Tag Archives: fitting a stem

Great to work on an older WDC Thorobred Broken In Bent Billiard

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by Steve Laug

This richly stained Bent Billiard is a beautiful pipe. The grain around the bowl is highlighted by the stain and really stands out. Jeff picked the pipe up on 08/06/22 from an online auction in Manorville, New York, USA. He purchased it along with its brother, another Thorobred that was sandblast. I have restored it already and there are many similarities. Here is the link to the blog on the restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2022/08/14/restoring-an-old-wdc-sandblast-thorobred-kerly-briar-broken-in/). It is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads WDC in a triangle followed by Thorobred [over] Broken In. The grain follows the flow of the carved briar. The finish is stained with rich colours – a mix of browns that give depth to its finish. It was filthy with dust and debris ground into the sides of the bowl. The rim top has a heavy lava overflow on the top and edges coming from a thick cake in the bowl. The tapered hard rubber stem has a red triangle WDC logo inset on the topside. It was lightly oxidized and calcified with tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started working on it. It really is a beauty. He took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and overflow of lava on the rim top. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and damage in the hard rubber on the top and underside ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the finish around the bowl sides to show flow of the grain around the bowl. You can also see the dust and debris in the finish. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the left side of the shank to capture it. It was clear and readable as noted above. He also captured the red triangle WDC logo on the top of the stem.I turned to the blog, mentioned above on the restoration of the sandblast partner of this pipe and reread the history of the brand that I had gathered when working on it. I have included that information below for ease of reference.

I have included a quick history of the brand from Pipedia that is interesting and is helpful (https://pipedia.org/wiki/William_Demuth_Company).

William Demuth. (Wilhelm C. Demuth, 1835-1911), a native of Germany, entered the United States at the age of 16 as a penniless immigrant. After a series of odd jobs he found work as a clerk in the import business of a tobacco tradesman in New York City. In 1862 William established his own company. The William Demuth Company specialized in pipes, smoker’s requisites, cigar-store figures, canes and other carved objects.

The Demuth Company is probably well known for the famous trademark, WDC in an inverted equilateral triangle. William commissioned the figurative meerschaum Presidential series, 29 precision-carved likenesses of John Adams, the second president of the United States (1797-1801) to Herbert Hoover, the 30th president (1929-1933), and “Columbus Landing in America,” a 32-inch-long centennial meerschaum masterpiece that took two years to complete and was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893…

…In 1897 Ferdinand Feuerbach joined the Demuth company and by 1903 had become the production manager. Feuerbach is credited with developing Demuth’s popular Royal Demuth and Hesson Guard Milano pipelines. He left in 1919, when Sam Frank Sr. needed an experienced pipe man to run his pipe factory, located at 168 Southern Blvd., in the Bronx. Feuerbach and Frank had been close friends since Frank started his own business in 1900 and was closely associated with the sales staff of WDC, selling their line of pipes…

In early 1937, the City of New York notified S.M. Frank & Co. of their intent to take by eminent domain, part of the land on which the companies pipe factory was located. This was being done to widen two of the adjacent streets. As a result of this, Frank entered into negotiations to purchase the Wm. Demuth Co.’s pipe factory in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. It was agreed upon that Demuth would become a subsidiary of S.M. Frank and all pipe production of the two companies would be moved to DeMuth factory. New Corporate offices were located at 133 Fifth Avenue, NYC.

Demuth pipes continued to be made at the Richmond Hill plant till December 31. 1972. Then the Wm. Demuth Company met its official end as a subsidiary company by liquidation. Demuth’s mainstay pipe, the Wellington continued to be offered in the S.M. Frank catalog until 1976. In the mid-80’s, the Wellington even made a brief return as a direct to the consumer offer.

I also have included a photo of a Billiard with the same stamping as the pipe I working on though on a sandblast or Kerly Briar. The rest of the stamping on the pipe is the same as what is on mine.When I received it from Jeff it did not look like the same pipe. It was clean and the finish had life. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. It was in good condition. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Briarville’s Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off with a soft cloth. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I brought it to the table. I took some photos of the rim top and stem to show the condition of them both when the pipe arrived. The rim top had some damage to the inner edge of the bowl and some marks on the top surface. Overall it looked very good. The oxidation on the stem had come off very well and the tooth marks chatter in the surface of the stem were visible.  I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the appearance of the parts. It is a beauty.I started my work on the pipe by addressing the issues on the top and the inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughness. It looked much better at this point in the process.I sanded the briar rim top and the sides of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. By the time I finished with the 3500 grit pad the briar had taken on a rich glow. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the debris. The bowl took on a rich glow. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for 10 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks and scratches. The heat did little to raise the marks at all. I wonder if hard rubber is unlike vulcanite in terms of memory. I used black super glue to fill in the deep tooth marks in the surface. I flattened out the repairs with small files. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and begin to blend them into the surface. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend them in and smooth out the surface of the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished hand polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. The stem really was beginning to look very good. This is a beautiful WDC Thorobred Broken In Bent Billiard with a thick hard rubber, black stem. It has a great look and feel. The flat bottom makes it a sitter that is well balanced. The shape fits well in the hand with the curve of the bowl and bend of the shank making a great pipe to hold. I polished stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the sandblast bowl and plateau on the rim top and shank end multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich combination of black and dark brown stains gave the sandblast a sense of depth. The pipe took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the briar works well with the polished stem. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 42 grams/ 1.55 ounces. This American Made Bent Billiard is a real beauty. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Restemming and Reclaiming a Hand Carved Odd Freehand

