Tag Archives: Oxidation

Restemming a Comoy’s Sandblast Goldenbark 6 Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

This sandblast bowl came to me in a lot of pipes from eBay. When I saw it I was pretty excited about refurbishing it. It had a great blast and really appeared to be a decent looking pipe. With a little bit of elbow grease it would be a beauty. It is stamped on the on the underside of the shank in a smooth flat base. It reads COMOY’S over SANDBLAST on the bottom of the bowl. Next to that is stamped GOLDENBARK followed by the Com Stamp – a circle composed of MADE ENGLAND with IN stamped in the middle of the circle. Following that it is stamped with the number 6. The finish was dirty but underneath there was some great grain showing through the blast. Someone had reamed the bowl before I got it so it was really quite clean. Once the grime was cleaned out of the swirls and ridges in the blast it would look really sharp. I would need to fit a stem to the shank to complete this pipe but it had a lot of promise. I went through my can of stems and found this one. It took very little sanding on the tenon to get a snug fit in the shank. I scrubbed the top of the rim with a brass bristle brush to remove the tars and grit in the sandblast in that area. The blast looked really good under the grit. So far so good!I scrubbed the finish with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and the grit. With the grime cleaned off the rim I found three disturbing looking cracks on the rim. One of them was small and was on the top with minimal cracking down the side of the bowl. One of them was cracked down the inside of the bowl about ½ of an inch and the third was cracked down the outside of the bowl almost an inch. This was a huge disappointment. I figured I had a nice example of a Comoy’s Sandblast and while it was the cracks gave me serious pause. This one would clean up and be good basket pipe but never one that is stellar. It would probably last longer than me but I was choked.

I almost stopped working on it at this point and pitched it back in the refurb box but I decided since I was so close to finishing it I would complete the task. I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil and dried it off. I buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. The photo below of the top of the rim shows the crack toward the back of the bowl that ran down the back side for almost an inch. I would need to drill the end of the crack and repair it. The other cracks are not as visible but they are at about 10 and 4 if the front of the bowl is 12. I used a micro drill bit on the Dremel to drill a small hole at the bottom end of the largest crack. The crack on the inside of the bowl was irreparable at this point and I drilled a small hole at the end of the small crack as well. I used a tooth pick to push super glue into the holes and then pushed super glue into the cracks on the bowl sides. At the top of the rim I also used the tooth pick and pressed the glue down into the cracks. Once the glue had dried I used a sanding stick to gently sand the glue that was on the surface of the rim and in the cracks on the bowl sides to remove the excess. The repairs to the cracks were as complete as I could make them so I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I have to tell you the pleasure of fitting this stem and making it shine had pretty much dissipated. This is one of the frustrating things about pipe restoration. You find what appears to be a great pipe only to run into unforeseen issues in the restoration. For me this one had move from a pleasure to a “get it done” pipe! I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel – careful to have a light touch on the bowl. I then gave the pipe several light coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I then buffed it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The look of the blast is quite beautiful it is only a shame that the bowl had the cracks in it. The repairs are quite invisible but I know that they are there and to me it diminishes the beauty of the pipe. It will likely smoke well and last longer than me. One day I will likely gift it to a friend. Until then it will reside in my collection. The photos below show the finished pipe. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a William Demuth Co. Wellington

1 Reply

Blog by Alan DP

I was going through files on my computer the other evening and came across an article I picked up somewhere on the web back in October 2008. Alan DP wrote this and posted it February 25, 2008 for one of the Pipe Forums or online pipe communities. I have always liked WDC pipes and have had many over the years that I kept for my own collection or repaired and restored for others. The vast array of styles, shapes and designs may contribute to my like of the brand. I have older ones from the late 1800’s and later ones as well. When I came across this post of Alan’s I read with interest his work on the Wellington and his helpful information and thought I would share it here. Alan if you happen to read this thank you for your post. It is a great read. Here are Alan’s own words.
–Steve

