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Doing a Clean up and Restoration of a Stanwell Revival 105 Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that a fellow just dropped by. He had written to me earlier this week about a Stanwell that he had that needed some work. Here is his first email.

Your name was passed to me by the folks at City Cigar. I was lamenting to them how my decade old Stanwell was not doing well, and they suggested I check in with you. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. — Mike

I replied to him as follows:

Thank you. Can you send me a photo of the pipe on your phone?

He did not waste anytime and sent me an email with the first three pictures below and also a description of what he knew was wrong with the pipe. He wrote as follows:

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! In the photos you can see that there are stem problems, but also a little crack in the bowl. If I could save this piece, I would so grateful. I just love the shape, as well as the elegant mouthpiece. I haven’t really seen anything else like it. — Thanks, Mike

The pipe appeared to be very dirty in the photos that were included. He also circled the crack that was on the top of the shank at the bowl shank joint. The rim top was dirty and worn with some knock out marks on the top edge. The finish was grimy and tired looking. The inner edge of the bowl showed some damage and darkening around the bowl. The stem was wrapped with scotch tape around the end that fit in the shank. I speaking with Mike he stated that it was loose in the shank extension so he had wrapped it to give the stem more of a fit in shank. It was worn out and sticky but it had done the job keeping the stem from falling out of the bowl. After viewing the photos and talking with Mike about the pipe I asked him to drop it by the house so I could work on it. I took photos of the pipe once it was dropped off before I worked on it. My evaluation of the pipe confirmed all of the things that I noted above in my communication with Mike about his pipe. There was one other issue that became visible when it was here. The shank extension was loose in the shank. The glue that had held it in place had broken loose and it turned freely in the shank. It is a uniquely shaped pipe that I really like the looks of and I think that once it is cleaned up it will be a real beauty. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. The rim top shows the thick lava coat on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. It is heavier on the back side than the front. You can also see the tape around the stem diameter to attempt to tighten the fit in the shank extension. You can see the oxidation around the stem sides and the deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above. It is clear and readable. The pipe is quite nice with the stem removed. You can see the flow of the design and the look of the parts.I turned to Pipedia and the section on the Stanwell Shape Numbers and Designers to see what I could find (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I found the following information that I quote below:

  1. ‘Elegance’; Bent apple with an acrylic mount and a long tapered stem. A reinterpretation of Sixten Ivarsson’s shape 08(b), by Sixten Ivarsson (1980s, see catalogue).

From that I can see that the pipe (105 shape) was a bent apple and was originally designed as a reinterpretation of the Sixten Ivarrson Shape 08b. I have included two pages from the 1980s catalogue below. The first show the 08 and the second page shows the 105. It is called an Elegance on that page rather than a Revival but it is a beauty. I started my work on this pipe by reaming the bowl. I started with a PipNet reamer to clean out the cake in the bowl. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished by sanding the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the interior of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl, shank extension and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they were clean. I unwrapped the tape from the stem in order to clean and restore it. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on the bowl and rim top as well as the inner and outer edges of the bowl. It cleaned up really well. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the soap and the grime from the briar. I dried it off with a cotton towel. I took photos of the bowl at this point in the process. With the pipe cleaned up it was time to re-glue the shank extension to the end of the shank. I used some Weld Bond white all-purpose glue to reattach the extension to the shank end. I spread the glue around the tenon on the extension and pushed it in place. I adjusted the fit around the shank until it all aligned. I set it aside to cure. At this point in the process it was time to deal with the crack in the shank at the shank/bowl union. I used a small pinpoint to mark the ends of the crack on both sides of the shank. I drilled a hole in the small mark on each side of the crack end using a microdrill bit.I filled in the crack and the two drill holes in the shank sides with clear CA glue. I spread it into the crack and the holes with a dental spatula. Once it had cured I sanded the repairs smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and followed it up with micromesh as seen in the next photos.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. The bowl began to take on a rich glow. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shines through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.  I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. It was in rough condition with the gummy tape on the end fitting into the shank and deep tooth marks. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to try and lift them. I lifted them but they were still distinctly present. I filled in the marks with Black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened the repair with a file and then followed that up with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked much better. I built up the end of the stem with clear acrylic fingernail polish. I spread it around the stem with a dental spatula and set it aside to cure. Once it hardened I polished it with micromesh.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The oval vulcanite taper stem works well with the pipe. The Stanwell Revival 105 Bent Apple feels great in my hand. It is a well-balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/38 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be giving back to Mike who dropped it off for restoration. I am sure he will enjoy it and it will give many more years of service to him.

As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

A Challenging Restoration of a c.1921 No Name Meerschaum Billiard

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During the summer of last year while browsing on Pinterest, I came across pictures of some beautiful pipes and following the links led me to an old gentleman from the UK who was willing to sell these pipes either single or as a lot. There were around 60 odd pipes. I went through the pictures that were sent along with the rates and selected 10 pipes. After a prolonged and interesting interaction, we managed to arrive at a price point. Soon these pipes landed on the shores of India and went in to Customs hold for nearly a month. Finally, it was released and I laid my hands on these pipes after a wait of nearly 3 months! Here is a picture of the lot that I had taken moments after opening the parcel.Since then, I have refurbished, repaired a family era Barling’s Make Bulldog (yellow arrow), a c.1901 Samuel McLardy (green arrow) and added them to my personal collection while the c. 1960 Dunhill Shell (blue arrow) has made it’s way to my dear friend to enjoy. This estate lot had a beautiful block Meerschaum billiard with a Redmanol stem (red arrow) that called out to my wife. She liked the size, heft and simple classic straight lines of billiards and the way the red of the stem complimented the overall appearance of the pipe. The following picture will identify the pipes that have been restored and the meer that is now on my work table.This solid meerschaum is sans any stampings on the stummel or stem and lack of any housing case makes establishing the provenance of this pipe a tad impossible. The only pointer to this pipe being English is the stampings on the Sterling Silver ferrule at the shank end and should help in dating this pipe and identify the silversmith who mounted it on this pipe. It is stamped “H.T” in an oval over three sterling silver hallmarks. From left to right the first cartouche is with a LION PASSANT certifying silver quality followed by a cartouche with symbol for Chester Assay Office and the last cartouche contains the date code letter “V”.In order to link the maker’s mark on the silver band to a silversmith registered with Chester Assay office. I visited https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Chester-HP-HZ.html#HT  and I have reproduced the findings below that most closely matched the probable silversmith (highlighted in red).The cause for doubt in my mind with respect to the findings above is the fact that the “H.T” stamping on the silver band is enclosed in an oval whereas that shown above is in a square cartouche. However, the comment of Henry Tongue being a Pipe mounter and the period are perfectly matched. Thus the circumstantial evidence makes me want to believe that the pipe mounter of this Meerschaum pipe is Henry Tongue.  Any esteemed Reader is most welcome to shed more definitive information for the benefit of other members.

The next step was to ascertain the dating on this silver band. I frequent www.silvercollection.it for exact dating of letter code. The font style and the enclosing cartouche of the letter “V” on the shank band matches to the date year 1921. I have reproduced a screenshot of the relevant section of the date charts and the date year is indicated in red.

Now it was time to get working on the pipe.

Initial Inspection
To begin with, the stummel is dirty and covered in dust, dirt and grime of over a century gone by. The age on this pipe is manifested in the number of all the handling related scratches and marks that it has been subjected to. There is a decent layer of cake in the chamber with lava overflow over the rim top surface. Under all the crud, the rim top is deeply scratched all around. The stem seats loose in the shank. The stem has a couple of tooth indentations in the bite zone and other than that the Redmanol stem is in pretty good condition. Here are a few pictures of the pipe as it sits on my worktable. Detailed Inspection
There is a thick layer of cake in the chamber. The rim top surface has lava overflow and has darkened considerably over the entire surface. The rim top is peppered with deep scratches, probably caused when someone, somewhere through the century, tried to remove the crud from the rim top using a sharp knife or it could have been caused as damage due to uncared for storage when the rim top and rest of the stummel was being rubbed against some hard objects. This uncared for storage could be the most likely reason since the stummel too has a number of scratches and marks. The inner and outer rim edges both show a few nicks and dents. The exact extent of damage to the inner rim edge will be ascertained after the chamber and rim surface is rid of all the cake and crud. The chamber walls are thick and feel solid to the touch.The stummel has a number of scratches and marks over the surface. There is a lot of dirt and grime ground in to the stummel surface giving it a dull and patchy appearance. However under all the grime and scratches, the stummel has taken on a beautiful color/ patina through the years of smoking and it is my intent to preserve it through the process. The threads in the mortise are slightly worn out and the mortise itself shows accumulation of oils and grime. Other than these minor issues, the stummel surface is sans any major damage and feels solid to the touch. The opaque cloudy Redmanol stem looks amazing as it is and should add a new dimension to the beauty of the pipe once it is repaired and all polished up. There are a couple of deep tooth indentations in the bite zone (encircled in yellow) that would need to be addressed. The stem airway leading to the round orifice shows remnants of old oils and gunk. The threaded bone tenon is covered in very fine jute threads to increase the diameter of the tenon for improved seating of the tenon in to the mortise. Yet even after this adhoc improvisation, the seating of the stem is pretty loose. I would need to figure out a more accurate, reliable and permanent way to address this issue.The Process
I started work on this pipe by firstly getting rid of the jute threads from the tenon end and followed it with cleaning the airway using thin shank brushes and anti oil dish cleaning soap. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners to clean and dry out the airway. Using a soft brass wired brush; I cleaned out the entire gunk from the threads of the bone tenon.I filled the tooth indentations with clear superglue and set it aside for the glue to cure. Once the glue had cured, using a flat needle I sand the fill to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stem surface. Once I was through with this step, I dry sand the entire stem with 400, 600 and 800 grit sand papers followed by wet sanding using 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to, firstly, reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive ones, secondly, completely eliminate the oxidation and imparting a clean shine to the stem surface. Thirdly, this also helps to even out the minor tooth chatter from the bite zone. To complete the stem polish, I went through the entire set of nine micromesh pads, wet sanding through 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads.At this stage of refurbishing this pipe, little did I know that I would be carrying out further tedious and unplanned for repairs to the stem towards the end and till then, for all purposes, I have completed the stem restoration.