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by Steve Laug

I am taking another break after the last three pipes I worked on the last few days. I decided to restem another one I had here. I cleaned up the bowl and matched a stem with a unique rustic freehand bowl that I have here in my box. It is a cleanup and restore and gives me a break from the routine of my other work on pipes. This bowl has an odd rustic/rough finish with a plateau rim top and shank end. The finish was a bit dull and lifeless. It showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. It has no stamping anywhere on the side or underside of the shank. The bowl had a moderate cake and some lava overflow on the smooth front space and plateau areas of the rim top. I don’t believe the bowl is briar but I am unsure of the wood. The bowl also had some dust and debris in rusticated finish of the bowl as well as in the crevices of the plateau on the shank end. I took some photos of the bowl before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl to give an idea of what I had to work with. The bowl was very dirty and had a moderately thick cake. The plateau rim top has a lava coat that almost filled in crevices. I also took a photo of the plateau on the shank end to show its condition – dirty but in good shape.I went through my cans of stems here and found a nice clear smoky acrylic saddle stem that would fit quite well once I used a clear acrylic tube to line the shank. I have a nice piece of the tube from another stemless freehand that is perfect. Once I cleaned the shank and the stem I would press it in place in the shank like a Delrin or rubber sleeve and the it would be perfect and it will look good. While the glue cured I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl by sanding the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good. I cleaned up the plateau areas on the rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked on it until the groves were clean. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove all the debris. It was looking better each step!I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked it into the grain on the sides, the plateau on the rim top and shank end and the rusticated patch on the right side of the bowl with the tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and grime off with warm water and dried it off with a soft towel. I looked much better at this point. The grain really stands out. I scrubbed out the internals with pipe cleaners (normal & bristle), cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank between the mortise and the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was quite dirty.I sanded the sides the bowl and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to start the polishing process. I wiped down the bowl with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. With the bowl polished I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and into the plateau rim top, shank end and rustication with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I let the Balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. With the bowl cleaned and ready for use I fit the mortise with the clear rubber tube insert. I started the fit with the tenon. I pressed it in as far as possible with the tenon. There was still a small edge that needed to be pressed in. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to press it the rest of the way into the shank. It looked very good. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure.Once the glue cured I used a small file to flatten the repairs and reshape the stem surface. I sanded the repairs on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better. I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further polish the stem. I wiped it down between sanding pads with a damp cloth.I used several needle files – round and oval as well as a button slot saw to shape the opening in the end of the button. It is much better than just the original drilled hole.I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This oddly beautiful Hand Carved Danish Style Freehand with a fancy, turned smoky acrylic saddle replacement stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. 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 bowl and shank. I gave the bowl and the 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 Hand Carved Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 3 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ wide x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 79 grams/2.75 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another very interesting pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time. UPDATE: I received a message on Facebook Tobacco Pipe Restorers Group about a possible maker for this pipe. Thanks Mason Evans! I am including that and a link to the article on Pipedia below:

Mason: That looks like a Bubinga pipe by Tom “Pipecarver” Arcoleo.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pipecarver_%26_Son

Replacing a tenon, restemming and restoring another Mixed Finish Soren Hand Carved Freehand

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by Steve Laug

I am taking a break from the last two of the four pipes I am working on for Jack to clean up and match a stem with a nice freehand pipe that I have here in my box. It is another quick cleanup and restore and gives me a break from the heavier restoration work on Jack’s next pipe. This bowl has a mixed smooth and rusticated finish with a plateau rim top and shank end. The finish was a bit dull and lifeless. It showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. On the underside of the shank it was clearly stamped Soren [over] Hand-Carved [over] Made in Denmark. The bowl had a thin cake and some lava overflow on the smooth and plateau areas of the rim top. The bowl also had some dust and debris in rusticated patch on the right side of the bowl as well as in the crevices of the plateau on the shank end. I took some photos of the bowl before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl to give an idea of what I had to work with. The bowl was very dirty and had a moderately thick cake. The smooth portions of the rim top have a lava coat the plateau portions are also almost filled in with lava. I also took a photo of the plateau on the shank end to show its condition – dirty but in good shape.I took a photo to try and capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is present and is readable in person far more than the photos show. It is stamped as noted above.I went through my cans of stems here and found a nice vulcanite fancy saddle stem that would fit quite well ONCE I REPLACED THE SNAPPED TENON. It was dirty and needed a thorough cleaning but I think it will look good.I have worked on quite a few Soren pipes over the years and turned to one of the blogs that I wrote  on another interesting Soren Freehand Sitter (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/02/26/this-interesting-soren-hand-carved-freehand-turned-out-to-be-more-work-than-expected/). I quote from that blog below.

I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus, I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market.

