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Aged Imported Briar Poker with Red Dot

Blog by Dal Stanton

My wife and I were on Interstate 24 nearing Manchester, Tennessee, returning to the Atlanta area after the wedding of our daughter in Nashville. The billboard beckoned and, of course, I responded by taking the next exit! Madeline’s Antiques & Uniques had the look of a classic pipe picker’s paradise and I was not disappointed! I’m thankful for my wife’s patience and her eagle eye. She helped ferret out hidden pipes in need of help and a new home. In Palmetto, Georgia, I laid out the haul and recorded the picture above – including the six-pipe pipe stand! The poker on the lower end is before me now on my work table back in Sofia, Bulgaria. The left side of the shank has Aged over Imported Briar in a cursive script. The other remarkable characteristics of this Poker are the red dot on the stem and the screw in tenon with a metal mortise receiver. Always hopeful of identifying a pipe’s heritage I landed on a thread written in 2013 in Pipesmagazine.com (Link) of someone seeking information about a pipe with the exact nomenclature, dot and screw in stem, just a different shape, an Author shape instead of the Poker before me. While pedigree is still inconclusive, one helpful comment in the thread summed up well the possibilities:

The “Aged Imported Briar” stamp suggests this is made in the U.S. The screw-in stem is typical of
Kaywoodie and perhaps Jobey which was made for a few years in the U.S. However the design and
shape of this pipe is not Jobey-like. I don’t know Reiss-Premier, but if it is a U.S. outfit, that could
be it. If I understand correctly, the “imported briar” stamp was typical of U.S. pipes at a certain period
when other woods were being used for pipe bowls and there was some misgiving about some of the
woods used. This was a reassurance that the pipe was good quality and safe.

The best guess is the US company, Reiss-Premier, as the source of this Poker because of the dot (See Pipephil.eu) identification. Reiss-Premier had a factory in Chicago from 1930-1959 and was responsible for the term “Drinkless” which was well known with many Kaywoodie pipes (See Pipedia) which Reiss-Premier also produced. If the clue about the authenticity verification of briar stated above is accurate, this Poker possibly dates back to WW II days (40s and 50s) when briar supply from Europe was scarce. Notwithstanding, there is little doubt that this Aged Imported Briar Poker has seen better days and those days are many days ago. On my work table I take some additional pictures to get a better idea of the challenges with this pipe. The poker is an iconic shape – the name comes from the flat bottomed cylindrical shape of the stummel. While men dealt hands of poker they could put their pipes on the table without fear of dumping ash on the winnings. This Poker has heavy cake in the bowl and the rim is in rough shape – I’ll need to remove some valuable briar real estate to reestablish a flat top look, hopefully the Poker won’t turn into a Poker Pot shape in the process! The stummel heel has some dents and scratches from doing what it was intended to do – sit. The briar is all but concealed by the old clouded finish – but there is nice looking briar underneath! I detect a small root branch knot in the grain pattern that will add to the ‘old school’ quaintness of the Poker. There are signs of wear on the stummel, but I’ll not remove them all – signs of the paths and stewards this Poker has served along the way! The stem has oxidation and the upper button lip looks like a 9 iron took a divot out of it. The button will need rebuilding.

The first order of business is to clean the stummel starting with reaming the bowl and washing down the exterior with Murphy Soap to get a better perspective on the stummel condition. I also plop the stem into an Oxi-Clean bath to start working on the oxidation. I’m not sure what effects the bath will have on the red dot so I cover it with Vaseline before the plunge. I take the Pipnet reaming kit and use 2 smaller of the 4 blades available. I follow the reaming blades with the Savinelli pipe knife to fine-tune the ream and finish with wrapping 240 grit paper around a dowel rod and sand the chamber. Using cotton pads and Murphy Oil Soap I scrub the exterior of the stummel and use a brass wire brush to work on the rim which loosens nicely the lava flow without scratching the wood. The pictures show the progress. I take another close-up of the rim damage from a lateral perspective to illustrate how much briar I will need to take off through topping to achieve a level lid to this Poker. A bunch! I take a chopping board covering it with 240 grit paper and carefully rotate the inverted stummel not leaning into the sloping angle of the damaged area. I don’t want a slanted top! I check the progress often and ‘free-stand’ the inverted stummel with the help of a right angle I try to keep things perpendicular. The pictures show the progression of the topping. When I arrive at a point where almost all damage is eradicated, I stop the topping with 240 grit paper and with 120 grit paper rolled up I shape a bevel on the inside and outside of the rim removing the remainder of rim damage. After the 120 grit cuts the initial bevel I follow with 240 and 600 grit paper on the inside and outside of the rim. Finally, I lightly top the stummel again but now with 600 grit paper over the chopping block. I do this not only to smooth the rim surface, but it also serves to sharpen the circular bevel line around the circumference of the rim – inner and outer. It gives the rim a very classy, finished look to me. The pictures show the progress. Since the heel of the stummel has scratches and edge damage as well, I repeat the process described above for the heel as well except for using only 600 grit paper to ‘top’ the bottom – not 240. I only needed to clean and smooth the surface layer not remove real estate. The bottom bevel utilized 120 then 240 then finally 600 grit sanding papers. In the last picture of the set below, there remains a small damage spot that I fill with a superglue patch which I will smooth and blend later. This Poker will be ready for any high-class card table! The pictures tell the story! With rim and heel repairs completed, I fish the stem out of the Oxi-Clean bath and it did the job of raising the oxidation out of the vulcanite. I’ve started inserting a pipe cleaner into the stem before dropping it in the bath making it much easier to fish it out (picture 1 below). I wet sand the stem with 600 grit sanding paper to take off the mother-load layer of oxidation raised on the stem, then I follow with 0000 steel wool. After inspecting the stem, I see more oxidation around the button and shank areas – I use 240 grit paper on those more stubborn areas, then again 600, then 0000 steel wool. In anticipation of doing the button rebuild, I want a clean stem so using pipe cleaners (bristled and non) dipped in isopropyl 95% I clean the stem internals. It did not take much effort and now to the button repair. The pictures show the progress. I take a close-up of the upper button area to get another look. It is apparent that the former steward of this Poker had a favorite hold to keep his (or her J) pipe in place while the cards were dealt and considered. The dent on the button resembles compression damage more than biting or scissor action. You can see just to the left of the button (up the stem) a bite mark. My forensic opinion is that the bite is the eye tooth and the compression represents the work of the molar behind – the pipe being clamped on the side to keep the hands free for gathering new cards and tossing those less desirable aside. I would guess the steward of this Poker was right handed, too – the compression being on the right side leaving most the stem toward the center of the mouth for puffing. Nope, can’t tell how tall he was! Yes, I do believe now it was a ‘he’ because a ‘she’ probably wouldn’t mouth-clamp the pipe but put in down on the table and then deal another round J. Fun and forensics aside, I need to rebuild the upper button area. First, I attempt to raise the ‘eye tooth’ bite with heat – I ‘paint’ the area with a candle flame. It seems to have done the trick. Then, taking 240 grit paper I rough up the button area and then clean the button area with a Q-tip dipped in alcohol. I mix a batch of charcoal powder and ‘Extra Time Control’ super glue into a toothpaste thick consistency. I put a mound of charcoal on an index card (so it can be tossed when done) and place a small puddle of super glue next to it and begin to mix – adding more charcoal a bit at a time until I reach the consistency needed to stay in place on the button. I use a toothpick as a trowel and gradually build and mound over the button that later will be sanded and shaped with a needle file. Setting the stem aside to allow the charcoal super glue putty to cure overnight, I turn back to the stummel. I take medium and light weight sanding sponges and sand the surface, careful to avoid the Aged Imported Briar nomenclature on the shank. The briar is beginning to emerge and the metal band/mortise is shining up nicely. I realize that I was anxious to start on the external briar and forgot about the internal muck. Taking pipe cleaners and Q-tips I clean the internals dipping them in isopropyl 95%. Time to turn out the lights. The next day has arrived and I’m anxious to work on the button rebuild that has cured overnight. I take a picture to mark progress and using a flat needle file I file down the cured charcoal superglue gradually – patience. The following pictures journal the shaping of the restored upper button that had the most compression damage. I use the flat needle file to do the button shaping and then follow with 240 grit paper to fine tune and to remove the file marks from the vulcanite. I’m pleased with the progress. The lower button presented more challenges. Pictured below I could detect two pockets in the charcoal superglue putty. To avoid filing off too much of the new button build I elect to apply black superglue and charcoal mix to fill the pockets. I’ll let these fills cure before sanding and finishing the button repair and then moving on to the stem restoration. Putting the stem aside, I begin to micromesh the stummel in anticipation of applying a light brown stain. I begin by wet sanding with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400. I follow this with dry sanding using 3200 to 4000 then 6000 to 12000 – careful to avoid the Poker’s stampings on the side of the shank. I enjoy watching the briar grain emerge. The nickel (I think) band/mortise is shining up very well. The pictures show the progress. Oh my…here I go again. I intended to apply Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye to the Poker – I just brought it back to Bulgaria from the US and I wanted to give it a try. The grain of this Poker bowl is very active with a mixture of dark and lighter grains. I mentioned earlier a knot as well…. I’ll be thinking about this…. I thought and I will apply the light brown Leather Dye as originally planned. I will see how it looks and I can use a cotton pad with alcohol to lighten the stain as needed. This is one of the advantages of aniline stains and dyes – these I could not easily find here in Bulgaria. I’m not sure if the staining will impact the metal band, but I decide to wrap it in masking tape just in case. I wipe the stummel with a cotton pad and alcohol just to make sure the surface is clear of saw dust from sanding. I use my air gun to warm the stummel before application of the dye. I apply the dye with a folded pipe cleaner which I saw Steve do – it is much easier to use compared to a dauber that usually carries more dye than is needed and is messier. At least this is my experience. After applying the dye liberally over the entire bowl, I flame it by lighting it with a candle. The alcohol base in the dye burns off very quickly and does not hurt the wood. Then, I repeat the application again and flame it. By doing this I assure that the entire surface has been covered. I’ll wait until morning to unwrap the ‘package’ and look at the grain. The picture shows the aftermath.With the stain settling, the stem is ready for the home stretch. The button super glue patch is cured, so I take 240 grip paper and finish smoothing and shaping the button. I follow the 240 with 600 grit paper then 0000 steel wool over the entire surface of the stem. Beginning with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400, I wet sand the stem and follow with an application of Obsidian Oil to the vulcanite. Then with micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 then 6000 to 12000 I dry sand the stem following each set of 3 pads with an application of Obsidian Oil. I like the polished vulcanite pop and the red dot stands out nicely. The pictures show the progress. Now to unwrap the stummel! After staining the stummel with Light Brown Leather Dye I take a cotton pad with alcohol on it and wipe down the surface. This smooths the stain and lightens it slightly. Reattaching the stem and stummel, with the Dremel felt wheel set at the slowest speed (RPMs) I use Tripoli compound to begin fine tune polishing the surface. I follow Tripoli with applying Blue Diamond with felt wheel, rotating it methodically over the surface, allowing the high speed of the wheel and the compounds to do the work. Following the compounds, I wipe/buff the stummel with a cotton cloth to remove the powder residue from the compounds. Switching to a cotton wheel, and increasing the speed of the Dremel by one number, I apply several coats of carnauba wax to both stummel and stem and finish the restoration of the Aged Imported Briar Poker with a brisk buff with a micromesh cloth. This old Poker is looking great. I’m pleased with the button work and the briar makes me smile – it is very active and I enjoy the root knots here and there. This Poker will again make the card table a more enjoyable experience for some new steward who gives him a home. Thank you for joining me!