Next, I worked on the stummel. I began the stummel restoration by reaming the chamber with blade size 2 followed by size 3 of PipNet reamer. With my smaller fabricated knife, I scraped out all the carbon from difficult to reach areas. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber of the pipe. Once I had reached the bare walls, I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also rid the chamber of all ghost smells. The walls of the chamber are nice and solid with no signs of cracks. Using a sharp knife, I gently scraped out the overflow of lava from the rim top. The scratches on the rim surface are now clearly visible and so is the extent of damage to the outer edge of the rim. With the stummel internals cleaned up, using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire dried gunk from the mortise. I further cleaned the shank internals with a shank brush dipped in alcohol followed by running pipe cleaners through the shank till clean.All the while that I was cleaning the chamber and the shank, the sterling silver band came loose. I was extremely relieved to note that beneath the band, the shank was in pristine condition.To address the damages to the rim surface, I topped the rim top over a piece of 220 grit sandpaper, frequently checking for the progress made as I wanted to restrict the loss of meer material to not more than absolutely necessary. Close inspection of the rim top at this stage revealed that even though few minor scratches are still visible, they are too minor with the surface smooth to the touch. This will further even and smooth out during polishing with micromesh pads.I wiped the stummel surface with a cotton swab and Murphy’s Oil soap. The stummel surface is now free of all the dust and grime. I also cleaned out the last traces of lava from the rim top surface. The stummel and rim top surface now looks dark and dull, but it is clean. The scratches/ lacerations over the stummel surface are now more prominently visible. I shall bring back the rich shine when I polish it further using micromesh pads. This step will also help further reducing a few of the minor scratches and lacerations from the surface. At this point I was caught in a conflict; should I sand the stummel with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches to make it look pristine and loose the patina that has developed over the years or preserve the coloration and patina. I decided on the later, after all it is the coloration taken on by the meer over the years which is more important and the existing scratches are a part of its journey through the years, is how I convinced myself!! I polished the stummel surface by dry sanding it with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. Some minor scratches were also addressed while imparting a nice deep shine to the stummel. The patina was also preserved. All in all, I am pleased with the appearance of the stummel at this stage. Next I gave a beeswax polish to the meerschaum bowl. I assembled the equipment and materials that would be needed during the process — a heat gun, paper towels, q-tips and a container for the wax and of course, beeswax. I stuffed the chamber with cork to prevent inadvertent seepage of the melted beeswax into either. Next, I melted a sufficient quantity of beeswax in the container using my heat gun and thereafter heated the stummel. Using the a folded pipe cleaner, I completely coated the stummel with the wax and continued the application till the surface was saturated and set the stummel aside to absorb the wax. I reheated the stummel with the heat gun about 20 minutes later and let the excess wax either be absorbed or drip off from the stummel surface. I rubbed off the excess wax with a soft cotton cloth and brought a deep shine to the surface with a microfiber cloth. The stummel now sports it’s true dark color which was drawn out by wax treatment, absolutely gorgeous I say. Next, I reattach the sterling silver band to the shank end using CA superglue after polishing the band with a silver polishing cloth.The issue that now needed to be addressed was that of the loose seating of the stem in to the shank. I had an option of either coating the tenon with clear nail polish, which is a temporary solution most suitable for briar pipes or using CA superglue to coat the tenon. This is a more permanent solution, but one needs to be careful and work fast as the tenon may get stuck in to the shank as the glue hardens rapidly. I decided to go with using the superglue.

As decided, I applied a layer of superglue over the tenon surface and quickly turned it in to the shank till I had achieved a perfect alignment. I was equally quick to unscrew the tenon out from the shank to avoid having it stuck inside the shank. After a wait of few minutes to let the glue harden, I applied a second layer and followed the same process explained above. After repeating the process thrice, I decided to apply the glue one last time over the tenon to achieve a perfect thickness. Unfortunately this layer turned out to be one too many and as I was turning the tenon in to the shank, the tenon snapped at the stem end leaving it embedded within the shank. This created an altogether unexpected challenge, not to mention additional work and the need to put in extra man hours.The superglue around the broken tenon would first need to be loosened and thereafter the embedded tenon removed. I used pure acetone to loosen the glue around the broken tenon and pried it out using nose pliers, round needle files and dental tools.Next on the agenda was to fix a tenon on to the stem. From my can of spare parts, I shortlisted one Teflon Delrin screw tenon that was nearest match to the shank diameter. The shoulders of the threaded tenon perfectly seated and sealed the shank opening. The smooth end of the Delrin tenon would need some work to seat perfectly in to the stem. Following pictures will give you the general idea.I evened out the stem airway to accept the Delrin tenon using a round needle file. I was careful while working on this Redmanol stem as I did not want chipped edges on this century old stem. I, thereafter, worked the smooth end of the Delrin tenon by sanding it using a flat head needle file. I fine tuned the seating of the tenon in to the stem by sanding using a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I checked the seating of the stem in to the mortise and alignment of the stem airway, the mortise and the draught hole. Everything was perfectly aligned. Once I was satisfied, I fixed the tenon in to the stem using CA superglue and set it aside for the glue to harden.To give the finishing touches to this gorgeous century old pipe, I reattached the stem with the stummel. I then mounted a cotton cloth wheel on to the hand held rotary tool and applied several coats of carnauba wax over the stummel and the stem. I finished the restoration by giving the pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe, with the shining dark golden hued meerschaum stummel and complimenting red of the Redmanol stem looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs speak for themselves. I shall be adding it to my ever growing pipe collection. Thanks for the read…Cheers!!!

Rebuilding The Vulcanite Stem Of A c.1960 Dunhill Shell 56 F/T For A Friend

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During the summer of last year while browsing on Pinterest, I came across pictures of some beautiful pipes and following the links led me to an old gentleman from the UK who was willing to sell these pipes either single or as a lot. There were around 60 odd pipes. I went through the pictures that were sent along with the rates and selected 10 pipes. After a prolonged and interesting interaction, we managed to arrive at a price point. Soon these pipes landed on the shores of India and went in to Customs hold for nearly a month. Finally, it was released and I laid my hands on these pipes after a wait of nearly 3 months! Here is a picture of the lot that I had taken moments after opening the parcel.Since then, I have refurbished, repaired a family era Barling’s Make Bulldog (yellow arrow) and a c.1901 Samuel McLardy (green arrow) and added them to my personal collection. This estate lot had a Dunhill Shell (blue arrow) that called out to my fellow Pipe Club member and a dear friend who desired this pipe as his first Dunhill! The following picture will identify the pipes that have been restored and the Dunhill that is now on my work table.This is a beautiful bent billiard pipe with a deep craggy sandblast which pre 1960s Dunhill were well known for. It is stamped on the foot and the underside of the shank with the shape number “56” followed by “F/T” followed by “DUNHILL” over “SHELL BRIAR” followed by the COM stamp “Made in England” where the letter D is followed by a numeral “0” that is smaller than the letter D and is underscored. This is followed by Group size number “4” in a circle and letter “S” for Shell towards the shank end. Dunhill White Dot adorns the top of the vulcanite stem. The stampings are clear and readable.   I have worked on a few Dunhill pipes and had extensively researched the brand. There is so much to know and study about this single British brand that has survived to till this day that each day there is some new piece of information. However, pipedia.org has adequate information on the history, lines offered and dating guide for Dunhill pipe. I strongly recommend that all Pipers should make it a point to read through the information given there.

Based on the stamping seen on this pipe, with the numeral “0” being smaller than the letter D and underscored, conclusively dates this pipe to be from 1960.

Initial Inspection
The first thing I noticed, in fact anyone would, is that the stem is severely damaged with nearly ¾ of the bite zone conspicuous by its absence! What remains of the bite zone is peppered with tooth chatter. The stem is oxidized with the white dot intact. There is a decent amount of cake in the chamber with lava overflow on the rim top surface. The stummel boasts of nice deep craggy sandblast. The dirt, dust and grime embedded in the nooks and crannies of the sandblast give a dull and lackluster appearance to the stummel. The shank is dirty with traces of old oils and gunk. The following pictures will give you a general idea about the condition of the pipe. Detailed Inspection
The chamber shows a layer of medium thick cake with small traces of lava overflow on the rim top surface. From what I can see, the chamber walls appear to be without any damage. The chamber has faint sweet smell which should reduce with the internal cleaning of the stummel. The inner and outer rim edges are in good condition which will be further ascertained once the lava overflow and cake is removed. The mortise is clean and so is the shank airway.The stummel boasts of some beautiful sandblast pattern typical of lots of bird’s eye and ring grain all around. It is dirty with grime and tar filling in much of the craggy finish. The stummel fells solid to the touch and shows no signs of hot spots. The briar looks lifeless and dull which is nothing serious to address. The round shank of the bent billiards flows into a tapered vulcanite stem which flares, like a fish tail, at the button end and hence the stamp F/T. The vulcanite stem shows significant damage to the button end, in fact, there is no button at all, similar to a Dunhill Bruyere that I had worked upon a couple of years ago!! The slot end at the right side is missing about an inch of vulcanite. This pipe would have been a favorite of the previous owner and he had continued to enjoy bowls of his favorite tobacco long after the button end had been chewed off. This is evident from the significant tooth chatter on both the surfaces of the stem. I intend to reconstruct/ rebuild this portion of the stem, including the slot, while maintaining the stem and general profile of the pipe. This will require major repairs. The quality of vulcanite is top notch.In this project, stem rebuild will be a major challenge as achieving the fish tailed profile of the stem will be crucial for overall aesthetic appeal of this piece of briar. Having previously worked on a stem rebuild/ restoration of the Dunhill Bruyere, I am aware of the challenges this restoration will present en-route.