It was time to work on the pipe! I decided to start with refitting the new tenon to the stem I had chosen. Hmmm…I thought I was done with that for a while but this stem just worked with the bowl. I flattened the broken tenon remnants on the stem end with a Dremel and sanding drum and then further smoothed it out with a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted a smooth surface for my drilling.I learned a helpful trick on the last batch of six tenon replacements. I use a small pen knife to give the airway in the stem end a slight chamfer to guide the drill bit into it and keep it straight. Once I did that I used a series of drill bits to open the airway to receive the threaded portion of the tenon. I choose to use threaded replacement tenons as they provide a rough serrated surface for the glue to bind to the drilled hole in the stem. It has worked well for me a for a long time.Once it fit well in the stem I needed to reduce the diameter of the portion that went in the shank mortise. I use a Dremel and sanding drum to work it until it fits well in the shank of the pipe. I took photos of the look of the tenon when it was finished and put it in the shank and put the stem on it and took photos. I think it will work very well! I checked the fit of the stem to the tenon, the tenon to the shank repeatedly and once it was proper I glued it in place with black CA glue.I set the stem aside to allow the glue to cure. While it dried I took a photo of the stem and the bowl together to give a sense of the look of the pipe and stem. Proportions and look just work together in my opinion. While the glue cured I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl by sanding the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good. I scrubbed out the internals with pipe cleaners (normal & bristle), cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank between the mortise and the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was quite dirty.I cleaned up the plateau areas on the rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked on it until the groves were clean. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove all the debris. I sanded the smooth portions on the rim top with a folded piece of 200 grit sandpaper. It was looking better each step!I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I worked it into the grain on the sides, the plateau on the rim top and shank end and the rusticated patch on the right side of the bowl with the tooth brush. I rinsed the soap and grime off with warm water and dried it off with a soft towel. I looked much better at this point. The grain really stands out. I sanded the smooth part of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to start the polishing process. I wiped down the bowl with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I followed that by polishing the smooth portions of the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. With the briar polished I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and into the plateau rim top, shank end and rustication with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the Balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. While the Balm did its work, I worked on the “new stem”. I sanded the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further polish the stem. I wiped it down between sanding pads with a damp cloth. I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This beautiful Soren Hand Carved Made In Denmark Freehand with a fancy, turned vulcanite saddle replacement stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. 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 the 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 Soren Hand Carved Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ x 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 58 grams/2.12 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Restemming and Restoring a Mixed Finish Soren Hand Carved Freehand

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by Steve Laug

I am taking a break from the four pipes I am working on for Jack to clean up and match a stem with a nice freehand pipe that I have here in my box. It is a quick cleanup and restore and gives me a break from the heavier restoration work on Jack’s next pipe. This bowl has a mixed sandblast and smooth finish that was a bit dull and lifeless. It showed promise under the grit and grime of the years. On the underside of the shank it was clearly stamped Soren [over] Hand- Carved [over] Copenhagen [over] Denmark. The bowl had a moderate cake and some lava overflow on the smooth and plateau areas of the rim top. The bow also had some dust and debris in the flaws on the smooth portion of the bowl as well as in the crevices of the sandblast and the plateau on the shank end. I took some photos of the bowl before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the bowl to give an idea of what I had to work with. The bowl was very dirty and had a moderately thick cake. The smooth portions of the rim top have a lava coat the plateau portions are also almost filled in with lava. I also took a photo of the plateau on the shank end to show its condition – dirty but in good shape.I took two photos to try and capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is present and is readable in person far more than the photos show. It is stamped as noted above.I went through my cans of stems here and found a nice smokey grey and tan variegated acrylic saddle stem that would fit quite well with a few adjustments. It was dirty and needed a thorough cleaning by I think it will look good. I put the stem in the shank and took a few photos to get a sense of the look of this stem. I have worked on quite a few Soren pipes over the years and turned to one of the blogs that I wrote  on another interesting Soren Freehand Sitter (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/02/26/this-interesting-soren-hand-carved-freehand-turned-out-to-be-more-work-than-expected/). I quote from that blog below.

I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus, I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market.

It was time to work on the pipe! I reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl by sanding the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The bowl walls looked very good. I scrubbed out the internals with pipe cleaners (normal & bristle), cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils in the shank between the mortise and the entrance of the airway into the bowl. It was quite dirty. I repeated the process with the stem as well.
I cleaned up the plateau areas on the rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush. I worked on it until the groves were clean. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove all the debris. I sanded the smooth portions on the rim top with a folded piece of 200 grit sandpaper. It was looking better each step!I touched up the plateau on the rim top and shank wend with a black stain pen. I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock of the black on the high spots.I stained the smooth portions on the rim top with a Maple stain pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank. It looked good with the contrast of the black in the plateau areas.I sanded the smooth part of the front half of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the flawed spots and the scratched. I forgot to take photos of the work – I apologize. I followed that with polished the smooth portions of the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad (Again no photos).

