Tag Archives: Iwan Ries Pipes

Wow, what birdseye – a Savinelli Pantera 614 OomPaul

Blog by Steve Laug

I am getting very close to finishing up the lot from the estate sale that my brother Jeff sent me for restoration. Because he had done a great job on the clean up the restoration of the lot has been a pretty easy process. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to work on clean pipes. Once I finish up this one I have only three left to complete. It is a good feeling when I get toward the end of a package of pipes. It feels like I actually am making some progress in the box of pipes to be restored sitting in my shop. This particular pipe is a beautiful Oom Paul with stunning grain all around the bowl. It is stamped Iwan Ries over Pantera on the left side of the shank with a faint IRC stamped on the left side of the saddle stem. It is stamped with the traditional Savinelli “S” shield with the shape number 614 over Italy on the right side of the shank. The underside has an upper case “C” next to the shank/stem junction.My brother took quite a few photos of the pipe from a variety of angles to show both the condition of the pipe and the beautiful grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The photos show the pipe before he started his clean up. The bowl was lightly cake and there was a light coat of lava overflowing on to the top of the rim. It appeared to be in excellent condition under the lava and both the inner and outer edges of the bowl were undamaged.The next three photos show the stamping that I noted above. It is readable and very clean and sharp. The IRC stamp on the stem was deep on the lower half and fainter as it moves toward the top. The next photos of the grain around the bowl show the cross grain and birdseye around the bowl sides, top and bottom. It really shows some spectacular grain. The stem was in very good condition in comparison to the other pipes in the estate. Even so, there were still some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem near the button and flowing onto the top and bottom of the button as well.My brother did his usual stellar job of cleaning up the pipe. The inside and outside were spotless when the pipe arrives. The stem was lightly oxidized as the Oxyclean treatment he gave it brought that to the surface. The next photos show the condition of the pipe when I brought it to my work table. The briar is beautiful with great grain. The stamping on the side of the saddle stem is faint and worn. The top of the rim and the bowl were very clean. Jeff had been able to remove the lava on the rim and had reamed the bowl back to bare briar. The bottom 1/3 of the bowl was undarkened and revealed that the bowl had not been smoked to the bottom.The oxidized stem shows the light tooth marks and chatter on both sides next to and on top of the button. They were the same characteristic marks that were on every other pipe in this estate lot.I sanded the stem surface and the top and underside of the button with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter. It did not take too much work to remove the tooth chatter and marks as they were not deep in the vulcanite stem surface. The oxidation had come to the surface of the stem so it came off quite easily.With the tooth marks and chatter removed, I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I worked over the stem with each of the grits of micromesh and between each one I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil to enliven the rubber. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli on the buffing wheel after I had finished sanding it with the 4000 grit pad. I brought it back to the work table and finished polishing it with the 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I worked it over until the minute scratches that were visible on the stem in the photos above were gone. The briar also began to shine with the buffing. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one has some remarkable grain and look. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store shortly. It is available to add to your pipe collection if you want it. Just email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook.

NEPAL PROJECT PIPE SALE 12 – Restoring an Iwan Ries Blackruf Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is the twelfth pipe from the box of pipes that I was gifted by a good friend of mine with the instructed purpose of cleaning them up and selling them with all of the proceeds going to the aid of earthquake victims in Nepal. Once again all funds raised will all go to the SA Foundation, and organization that has worked in Nepal for over 15 years helping provide recovery, housing and job training for women who are victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. The ongoing earthquakes (over 300) that continue to shake Nepal have left much in ruins. The SA Foundation Project there was able to find new housing for the women and help with staff as well. Every dollar raised from the sale of these pipes will go to the work in Nepal.

This one is Iwan Ries & Co. Blackruf, or sandblast billiard. It is stamped very clearly on the left side of the shank, Iwan Ries & Co. over Blackruf. There are no other stampings on the pipe. The finish is in the best shape of all of the pipes in this lot that I have worked on. The sandblast is not deep and the finish is a mix of blasted birdseye and swirls. That makes it an interesting blast. The exterior of the bowl is not round as the blast removed a lot of the wood near the top left edge of the pipe. It is still nice and thick but is out of round. The bowl needed a light reaming and the shank and airway were dirty. The rim was very clean and the inner edge is sharp and undamaged. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Most of the oxidation was on both ends of the stem. The stem was also slightly twisted from the bend back to that it did not sit correctly. The button on the top side was quite thin and worn down and the sharp edges on both the top and bottom had been smoothed out. The tenon was unique to me in that it was rounded at the end. Once it was cleaned up and repaired this would be a beautiful looking pipe.

I took some close-up pictures of the rim and the stem to show how they looked when I brought them to the work table.

The next photo shows the rounded end of the tenon, the oxidation on the stem and also the dusty buildup on the bowl in the grooves of the sandblast. I reamed the bowl back to a thin cake with a PipNet reamer. There was a lot of tobacco debris in the bowl, stuck to the sides that needed to be removed and the cake was uneven so I wanted to even it out and make it easier to rebuild the new cake.

I scrubbed out the mortise and the airway to the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get them clean and to remove the “crud” (technical term) that had collected there over the years. I used a thin, sharp knife to scrape out the thick ridge of “gunk” (another technical term) in the mortise. I cleaned out the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol and also sanded the surface of the dents with 220 grit sandpaper and then wiped it down with alcohol to prepare it for the repairs. I filled the deep dents/tooth marks with clear superglue and let them dry (one side at a time). On the top side I also built up the button edge to give it some additional thickness.

Once the glue had dried I used a needle file to redefine the sharp edge of the button against the surface of the stem. I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper until they were even with the surface of the stem so that they blended in better. I sanded the repairs with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to reduce the scratches on the surface.

I wanted to rebend the stem to take out the twist in the end. I set up a heat gun and heated the stem so that it would go back to its original shape. That is one of the things I love about vulcanite – is that it seems to have “memory” and returns to the shape it was before bending or twisting. It took some time to heat and straighten it out. A secondary benefit of heating the stem is that it smooths out all of the scratches and gives the stem a mat look. I rebent it over an old rolling pin to get a straight bend. I held it in the bend while I cooled it with running water. I polished it micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil when I finished this first set. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and rubbed it down with oil again when I finished that set. Finally I dry sanded it with 6000-12,000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.

I buffed it with Blue Diamond Plastic Polish on the wheel to give a deep shine and to remove any final scratches.

I buffed the bowl lightly with Blue Diamond and the stem once again before giving them both a coat of carnauba wax. I gave the bowl a light coat so as not to fill in the grooves and repeated several more coats on the stem. The finished pipe is shown below. It is ready for the next pipeman who will enjoy smoking this beauty.

This Iwan Ries Blackruf bent billiard is quite a large pipe, basically a Group 4/5 in Dunhill terms. The shallow mixed grain blast makes it interesting to look at and the feel of it in the hand will make it quite tactile when heated up and smoked. The stain is a combination of dark browns and black that gives it a multidimensional look. It should make someone a great addition. If you are interested in this pipe email me with an offer at slaug@uniserve.com and we can discuss it. The entirety of the sale price will go to the Nepal project. I will pay the postage so that does not get taken off the proceeds. If you are interested in reading about the SA Foundation you can look at their website at http://www.safoundation.com.