CPF Best Make Bulldog with a Silver Rim Cap and Ferrule

10 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This is yet another great old pipe that my brother picked up on eBay. It is a classic CPF Best Make Bulldog with what I believed to be a Bakelite stem. It is stamped C.P.F. in an oval over Best Make in an unfurled banner on the left side of the shank in gold filigree. The silver rim cap and ferrule on the shank are ornate, both cast with birds and branches which seem to be doves and olive branches. The band and cap were tarnished and dirty. The top of the rim cap was dented, tarnished and had a buildup of tars and oils. The bowl had some great grain under the grime on the briar. The stem was had been broken off at some time in its long life and been repaired with a clear glue – epoxy maybe. The glue had hardened and was really a mess with it “globbed” all over all four sides of the diamond shaped stem. The button on the stem was missing a large chunk on the top side leaving the top of the airway exposed. There were also some chips missing on the stem at the joint of the shank and the stem. The tenon was a bone threaded tenon and screwed into the shank. The alignment was very good. My brother took the next set of photos to show the state of the pipe when it arrived in Idaho before he did the cleanup work on it. My brother Jeff took a close up photo of the rim and the bowl. The photo shows the damage to the silver rim top as well as the cake that is in the bowl. The second photo shows the bowl of the bowl. The diamond shank carries through to the bottom of the bowl in classic bulldog fashion. The next series of three photos show the cast birds and branches on the rim cap and the ferrule. You can see the look of the birds that I think are doves and the branches that I think are olive branches making this a bit of a “peace pipe”. The third photo shows the stamping on the left shank of the pipe. The next series of photos show the repair to the stem and the damage to the button on the top side. It was a solid repair despite the ugliness of the finished look. The first two photos show the damage to the button top and the airway into the stem. You can also see the repair line where the stem was glued in the second photo. The third and fourth photos show the top and the underside of the stem and the repair can be clearly seen in both photos. I have written about the CPF brand in previous blogs including a blog on the historical background of the brand. You can read the whole article at the link that follows. https://rebornpipes.com/2013/04/14/some-reflection-on-the-historical-background-on-cpf-pipes/. I have also included a short portion of the blog to give a brief summary of the brand.

CPF stands for Colossus Pipe Factory. There is not much known about the Colossus Pipe Factory. I learned that by the mid 1890’s CPF was owned by Kaufman Brothers & Bondy (KB&B). They operated the factory at 129 Grand Street, in New York City, New York. I had a faint memory of some connection between CPF and Kaufmann Brothers & Bondy. But was unsure where I had heard or read that. In the process of reading information I came across this post by Bill Feuerbach on the Kaywoodie Forum: “About 10 years ago I picked up two original invoices from KB&B. One is dated February 5, 1884 and the other December 9, 1898. Both have the address as 129-131 Grand Street, which is in Soho, adjacent to the Bowery in New York City. The 1898 invoice has in the upper left hand corner the initials CPF and Trademark. So by 1898 KB&B was making it known to the trade that they owned the CPF trademark. The 1884 invoice does not have CPF on it. Therefore I think we can assume KB&B acquired or started the CPF line sometime between 1884 and 1898.”

I have also included a link to the blog that shows and old CPF catalogue that links KB&B to CPF – or Kaufmann Brothers and Bondy with Colossus Pipe Factory. https://rebornpipes.com/2014/03/05/an-old-kaufman-brothers-bondy-cpf-catalogue/

My brother did his usual thorough clean up on the pipe. He scrubbed the silver with a tooth brush and some dish soap and was able to remove the tarnish in the deep grooves of the castings. He scrubbed the rim cap and removed the tars and oils in the dents on the surface of the cap. He cleaned the briar with soap and a brush and rinsed it off. He reamed the bowl and cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem. He cleaned up the threaded tenon and the threads in the shank. When it arrived in Vancouver I took photos of the pipe before I started to restore it. I took close up photos of the rim cap, bowl and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when it arrived at my work table. The rim cap is dented but clean. The stem repair is visible and you can see the buildup of glue on the stem surface and the damage to the button and airway on the stem. I sanded the stem repairs and stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the buildup of glue all around the stem. It took quite a bit of sanding to remove all of the thick dabs of glue. I worked on the chipped areas of the stem as well on the tenon end of the stem.I built up the chipped area on the top of the button with clear super glue until it was even with the rest of the button. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess and shape it. I used the topping board to flatten the end of the stem and a needle file to smooth out and shape the slot in the button.I filled in the small pits and crevices in the stem surface and the chips at the tenon end with clear super glue. I sanded the repaired areas on the surface of the stem to smooth it out blend it in with the rest of the stem. I shaped the button and rounded the edges of the button to slope it toward the slot on the stem end.I stained the briar with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol using a folded pipe cleaner to apply it around the rim cap and shank ferrule. I flamed the stain with a lighter and set it aside to dry.I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed the bowl with a shoe brush and then lightly with carnauba and a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it a final coat of oil after the last set of three pads. I set the stem aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the rim cap and the ferrule on the shank. I buffed the stem with the Blue Diamond to shine the finish on the stem. I gave the stem and bowl several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine on the pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The old pipe has been given new life. The repaired stem has been smoothed out and though it still shows it is a solid repair and smooth to the touch. I really enjoy the look and the feel of these older CPF pipes and this one is no exception. Thanks for journeying with me in the process.