With the smooth portion of the briar polished I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and into the plateau rim top, shank end and sandblast with a horsehair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the Balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. While the Balm did its work, I worked on the “new stem”. I sanded the tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It was starting to look better.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further polish the stem. I wiped it down between sanding pads with a damp cloth.I polished the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This beautiful Soren Hand Carved Copenhagen Denmark Freehand with a fancy, turned grey/tan variegated acrylic replacement stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. 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 the 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 Soren Hand Carved Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 74 grams/2.61 ounces. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

Replacing a snapped tenon on Old World Canadian

4 Replies

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a smooth Canadian that has an Italian look to it but I cannot prove that. It is stamped on the top side of the shank and reads OLD WORLD. There were no other identifying marks or stamps on the shank of the pipe. It is a bit of a mystery pipe. It is another one that came from a box of pipes with broken tenons that I set aside to work on someday. Another one of those days I guess! It is long shank Canadian shaped bowl with a vulcanite taper stem. It has a tall bowl on it with some mix of grain around the sides and shank. The bowl had a moderate cake in the bowl and some lava on the rim top. The finish was in excellent condition and the stain highlights the grain. It was a dirty pipe on the inside of the shank. The vulcanite taper stem had no logo stamped on the topside. It has oxidation, calcification, tooth chatter and tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. The tenon had snapped off cleanly and was missing when it came to us. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and stem sides to show the condition of the both. It was a dirty bowl with debris and a moderated cake on the walls. The rim top had some darkening and lava on the right side toward the back of the bowl. The inner edge showed darkening and some build up in the same area. It was hard to know what the condition of the inner edge was underneath. I took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo to capture the stamping on the topside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.There was nothing online to identify the maker of the Old World pipe I was working on. The only thing I found was a note on “Who Made That Pipe” linking it to a brand stamped Old World Collectors made by Mastercraft. I knew from a lot of work on Mastercraft in the past that they never actually made pipes but had a wide variety of European carvers who made pipes for them to sell in the US. My early thoughts were that this was an Italian Made pipe but I will never be certain of that. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

In preparation for fitting a new tenon I flattened out the broken edges on the snapped tenon using a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I carefully smoothed out the stem end with a Dremel and sanding drum.I drilled the home for the new tenon using airway in the stem as a guide. I drilled it several times with increasingly larger drill bits until I had the opening the same size as the threaded portion of the new tenon.I examined the end of the shank to check for cracks or chips and found that there were no cracks but there were several chips on the shank end on both sides. I knew that I would need to fit a band on the shank end to give it a sharp edge for the fit of the stem to the shank.I fit the tenon in the stem to make sure the fit and alignment was correct and repeated the process in the mortise. I reduced the diameter of the tenon with a Dremel and sanding drum for a smooth fit in the mortise. I fit the stem on the tenon in the mortise to check the alignment. I went through my bands and found an oval band that would fit well on the shank end. I used a folded pipe cleaner to apply all purpose glue to the briar.I pressed the band on to the shank end and squared it off for the fit of the stem against the shank. The band added a touch of bling to the shank that would look very good once the glue cured.I put the tenon in the shank and made sure that it was straight in the shank. Once it all was straight the stem would fit perfect on the shank end.With the fit as good as it was going to get on this one I slid a pipe cleaner in the stem and tenon and painted the threads with black CA glue. I pressed it into place in the stem and set it aside to cure. While it was curing I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the 2nd and 3rd cutting heads to remove the cake in the bowl. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and finally sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to clean up the walls of the bowl. It was in great condition. I cleaned out the shank and airway into the bowl and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. I cleaned out the airway in the stem at the same time. I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the dust and debris. It looked progressively better with each set of pads. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl, rim top and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The bowl really looks good at this point. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem surface with 220 sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and light tooth marks. I worked on the fit of the stem to the shank end so that it sat right in the edge of the band. It was looking much better at this point. I put the stem on the shank and took a photo of the pipe at this point to show the fit of the stem and the new band. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads and wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil saturated cloth to remove the grime and protect the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. Once again, I am the part of the restoration that I always look forward to – the moment when all the pieces are put back together. I put the pipe back together and buffed the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the deeply rusticated finish and the black acrylic stem. This richly stained Old World Canadian is light weight and ready for you to load up a tobacco of preference and enjoy a fresh smoke. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45 grams/1.59 ounces. This is one that will go on the Italian Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes online store shortly. Let me know if you are interested in adding it to your rack. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next generation.

A Beautiful Bari Matador Handmade in Denmark Freehand

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a pipe that came to us from Eric in Brazil, Indiana, USA on 10/28/2021. It is stamped on the underside of the shank and read Bari [arched over] Matador. Underneath it read Handmade [over] In Denmark. The finish on the pipe was a classic Matador style finish combining smooth and sandblast. The left side and front of the bowl is smooth and the right side and back of the bowl are sandblast. The shank is sandblasted with a smooth band on the underside of the shank and as a ring around the shank end. The plateau rim top was dirty with grime and also lava overflowing from the thick cake in the bowl. It was an intriguing pipe with a combination of sandblast and smooth finishes. The left side of the bowl is sandblasted and the rest of the bowl is smooth. The rim top of the bowl is a plateau finish. The fancy saddle stem was vulcanite and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It was oxidized and had some calcification on the end. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show the general condition of the pipe before he started his clean up. Jeff took some close-up photos of the rim top and bowl to show the overall condition. There is dust and lava in the grooves of the plateau. The edges have a lava overflow but appear to be in good condition. The fancy turned vulcanite stem is dirty and has calcification on both sides at the button. There is also some tooth chatter and some tooth marks. Past the turning the stem is a tapered panel. Jeff took some photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish on the pipe. The photos show the beautiful grain around the bowl. Under the dust and grime it was a nice looking bowl. I think it will be a beautiful Freehand pipe once it is restored. He took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above.I remembered that Paresh has restored a similar Bari Matador and written about it on a blog. It is an informative piece so I have included the link to it here (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/15/a-simple-refurbishing-of-a-bari-matador/).