THE PROCESS
I started this project by cleaning the internals of the stem airway. Using thin shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap, I cleaned the stem airway. I have modified this process of cleaning the stem airway by doing away with pipe cleaners and alcohol as it saves me a ton of pipe cleaners, which is a precious commodity for me here in India. To say that the airway was filthy would be an understatement. A lot of perseverance and tons of elbow grease later, the stem internals are finally clean.With the stem internals now clean, I moved to external cleaning of the stem surface by dunking the stem into “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making it’s further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. Unfortunately, I missed out on taking pictures of this process.

While the stem was soaking in the deoxidizer solution, I reamed the chamber with a PipNet reamer tool, using cutting blade size 2 followed by size 3 heads. I used my fabricated knife to remove cake from areas inaccessible to the reamer blades and completed the process of removing the cake by sanding the walls smooth with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with alcohol to clean the residual carbon dust. The chamber walls are solid with no signs of hot spots, heat fissures or webs.Continuing with the internal cleaning of the chamber, I subjected it to a salt and alcohol bath. I used cotton balls which is an at par substitute as I have realized over the years. I drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole and further into the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim inner edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils/ tars from the chamber and mortise and loosened out any residual cake and tar build up, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire loosed gunk from the mortise and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and a hard bristled toothbrush. I cleaned the smooth rim top surface with the soap and Scotch Brite pad. I thoroughly cleaned the mortise with shank brush and anti-oil dish washing soap. The mortise is now thoroughly cleaned and fresh.Next, I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful contrasting hues colors that are unique to this sandblast pipe, on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. Now that the stummel work is nearly completed, I fish out the stem from the deoxidizer. I cleaned the stem under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad and cleaned the airway with a thin shank brush. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little EVO to rehydrate the stem. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the stem airway to clean the airway of the deoxidizer solution and water. To address the tooth indentations/ bite marks, I warmed up the bite zone with the flame of a lighter. The heat helps to expand the vulcanite and retain its original shape. This method may not always completely raise the depressions to the surface, but most of the times, to a great extent. In this case the tooth indentations were raised to a great extent, but the damage to the button edge would require a rebuild. I followed up the heating of the stem surface with sanding the bite zone with a worn out piece of 180 grit sandpaper to even out the surface.Next step was to start the process of rebuilding the slot end. I appropriately folded an index card and covered it with a transparent scotch tape which prevents the superglue and charcoal mix from sticking to the card. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and generously applied it over and extending beyond the broken surface using the remnants of the bite zone as guiding yardstick. I set the stem aside for curing over night. I have not researched and measured the exact length that I had to reconstruct, but eyeballed the length using the longer right side of the stem where a portion of the button was still intact. Before moving ahead, I would like to mention here that I had applied this mix in layers, over the week, to achieve sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding while shaping the button and achieving the correct stem profile.Once the fill had completely hardened, I moved ahead and began the process of filing and shaping the button end with a flat head needle file. This time around it was more  challenging as I had set for my self the aim of creating a fish tail shape (or rather as close a match to fish tail as possible), a straight thin slot and a concave shape to the button end as seen on original stems. This is how the stem repairs look at this point in restoration. There are many airpockets that are clearly visible and would need quite a few more rebuilds with the charcoal mix. It is not without a reason we say that Rome was not built in one day!!I marked a straight line for the slot orientation and using only the tip of the pointed needle file, I carved out the slot. I followed it up by enlarging this carved slot further using the slot carving file. I resorted to sanding with folded pieces of 180 grit sand papers to laboriously shape and widen the slot, always taking care to maintain a straight line. Once I was satisfied with the profile of the slot, I went ahead and shaped the button by first achieving a rough shape with a flat head needle file and there after fine tuning it by sanding it down with a 220 grit sand paper. A close look at the repairs confirmed the presence of some serious air pockets (seen as white spots) in the bite zone and at the slot end. Here are a couple of pictures which will point out these air pockets.I applied a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal over the air pockets ensuring that the mix is thoroughly filled up in to these air pockets. I set the stem aside for the repairs to cure. Once the fills had cured, I sand them with a flat needle file to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stem surface followed by further sanding using a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. Thankfully, the issue of air pockets has now been addressed. I continued to dry sand the entire stem with a folded piece of 600 and 800 grit sandpapers and further progressed to wet sanding with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. I rubbed a small amount of EVO to hydrate the stem.To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite. The repairs have blended in very well and the stem now looks shiny black and beautiful. The internals of the stem was once again cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners to clear the airway of all the debris resulting due to the sanding. The finished stem is shown below.To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to my hand held rotary machine and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe looks lovely, fresh and vibrant. This restored pipe is now ready to be shipped out to my friend and fellow pipe club member to enjoy for decades ahead.

Restoring a Sasieni Buckingham Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard with a Craggy Gold Shank Band

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking sandblast straight billiard with a sandblast rim top and a gold band on the shank. The stem is an original saddle stem. We picked it up on 11/18/2021 from a fellow in Gardenia, California, USA. The stamping on the underside of the shank reads “Buckingham” S on the heel of the bowl followed by three lines reading Sasieni [over] Four Dot [over] “Ruff Root”. Next to that stamping there is a single line reading London Made with the chunky gold band covering a portion of the stamping. The vulcanite saddle stem has the four light blue dots on the left side of the saddle. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with a reddish brown finish that highlights the sandblast on the bowl sides and shank. The bottom of the shank and bowl are flattened so that the pipe sits on the desktop. There is a sandpit on the right side of the bowl mid bowl. On the underside there is a putty fill running diagonal across the heel. The vulcanite stem is set apart from the shank by the gold nugget band. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The finish shows darkening of hand oils and some thick grime ground into the sand blast finish around the bowl sides. The stain is dull and the grain patterns under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The sandblast rim top was very dirty with darkening and lava ground into the blast. It is heavier on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl looks quite good under the tars.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite stem was filthy, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside ahead of the button.
  5. There is a standard pattern Sasieni Four Dot logo on the stem that appears to be light blue in colour.

To summarize what I saw – this Sasieni Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard is a well made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat and has some darkening on the inner edge and is heavier toward the back of the bowl. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work. The stem is dirty, oxidized, calcified and has grime all over the surface as noted in the description above. There are toothmarks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in sandblast finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? Note the fills that you see in the heel of the bowl. What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is stamped as noted above on the right and the left sides. The stem shows the Sasieni Four Dots in light blue on the left side of the saddle portion of the saddle. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I decided to do some work on the stamping of this pipe to get an idea of the time period it was carved. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni.html). I found a pipe that was stamped the same way as the one I am working on. It is stamped on the underside of the shank like the one in the screen capture photo below. Mine is stamped the same way Sasieni in script without the fish tail. Underneath it is stamped FOUR DOT NATURAL [over] London Made. Next to the shank is also the Made In England Stamp like the one below. On the heel of the bowl mine is stamped “Buckingham” S stamp rather than the “Appledore” stamp in the same place. I included the side bar notes below the picture. From that I knew that the pipe was made during Pre-transition Period 1946-1979.Pre-transition, 1946 – 1979. Four dot. Ruff Root is the name for a sandblast finish. “Buckingham” is the shape name (town) that is used on the pipe I have in hand.

I then turned to Pipedia for more detailed information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I quote a section of that article below. It refers to the Patent Number that is on the pipe I have on the table. The underlined  portion below is particularly pertinent to this pipe.

To begin with, there are three main elements to dating the Sasieni pipe, the patent number, the style of the name “Sasieni” as it appears on the shank, and the Dots themselves. Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules (this hobby would be boring without them), but for the most part these guidelines apply better than 95% of the time. All Sasieni One, Four, and Eight Dot pipes made before W.W.II and destined for the U. S. market carried a patent number on the shank which usually started with the numbers “15″, with 150221/20 and 1513428 being representative of the group. Also, the name “Sasieni” was stamped on the shank in a very florid manner, with the tail of the last “i” sweeping underneath the name forming a shape which has been compared to a fish by more than one collector. This script was discontinued by Alfred almost immediately after he took over the company, so this alone tells you your pipe is pre W.W.II. Underneath in block lettering are the words “London Made”, with the patent number making the third line.

The dots will help you narrow this down further. As we mentioned, the short lived U. S. market One Dot was introduced around 1920, and was replaced by the early to mid 1920’s by the Four Dot. The 1920’s Four Dot is distinguishable by the florid Sasieni script, a patent number, and four blue dots, which are quite small compared to the pipes of post war years. Furthermore, by 1935 Sasieni began stamping pipes, based on the shape, with their own names, which were usually, but not always, English towns. For example, apples were stamped “Hurlingham”, bulldogs were “Grosvenor” or “Danzey”, and panels were “Lincoln”. One rare and interesting variation of this was the large bent, dubbed “Viscount Lascelles”. Even in this soft Sasieni market, these pipes regularly sell for $150 in their rare appearances in mailers.

The pipe I have is one does not have a patent number so it was not made for the US market. The flourished “i” was discontinued by Alfred so that confirms that the pipe was made Pre-transition, 1946 –1979. The third line stamped is London Made in block lettering. With all that information I knew that my pipe was from the period before the transition (Pre Transition) so it was an older one.