Ria_io Selection Italy Full Bent Billiard

8 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

The pipe before me now was acquired from an eBay seller in Arkansas. The full bent shape (billiard or egg?) as well as the reddish, highlighted rustification drew my attention to this pipe – the rustified bowl reminded me of a bee hive – the tree hangers that Winnie the Pooh greatly coveted. Undoubtedly, a good choice for those pipe wielders who enjoy the tactile and sensory connection with the briar. Overall, it looked like it would fit well in a new steward’s palm. Information about the pipe was scant from the eBay seller, as is usually the case: Selection from Italy, was all. The eBay pictures describe some of the strengths and needs of this beehive rustified bent billiard: When I retrieved the pipe from the ‘Help me!’ basket and put it on my work table here in Sofia, Bulgaria, I took some additional pictures to fill the gaps and show some problem areas. The rim of the bee hive bowl shows significant wear and some chips out of the briar. The immediate question in my mind is, can the chips be repaired to maintain the rustified rim and the tight bowl crown or will I need to top the rim and loose some valuable real estate in the process of its repair? AND to re-rustify the rim – a first for me. The inner bowl appears to be in good shape – mild cake but I will ream it and bring it down to briar for a fresh start. The stummel needs a thorough cleaning of the rustified mountains and valleys. The bent stem is in good shape – mild oxidation and tooth chatter around the bit. With a closer look at the nomenclature on the lower shank I discover a marking that is barely perceptible and due to a rustification canyon dissecting the middle of the word, a letter is missing of what appears to be a 6-letter name: RIA_IO over SELECTION with ITALY off to the right side. Since the pipe is from Italy, I searched Pipedia.com and Pipephil.eu and could not identify an origin. I went to Google Translate’s Italian to English tool and inserted every potential letter in the #4 slot and only came up with two cogent, Italian words: 1) Riario: The name of a prominent Italian family in the 1400s from Savona, near Genoa, which had special ties with and enjoyed the favor of Pope sixtus iv. This does not seem to be too helpful in establishing the credentials of this pipe. The only other translate nibble was: 2) Riadio, English: Radio. Therefore, Radio over Selection? Maybe. Does anyone recognize this name: RIA_IO?? I take a second and third look at the rim damage and put the brain in gear to come up with a plan. The first order of business is to plop the stem in the Oxy-Clean bath to raise the oxidation in the vulcanite. Following this I will ream the bowl down to the briar and then clean the exterior of the rim and stummel to get a better look at the briar surface – the canyons and crevices in the rustification can hide a lot of crud. We need to clean things up. Using the Pipnet reaming kit I use the two smallest blades to navigate the narrow fire chamber. After these blades, I fine-tune the ream using the Savinelli pipe knife. Then, I roll up 240 grit paper around a dowel rod and sand the bowl from top to bottom. Finally, I wipe the bowl down with a cotton pad and a bit of alcohol. The picture shows the reaming tools.With undiluted Murphy’s Soap I go to work cleaning the rim and stummel surface. I use a bristle tooth brush to do the job. I’m careful to keep the internals dry during the wash. After scrubbed, I rinse the stummel in warm tap water.What the clean-up reveals is a lot of work I did not see before. I’ve never tried my hand at the rustification process, but I will need to do that to bring this pipe back to its original condition. The upper front of the stummel is almost completely flattened and void of the rustification patterns. It looks as if this section was dragged across the pavement and skinned up. This skinned up damage goes right up to the rim as chunks of the briar are missing. This pipe has taken quite a beating. Even though it wasn’t my desire, I’ll need to top the bowl to remove as much damage as possible while maintaining shape integrity. I’ll need to read up on rustification techniques and give it a go. The only redeeming aspect of the front bowl skin up is that shadows of the former patterns are detectable which can be followed. Bringing a new finish to the skinned patch, blending the colors too, will be a challenge. The next pictures show the damage but also serve to be a record of the appearance of the rim when I try to imitate it. I begin this daunting project by topping the rim using a chopping board and 240 grit sanding paper. I’m careful to let the inverted stummel ‘free stand’ to make sure I’m getting a level top. I rotate the inverted stummel in a circular motion checking my progress often – I don’t want to take off more than is necessary. I’m careful to keep an eye on the full bend shank as well – there’s not a lot of clearance. The rim does not need to be totally topped smooth because I will be re-applying rustification yet the topping restores a foundation of healthy briar. I need to reestablish the rustification patterns in the damaged area. I’ve read about this but there’s nothing like doing…. I’ve chosen different Dremel wood chiseling tools which I hope will emulate the patterns already in place on the beehive bowl. Easy does it! Patience! Prayer! The following pictures chronicle my slow, experimental approach reestablishing the rustification in this worthy pipe. Regarding the hurdle of refinishing the stummel surface in a way that hopefully blends with the native scheme, was a question that required a better mind than what I could bring to bear – an email off to Steve would hopefully remedy this novice’s paralysis. While waiting for a reply from Steve in Canada, I went to work on the clean-up of the stem and stummel internals. Fishing the stem out of the Oxy-Clean bath, I sanded the raised, classic olive green oxidation with 600 grit paper then with 0000 steel wool. Now for the internals. I use Q-tips and alcohol to run through the stem making sure that the primary gunk was moved. I did the same with the stummel – it took some time to open the airway with pipe cleaners. To loosen the clogging, I poured some isopropyl 95% down the mortise to let it soak. I also gently employed a short piece of cut hanger to help push through the gunk. With airway open, I reunite stummel and stem and utilize the retort to clean the internals. After the retort did its work, I finish the internal cleaning job with Q-tips and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl. The internals are clean! The pictures show the progress. The bit area of the stem is not in bad condition. I use the heat of a candle to help raise the tooth dent on the lower bit and sand upper and lower with 240 grit paper to work out the very light chatter. I redefine the button lips with a flat needle file. I continue with the micromesh phase of the stem restoration. With micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand followed by a coat of Obsidian Oil. Then with micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000 I dry sand, following each set with an application of Obsidian Oil. The pictures show the progress. I love the wet ‘pop’ look on polished vulcanite! Steve’s email arrived and the plan is set. Using Oxblood Leather Dye, I first stain the peaks of the rustified bare briar. I use a folded pipe cleaner to apply the dye. I also apply it to the rim – a splotch there and a splotch there – trying to vary the application. I lightly flame the Oxblood to set it in the grain. Then, taking a Sharpie black pen point, I highlight the deep crevices of the rustification and mark here and there on the rim – seeking to be random. After this, I used Fiebing’s Dark Brown Dye and applied it over the entire repair area and the rim. I lightly flamed it and then lightly rubbed the surface with a cotton cloth to soften the look. Finally, I took a cotton pad with some alcohol – not much, and lightly rubbed the peaks of the rustification to release the Oxblood. The result was not exactly emulating the red flecks over the stummel, but I grew to like the subtler interpretation of the new finish in contrast with the original. I’m pleased with the finish. The pictures tell the story. The home stretch. I apply Museum Wax to the stummel and buff it with a shoe brush to protect the rustification and bring out a nice shine. Reattaching the stem, I apply coats of carnauba wax with the Dremel wheel to shine and protect the stem. I know that carnauba is usually not applied to a rustified bowl but since I was using the Dremel wheel, I gave it a go. I really liked the results. I could angle and maneuver the wheel to work the carnauba over the rustified surface and I could easily detect the movement of the wax as I pushed it around with the Dremel wheel. It shined the stummel nicely. I completed this project with a rigorous buff with a micromesh cloth.

I like the rugged looks and feel of this large fully bent bee hive billiard from Italy. It fits the palm well! I hope that it finds a good home with someone soon! Thanks for joining me!

A Stanwell Danish Star 64

7 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me a nice looking Stanwell shape 64 with a nice plateau top. The briar itself was in good shape. There were no dents of nicks in the briar. The finish was in great shape. The rim was decent but the plateau was clean and in decent shape. The high spots were the same brown as the bowl and the nooks and crannies were dark brown or black. It was stamped on the left side of the stem with the words Stanwell over Danish Star. On the right side it was stamped with the shape number 64. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in Denmark. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. The bite marks on the underside were deep but the ones on the topside was a bite through into the airway. I took a close up photo of the top of the bowl. It shows the grooves, crevices and the high spots on the plateau top. It was dirty and there was dust in the grooves of the rim.I took close up photos of the stem to show the condition of the top and bottom side of the stem. The photo of the top shows the bite through and the tooth marks that were further down the stem top. The photo of the underside shows the tooth marks there as well. The tooth marks were deep and large. There were also bite marks on the top and the bottom of the button.I sanded the surfaces of the stem and cleaned out the dents in the surface with alcohol and cotton swabs. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it into the airway of the stem. I mixed a putty of charcoal powder and black super glue with a piece of straightened paper clips. I filled in the bite through with putty and the paper clip until it was thickly covered. I filled in the dents in the surface of the stem and built up the worn spots on the button edge. I sprayed the repairs with the accelerator to harden the repair. When the glue had hardened and cured I used a file to smooth out the repaired spots on both sides of the stem.I sanded the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and remove the scratches left by the file. It took some time but I was able to sand out the scratches.I filled in some of the air holes in the repair with clear super glue and sanded the surface with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set aside to dry. The plateau top was in great shape. I used a black Sharpie pen to highlight the grooves and crevices in the rim top. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise a shine and remove the last of the scratches on the vulcanite. I buffed the bowl surface to polish out the light scratches in the briar. The Blue Diamond gave the finish on both the bowl and the stem a high shine. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The colour of the stain on the pipe really makes the grain stand out clearly on the pipe. Thanks for having a look.

