Tag Archives: micromesh sanding pads

New Life for a Hardcastle’s London Made Reject Pot

Blog by Steve Laug

This perfectly shaped little Hardcastle’s sandblast pot was the next pipe to my worktable. It is a small almost pencil shank pot. It is stamped Hardcastle’s London Made and across that it is stamped Reject. It has a rich blast on the sides of the bowl and shank. There is a smooth portion on the bottom of the bowl and shank for the stamping and allowing it to be a sitter. My brother took the next photos to show the condition of the pipe before he cleaned it up.He took some close up photos of the bowl and stamping. The bowl had a thick cake and a large overflow of lava on the rim. The lava covered the light blast finish on the rim completely and it was hard to tell the condition of the bowl at this point. The finish was worn and dirty but there were no chips or dents marring the finish. The stem is oxidized and you can see the Hardcastle’s H stamp on the left side near the shank. You can see the stamping on the shank and clearly see the REJECT stamp across the initial stamping. I am not sure why this pipe was rejected. It appears to be a decent piece of briar. There were two small sandpits on the sides of the bowl that I suppose may have caused it to be a reject but that is not clear to me. My brother did his usual great clean up on the exterior of the pipe. He scrubbed it with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove the finish. He reamed the bowl and removed the lava build up on the rim and left a slightly darkened rim with no burns or damage to the edges. I took the next set of photos to show what the pipe looked like when it arrived in Vancouver. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the darkening on the back side of the top. It was clean but darkened. There were no burn marks or damaged briar on the edges of the bowl. The stamping is also shown and it remains sharp and distinct.The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth dents and chatter on the top and underside near the button. The button had some flattening and wear as well.I used a brass bristle tire brush to scrub the top of the rim and try to clean out some of the darkening on the rim. I was able to remove some of it and make it less pronounced.I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to clean of any remnants of the old finish and to remove the debris from the brass brush work on the rim. With the bowl cleaned I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed the stain and repeated the process until the coverage was even on the bowl and in the deep pits of the sandblast finish.I took some photos of the pipe at this point in the process. The stain had covered well. The colour was a little dark for my liking and would need to be lightened a bit before I was finished. You can see the sand pits on both sides of the bowl that may have made this pipe a reject. I have circled them in red. I cleaned the mortise with a dental spatula and then cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol. I also cleaned out the airway into the bowl and in the stem.To lighten the colour of the stain I washed it down with some alcohol on cotton pads until the colour was more to my liking. The finished colour is shown in the photos below. I painted the dents in the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter and was able to raise them almost smooth. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the slight dimples that remained in the surface. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and rubbed it down with the oil after each set of three pads. After the final 12000 grit sanding I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffer and gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand waxed the bowl with Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the bowl and stem with a clean buffing pad and again by hand with a microfibre cloth to raise and deepen the shine on the briar. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am pretty happy with the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

A Graceful Swan-Necked Tania Billiard

Refurbishing a Dulwich Quaint Oom Paul 64

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I took out of the refurbishing box was an Oom Paul that had a lot of character and some nice grain. It was stamped on the left side with the name Dulwich over Quaint. On the right side it was stamped with the number 64. It was also stamped on the underside, horizontally at the stem shank union with the words Made in England. I have searched for information on the internet for the brand in the past and not been able to find anything helpful. In a previous blog I wrote on a pair of Dulwich Quaint pipes the only link I could find was that the shape number was an Orlik shape number. Here is the link to the other blog: https://rebornpipes.com/2016/03/13/a-rare-find-a-pair-of-fieldcraft-dulwich-quaints/