Here’s a scannergraph of the old Wellington not long after I brought it back from the brink of oblivion. It was part of an eBay lot and I immediately decided it was a keeper, because I had no other pipe like it. WDC1

The Wellington is the WDC copy of the Peterson System pipe. Here’s a cutaway diagram that I snagged from Pipe & Pouch to help explain this pipe’s design. WDC2

The bit, rather than connecting directly to the bowl via the shank, fits into a sort of pocket or reservoir where the air sort of swirls around as it goes into the bowl. The upper air passage goes on into the bowl, and the bottom reservoir collects moisture. This looks like another odd gimmick, but in my opinion, this one works very well. Of course, it requires additional attention when cleaning. I use a cotton swab to clean out the reservoir, and pipe cleaners as usual to clean the air passage.

WDC3

Another thing about the Wellington (and other Peterson copies) is the military bit. Rather than the traditional tenon/mortise arrangement, the bit simply tapers down slightly and wedges into the shank, remaining in place from the pressure of insertion. This design makes it safe to remove the bit while the pipe is still warm–something that is not a good thing with a tenon/mortise design.

A third thing that sets the Wellington/Peterson pipes apart is the button on the bit. Go back and look at the first photo as well as the cutaway graphic and pay attention to the end of the bit. This is a bit design created by Peterson and is called the P-lip. The hole is on top of the button rather than in the very end, and is angled upward to direct smoke toward the roof of the mouth rather than straight into the tongue. Also, the curved underside of the bottom helps to prevent the tongue from touching the opening of the air passage. The upward-pointing opening is supposed to help prevent tongue-bite, and the curved “tongue shield” helps keep saliva from getting into the stem by being touched with the tongue (something that is a troublesome unconscious reflex for some pipe smokers).

Some people hate the P-lip because it feels different. I have no special preference nor objection to it, at all. To me it’s just another bit. The P-lip bit does have a more rounded shape than most bits, and it does feel somewhat different, but it’s nothing that anyone shouldn’t be able to get used to.

This old Wellington has become one of my favorite pipes. Its size and deep bend gives it an impressive appearance and a comfortably low center of gravity. As you can see in the second photo, I have managed to wear off some of the finish since it came into my hands, and I will eventually be refinishing this one. Meanwhile, this is one of my regular truck pipes and I often smoke it on the long commute home in the afternoon. If I manage to come across any more of these pipes in my eBay adventures, I will probably keep them all–at least until I build up a good week’s worth of pipes for rotation.

FYI, Kaywoodie also had a copy of the Peterson System pipe, called the Chesterfield. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to acquire one of those yet.

Restemming a GBD International London Made – 508 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

Quite a while ago now my brother Jeff picked up a handful of pipes from an antique shop in Montana. There were quite a few GBD pipes in the lot. One of them was this GBD International bent billiard. It came with a gnawed off stem that was irreparable. The bowl was caked and dirty and the rusticated/plateau top was filled with grime to the point that it was almost smooth. The bowl looked good under the grime and the finish looked salvageable. The pipe was stamped GBD in an oval over International over London Made on the left side of the shank. On the right side it was stamped with London England over the shape number 508. I failed to take photos of the bowl before I cleaned it up as I was on a roll with about four bowls going at the same time. Here is what it looked like after I had wiped it down with alcohol. I scrubbed the plateau top with a brass bristle brush and some Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it down with cool water and dried it off. It is in very good shape. I had reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cleaned out the shank and the bowl. I went through my stem can and had several potential stems there. I chose one that was slightly larger in diameter than the shank. I had to shorten the tenon as it was too long to sit correctly in the shank. With the tenon shortened the stem fit nicely in the mortise. The diameter was close and I would adjust it to fit.The stem was a used one that I recycled and it had one deep bit mark on the top side near the button. I sanded it smooth and cleaned it before I filled it in with black super glue. Once the glue cured I sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to reduce the diameter of the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper until the transition was smooth. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to clean off the remaining grime before restaining the rim with a Black Sharpie. I heated the stem over a heat gun until it was pliable and bent it to the proper angle. I set the bend with cold water. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches left behind by the Dremel and smooth out the flow of the stem. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The grain on this pipe is spectacular – great birdseye on the sides and cross grain on the front, back and bottom. The plateau or rustication on the rim that I stained black gives it a unique look. I think it is a beauty! Thanks for looking.