I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow your with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

When the pipe arrives here in Vancouver I have a clean pipe and I go over it keeping in mind my assessment shared in the opening paragraph above. Now that I have it in hand I am looking for confirmation of what I saw in the photos as well as any significant structural changes in the bowl and finish as I go over it.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils have been removed from both sides of the bowl. The grime ground into the finish is gone and there is some great grain showing through the sandblast finish around the bowl sides.
  2. The lava coat and darkening on the rim top has been removed and it is very clean. The inner edge also looks very good.
  3. The cake had been totally removed and the walls of the bowl are clean. There is not any checking or burn damage on the interior walls of the bowl.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem is clean and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides. There is also some oxidation remaining on the stem surface.
  5. The four blue dots (Sasieni logo) on the left side of the saddle look very good.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver.  I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the lava was removed and the top looked good. There was some darkening around the inner edge, heavier toward the front of the bowl. It is clean but will need to be worked on to bring it back to normal. I also go over the stem carefully. There were some light tooth marks and dents on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them.I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank in any way. It looks good but is faint in some parts – particularly on the heel of the bowl. The putty fill is visible in the photo below. I always appreciate the handiwork of the carvers at Sasieni who turn a piece raw briar into a beautiful pipe. I love just looking at the beauty of the lay of the pipe with the grain and the proportion of the pipes. I like to remove the stem from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. It is a beauty in flow and shape.I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. I chose to deal with the darkening on the inner edge of the rim. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inner edge. It took a little work but I was able to remove most of the damage. It looks much better after I worked it over.I used a Cherry Stain Pen to stain the putty fill and blend it into the surface of the sandblast billiard. It looked much better once it had cured.For the past few years now I have been using a product developed by Mark Hoover called Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush and let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to shine and the grain shone through the blast. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them and sanded out what remained with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. It looked much better. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the acrylic. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I don’t buff a sandblast finish on the buffer with polish as it can fill in the deep grooves. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservators Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with rusticated plateau style crowned rim. The acrylic stem works well with the pipe. The Sasienin Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard with a craggy gold shank adornment feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.62 ounces/46 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe. Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have done. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Putting together and restoring a German Porcelain Wine Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The fellow I restored the Napoleon figural briar for also had some parts of a Porcelain wine pipe. The base was badly chipped, the bowl was missing the brass cap and the bowl showed damage on the long neck that sat in the base. The bowl itself also had a long crack running down the front of the bowl and held together by the brass rim cap. There were no corks in the base and the two cherrywood shanks were too long and neither of them fit the base. The horn stems on them both were damaged and chipped. After going over it with him we decided to see what I could do with parts that I had available here and not use the damaged bowl and base. I also felt that the cherrywood parts would also be better used with something else. Now the hunt through my parts began in earnest. Here is a photo of the parts that he brought me carefully wrapped in tissue paper.I went through my box of parts and went through probably at least a dozen options. All were in various states of disrepair. All would need to be cleaned up. However, I found one that to me was a very likely candidate. All the parts were present on this interesting and dirty wine pipe. The pipe was kept together in a small plastic bag so I knew that all parts came to us together. It had an unchipped base, an uncracked bowl, a complete brass windcap and the a cherry wood shank and horn stem that were all in good condition. The shank end had a new cork that would need some work to fit it to the base correctly but it worked. The base had a new cork in place to hold the bowl. The painting and glaze on the bowl was in great condition other than being dirty. The amazing thing to me was that the pipe was unsmoked! I sent photos of the this pipe after I assembled it and another that I put together from parts to the fellow and he chose the one below. It has a painting of the fox on the front of the bowl.  It will clean up very well and the new trustee will get to give it an inaugural smoke! I have looked for background information on these porcelain glazed Tyrolean or Wine pipes in the past and not found much information about them. I did have an interesting graphic on my iPad that I have included below. I have no idea where I picked it up as it has been here for a long time. The pipe I am working on is virtually identical to the pipe on the far right in the photo below. Even the tassels look the same. It has a deer under the glaze on the bowl front while this one has a fox. Otherwise it is the same.I turned next to cleaning up the porcelain. I used a mild dish soap and a damp cotton pad to remove the grime and detritus from sitting in a drawer for so many years. It came off with a bit of scrubbing. I don’t like to use anything harsh on the glaze so a mild dish soap is perfect. I started with the base and then worked on the bowl. With the bowl and base cleaned and ready to go I turned to the rim top and cap. I polished the silver and brass metal on the rim top and dome wind cap with a jewelers cloth and it remove the tarnish and gave the cap a shine. It will protect it from further tarnishing. I set the base and the bowl aside and turned my attention to the shank fit. I reshaped the cork on the end of the shank so that the fit would be more solid. I used a wood rasp and very carefully reshaped the cork. I checked it often to assure that I was improving the fit not wrecking it ;). Once I was finished I used some Vaseline to enliven the cork and soften it. I have found that works to give more elasticity to the cork and makes it hold better in the porcelain. I also used it on the cork where the bowl neck fits as well to soften it. I inserted the shank in the base and the fit is snug now and feels good. I rubbed the horn shank end and the cherrywood shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the wood and horn with my finger tips. I let it sit for ten minutes then buffed it off with a soft cloth. It looks more alive now.I set the shank aside to let the Balm soak in and put the bowl and base back together again. The fit in the base is very good and the combination works well. I next fit the cherry wood shank in the base and bowl. The pipe is coming together really well. I rubbed the older style horn stem down with Before and After Restoration Balm and buffed it out after 10 minutes. It looked much better. I screwed it into the cherrywood shank once it was finished. The shank and stem look very good.I put the parts together to have a look at the finished pipe. It came out looking very good.I hand buffed the parts of the pipe and put it back together. The contrast between the white porcelain, the painted fox on the front of the bowl and the horn and cherrywood shank is quite stunning. The two tassels on the string look very good as well. I believe they are made out of horsehair. The dimensions of the pipe are length: 11 inches, height base to cap: 7 inches, diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. It is ready to be picked up along with the Napoleon figural briar pipe. Perhaps on the weekend the fellow will stop by and pick them up. Thanks for reading the blog as I walked through my work on this unsmoked old timer.

Writing Straight with Crooked Lines

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By Kenneth Lieblich

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about a Peterson Standard System 307. That pipe sold quite quickly and a kind gentlemen contacted me to say that if I came across another, he would be interested. As it happened, I did have another 307 in my pile of pipes, so I was only too happy to get working on that one. The 307 is a good-sized pipe and the look of it gives one a feeling of confidence. It is satisfying and comfortable in the hand. This particular pipe had some serious issues, but I was confident that I could still make it beautiful again. I guess I was trying to make virtues out of vices (or something like that) – hence writing straight with crooked lines.Let’s have a closer look. This Peterson 307 pipe has the classic “System” look: bent shape, nickel mount, and tapered, army-style stem. Of course, it also had the traditional Peterson P-lip stem. The markings on the left side of the shank are Peterson’s [over] System [over] Standard. The right side of the shank showed Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland [over] 307. The nickel mount on the shank had K&P [over] Petersons. There were no markings on the stem. The Peterson System pipes are well-storied among Peterson collectors/admirers. I took the opportunity to read the article on Pipedia, specifically about the System pipes, by Jim Lilley. There is lots of good information there and I encourage you to read it: https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_closer_look_at_the_famous_Peterson_Standard_System_Pipe On to the pipe itself: it was in rough shape – very dirty and harshly treated. The stem was thoroughly calcified and oxidized. It also had some major dents: one on the top and one on the bottom. Most notably, however, there was some significant wear to the side of the P-lip. The bowl was very dirty and had quite a bit of lava and plenty of cake. The front edge of the rim had been heavily bashed in – presumably from banging out dottle etc. The outside of the bowl had some small fills and some very deep scratches – much deeper than the photos convey. The nickel mount was in rough shape – stained, corroded, and heavily chipped along the top edge. To work! The stem was first on my list. I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the bite marks. Sadly, however, this did not do much, as the dents were much too deep. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I used some SoftScrub on the outside of the stem to remove some oxidation. Then, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed again with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. I built up the dents on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them cure. I then sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to polish it and highlight the black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. What about the worn side of the P-lip? I decided to leave that as it was. I did not have a spare Peterson stem to replace this one and I always like to use original parts whenever possible. The stem shows that wear, but it is part of the history of the pipe and so it shall stay.

Moving on to the stummel, I first decided to ream out the bowl. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none.I proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel, and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.I then used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the pipe’s rim. At this point, I opted to remove the nickel mount before moving on. It wasn’t well attached to the stummel anyway. It would need some special work, as there was a crack in the edge of the shank – hidden by the mount. The first step in dealing with this was to ensure that the crack would not continue to creep after I had repaired it. To that end, I took a micro-drill bit, inserted it in my Dremel, and very carefully drilled a hole right through the wall of the shank, into the mortise. I then needed to apply cyanoacrylate adhesive in order to seal and repair it. I carefully applied a tiny bead of adhesive to the hole and the length of the crack. Finally, I clamped it shut and let it cure. This was a great success and the mount would hide the repair going forward. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. Now I could address the roughness on the rim. I “topped” the pipe – that is, I gently and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage without altering the look of the pipe.Then I was able to address the small nicks on the rim and the bowl. I dug out my iron and a damp cloth to try to raise the nicks. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. This worked very well and many of the scratches were corrected with this method.Now it was time to address the remaining fills on the bowl. I repaired them with a mixture of briar dust and cyanoacrylate adhesive. This ensures a strong repair and one that looks similar to the surrounding wood. I sanded the repairs down with 200- and 400-grit sandpaper until they were level with the surrounding briar.Then, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to finish it off. I opted to turn the bashed-in front edge of the rim into a rounded front edge. This was possibly an odd choice, but I am very pleased how it turned out in the end. However, the deep, parallel scratches on the side of the stummel were not going anywhere. Unfortunately, they were too deep to be sanded out and too narrow to be filled with briar and glue. The scratches were sanded with the Micromesh pads, and looked much improved. The nickel mount also needed serious help. I wanted to keep as much of the metal as possible, but didn’t want to leave a purely jagged edge. I sanded this edge to ensure a proper balance between keeping the maximum amount of metal and taking away a possible hazard. Then, I used some SoftScrub on cotton rounds to clean the metal and remove some corrosion. I used some of my MicroMesh pads (only 3,600-12,000) to eliminate some of the minor scratches on the metal. It also gave a nice shine. I used a jewelry cloth to give the final polish to the nickel. This mount would always retain some small dents etc. from its hard life, but it looks much improved. I used some white glue to reattach it to the stummel. At this point, I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 15 minutes or so. I brushed it with a microfibre cloth. The B&ARB does wonderful things to the wood, and I really like the natural colour of the briar. Off to the bench polisher to put the final touches on this pipe. I first gave it a thorough going-over with White Diamond compound. Following that, several coats of carnauba wax created a beautiful, glossy seal on the pipe. This Peterson Standard System 307 looks fantastic again and I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6¼ in. (158 mm); height 2 in. (51 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2¼ oz. (66 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

A tale of two pipes- restoring a pair of vintage cased meerschaum pipes – Part-11

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

I had been working on a pair of meerschaum pipes that came in a beautiful well preserved case. I have completed refurbishing the first pipe, a straight Dublin. Though I had worked on both these pipes simultaneously, I have done the write up in two parts.

