Tag Archives: fitting a stem

Cleaning up a messy Bent Billiard that appeared to be old…

Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I found the next pipe on our Oregon Coast Pipe Hunt. I saw it in a display cabinet and there was something about it spoke to me even through the thick coat of what looked like some kind of moldy dust. It did not smell like mold it really was more like old dust. It made me wonder if the seller had found it in the wall of a house that was being renovated. It is a well-shaped Bent Billiard that had some nice grain poking through the grime. Under the outdoor light and using a lens I could see that it was stamped on the left side of the shank and read IMPERIAL over what appeared to read London Made. The stamping on the right side of the shank reads Italian Bruyere and the number is 15 is at bowl shank junction. The briar that showed has a combination of brown stains that highlights the grain. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the bowl and rim top as can be seen in the photos. The bowl had a thick cake with a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top around the bowl. There was too much dust and debris to know what the rim edges looked like but more would be revealed once it was cleaned. The stem was oxidized and there were deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. The underside of the stem was badly dented and worn. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. It was a disastrous mess! Jeff took photos of the rim top to show dusty build up around the rim and bowl. It almost obscures the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top and the inner edge of the rim. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show debris on the bowl but also the grain that showed beneath that. I think that this will be a beautiful pipe once we are finished. The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They faint but still readable. It reads as noted above. The Imperial stamping is not in the expected script but it is clear and the London Made beneath is readable under a light. The Italian Briar makes me wonder a bit concerning the provenance of the pipe. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the deep tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface. The button is in very bad condition on both the top and underside. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-i.html) to read about the Imperial Pipes. The screen capture also helps to clarify the stamping on the left side of the shank. There was also a difference in the IMPERIAL Stamp. This one is script and the one I have is more Germanic script upper case letters.I turned to Pipedia to check out the brand (https://pipedia.org/images/5/52/Imperial_Page.png). There was an interesting catalogue page that shows the shape of the pipe that I am working on. I have drawn a box around it in the photo below. The bend in the stem, the stem style and the shape of the shank and bend look to be the same.Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. I was really looking forward to what the pipe would look like once Jeff had worked his magic. Would it live up to my expectations? Would there be new issues that I had not expected? I had no idea. When I took it out of the box I was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the heavy damage to the rim top and edges of the bowl. The rim top is rough to touch with chips and gouges. The inner edge is also rough and the outer edge is also damaged. It almost looks like the bowl was used as a hammer! The stem is clean and the tooth damage on both sides is very clear in the photos. Lots of work to do on this pipe.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is faint but readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the damage on the rim top. I topped it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. I was able to remove the damage to the top while at the same time removing the damage on the inner edge and minimizing the outer edge damage. I would polish the rim top with micromesh when I polished the bowl.In handling the bowl it appeared that there was a crack in the front side. I examined with a bright light and lens and was not sure. It almost looked like a scratch in the finish. Polishing the bowl would make it clear one way or another exactly what I was dealing with.I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. I touched up the stain on the rim top using a Cherry and Maple stain pen to blend in the rim top with the rest of the bowl colour.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on the top and underside to lift the vulcanite. It actually worked quite well. I filled in the remaining dents and built up the edges and top of the button on both sides as well using clear super glue. Once the repairs had cured I used a needle file to shape the button surface and recut the edge of the button on both sides of the stem. I flatted out the repairs to the stem surface at the same time. Once I had done the rough shaping work I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it. (Please forgive the fuzziness of the photo of the underside of the stem.) I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This older Imperial London Made 15 Bent Billiard turned out far better than I expected when we found it. I really had no idea what would happen when we cleaned it up. I think Jeff probably thought I was crazy paying for this worn out looking piece of “debris” but I saw something that caught my eye and after the restoration you can see what I saw! It is a great looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the beautiful mixed grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Billiard is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a petite pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will stay with me for a while but who knows it could end up on the store one day! Thanks for your time.

My Future Daughter-in-Law Commissions a Sculpted Bent Billiard as a Gift for Her Father

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Blog by Dal Stanton

When your son brings home (to Bulgaria!) a young woman for you to meet, you know it’s serious. That’s what happened this past Christmas! Our son, Josiah, who lives in St. Louis, Missouri, brought Katie, who lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Sofia to meet Mom and Dad – no pressure on her! They met in college and after graduation, they stayed in touch as friends, Josiah ending up in St. Louis where he finished his master’s degree and is now a counselor. Katie stayed in Chattanooga and works on staff with youth in a church. Our daughter and husband also made the trip to Sofia from Nashville for a quintessential Bulgarian Christmas. The family was together at the Sofia Airport when Josiah (center) and Katie (flowers 😊) arrived from the US. Johanna and Niko had arrived a few days earlier – ready to celebrate Christmas!