My brother took some photos of the pipe when he received it and before he had done any cleanup work on it. He took some close up photos of the pipe. The first photo shows the top of the rim was in good shape. There was some light tars and some scratching on the surface of the rim. The second and third photos show the stamping – first the Dulwich over Quaint and then the Made in England. Both sides of the stem looked like the photo below. There was a lot of tooth chatter and marks on the stem surface on the top and bottom. The button was worn down by teeth mid button.My brother scrubbed the pipe with his usual mixture of Murphy’s Oil Soap and water. He rinsed the bowl with running water. He scrubbed out the internals of the pipe with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. When it arrived I took the following pictures to show its condition. The finish was worn and uneven all around the bowl. The shank was also unevenly finished. The finish on the rim was also worn. I took some close up photos of the rim top to show what it looked like before I started. I took some photos of the stem surface to show the condition of the stem. It shows the tooth chatter and some mild oxidation on the stem. I scrubbed the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. I also sanded the bowl lightly with a medium grit sanding block to break up the finish that remained on the bowl. I wiped it again to remove all the finish that remained. The clean bowl is shown in the photos below. I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks on the stem from the button forward. I reshaped the surface of the button with sandpaper to smooth out the tooth marks and redefine the sharp edge of the button on the top and the bottom sides.I removed the stinger from the end of the stem and sanded the saddle portion of the stem to smooth out the scratches.I wiped down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil and hand buffed the bowl to give it a shine. The next photos show the bowl at this point. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-1400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I set it aside to dry once the final pad was used. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to smooth out the finish and the stem. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. It raised a shine on the bowl and stem. I used a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. I hand buffed it until it shone. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has a wide open draw and should be a delightful smoking instrument. Thanks for looking.

A Surprising Collaboration between Sasieni and Tinderbox – an Ivory London Made by Sasieni 107 Freehand

13 Replies

n SanBlog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me this pipe that was stamped on the left side of the shank Ivory over London Made over by Sasieni and on the right side of the shank was the rugby ball shaped stamping Made In England and the shape number 107. When I saw the photos that my brother sent I have to admit, I thought it was an ugly, strangely shaped deformed pipe. I was not sure what to make of it but I ‘knew’ I did not like it. I thought. The shape did not do anything for me and the blandness of the grain that I saw in the left side photo did not help. Too me there was not much redeeming about the look of the pipe. (The next photos are the ones my brother sent me.)I had not heard of the Ivory made by Sasieni pipe stamping before. It was a new one to me. So I did a little searching. On one of the online forums I found a clue that the Ivory was mentioned in the 1979 Tinderbox catalogue at pipepages. I went to pipepages and found the link to the catalogue: http://pipepages.com/tinderbox.htm. There was a 1979 Tinderbox Catalogue there that had the following quotation regarding the Ivory. “Made to our specifications by Albert Sasieni of London. The Sasieni Ivory is a Tinder Box exclusive.” The mention of the name Albert Sasieni I believe is an error as the company was run by Alfred Sasieni.

I knew from the link that the pipe was made for Tinderbox in 1979, the end of the family era. The collaboration between Tinderbox and Sasieni was established in that catalogue. In a way the Ivory made by Sasienin was like the Unique made by Charatan’s. Both were special orders by Tinderbox from those pipe companies. I have included a copy of the page in the 1979 catalogue from the pipepages site.I also found a Sasieni Shape Chart online and copied the page that had the 107 shape listed. It is circled in red in the photo below. The 107 is called a Waterloo and has a xs* notation in the catalogue. The note on the top of the page says that the xs* means that the pipe is a premium priced pipe in the 4 dot grades only.I also looked on pipephil’s logos and stampings site and found the Sasieni Ivory there as well. There was a great photo of the stamping on the shank and the stem. The stamping on the one I have is identical in all but the shape number. Mine is a 107 shape. The S on the stem is also exactly the same and in the same position on the saddle.