A Ruined Stanwell Handmade 80R Bent Billiard – another ugly duckling

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Blog by Steve Laug

Out of the three pipes from the “hackster” – the cut off Rhodesian, the coffee grounds Dublin and this Stanwell 80R Bent Billiard I have to say that the work he did on this one was by far the worst abomination. This pipe is stamped Stanwell Hand Made 80R Made in Denmark on the underside of the shank. It was a sandblast brown contrast bent billiard that would have been beautiful when it was made. The “hackster” decided to improve upon the finish and believe it or not he desecrated the pipe. He used a Dremel or sander to remove the majority of the sandblast finish leaving a dab of it on the back of the bowl at the joint of the shank and the bowl and a dab on the front side about 1 inch long from the rim. In removing the blast he completely ruined the shank leaving a thick band near the stem and the two thick sandblasted dabs. He sanded off the blast on the shank leaving it looking anemic and awful. He ruined the shape of the bowl and left it totally out of round on the outside. He also over reamed the bowl with what looked like a Dremel and sanding drum and took the bottom of the bowl almost ¼ inch below the entrance of the airway.

He did not leave the stem safe either he reshaped the button by removing the majority of the sharp edge. Then to add insult to injury he left the stamping intact on the bottom of the shank giving credit to Stanwell for the ruination of this fine briar pipe. It went from handmade to hand ruined. Over the entire bowl and slopping onto the stem was a thick coat of shellac. Runs and drips had hardened. The file and Dremel marks were held in perpetuity under a thick coat of shellac. That is where I started with this abomination. The question was could I do anything to redeem this mess. I took some photos of the stem and the left over sandblast sections. There is also a photo of the rim shows the out of round condition of the outer edge of the rim. I sanded off the remaining sandblast sections on the bowl and shank and rounded the bowl with a Dremel and sanding drum. I used the Dremel to reshape the shank and the bowl and shank. The damage done to the shank made it necessary to shape the stem into an oval instead of a round. With the rough shaping work done there was a lot of fine tuning to be done to the shape of the bowl. I topped the bowl with a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the deep saw and file marks and to flatten the surface. I sanded the areas on the bowl where I left the shellac and existing finish until they were smooth as well. I left the band on the bottom of the shank where the faint stampings that the “hackster” had left behind remained. I had still not decided whether to remove them as the pipe was certainly not a Stanwell any longer and when I was finished reclaiming it the pipe would be two times removed from the pipe that came out of the Stanwell factory. I hand sanded the bowl and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I sanded the stem as well to remove the damage that had been done to it and also to reshape it to the oval shank. I worked on the outer edge of the rim and shaped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper. Fortunately, the inner beveled rim was undamaged. The bottom of the bowl was a mess that I would need to fill with pipe mud to restore the depth of the bowl to the bottom of entry of the airway into the bowl.I sanded the bowl and shank with a coarse grit sanding block to smooth out more of the curves. The larger surface of the block ensures and evenness to the contours of the bowl and shank. I used the heat gun to bend the end of the stem to the angle that would have originally been present when the pipe left Denmark. I sanded the stem and bowl further with sandpaper and gradually the pipe was taking shape. The swan was beginning to appear. During the sanding process I found that there were several flaws in the briar and at least one fill. During the course of the sanding these may well disappear. Overall this is a nice piece of briar with enough meat on it that I can still end up with a nice pipe.I cleaned out the shank and the airway to the bowl and in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It was amazingly dirty for a pipe that had been “refurbished”. The “hackster” had left the inside absolutely filthy while destroying the outside of the bowl and stem. I continued to sand the bowl and stem with a coarse grit sanding block to remove the remaining scratches left behind by the Dremel and sanding drum. Gradually the swan was beginning to emerge. I was getting excited about what this one was going to look like when it was finished. There was some nice grain emerging as I sanded. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to further remove the scratches. I wet sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit pads and sanded until the grain began to shine. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and then rubbed on a coat of Danish Oil Cherry stain. I gave the bowl several coats of the finish and then set it on a cork stand to dry over night. I cleaned up the sharp edge of the button with needle files to redefine it as the shape was blurred into the body of the stem. I shaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper at the same time to give it definition. I sanded the file marks out with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the edge of the cut into the surface of the stem. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then gave the stem a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads and giving it a final coat of oil. I set the stem and pipe aside for the night. In the morning I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel to bring out the shine and then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. To me it looks far better than the mess I started with but what is your verdict? Did a swan emerge? The pipe certainly has some nice grain and the flaws are small in comparison to the overall look of the pipe. Thanks for looking.