As you would expect, we had limited time with our kids, and we packed it as full as we could! What Christmas celebration would be complete without including snow, riding gondolas and skiing in Bulgaria’s beautiful Pirin Mountains and spending time together as a family AND getting to know the young women who would become our future daughter-in-law in August. The time with our kids went too quickly, but before they left, Katie’s future father-in-law was an interesting character with the moniker, The Pipe Steward, and she was interested in finding a special pipe she could commission from The Pipe Steward to give to her father as a gift for his birthday. Unlike most people who go through the virtual ‘Help me!’ baskets in the online collection I call, For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!, Katie was able to go through the physical boxes of my inventory to find the perfect pipe that called her name for her father. What added to the experience was that Katie knew that the pipe she chose would benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria! The pipe that got Katie’s attention after listening to many, many pipes, was a very hopeful Sculpted 3/4 Bent Billiard with only the marking, ‘IMPORTED Briar’ on the left shank flank which I had acquired from the Lot of 66 – a huge Lot of pipes that came from a non-profit in Georgetown, Texas, called the Caring Place. Here are some of the original pictures I took when the Lot of 66 arrived. Christmas is now, long gone, our world has changed by the covid-19 pandemic, the kids are in the US navigating life, and Katie’s pipe for her father is now on my worktable. I take a closer look at the Sculpted Bent Billiard with some pictures. There is genuinely nice briar grain lurking beneath the darkened, tired finish – many bird’s eye formations draw my attention. The upper bowl surface is darkened in comparison to the other briar landscape indicating potential overheating problems which may be revealed when the chamber is cleared of the cake.The rim is in rough shape with thick lava flow and nicks and skinned edges – it’s been a well-used pipe!The picture doesn’t show the thick carbon cake buildup that I can see with the eye. The chamber closes and narrows as you move toward the chamber floor.The mortise is too loose so that the tenon has no grab. This needs to be addressed and tightened.The stem has deep oxidation and calcium buildup on the bit area. The button needs refreshing.The nomenclature is thin with only ‘Imported Briar’ on the shank. The spelling of briar probably indicates this to be a US manufactured pipe. To begin the restoration of Katie’s pipe, the stem’s airway is cleaned with a pipe cleaner wetted in isopropyl 95%.With the oxidation being so deep and with the calcium buildup, I get a head start on removing the oxidation using 000 grade steel wool along with a ‘Soft Scrub-like’ product I can get here in Bulgaria. This helps with the cleaning before putting the stem into the soak.The next step is to give the stem a soak in Before & After Deoxidizer that does an adequate job of removing oxidation that isn’t too deep. The stem joins other stems and pipes in the queue. I let it soak for several hours.After removing the stem from the Deoxidizer, I let the liquid drain and I squeegee the stem with my fingers. I then use cotton pads wetted with isopropyl 95% to wipe the stem removing raised oxidation. I clear the fluid from the airway with a few pipe cleaners also wetted with isopropyl 95%.To help condition the vulcanite stem, paraffin oil is applied with a cotton pad. Paraffin Oil is a mineral oil. I then put the stem aside to give time for the oil to be absorbed.Next, turning to the bowl, I use the Pipnet Reaming Kit to start clearing the hard, thick carbon cake from the chamber. I use 3 of the 4 blade heads available in the kit to ream the bowl. I follow the reaming tool by scraping the chamber wall with the Savinelli Fitsall Tool. I finish by sanding the chamber with 240 paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. After wiping the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol, I discover what appears to be some heating damage on the upper backside of the chamber – behind the sculpting. There is a hole with a crevasse cutting to the left from the deep pit. This will need attention after the cleaning of the stummel is completed.Next, I continue with the cleaning of the external surface using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap on a cotton pad. I also utilize a brass bristled brush to work on the lava covered rim. Brass does not damage the briar and adds some cleaning power. I transport the pipe to the kitchen sink and continue the cleaning using shank brushes and anti-oil dish soap. With the brushes the mortise is scrubbed. After a thorough rinsing, the bowl is back on the worktable.The rim cleaned up revealing the internal edge burn damage from lighting practices on the right side of the bowl. This will be addressed later.The bigger surprise comes after inspection of the sculpted area. The center of the sculpting is a filler. The question is, was the sculpting used to hide an imperfection in the briar itself or to blend a repair possibly caused by a burn-through? I don’t believe it’s a burn through, but the fill corresponds to the hole in the chamber.Using a dental probe, it doesn’t take much to clean the hole and to complete the tunnel passageway to the chamber. Daylight is now visible looking from the inside. Ugh. There appears to be a lateral crack that the sculpting has incorporated. This pipe falls into the ‘Dreamer’ category but is not beyond hope! The briar surface is nice, and this challenge I hope does not create too much of an obstacle. Continuing with the cleaning regimen, I return to cleaning the internals using cotton buds and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%. I discover that a couple pipe cleaners and one cotton bud are all that is needed. The internals are clean.My approach to repairing the hole in the stummel is to first start with applying briar dust putty to the external briar side. I don’t push the putty through into the chamber but leave a gap that will be filled with JB Weld on the internal fire side. Using burrs with the Dremel, I’ll ‘re-sculpt’ the external surface to blend the patch. Working on a plastic disk as a mixing palette, scotch tape helps with an easy cleanup. After cleaning the area with alcohol, I begin by mixing briar dust with BSI Extra Thick Maxi-Cure CA glue using a toothpick. I draw briar dust into the puddle of glue until the thickness is that of molasses. I then use the toothpick to trowel the putty to the hole. I press the putty into the hole partially to fill it. I use an accelerator to quicken the curing and to hold the patch in place. After the briar dust putty is fully cured, the next step is to apply JB Weld to the internal fracture and crevasse. JB Weld is heat resistant and works well has a chamber repair. I mix equal parts of the ‘Steel Resin’ and the ‘Hardener’ and then mix with a toothpick. The mixed epoxy begins to harden in about 4 minutes giving plenty of time to apply the Weld to the hole and to the crevasse running from it. After applied, I set the stummel aside for some hours for the patch to cure. Switching my focus now to the stem, to expand the tooth compressions on the upper and lower bit, I first use the heating method. Using a Bic lighter, I paint the bit with the flame thereby warming and expanding the rubber compound, vulcanite. I take before and after pictures to show the comparison on the upper and lower. The heating method may have helped some, but not enough to avoid using Black CA glue to spot drop patches on the upper and lower bit. After applying the CA glue, I put the stem aside for the patches to cure.With the stem on the side curing, I turn again to the stummel. The JB Weld patch has fully cured. To remove the excess epoxy and to smooth the chamber wall, I mount a sanding drum to the Dremel. It does a quick and good job. I then sand and smooth the chamber patch using 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. The patch looks good conforming exactly to the hole and crevasse it filled. The rim has sustained a good bit of damage on the right inner edge. My first thought was to top the stummel at this point to remove the damage. After a second thought, this would remove a good bit of briar real estate from the rim. Instead, I decide to rebuild the inner edge using briar dust putty then after the patch cures to top and sand the rim. I first remove all the residual carbon from the surface from the lighting damage that caused the problems. I brush the area with the brass wired brush as well as sand it with 240 paper getting down to fresh briar.This picture shows the damage to the rim well and the area needing to be rebuilt.I mix briar dust with Extra Thick CA glue by gradually pulling briar dust into the puddle until it reaches the thickness of molasses. Then the briar putty is applied with the toothpick to the inside of the lip to build up toward the rim and in toward the chamber. I use an accelerator to quicken the curing process. Allowing the rim patch to thoroughly cure, I turn back to the stem filing and sanding the black CA glue patches on the upper and lower bit. I use the file to refresh and redefine the button. The sanding is expanded to the entire stem to remove vestiges of oxidation.Following the 240 sanding paper, the stem is wet sanded with 600 grade paper followed by applying 000 grade steel wool. The stem is shaping up nicely.The rim briar dust putty rebuild is fully cured and using the sanding drum mounted onto the Dremel, I begin removing the excess patch material on the internal chamber wall. The goal is to restore a rounded chamber. Next, the excess patch material is removed from the rim top.I also smooth out the external hole path in the sculpted area. With the excess patch material removed from the rim, I then take the stummel to the topping board. I removed the excess first so that the topping will be more balanced and not get pushed off or out of balance because of the different level of surface. I start first with 240 sanding paper on the chopping board. After some rotations on the board, the ‘roundness’ or lack of, of the chamber becomes more distinct. I return to the sanding drum on the Dremel to continue to round the chamber wall and rim edge. This goes slowly to make sure not to take too much off! I also use 240 sanding paper rolled to clean the outer and inner edges of the rim. It’s looking good.After changing the topping board to 600 grade paper, the stummel is rotated several more times. I like what I see. The rim rebuild patch looks good and the rim’s balance has been restored without great loss of briar off the top of the bowl.Before continuing with sanding the stummel, I attach a burr to the stummel to shape the sculpting. I try to match some swings and swirls but dipping in and out with the burr is pretty random. At the end, I think it looks good.I plan to apply a light brown dye to the stummel. To clean the surface and to help to lighten the dark spots caused by heating, especially near the rim, I apply sanding sponges. I usually use 3 sanding sponges – coarse, medium and light to finish. I add a coarser sponge to this regimen with a total of 4 sanding cycles. The grain has started to emerge. I continue by using the full regimen of micromesh pads. Starting with pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand. Following this, dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000 bring out the latent grain in the briar. I’m liking the appearance of several bird’s eye swirls. The grain is lively and expressive. The stummel still shows darkened areas from charring and heating. This is especially on the rim and near the top of the bowl. I decided early on with the repairs and the briar blemishes, that I would apply Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye to the briar surface. I assemble the dying module on my work desk.I begin by heating the stummel with a hot air gun. The gun heats and expands the briar helping it to be more receptive to the dye. I then paint the stummel with the aniline dye using a folded pipe cleaner and with each section, I ‘flame it’ by lighting it with the lit candle with the result that the alcohol in the dye combusts leaving behind the dye pigment.I thoroughly apply the dye and fire it making sure the entire stummel has been covered. The stummel is then set aside for several hours to ‘rest’. This allows the new dye to be absorbed into the briar grain.With the stummel resting, I turn again to the stem. I apply the full regiment of micromesh pads by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to help condition the stem and to protect from oxidation. The newly dyed stummel has been resting for several hours and it’s time to ‘unwrap’ the fire crusted shell. I use a felt buffing wheel mounted on the Dremel at the lowest speed. Using the felt wheel Tripoli compound is applied to the stummel surface.Next, I wipe the stummel with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol not so much to lighten but to remove excess dye ‘clumped up’ that was missed through the buffing process.Next, I reunite stem and stummel and apply (stem attachment not shown!) and apply Blue Diamond compound. With a cotton buffing wheel attached to the Dremel, the speed is set at approximately 40% full power and the compound is applied to pipe. After applying the compound, a felt cloth is used to wipe/buff the pipe to remove any compound dust in preparation for adding wax.I had observed earlier that the stem was loose. There is too much play with the mortise fitting. To remedy this, I use the smooth end of a drill bit, one-step larger than the airway diameter. I then heat the mortise carefully with a Bic lighter to warm the vulcanite making it more supple. As the mortise heats, I gently insert the larger drill bit into the airway expanding the diameter of the tenon as I go. The procedure works well. The mortise-tenon fit is snugger as it should be.Next, just to help guard against dye leeching when the pipe is first put into service, I reheat the stummel and wipe it well with a cotton cloth. This emulates the heating when the pipe is first put into service. Sometimes, newly dyed stummels will leech the dye when they are first used coloring the new steward’s fingers – in this case, Katie’s father! I don’t want this to happen!With the repair having been done to the upper chamber with the filling of the hole with JB Weld, a protective coating of natural Bulgarian yogurt and activated charcoal will help initiate a layer for a carbon cake to develop. The normal healthy cake width for a chamber is the width of a US dime. Not much, but this helps to guard the briar in the fire chamber. I add the charcoal to a small amount of natural yogurt. Sour cream can also be used.I add charcoal until the mud mixture will not drip off the pipe nail but remains firm.After putting a pipe cleaner in the airway to guard the draft hole from being obstructed, I then trowel the mud into the chamber and cover the chamber wall thoroughly. The hour is late, so I put the stummel aside for the mud to dry through the night. The next day, after rejoining stem and stummel, carnauba wax is applied to the entire pipe. Another cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted on the Dremel for this purpose and the speed is maintained at 40% full power. After the application of a few coats of wax, the pipe is given a rigorous hand buffing with a microfiber cloth to remove any excess wax and to raise the shine.Wow! This Sculpted 3/4 Bent Billiard had some issues to work through. The hole repair and the rim were the largest challenges and I’m pleased with how these repairs turned out. The briar grain is fun and expressive and really made an appearance through the dying and buffing process. I’m pleased and I trust that my future daughter-in-law, Katie, will be pleased as well as she gives this pipe to her father as a gift for his birthday. What makes this gift even more valuable is that this pipe benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Thanks for joining me!

A Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Bent Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. It is a interestingly rusticated saddle stem Bent Dublin with a smooth crowned rim top and darkening around the rim edge. It is stamped with Sherwood over Rock Briar on the heel of the bowl followed by the Savinelli “S” shield and the shape number 316KS over Italy on the shank. The stamping is clear and readable though the shape number is hidden slightly by the nickel repair band. The pipe has a combination of brown stains and the worm trail rustication is not only tactile but also a purposefully pattern to the finish. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top toward the back of the bowl. There was darkening on the briar around the inner edge and the top of the rim. The stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. there were some hash marks on the left side of the stem about an inch from the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the inner edge of the crowned rim. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the “worm trail” rustication around the bowl and the great looking grain as well. It is actually a nice looking pipe. The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. The shooting star logo on the stem side is clear but faint. I am hoping that it can be repainted once it is clean. It all depends on how deep the stamping on the stem side is.The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface. I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html) to read about the Sherwood Rock Briar. It is a smooth pipe with the worm trail carving around the bowl. Sometimes I wonder if it was Savinelli’s answer to the Custombilt Craze or what Lorenzo was selling that was similar. This is definitely tamer! I have included the screen capture from the site below.From what I could find there were several things about the pipe on my table that did not add up to what I was seeing in the various photos. I found a picture of the same pipe on Worthpoint (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wow-savinelli-sherwood-rock-briar-143136918). It has a long slender tapered stem on the shank and no band. I was pretty certain before I saw this picture that the pipe I was working on had a replacement stem – it was a saddle stem and was poorly fit to the shank. I was also confident that the band was for a cracked shank repair and was not original. It also covered the stamped KS portion of the shape number. I think both were added at the same time to repair a break that happened which cracked the shank and broke the stem. The photos I was seeing confirmed my suspicions about the pipe in hand.Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge and the top at the back of the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos. However one of the issues that I saw in looking at the fit of the shank to the stem was that whoever had done the replacement stem had rounded the edges of the saddle so the fit against the band was not smooth but slightly hipped. You can see that on the fit of the stem to the shank in the photos below. There are bulges on the sides and underside. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the edge to remove the darkening. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better. I did not sand the rim top as I figured that polishing it with micromesh pads would take care of the rim top for me. I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. Because the bowl and rim top looked so good I decided to move on to rubbing the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to address the diameter of the saddle portion of the stem and remove some of the rounding on the edge. I also wanted to get rid of the “hips” on the sides and underside of the stem. I sanded the saddle with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and repeatedly checked the fit to the shank and band. When I finally had removed the majority of the issues it was time to move on. I polished it with a piece of 440 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. It helped to remove the transition between where the Softee Bit had covered the stem and the rest of the stem surface. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone! I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Dublin is an interesting looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the smooth briar between the rusticated patterns around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. The replacement stem and nickel band look good with the bowl and stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Dublin is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