My brother also took some close up photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and the rim to show me the damage to the rim top and the cake in the bowl. He also took a photo of the top side of the stem to show the tooth marks on that surface. There was a matched set on the underside of the stem. Combined with the surrounding tooth chatter the stem was a bit of a mess.My brother did his usual stellar job of cleaning up the pipe. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed it under running water. He was able to remove the wax and oils on the surface of the bowl and leave the briar pretty bare. The rim was better but the burn marks would need more work. He cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I took the next photos of the pipe before I started working on it. I took close up photos of the rim and the stem to show what I had to work with on this pipe. My brother was able to get the majority of the stuff off the rim. There was still some remaining buildup and tars on the rim. There were also some burn marks on the rim. The stem closeup photos reveal the dents and tooth marks on both sides of the stem and the damage to the edge of the button. I sanded the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the rim damage. I also sanded the inside edge of rim. I was able to remove the damage to the rim and edge. It is a nice looking piece of briar from the top down.I sanded the bowl with microfibre sanding pads to polish the briar. I sanded with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. With the bowl finished I turned my attention to the stem. I heated the dents in the stem to raise them. I was able to raise them a bit and then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them out. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I was able to remove much of the oxidation. I left the area around the S stamp on the left side of the saddle. The stem looks far better at this point in the process than when I started.I scrubbed the stem with the Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to work on the oxidation around the S stamp. I was able to remove the majority of the oxidation without damaging the stamping. I scrubbed it with multiple applications of the deoxidizer until the oxidation was gone. I polished it with the Before & After Pipe Stem Polish Fine and Extra Fine. I sanded the stem with 3200-4000 grit micromesh sanding pads to further polish it. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I sanded it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. I decided not to stain the pipe but leave it with a natural finish. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond and gave it several coats of Carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I received an email from Wikus, a reader in the South Africa asking if I could show some photos of the pipe after the final machine buff and before the hand buffing to show the difference in results of the two techniques. The photos below show the pipe at this point in the process. I took it back to the worktable and hand buffed with a microfibre cloth. The remaining photos were taken after the hand buffing. It removed some of the surface shine on the bowl and added more depth. To me the hand buffing has always improved the quality of the shine and adds another dimension. Overall the restoration on this pipe moved it from a thing of ugliness in my eyes to one that actually had beauty and felt good in the hand. Even the rather bald grain on the left side of the pipe shined up well and reflects the briar nicely. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

My Latest Refurb, an Edwards Algerian Briar 771 is not a shape I’ve seen before

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug.

Over the years I have had many Edwards pipes cross my work table. I have kept a few and sold many. I have also repaired many of them. The available shapes that the pipes came out it spoke of a very fluid design philosophy. Pipedia says that “Edward’s Design Philosophy is hard to pin down, think of their style as the “American Charatan” with unique & clever twists all their own.” Across the board they were all Algerian Briar and all were unstained waxed or oiled briar. I remember reading that actually oil curing was a feature of their pipes. I did a quick look on Pipedia https://pipedia.org/wiki/Edward’s and found that I was correct. I quote: “All of Edward’s pipes are Algerian Briar – a fact very few pipe companies can claim, and all are oil-cured utilizing natural finishes – no strange concoctions are used to interfere in your tastebud’s dance with the briar. Algerian, Calabrian, Sardinian, Corsican – take your pick, but Algerian Briar is generally considered the finest smoking briar ever used. When combined with oil-curing, Algerian takes on a magical quality that even Alfred Dunhill recognized as far back as 1918 as the choice for both his Bruyere and Shell.”

The pipe is stamped Edwards on the left side of the shank and Algerian Briar over shape number 771 on the right side of the shank. The pipe is a large group 5 sized bowl. The stem was lightly oxidized but does not have any tooth or chatter marks. Push in tenon fits tight. The dimensions are: length 6 inches, height 2 1/4 inches, chamber width 13/16, chamber depth 2 inches. The following photos were taken by my brother before he cleaned the pipe. It is obvious it is in pretty decent shape. The rim has a little tar and darkening on the rounded back edge but the rest is pretty clean. The finish is quite nice and has some rubbed in grime that will come off with scrubbing. The photos tell the story on this pipe.My brother took some close up photos of the rim, the bottom of the bowl and the stampng on the sides of the shank. You can see from the photos that the pipe is in great shape except for the slight buildup on the back edge of the rim. There is a light cake in the bowl and the bottom third of the bowl appears to be raw briar that has not been darkened by smoking. I would call the pipe lightly smoked. My brother scrubbed the pipe with his usual mix of a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. He rinsed it with water. The scrubbing removed all of the grime and oils on the bowl and removed the build up on the rim as well. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were some scratches around the circumference of the saddle portion of the stem. My brother also cleaned the interior of the airways in the stem and shank and the mortise area. I took some photos of the pipe when it arrived here. I took a close up photo of the rim to show how well it cleaned up after Jeff had scrubbed it. There is a shine to the rim that is unblemished by scratches or dents. I also took some photos of the stem to show the light oxidation and the absence of tooth marks or chatter. The stem is stamped on the underside horizontally across the saddle with the word France. I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. After the final micromesh pad I gave it a last coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil to bring the grain to the surface. It also brought life to the briar. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautiful piece of briar, lightweight and well grained.