The Transformation of a Second Ugly Duckling – Can it be done a second time?

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Blog by Steve Laug

This afternoon I took on the second ugly duckling from the eBay “hackster” who had ruined the pipe that I transformed into a swan earlier. This one is stamped Morell over Mackenzie on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Italy on the right side. The Morell was a filter pipe so it was made to accommodate a Medico style paper filter. The pipe was a mess. Picture with me what it looked like. It had been painted with a band of coffee grounds (?) around the rim going down the sides of the bowl about a ¼ inch. The rim had been roughly sawn off and the tooth marks of either the file or saw were still present. The shank had damage that was ignored. The entire pipe had then been coated with a thick, runny coat of shellac that had rippled over the surface and given the pipe an obscene shininess that highlighted the atrocities that had been done to it. The stem was original but the “hackster’s” hand had not missed it either. It was cut off and a poorly cut button was carved into the stem. No care of thought was taken to account for the angles of the stem to the button and nothing had been done to open a slot in the end of the button. If you cannot picture it in your mind’s eye here are some photos. I took some close up photos of the rim and stem. The rim photo is a little out of focus but you can see what I was talking about above. It was a mess. The issues with the stem are pretty self evident. I scraped the coffee grounds off of the bowl edge with a sharp pen knife. In doing so I found a large pink/white fill on the left side of the bowl across the top just below the rim edge. In the next two photos you can see the coffee grounds on the cloth I put on the work table to collect them when I scraped them off. The bowl was pretty full of fills all the way around. I scrubbed off the shellac with acetone on cotton pads until I had removed all the thick, runny coat that covered the bowl. I took a close up photo of the fill area on the left side to give you an idea of the size of it. It was large and ugly. The other side of the bowl also had several and one larger one mid bowl. I took a photo of the rim to show the detail of the file or saw marks.With fills this large and a pipe this ugly something had to be done with it or it would end up looking worse than it did when I started. The ugly duckling would just be a duck of another colour. There would not be any swan emerging unless I took some drastic measures. I taped off the stamping on the bowl and a band around the shank stem union with some electrical tape to protect it during the rustication and the staining. I used a series of burrs on the Dremel to cut a random rustication pattern on the sides of the bowl. Different burrs gave a different effect so follow the photos until the end of the rustication to get a full idea of how each burr worked. When I finished with a series of five different burrs I then used the rustication tool that was gifted to me and tore up the finish even more. I wanted to cut some deep gouges in the briar to give it heavy rustication.I followed that up with a flower frog (see picture below) to further rusticated the finish.Once finished with the serious weapons I used a brass bristle brush to knock of the loose particles of briar and smooth things out a bit.My next step in the transformation process was to stain the bowl. I chose an aniline black stain to go into the grooves of the rustication because of the large fills. The black stain would penetrate even the white stain in the grooves I cut into it. I applied the stain and flamed it to set it in the briar. When the stain dried I removed the tape from the smooth areas. I sanded the high points on the rustication with a sanding block to remove the black from those areas. I wanted to have a contrast that blended well with the smooth areas. I chose on this bowl to also rusticate the rim because of the amount of damage that the “hackster” had done to that area of the pipe. With the sanding done you can see the contrast beginning to show. After I sanded the bowl and rim I rubbed it down with a light coat of olive oil to enliven the briar. I let is absorb into the wood before I hand buffed the pipe with a shoe brush. With the bowl finished it was time to tackle the damage done to the stem. It had been clipped off and then sloppily tapered to the hand cut new button. I worked on the taper with a flat file and a sandpaper until the transition on both sides of the stem matched. I also cleaned up the button as it was wider on the top than the bottom. I also shaped the button so that it was uniform. The button was pinched and there was an indentation on both sides of the stem in front of the button. I sanded the sides of the stem to remove that indentation.The end of the stem was left with a raw air hole. I used needle files to clean up the shape of the button from the end and also to cut and shape a slot. The photo above shows the general shape of the slot. I still needed to flatten the face of the button and to clean up the slot but you get the idea. I also used some tiny spots of superglue to fill in the areas on the left side of the stem near the button where the “hackster” had cut back too much material. Once it dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and blend it into the surface of the stem.With the reshaping and tapering done to the stem I went on to use my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads, another coat of oil and then finished with 6000-12000grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond – making sure to use a light hand on the bowl. Then I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I gave the bowl a coat of Halcyon II wax and hand buffed the bowl with the shoe brush. I gave the entire pipe a final buff with a microfibre cloth. I think the ugly duckling once again became a swan. What do you think? I may well have to make a new stem for it one day.