I am not sure I would call this AFG III Freehand pipe anything other than ODD

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Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up this pipe sometime in 2016 and I have had it in a box of bowls since he sent it to me. I have looked at it several times but it never called my name. It is a strange pipe. The upwardly curved portion of the shank is joined to the bowl and straight shank about mid shank. The grain is quite nice though there is a large pit on the left side of the shank. The pipe is a sitter with a strange notched rim top. The notches have a faux plateau pattern in the groove on the front and back of the bowl. The top of the rim is almost calabash like with a wide flat top. The curve of the shank made the drilling of the bent portion a mystery until you turn the pipe over and see the screw that is inset in the back of the shank where it is parallel with the airway in the straight portion. It was lightly smoked and dirty. The shank is stamped AFG III on the left side of the upper portion. The stem was pirated from a WDC Wellington and made to fit in the shank. The shank end was out of round and the mortise was quite large. The end was not flat so fitting any stem would be a trick. Maybe that is why the Wellington stem was used. The stem had deep tooth marks in the surface and really did not work with the bowl to me. Jeff took the following photos before he did his clean up on the pipe. Jeff took photos of the bowl top to show the condition of the bowl and rim top and edges. The pipe has almost a floral look to it from this angle. It is a dirty pipe and the interior of the bowl has some roughness on the right side. He took a photo of the screw in the underside of the shank. It looks like a brass wood screw that has been inset in the shank.He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to give a clear look at the grain on the briar. It is actually a nice looking piece of briar that some how the shape follows in a strange way all its own. The stamping on the left side of the shank reads AFG III which is not a brand I can find listed anywhere on the net so I have no information on the maker.The stem that had been made to fit is a WDC Wellington P-lip knockoff. It really did not fit in the shank and it was pretty chewed up. I would need to replace it.Today when I was sorting through my box of bowls without stems that I have and pitching out the worst of them I picked this bowl up and was drawn to seeing what I could do with it. I took it to my worktable and looked it over. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as I have come to expect after 4 years of working on pipes. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. Since the stem was not going to be used he did a quick clean up on it and sent it along. I had long since thrown it in the bottom of the box of bowls. The pipe was indeed an odd one. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took a photo of the wood screw in the shank and the flaw in the briar on the topside of the shank. You can also see the joint of the bowl and shank with the upward turned shank extension in the photos below. I drew a red box around then in the photos below. I went through my cans of stems to find one that would work with the diameter of the shank. I would need to turn the tenon to make it fit and also adjust the shank end and face it to make the taper stem fit.I took a photo of the shank end to show its condition. It was not flat and it was not round. The thickness of the shank around the mortise was also different on each side. The second photo below shows that angle of the shank end.I went through my brass bands to find one that would fit the end of the shank. I smoothed out rounded end on a topping board to smooth it. I also used my Dremel and sanding drum to bring the shank end back to round. I heated the band and pressed it onto the end of the shank. It looked good and it provided a straight flat edge on the shank end that would work well with the newly turned stem. I unscrewed the wood screw from the shank and found that it actually cut off the flow of air through the shank. When it was in place it extended into the airway. I used the Dremel and a grinding stone to take the screw down so that it would end at the wall of the airway. I used some all purpose glue to anchor the screw in the shank. It could be removed with a screw driver but it also was air tight.I filled in the flaw on the left side of the shank with briar dust and super glue. When the repair cured I sanded the repair smooth again with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper. I used the PIMO tenon turning tool on my cordless drill to reduce the diameter of the tenon and face the stem surface for a good fit on the shank.Once I had the fit right to the shank I used a heat gun to give the end a bend that matched the flow of the bowl. I may bend it a bit more but I like it at the moment. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I worked over the repaired spot on the shank to blend it in more. I touched up the stain around the band edge and the repaired pit on the shank using a blend of Oak and Maple stain pens. The colour matched well and once it was buffed would be perfect.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the newly fit stem. I did some fine tuning of the diameter of the stem at the shank/stem junction with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This oddly shaped handmade briar pipe is strange enough to actually be quite interesting. From the shape of the extended shank to the flair of the bowl sides to the different looking top with the smooth top on the sides and the “dips” in the front and rear that are rusticated to look a bit like plateau. The mix of brown stains that the maker used really highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The band and the newly shaped vulcanite stem seem to work well with the pipe. The pipe is a beauty and really eye-catching in its own way. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand and is a sitter as well. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. This is not a pipe for everyone but someone is bound to love it. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Replacing a Broken Tenon on a Stanwell RP Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday a fellow pipe smoker called to say he was in front of my house and had a pipe that he had dropped while on a walk and needed a replacement tenon. He put the pipe in my mail box and I picked it up and while he was on the front side walk I chatted with him from the front porch – very much observing social distancing. The pipe was a beautiful Stanwell RP Freehand. Sure enough the tenon was stuck in the shank and snapper off just ahead of the fancy turned ball on the stem. Tenon replacements on these freehand styles are some of the easiest to do. It means that the stem end is flattened and drilled out to accommodate a new tenon. He also pointed out some road rash on the left side of the bowl where the pipe had bounced off the sidewalk. While I am not taking on new work what could I say to a previous customer standing at my gate asking for help. Of course I took the pipe in and today decided to address the broken tenon. I took pictures of the pipe to show its condition before I started. I took some photos of the shank end to show the snapped tenon in the shank and the broken end on the stem. I tried to pull the tenon with some simple tricks and it was stuck in the shank. It would not budge no matter how I tried. I put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes to see if a change in temperature would loosen the tenon.I took the bowl out of the freezer and screwed a drywall screw into the airway in the tenon. It did not take much effort at all to wiggle it and pull out the broken tenon. I kept the piece of tenon so that I could match the replace tenon to the diameter of the broken tenon.Before moving on to make the new tenon I decided to address the road rash on the side of the bowl. I have circled it in red in the first photo below. For this application I used a wet cloth and heated the blade of a butter knife over the flame of my gas stove. I put the wet cloth over the damaged spot and when the knife became hot I touched it to the wet cloth. The heat generated steam from the wet cloth and began to lift the damaged spot. I knew that it would not come up totally as it was a rough area but I knew that I could improve the look. The second photo shows the area on the bowl side after the steam application. I enclosed the repaired damage with a red circle.The damage looked much better after the steaming, not perfect but better! I stained the upper portion of the bowl with an Oak stain pen to blend it into the rest of the surrounding briar. Once it was polished it would blend in very well.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I find that it also helps to blend a newly stained area into the rest of the bowl. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to replacing the tenon. I had a threaded tenon that I had started turning down to size for another pipe that would work perfectly. It is shown in the photo below next to the broken chunk of the original tenon. I would need to use a Dremel and sanding drum to finish turning the tenon portion down to match the diameter of the broken one. I would also need to reduce the diameter of the threaded tenon end because of the size of the end of the stem.I set the tenon aside and flattened the jagged portion of the broken tenon on the stem with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once it was flat I began the process of drilling out the airway to receive the new tenon. I always start with a drill bit slightly larger than the existing airway so that I do not chip of damage the stem. I don’t want create more work! I worked my way up to a ¼ inch drill bit as it was the largest one that I could get away with drilling into the stem end without damaging the external surface.I reduced the diameter of the portion of the tenon that fit in the shank and the portion that would be anchored in the stem using a Dremel and sanding drum to rough fit it. I straightened out the edges of the insert portion with a rasp and squared up the edge so that it would seat in the stem. Once I had a good fit in the stem and the shank I used slow setting super glue to anchor the new tenon in the stem. I coated the edges of the tenon and then set it in place and aligned it so that it was straight.Once the glue had cured I cleaned up the surface of the tenon so that it was not scratched with sandpaper and so that it fit well in the shank. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished the fancy turnings on the stem and area around the new tenon with Before & After Pipe Polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) using a cotton swab to get into the grooves and angles. When I was finished I rubbed the entire stem down with the polish and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. With that the pipe is complete. I buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond Polish and gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel and then hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is now ready to go back to the pipe man who dropped it off Friday afternoon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of his repaired pipe when he picks it up. Thanks for walking with me through this restoration. Cheers.

