following information in part from that site.

“John B. Stetson Company

Absorbent paper for tobacco pipes, ashtrays not of precious metal, chewing tobacco, cigar bands, cigar cutters, cigar humidifiers, cigar tubes, cigarette cases not of precious metal, cigarette lighters not of precious metal, cigars, cigarillos, hand-rolling tobacco, humidors, match boxes not of precious metal, match holders, matches, non-electric cigar lighters not of precious metal, pipe pouches, pipe tampers, pipe tobacco, tobacco, rolling papers…

This is a brand page for the STETSON trademark by John B. Stetson Company in Mt. Kisco, NY, 10549. Write a review about a product or service associated with this STETSON trademark. Or, contact the owner John B. Stetson Company of the STETSON trademark by filing a request to communicate with the Legal Correspondent for licensing, use, and/or questions related to the STETSON trademark.

On Wednesday, March 09, 2005, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for STETSON by John B. Stetson Company, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549. The USPTO has given the STETSON trademark serial number of 78583631. The current federal status of this trademark filing is ABANDONED – NO STATEMENT OF USE FILED. The correspondent listed for STETSON is BARRY A. COOPER of GOTTLIEB, RACKMAN & REISMAN, P.C., 270 MADISON AVE FL 8, NEW YORK, NY 10016-0601. The STETSON trademark is filed in the category of Smoker’s Products . The description provided to the USPTO for STETSON is Absorbent paper for tobacco pipes, ashtrays not of precious metal, chewing tobacco, cigar bands, cigar cutters, cigar humidifiers, cigar tubes, cigarette cases not of precious metal, cigarette lighters not of precious metal, cigars, cigarillos, hand-rolling tobacco, humidors, match boxes not of precious metal, match holders, matches, non-electric cigar lighters not of precious metal, pipe pouches, pipe tampers, pipe tobacco, tobacco, rolling tobacco, smokeless tobacco, smoking pipe cleaners, sm.”

I also found the following stamping photos on Pipephil’s Stamping and Logos site: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s12.html

Armed with the information I found I tackled the cleanup and restoration of this American Pipe from John B. Stetson! The pipe is stamped Stetson over Sport on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Italy on the right side of the shank. The finish was very rough and peeling off the surface of the briar on the bowl where the hands held it. The rim had a thick cake of tars and oils. The inner edge of the rim was nicked and burned and was slightly out of round. The bowl was heavily caked with a soft carbon cake that was crumbling in places. The stem had screw on tenon and was over turned to the right. It had tooth marks on the top and the bottom side of the stem and oxidation on the entirety. There was an S logo stamped in the left side of the saddle. The stinger apparatus in the stem was tarred and dirty and the inside of the stem was slightly clogged with tars.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to take the cake back to bare wood. The crumbling cake toward the bottom of the bowl made this necessary so that the next owner can build up their own hard cake.

I topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a board and took off the damaged surface of the rim. I also cleaned up the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper. I wanted to smooth out the damage to the inner edge and repair the out of round shape of the bowl.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad. The thick coat of varnish was hard to break down with the acetone. I wiped it until I had softened the varnish and then sanded the bowl and shank with the 220 grit sandpaper and then a sanding sponge. The putty fills were shrunken and formed small divots in the bowl. I filled these with superglue and briar dust and then sanded them down when I sanded the bowl. After sanding the bowl down I wiped it again with acetone to remove the sanding dust.

I sanded the bowl with a fine grit sanding sponge and then wet sanded it with 1500 and 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads. Once I had a smooth surface to work with I stained the bowl with a black aniline stain and then flamed it with a lighter. I wanted to set the stain deep in the grain.

When the stain was dry I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the excess stain. I wanted the black to remain in the grain and highlight that while masking the fills.

I sanded the stained bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the excess. The next two photos show the bowl after sanding and then buffing with red Tripoli and White Diamond. The grain is standing out nicely from the black stain.

I restained the bowl with an oxblood coloured aniline stain and flamed it. I repeated the process until I had an even coverage on the bowl and shank. The next three photos show the bowl after staining with the oxblood.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks on the top and bottom side of the stem. I followed that by sanding with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper.

I put the stem back on the pipe and took it to the buffer and buffed it with Tripoli. I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond. The next photos show the pipe after the initial buffing.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500, 1800 and 2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then dry sanded with the remaining grits from 3200-12,000. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and the waited for it to soak in. Afterwards I hand buffed with carnauba wax.

