Tag Archives: kaywoodie

Kaywoodie Supergrain 13B (3 Hole Stinger)

Blog by Al Jones

This pipe was a wonderful gift from member “irish: on the PipesMagazine forums. He has an impressive collection of Kaywoodies that spans the decades. His collection can be viewed here:
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/kaywoodie-collection-pictures

It wasn’t much of a restoration, as the pipe was in immaculate condition. I soaked the bowl in alcohol and sea salt, but really didn’t need that effort. I touched up the stem a bit with 1000>1500>2000 grit paper, than the 8000 and 12000 grades of micromesh. I gave the bowl a light buff with White Diamond and then a few coats of carnuba wax.

The pipe is a 3-hole stinger pipe and it smokes equally well as my older 4-hole stinger Supergrain. I enjoy flakes in these pipes as the stinger makes me sip a little slower than usual. Kaywoodie switched to the three hole stinger sometime in the 1950’s, but I don’t know how long they were used. I did learn that the small groove in the base of the stinger is for a rubber o-ring. The pipe seems to smoke quite well without it, but I’ll pick one up at my local hardware store.

The 13B is a beautiful streamlined shape and perhaps one of the most beautiful Author shapes made.

Reparing a Cumberland Stem on a Kaywoodie Regent Bulldog 98B

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Blog by Greg Wolford

I’ve been hoping to add a Kaywoodie Regent to my collection for some time now. A month or so ago we were out-of-town on vacation when I happened upon one in an antique store. There were actually several pipes in this vendor’s case, most of which I wasn’t interested in. Other than the Regent, there were also two other Kaywoodies I was interested in: a Relief Grain and an extra long Canadian. They all looked to have pretty good bones in the dark little store so I made them mine.

When I got them back to where we were staying I eagerly opened them up to see what I had. I found that they were a lot dirtier and caked up than I thought. I also now got a really good look at the damage to the Regent’s stem; this was going to take some trail and error I knew.

When I got home I took some better photos, showing the damage to the stem. There were deep teeth marks on the top and bottom of the stem and the edge of the side where the clover logo is was almost gone completely. This was going to take a lot of time and some research to get it even close to decent again I now realized.

My first step was to try some experiments on a Medico VFQ. Although I ended up with a good looking and smoking pipe, the experiments were somewhat in vain: the stems on the VFQ turned out to be nylon. So I now turned to some fellow restorers on the PSU Forum for hints. tips and ideas – and they really came through with many ideas and several new articles posted by Joyal. Some of the best advice for this project come from JoeMan: the idea of using activated charcoal powder with Gorilla brand super glue.

This project took days to complete do to all the patching a rebuilding of the stem. So, I didn’t do a great job documenting it all with photos and because of the extended time frame of the project I may miss a step or two in this article; I apologize in advance for these things.

The fist thing I did (after thoroughly cleaning the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol) was try to raise the dents as much as I could with heat from a candle; there was little success here.

Now I began the filling and shaping process. This took many forms and layers: I used clear super glue, both “regular” and gel, mixing in some of the StewMac black glue at times, and also Gorilla brand super glue both with and without charcoal powder mixed into it. one of the challenges was to add strength and black-color in some places while not covering up too much of the red in the Cumberland stem. Another challenge was to build up that chewed up side so the end of the stem would have the proper shape again.

The StewMac glue was too thin and took so long to dry that it wasn’t much help to me on this project. The Gorilla glue, both “plain” and with the charcoal powder mixed in, was a big help; it is thicker and dries quite fast, especially when the powder is mixed in.

Another thing that added time was the way I went about this repair. There were multiple layers needed, as well as different thicknesses, so I would apply a patch, let it cure, and then shape it as I needed, and then start the whole process over again. I did this many times to get an acceptable result. This photo is after almost all of the layering and shaping was done:

I used needle files and a vulcrylic file for most of the shaping. I also used 220 grit sandpaper. After I had the final shape I was happy with I wet sanded with 320/400/600 and then micro mesh through 12000 grit; after 600 and every few grits thereafter I also polished the stem with Meguiar’s Scratch X2.0,which helps me see if I’ve missed anything along the way. The next four images are before micro mesh and after:

As you can see, this stem came out pretty nicely and is more than useable now. Then lines came out well, to my eye, and the rebuilding and patching blended rather nicely.

I didn’t do a lot to the stummel; the nomenclature is readable but very weak. There are some small “pocket” marks but I think they give the pipe an air of character so I basically left the stummel as I found it, sans, the thick cake, mess of tars and oils in the shank, and the buildup on the rim. The rim did require a very light topping and a round or two with the medium touch up marker to give it a head start on matching the patina on this rest of the wood. I only very lightly buffed the pipe with white diamond and carnauba wax and ending with a soft clean buff and hand polish with a micro fabric cloth.

I just noticed there is a bit of wax residue that I missed in the photos. Oh well, that’s easy enough to take care of after while ….

I’m very happy with how this project came out. It will soon find its way, I think, onto my rack where I can hopefully enjoy it for many years – unless my wife learns of its collectors appeal and potential value, then I might be in trouble!

Kaywoodie Super Grain 07C Restored (Unsmoked)

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I found this unsmoked Kaywoodie Super Grain 07C on Ebay. It has a four-hole, “Drinkless” stamped stinger. That and the three digit shape number help identify the timer period when it was made. Hacker sais the 07C bulldog was made from 1947 and that style stinger was discontinued by Kaywoodie in 1954.

The bowl top had some dings from handling or bouncing around someones drawer for 50 plus years.

Using a propane torch, old butter knife, and a small piece of wet cloth, I was able to steam out all of the dents on the bowl top. I heat the knife tip until it is glowing orange, than place the wet cloth (folded over twice) on the dent, then press the hot tip into the cloth. This causes the damp cloth to steam, which usually makes the dents spring back nicely.

The stem was oxidized but mint. The “Drinkless” engraving on the four-hole stinger was also like new. I removed the oxidation with 800 grit paper. I use a Popsicle stick to maintain the angles on the bulldog stem. Working around the logo was a little tricky. Then, I finished the stem with 2000 grit paper, followed by the 8000 and 12000 grade micromesh sheets. I then lightly buffed the stem with white diamond rouge and an automotive plastic polish.

The briar only needed a light buff with white diamond and then a few coats of carnuba wax. The bowl has several visible fills. Removing the oxidation revealed some “freckles” in the vulcanite, which I’ve learned is not uncommon on Kaywoodie or Doctor Grabow stems of that era.