Restoring a Pastoral Carved Mural Meerschaum

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Blog by Steve Laug

This old meerschaum pipe with a Bakelite stem and silver shank band has been sitting in my box to be restored for almost three years now. I picked up and looked at it, took it apart looked at the pieces and put it back together and put it back in the box. Today I was going through all of the boxes of pipes I had to work on and sorting them. I came upon this pipe and decided today was the day to work on it. This pipe is carved with a pastoral scene of what looks like a mountain cabin and stone fence. Reclining on the ground in the forefront is figure that looks like a Swiss hiker or shepherd with his walking staff leaning against the fence. The bowl had a cake on the walls with a lot of dust in the carving on the front and sides of the bowl. It was dusty and tired looking. The shank end was chipped and there was damage to the shank itself. A lot would be revealed once Jeff had worked his magic on it. The thin shank had a silver etched band that fit well. The shank end was threaded and acted as the mortise. The amber coloured Bakelite stem had a bone tenon that screwed into the shank end of the band. There was light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff has gotten very good at capturing the condition of the bowl and rim top with his photos. You can see the work that is ahead of us in terms of the cake in the bowl and the lava on the inner edge. The bowl is in good condition.The next set of photos show the carving around the sides of the bowl. The carving is well done. I look forward to seeing what this one looks like once it is clean and restored. He took photos of the shank to show the filigree on the band and the chipped area on the shank itself. The first two photos show the banded shank and the second two show the damage on the unbanded shank. The next photos show the stem surface. It was very dirty and worn looking. It had pitting, light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There no identifying marks on the pipe or shank or band to help identify the maker. So it was time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done his usual great cleanup of this pipe. He cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the inner edge of the rim. The meerschaum carving looks clean and well done. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to clean up the Bakelite. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the inwardly beveled rim top and stem. Once Jeff removed the lava on the top and inside of the rim top was rough. The inner edge had a bit of wear and would need to be sanded smooth. The close up photos of the stem shows that is it very clean and there is some tooth chatter and marks on the button surface and just ahead of the button. There are also casting marks on the sides of the stem that need to be removed.I took the stem off the shank and took photos. The band was loose on the shank and the stem screwed into the threaded mortise in the top of the band. At first I thought the band was a later addition but the more I looked at it the more I realized that the band was original with the inset mortise. I spread some all-purpose white glue on the end of the shank. I unscrewed the stem from the shank and pressed the band onto the shank end. I set it aside to dry while the glue cured.I took a photo of the reclining goat herd or hiker and included it now. It is well carved.I decided to address the damage on the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the darkening on the inner edge of the bowl. With the edge cleaned up the bowl looked better.I polished the silver band with a jeweler’s cloth and removed the tarnish on the band.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the meerschaum with my fingertips. Mark Hoover developed the product to clean, enliven and protect briar but I have been using it on meerschaum as well and found it effective. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks on the stem in front of the button on both sides.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This large meerschaum pot with a carved pastoral scene is an unusual piece. It has a beauty of its own with the patina around heel and bowl. It is a pipe that has grown on me as I have worked on it. I have never worked on one like it. I know next to nothing about the pipe in terms of manufacture or carver. It has a German/Swiss look to the carving but that is a guess. The silver band and the thin Bakelite stem add to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a unique beauty. The rim top looks really good now. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Clapham’s Beeswax by hand and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This pipe will be added to the Meerschaum Pipes section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Breathing Life into A Pipe Maker 16 Lovat with a Cumberland Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