For detailed information on the brand and other general information about the pipe, please read PART- I of this series.

Part- ll: Straight Billiard

Initial visual inspection
Of the two pipes in this set, this Straight Billiards appears to have seen the max abuse as well as use. The chamber has a thin layer of cake while the rim top surface has a couple of dents and dings. The inner rim edge has a couple of nicks and darkened in couple of areas. The stummel surface is marked by a number of scratch marks and is dirty with grime rubbed in to the surface. The Amber stem is badly damaged with cracks towards the tenon end and tooth indentations in the bite zone. The seating of the tenon in to the mortise is loose. The shank end has white silicon or some such tape sticking out and was likely used to tighten the fit of the stem in to the shank. Here is how the pipe looks as it sits on the worktable. Detailed Inspection
Both the pipes in the set appear to have been reamed prior to storage as is evident from the very thin layer of carbon in the chamber of both these pipes. The rim surface is clean of any lava overflow with slight darkening in 5 o’clock direction. However, there are a number of scratches and a couple of slight gouges (encircled in green) along the rim surface. The inner and outer rim edges have a few minor dings and would need to be addressed. The draught hole is right in the center and at the bottom of the chamber making these pipes a fantastic smoke. The stummel is peppered with minor as well as some slightly deep scratch marks. These scratches are predominantly on the right side of the stummel surface. There is a ton of grime and dirt over the surface. The shank end has a brass band and close scrutiny confirmed that the band is not a repair band. The white silicon (?) duct tape that is seen along threads inside of the mortise is indicative of having been placed to tighten the seating of the tenon in to the mortise. The mortise is severely clogged with tobacco ash, oils and gunk making the draw labored. Notwithstanding the present appearance of this pipe, I think that this pipe has some really beautiful coloration hiding beneath all the dirt and grime. The butterscotch yellow Amber stem with its threaded bone tenon sits very loose in to the mortise. I also noticed that the bone tenon is on the shorter side and does not extend all the way in to the mortise. Amber is a highly brittle material and with age and use is highly prone to develop cracks. This Amber stem is no exception. There is major fault line starting from the top surface of the stem at the tenon end, moving down for about an inch and branching off towards either sides of the stem. The crack line on the left side takes an upward turn on the lower surface and extends towards the stem face again. These cracks appear to have been repaired by gluing them together.  All these cracks are indicated by red arrows. The bite zone on either stem surface has tooth indentations with chipped surfaces and these would need to be filled up. The round orifice has chipped areas around the edges. The leather covered case is in very good condition. The inside of the case is lined with deep maroon velvet that shows signs of being worn down, but intact. The intact outer leather covering is dirty and looks dull and lifeless with the brass pins and latches/locks all in working condition. This leather case should clean up nicely and be ready to accept these freshly refurbished pipes soon. The Process
I started this project by first reaming the chamber to rid the walls of the little cake that was visible. I used my fabricated knife to gently scrap off the cake. I followed this up by sanding the walls of the chamber with a piece of 180 grit sandpaper. This sanding not only helps to completely remove the cake but also helps to even out the wall’s surfaces. A wipe using 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab ensured that the carbon dust that remained is completely lifted from the wall surface and the ghost smells are eliminated.I followed the cleaning of the chamber with cleaning the shank and mortise. If you recollect, I had mentioned that the draw through the mortise is heavy/ labored and assumed that it was due to accumulation of oils/ tars and gunk. However, during the cleaning, I was unable to get a pipe cleaner in through the airway and out through the draught hole. It was at this point that I handed over the stummel to Abha, my wife to see if she could clear the air way. By the late afternoon, when I came back from some work, Abha had removed the blockage from the shank air way and it was a solid piece of wood (clearly seen in the picture). She ran a few hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in 99.9% isopropyl alcohol  through until the shank and mortise was spotless clean and disinfected. Close inspection of the piece of wood extracted from the mortise makes me believe this piece to be remnants of a 6mm Balsa filter. How and why would anyone even think of doing so, let alone do it, is beyond my comprehension.With the stummel internals all cleaned and spruced up, I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with cotton swab and oil soap. Once the grime was cleaned, I wiped the surface with a moistened cotton swab to completely remove the residual soap and grime from the surface. The scratches are now distinctly visible all across the surface. Also, the color at the foot of the stummel and over the shank surface is succinctly visible. With this external cleaning, the damage to the rim top is now clearly visible. I topped the rim surface on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper, frequently checking for the progress. Once I was satisfied that the damage is sufficiently reduced, I stopped the process of topping. Though the damage to the rim top is still visible, it is now in much better state than before. I think I shall let these signs of damage remain as a part of this pipe’s journey to date. I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the entire stummel with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust that was left behind by the sanding. While I was working on the bowl top I also worked over the sides and bottom of the bowl to polish them as well. I wanted to minimize the scratching but not necessarily remove them all. These lacerations and dings must have had a history and I wanted to preserve it. I like the appearance of the stummel at this stage of restoration. I set the stummel aside and started with refurbishing of the stem. I cleaned the stem internals using anti oil detergent and thin shank brushes and rinsed it under warm water. I also cleaned the external surface of the stem using the soap and Scotch Brite pad. I further cleaned the stem airway with pipe cleaners and 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. I filled the tooth chatter with clear CA superglue and set the stem aside for the fill to cure.While the stem repairs were set aside to cure, I started with cleaning the leather covered case that housed the pipes. I used a hard bristled toothbrush and warm soap water to clean the maroon velvet lining the insides of the case and wiped it completely dry using paper towels. I cleaned the external surface of the case using cotton swabs and Murphy’s Oil soap and set it aside to dry out naturally.I checked the repairs over the stem and found that the fills had cured completely. Using a needle file, I roughly blended the filled surface with the surrounding surface. With a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper, I further fine tuned the blend by sanding the filled areas to match with the stem surface. The progress so far is good.To bring a deep shine to the stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, dry sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. Though the repairs are visible, they are meant to be as it is after all a repair. I have made peace with this.With the stem repairs and polish completed, I checked the leather case. It had dried completely. Next, I applied a liberal coat of Neutral color shoe polish over the leather and kept it in the sun for the leather to absorb the wax from the polish. I followed it up with a nice polish using a horse hair shoe brush. The leather is now nicely hydrated and taken on a nice shine.At this stage, the stummel has been polished with micromesh pads, the stem repairs and polishing is completed and the leather case has been cleaned and polished. I decided to address the loose seating of the tenon in to the mortise. I thought of using clear CA superglue to coat part of the tenon surface at the stem end and fit it in to the mortise. The rotation of the coated tenon within the mortise would create a thread pattern on both the tenon and mortise wall. I gave a few in and out rotations for the threads to set in to the coat. Once I was satisfied with the seating and alignment of the stem, I set it aside for the glue to set. I seem to have lost pictures of the process at this stage or may have not even taken them as after this complete project went in to a downward spiral….

Once the tenon coating had completely cured, I checked the seating of the stem in to the mortise again and heard a small cracking sound (though utterly deafening to my ears) and I knew that I was in trouble, rather huge trouble. The Amber stem cracked exactly along the fault lines that I had indicated early on. The pain, frustration and the agony is indescribable!! I decided to set the carnage aside and took a break.A couple of days later, I had a fresh look at the broken stem and worked out a POA to address the damage. I decided to replace the old tenon with a fresh bone tenon from my cache of spare tenon and glue the broken stem pieces together. I would further stabilize and strengthen the cracked portion of the stem with a sterling silver band. This replacement of the tenon would also address the issue of shorter tenon that I had mentioned above.