Getting Lazy – A Simple Restore on a Loewe Cutlass 10

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The last three or four pipes I have taken out of the refurbishing box have been very simple restorations. My brother sent me this Loewe’s pipe that is stamped Loewe over Cutlass on the underside of the shank with the shape number 10 at the shank stem union. In the photos he sent me it appeared to be in pretty decent shape. The finish looked dirty and murky but otherwise good. The rim had some tars and overflow from the cake in the bowl but not too bad. There were some nicks and dings in the rim but none too deep. The stem was virtually flawless with no tooth chatter or tooth marks. The boxed L logo on the stem was worn and almost illegible but with a lens it is clear.While I have heard of and enjoyed quite a few older Loewe’s pipes the shape of this one and the name were not familiar to me. Even the shape number was not recognizable. I looked on the pipephil site to see if I could find any information on this particular iteration of the brand and found what I was looking for. There on his site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l5.html) I found a pipe with the same stamping but a different number. The one in my hands does not have a COM stamp so I do not know where it was made. I have included the photo of the stamping and the stem logo to the left from that site as it is parallel to the one I have. I have also included some information from the listing there.

The brand was founded 1856 by Emil Loewe and was first bought out by Civic. Eventually the brand became part of Cadogan Group along with BBB, Civic, Comoy, GBD, Loewe and Orlik in about 1979. Judging from the age and the stamping on this pipe I would surmise that it was made after that merger and is a Cadogan pipe.

I also did some reading on the history of the brand on Pipedia and include a short excerpt here that is pertinent to the age and stamping on this pipe: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Loewe_%26_Co.#Bottom_of_shank: “By studying the website of one UK dealer I was able to deduce that the present shape numbers (early 2003) mostly (probably all) differ from those used from 1967. For example, a Billiard is now a 28, a Lovat an 834, a Canadian a 296. Some shape numbers now have 4 digits. But even today, Cadogan will occasionally still stamp a pipe with a shape name instead of a number, though only on request.”

It looks to me that I am dealing with a pipe made around 2003 jusding from the change in shape numbers to a two digit numbering system at some level. Though there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the dating of Loewe pipes after the Cadogan buy out.

My brother took the first and the following photos of the pipe before he did the cleanup. What follows are a series of close up photos of the stamping, the rim and bowl and the sandblast look on the bottom of the bowl. In the bowl bottom photo you can see the dust and debris in the grooves of the blast. My brother cleaned out the internals – the mortise and the airways in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the externals with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to not only remove the grime from the finish but most of the finish also. When it arrived in Vancouver the pipe looked like virgin briar. The stem is acrylic so there was no oxidation on it. The next photos show the pipe when I brought it to my work table. The blast on the briar is quite shallow and shows mixed grain. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem to show their condition. My brother was able to remove the tars on the rim. There was some slight rim darkening on the inner edge but other than that it was clean. The scratches and dings were also raised. The photos of the stem show how clean it was as well when it arrived. I sanded the inner edge of the rim with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and remove the darkening and light burn marks. I also sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratch marks left behind from my sanding.I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove any remnants of the previous finish and the dust from sanding. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain cut 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage on the bowl was even.I hand buffed the bowl and took the photos below to show what it looked like at this point in the process. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one will also soon be on the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in adding it to your rack let me know through email at slaug@uniserve.com or by message on Facebook or a comment here. Thanks for looking.

Another Easy Restoration – a GBD Seventy Six 255 Canadian

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

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

So my memory was nudged and I remembered that Al Jones (Upshallfan) had written about his repair of a classic GBD Seventy Six and given information on the brand in this link: https://rebornpipes.com/2013/06/17/gbd-oval-shank-pot-seventy-six-restoration/ I quote: “In 1976 GBD introduced a series called the “Seventy-Six” to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. I was a Sophomore in high school during 1976 and the year-long celebration had a big impact on me. The Seventy-Six model remained in the GBD catalog until 1981.”