I also have worked on quite a few Bari’s in the past and did the work on the brand information so rather than rework all of that I am including the information I found while working on a Bari De Luxe Freehand. I quoted a section from Pipedia on Bari pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari). I am including the material that I found previously on the brand. It is good to be reminded of the fact that Viggo Nielsen was the pipe maker. I quote:

Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers.

Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production.

Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand – thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

Now that I was reminded about the Viggo Nielsen connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end. When I received it Jeff had once again done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and soaked in Before & After Deoxidizer. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took a close up photo of the plateau rim top to show how clean it was. The inner edge of the rim and the ridges and valleys of the plateau looked good. The stem looked good just some light tooth chatter and tooth marks ahead of the button.One of the things I appreciate about Jeff’s cleanup is that he works to protect and preserve the nomenclature on the shank of the pipes that he works on. He was able to preserve and maintain its condition in the process. I took some photos to show the clarity of the stamping. I have noticed that many restorers are not careful to protect the stamping in their cleaning process and often by the end of the restoration the nomenclature is almost destroyed. Be careful in your work to preserve this critical part of restoration! I took the stem off and took a photo of the pipe.The pipe was in decent condition so I started with the bowl. I polished the smooth portions of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping down the briar after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. The briar began to shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth briar with my fingertips and the plateau and sandblasted side with a horsehair shoe brush. It enlivens, enriches and protects the briar while giving it a deep glow. I appreciate Mark Hoover’s work in developing this product. I buffed the pipe with a micro fiber cloth to raise the shine and took photos of it at this point it the process. It is a beautiful looking pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the vulcanite surface with the flame of a lighter – constantly moving the flame over the tooth marks and was able to lift many of them. I filled in the deeper center tooth marks that remained with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I flattened the repairs with needle files. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the repairs into the surface. I sanded the stem with the 2 inch square 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the stem after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished out the scratch marks left behind by the sandpaper. The stem looked very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I buffed the stem with a soft cloth to raise the shine. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem surface. I am on the homestretch with this Viggo Nielsen made Bari Matador Freehand. As always, I am excited to finish a pipe that I am working on. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I used a gentle touch on the sandblast portion of the bowl. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like along with the polished vulcanite stem. This Bari Matador Freehand is a nice looking pipe. It is quite comfortable in hand and should be so when smoking. It is quite light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2×2 1/2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.15 ounces/62 grams. It is another beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. You can find it in the section of Pipes by Danish Pipe Makers. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know.

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

New Life for a Jobey Shellmoor Extra E527 Hawkbill

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that has been in our work bins for over two years. It is nice looking sandblasted Hawkbill. We purchased it from an Antique Store in Bozeman, Montana, USA on 05/01/2022. It is a great looking pipe with lots of promise. The sandblast is very defined, not deep or rugged but really highlighting the grain around the bowl. There is a lot of dust and grit in the crevices of the blast. The pipe is stamped on the topside of the shank. There are faints spots but it readable. It is stamped Jobey (in script) [over] Shellmoor [over] Extra. Under that it is stamped – PAT. 3537462. The shape number E527 is right after the Extra stamp. The bowl has a heavy cake and tobacco debris in the bowl with lava overflowing and filling in much of the sandblast on the rim top. It is hard to know for sure what the edges look like because of the lava and cake but cleaning would tell all. Other than being dirty the finish is in good condition. The stem has a Jobey brass oval inlaid on the topside of the saddle stem. It has a saddle stem and is connected to the shank by the patented Jobey Link system. It is oxidized, calcified and has some deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. He took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl and the heavy lava on the rim top. The stem photos also show the oxidation, calcification and deep tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. He took photos of the sandblast on the sides and heel on the bowl. It really is a nice looking blast and unusual shape. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the diamond shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. There are some faint spots but it is readable. The Jobey brass oval logo stamp is inlaid on the top left side of the stem. Before I started to work on the pipe I wanted to understand the patent number on the shank. To understand the information, I turned to the US Patent search site and entered the numbers. I was able to find both a description of the invention and a diagram that was submitted with the Patent application. The patent is for the Jobey Link that connects the stem and shank on the pipe. Here is the link to the site and a screen capture of the information found there. https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?docid=03537462&SectionNum=1&IDKey=6F776849C285&HomeUrl=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526d=PALL%2526p=1%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsrchnum.htm%2526r=1%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526s1=3537462.PN.%2526OS=PN/3537462%2526RS=PN/3537462 With that information, I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.  He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove as much of the oxidation as possible. He soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with warm water. The acrylic stem was clean but had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was an Jobey Brass Oval logo inlaid on the left side of the stem. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. It was an amazing looking pipe.  I took photos of the rim top and bowl as well as the stem to give a sense of the condition of both. The rim top and edges looked very good. The stem cleaned up well and the tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button were very light.I took a photo of the stamping on the topside of the shank. It is readable as noted above. I took the stem out of the shank and took a photo of the overall look of the pipe.The bowl was in excellent condition. The rim top and edges looked really good. I started my work by working some Before and After Restoration Balm into the surface of the sandblast bowl. I worked it into the crevices with a shoe brush. It works to preserve, clean and renew the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a soft cloth. The bowl really looked good at this point. I coated the threaded end of the Jobey Link with Vaseline and threaded it into the shank end. I used a screw driver to turn it into the shank end. The stem will fit over the non-threaded end of the stem.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift them a bit. I filled in what remained with black CA glue. Once it cured I used small files to shape the button and flatten the repairs. I sanded out the remaining repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to flatten them out and blend them into the surface. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. It began to take on a deep shine after each pad.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiping it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This Patent Jobey Shellmoor E527 Hawkbill with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The beautiful sandblast on the briar shines through the polished finish is stunning. 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 Conservator’s Wax and the 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 Jobey Shellmoor E527 Hawkbill fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams/2.08 ounces. I will soon be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in this pipe send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