The next series of four photos show the finished pipe. The interior is shiny and new looking and the pipe bowl has a good contrast stain. The stem is shinier and the oxidation is pretty well gone. The photo of the stem looking down on the top shows a little oxidation around the saddle area. That area has been problematic on this pipe. In the daylight the stem looks better than this night photo with lights. My guess is that the oxidation is still there and in the glare of the flash it is very visible. This pipe will make a nice addition to someone’s rotation.

Reworking A Previous Refurbishment – A Genod Rhodesian

A Tiny Rhodesian Restored and Restemmed

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Here is another pipe from the bottom of the refurbishment box. It is a little Rhodesian that I had ignored for a while. It measures 4 3/8 inches long stem included. The bowl is 1 ¾ inches long and 1 inch tall. The inner diameter of the bowl is ½ inch and the bowl depth is ¾ inch. The bowl was in pretty decent shape and was unsmoked. There was a fill on the left side of the bowl and a slight divot on the shank next to the bowl. The end of the shank had some pretty deep nicks in it and would make a tight fit between stem and shank impossible. Half the battle in restemming these small pipes is finding a stem that will work and then turning the tenon to fit the small mortise. This one was no exception. I had a stem that would work it was 2 5/8 inches long and was made out of nylon. It was an old WDC pipe stem. The shoulders were well rounded and the tenon was short.

I reduced the diameter of the tenon with a sanding drum on a Dremel. I laid the sanding drum against the surface of the tenon and let it ride around the tenon until the diameter was close. Then I sanded it until the fit was snug. The mortise was not that deep due to the size of the pipe so I needed to shorten the tenon to the same depth as the mortise. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to achieve that as well.

Once I had a good tight fit on the stem I sanded down the bowl and wiped it down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the finish. I pressure fit a small nickel band on the shank to provide a smooth transition between the bowl and stem and to cover the deep nicks or gouges on the end of the shank. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess material on the diameter and make a good fit against the end of the tenon.

I sanded the area around the divot in the shank and cleaned it with acetone. I then filled the divot with clear superglue and sanded it again once the glue had dried. I wanted to have a smooth transition between the bowl and shank without the divot showing. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge. I also sanded the stem at the same time and then wiped the entirety down with acetone.

I sanded the bowl and the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with the 3200-12,000 grit pads. When finished I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then took it to the buffer and lightly buffed the stem with White Diamond. I say lightly because I have learned that a heavy hand on the buffer will make a mess out of a nylon stem and you will have to start over with the sanding process.

I took the pipe back to the worktable and stained it with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied the stain and flamed the pipe several times until I had an even coverage on the sanded areas and they blended in well with the rest of the pipe.

I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a top coat of oxblood stain. I have found that the combination of the two stains helps hide the fills that were present as well as the repairs that had been done with superglue.

I buffed the entire pipe again with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to bring the shine out on the pipe. In order to help you appreciate the small size of the pipe I have included the next two photos. The top pipe in the photos is group 4 sized. In contrast, the tiny Rhodesian is a group 1.

The finished pipe is pictured below and I think it will be a nice little flake pipe for the Virginia smokers in the lot.

I received two comments below about giving the stem a slight bend so this morning I did just that. Below is a photo of the new look! Thanks Greg and Chiz.

A New Look for an Italian Made Billiard – Restemmed and Reworked

1 Reply

This is yet another bowl from the bottom of the box of pipes for refurbishing. This one is an Italian made no name basket pipe. The stamping merely says Imported Briar Italy. The finish was spotty and peeling from the bowl. It almost looked like a dark brown opaque stain coat and then a thick varnish coat over that. The bowl was badly caked, the shank was filthy and the rim caked and peeling. There were some large fills on the left side of the bowl that were coming out of the holes and were peeling around the edges. The bowl did not have a stem so I found one in my box of stems that fit with a little adjustment to the tenon.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. The bowl and shank smelled heavily of aromatics with a fruity overtone and I wanted to remove that so that the new owner could form a cake of his/her own choice.

The stem was too large in diameter at the stem shank junction. So I sanded it back with a sanding drum on a Dremel. I have found that a Dremel run a medium speed can be carefully used to take back the diameter of a stem to almost match the shank with the stem in the shank. Care must be exercised so as not to nick the briar of the shank with the sanding drum.

I took the pipe back to the work table and sanded it until it fit well with 220 grit sandpaper. I also decided to sand the shank with the sandpaper as well to achieve a good flow from shank to stem. I also wanted to remove the heavy black/brown finish on the pipe so removing it from the shank was not problematic.