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

“Chinrester” Pipe stamped Screwball would be an interesting restoration project

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Over the years I have seen photos of the strangely shaped pipes with the long almost tortuously bent stems but I had never seen one close up. Then my brother sent me photos of one that he had picked up for me to restore. It was stamped Screwball on the left side of the shank and 6044 over Italy on the right side. It had a tarnished silver coloured band on the shank that covered what appeared to be a cracked shank. The finish had been sanded free of the area that was banded but the rest of the bowl was still covered with a shiny plastic coat finish that seemed impermeable. The stem was intact which was interesting as many of the ones I have seen were either twisted or bent or broken. The bowl was a unique shape as well. At a side glance it was a combination of a prince and pot but there was a ring around the top of the rim that divided the rim into two enclosed circles. It is a large pipe – 11 inches long, 1 ¼ tall, 1 ¾ inches diameter and a ¾ inch chamber diameter.The stem was oxidized and slightly brown. The silver band was tarnished but the pipe still had a glossy shine in the photos he sent me.The rim showed darkening and some lava over flow on the top of the bowl. There was a light cake in the bowl. The ring around the top was filled with grit and grime. My brother took some close up photos of the pipe. The first of these shows the rim top and the cake and overflow on the rim. The second shows the stamping. The name of the pipe as it appears in the photo is SCREW. Underneath the band is the second half of the name BALL.The next two photos show the stamping on the shank and the imprint of Sterling Silver on the band. They also show the grain peeking out of the shiny topcoat on the underside of the bowl.Here are a couple more shots of the bowl – you can see that the shiny coat has some scrapes in the surface and the almost painted on look that makes me wonder if it is not a later coat of varathane.When my brother received the pipe the band was loose so he slid it off the shank and revealed not only the complete stamping on the pipe but a large cracked area that had been repaired. The cracked area looks like a large chunk of briar had broken free. It had been glued in place and then a band slid over the repair. The glue had dried and long since let the band fall loose. My brother did the clean up and took off the rim burn on the top and scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and the interior with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. When I received the oxidation on the stem was on the surface and the pipe was ready to restore. I have to be honest with you all it was not a restoration that I was looking forward to. The long and curved stem just spelled trouble to me. Trying to run pipe cleaners through it and also polishing and cleaning the oxidation seemed a daunting task. But finally I brought it to the table. Here are some photos of the pipe before I started. I took the pipe apart and took photos of the parts. With the band removed you can see where the repair person had sanded the shank and done the crack repair before banding the shank. Trying to scrub off the shiny topcoat with acetone was next to useless. The only place it came off was in the area that had already been sanded. I lightly sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the surface of the shiny coat. Once that was done I was able to scrub it off with acetone quite easily. In the next photos you can see the repaired crack. It was quite large. I took photos of the repaired crack to show the extent of it. The band fortunately covered the entire cracked area so it provided stability to the glued crack. Unfortunately it also covered up half of the stamping on the left side of the shank.I used some Weldbond white all-purpose glue to glue the band in place on the shank. I applied it with the tip of the bottle and spread it around with my finger tip to get good coverage. I pressed the band in place on the shank.While the band repair was drying I worked on the stem. I broke up the oxidation on the surface by wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth. I scrubbed the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove more of the oxidation. This was a labour intensive effort and took a lot of scrubbing with the solution and paper towels. When there was no more brown coming off the stem I scrubbed it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further address the oxidation. You can see from the above photos that much of the oxidation had been removed but under a bright light such as the camera flash the oxidation still showed. At this point I had a decision to make – either scrub the stem with more of the deoxidizer or use my tried and true method of micromesh sanding pads. I chose to use the pads. I wet sanded it again with 1500-2400 grit pads and rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final set and another coat of oil I set the stem aside to dry. While the stem dried I sanded the bowl with the micromesh sanding pads to polish the briar. I had decided not to stain the bowl but leave it natural with a light oil finish and a good buffing. I cleaned off the tarnish on the band with a jeweler’s cloth and polished it to a shine. With the bowl and stem both hand polished I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the wheel. I was able to raise more of a shine with the buffing on both the bowl and stem. Buffing the stem was a real interesting challenge – lots of twisting and turning to get the entire stem buffed. At one point I removed it from the bowl to make it easier to maneuver on the wheel. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax to protect it and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing it with a microfibre cloth. It turned out pretty decent considering where it started. I don’t know if I would call it a chinrester or a shoulder rester as it is a big pipe. I do know that the original design to make it easier on the teeth of the pipeman may not apply here. In the original design the stem rested against the chin of the smoker. In this design unless the smoker has a jutting jaw there is no way that it can rest against the chin. Anyway, the finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