There has got to be a Swan in there somewhere – doesn’t there?

9 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes you are handed an ugly pipe. This one came to me from my brother and was part of a lot from an eBay seller who claims to be restoring estate pipes. Let me tell you, this guy should be shot for what he does to old pipes. My brother picked up four of his pipes. From his photos they appeared to be okay. But when they arrived they were absolutely awful. He had a lovely Stanwell sandblast billiard that he hacked the blast off of. He had a nice looking Dublin shape that he glued what appears to be coffee grounds around the rim from the top down about ¼ inch of the side. The third was butchered as well. Then there was this one – it must have been a nice Rhodesian but he had sawed it off below the rings and then left a very rough rim. He had drilled out the bowl and left it rough and out of round. To my thinking this one had been a GBD Rhodesian. The stem was stamped with the characteristic FRANCE across the joint of the shank and stem. There were remnants of a shape number on the right side that was illegible. There was also a very faint part of the oval on the left side of the shank. He had ruined a very sought after pipe. Added to that he had not even bothered to open the airway as it was plugged with thick black tars and I could not blow any air through it.

To top it all off he even pictures the final insult – in his sales he shows a can of shellac and proudly says he coats all of his work with shellac. Well the amount of dried, runny shellac on these bowls was astonishing. Under the shellac there were even hairs and dust permanently encased in a coat of the thick shiny mess. They all looked awful. The dried runs, the scratches and grooves left much to be desired. Even the stem had not escaped his savage attempts at restoration. There were sanding marks and large dings along the surface of the top and the bottom. The tooth marks that had been there were still evident. A large part of me wanted to throw them all away. But there is always that part of me that wants to see if I can reclaim these hack jobs and make something useful and beautiful out of the guy’s mess. I decided to tackle the cut off Rhodesian first. Time would tell if I could redeem the pipe and make it usable and beautiful once more.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived. Understand that the photos do not begin to give an idea of what the pipe looked and felt like I person… the best that they can do is give you a sense of what was there. The first thing I decided to do after looking at it was to reshape the bowl. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to round the edges of the top to make it look more like a prince. It was a lot of sanding with the Dremel to reshape the bowl. The photos below show the process of shaping from the beginning. The first two photos show the first steps in the removal of briar to give the pipe some shape. Was the swan starting to appear? Not sure at this point. I gave the sides of the bowl more of a curve toward the rim and reduced the size of the rim with the Dremel and sanding drum as shown in the next photos. At this point I decided to top the bowl and get rid of the deep scratches on the rim top. The bowl after topping was beginning to take some stately shape. Maybe the swan was beginning to appear. There was still too much width on the rim and not enough curves to the sides of the bowl for my liking. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I used acetone to remove the shellac and the messy finish on the remaining part of the bowl and shank. The pipe was quickly becoming mine rather than the work of the “hackster”.I tried in vain to blow through the shank. The airway was blocked. I used an unfolded paperclip to break through the thick blockage. I poked and probed until I was able to blow through the airway. Once it was opened I used the drill bit on a KleenReem pipe reamer to unblock the airway. It took a bit of pushing and twisting to get it through the hard tars that lined the airway. Finally I was able to break through. I cleaned the shank and airway with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I put the pipe away for the night. In the morning I was still not pleased with the curvature of the bowl top so I used the Dremel and sanding drum on it once again and gave the bowl more of an upward slant toward the rim. I reduced the width of the rim top to almost nothing. Once I had the bowl shape better defined I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to shape it further. I then went to work on the rim. I decided to bevel the rim inward to try to clean up the shape of the bowl. I folded a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the rim until I had a nice rounded top and beveled inner edge.I sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to remove the scratches. To me the swan is finally emerging. This piece of briar has some beautiful grain that was hidden beneath the dirty finish and the overcoat of shellac. I am liking the look of the pipe more and more. The stem was actually more of a mess than I had initially thought. In sanding out the bite marks as much as the hack had done he has changed the slope of the stem. Now the angles of each side were different and the marks he had left behind were quite deep. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the marks and to try and reclaim the shape of the stem. Once I had the shape of the stem repaired I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads at the same time. Each successive grit pad from 1500-12000 gave the bowl a deeper shine. I finished by buffing the pipe on the wheel with Blue Diamond polish and giving it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then gave it a final hand buff with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. The grain on this old timer that has been given a new life is amazing. What do you think did the swan emerge from this ugly duckling? I think so but I am curious as to what you think. Thanks for looking.