Calabash No Name from eBay

9 Replies

Blog by Dal Stanton

After celebrating our daughter’s wedding and family reunion in the US and returning to Bulgaria, I was anxious to begin a new restoration. While in the US, I added a few pipes to the pool when my wife and I stopped at an antique store advertised on an interstate billboard between Nashville and Chattanooga – this story for the future. I’ve developed a bit of an eBay purchases trove and I found in the ‘Help Me!’ basket what I believe is a Calabash shaped unmarked briar from a seller in New Mexico. I was drawn by the shape and the lateral movement of grain – a very nice looking piece of briar with great potential. I wasn’t sure on the shape and checked out Pipedia’s Pipe Shapes Chart (Link) and Calabash seems to be the best fit – please let me know if I missed! The seller’s pictures provided a descent chronicle of the pipe’s strengths and needs. The pictures reveal stummel externals in very good shape except for heavy oil and lava overflow on the rim. The stem is heavily oxidized and has a tooth hole on the underside of the bit – definitely an eye tooth hanger! Both upper and lower button areas have teeth bites and significant chatter. The button lip will also need smoothing and redefinition. By the looks of this pipe, it was someone’s well-loved and used partner in life. When I put the Calabash on my worktable I take some additional close-ups to focus on the problem areas and I take a closer look. In the bowl, I discover what appear to be cracks in the briar in the front and backsides. At this point, I’m not sure if this is only superficial within the cake or if it presents other problems. I also take a closer look at the stem hole after inserting a pipe cleaner. Before I can make a clear assessment of the bowl and the cracks, I decide first to ream the bowl with the Pipnet reaming kit to reveal the wall’s condition and to clean up the rim. I also remove the stem and plop it in a bath of Oxy-Clean to begin softening the heavy oxidation in the vulcanite. I use 3 of the 4 blades available in the Pipnet kit. The cake was light. I finish the reaming process using the Savinelli pipe knife and clean the walls by sanding with 240 grit paper pinched with the Savinelli knife. inspect the cracks in the bowl and decide to shoot a question off and some pics to Steve to get his input. I then use undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and clean the stummel surface with cotton pads. In addition, to remove the thick lava on the rim, I utilize a brass brush which will not scratch the wood. Putting the stummel aside, I retrieve the stem from the Oxyclean bath and wet sand the raised oxidation with 600 grit paper and follow dry sanding with 0000 steel wool. In anticipation of working on the patch for the tooth hole I want to clean the internals of the stem. I use several pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% and things are cleaning up well.With the stem cleaned up from I move to repair the tooth hole. This is a first time for me so I fill my mental cup reading several different blogs regarding hole repair and techniques. One of the necessary ingredients for a repair is activated charcoal powder mixed with superglue to create a putty for the hole patch. Living in Bulgaria, I was not able locate activated charcoal in powder state but we do have pet stores and we do have aquariums which require charcoal for the filtering system. The problem is that this charcoal comes in a granulated form. This problem was solved with a technique and tool going back some millennia with the use of a pestle and mortar. I pictured a comparison of before and after below. My only concern is that the charcoal powder I am producing with the pestle and mortar is fine enough to form a smooth blended patch. We will see.With activated charcoal powder now in hand, I take another close-up of the damaged bit. To provide a good bond between the patch and vulcanite I score and roughen the area with 240 grit sanding paper, working the paper around the hole and to loosen and remove debris in the hole itself. I follow that with a Q-tip cleaning dipped in alcohol. I want the area clean. I cut a piece of an index card, fold it into a hard point that will fit in the button and wrap the end with tape and then put Vaseline over it to assure that the patch has a solid surface underneath so putty doesn’t leak into the airway and will easily slide out after the patch sets. I pour a small mound of charcoal on an index card then I drip a small puddle of Starbond Black Medium KE-150 glue next to the charcoal. Using a toothpick, I begin to mix the glue and charcoal a bit at a time so that I can judge the viscosity of the emerging putty – I’m aiming for a honey-like thickness. When the putty begins to thicken as I add charcoal, I arrive at what I hope is the accurate brew! Using the toothpick as a trowel, I apply charcoal putty to the hole, tamping each application and making sure I reach the depths of the hole and over-cover the damaged area building a bit of a mound. After the patch cures, I will remove the excess putty. I’ll give it a full 48 hours before continuing the work to assure the patch is solid and good for years to come. After the patch sets a bit, I flip the stem and apply drops of Starbond Black Medium KE-150 to the tooth dents on the upper bit area. The pictures show the progress. With the stem patches curing I return to the stummel. Steve’s email arrived with his reply to my questions about dealing with the cracks in the inner bowl. He described his method of applying a paste made from a mixture of cigar ash and water to the cracks and bowl wall. Yes, I remember previously reading about this in one of his restores! This will come later after I’m able to collect some cigar ash – Cubans are readily available in Bulgaria. I want high quality ash! I take another close-up of the stummel as I re-inspect the surface. I find one small crevice which I will fill with clear super-glue. First, using a cotton pad I clean the surface of the stummel with acetone to remove any residual finish. I then apply a drop of super glue on the small crevice above the shank junction and put the stummel down for the night to let the superglue fill to cure. The next day, ready to move forward, I strategically sand down the superglue fill with 240 grit paper removing the excess glue bringing the patch down to the briar surface assuring a good blend.When I think of the classic Calabash look, the stummel shape is crowned with a distinct cap. To enhance this look and to remove some damaged, colored briar around the inner rim, I want to enhance and augment the bevel already present. Using a coarser 120 grit paper tightly rolled, I cut the fresh bevel then I follow using a rolled-up piece of 240 grit paper to smooth the new bevel. Pictures show the progress. Before continuing with the rim repair and the stummel finish, I want to clean the stummel internals with a retort but I’ll need to return to the stem bit repair and do the sanding on the patches first. The retort’s rubber hose will not expand enough to attach directly to the shank so I need to utilize the stem. I am anxious to see how my first attempt at a hole repair faired. Utilizing a flat needle file and 240 grit paper I sand the patch down to the stem surface. The patch is blending well but I detect very small, what I assume are air pockets, emerge during the sanding. From my reading, I found that this is normal, but these appear to be too small to treat with a bit of superglue. I’ll keep my eye on this during the stem finishing phase. On the upper bit, I also sand the superglue patches of the tooth dents to the stem surface with 240 grit paper. With a needle file, I redefine the button lip a bit smoothing out where there were tooth bites. The pictures show the progress on both the underside and the upperside of the bit – I’m liking what I see. I don’t want to proceed any further until cleaning the internals of the stummel. I will use the retort to accomplish this. With cotton ball in the bowl, alcohol boiling in the test tube I begin the process. I take a couple of shots of the progressive dirtying of the alcohol. I forgot to take the final where the used alcohol was almost clear. After the pipe cools from the retort, I remove the stem and finish the internal cleaning with some Q-tips and pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol 95%. Internals are clean! Turning again to the stem, I begin the micromesh process. I wet sand with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400. Before applying Obsidian Oil, I want to take a close look at the tooth hole patch on the underside of the bit. I’m not happy with what I find. With the first set of micromesh sanding pads the pocketing in the patch is more pronounced. Air pockets? Or, perhaps my charcoal powder was too coarse? I’m not satisfied with these results so, even though it is a detour, I want to try to rectify the problem. I apply a thin coat of CA Instant Glue over the area. I’m hoping that the glue will fill the pocket and allow a smoother surface to emerge – enhancing the blend with the native vulcanite. I clean the area with a bit of alcohol on a cotton pad then I apply the CA Glue. I’m hopeful that this will do the trick.Turning now to the stummel externals, I first use a medium and then a light grade sanding sponge, focusing on the rim to work out pits and roughness left over from the lava clean up. Following the sanding sponges, I wet sand the stummel using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400, then dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. As I watched the beauty of the grain emerge, I made the decision not to apply a stain but to keep the natural briar – a rich, thick, swirl of honey. This no name Calabash is dressing up nicely. Time to return to the stem and complete the lower bit tooth hole patch and to prepare the stem for the waiting bowl. I ‘gently’ approach the sanding with 240 grit paper to lightly smooth the re-superglued patch down to the stem surface. The ‘gentleness’ is due to not wanting to sand deeper than the reapplication, increasing the potential of uncovering new pockets. I also again apply the flat needle file to define the lower button lip and then remove the file marks with the 240 grit paper. I follow with 600 grit sanding paper and finally, I finish with 0000 steel wool. I think the hole patch is improved and now I’ll trust the rest of the finishing and polishing process to blend the patch as much as possible. In the picture below one can still detect the patch boundaries but the surface is much smoother.With tooth hole charcoal superglue putty patch officially completed, I restart the micromesh sanding process by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 followed by an application of Obsidian Oil to absorb into the vulcanite surface. Then dry sanding with micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000, completing each set with an application of Obsidian Oil. The pictures show the progress. The last picture in this set I flip the stem to show the hole repair. I think it’s ok, and as they say, “It is what it is.” I have two mini-projects left before I begin the final polishing and waxing processes with the Dremel. I want to dress up this ‘No Name’ Calabash with a band. The beauty of this pipe emerged along the way and the classy Calabash shape just cries out, “Band!” So, band it is. I think it will look great. The other project is to fill the cracks in the bowl with ‘Pipe Mud’ per Steve’s email response to my questions earlier in the restoration. I recalled reading about ‘Pipe Mud’ before and it didn’t take long to find it in the vast Rebornpipes.com archives. Steve’s tutorial was helpful and to the point by point as usual (See: Link), but also of value for newbies to the hobby are the comments following – more links and practices to add to the mix!