A Worn Royal Danish 936 Wide Oval Shank Pipe given new life

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

When I saw the pictures of the way this pipe looked – at least the first picture I thought it was in pretty decent shape. The finish was a little worn; particularly some of the high spots on the sand blast had worn off. The smooth patches were also worn and lifeless. The back edge of the rim looked really rough – as if the pipe had been knocked about on concrete or another hard surface to remove the dottle from the bowl. It was ragged. The inner edge of the rim also looked worn and the cake in the bowl was a bit odd looking – as if it was partially removed. It seemed heavier on one side than the other. The stem looked okay in the first picture but the second hinted that all was not well with it either.The close up photos reveal the issues that I hinted at above. The first shows the strangely caked bowl – heavily built up toward the left side and rear of the bowl as well as the rough back rim top and edge of the bowl. The inner edge of the rim also looks like it has taken some damage. The second photo shows the slight cap at the stem junction that to my mind spoke of a tarry and caked mortise that kept the stem from seating properly. The finish also shows some wear in the photos. The pipe is stamped Royal Danish and Made in Denmark. The shape number is 936 which is a Stanwell shape.The next two photos show the issues with the stem. There were tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem that went from quite deep to very shallow. The button top and bottom were worn down and had deep tooth marks. There was also a heavy build up of oxidation on the stem. The stem logo on the top is very faint. It made me wonder if I would be able to feel it with my finger once it arrived in Canada.I am so glad my brother does the heavy work on cleaning out these pipes. I have reamed and cleaned out the shanks of a lot of pipes and I can’t say that I miss it. I still get to do my share of cleanups on pipes that I find but these that he sends me come ready for the restoration process. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to remove the wax and tars on bowl and rim. He reamed the bowl back to bare briar and scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem. When it arrived the stain was quite washed out and the stem was really oxidized. The damaged rim top was very visible and it was in rough shape. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem when it arrived here. The roughness of the rim top and inner edge are seen in the first photo. The tooth marks and wear on the stem top and underside in the second and third photos. My brother had cleaned out the mortise so the stem fit tightly against the shank so my guess mentioned above about a dirty mortise appears to have been correct. The crown logo on the top of the stem could hardly be felt by touch. I started sanding the stem then decided to run a few pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway in the stem and shank as well as in the mortise. They were quite clean and did not take too much work to remove the little bit of debris that was still left.I sanded the rim lightly to take away the roughness but still leave the finish looking like the sand blasted portion of the rim that had not been damaged. I stained the bowl with a dark brown stain mixed 50/50 with isopropyl alcohol. I applied the stain and flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage was what I was looking for. I wanted the dark stain in the deep grain of blast to show through the brown top stain.I hand buffed the bowl with a microfibre cloth to raise a shine and to give an even look to the finish. The photos below show the pipe at this point in the process.In the second photo below the rim surface is visible. There will need to be some contrast applied to the finish to make it blend in and not look merely “less damaged”.To address the contrast issue on the rim mentioned above I used a black Sharpie Pen to provide some darkening in the crevices of the pitted surface. I used a dark brown stain pen to give the top coat over the black stain.I sanded the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughened inner edge. In retrospect I probably should have done this before staining the bowl but I did not so I put it in the order I did the work. In the second photo below you can see how the contrast stain worked on the rim top.When I finished sanding I stained the inner edge of the rim with the dark brown stain pen and added some streaks of black Sharpie pen to give it some contrast. I buffed the rim lightly Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and with a microfibre cloth. The photos below show the pipe bowl after buffing. Notice the change to the rim after the sanding, staining and buffing. I set the bowl aside and worked on the issues with the stem. I sanded the area around the button on both sides of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and scrubbed the deeper tooth marks with cotton swabs and alcohol. Once they were clean I filled the deeper marks and built up the button surface with black super glue.I sanded the repairs once they had cured with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them into the surface of the stem. I reshaped the top of the button on both sides of the stem with the sandpaper.The edge of the button on the underside of the stem was still rough so I used a needle file to shape and sharpen the straight edge.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and a paper towel to further remove the oxidation on the stem. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish both Fine and Extra Fine with paper towels. The stem was beginning to shine. I sanded the stem once again with the micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit pads. Each successive grit of sanding pad added more shine and depth to the shine. The more I polished the stem the more the crown logo disappeared.I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I rubbed the bowl down with Conservator’s Wax by hand. I buffed the pipe 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 pipe is clean and looks new. The restoration brought it back to life. Thanks for looking.