Dressing up a no name Walnut Billiard

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff found this homemade no name Walnut Billiard on eBay and was drawn to it. He has sent me more panel pipes than I have ever bought myself… the funny thing is that I am starting to really like them. This one is quite unique and almost a folk-art piece. It is a panel but the carver did not worry about making things symmetrical. All of the sides are different sizes. The rustication is quite nice and I like it – almost like the surface of a golf ball. The rim is smooth and the bowl is almost round. The pipe had a little cake building but not enough to keep. The pipe was stained with a bland tan coloured stain but there appeared to be remnants of red stain in some places. The sanding on the smooth parts was a little rough and there were scratch marks left behind by a file or some carving knife. The stem was good quality vulcanite and there was some buildup around the button and some oxidation. The fit of the stem to the shank was not good as the end of the shank was cut at an angle. The stem was also too large for the shank and neither the shank nor the stem was round. The tenon was also not round – it looked as if it had been sanded and was a little conical. The concept for the pipe was good but the execution left a lot of unfinished angles and left a mediocre handmade pipe. I took a close up photo of the shank/stem union to show what I am talking about when I say that they do not match.I have also included a photo of the bowl to show the “almost round” bowl. It looked as if the carver had tried to bevel the inner edge of the rim.The stem was oxidized and had some spots and build up on the surface. At the stem/shank union it was rough and there were some deep scratches.To take care of the bad angle on the shank I used the topping board to face the end. It squared up pretty neatly. The out of round shank and stem required something a little different. I decided to use a nickel band to break up the shank and stem union and give me a round edge to bring the stem against. That way I could at least make the stem round and clean up the junction. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to round out the shank enough to take the band. I smoothed out the flow of the shank to the bowl and round the top of the shank. Once I had the area sanded for the band I pressed the band lightly onto the shank and then heated the band with a heat gun. Once it heated and expanded I pressed it into place on the shank. The band fit well with the shank and actually dressed up the pipe. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and prepare the bowl for a contrast stain. I used a black Sharpie pen to colour/stain the rustication on the whole pipe. I wanted that portion of the pipe to contrast with the smooth portions of the walnut. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads to lighten the shiny black of the Sharpie and dull it slightly. I then stained and flamed the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain mixed 50/50 with alcohol to make it more of a wash. I stained the entire bowl including the black portion to make sure to get stain into all of the grooves. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the wheel paying particular attention to the smooth portions of the bowl. I wanted the contrast to be stark between the rusticated parts and the smooth parts. I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. I was surprised with how clean it was.The carver who had fit the stem to the pipe had not finished working on the slot. It looked like he had started by using a small cutting wheel to cut a line across the airway in the end of the stem. That was all that had been done to the slot at this point.I used needle files and sandpaper to open up the airway and shape the slot. I smoothed out the transition from the cut to airway and made the entire slot more oval. The general shape of the airway is a Y with it following the curve of the button and creating an open airway. A pipe cleaner slides easily into the airway with the new open end.To prepare the mortise to accept the curve of where the tenon met the stem, I beveled the inside edge of the mortise with a knife. I also beveled the end of the tenon into a funnel while I had the knife out. When I pushed the stem into the shank it fit snugly against the end of the tenon.I took out the stem and cleaned out the airway to the bowl and the mortise with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I scrubbed it until it was clean.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation and also to remove some of the dings and marks on the stem surface. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I sanded the smooth portions of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to lighten the stain there. I lightly buffed the bowl and buffed a bit harder on the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buff. I applied some Conservator’s Wax to the bowl and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It came out pretty well with the adjustments and tweaks that I added. The band sets off the bowl and stem. The contrast stain works with the walnut. The smooth and the rusticated finish go well with the stains I chose. It is now a better looking workable pipe. Thanks for looking.