I selected a bone tenon that would fit snugly in to the mortise as well as in to the broken stem. I fixed the tenon in to the remaining intact part of the Amber stem using superglue. Once the glue had cured, I fixed the broken parts of the stem around the tenon with superglue and set it aside for the glue to cure completely. Once the glue had cured, I sand the repaired surface with a piece of 320 grit sand paper to match with the rest of the stem surface. Thereafter I attached a sterling silver band, which I had got specifically made for this stem, using superglue. The repairs are solid and I am quite satisfied with the progress being made.The gentleman who had commissioned this set had made it amply clear that the scratches/dents and dings over the stummel surface should remain as it is a part of the pipe’s past journey. I too agreed with the new owner and decided to move ahead with polishing and waxing of the stummel with beeswax. I brought a deep shine to the surface by dry sanding with micromesh pads and followed with a microfiber cloth. I assembled the equipment and materials that would be needed during the waxing process viz heat gun, paper towels, q-tips and a steel container graciously lent by Abha from the kitchen and of course, beeswax. I stuffed the chamber with cork and the shank end with folded pipe cleaners to prevent inadvertent seepage of the melted beeswax into either. Next, I melted a sufficient quantity of beeswax using my heat gun and thereafter heated the stummel. Using the a folded pipe cleaner, I completely coated the stummel with the wax and continued the application till the surface was saturated and set the stummel aside to absorb the wax. I reheated the stummel with the heat gun about 20 minutes later and let the excess wax either be absorbed or drip off from the stummel surface. I rubbed off the excess wax with a soft cotton cloth and. The deep golden brown coloration that the meerschaum has taken is a visual treat. With the stummel now completed, I was through with repairs and refurbishment of this cased pair. I reattached the Amber stem with the stummel for a final inspection and polish. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the journey with this pipe!!! As I reattached the Amber stem, the shank band broke free and fell on the table along with a small portion of the threads. Luckily, the concave surface of the shank face and the convex surface of the band were intact and I decided to glue them up again as was done originally.Since the threads were now damaged, I decided to do a complete stem replacement and shortlisted a near matching sized stem as a replacement to the Amber stem. The two aspects that I needed to match was the stem face diameter and the second was the matching of the taper and width with the Amber stem.This decision to replace the stem on this pipe has now necessitated that I consider replacing the replacement stem on the Dublin from this set. All the efforts that had gone in to fabricating and shaping the acrylic stem on the Dublin are for naught!! I did the replacement of the acrylic stem on the Dublin and the end results are more than satisfying (you can read all about it in Part-I of this restoration).

Using needle files and folded piece of sandpaper, I evened out the threads inside the mortise wall. This would make it easier for the mortise to accept a push pull tenon type.Next I tackled the sizing of the tenon. I first did the major hard work by sanding the tenon with a 150 grit sanding drum mounted on a hand held rotary tool. The challenge of achieving a perfect fit of the tenon in to the mortise was achieved by sanding the tenon using sandpaper. It did take a few man hours, tons of elbow grease and patience to achieve perfect fit.With snug seating of the stem in to the mortise ensured, it was time to adjust the length and other parameters of the replacement stem. I wanted an old style stem with an orifice to match the correct time period of 1920s. I marked the length of the stem that would fit in to the case and cut off the excess with a blade. This cutting off of the stem provided me with a rounded slot and a taper that nearly matched the required shape.I cleaned out the stem internals using shank brushes and anti oil dish washing soap. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the airway to further clean and dry out the stem internals.I firstly evened out the slot end of the shortened stem by topping on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Thereafter began hours of hard and laborious task of shaping the stem to match the shape and rebuild buttons on either stem surface using needle files and sandpapers. It did take hours of work and eyeballing to get the shape I desired and most importantly, the slot end. I am pleased with the results achieved. Next, I wet sand the entire stem with 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to, firstly,  reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive ones, secondly, completely eliminate the oxidation while imparting a clean shine to the stem surface. Thirdly, this also helped to even out the sanding marks left behind by the flat needle files. I applied a little EVO and set the stem aside for a few minutes.This was followed by wet sanding the stem with 3200 to 15000 to bring a deep shine and smooth finish to the stem. I applied a small amount of EVO and set it aside.To put finishing touches to this pipe, I polished the stem with Blue Diamond compound and subsequently with carnauba wax using my hand held rotary tool and vigorously buffed the stummel with microfiber cloth to bring a deep shine. This pipe looks absolutely stunning and I am sure that my friend will like it too.

A tale of two pipes- restoring a pair of vintage cased meerschaum pipes – Part 1 (A)

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Recently I had purchased a few pipes on eBay and this time the delivery was effected without any issues from the Seller. All the Sellers had described the pipes just as they are received, items were well packed and shipping was record quick making this a nice experience (far cry from all my previous experiences on eBay!). I shared the pictures of the pipe haul with members of my Pipe Club and this pair of cased Meerschaum called out to one of the founding members of the club and more importantly a dear friend of mine.

Looking at the pipe set, it is apparent that these pipes had seen many a summers, many a number of repair jobs more so to the stem including splicing and many ages of (mis?)use. The case consists of two Meerschaum pipes; a Dublin and a Billiard (or maybe a Tulip or even an Apple shape!!!). There are no visible stampings or markings either on the pipe or on the hard leather case except a small note with c.1920’s written on it (well, again veracity of this note cannot be established and needs to be considered with a pinch of salt, or rather a handful of salt!). This makes it impossible to firmly establish the provenance of this pipe set. However, the overall feel, appearance and quality make me want to believe that small little note. Here are a couple of pictures of the cased set of meer as it sits on my table. Though both the pipes were worked on simultaneously, for the sake of brevity and convenience of explaining the process and how issues that cropped up on one pipe affected the other, I shall divide the write up in to two parts.

Part 1: Dublin
The Dublin shaped meerschaum pipe is in pretty good condition with a thin layer of cake in the chamber. The rim top surface is clean and in good condition with no dents or dings over the rim edges. The major issue on this pipe is with the stem. Somewhere down the line during its previous innings, the Amber stem on this pipe must’ve broken in half and was repaired using a multicolored acrylic or cheap plastic stem spliced in to place at the tenon end. The seating of the tenon in to the shank end is very loose and barely holds the walls of the mortise. This seems to be the main reason why this pipe was so sparingly used as evidenced by the thin layer of cake in the chamber. The following pictures will give a general idea of the condition of this pipe as it sits on my workbench. Detailed Inspection
The chamber is clean with a thin layer of even cake. The rim top surface is clean and in pristine condition without any dents and dings over the rim top. The inner and outer rim edges are smooth, even and without any darkening along the edges. The rim appears thinned out in 12 o’clock direction along the outer rim edge. I think it is the design feature which has the stummel in a slight inwards turn near the upper surface. However, the chamber itself is perfectly rounded. The stummel surface shows a few scratches, but none serious enough to draw away your attention from the beauty of the bowl. The inward turning shape to the upper surface of the stummel that I have mentioned above is indicated by green arrows. There are a couple of dark spots over the stummel surface and encircled in pastel blue. The shank end shows residual white tape and is indicative of an earlier repair work to the shank end. The band, though identical to the other pipe in this set, appears to be fixed after the pipe was completed. The white Teflon tape, in all probability, was used to tighten the seating of the threaded tenon in to the mortise. However, this was an utter failure as the tenon is too loose in the mortise and is the reason for this pipe being so sparingly used. The stem is where maximum repair work is required. The stem has been spliced and repaired previously with the rounded slot end made of Amber while the tenon end is a similar colored variegated acrylic or plastic stem. The joint is easily discernible and is encircled in Red. Though the stem airway is aligned, the stem shape is not. The mismatched stem shape is indicated by green. The tenon is too short and filthy and very loose fitting in the shank. The slot end has tooth indentations and chipped surface. Given the present condition of the stem and its seating in to the mortise, I shall be replacing the stem itself to make it both functional and aesthetically appealing to the eye (that’s what the intention is!). The Process
I started this project by reaming the chamber with my smaller fabricated knife and scraped out all the carbon from chamber. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber of the pipe. Once I had reached the bare walls, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also rid the chamber of all ghost smells. I followed it up by cleaning of the mortise and air way of the pipe using hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners, q-tips dipped in alcohol. The mortise and the draught hole were given a final clean with shank brushes dipped in alcohol. I dried the mortise with a rolled paper napkin. The shank internals and the draught hole are now nice and clean with an open and full draw.I cleaned the external surface of the Meerschaum bowl with Murphy’s Oil soap and cotton swabs. I wiped the bowl surface with a moist cloth to remove the soap and grime that remained on the surface. The stummel surface cleaned up nicely. The scratches and dents and dings over the stummel surface are now clearly visible and will be addressed to an extent when the stummel is polished using the micromesh pads. I polished the rim top surface and rim edges with micromesh pads. I then went on to dry sand the entire stummel with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the dust that was left behind by the sanding. I had planned to minimize the scratches but not necessarily remove them. These lacerations and dings must have had a history and I wanted to preserve it. Once I was done with the micromesh cycle, I applied a small quantity of Paragon wax and vigorously polished it off with a microfiber cloth. The stummel now has a nice deep shine to it. Next I decided to address the stem repairs or rather stem replacement since the damage to the already repaired stem was far too extensive and yet it would not make this pipe fully functional since the tenon was too loose and too short. The stem that I selected is a beautiful yellow acrylic stem that perfectly matched the shank face diameter. I selected a Delrin tenon that perfectly threaded in to the mortise for a snug fit.Now it was necessary to down size the smooth end of the tenon to fit in to the stem face. I mounted a 150 grit sanding drum on to my hand held rotary tool and sand down the smooth end of the tenon till I had achieved a rough seating of the tenon in to the stem face. My previous experience has taught me an invaluable lesson; “SAND ONCE AND CHECK TWICE”!! Once I had achieved a rough seating, I got down to the arduous and time consuming task of manually sanding down the smooth portion of the tenon with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper till I had achieved a perfect seating of the tenon in to the stem. Here I was extra careful and vigilant while sanding the sides of the tenon and frequently checked the alignment of the tenon airway with the stem airway and finally through the shank airway and right through the draught hole.   Once I was sure that the tenon, stem and shank face and airways are all aligned and seated flush, I glued the tenon in to the stem. I took some time to admire the overall appearance of the pipe and I like it very much.Next on the agenda was to match the length of the replacement stem with that of original stem. Using needle file and 150 grit sand paper, I sand the slot end of the replacement stem till I achieved a perfect length match. Even though it took me a few man hours and lots of efforts, I was able to achieve the desired length. I checked the seating of the pipe in to the case and noted with satisfaction that the case closed without any gaps. However, in achieving the desired length, the button edges on the new stem were sanded down. This necessitated rebuilding of button edges on the new stem.With clear CA superglue, I rebuild the buttons using layering technique. Once the glue had hardened, using a needle file, I roughly shaped the buttons and further fine tuned the buttons using a piece of 330 grit sandpaper. The slot end at this stage is rounded and the horizontal slot needs to be carved. I marked the center line on either sides of the orifice and using a slot file, I carved out a horizontal slot. The stem looks good at this stage.Next the stem was subjected to a full cycle of polishing using micromesh pads.With the shaping and polishing of the replacement stem completed, I turned my attention back towards the stummel. I gave a beeswax polish to the meerschaum bowl. I assembled the equipment and materials that would be needed during the process viz heat gun, paper towels, q-tips and a Katori, a steel container graciously lent by Abha from her kitchen and of course, beeswax. I stuffed the chamber with cork to prevent inadvertent seepage of the melted beeswax into it. Next, I melted a sufficient quantity of beeswax in the katori using my heat gun and thereafter heated the stummel. Using a folded pipe cleaner, I completely coated the stummel with the wax and continued the application till the surface was saturated with the beeswax and set the stummel aside to absorb the wax. I reheated the stummel with the heat gun about 20 minutes later and let the excess wax either be absorbed or drip off from the stummel surface. I rubbed off the excess wax with a soft cotton cloth and brought a deep shine to the surface with a microfiber cloth. With the replacement stem all shaped and aligned and the bowl waxed and polished, I had completed the refurbishing of this pipe from the cased pair and set the pipe aside.