Gary, my friend and colleague who lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, happily responded to my plea for ‘quality’ cigar ash. I am now in possession of ash the byproduct of 2 Cubans – the second of which he smoked with me Thanksgiving Day evening as we gathered to celebrate together in Sofia – I smoked my favorite black Cavendish blend, Lane BCA, in the pipe I call, Ole Pot. I take a couple close-ups to get a look at the cracks in the bowl. I’m not sure the source of these crevices but they appear to be grouped mid-way down the bowl both in the front and back of the bowl wall. On a hunch, I look at the exterior and I think my hunch is correct. The grain of the stummel moves horizontally though the bowl. When I look at the front and back of the external grain patterns, I find birds eye grain pattern – which represent the cut through, perpendicular perspective of the grain. The sides of the stummel reveal the side of the grain – the horizontal flow. So, these cracks appear to me to be the grain splitting – it appears like dry split wood. Not sure ‘why?’ but this is my theory. The third and fourth pictures below show the external theory: First, to prepare to make the pipe mud, I take the Cuban ash and crush it with the end of a pipe nail. With tweezers, I picked out debris and make sure there are no large chunks. The gray powder in the pictures is the aim.Next, I use a dental probe to dig a bit in the cracks to make sure there is no loose debris. Then I take a few bent pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl and clean the bowl wall. I put the ash in a shot glass and slowly add water with an eyedropper and mix the mud with the pipe nail. When the consistency of the mud is like paste, I use a bent pipe cleaner to paint the mud on the wall – careful to tamp in to fill the crevices. I keep an eye on the areas with crevices as the mud dries in the bowl, making sure that it doesn’t shrink, but remains even with the bowl wall – as Steve’s tutorial instructed. In about a half hour the mud is dry and forms a pretty hard surface. The pipe mud will form a foundation for a cake to develop which provides a protective layer for the briar. Until this happens, care is given to not ream or aggressively scrape the bowl wall. The pictures show the progress.The next project is adding a band to dress up the No Name Calabash – a touch of class. The shank diameter is 17.5 millimeters in diameter and I fish out a 17.5 band to match the diameter. Some months ago, I purchased an assortment of bands to have on hand from J. H. Lowe’s online store. I’ve done one band previous to this, my first restoration which Steve published on rebornpipes (A Newbie Restore of a Dr. Plumb 9456) which went well. The mantra I remember from Steve’s tutorial on banding (Link) was the need for patience in applying heat and micro-inching the band up the shank – a hot band could tear if forced to quickly. I set up a handy work station on a solid wooden stool that I can straddle. I fold a towel and place it over a chopping block to provide a firm, but soft foundation to use as I press the stummel inching the heated band up the shank. My air gun fits nicely on the platform as well. About 1/10^th of the band fit over the end of the shank at the beginning. I heat the band rotating it, careful not to burn the wood then put it to the toweled surface and press – firmly but only a bit. Repeating the process several times. The pictures below show this. The last in the set shows the progress of the band’s movement up the shank – almost home! It was going so well, until it wasn’t! With millimeters left before the band was flush with the shank, a press against the surface caused a portion of the band to crimp (pictured). This was not part of the plan. Different possible scenarios fill my mind for next steps to try to back out of the situation and to salvage the banding project. I’m concerned that the band has torn at one of the crimp points because I can detect a sharp edge to the touch. Time for an ‘SOS’ message to Steve with the picture below.Steve’s response was helpful – to heat the band as before and with a small flat screw driver, straighten out the crimping and then continue again with the heating and pressing to bring the end of the band flush with the shank. The following pictures show the salvage operation. I begin by heating and bringing the bent edge back out using a small flat head screw driver. As this progressed, I improvised, using the round head of a pipe nail to help reestablish the round of the band by heating and placing the head in the lip of the band and rolling it like a wheel while rotating the stummel. Once things start regaining normal, I use a needle file gently filing the edge to remove sharp splinters. I also filed a bit on the external ‘pucker points’ that help reestablish roundness and a smoother surface, but not perfect. As I return now to heating and pressing to complete mounting the band on the shank, my concern is the weakened area of the band will simply crimp again with the process. I decide to heat the band up a bit more than I did before, hopefully to enable the band expansion more economically and to add more towel padding between the band and the hard surface below. I return to heating and pressing and thankfully, the result is a seated band with a few battle scars along the way! When I attempt to rejoin the stem and new banded stummel, I find that increased compression on the shank from the new band has created a tighter mortise/tenon fit. To release some of the tightness of this fit I wrap the tenon with 240 grit paper and rotate it to reduce the size of the tenon but keep it in round. I rotate and test the new fit several times until I get it right. I don’t want to take too much off the tenon and have a loose fit. I get my first look at the reunited stummel and stem and I like what is before me! I take a close-up on the underside of the shank to show the area of the band crimp and repair. I’m satisfied now with the repair job; I will see if I can improve it through the polishing process. Now the fun begins! With stem and stummel united, I begin the polishing phase using Tripoli over stummel and band. I mount the Tripoli wheel in the Dremel’s hand-held extender and power it up at the lowest setting (RPMs) and after purging the wheel with the tightening tool, I light tap the wheel on the Tripoli bar and apply it to the surface. With all the compounds, I do not apply too much vertical pressure to the wheel but allow the speed of the Dremel and compound to do the work. After the Tripoli, I switch to the Blue Diamond wheel and repeat the process above but include the stem as well as stummel and band. After this, I give the pipe a good rub down to remove powder left over from the compounds. With the carnauba wheel mounted (after purging) I apply several applications of carnauba wax then change the Dremel to a clean wheel and buff the entire stem and stummel. I complete the polishing with a brisk buff with a micromesh cloth to bring out the depth of the briar even more.

I learned three new skills to put in my tool box – making and applying Pipe Mud, rescuing a botched band mounting, and repairing a tooth hole using a charcoal super glue putty. Not bad. I’m very pleased with this ‘No Name Calabash’. The honey-colored briar is stunning as it flows through the stummel – the depth of the grain almost appears 3-dimensional. The band is a nice addition – it dresses it up, like putting on a tux. I trust that this pipe finds a good home. Thank you for joining me!

Restemming a Savinelli Capri Root Briar 320 and giving it a new look

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have always liked the looks of the Savinelli 320 shape. I have one of them here and it is a 320EX so it is quite large. When my brother Jeff sent me photos of one that he was looking at I was interested. He bid on it and won. It is stamped on the underside of the shank on a smooth spot with the words Savinelli Capri over Root Briar. Next to the stamping was the Savinelli shield and to the right of that it reads 320 over Italy. The finish on the bowl looked really good. I really like the Capri rustication and the roughness of the feel in the hand.My brother sent me the photos above as well as these close up photos. The rim was actually in very good shape, surprisingly. The there was a thick rough ca,e in the bowl and some of the lava had overflowed on to the rim top grooves.The underside of the shank was in excellent shape though there were some scratches on the smooth area. The pebble cut rustication was in excellent condition. The contrast stain on the pebble finish other than being dirty was undamaged.The real issue with the pipe lay with the stem. The stem had been gnawed to the point that there was almost an inch or more of the stem missing. It was missing a large portion of the vulcanite on the top and the underside of the stem. It is ironic that the stem logo was the only thing about the stem that was left undamaged. My brother is getting really good at his cleanup process and this pipe was no exception. I am getting spoiled when I get a pipe that I have to ream and clean. When he sends them they have been reamed, scrubbed with Murphy’s Oil Soap on the exterior and cleaned thoroughly with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners on the inside. I took some photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in when it arrived in Vancouver. You can see that the finish is clean and you can see the horrible damage to the stem. I took a close up photo of the rim and the bowl. He had reamed back the cake to bare briar and also scrubbed the rustication on the rim and removed all of the tars and oils that had filled in portions of it on the back side of the bowl.The original stem was a lost cause at this point. To shorten and reshape a new button I would have had to cut off almost another ½ inch. To my mind that would have made the pipe too short for my liking. I went through my can of stems and found a stem that had potential. The diameter of the stem at the tenon end was slightly larger than the Savinelli stem but it had room for adjustments. It had some file marks on the top and the tenon was a little large in diameter for the shank of the 320 but with a little work it would work. It had some paint on the top of the saddle and was deeply oxidized. There was not any tooth chatter or tooth marks on it. It would certainly work for the 320 but it would change the appearance. Once I had finished the fit I would take some pictures and make a decision.I scraped out the mortise with a dental spatula to remove the hard tarry build up that had accumulated there. Once I had scraped it clean I scoured out the inside of mortise and airways in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs.I sanded the tenon with a Dremel and a sanding drum to fine tune the fit in the shank. I also adjusted the diameter of the saddle with the Dremel and sanding drum until it was a close fit to the diameter of the shank. I fine-tuned the fit with 220 grit sandpaper until the saddle portion was free of the sanding marks left behind by the Dremel. I sanded the tenon with 220 grit sandpaper to adjust the fit in the mortise. I finished by sanding the remainder of the stem as well to break up the oxidation.Once the fit in the mortise and to the shank was correct I pushed the stem in place and took photos of the new look of the pipe. Part of this was to mark the progress but it was also an opportunity for me to see it from the eye of the camera and assess whether I would keep working on the stem or just wait until I came across another Savinelli tapered stem. As I studied the photos I was pleased with the look. There was something catching about the new slim stem flowing from the saddle. I liked the looks of it. I sanded the stem with the 220 grit sandpaper until I had removed the oxidation and then rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil to rejuvenate the briar. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and took the next set of pictures. The pipe was beginning to look really good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil after the last micromesh pad and set it aside to dry. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel to polish it further. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I finished the pipe by buffing it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It took some work to fit the new stem to the shank but the new look of the saddle stem gives this pipe a fresh appearance to me that works well with the pebble rustication of the Capri Root Briar finish.

