GBD Oval Shank pipes | rebornpipes

Blog by Steve Laug

I was looking through the box of pipes I brought home from my brother’s when I visited recently and came across a beautiful example of a GBD Prestige pipe. It is stamped GBD in the oval and Prestige below that on the top of the shank. It sports an oxidized silver band stamped Sterling in an arch across the top. It has some stunning grain and is an oval shank. On the bottom side of the shank it is stamped 1451 which according to the GBD shape charts is an oval shank Canadian. This one however does not look like a Canadian to me. It is a nice looking billiard. The stem is clear Perspex and was in decent shape. It has the brass GBD roundel on top of the stem. I took some close-up photos of the pipe. The first shows the stamping on top of the shank. It is very legible and sharp. The second shows the build up on the rim and the cake in the bowl. The inner and outer edges of the rim are sharp and show no damage.The Perspex stem is actually surprisingly clean. Often the airway and slot on these older stems is stained a deep brown from the tobacco smoke and it is a bear to get out. This one however had minimal staining and most of that is in the slot on the end of the button and on the tenon itself. There was also some light tooth chatter on the top and bottom of the stem at the button.I was hoping that the build up on the rim could be scrubbed off so that is where I started. I used cotton pads and saliva and was able to remove most of the tars and lava. I used 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to clean it up further. Other than some slight darkening of the beveled rim it came out clean.I polished the silver band with some silver polish and a jeweler’s polishing cloth and was able to remove all of the tarnish without scratching or damaging the band.I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. It was slightly bigger than the second cutting head so I used the Savinelli Pipe Knife to remove the remainder of the cake. I finished by sanding the inside of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper.I scrubbed out the airway and mortise in the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until all of the tars and oils were gone. Fortunately this pipe was well cared for and it did not take too many cleaners before they came out clean.The stem was another story. Never use alcohol on Perspex stems as it causes them to craze and crack. I scrubbed out the airway and slot with pipe cleaners dipped in Soft Scrub cleanser until the airway was once again clear. The slot took a little more work. When the pipe was made the slot work was rough and sloppy so the dark stains filled in grooves and scratches internally that no amount of scrubbing would remove. I used a round, oval and a flat oval needle file to clean up the roughness of the slot and remove the stains from those spots. I rinsed the inside of the stem with cool water to remove the scrubbing compound. The stem came out reasonably well in my opinion. There were a few brown stains that I was not able to remove but they are minimal. They will show up in the final photos of the pipe.I wet sanded the tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides of the stem at the button using 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. I sanded with those until the tooth chatter was gone. I was fortunate that none of the tooth marks were very deep. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and finished by wiping the stem down with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and was amazed at how the grain popped and the stem began to shine. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed them with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. While there are some small brown stains in the button area it is clean. I think you will agree that it is a stunning example of a GBD Prestige. The grain and the stem work really well together and the factory installed silver band sets off the pipe with a touch of class. Thanks for looking.

In 1976 GBD introduced a series called the “Seventy-Six” to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. I was in Sophomore in high school during 1976 and the year-long celebration had a big impact on me. The Seventy-Six model remained in the GBD catalog until 1981. From the 1976 Catalog:

“The GBD “Seventy-Six” is our contribution to the Bicentennial celebrations. We have really pushed out the boats for “the colonies” in launching this new series that will be remembered by its proud owner long after the celebrations are forgotten.”

My first “Seventy-Six” model was a 1976 Coloussus and I’ve since added three more, including this Shape 1353. I would call this a banker, but in a Smokers Haven sales ad, it is referred to as a “bent oval-shank pot”.

The pipe was in decent shape, with a moderate coating tars on the bowl top, along with a few nicks and dents. The stem, while heavily oxidized still had the brass rondell. The rondell along with the “London, England” stamp indicated a pre-Cadogan era GBD. The stem was also free of any serious teeth marks. Several of the nicks were very noticeable and I wasn’t sure they could be removed or hidden easily.

I reamed the bowl and soaked it for six hours with some Everclear and sea salt. Prior to soaking, I buffed the pipe lightly with some Tripoli and White diamond followed by a buff with carnuba wax. I like to leave the wax on the pipe during the soaking process in the event some alcohol is splashed on the briar bowl top and I believe the wax gives it some protection from lifting the stain. While the bowl was soaking, the stem was also soaked in a mild solution of Oxy-clean. I put a dab of grease on the brass rondell. The oxidation was so heavy, part of the rondell was obscured and at first I thought it was just worn heavily. That turned out not to be the case.

After the bowl was soaked, I emptied the salt and alcohol solution. I heated a kitchen knife with a torch and applied that to the dents with a wet towel. The steam generated allows the dents to pop back out most of the time. In this case, the dents did spring back to shape and I was able to reduce the depth of some of the nicks. Next I buffed the briar bowl again, using separate wheels of Tripoli, White Diamond and several coats of carnuba wax. I was able to diminish all of the nicks, in particular the one on the right side of the oval stem.

Next I went to work on the stem, which I re-attached to the bowl in order not to round off the crisp edge. I removed the oxidation with 1500 grade wet paper (dipped in my oxy-clean solution) followed by 2000 grade paper. Next I moved to the Micromesh sheets, using 8000 and finally 12000 grade paper. I then buffed the stem with white diamond and Blue Magic brand plastic polish.

A wire bristle brush dipped in Everclear was used to clean the shank. It took approximately 25 swabs with the bristle cleaner until the brush came out clean. I’ll let the briar dry out for a few days before smoking the pipe. Below are some pictures of the finished pipe.