However, little did I know at this stage that all the man hours and efforts that I had put in making this replacement stem to make this pipe aesthetically beautiful and functionally sublime would come to a naught due to certain challenges that I was presented with while working on the second pipe from the set. I shall cover those aspects in Part- II of the write up. It will suffice to say here that I had to discard this stem and fabricate a new vulcanite stem from scratch.

PART-I (B)
Now that I have decided to match the stem on this pipe to the vulcanite stem that I had fabricated on the second pipe from the set, I first selected a vulcanite stem that would more or less be a perfect match to the butterscotch yellow acrylic stem that was made earlier. I would need to shape the flare at the slot end to a nice smooth taper (indicated by yellow lines), reshape the slot end to an orifice with old style rounded buttons and would need to greatly reduce the diameter of the tenon (indicated by red arrows) for a snug fit in to the mortise. Once that was achieved, I would need to clean and polish the vulcanite to a nice black shine. Here is a picture to give you an idea of both the stems.First I removed the metal stinger from the tenon end by heating it with the flame of a match light and pulling it out with a pair of nose pliers. I followed this with cleaning the stem internals using anti-oil dish washing soap on a thin shank brush and rinsing it under warm running water. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the airway to completely remove any residual traces of soap and also to dry it out. With a 150 grit sanding drum mounted on my hand held rotary tool, I sized down the tenon to achieve a rough match with the mortise size. I fine tuned the seating of the tenon in to the mortise by sanding it further with a 180 grit sand paper till I had achieved a snug fit.As I was trying out the seating of the tenon in to the mortise a second time, the brass ring separated from the shank end with threaded portion of the mortise while revealing a minor crack at the shank end (unfortunately, in my haste to address the newly presented challenge, I missed out on taking pictures of the damaged shank end). The problems are continually mounting unabated!!

Luckily, I had a Sterling silver band that I previously got made from a local silversmith which perfectly fit the shank end. I filled the crack with thin CA superglue. Once the glue had seeped in to the crack and hardened completely, I attached the band over the shank end with CA superglue and set it aside for the repairs to cure.Now I turned my attention back to the stem. The tenon mod was completed and next I decided to address the extra flare at the slot end of the replacement stem. I wanted an old style stem with an orifice to match the correct time period of 1920s and had achieved it to a certain extent on the billiards pipe from the set. I cut about half an inch off the slot end. This achieved two aims; firstly, the flare was reduced and secondly, I now had an orifice at the slot end. I further evened out the cut surface by sanding the surface over a 220 grit sand paper.Thereafter began the arduous task of eyeballing and filing with flat/ semi-circular needle files. It did a take long time and lots of elbow grease to achieve a rough desired shape. I further fine tuned the rough edges and shape by sanding the stem surface using a 220 grit sand paper. Next, I wet sand the entire stem with 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to, firstly,  reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive ones, secondly, completely eliminate the oxidation while imparting a clean shine to the stem surface. Thirdly, this also helped to even out the sanding marks left behind by the flat needle files. I applied a little EVO and set the stem aside for a few minutes.I went through the 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads to wet sand the stem. The stem now has a nice deep shine along the entire stem surface. I rubbed a small quantity of EVO and set the stem aside for the oil to hydrate the stem surface.To finish the restoration of this pipe, I polished the stem with Blue Diamond compound and subsequently with carnauba wax using my hand held rotary tool. I once again vigorously buffed the stummel with microfiber cloth to bring a deep shine. The finished pipe actually looks much attractive in person than in the pictures below.

Refreshing a Handmade in Denmark W.O. Larsen Sandblast Brandy

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By Steve Laug

Not long ago I worked a trade with a fellow for these five pipes in exchange for one that I had here. He sent me photos of the pipes and the deal was struck. The pipes he sent are as follows from bottom to top. There is a W.O. Larsen sandblast oval shank Brandy with a hairline crack in the shank and with tooth marks on the button on both sides, a Bertram Cutty that I had traded with him earlier, a Kriswill sandblast Canadian with a cracked shank, a Viby pencil shank Billiard and a Stanwell Royal Briar wide oval shank Dublinesque Canadian with burn damage on the rim edges and top around the bowl and deep tooth marks on the stem.The first of these I chose to work on today is the Hand Made W.O. Larsen Sandblast Brandy at the bottom of the photo above. It is a classic Larsen Brandy shape with a beautiful, deep and tactile sandblast around the bowl and the shank. The rim top were in good condition and the blast had some darkening but no lava in the blast. The bowl has a light cake in the bowl and smells of good Virginia tobacco. The inner edge of the rim is in good condition. The blast is quite clean with no grime and little dust ground into the surface of the finish. The stamping on the underside of the shank reads W.O. Larsen [over] Handmade [over] Made in Denmark. The stain is a mix of dark and medium browns and goes well with the oval vulcanite stem. Once it is cleaned up and polished the blast will highlight the grain around the bowl and shank. The stem is in good condition with some tooth marks on it. The button area and the surface just ahead is damaged. There are bite marks on the button surface on both sides. The button edge has been flattened and worn with tooth marks on the underside. I am including two of the photos that were sent to me for viewing. The first shows the right side of pipe and the second shows the marks on the stem surface that I spoke of above. I took photos of the pipe before I did my clean up work on it to show its condition. The photos confirm what I noted above regarding the condition of the bowl and the stem. It a nice looking pipe that will look better with a bit of work on the stem, the cracked shank and bowl. I have circled a short crack in the top of the shank with red in the top photo below. It is hairline and fine but it is very present.I took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above and show that while there is some darkening. However, I missed the tars and lava build up on the sandblast rim top. The cake in the bowl is quite moderate and was very smooth. You can also see the condition of the outer and the inner edge. They appear to be in great condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. There is no visible burn damage at this point. The bowl is still round and other than being in a used condition it is in great shape. The small crack in the shank is circled in red below. The issues with the stem are visible in the photos on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.I took the stem off the bowl and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of proportion of the pipe. You can also see shape of the pipe and some interesting grain in the blast on the briar.I have worked on quite a few W.O. Larsen pipes that are well made Danish takes on classic shapes. Several of them have been Brandy shaped pipes. This sandblast Canadian has a bowl that is almost a Brandy shape. Here is a link to the blog describing the background and history of the brand (https://rebornpipes.com/2021/10/25/restoring-a-sandblast-canadian-hand-made-designed-by-w-o-larsen-super-tan-65/). I quote from that blog in information that follows.

I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l2.html) to get a quick view of the brand once again. I did a screen capture of the site’s information and have included that below. The pipe I am working on is a W.O. Larsen as it is stamped similarly to the ones in the photos. I quote from the sidebar below:

In the 1960s Ole Larsen, owner of the Copenhagen tobacco store, retails pipes carved by Sixten Ivarsson, Poul Rasmussen, Sven Knudsen or Peter Brakner. Faced with the success and urged by Sven Bang (store manager), Sven Knudsen and Former (Hans Nielsen) are successively hired to carve pipes in the basement of the shop at the beginning and in the old Larsen cigar factory afterwards. Carver like Teddy Knudsen, Tonni Nielsen, Jess Chonowitch, Peter Hedegaard work a while in this context. When Nils, son of Ole Larsen, succeeds his father he acquires the Georg Jensen pipe factory to focus on less expensive pipes. This turns out to be an error ending with the sale of W.O. Larsen trademark to Stanwell. The famous tobacco shop at Strøget, Amagertorv 9 closed down for good on Dec 31, 2004. Do not confuse W.O. Larsen with: Jorgen Larsen

I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/W.%C3%98._Larsen) for a quick read. The site is worth reading the history of the shop and the brand and its influence on Danish pipe carving. I quote a portion of the article below:

The workshop of W.Ø.Larsen

W.Ø.Larsen is Denmark’s oldest and probably most famous pipes and tobacco store, placed in the center of Copenhagen on the main pedestrian street, Stroget. If you visit Copenhagen and do a “pipe crawl” this store is a must. In the beginning of the 1960’s the store began to sell Danish hand-made pipes, especially those of Poul Rasmussen. This went very well and Poul Rasmussen could not keep up with the demand. W.Ø.Larsen, with their dynamic business manager Svend Bang (who later started his own pipe business), decided to establish their own workshop in rooms next to the store.