A Great Looking Wimbledon 810 Author showing promise

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe pictured below is a Wimbledon Author. It is stamped on the underside of the shank on a smooth patch, WIMBLEDON over the shape number 810. The sandblast finish is craggy and the contrast of dark brown and reddish-brown give it even more depth. My brother took the following photos when he received it from the EBay seller. The finish looked to be in excellent shape. There were no worn spots on the bowl. The rim had some tars in the grooves but it was quite clean. The bowl had a thin cake but nothing too thick. The stem did not seat in the mortise properly and there was a gap between the end of the shank and the stem. The stem was oxidized though it had no tooth marks or chatter.I had seen the brand before but could not remember what I had read about it. I turned to pipephil’s site and found a picture of the same pipe – the same finish, the same stem logo and the same stamping on the underside. The site said that the pipe was crafted by Briarcraft as established by the stem logo. I have included a photo of the listing on the pipephil site.That led me to look on pipedia.org to do some digging on Briarcraft pipes. Here is the link: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Briarcraft. There I found the following information. I have included the part of it here that includes a reference to the Wimbledon line.

Briarcraft Pipe Company was very prosperous between 1920 and 1940 and their pipes usually feature a diamond shield logo. They also produced a line of seconds under the following names: Airo, Arcadian, Briarmeer, Smokemaster, Cavalcade, Hallmark, Sterling Hall, and Wimbledon (emphasis mine). They closed their doors in 1950. Briarcraft was started by Richard Kliethermes Sr. and located on Pipetown Hill Rd, Spring Valley, NY. It received its power from a dam on Hyenga Lake, later it moved to 66 Central Ave., Spring Valley, NY. At first it was housed in a 2 story frame building and later a 2 story stone building was added. Upon the death of RK Sr., business was run by Richard Jr, between 1920 and 1940 it was second in size to Frank Medico pipes. All the briar root was imported from Africa, with the start of WWII, imports stopped and a briar like root was imported from S. Carolina. Richard Kliethermes Jr. was the inventor of a pipe known as Smokemaster, which used a doubled up pipe cleaner in the bit to absorb tobacco juice. With the decline in business during WWII and the following 5 years it closed its doors 1950.

Jeff took the following close up photos to show the bowl and rim condition and the stamping on the underside of the shank. The third photo below shows the oxidation on the otherwise clean stem. Jeff did his usual great clean up on the mortise and airways in the shank and stem. He reamed the bowl back to briar and scrubbed the externals with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. He rinsed it under running water. When the pipe arrived in Vancouver in the last box I received it looked like the photos below. There was some rim darkening around the inner edge of the bowl but the briar was solid with no crumbling or burning. The finish had lightened with the scrubbing but would be easy to bring back to the original colour.The oxidation on the button end of the stem was pretty light but on the tenon end was quite heavy. For some reason it rose to the surface and was almost white in colour.I wiped down the rim with some alcohol on a cotton pad to clean it up and prepare it for restaining to match the bowl. I stained it with a dark brown stain pen.The colour of the stain pen was a perfect match to the bowl.I wetsanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to cut through the surface oxidation. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads to further polish it. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads and with the final pad set the stem aside to dry. I took the following photos of the stem and in them you can still see the residual oxidation under the flash of the camera. I decided to use some more of the Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and Fine and Extra Fine Pipe Polish and see if I could draw out further oxidation. I am still experimenting with the product to check out its effectiveness so this seemed like another good test. I rubbed it down with the deoxidizer and a paper towel and was able to remove even more oxidation from the stem. I was impressed by what it brought out of the vulcanite.I rubbed the stem down with the Fine and Extra Fine Pipe Polish and saw the shine on the stem increase and the oxidation disappear. So far so good.I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to futher polish it. The oxidation was gone. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine on the pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a great looking pipe and one that has great feel in the hand. This one will also make its way to the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested let me know – send me an email at slaug@uniserve.com or a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.