An interesting “The Nuvo” MLC Italian Briar hidden in a WDC Case

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

When we saw this older case and pipe for sale on eBay we were under the assumption that the pipe in the case was an older WDC pipe. The age of the case and the pipe appeared to match in the photos posted by the eBay seller. The case was in decent shape on the left side and the right side had a ripped part missing near the stem end. The covering on the case was leather. The hinge and clasp mechanism were in good condition. The green velvet lining looked worn. The stamp on the inside the top of the case was readable but worn. It read WDC in the triangle and over Genuine Briar. The finish on the briar was worn looking and the stem looked like it was covered with white calcification over the length of the stem all the way around. The bowl was thickly caked with a thick coat of lava overflowing onto the rim. It was so thick that it was hard to tell if the outer and the inner edges of the rim were in good condition. Underneath it may well have a lot of nicks and the bowl could easily be out of round.The seller included some close up photos of the stamp on the inside cover of the case. You can see the WDC triangle logo over Genuine Briar. They also included close up photos of the stamping on the left and right sides of the shank. It is very hard to read the lettering in the photos. It looks like the left side is stamped with something over Special Pat. On the right side what is readable is Italian Briar. The rest of the stamping was not readable in the photos.

When the pipe arrived in Idaho my brother took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. The finish was certainly a mess and there was a lot of grime and build up on the bowl and the shank. There also appeared to be some nice grain peering through the grime.He took some close up photos of the rim and the front of the pipe. The overflow of lava and the cake in the bowl was very thick. The outer edge of the rim was rounded and showed some damage. The frontal photo shows a dent at the front top of the bowl that goes diagonally across the bowl. I have circled it in red to show the location of the dent.He also took photos of the stamping for me. On the right side of the shank there appeared to be an oval with the letters stamped MLC in the centre. On the left side it seems to read “The Nuvo” over Special Pat.The closes up photos of the white substance on the stem surface show the condition of the stem and looks almost crystalline.I took some photos of the pipe when it arrived in Vancouver and I brought it to the work table to begin the restoration. My brother had done an amazing job cleaning up the dirty finish and the white on the stem. He had reamed the bowl clean of the thick cake. He also removed the thick lava on the rim top. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to show the condition. My brother had been able to remove all of the cake and the tar. The outer edge of the rim was rounded and had dents. The inner edge was missing chunks and the bowl was out of round. The top of the rim had nicks and dents and was also in rough shape.The stem looked to be in decent condition. The high quality rubber of the stem was pitted and lightly oxidized. The style of the button added to my idea that I was dealing with an older pipe.I was able to clearly read the stamping on the pipe once I had it in hand. It read “The Nuvo” over Special Pat. on the left side of the shank. On the right side it was stamped with an MLC in an oval over Italian Briar. I was not familiar with th name on the pipe or the Oval MLC stamp. I looked my copy of “Who Made that Pipe” and found that The Nuvo was made by M. Linkman Company in 1914. The MLC logo in the oval stood for M. Linkman Company.

I looked the brand up on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/M._Linkman_%26_Co) and found that M. Linkman Company name was said to stand for Mary Linkman & Company. Mary Linkman was the mother of Louis B. Linkman, originator of the Dr. Grabow pipe. This Chicago company produced both meerschaums and briars. I also looked on the PipePhil Logos and Stampings site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l4.html) and found that the M. Linkman and Co. was established by Louis B. Linkman and August Fisher in 1898. The company closed down in the 1950s and the Dr Grabow branch was sold to Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. There was also a note that early Linkman’s pipes were stamped MLC in an oval.

I now knew that the pipe I had in hand was an early Linkman’s pipe rather than one made by WDC. That meant that the case and the pipe did not match.

I decided to try to clean up the inside edge of the bowl before I topped it. I wanted to remove as much of the damage to the inner rim as I could to better see how much of the rim top I would need to remove with the topping action. I used a rolled piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around my finger to sand the inner edge of the bowl.When I finished sanding the edge there were still some deep gouges in the edge of the rim at the back and the front of the bowl. The bowl was also out of round and seemed to be thinner on the right side than the rest of the bowl.I topped the bowl rim on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked on it until I had removed all of the damage to the rim top and also removed the damage to the outer edge of the rim and also what was on the inner edge. In the second photo you can see that much of the damage to the inner edge of the rim was removed. I still needed to bevel that edge to smooth out the damage.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand the edge of the bowl. I worked it over until I had removed the damaged areas on the front and the back side of the rim edge. I also worked to make the bowl round once again.I sanded the rim edges and the top of the rim with 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads once i had the bowl in round. I scraped the inside of the mortise with a dental pick to remove the hard chunks of tar that were collected on the inside walls of shank. Once I had removed all of the hardened buildup I scrubbed out the mortise and the airways in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the oils and tars were gone.I wiped down the exterior of the briar with acetone on a cotton pad to remove all of the residual dirt and grime from the topping and cleaning. I wanted the surface to be clean and oil free in preparation for the new stain coat that I would give it. I thinned some dark brown aniline stain by 50% with isopropyl alcohol (need to put in an order for more stain). I applied it to the bowl with a folded pipe cleaner. I flamed the stain to set it and repeated the process until the coverage on the bowl and shank were an even medium brown colour. I set the bowl aside to let the stain cure and turned my attention to working on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the light oxidation and smooth out the pitted surface of the stem. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three sanding pads. I gave it a final coat of oil after the third set of pads and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the pipe and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I took precaution to not buff the stamping on the shank sides. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am happy with the way it turned out. The look and finish of the pipe turned out very well. Thanks for walking with me through the process.

Restoring the fourth Classic Find – a Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank bent billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I written about the estate lot that my brother and I purchased from an estate sale in Pocatello, Idaho. There were a lot of great pipes in the lot. I have written about the pipes we picked up in a previous blog: (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/10/07/a-good-day-hunting-orchestrated-between-british-columbia-and-idaho/). I also wrote of how my brother had stopped at an antique shop and found four amazing pipes. These included a Four Dot Sasieni Pembroke with a patent number, Pat.No. 150221/20, a Dunhill Root Briar Canadian EC 4R, a Charatan’s Make Canadian Sandblast 0121 and finally a Jost’s Supreme Diamond Shank bent billiard. I have restored and written blogs on three of the four pipes he found – Sasieni, Dunhill and the Charatan’s Make. Here are those links: (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/05/restoring-a-classic-find-a-sasieni-four-dot-london-made-pembroke/ ; https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/06/restoring-another-classic-find-a-dunhill-4r-root-briar-canadian-ec/ ; and https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/06/restoring-the-third-classic-find-a-charatans-make-0120-canadian/. I am now finished with the fourth pipe that – the Jost’s Supreme diamond shank bent billiard.

In earlier blogs I have written about restoring another Jost’s pipe that I found. When I restored that pipe it was a brand I had heard of but was unfamiliar with. I researched the web to find some information about the brand. Here is a link to the blog I wrote on the Jost’s Olde English Deluxe: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/03/josts-olde-english-de-luxesupreme-overstamped-j214-bent-billiard/. I am quoting several of the paragraphs that summarize what I learned about the brand.

“I looked up Jost’s pipes on the pipephil site and found a pipe that had the same stamping on the left side of the shank as the one I was working on. The right side had slightly different stamping in that it had the classic COM stamp circle where the one I had was two lines Made in over England. It also had a picture of the circle J stamp on the stem. There was a note there the tobacco shop proprietor was Mrs. Henry A. Jost. Her resident carver was Harvey Raspberry.”

I also found a blog that is called ClassicPipeShop that even had a catalogue of the pipes made by the Jost’s Shop or were imported by them for their store. I quote that blog once more as it places the new pipe that I am working on now.