The first manager of the pipe workshop was Sven Knudsen, but he soon left to make pipes under his own name. The next manager was Hans Nielsen, also known as “Former” (named after the late British actor George Formby, whom he was said to resemble. Coincidentally, in Danish, “Former” means “shapes”). Under the management of Former the workshop grew and W.Ø.Larsen pipes became a prominent name abroad. Among the prominent pipemakers educated here were Else Larsen (Denmark’s first female pipemaker),Poul Ilsted, Ph. Vigen, Teddy Knudsen, Tonni Nielsen, and Peter Hedegaard.

Typical for the W.Ø.Larsen School were semi-classic shapes, meaning classic shapes, but with slight differences, often bring a little more full or round. The pipes often had lower center of gravity. A typical billard would have a bowl shaped more like a pear and the connection between the bowl and the shank would be clearly distinguished. Yellow and orange were colors more widely used for the finishes.

What I learned from the research is that the pipe is a W.O. Larsen pipe made by one of the famous carvers who worked in the shop. It is a beautiful pipe in both shape and finish.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on this one by reaming the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I followed that up by sanding the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.I scrubbed the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to knock of the lava and tars in the blast on the rim top. Once it was scoured with the brass it looked significantly better.I cleaned the internals of the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I scrubbed it until the shank was clean and the smell was much cleaner smelling.I scrubbed the external surface of the sandblast briar with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed it until the finish was clean and then rinsed it off with warm running water to rinse off the soap and the grime from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and took photos of the pipe. I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm to the briar. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar – both smooth and rusticated finishes. The product works to deep clean the nooks and crannies of finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shone through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.     I decided to repair the cracked shank next. The first photo shows the crack. I inserted the tenon partially in the shank to make the crack visible and took a photo. I have circled it in red so that it is clear. I cleaned up the crack and pushed a pinhole with an awl into the end of the crack to stop it. I pressed some CA glue into the crack held it together until the glue cured. I reduced the diameter of the shank end with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I found a nickel band and used a Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess nickel on the band until the end was flush against the shank end. I cleaned up the sharp edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I heated it with a lighter and pressed it in place against a hard wood surface. I took photos of the band before I fit it and after it was on the shank end. It looks very good at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the issues with the vulcanite stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks in the stem surface on both sides as well as the button edges where the marks were deepest. I was able to lift the marks significantly and filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue. I set the stem aside to allow the repairs to cure. Once the repairs cured, I used a small file to reshape the button edge and flatten them. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem surface and button looked much better. I continued polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process.   After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.  The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I put the W.O. Larsen Handmade Brandy back together and lightly buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the blast without filling in the grooves in the finish. I polished the vulcanite stem at the same time to polish out the scratches. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich combination of brown stains. The W.O. Larsen Sandblast Brandy feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height:  2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces/40 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that functions as a sitter due to the wide heel on the bowl. I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Repairing a Cracked Shank and Restoring a Heritage Embassy 98S Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again I want to take you through my process of working on each pipe that we purchase. Jeff has set up a spread sheet to track where the pipe came from, the date of purchase and what we paid for it so that we know what we have invested in the pipe before we even work on it. This takes a lot of the guess work out of the process. This particular pipe was purchased on 02/20/2020 from a seller in St. Leonard, Maryland, USA. I also want you to understand why we take the photos we do. If you have followed for a while then you will see the familiar pattern of the photos we include both in the before and midstream process of working on a pipe. It is not accidental or chance as the photos have been taken to help me make an assessment of the pipe Jeff sees before he starts his clean up work. We do this to record the condition that the pipe was in when received it and to assess what kind of work will need to be done on. When I look at these photos this is what I see.

  1. The first thing I see is an interesting squat Bulldog with a mixed finish of rusticated and smooth bands and a vulcanite saddle stem. It is well proportioned and well made.
  2. The finish is dirty and there is grime and grit ground into the rustication on the sides of the bowl and shank. The two smooth bands on the bowl are also dirty. It is dusty and dull looking but under the grime the pipe looks good. There is a crack on the left side of the underside of the diamond shank from the end in about ¼ inch. It is branched from the end and comes together at the rusticated band around the shank.
  3. The rusticated rim top has some lava and debris filling in the rusticated grooves and ridges around surface and the edges. It is dirty looking but cleaning will reveal a real beauty.
  4. The bowl has a thin cake and appears to have been reamed recently before it came to us. The inner and outer edges look good and there does not appear to be any obvious burn damage to the smooth rim top or bowl edges. The bowl does not appear to having any checking and the bottom 1/3 of the bowl is raw briar.
  5. The vulcanite stem is in good condition – dirty, oxidized and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of button. I am pretty certain it is a replacement stem as it is not like original Heritage pipe stems I have worked on.

Overall my impressions of this pipe is that it is a beauty that once cleaned up will be another one that will look pretty amazing. Heritage pipes have shapes and a style of rustication that are readily identifiable when you see them so I knew what the pipe was even before looking at it in person. The photos below confirm the assessment above. Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is quite thin and looks like it had been recently reamed. The rim top has some lava, grime and debris in the rustication filling in some of the grooves. You can also see the condition of the outer and the inner edge. They appear to be in great condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. There is no visible burn damage at this point. The bowl is still round and other than being in a used condition it is in great shape. The photos of the vulcanite stem surface from various angles confirm my assessment of its condition. You can see the dirty grime and oxidation on the stem in the first photo below. There is light chatter and tooth marks. The stem is quite dirty but otherwise in good condition. The fit of the stem to the shank is off a bit due to the crack in the left underside. The rustication on this pipe is quite beautiful. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in the valleys of the rustication or the high spots? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? How random does the deep rustication look? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took a photo of the stamping on the top left side of the diamond shank. It is stamped with the shape number 98S [over] Heritage [over] Embassy (faintly stamped but readable). What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? Jeff took photos of the crack in the left underside of the shank. It is branched and ends at the carved groove in the shank separating the smooth from the rusticated. It appears to go forward to the rustication but lessens in effect and depth in the finish. It will need to be repaired and banded.I have worked on quite a few Heritage pipe that are classic lines – Heritage Antique, Heritage Heirloom and others. I reread an earlier blog I had written on a Heritage restoration that I did (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/01/14/refreshing-an-older-heritage-antique-13-dublin-pipe/) It referred me to a blog that was written on rebornpipes by Andrew Selking. I quote from the blog above with reference to Andrew’s work.

The Heritage brand was one 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 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.

I have also included the brochure below. On the second page below there is a panel that reference the Heritage Embassy pipe with a rusticated finish and the twin smooth rings around the bowl. The fourth page of the brochure below shows the 98S in the third column on the right. Andrew had written a blog on Heritage Heirloom 98S straight Bulldog previously. It is the same shape as the one I am working on now and has the original stem which confirms that this is a replacement (https://rebornpipes.com/2015/04/21/restoring-a-heritage-heirloom-98s-bulldog/). I have included a picture from the blog below for your consideration on the stem shape of the original.Now I had more information to work with. The Heritage Embassy in my hands that probably came out between 1964 and 1970.

I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow your with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

When the pipe arrives here in Vancouver I have a clean pipe and I go over it keeping in mind my assessment shared in the opening paragraph above. Now that I have it in hand I am looking for confirmation of what I saw in the photos as well as any significant structural changes in the bowl and finish as I go over it.

  1. The first thing I see is an interesting squat Bulldog with a mixed finish of rusticated and smooth bands and a vulcanite saddle stem. It is well proportioned and well made.
  2. The finish is clean and the grime and grit have been removed from the finish on the bowl. The rustication and the smooth finish both have come alive around the bowl sides. The crack in the diamond shank on the left underside was clean and visible.
  3. The lava, grime and dust on the rim top has been removed and it looks to be in good condition on the top and edges of the bowl.
  4. The walls of the bowl are clean and I do not see any checking or burn damage. The inner edge of the bowl looks good. The outer edges look good and there does not appear to be any obvious burn damage there.
  5. The vulcanite stem is clean and has very light tooth chatter and marks on both sides. The stem is definitely a replacement.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver.  I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned, they looked very good. There was no damage on the edges or the top of the rim. The rim edge and top are clean and should polish up well. I also go over the stem carefully. The crack in the shank was present and visible. The stem had some faint tooth marks chatter on the surface of the stem on both sides. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable (all except the Embassy stamping which is faint but readable). The Heritage rustication is quite unique and tight. To me it different and I like the feel of it.. I love just looking at the beauty of the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I like to remove the stem from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape. I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the crack in the left underside of the shank. It is visible in the photo below. I have three different bands that would fit the shank. The first one on the left was too deep and covered all of the stamping. It was also not quite square. The second band had an end cap and was rather loose on the shank. The third one was a good fit and was tight on the shank. I would need to reduce the depth of the band and sand the shank end in order to make a snug fit on the shank. Used a topping board to reduce the depth of the band. I was able to remove half of the depth. I used a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper to sand the smooth band on the shank end. I took enough of the briar off that the band sat on the end. I heated the band with a lighter and pressed it onto the shank end. It bound the cracks together and the shank was solid. I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the finished repair.  I polished the smooth briar on the two rings around the bowl and the surface of the nickel band with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step.    I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm to the briar. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar – both smooth and rusticated finishes. The product works to deep clean the nooks and crannies of finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shone through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.   I set the bowl aside and turn to work on the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I don’t buff a rusticated pipe with Blue Diamond as it can build up in the deep grooves of the finish. I used it on the stem and find that it works very well to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite. I moved on to buffing the pipe – I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished vulcanite stem. It really is a nice little pipe. The rusticated finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich black and dark brown stains. The Heritage Embassy 98S Straight Bulldog 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 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. It is a beautiful pocket sized pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have written. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.