Restoring A Medico Double-Dri Bakelite Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the ongoing adventure of discovery of the quest for the drier smoking pipe I keep finding new ones that intrigue me. This latest addition that my brother Jeff picked up is unique even if it was not part of that adventure of discovery. It is stamped Medico over Double-Dri and it is unusual to say the least. The base of the pipe I believe is made of Bakelite. The bowl is painted briar or at least looks to be. The bowl is friction fit into the base and is held in place by a cork or composition ring around the edges of the base. The bottom of the bowl is a hard clay or ceramic material. The bowl is U shaped and has three holes in the bottom of the bowl that angle outward toward the edge of the external bottom of the bowl that fits in the base. The bottom of the base has a raise metal pillar that sits in an indentation on the bottom of the bowl once it is in place.

This directs the airflow into the rounded bottom of the base and the airway on the back of the pipe. There is a Medico paper filter that sits in the shank of the pipe and the tenon of the stem to further dry out the smoke. Thus there are two traps for moisture so that the smoke that is drawn into the mouth of the smoker is Double Dry. The stem on the one I have is made of a multi-coloured white/grey and has a raised interlocking DD logo. The white/grey nylon looks quite nice with the dark of the base and the white of the bowl.

The pipes seemed to come in a variety of colours and bowl configurations and materials from meerschaum to briar and painted briar. The bases also came in a variety of colours as did the stems. I found the next photo on the web that gives some idea of the wide variety of choices in this 50’s era pipe. Charles Lemon at Dadspipes wrote about one he did a refurb on and it got my attention so I have had an eye out for one. Here is his write up http://dadspipes.com/2015/10/30/1041/ He wrote that the “Double-Dri was Medico’s foray into the field of removable and interchangeable bowls, though where the Falcon pipe used aluminum for its shank, the Double-Dri used another 1950’s Space Age material, Nylon, for both shank and stem. Press-fit bowls were available in briar or the more expensive meerschaum.”