“I did some more hunting online and I found a blog that did a great write up on Jost’s Pipe Shop and gave some definitive information on the brand and grades of the pipes. Here is the link if you wish to read a well written history of the brand and also some interesting details about shop blends of tobacco. http://classicpipeshop.blogspot.ca/2015/03/josts-pipe-shop-201-north-6th-street-st.html”

“I have included the section of the blog on the pipes. It covers a lot of information regarding the source of the pipes and the levels/grades of pipes. Remember that the one I am working on is a De Luxe/Supreme. I quote:”

“Jost’s Pipes are closely tied to Comoy’s. Many of Jost’s pipes have the standard Comoy’s shape number and the “Made in England” in a circle. If the Jost’s pipe doesn’t have the “Made in England” it is probably made by Harvey Raspberry.”

“If the pipe has a shape number that is preceded by a “J” that is a Comoy’s product without question. Typically these will have the words “Made in London England” on the reverse side of the shank from where the Jost stamp is made. There are always exceptions to the rule but 95% of the time, this is accurate.”

“Many different levels of pipes were offered by Jost’s Pipe Shop. From a 1950s catalog I have the following available:”

Jost Old English De Luxe: $85.00

These were typically of the highest… Grain is stunning and the briar is flawless. These are the grade you should look out for as they are great smokers.

*Jost Old English Supreme: (no pricing available)

The majority of the Old English version pipes you see are marked Supreme. These are stained in a darker color and are presumably from the same Algerian aged Briar as the De Luxe brothers. These are also of the highest quality available. *(The current pipe I am working on is stamped Jost’s Supreme on the left side of the shank with no shape number and no Made in London England stamp. If I read the information correctly it was one that was made by Harvey Raspberry, who was the shop pipe maker.)

Jost Virgin Briar Supreme: $35.00

Don’t see too many marked as Virgin Briar Supreme but you will often find “Supreme” Jost pipes on the second hand market (see above). Excellent quality briar and displays the lighter toned finish of the De Luxe above. Grain is not as flashy or desirable as the De Luxe model.

Jost Thames Briars: $25.00

I’ve seen these offered as blasted / rusticated pipes and look quite nice. Most of the smooth finish Thames pipes are riddled with fills. Good smokers but not much to look at (smooth).

Jost Sandblast Briars: $25.00

These are a great value. The shop made sand-blasted pipes are usually quite large and snapped up very quickly by collectors. The Comoy’s versions (with J shape #s) are of excellent quality and typically rather small compared to the shop-made variety.

Dukes Briars: $15.00

These come up very rarely. The two I’ve seen in recent years are rather small in size. Smooth finish with light / honey stain color. Not sure what the story is behind these.

From my research and rereading of the information on the brand it appears that my brother had found yet another good pipe. Using the information from the blog and the web I was able to learn a lot about the particular pipe I had in my hands. The stamping told me it was a pipe made by the Jost’s Pipe Shop in-house pipe maker, Harvey Raspberry. The pipe was stamped Jost’s Supreme on the left side of the shank. In all likelihood it is a Jost’s Old English Supreme. The majority of the Old English version pipes are marked Supreme. The pamphlet quoted above from the blog said that these pipes were stained in a darker color and were presumably from the same Algerian Aged Briar as the De Luxe. The pipes were of the highest quality available. I was not able to determine the age of the pipe.

My brother took the photos that follow. They show the pipe before he cleaned it up and sent it to me. It has some nice looking briar under the grime and dirt of the years. It looks to me like it had a natural finish on the bowl rather than the dark stain mentioned above.The next photos clearly show the stamping on the shank. The left side is stamped Jost’s over Supreme. The right side is stamped Imported Briar.The bowl and shank had a sticky black substance on the top of the grain. It looked as if it may have come from sticky labels used by the antique shop where the pipe was sold.The next close up photo shows the state of the cake in the bowl and the thick lava overflow on the top of the rim. It is hard to tell if the inner edge of the rim is damaged or not because of the thick cake. The second photo shows the nicks and cuts in the front top edge of the bowl and extending onto the rim. The stem was badly oxidized and there were a lot of tooth marks and chatter that had rounded the sharp edge of the button. The tooth marks and chatter were covered with calcification. The vulcanite was pitted and worn.My brother did an amazing job cleaning up the pipe. He scrubbed the sticky surface and all of the tars and oils on the bowl and the rim. He scrubbed it with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and removed the soiled finish on the bowl and much of the rim top lava. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He scrubbed the mortise and the airway in the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I took the following photos when the pipe arrived in Vancouver before I started refurbishing it. I took a close up photo of the rim top. He had gotten almost all of the lava off of the rim and all that remained was some slight rim darkening. I also took photos of the stem to show how much of the buildup had been removed before I got the pipe. There was a deep oxidation in the vulcanite. I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean up the reaming of the bowl. I smoothed out the remaining cake at the bottom edges of the bowl and smoothed out the inner edge of the rim.I used a dental pick with a slight spatula to scrape out the hard deposits of tar on the inside of the mortise. It took a little extra work but it cleaned up the buildup and made the stem fit against end of the mortise snugly.I scrubbed out the mortise and the shank and stem airways with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the debris from my scraping work in the mortise. It did not take too many before the pipe was clean on the interior.I sanded the rim with 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the slight rim darkening that remained. I was able to polish the rim. I used clear super glue and briar dust to fill in the deep nicks and gouges in the front face and top edge of the bowl. I sanded the bowl front with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth the surface and to blend it in with the surrounding briar. I polished bowl at the same time as I did the rim with the micromesh sanding pads.I used a needle file to sharpen the edge of the button and make it more defined. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches on the stem left behind by the file and the oxidation in the surface of the vulcanite.I sanded the bowl and the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding pad to remove the scratches and to polish the briar and the stem. With the majority of the oxidation removed and the scratches in the briar I worked on polishing the stem. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After rubbing the stem down with a final coat of oil after the last set of pads I set it aside to dry. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli to further remove the light oxidation that remained in the vulcanite. I buffed both the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing pad to polish it. I gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it to a shine with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the finished pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I really like the way it turned out. The grain of the briar really stood out. The natural finish looked really good and the contrast in the flame and straight grain with the underlying briar is quite stunning. Thanks for walking through this journey with me.

This Poor Old Kaywoodie Chesterfield had seen better days

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I received an email from Jim, the same fellow who sent me the Yello-Bole that I refurbished for him. I wrote about it in an earlier blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/11/10/breathing-life-into-a-huge-kbb-yello-bole-3068c-bent-billiard/). I have included the gist of his email and the photos he sent me because any of us who try our hand at pipe repair have found ourselves in similar situations. One simple thing going wrong can quickly compound into a second and a third thing going wrong and leave you with a mess on a pipe that at first glance should have been a simple cleanup.

“So I have a Kaywoodie Chesterfield pipe – the first pipe I ever obtained – and it is in need of serious attention. I bought it at Barclay’s in Upper Arlington, Ohio from their Estate Pipe display, and I really like the pipe. However, about three days ago, I was cleaning it, and got a tapered pipe cleaner stuck in the bit. As I was pulling the cleaner through, the thicker end jammed itself well inside the bit as I attempted to draw the thinner end through the lip. I apparently pulled too hard, and the end of the pipe cleaner broke off, leaving the remainder of the cleaner fully trapped in the bit. In my idiocy, I tried various strategies to dislodge the cleaner which eventually led to my doing further damage to the bit in the form of a split down the center of the underside of the stem latitudinally.”

“…I know this particular pipe is not terribly valuable or even rare. However, I am kind of a sap, and the pipe has a measure of sentimental value in that it is the first pipe I got, and I picked it because it reminded me of the pipes my dad smoked when I was a kid. I am hoping you can give me some good news in the form of a means to remedy my stupidity.”

He sent the next three photos to show me his pipe and his travail. The first is one of the overall view of the pipe. Though it is hard to see in this photo the bowl has some very nice grain. I will take some pictures of the bowl and the finished pipe once I have finished the repair.He took a photo of the end of the shank. His caption read: “You cannot see the thicker end of the pipe cleaner because it’s stuck way in there…” Indeed the pipe cleaner was stuck in the stem. It was jammed in the stem 1 ½ inches from the button with a bit showing through the jagged split in the stem and about two inches in from the shank end of the stem.The last photo he sent shows the underside of the stem with this caption: “….And this is what you get when a dummy tries to ameliorate a situation that is beyond his ken.” It was a jagged split that looked awful in the photo below.I had him send the pipe to me so that I could see what could be done. A stem repair in its own right that large is a fair bit of work but it could be done. The pipe cleaner jammed in the airway was an altogether different issue. I needed to have a look to see what I could come up with to remove the jam from the airway in the stem. I could not be sure until I saw it and tried.

The package arrived in Canada a few days ago and I opened it to find he had included the large Yello-Bole that I mentioned above and the damaged Chesterfield. The Chesterfield is actually a stunning pipe. The grain on the bowl, the finish and the nickel ferrule all combine to make a beautiful pipe. The bowl was in great shape and required no cleaning or repairs – just a buff to polish it. I can certainly see why Jim was attached to it. He was willing to have a new stem fit to the shank but I really wanted to see if the original Kaywoodie stem could be salvaged.