New Life for a Sixten Ivarsson Designed Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 Hand Made Ukulele 91

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By Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table to work on is one that was purchased on 09/18/2020 from a seller in Los Angeles, California, USA. This is a oval shank ukulele with a smooth finish and an oval shank, vulcanite saddle stem. It is another Made in Denmark Stanwell. The smooth finish on this pipe, around the bowl and shank has a mix of grain highlighted by the brown stain. The pipe is stamped on the topside of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] Hand Made. On the underside of the shank the shape number 91 is stamped [over] Made In Denmark. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish on the sides of the bowl. The brown stain highlights some mixed grain under the dirt. The bowl was thickly caked and there was an overflow of lava on the smooth rim top. The condition of the inner edge was hard to know due to the lava coat but there appeared to be some nicks in the edge. The saddle stem is vulcanite and was dirty, oxidized and had light tooth marks, chatter and scratches on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a stamped Crown S logo on the topside of the saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. You can see the cake in the bowl and the spattering of lava on the rim top and inner edges. You can see the nicks in the inner edge of the rim. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. It is heavily oxidized and calcified and very dirty. There appear to be tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The grime hides the grain in many ways. The finish on the pipe is worn but the grain stands out. The stamping was on the top and underside of the shank as noted above. It is clear and readable as noted above. The Crown S stamp on the top of the saddle stem can partially be seen in the first photo below. Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to see if I could find any information that would help me get a sense of the background on the pipe. I turned to Pipephil to see if there was any listing on the

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) for more information. The article is great and gives a lot of history on the brand. There was a category of pipe call Pre-regd. 1945-1948 where all the photos of pipes had the same stamping as the one I am working on. That gave me a clue as to the dating on this particular pipe – it was made between 1945-1948.

There were also links to a shape article by Bas Stevens that I originally published on rebornpipes. I looked up the 91 shape number to see who had designed that shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I quote the information below.

  1. Slightly bent wide, flattened volcano with an oval shank and a short, standard saddle, trapezoidal saddle, or tapered stem, by Sixten Ivarsson. Nicknamed the ‘Ukelele’ (pictured, right, in its reissued design).

Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime and calcification. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. The pipe looked very good when it arrived here. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see the nicks on the thin inner edge of the bowl. The vulcanite saddle stem is in good condition with light tooth marks and some chatter as noted above.I took photos of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank. It is readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. The briar is quite beautiful and I think that polishing it will make the grain stand out. I worked on the damage to the inner edge of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the chips in the finish. By the end it looked much better.I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the finish and bring some life back to the briar. I wiped the briar down after each sanding pad to wipe off the debris left behind by sanding. I polished the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I touched up the “Crown S” stamp on the topside of the saddle stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I scraped off the excess with piece of 320 grit sanding pad and buffed it off with a soft cloth and some Obsidian Oil. It looked very good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Sixten Ivarsson Designed Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 Ukulele 91 with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The stain really highlights the grain and the polished finish is stunning. 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 the 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 Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 Ukulele 91 fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 65 grams /2.33 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email.

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

Restoring a Preben Holm Hand Made Ben Wade Spiral Sandblast Freehand

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By Steve Laug

This interesting Preben Holm made Ben Wade Freehand with both smooth and sandblast finish and plateau rim top and shank end came to us from an estate we purchased from Santa Cruz, California USA on 05/28/2024. It is a unique looking pipe. The stamping on the underside of the spiral shank read Ben Wade [over] Spiral [over] Sandblast [over] Hand Made [over] In [over] Denmark. The pipe has some smooth strips around the bowl flowing from the rim edge to the bottom of the bowl. The rest of the bowl has a very good sandblast. The spiral shank is sandblast on the top and sides and smooth on the underside The finish is dirty with dust and oils ground into the finish and dust and debris in the plateau rim top and shank end. The rim top has a thick lava on the inner edge and heavier at the back of the rim top. The bowl has a thick cake. The fancy, turned saddle stem and is oxidized and has tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. He took photos of the rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat and debris in the finish on the rim top. There was darkening all around the bowl edge. He took photos of the stem to show the oxidation and tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a sense of the finish on the bowl sides. Even under the grime it is a beautiful piece of briar in a unique shape. He captured the stamping as best as possible on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above.I turned first to Pipephil to see what I could find about the Spiral line of pipes and get some background (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-benwade.html).  There was nothing there in terms of photos. There was however an interesting note that I am including below.