Once I had sanded the transition smooth I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the remainder of the finish on the bowl.

After wiping it down I gave it a buff with red Tripoli on the buffing wheel to remove the remainder of the finish and give me an idea of what would still need to be done with the bowl.

I sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge and then picked out the large broken fills on the left side of the bowl. I wiped it with acetone to clean it one more time before packing the fills with briar dust. I packed in the briar dust with a dental pick and then tamped it down with flat head tamper to make sure the pack was good and tight. I dripped some superglue gel into the briar dust and then more briar dust on top of the glue. I tamped it another time to get a good solid fill. I sanded the excess briar dust superglue mixture with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge.

I stained the pipe with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol as the undercoat on the pipe. I stained and flamed the stain repeatedly until the coverage was even and solid over the entire pipe. The patch on the side is still visible but in no longer flaking and falling out the fill. The surface remains slightly rough but I will continue to sand it before giving it another coat of stain.

I buffed the bowl with Red Tripoli and then with White Diamond in preparation for the next coat of stain. I sanded the fill area with a fine grit sanding sponge and then sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads 1500-2400 grit. I then restained the bowl with a oxblood stain as the second coat on the bowl. I applied it and flamed it until the coverage was even. Then buffed it with White Diamond.

During this second staining I removed the stem and examined the end of the shank and saw small hairline cracks in several places. They did not go through to the surface of the shank but they were troublesome enough to me that I decided to band the pipe. There were also several nicks in the outer edge of the shank that made a tight fit relatively impossible to attain. I heated a nickel band with a heat gun and pressure fit it in place on the shank. I had to reduce the tenon slightly to get a good fit on the stem. I also sanded the stem around the junction so that it would fit properly against the banded shank.

The fills still needed more work but for the time being I worked on the stem some more. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax.

I decided to do some more work on the areas of the fills. I sanded the areas of the fills down with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge. I then sanded the entire bowl and shank with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish. I wiped it down with a cotton pad and Everclear to remove the last of the finish and also the sanding grit. I used superglue to refill the fills and even out the surface and dips that still remained after the first reworking. I then sanded the spots with 220 grit sandpaper, a medium grit and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches and blend the fills into the surface of the bowl.

I stained the bowl with a 2:1 mixture of aniline dark brown stain and isopropyl alcohol. I applied the stain with a cotton swab and flamed it. I reapplied and reflamed it several times until I had a good even coverage on the bowl and shank.

I buffed the pipe with White Diamond to smooth out the surface of the bowl and then gave it a top coat of oxblood stain. I wiped the stain on with a cotton pad and flamed it repeating the process until I was happy with the coverage on the bowl. I was much happier now with the fills as they were smooth to the touch and there were no more pits or divots in them.

I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond one more time. It brought a deep rich shine to the bowl and the stem. I then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and polish the pipe. The four photos below show the finished pipe. It is ready for someone to load it and fire it up. It should provide a reliable and lightweight pipe for someone’s rack.

Refurbishing and Restemming an Unsmoked Small Paneled Rhodesian

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I am scraping the bottom of the box for pipes to refurbish. It is clear that I am going to have to go on the hunt again soon. At the bottom of the box I have a few small/tiny pipe bowls that have come to me from a variety of sources. I believe this little one came from Mark Domingues as well. It is unsmoked and stemless. The bowl was in pretty fair shape though the finish coat was varnish of some sort. The stain was spotty under the varnish coat. There was one dominant fill on the left side of the bowl on one of the panels. The drilling is a bit of centre in the bottom of the bowl – slightly to the left of centre. The drilling was wide open and the draught on the bowl was very good. The bowl did not have a ring around the top before the bevel to the rim. It was a smooth transition. I have had several of these older Rhodesian and Bulldogs in the past and they generally had horn stems. This one did not have any stamping on it so I have no idea as to the maker. There was also no stem present. I had a smaller nylon stem in my box of stems that took very little work on the tenon to make for a snug fit in the shank.

Once the stem fit well in the shank I sanded the shank and stem to get a good smooth transition between stem and shank. I used 220 grit sandpaper to do the rough work and then used a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the shank and stem. The stem had casting marks on both sides of the stem and also heavy tobacco stains around the button and in the slot. The airway was virtually clogged and I could barely get a straightened paper clip through before I worked on it with Everclear and bristle pipe cleaners.

