Blog by Steve Laug

Yet another pipe from the Vancouver Pipe Club donation was this triangular shanked Lorenzo. It is stamped on the left side of the top of the shank Lorenzo and on the bottom of the shank it is stamped Ascona over a series of numbers and letters – 42Y8716. I have no idea what the numbers mean and have been unable to find any information on them. Over the years I have had quite a few old Lorenzo’s but they always seem to find new homes as they tend to be too large to my liking. This one is a bit different – it is probably a group 4 sized bowl with a large triangular shank and saddle stem. The stem was in very good shape and still bears the cursive L logo stamped on the blade of the stem. The bowl was in very rough shape. There was a coat of varnish on the pipe and the bowl had the usual black rubbery bowl coating. The finish was an orange stain that was breaking up under the varnish and leaving light spots in the finish. The rim was beat up and all the outer edges of the bowl either were scarred or burned. The briar under the varnish is quite scratched and there are dents in the briar. I did not take the time to remove any of those other than the ones that came out through my cursory sanding of the bowl. The marks that remain are like character reminders and I decided to leave them. The close up photo below, of the top of the pipe shows the damaged rim -the rough outer edges of the bowl and the burn marks. The second photo below shows the burn damage on the side of the bowl below the edge of the rim. I set up my normal topping tools – a flat board and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and began to work on the top of the bowl. I wanted to remove as much of the damage as possible and sharpen the edges of the bowl. I wanted to reduce the burn damage on the front right side of the outer rim in the process as well. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the spotty orange stain coat. I stained it with two MinWax stains – I used a Medium Walnut first followed by a Red Mahogany stain. I wanted a reddish hue to the pipe that was thinned and lightened by the walnut stain. Once I had finished staining it I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to smooth out the remaining scratches and even out the stain coat. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it was dry buffed the pipe one more time with White Diamond. I finished the refinishing by giving the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffing it with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go back with the others that have been prepared for the Club to use as they choose.