This past January Jeff and his wife Sherry and Irene and I made a pipe hunting trip down the Oregon Coast. At least that is what Jeff and I called it. We stopped in a lot of the small towns up and down the northern part of the coast and picked up some nice pipes. When I saw this little Lovat with a Cumberland stem I was hooked and we picked it up and added it to the finds of the trip. This pipe is stamped on both sides of the shank and on the underside at the shank/stem union. On the left side it is stamped with the Pipe Maker. On the right side it is stamped Imported Briar. On the underside it is stamped with the shape number 16. It was a very dirty pipe with a dull and lifeless finish that hid the grain around the bowl. There was a very thick cake in the bowl and a thick lava coat on the rim top and the inner edge. It was hard to see what the condition of either the inner or outer edges with the lava and grime. The pipe had a rich medium brown stain with a reddish tint that highlighted nice grain on the bowl sides under the grime and the finish appeared to be in good condition. A lot would be revealed once Jeff had worked his magic on it. The Cumberland style saddle stem was in good condition with oxidation and light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. Jeff has gotten very good at capturing the condition of the bowl and rim top with his photos. You can see the work that is ahead of us in terms of the lava and grime on the rim and the cake in the bowl. This pipe is a real mess. The next set of photos show the grain on the sides and heel of the bowl. It is an interesting combination of grain – cross grain and birdseye predominate. I look forward to seeing what this one looks like once it is clean and restored. He took photos of the faint stamping on the sides of the shank. The Pipe Maker stamp on the left side is faint but readable. The Imported Briar stamp on the right side is also faint but readable. On the underside is the shape stamp 16 which is very clear readable. The fourth and fifth photos below show the logo on the left side of the saddle stem. The next photos show the stem surface. It was very dirty, oxidized and calcified. It had pitting, light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff removed the stem from the shank and the photo shows the interesting stinger apparatus and threaded tenon on the pipe. I was certain that the brand was American because of the Imported Briar stamp on the shank but I wanted to learn more about it. I turned first to Pipephils site to see if there was any information on the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-p3.html). I did a screen capture of what was on the site and I include that below.I turned to Pipedia see if there was any further information to help me with hunt for this pipe manufacturer. There was no listing for that pipe company so I had as much information as I could find online.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. It looked far better than what it was like when we found it. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the beveled rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the Cumberland style rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. Once Jeff removed the lava on the top and inside of the rim top was a wreck. Both the inner and the outer edge of the bowl showed damage. There were deep nicks and gouges to the surface of the rim and a lot of darkening. The close up photos of the stem shows that is it very clean and there is some tooth chatter and marks on the button surface and just ahead of the button.I removed the stem from the bowl and worked on the rim surface. The rim was beveled so topping it on a topping board was out of the question. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner and outer edges of the bowl. I also used it to smooth out the rim top to remove the damage.I was happy with the way the rim top and edges looked so I did not need to do anymore except to polish them. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The grain really began to stand out and the finish took on a shine by the last sanding pad. The photos tell the story! I touched up the rim top to match the rest of the bowl with a blend of Maple and Cherry stain pens. The blend works really well with this colour of bowl. I am happy with the work so it is time to move on.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside at this point and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on the button edge and along the edge on both sides with clear super glue. When the repairs had cured I used a needle file to recut and sharpen the edges of the button and the button surface. I paused in my work on the stem to realign the stem in the shank. I heated the tenon with a lighter to soften the glue that holds it in place. I screwed the stem back in the mortise and aligned it while the glue was soft. Once it had set I removed the stem and continued to work on it.I blended the repairs into the surface of the stem and reshaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I continued the polishing using Denicare Mouthpiece polish. It is a red gritty paste that feels a lot like Tripoli to me. It works very well to polish out remnants of oxidation and smooth out fine scratches in the rubber stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This small Pipe Maker American Made Lovat is a bit of a mystery. I know that Frankau made them in England and Pipe Maker made them in the US but that is the extent of the information available on the brand. The shaping and carving follows the grain and highlights the mix of grains around the bowl. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the stunning grain on the pipe. The Cumberland saddle stem adds its reds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and the grain just pops at this point. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank and stem during the process. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Lovat is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Refitting the stem and restoring a Savinelli Made Rectangular Shank Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a different looking Savinelli made Billiard. It had a flat shank and stem that are rectangular. It was functionally a sitter. It was a different looking piece of briar in that it is a mix of grains hidden beneath the dirt. There was one fill on the shank bowl junction on the right side of the bowl. The briar was very dirty. The bowl had a thick cake overflowing like lava onto the bevel of the rim top. It is hard to know what the inner edge of the rim looks like because it is buried under the cake and lava coat. The fit of the stem in the shank appeared to be a bit off but cleaning would make that clear. The variegated brown and gold acrylic stem was dirty, scratched and had some light tooth marks and chatter at the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. The next photos capture the condition of the bowl and rim top. You can see the work that is ahead of us in terms of cake and lava buildup.The grain around the bowl is a mix of cross grain and birdseye. The pipe follows the grain well. Jeff took photos to show how the grain is laid out. The stamping on the underside of the shank read as noted above. You can also see that the stem is poorly fit to the shank in this photo.The photos of the stem show the stem surface. The first photo shows the fit of the stem against the shank. It was a poorly fit stem. The stem has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Now it was time to work on my part of the restoration of the pipe. Jeff had cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was in decent condition with a bit of buildup on the rim top but virtually no cake in the bowl. He reamed the bowl with a Pipnet Reamer and then cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the beveled rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. There is one fill on the right side at the shank bowl junction. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. Once Jeff removed the lava on the inside edge of the rim top it was in pretty rough condition. There were cuts, nicks and burned areas all around the inner edge and the bowl was out of round from the damage. The outer edge of the bowl looked very good. The close up photos of the stem shows that it was very clean and there was some tooth marks and chatter on the stem just ahead of the button. The acrylic was very scratched.The fit of the stem in the shank is off. It looked like the shank end had been rounded slightly and the stem was definitely larger than even the straight portion of the shank. It was poorly fit and that makes me think it is a replacement stem. The question I needed to answer was how far to go with the refitting of the stem. I knew that I wanted to bring it down as close as possible so that transition between the shank and stem was smooth. I decided to work on this as the first item of my part of the restoration. I took some photos to try and capture the variation between the stem and shank. Hopefully you can see what I mean even with my poor photos. I have used red arrows to identify trouble areas.I probably spend an hour or more hand sanding the stem to fit the shank. Often I do that with the stem off and flatten it, constantly checking for progress. I left the stem in place on this pipe for much of the sanding process as I was seeking to make a smooth transition on an already rounded shank end. The photos below tell the story. The next two photos show the stem after much sanding my way through movies on Netflix. It is far better than when I began. The transitions on the sides are perfect while the top and underside I tried to accommodate the rounded shank end as much as possible.With the shank/stem transition improved I was ready to move on to dealing with the issues of the inner edge and rim top. I removed the stem and set it aside and took the bowl in my hands. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edge and clean up the slight bevel to mask the damaged areas. I lightly topped the bowl as well to remove the damage on the rim top and smooth out briar. Once the bowl is polished the bevel is hardly visible and the bowl looks better.With that done I decided to call it a night. The pipe still smelled strongly of old tobacco even after all the cleaning so I stuffed the bowl with cotton bolls and used a syringe to fill it with isopropyl alcohol. I set the bowl in an old ice tray and left it while the cotton and alcohol did its work. The second photo shows what I found this morning when I came to the work table. I removed the cotton bolls and pipe cleaner and cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners and alcohol. It was very clean and it smelled far better!I was happy with the way the rim top and edges looked so I moved on to polish the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The grain really began to stand out and the finish took on a shine by the last sanding pad. The photos tell the story! I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I laid the bowl aside and turned to deal with the refit stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the scratching and tooth marks with the micromesh. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This Savinelli Made Billiard Sitter was a bit of a pain to work on. The amount of sanding to fit the stem even the way I have it now was a lot. But I am happier with the pipe now that I have finished it. The pipe looks a lot better. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the different grain patterns on the pipe. The variegated brown and gold acrylic stem just adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl back in round it was a beauty and the grain just pops at this point.

I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank and stem during the process. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Savinelli Billiard with a flat rectangular stem is a nice take on a classic billiard. The finish on the bowl combines various stains to give it depth. It is very well done. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. It a great looking pipe in great condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This pipe will be added to the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Rusticating A Willard That Was A Gift For My Colleague…

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

My job involves a lot of transfers and frequent shifting of our household to a completely new place. At times, it is we who move to our work place alone while our families stay back for children’s education or when accommodation is not available or when the new place is in a remote area and fraught with risks. I moved to my present place of work alone. Here, I had a very fine set of colleagues with whom I gelled well. As time went by, these colleagues got transferred and new colleagues joined. However, when the last of my old colleagues got his transfer orders, I wanted to gift him a pipe as he has started to enjoy pipes more than his cigars.

Abha, my wife, had sent me one lot of 40-45 pipes that she had cleaned up and all ready for my part of restoration process. From this lot of the pipes that I had earmarked as for sale/ gifting, he selected a pipe that had come to me as part of my Mumbai Bonanza.

For those readers who have missed out on how I came to purchase this lot, here is the background story….

I was fortunate enough to have heeded the advice of my dear friend and mentor, Steve, and struck a deal with a junk collector from Mumbai. He did not know what he was selling and I did not know what I was buying as we reside in different cities!! The argument that Mr. Steve presented was that if not anything, I shall at least have some spares and this was logical. I struck a deal and here are pictures of the pipes that I received in this lot. This lot contains some very nice collectible pipes, a few well known brands and some mediocre brands. Overall, with seven Dunhill pipes, a Preben Holm #1 FH, a couple of “Made in England” Pete System pipes, a couple of Charatan’s Belvederes, Custom-Bilt, Stanwell and other assorted pipes, I would say that I had struck a decent deal!! This is indeed my “Mumbai Bonanza”.

The pipe selected by my colleague and now on my work table from this find (sixteenth pipe being restored) is a bent billiard pipe with flame shaped worm rustications, a poor imitation of worm rustications as seen on Custombilts from the Wally Frank era! It is indicated in yellow arrow in the picture below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “WILLARD” in block letter over “IMPORTED BRIAR” again in block letter. The right side of the shank is devoid of any stamping. The stem bears a “Dot” logo in Yellow, embedded on the left side of the stem. Now coming to the research of this brand and line/model in specific, I referred to pipedia.org. Though there are no reams of information on this brand or model, the information provided gives a clear perspective of this brand and its aim. Here is the link (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Willard).

“The Willard pipes were made by Sparta Industries in Sparta, N.C from 1963 to 1975 (about 60,000 pipes per week). Some were distributed by the Post and Base Exchanges that serviced the military during the Vietnam War. Others were produced for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco. (preceding content from the “Pipes” website http://www.pipephil.eu/index.html)

Lord Abbott was either a sub-brand or a series produced by Willard —Dgillmor 22:42, 10 May 2012 (CDT)”

From the above information, it is evident that the pipe currently on my work table is from the period 1963-75. With this input on the vintage of this pipe, I move ahead with the restoration of this 42 plus years old pipe!