I decided to sand the stain off the shank and rework the taper on the pipe from button to bowl. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess briar and nylon and smooth out the taper. What I wanted was a clean smooth line from button to bowl. The next four photos show the shank and the stem after sanding with the 220 grit sandpaper. The flow is smooth and even and the lines are very graceful. The casting marks are gone from both sides of the stem and the button is cleaned of the majority of the stains.

I wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish finish and some of the stain on the bowl in order to make it easier to match the stain on the newly sanded shank and the bowl. I also sanded the bowl, shank and stem with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratches left behind by the sandpaper and to prepare the stem for sanding with micromesh sanding pads.

I sanded the entire pipe and stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem and the bowl with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl alone with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I did not want to make the briar to smooth to take a good coat of the stain.

I stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain mixed 2 parts stain with 1 part isopropyl alcohol to get the colour I wanted. I was going for more of a wash than a deep coat. I wanted the grain on the shank and bowl to come through the colour. I used a black permanent mark to draw grain marks on the two fills and to make it easier for the stain coat to blend in and hide the putty marks.

Once the stain was dry I buffed the bowl with White Diamond to give it a shine and then reinserted the stem and lightly buffed the stem with White Diamond as well. The nylon stems take a very soft touch or they are easily damaged. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax to protect them and then lightly buffed the pipe a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is not a big pipe in any sense but should be a great flake pipe. The second photo below gives an idea of proportion by the inclusion of my hand with the pipe. The yellow nylon stem approximates the unique colour and look of the horn stem that must have originally graced this little bowl. The stem is thin and the new taper gives a very delicate look to the new pipe.

Repairing a Burned Through Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

There are many times I take on the challenge of repairing a pipe totally for the learning experience. When I begin working on it there is nothing of redeeming value in the pipe itself. It is not beautiful or worthy of keeping. Rather it provides a unique learning opportunity for me to work on a skill in my refurbishing hobby. The pipe below is exactly that kind of pipe. Mark Domigues sent it to me along with other bowls when I was working on the shank repair on his old Peterson pipe. It is a no name pipe with a rustication pattern that I did find particularly attractive. In fact I put off working on it as it just did not appeal to me. I can’t tell you how many times I picked the bowl up and carried it to the recycle bin (a bin I used for briar parts) and then carried it back to the “to be refurbished” box.

Finally, Monday the challenge called me. I took the bowl out of my box and looked it over. As I looked at it, the shape kind of grew on me. It is a brandy glass shape and the shank actually has a flare to it as well. The rustication is a bit striated but as I cleaned up the exterior it is a lot like tree bark. The stain is a contrast stain – a black undercoat in the grooves and a brown top coat. It was worn but could be salvaged. The shank stem junction was also worn but a band would clean up that part of the pipe. The interior bowl sides were clean and solid. The rim was in good shape. But the glaring problem is visible in the photo below – a large, ½ inch diameter burnout on the flat bottom of the pipe. The surrounding briar was solid. The burnout was very focused. The burn did not extend into the rest of the bottom of the pipe. In fact the wood around the edges of the hole was clean and solid. There was none of the darkening around edges of the burnout or on the bottom of the bowl. It looked like it might be a great candidate for practicing a repair. I have done one other repair on a burn out which involved inserting a briar plug and this looked like it was another candidate for that repair. The difference in this one was the solidness of the briar around the hole.

As I worked up the chutzpah to tackle this repair I decided to work on the shank. I sanded the shank smooth in preparation for the band. I like to have a smooth surface under the band rather than a rusticated pattern. I find it gives a good smooth fit to the band. I sanded out the rustication to the width of a nickel band. Once it was sanded smooth, I heated a band over a heat gun and then pressed it into place. I liked the finished look of the band.

I am sure that you can tell at this point that I am procrastinating in addressing the main issue of the bowl with all of the other random work on the pipe but that went on a little longer. I found a stem in my stem box that fit the shank quite well. The mortise had originally had a screw in fitment so it was threaded. The threads were well worn so I decided to use a regular style push stem. I sanded the tenon to get a good tight fit on the stem and then sanded the stem to get a good fit against the shank and band. The slight bend in the stem looked good but it was a bit crooked so I would address that issue later. The finished look of the stem and band with the bowl was quite nice…maybe there was something redeemable about the bowl after all.

I have a few pieces of scrap briar that I have scavenged from pipe maker friends that I had put away for this kind of repair. So I found one that had enough briar left that I could carve it into a plug for the bottom of the bowl. I trimmed it with a hack saw to reduce the size of the plug.

