Tag Archives: Fitting a new tenon to the shank

Replacing a Broken Tenon on one of my own – a Svendborg Full Bent Apple

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that I had restored previously and had really enjoyed smoking. This older Svendborg Bent Apple was a great smoking pipe that is light weight and enjoyable. I had reamed, cleaned, restored and reclaimed a worn bowl and tired vulcanite stem (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/03/04/refurbished-svendborg-full-bent-apple/). It is stamped on the underside of the shank ahead of the vulcanite shank extension. It reads Svendborg [over] Denmark [over] Hand Made. It has a nice looking dark sandblast finish on the bowl culminating in a thin rim top. The fancy turned saddle stem has a Svendborg logo stamped on the left side. About a year ago we had a flood in our basement and the restoration folks packed my pipes and tobacco storage up and took it away. When they brought it back and unpacked it I found that the tenon was snapped off in the shank extension. Fast forward to a year later – today, and you will find it on my work table. After lunch today, I decided to replace the tenon and re-restore the pipe once again. I decided to record the process once more so you can see the steps. Here is what it looked like when I started. I took a photo of the snapped tenon before trying to remove it. I used a drywall screw and tried to pull the broken tenon out of the shank. It was too tight and did not move at all. I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes and once I took it out I tried again to remove the broken tenon. I turned the screw in the airway and it came free of the shank extension without any trouble. It was now ready for a tenon replacement.From the previous restoration I have inserted the following information on the brand. I quote it below:

From http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s8.html I learned the following information: The Svendborg brand founded in 1970s by Henrik Jørgensen, Poul Ilsted and Tao Nielsen. They bought an old factory (Nordisc Pibefabriker) in Svendborg on Funen Island. Poul and Tao gradually bowed out from machine manufactured pipes (1982) and Henrik Jørgensen managed the brand until it was taken over by Design Berlin (D) in the late 90’s. Kaj C. Rasmussen joined the firm for several years. 17 employees worked for this brand under Henrik Jørgensen direction. I was given this pipe by a good friend last weekend when I visited him on Vancouver Island. The bowl was in great shape and the stem merely oxidized. There were no bite marks and some minimal tooth chatter on the underside of the stem near the button. The pipe is stamped on the underside Svendborg over Danish over Hand Made and on the left side of the shank is stamped Bark. The stem has the squashed S logo on the left side. The stem is a chairleg type saddle near the shank. The shank has a vulcanite shank extension.

I started the work on the new tenon by flattening the end of the chairleg stem. It was rough from where the tenon had snapped. I used a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the jagged pieces of vulcanite from the stem end.I went through my tenons and found one that had a similar diameter to the broken tenon piece that I had kept. I would need to be shaped and deduces in diameter to get a snug fit but it was close.I used a sanding drum on my Dremel to start the process and finished up with a rasp. I took off the necessary amount and smoothed out the files marks to make sure it was round. I cleaned up the tenon a bit more and put the tenon in the shank. It fit the shank very well at this point. I set the bowl aside with the tenon and worked on the stem end. I started opening the airway in the tenon with a pen knife. I have found that doing this gives a good guide for the drilling of the opening. Once finished with the knife I started with a drill bit in my cordless drill that was slightly larger than the airway and slowly turned it into the airway. I changed the bits until I used the 11/64 drill bit. I sanded down the threaded portion of the new tenon until the fit was perfect. I painted the threaded end of the tenon with medium thick black CA. I spread it on the tenon with a dental spatula. I pressed it into the stem end and aligned it with a pipe cleaner. I set the stem aside to allow the glue to cure.Once the glue cured and the tenon was solidly anchored in the stem I put it in the shank extension and took photos. The pipe was back to normal and looked great. I took a photo of the bowl and the shank/stem fit. It looked very good and the fit in the shank was snug.I took the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts. You can clearly see the new tenon in the photo. The bend of the stem matches the curves of the bowl and shank. It is a great looking pipe.I would soon be able to enjoy it once again. I set the pipe aside until the morning. I generally leave a repair like this cure overnight before smoking a bowl. Thanks for following along with the blog. I hope that at least some of the process is helpful to you in your own restoration work. Enjoy your pipes!

Replacing a Broken Tenon on an Italian Made Capri Gozzo Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday I received an unexpected package from a fellow living in Port Clements, British Columbia. I say unexpected because I had not spoken to anyone from there about a repair. But here it was so I opened it to find a pipe with a broken tenon and a cheque for the work. There was a note in the package with a return address but no phone number or email. The pipe had the tenon broken off cleanly and stuck in the shank.The edges of the shank had some nicks in the edges and face on the left side. The stem face had some remnants but otherwise the break had been clean. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Capri [over] Gozzo. On the right side of the shank it was stamped and read Made in Italy. The finish was dirty and there was a moderate cake in the bowl and lava overflowing on the rim top. It looked like he had dropped it somewhere along the way and snapped the stem off. The stem was lightly oxidized and had some chatter and tooth marks on both side ahead of the button but nothing to deep. I took some photos of the bowl and stem when I received it to show what it looked like when I received it here in Vancouver. I took photos of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and the damage to the inner edge and the top of the rim. I also took photos of the stem to show the oxidation and tooth chatter on both sides at the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above.I took some photos of the shank end and stem end to show the broken tenon and the remnant on the face of the stem.I decided to start my work on the pipe by pulling the tenon from the shank. Usually I use a dry wall screw and twisted it into the airway. On this pipe it was stuck tight. I put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes and it was still stuck. I decided to drill it out and move on. I went through my tenons and found that I was missing the black Delrin one that I needed for the size of the shank. I did find a threaded white Delrin one that would fit the shank with a few minor adjustments. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the shoulder ahead of the threads and it fit perfectly in the shank. I am hoping that the fellow will return my calls so I can chat with him about the tenon. No luck on many phone calls so the tenon was glued in place this morning.Now it was time to work on replacing the broken tenon. I drilled out the face of the stem with a cordless drill and a bit roughly the size of the airway in the stem. I find that this helps to center the drilling. I worked my way through drill bits up to 15/64s which is approximately the size of the threaded portion of the tenon.I turned the threaded portion of the tenon into the drilled airway and the fit was perfect. I used a dental pick to spread some black CA glue on the threads of the tenon and turned it in place in the stem. I set it aside to wait for the glue to cure.While the glue cured on the new tenon I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.I used a piece of folded 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge of the bowl and smooth out the nicks there. I also sanded the rim top at the same time to remove the lava and darkening there. I stained the rim top with an oak stain pen to blend it into the surrounding briar.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad. The briar began to take on a shine as the pads progressed. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I pressed a thin brass band on the shank end to take care of the nicks and chips there. It also gave a smooth surface for the face of the stem to sit. I like the addition of the bling. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was in such great condition that I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. This Capri Gozzo Fancy Saddle Stem Billiard turned out to be a more beautiful pipe than I had expected when I took it out of the package. The finish on the briar is nice and the grain really stands out. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished black vulcanite stem. This classic looking Capri Gozzo Billiard feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 63 grams/2.22 oz. The pipe definitely looks better than when it arrived. It will be heading back to pipeman who sent it to me later this week. Thanks for walking through the repair and restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.