Initial Visual Inspection
The stummel is covered in dust and dirt giving it a dull appearance. The Custombilt like worm rustications are uneven, without any finesse and filled with dirt and grime. There are a couple of fills that are plainly visible. These will need to be refreshed, if needed. It’s a matter of personal choice; however, I could not help but wonder what it was that attracted my colleague to this pipe in the first place!! I got my answer the next day when he said that he liked the shape and lightness of this pipe. Thus, it was not the grains (which were zero!) or the worm rustication that he was interested in and could be done away with to make it more attractive. With this input from him, I decided to rusticate the stummel as I was not very happy with the appearance of this pipe at this stage. A thick layer of cake can be seen in the chamber. The smooth rim top surface is covered in dirt, dust and grime with a few dents and dings thrown in for good measures. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber will be known once the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The inner rim condition appears to be in good condition with no burn/ charred surfaces. Even the outer rim edge appears to be in a decent condition. Only once the stummel has been thoroughly cleaned that I can be sure of my initial appreciation. In spite of the thick cake, the chamber odor is surprisingly not strong, yet I shall be subjecting it to a salt and alcohol treatment to freshen it up for him.The shank end has a metal band and this metal band extends inside the shank with threads, over which the threaded stinger is seated in to the mortise. Thankfully, the band and threads are all intact. The mortise is blocked with dried gunk, adversely affecting the airflow. The metal band is dull and dirty in appearance.The vulcanite stem is oxidized and has calcification deposits towards the button end. The lower and upper stem surface is peppered with tooth chatter. The button edges also need to be sharpened. The stinger opening and the horizontal slot is covered in accumulated oils and tars. The alignment of the stem and shank is skewed with the stem being overturned to the right. Initial Cleaning By Abha…
The initial cleaning on this pipe was done by Abha, my wife (she has cleaned up around 40-50 pipes and these have now reached me for further restoration). She reamed out the complete cake and further smoothed out the chamber walls with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. She further cleaned out the internals of the shank with pipe cleaners and alcohol and cotton buds. She followed the internal cleaning of the shank with external cleaning of the stummel using Murphy’s Oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush and dried it with paper napkins and cotton cloth.Next she cleaned out the internals of the stem air way and immersed it in “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution (pipe is marked in indigo blue arrow) along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. Once the stem had soaked overnight, she cleaned the stem under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using Scotch Brite pad. She further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.Once The Pipe Is On My Work Table…
The cleaned up pipe presents a very clear picture of what needs to be done to restore this pipe to a decent and smoke worthy condition. I really cannot thank Abha, my wife, enough for all the help and support that she extends in my pursuance of this hobby. I proceed to carry out my appreciation of the work that needs to be done on this pipe to restore it. The cleaned up pipe, as I received it, is shown below. The chamber walls are without any heat fissures or pits and that’s a big relief. The rim top surface is peppered with dents and dings. The inner rim edge shows slight darkening all round and should be easily addressed with a couple of turns of a piece of 220 grit sand paper along the edge. There are some minute chipped spots on the outer edge. The condition of the chamber is good and will not require much repair work. There are no ghost smells in the chamber. The stummel surface is nice and clean. The worm rustications, though clean, are still not visually pleasing. There are a large numbers of fill now plainly visible (only larger ones are enclosed in yellow circle). The mortise is clean and air flow is smooth. The metal spacer ring is also clean and intact. The vulcanite stem had cleaned up nicely. The upper stem surface has a couple of deep bite marks at the base of the button and also in the bite zone. The lower surface has some minor tooth chatter in the bite zone. The button edges on both the surfaces need to be sharpened. The aluminum stinger is clean.The seating of the stem stinger in to the metal threaded mortise is off center. The stem is overturned to the right and will have to be readjusted to perfectly align with the shank and the stummel.The Process
The first issue that I addressed in this project was that of the stem repairs. I painted both surfaces of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth chatter and bite marks to the surface. This also helps in loosening minor oxidation from the stem surface. I sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to remove the loosened oxidation. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further clean the surface. Even though most of the tooth indentations have been eliminated by heating the damaged stem portion, one deep indention is still seen on upper surface in the bite zone and a minor bite mark is seen on the button edge on the lower stem surface. I filled the tooth indentation in the button edge on lower and upper stem surface with a mix of activated charcoal and CA superglue and set it aside for the fill to cure.With the stem fills set aside for curing, I decided to work the stummel. The other day during a Face Time video call with Steve, we discussed the best way to transform this stummel. The long and short of the discussion was that it was decided to rusticate the stummel. This would help to mask the fills and provide a very tactile feel while smoking. It would also provide me an opportunity to practice rustication. With this decision finalized, I proceed with rusticating this stummel.

Now, this would not be my first attempt at rustication as I had rusticated one a few months back, here is the link to the write up (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/08/02/gifting-my-mentor-and-dear-friend-steve-an-alexander-zavvos-hygrosystem-pipe/).