During the period 1972 (about) – 1989 Ben Wade pipes were mass produced for Lane Ltd. by Preben Holm’s workshop in his very personal style.

That gave me the time period for the manufacture of this pipe – 1972-1989. I knew that it was a Preben Holm pipe and that it was made for Lane Limited.

I turned then to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Holm,_Preben) and the article on Ben Wade (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I quote the portion of the Ben Wade article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So, the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under his own name. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer to strip out the cake in the bowl and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the plateau rim top and shank end and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and then rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were and what needed to be addresses with both. The rim top and bowl look good. The inner edge bevel looked clean and undamaged. The stem looked better and there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see from the photo that it is clear and readable. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe. The bowl was in such good condition that I started by polishing the smooth briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped down the briar after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris from the surface. The briar began to take on a shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the crevices of the plateau rim top and shank end. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the tooth marks on the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift them. It worked very well and what remained I sanded out with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I touched up the stamp on the top of the stem with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I rubbed the product into the stamping and buffed it off with a soft cloth. It is very visible and clear.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. Between the pads I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil. It is starting to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each pad to enliven and protect the vulcanite. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave the stem another rubdown with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I am really happy with the way that this Preben Holm made Ben Wade Spiral Hand Made Danish Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a very unique shape and mixed sandblast and smooth finished bowl and rim and plateau on the rim and the shank end. The fancy original vulcanite saddle stem is really nice. The polished black of the stem works well with the briar. The briar really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. 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 the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ben Wade Spiral Hand Made really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches long x 2 inches wide, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 60 grams/2.05 ounces. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Restoring and Replacing a Tenon on a Hand Cut B Olive Stack

2 Replies

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was one that we purchased from our contact in Denmark who has provided us with some great pipes. We bought it on 02/16/2023. It caught my eye because of the brass “O” on the stem which I have come to associate with Julius Vesz Hand Made pipes. The stamping on the shank is a bit odd, but uses some of the words that I have come to associate with Vesz pipes.  On the underside of the shank it reads hand cut (lower case script) with B on top of the “cut” portion of the stamp making it unclear. Below that the stamp reads Olive and I don’t think it refers to the wood but perhaps the finish on the pipe. I have never seen a Vesz stamped with that nomenclature. The wood is definitely briar and not Olive wood. I really like the fact that the pipe is the top of the line of Vesz Hand Cut pipes. The bowl had a thick cake with an overflow of lava on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. There were also some burn marks and darkening on the inner edge of the rim. These would need to be dealt with in the clean up and restoration. The finish was dirty with grime and grit ground into the briar. The Ebionite stem was oxidized and had some tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work. Jeff took some great photos of the rim top that show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. There was also some burn damage on the front inner edge of the bowl and some darkening around the edges. He also captured the condition of the stem showing the oxidation and the tooth damage on both sides. Jeff took a photo of the damage to the filter tenon. It had a major crack on the top half. I expected it to break free during the cleanup process.He captured the grain around the sides and heel of the bowl well in these photos. It was amazing grain and the stain was a rich walnut that made the grain really pop around the bowl and shank. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and readable as noted above. You can see the “B” stamped on top of the Hand Cut stamp. The second photo shows the brass “O” on the left side of the taper stem and the oxidation around it on the side of the taper stem.Before I started working my part of the restoration I spent some time trying to place the hand cut line in the Vesz hierarchy. I turned to rebornpipes to have a look at some of the pieces I had written previously on the brand. The first was a catalogue I had picked up on Vesz pipes from a friend. It was an older catalogue from the time period that the brand was called Craft Pipes (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/13/an-older-julius-vesz-catalogue/). In going through the catalogue there was nothing that referred to the newer lines of the Vesz pipes that showed up in other places.

A piece I wrote on a Vesz Zulu gave a lot of historical backgroundon the brand so I reread that (https://rebornpipes.com/2014/10/04/a-review-a-julius-vesz-shape-76-zulu/). I quoted from Pipedia in the piece and have included that and the link below.

Pipedia gives good background information on Vesz. The picture and the material is taken from this link http://pipedia.org/wiki/Vesz_Pipes

“Born and raised in Hungary, Julius Vesz was first exposed to pipe making through his grandfather. Although his grandfather died when Julius was only 9 years old, he can still picture his grandfather making pipes. It made a lasting impression that matured years later.

After immigrating to Canada at age 23, Vesz worked as a mechanical draftsman, but ever since a child had wanted to do something on his own. Remembering his grandfather’s pipe making and repairing, he thought perhaps he should try his hand at that also. He sought out Charlie Dollack, who had a repair shop in downtown Toronto, but while Charlie encouraged the young Vesz, he did not offer any help or instruction.

