Tag Archives: GBD Seventy Six Pipes

Another Easy Restoration – a GBD Seventy Six 255 Canadian

Blog by Steve Laug

When I opened the box of pipes from my brother there was a long shanked clear stem pipe that stood out to me. The stem was in perfect condition, with no tooth chatter or marks and was very clean. In fact, the stem was probably a replacement made of Lucite. Looking at the classic shape and the grain on it I was pretty sure it was a GBD but had not even looked at it. When I got around to examining the pipe I saw that it was stamped on the top of the shank with GBD in the oval logo over Seventy Six in script. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in England over the shape number 255 which when I looked it up was a GBD number for a Canadian with an oval taper stem. Finding out that pretty well sealed the fact that the stem is a replacement. It is an oval shaped saddle stem.I remembered reading about the Seventy Six line before but had to look it up again. From what I found with a simple search I could see that the pipe was introduced by GBD in1976 in honor of the American Bi-Centennial. According to what I read the pipe was released as a polished dark brown “take off” finish. The best I can understand is that the dark brown was removed leaving it in the dark grain and birdseye of the pipe.

So my memory was nudged and I remembered that Al Jones (Upshallfan) had written about his repair of a classic GBD Seventy Six and given information on the brand in this link: https://rebornpipes.com/2013/06/17/gbd-oval-shank-pot-seventy-six-restoration/ I quote: “In 1976 GBD introduced a series called the “Seventy-Six” to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. I was a 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.”

He also quotes from the 1976 Catalogue: “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 brother took the above photos and the close up photos that follow before he did any clean up on the pipe. The first photos shows the condition of the bowl and the rim. There was a cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim. I did not know until the pipe arrived that the rim was beveled inward to the bowl. There appeared to be a lot of damage on the rim. The second and third photo show the stamping on the top and underside of the stem. It is clear and readable. The last photo shows the condition of the stem. There were no bite marks on the top and underside near the button. There was some light tars in the airway in the stem. My brother scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the wax and the buildup on the rim. It removed the oils and wax and left the pipe clean and natural briar. He cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem. He also cleaned out the mortise with alcohol, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. The photos below show the pipe when I received it. When I saw the rim it was then that I knew that it was beveled inward. The briar on this pipe was truly stunning. There were no sandpits or flaws in the briar. He was able to remove most of the lava on the rim and what had appeared to be burned areas was merely dirty. It would not take much to clean it up and make it shine.There was still some inner edge darkening and some damage on the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the darkening and the damage. The third photo shows the process of sanding the inside of the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around the end of a Sharpie pen to smooth out the inside of the bowl. The fourth and final photo shows the interior of the bowl after it was sanded. I decided not to stain the pipe but to leave it natural. I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil to bring life back to the briar. I liked the look of the pipe with the natural oil finish. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.

An Engagement Pipe (GBD 548 Seventy-Six)

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My family had a pretty big life event here last week. My daughter came home from New Orleans for a week of vacation, with the boyfriend of two years in tow again. He had called us a few weeks prior to ask permission to marry her, the first of our daughters to get engaged. This young man is quite a gentleman, as you might have guessed (who knew guys still ask for permission?). He and I share a number of interests, including pipes. I enjoyed my week with him and we were able to spend some time in the shop where I shared with him some estate pipe restoration techniques. He left here with a few briars that he cleaned. I miss him and her already.

As they were getting ready to depart, I found this GBD Seventy-Six, shape 548, on Ebay. I later learned it was sold by our own Bob Landry. The pipe had some issues and I was a bit skeptical that a good outcome could result. I’m a fan of the Seventy-Six line and I liked the tall bulldog shape. The bowl top had some chips on it but the tall bowl looked like there was plenty of briar there to top it just a bit. The stem was in great shape, just oxidized and I rationalized that if it didn’t work out, at least I had a brass rondell for the parts box. The big concern was the two burn marks on the briar (photographed and described well by Bob). I knew it would require a restain. Here is the pipe as it was received.

I reamed the bowl and found it to be in great shape. I used a sheet of 800 grit paper on my flat work bench to top the bowl and work past the damaged area. That fix came out great and the tall bowl definitely lent itself to that repair. Next up, I soaked the bowl in alcohol to remove the stain. This really exposed the burned areas. I tried to sand past them, but that was not possible and I was afraid of putting a flat spot on the bowl, particularly on that right side. This work exposed some other nicks on the bottom of the bowl. I was able to buff/sand out most of those.

The GBD Seventy-Six line used a two stain process that I really like, much like Comoys used. I stained the bowl black but must have put it on too heavy, as I had a hard time getting the black off. The plan was to sand off the black, leaving it to highlight the grain and then apply a very light brown stain. I mulled over just leaving it black, but that didn’t set well with me either. I was a bit frustrated at this point and almost bagged the whole project and save the stem for a future project. I left it on the bench for the better part of a week, working on other projects. I decided to soak off the black stain and left it in an alcohol bath for several days. That finally did the trick and afterwards, I sanded the briar smooth with some 2000 grit paper and then 8000 grit micromesh.

I then applied a very light brown stain using Feiblings Medium Brown heavily diluted with alcohol (20:1 ratio or so?) The combination of the black and brown stain finally hid the burn marks rather well and I was pleased with the outcome. The bowl was then polished with White Diamond and then several coats of carnuba wax was applied.

With the bowl completed, I turned my attention to the stem, which didn’t require nearly as much work. Using a piece of plastic, cut into a round shape I inserted it as a shield between the stem and the briar for the sanding work. I sanded the stem with 800, 1500 and 2000 grit paper, all wet. I then moved to 8000 and 12000 grit micromesh sheets. The stem was then buffed with White Diamond and an automotive plastic polish.

This shows the plastic shield.

As I was finishing the pipe and thinking about my daughters marriage, it struck me that there were some similarities in this pipe project and a successful marriage. Like a marriage, at times things don’t always go the way you anticipated and being patient with your spouse or a project always pays off. I sent the pipe off to my future son-in-law with a note welcoming him to our family. I hoped when smoking the pipe, he would remember the week he spent here and his proposal to my daughter.

GBD Oval-Shank Pot “Seventy-Six” Restoration

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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.