In the first photo below you can see what the hole looked like after I had cleaned it up with a pick and Everclear. I had also reamed the inside of the bowl to remove all of the cake from the sides and the bottom of the bowl. The second photo shows the hole after I had drilled it out. I used a cordless drill with a ½ inch drill bit to round out the damage area and remove any further damage around the burnout. I chose the ½ inch bit as that was the diameter of the hole at the widest part of the hole.

I shaped the briar plug with a Dremel and sanding drum. The next series of photos show the progress of the shaping. I took the rough briar from a wedge to a circular plug and then shortened it to a round plug. I shaped a cap on the plug to the inner diameter of the bowl. Also originally I envisioned pushing the plug through from the inside of the bowl and then cutting off the portion that extended beyond the bottom of the bowl. I would then redrill the airway to finish the repair.

I continued to reduce the diameter of the plug until it was the same size as the hole in the bowl. The inside bowl bottom was hard to match with the cap of the plug. I continued to shape it until it was cup shaped. It seemed no matter how I shaped it however, it would not fit in the bowl bottom as the burnout was not centered in the bowl bottom. It was toward the front of the bowl bottom. I finally decided to use a different tact. I would forgo inserting it from the inside and go the other direction. I would insert it from the outside in. I measured the thickness of the bowl bottom (which was actually in good shape other than the burned portion). I then shortened the plug until it was relatively flush with the bottom of the airway. I coated the plug with superglue gel which gives me a bit more time before it sets and pushed it into the drilled hole. I pressed it against the table top to get the plug in place solidly.

Once the glue set I sanded away the excess briar with a Dremel to match the surface of the bowl. I was not worried about the rustication as I would duplicate that after I finished working the plug into place. The next two photos show the plug and the bowl surface are smooth and the plug is tightly in place.

The next photo shows the interior of the bowl. The plug is even with the entrance of the airway. There is difference in bowl depth around the left edge. I plan to give the bottom of the bowl a thick coating of pipe mud to both protect the new plug and to even out the slight trough on the left front edge of the plug.

I rusticated the bottom of the bowl with the Dremel to match the tree bark look of the rustication on the bowl (Photo 1 below). I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and then also gave the bottom of the bowl a second coat with black stain to emulate the effect of the stain coat on the rest of the bowl (Photos 2 and 3 below).

I stained the rest of the bowl with the dark brown stain to freshen it up and blend in the stain on the bottom of the bowl. I buffed it with red Tripoli and White Diamond to raise a shine and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax on the buffer. The finished exterior is visible in the first close up below and the following four photos of the pipe.

With the repair finished on the exterior of the pipe I worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the oxidation and scratches on the vulcanite. I heated the stem with a heat gun to straighten it and then rebent it over a rolling-pin to give it a slight bend. I set the bend under cool water and then gave the stem a quick buff with Tripoli before taking it back to the work table to further sand the stem.

I continued to sand the stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to bring a shine to the vulcanite. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. When I finished sanding with the pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it dry then buffed it with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax.

With the externals repaired and finished it was time to make up some pipe mud to coat the bottom of the bowl and give a protective coat over the bowl plug. I sacrificed a nice little Cohiba Cuban cigar for the purpose of making the mud of the ash. When the cigar was finished I had a nice bowl of clean ash.

I mixed the ash with a small amount of water to make a paste. I inserted a pipe cleaner into the airway and then applied it to the bottom of the bowl, tamping it into the crevices around the plug and building up the bowl bottom. As the pipe mud dried I added additional layers of mud to the bottom of the bowl and around the lower sides of the bowl. The next series of three photos show the progressive build up of the mud in the bottom of the bowl.

When the mud had dried to touch I buffed the pipe a final time with White Diamond and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. I then used a clean flannel buff for the final buffing. The restored pipe is pictured below. I will let the pipe mud cure and harden for a few days before loading up the pipe and smoking the inaugural bowl.

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rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: finishing

Reclaiming a Digby Conquest Canadian

Restemming and Repairing a Meerschaum Lined Lancaster Billiard

Help Requested for Unknown Maker of a Threaded Pipe Bowl with an Aluminum Base

A Dr. Grabow Duke Billiard Reborn

Reworking a Stetson Sport Zulu

Reworking A Previous Refurbishment – A Genod Rhodesian

A Tiny Rhodesian Restored and Restemmed

A New Look for an Italian Made Billiard – Restemmed and Reworked

Refurbishing and Restemming an Unsmoked Small Paneled Rhodesian

Repairing a Burned Through Bowl

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