I took the next series of photos to show the damage to the stem underside. I needed to straighten the stem out to properly work on it. I traced the angle of the curve on the back of the letter that Jim sent along with the package so that I could recapture it once I finished the repair. I used a dental pick and tweezers to pull as much of the pipe cleaner and wire out of the damaged area on the stem. I found as I worked on the damaged area that several chunks of a small drill bit also fell out giving testimony to one of the ways Jim had tried to remove the jammed pipe cleaner. I was hoping to be able to pull all of it out this way but it continue to break and come out in small pieces until I was unable to reach any more with the pick and the tweezers.

I used a drill bit on my cordless drill and turned the straightened stem onto the bit from the shank end. My thought was that perhaps the drill bit would seize a piece of the pipe cleaner when I backed it out of the stem. It worked to a degree but it would not bring out the last 1 ½ inches of broken pipe cleaner. I was stuck. I needed some time to think through my options and try to figure out how to address the problem. I laid the stem aside and worked on the Yello-Bole while I pondered my next moves with the stem.While I was working on the Yello-Bole I had a thought that maybe putting the stem in the freezer for a bit might work. My thinking was that when I removed it the contraction and expansion of the vulcanite and that of the pipe cleaner would be different enough that the pipe cleaner would drop out of the shank. At least that is what I dreamed would happen. A few days went by and I had some late nights at work and the stem sat in the freezer for a lot longer than I had anticipated. Needless to say when I finally took it out of the freeze it appeared to have made no difference. The pipe cleaner did not simply fall out of the airway as the stem warmed.

I laid it aside for the night and went to sleep. I woke up early this morning with an idea. I straightened a length of paper clip that I used as a punch. I slid it into the button end of the stem carefully past the damaged underside until it hit the jammed pipe cleaner. I used a small furniture tack hammer to tap on the bit of paper clip extending above the button. I tapped it maybe four or five times and I felt it begin to give. Encouraged, I tapped it several more times and the pipe cleaner bit fell free of the shank end of the pipe. You can see the broken piece of pipe cleaner below the stem in the next photo. I plugged the damaged area with my thumb and blew through the stem to clear out debris left behind by the pipe cleaner bits. The airway was finally free.I mixed a batch of charcoal powder and black super glue on a patch of cardboard until I had a thick paste. I use activated charcoal capsules for the finely ground charcoal and a medium viscosity super glue for the mixture. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and slid it into the stem filling in the area on both ends of the damaged spot. I applied the mixture of super glue and charcoal powder to the damaged area with a length of straightened paperclip. I smoothed out the repair with the edge of a paper clip. I sprayed the repair with an accelerator and slid the pipe cleaner out of the airway. I blew through the shank end of the stem and the airway was clear of blockage. I used a clean pipe cleaner to remove the excess Vaseline from the inside of the stem.I used the rest of the mixture to build up the repair and spread it over the surface of the stem, bonding the patch to the solid vulcanite on both sides of the damaged area. The patch was thick and large but I would be able to sand it smooth.Once the patch dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and blend it with the surrounding vulcanite. The next two photos show the repaired area at this point in the process.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. As I worked over the repaired area some of the air bubbles in the mixture of charcoal powder and the glue came to the surface. I have never found them to be big deal as they only need to be lightly filled with clear super glue. I repeated the super glue and sanding process until the patch was smooth. I sanded it with micromesh pads until it shone and after each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I gave it a final coat of oil after the last set of three pads and set it aside to dry. The following photos show process of how the repaired area gradually smoothed and blended into the rest of the vulcanite. Once the repair was finished and polished I set the stem aside to cure for several hours. I wanted to make sure that the charcoal and black super glue patch was hard. I had visions of it dropping out when I heated the stem and applied pressure to bend it. Once it had hardened bending it was not a problem. I slid a small pipe cleaner into the stem from the button end to keep the airway from collapsing when I bent it. I heated it over a heat gun until the vulcanite was pliable. I bent it to match the pattern on the paper and then cooled it with running water. I repeated the process until I had the right curve to the stem. I buffed the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel to raise a shine and polish out the scratches. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad on the wheel and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The repair to the underside of the stem is solid and smooth. While the repair is visible under bright light it did not stand out while looking at it with the naked eye. Along with that the repair was fortunately on the underside of the stem in the curve. I think Jim will appreciate the repair and the pipe should serve him well. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of the repair once he has the pipe in hand. Thanks for walking with me through the process.

Breathing Life into a Huge KBB Yello-Bole 3068C Bent Billiard

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

A good friend of rebornpipes, Jim emailed me about a pair of pipes that he had that he wanted me to have a look at. The first of them is on the work table and it is going to take a bit of work to bring back to life. The second is the one I just finished and it is a beautiful pipe. It is a Yello-Bole like none I have seen before and I have worked on many of them over the years. This one is a large KBB Yello-Bole bent billiard similar in style to the WDC Wellington big pipes. This one is 10 inches long and 2 ¼ inches tall. The bowl is 7/8 inches in diameter and 1 ¾ inches deep. The stem was in decent shape other than oxidation and light tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides near the button. The button itself was very clean with a few tooth marks but the airway was in perfect condition. The stem has the older style inlaid Yello-Bole logo of the yellow circle on the top side. The stem appears to be a P-lip but it is the faux P-lip that has the airway coming out straight at the end of the P.

The finish on the bowl was dirty and the varnish coat was peeling away and flaking off around the bowl. There was a deep, rich oxblood colour to the stain underneath the peeling finish. The rim was dirty but otherwise it was pretty clean with no dents, dings or nicks in the surface or in the inner or outer edges of the rim. In the photos it appears that the bowl was meerschaum lined but I assure you that it was not – it is merely coated with the famous Yello-Bole Honey Curing yellow mixture. The bevel on the rim shows the yellow as does the bottom of the bowl. In fact, though the pipe was smoked it appears that it was never smoked all the way to the bottom of the bowl and the lower 1/4^th of the bowl still shows the yellow bowl coating. There was a light cake that was spotty around the inside of the bowl but it was not thick of overflowing onto the rim.

The stamping on the left side of the shank reads KBB in a cloverleaf/club and next to it Yello-Bole over Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Under that it is stamped Imperial in script and below that the fourth line of the stamp reads Cured With Real Honey. The nickel ferrule on the shank end is stamped with the KB&B Cloverleaf and underneath reads Nickel Plated. It is interesting to me to see this stamping on the band. Typically the Yello-Bole pipes bore the KBB stamp without the ampersand (&) between the two “b’s” which is true on the logo on the left side of the shank. It simply reads KBB in the leaf. On the band however the logo has the KB&B stamp which is usually reserved for the better quality Kaywoodie pipes of the time. The right side of the shank is stamped Algerian Briar over 3068C which I assume is the shape number.

I took the photos below to show what the pipe looked like when it arrived and I had unpacked it on my work table. I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim and stem to show the condition of those areas when I received the pipe. You can see the clean bevel on the rim with the slight darkening of the yellow bowl coating and the light, uneven cake in the bowl. You can also see the yellow bowl coating on the bottom portion of the bowl. The stem shows the oxidation and the light tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. You can also see the airway exiting the stem at the end rather than the top of the “P-lip”. I reamed the bowl with the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to clean the cake back to bare briar. I used that tool as I wanted to leave the yellow bowl coating intact in the bowl to leave it as original as possible.I scrubbed off the peeling finish with cotton pads and acetone (fingernail polish remover) until the surface of the briar was smooth and the oxblood stain coat shone through. I used 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to work on the rim top and the inner bevel of the rim until they also were clean. Once I had removed the varnish coat there were a lot of dings and dents in the rim and the sides of the bowl. I used a hot butter knife and a wet cloth to steam out the dents. It took some time but I continued to steam the dented areas on the bowl until I had removed all but the small nicks on the bowl. I took photos of the bowl after I had steamed it and you can see from the photos that the briar looked far better after steaming. I took some close up photos of the stamping on the shank and the nickel ferrule to show what I talked about in the earlier paragraphs. The nickel-plated ferrule had a lot of scratches in the surface of the nickel. You can also compare the KBB stamp on the shank with the KB&B stamp on the ferrule in the photos. I polished the nickel ferrule with micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratches. I started with 1500 grit and worked my way up to 12000 grit. It removed the scratches and also polished the nickel. I cleaned out the interior of the mortise, the sump at the bottom of the shank and the airways in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. The first photo below shows the clean briar in the shank.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation on the surface of the stem. I scrubbed it with the Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to lift more of the oxidation. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. After sanding with each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. After sanding with 12000 grit micromesh I gave the stem a final coat of the oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to further polish the bowl and the stem. I was seeking to remove even the micro scratches left behind in the vulcanite by the micromesh sanding pads and the remaining scratches in the briar as well. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect the pipe. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad on the wheel and raise a shine. I personally do not like the high gloss look of a pipe when it first comes off the wheel so I hand buff it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine and give it a rich look. The finished pipe is shown in the photos that follow. I look forward to hearing from Jim as to his thoughts regarding this “rare to me” older KBB Yello-Bole. Thanks for walking with me through the process.