I referred to the above write up and other subject write ups on rebornpipes to understand the mistakes committed and decide on the look/pattern of rustications over the stummel surface. I decided to maintain a smooth ring atop the rustication below the outer edge of the rim and also at the shank end. I used a transparent tape to demarcate the area that I wanted to keep smooth that is the rim top and about quarter of an inch below the rim outer edge and a thin band at the shank end. Similarly, I covered whatever little that remained of the stamping. From my experience, I knew that this is a very essential step as I realized during rusticating that it is very easy to lose track and transgress over the areas and stampings which you wish to preserve.To rusticate, I firmly held the stummel in my left hand and with my right hand and began gouging out the briar. The technique is to firmly press the pointed four prongs of the modified Philips screwdriver in to the surface, rotate and pull out the removed chunk of briar. I worked diligently till I was satisfied with the rustications and the appearance of the stummel. I cleaned the stummel surface with a brass wired brush to clear all the debris from the rustications. I decided to take a break from further rusticating the surface as the process is tiring and painful. This makes me want a better and efficient rusticating tool. While giving my right hand a rest from this task, I decided to work on the damage to the rim top and edges. I start by addressing the rim top surface damage. I top the rim on a piece of 220 grit sand paper, checking frequently till I am satisfied that the darkened surface is addressed to a great extent and the rim top surface is nice, smooth and even. The inner and outer edges are still uneven, though much better than before topping, and shall be addressed subsequently.With a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper pinched between my thumb and forefinger, I create a slight bevel on the inner and outer edges of the rim top surface. This helps to mask and address the minor dents and dings that had remained on the rim edges after topping. I am careful so as not to alter the profile of the stummel by excessive topping or creation of the bevels. I am pretty pleased with the appearance of the rim top and edges at this stage. I cleaned the stummel with pure acetone and cotton swab to remove the old stain completely in preparation for the polishing and subsequently, a new stain. After the cleaning, I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I turn my attention back to the stem. The fill has cured nicely and with a flat head needle file, I sand the fill to achieve a rough match with the surrounding surface. To achieve a perfect match, I sand the stem with a 220 grit paper, progressively moving through to finish with a 1000 grit sand paper. As expected, a clean and neat looking stem stared back at me. I rub a little Extra Virgin Olive oil into the stem surface to hydrate it and set it aside to be absorbed in to the vulcanite.I polish the rim top and the smooth surfaces of the stummel using micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I am happy with the appearance of the stummel at this point in the restoration. The stummel is now ready for a fresh coat of stain. I heat the stummel surface with my heat gun to open up the pores on the stummel so that the stain is well set. I mix black stain powder with isopropyl alcohol and liberally apply it over the heated surface, flaming it with the flame of a lighter as I went ahead to different self designated zones of the surface. This helps in the setting of the stain in the grain of the briar. Once the stain has set in well, I again warm the stummel with my heat gun. This helps the stain to be absorbed and set further into the briar. I mount a felt cloth buffing wheel on my rotary tool and gently buff the entire stummel surface to remove the stain crust. I wipe the stummel with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove any excess stain and follow it up sanding the raised rustication with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. This is followed up by careful dry sanding of the entire stummel, especially the raised rustications with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. This not only lightens and highlights the rustications, but will also provide a smooth surface for the next coat of stain. Here is how the stummel appears at this stage. I buff the stummel with a horse hair shoe brush to remove any sanding dust resulting from the micromesh sanding. I apply a small quantity of “Before and After” restoration balm to rehydrate and rejuvenate the briar and set it aside for some time. Thereafter, I buff and clean the stummel with a microfiber cloth. I apply a second coat of Medium Brown stain over the stummel and the shank extension, going through the same method as described above and set them aside for the stain to set. With the stummel set aside for the stain to set, I turned my attention to the stem polishing. Using the micromesh pads, I complete the polishing cycle by wet sanding the surface with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. The stem looks great with the fills nicely matched with the rest of the surface. I rub a little quantity of Extra Virgin Olive oil in to the stem surface and set it aside to be absorbed by the vulcanite.Coming back to the stummel, once the stain is set I wipe it down with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove any excess stain and lighten it from the raised rustications. Mounting a felt cloth buffing wheel on my rotary tool, I go about removing the crust formed by the stain over the raised rustication. The second coat of brown stain has added another layer of texture to the appearance of the stummel. Next, I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my finger tips, work it deep in to the sandblasts 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 rusticated patterns on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. I rub a small quantity of Halcyon II wax into the surface and immediately wipe it with a microfiber cloth. The only issue that remains unaddressed at this stage is the issue of the overturned stem. With the flame of a lighter, I heat the aluminum stinger to a point where the stem is just about able to rotate on the stinger. I reattach the stem to the shank while the stinger was still warm, and turned it till the alignment was as perfect as I desired and set it aside to cool down.To complete the restoration, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool. I set the speed at about half of the full power 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 finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and quite a transformation it was. It is now ready for its long second innings with my colleague. I wish that he enjoys his pipe and remembers our association for a long time to come. I wish to thank our esteemed readers for sparing their valuable time to read through and any input or advice is always welcome.

Reworking a KB&B Bent Churchwarden

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an interesting KB&B Churchwarden and that is how it is stamped on the left side of the shank. On the right it reads Italian Briar. It is an interesting piece of briar in that it is a mix of grains hidden beneath a dark coat of stain and a top coat of shellac. The briar was very dirty. The bowl had a thick cake overflowing like lava onto the rim top. It is hard to know what the inner edge of the rim looks like because it is buried under the cake and lava coat. The fit of the stem in the shank appeared to be a bit off but cleaning would make that clear. The long vulcanite stem was dirty and oxidized. It was calcified near the button. The bend on the stem was also too much leaving the bowl tipped downward when in the mouth. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. Jeff tried to capture the condition of the bowl and rim top with the next series of photos. You can see the work that is ahead of us in terms of cake and lava buildup. The grain around the bowl is quite stunning. Jeff took some great photos showing what is underneath the grime and debris of time and use. He captured the stamping on the both sides of the shank it read as noted above.The photos of the stem show the stem surface. It is dirty and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.Now it was time to work on my part of the restoration of the pipe. Jeff had cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was in decent condition with a bit of buildup on the rim top but virtually no cake in the bowl. He cleaned up the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the light lava on the beveled rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the rim top and stem. Once Jeff removed the lava on the inside edge of the rim top it was in pretty rough condition. There were cuts, nicks and burned areas all around the inner edge and the bowl was out of round from the damage. The outer edge of the bowl looked very good. The close up photos of the stem shows that it was very clean and there was some tooth marks and chatter on the stem just ahead of the button.The fit of the stem in the shank is off. It looked like the shank end had a slight cant to it and the stem did not seat evenly against the shank end. The gap was obvious and made worse by the fact that the diameter of the shank was less than that of the stem. It was worse on the top side and the right side. I checked the shank end and there was some damage there. I could top it lightly but that is a hit or miss proposition. I decided that I would see what a thin band did to the fit. I took some photos to try to capture what I was seeing at the shank stem junction. I went through my various bands. I had picked up a bag of older style bands that included a slight cap that went over the shank end. It was my thinking that this would smooth the surface of the junction for the stem. I heated the band with a lighter and pressed in place on the shank. It was a very tight fit and I liked the look of it. There is something about the look of these thin brass bands that just looks right on older pipes. I took photos of the bowl and the pipe at this point. I decided to address the over bent stem at this point since I was working on the pipe as a whole. I want the bent to be more in keeping with the top of the bowl so that when it sat in the mouth the line was even from the bend to the top of the bowl. I used a heat gun on the lowest setting to soften the vulcanite. To “unbend” is far easier than to bend. You heat the top side of the stem at the bend, constantly moving the pipe and the stem automatically begins to straighten. The key is to stop in time before it is totally straight! I paid attention and caught it at the right moment. I cooled the stem with water to set the new bend.With the shank/stem connection repaired and the bend in the stem reset I was ready to move on to dealing with the issues of the inner edge and rim top. I removed the stem and set it aside and took the bowl in my hands. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edge and give it a slight bevel to mask the damaged areas. Once the bowl is polished the bevel is hardly visible and the bowl looks better.I wiped off the remnants of the shellac finish on the bowl with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad. Once the finish was removed the grain began to really stand out nicely. I was happy with the way the rim top and edges looked so I moved on to polish the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The grain really began to stand out and the finish took on a shine by the last sanding pad. The photos tell the story! I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I laid the bowl aside and turned to deal with the stem. I sanded off the excess diameter at the shank with 220 grit sandpaper until the shank and stem were the same diameter. Unfortunately I utterly forgot to take photos of this part of the process. My photos pick up again when I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the scratching and tooth marks with the micromesh. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This KB&B Churchwarden was a fun pipe to work on. I knew that I had to do some work to bring it back to smooth transitions between the shank and stem and to get the bowl looking better and not so beat up. But I was very happy when I got to the point of putting it all back together and everything worked very well. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the different grain patterns on the pipe. The black vulcanite Churchwarden stem just adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and the grain just pops at this point.

I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank and stem during the process. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished KB&B Churchwarden is quite beautiful and is a classic bent Churchwarden shaped pipe. The finish on the bowl combines various stains to give it depth. It is very well done. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 10 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I really like the looks of this Churchwarden and it is a great looking pipe in great condition. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.