Julius continued on his own, setting up a modest shop in his own home, and was soon fixing and making pipes for several department stores, as well as United Cigar, which later turned into his main source of work. He discovered he had a unique skill, which he practiced and nurtured on his own. Like his grandfather, Vesz is motivated by a desire to create pipes that approach perfection.”

Over the years I have followed Julius Vesz’ pipes and kept an eye out for one that caught my eye. Julius Vesz is a Canadian pipe maker who has been controversial in his claim to use dead root briar. Many have argued about his choice of terms regarding the briar that he uses. But regardless of your take on that issue he makes beautiful pipes that smoke exceptionally well. His unique raindrop shaped pipes may be how many people know him. He has a shop in the Royal York Hotel, 100 Front Street West in Toronto.

His Hand Cut pipes are crafted from his oldest and finest blocks of aged briar. They come in a variety of shapes and styles and no two are the same. The grading of the Hand Cut is ascending from 3 – 9, then switches to A – D. The pipe I am working on is a B grade so it is getting close to the top of the grading scale which I would expect from the grain on the briar. The Hand Cut pipes were often personalized with bone, silver and gold ornamentation.

His early pipes bore the Craft Briar stamp, and though his company still is registered as Craft Briar his pipes are now stamped Julius Vesz. He carved every pipe that bears his name and though they may bear similarities to others that he has carved each one is one of a kind. His site says that “Every pipe is meticulously crafted from his personal supply of aged briar that he has been accumulating since the 1960s. The extremely old briar gives each pipe the exceptional smoking characteristics found only in a world famous Julius Vesz pipe.”

Now I knew that the Hand Cut pipe I had was the top line of Vesz Pipes and that it was Graded a B which is close to the top of the line which tops out at Grade D. It is a beauty and it is now time to work on it!

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He had reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer back to bare briar and removed the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and shank brushes. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. The filter tenon, shown cracked above, fell apart in the clean up. You can see pieces of the broken tenon below. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work.

I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the clean condition. The burn damage on the inner edge of the bowl is clear on the front of the bowl. The rim top has some scratches and marks as well. The bowl walls look very good. The thick vulcanite stem looks very clean and the tooth marks are evident next to the button on both sides.I took the stem off the bowl and took photos of the broken tenon and parts. It will definitely need to be replaced. The beauty of this is that I can replace it with a regular tenon instead of the filter tenon. To me that is good news.I decided to replace the tenon first. I knew that fitting it would require adjustments to the stem and shank so I wanted to do that before I put a lot of work into polishing the bowl. I used a Dremel to flatten out the broken tenon end. The photo below shows it in process to the flattening out. Once it is flat and the face of the stem is smooth then it will be time to put a new tenon in place. With flattened I used a Delrin tenon – the largest that I had to fit into the airway in the stem. I coated the threaded end of the tenon with clear CA glue and inserted it in the end of the stem.I set the stem aside to let the glue cure on the new tenon. Once it had hardened it was time to reduce the diameter of the new tenon to properly fit in shank. I used a file and a Dremel with a sanding drum to bring it to the right diameter.When I had the tenon shaped correctly, diameter and fit correct I put the stem in the shank and took the following photos. You can see that the fit is very good. It is snug and looks good against the shank end. The alignment to the shank end is quite good but I will need to sand the right side of the stem a little to make the transition smooth. I will need to do the same on the right, top and bottom sides – adjusting either the stem or the shank for smooth transition between the stem and shank. I have to say it is a really beautiful pipe! I sanded the transition smooth all the way around the shank and stem joint. I was careful on the underside to not damage the stamping. Once it was smooth I polished the sanded areas with 1200-3200 grit micromesh pads. I used a Walnut stain pen to blend in the adjusted areas to the rest of the briar. That transition looked and felt very good.I set the stem aside for now and turned to the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the front inner edge and to give it a slight bevel to bring it back to round and deal with the darkening in that area of the rim edge. It definitely looks better. I smoothed it out with micromesh sanding pads. There were some gouges in the rim top on the front and I did not want to top the bowl. I used a tooth pick and clear CA glue to fill in the gouges. Once it cured I smoothed them out with 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed it with some 1500 grit micromesh. I restained the top and the inner edge with a Walnut stain pen. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I take photos of the three groups of pads for my own viewing primarily as I am looking for progress in polishing. Once again, by the end of the process it looked quite good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips. It works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The grain came alive. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The scratches, tooth chatter and marks easily were addressed by dry sanding the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. It looked very good at this point in the process.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads to further remove the remaining scratches. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. This Julius Vesz Hand Cut Grade B Olive Stack is a great looking pipe with great grain around the sides of the bowl. The replaced broken filter tenon with a Delrin one worked very well and now it is a nonfilter pipe. 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 the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and followed by buffing the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Vesz Hand Cut B Grade Olive fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/1.80 ounces. This one will be with me for awhile so I can enjoy the beauty of this high grade Julius Vesz Hand Cut Stack. I think I will enjoy it for a while before I make up my mind once and for all… at least for now. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. As always, I appreciate your comments and questions. Thanks for your support and time!