There was not much information on the brand. The PipePhil site just had the brand and a few photos of two different pipe configurations. The Smoking Metal site gave the name and a picture of the pipe put together and taken apart. There was nothing that I could find that spelled out what Charles spoke of in terms of the base and stem being nylon. It appeared to me that he was right about the stem on the one I had. It was nylon. The base however was exactly like earlier Bakelite pipes that I have in my collection. I know there is a way to check that but the look and feel certainly makes me think I am right in that assessment.

Like Charles I also found a few advertisements in 1950s era magazines that sold the pipe. I could not resist using the one to the left.It is a Medico advertisement in the March 1955 edition of Popular Mechanics magazine. The language of the advert makes for great reading. It says that it is the Best Looking Pipe and the Best Smoking Pipe. It smokes 35 degrees cooler. The Double-Dry system is shown in the line drawing as made up of three parts – Condensation, Radiation and Filtration. If you buy the press on this pipe you will wonder why it is not still being sold 60+ years later. (I would love to get a hold of a copy of the folder that is mentioned at the bottom of the advertisement if any of you have one around.)

When the pipe arrived I brought it to the worktable I took a few photos to show what the condition was when I started the clean up. It was in decent shape. The bowl was caked and the holes in the bottom of the bowl were clogged. I could not see how the airflow worked with the bowl and base from looking inside the bowl. The bowl had some nicks and damage on the top edge and had a thick coating of tars. The bowl exterior was also dirty and there were some black marks on the sides of the bowl. The base was dirty and caked with hardened tars and oils. The inside of the shank and airway were black and the airway into the base was reduced in size. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter on the top and the bottom sides near the button and the contrasting grey and white of the stem material were dull. The double DD on the stem looked to be in excellent shape. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the damage that would need to be dealt with. I also did a close up photo of the bottom of the base to show the inset up into the bowl base.

I took two photos of the base and the bowl – one looking at it from the top down and the other with the bottom side of the bowl showing.

I removed the stem from the pipe and the old paper Medico Filter was present.

I cleaned out the inside of the base with cotton swabs and alcohol and cleaned out the airways in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.

The bowl had a rounded bottom so I used a PipNet reamer and reamed the bowl to remove the cake and enable me to see the airways in the bottom of the bowl.

I used a paper clip to break through the airways from the underside of the bowl.I scrubbed the bowl exterior and rim with cotton pads and alcohol. I was able to remove most of the grime from the bowl and a fair bit of the lava from the rim. I could see that the rim was actually unpainted briar. I sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads to remove some of the pieces of tar and oil that were stuck to the surface of the bowl. I also sanded the base with the micromesh to give it a shine. I lightly topped the bowl to clean up the outer edge of and the top of the rim. I sanded the inner edge of the rim to smooth that out as well. I followed up on it by sanding it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads.I sanded the tooth chatter and marks out of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and the shine came back to the stem. The contrast of grey and white really began to stand out. I gave the nylon stem several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the stem with a microfibre cloth. I put the pipe back together piece by piece including a new Medico paper filter in the stem. I gave the entire pipe another coat of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the pipe to a shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Other than the damage on the curve of the bowl the pipe looks very good. Thanks for looking.

Bringing New Life to a Yello-Bole Metal

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother found this older Yello-Bole metal pipe. It is a lot like the older Grabow Vikings but the bottom of the bowl is different from the Grabow. Between the bowl and the metal base there is a flat perforated screen or disk that the tobacco sits on. It acts as the bottom of the bowl. The wooden bowl itself is a threaded tube that screws into the base. There are two pin holes on the sides of the base (one on each side about mid base below the bowl). These serve as openings to draw air into the bowl. This one was in decent shape and would take a little work to clean up. The photos below were provided by the eBay seller and show the state of the pipe. From the first two photos below you can see the wear on the stem and the white calcification that generally builds up under a rubber softee bit. The finish on the bowl is shot. There is nothing but bare briar showing. The outer edge of the rim looks good. The next two photos give a top and underside view of the pipe. You can see the ring of cake in the bowl around the middle and lighter on the top and bottom edges. You can see the metal disk in the bottom of the bowl. I have purchased a few of these over the years and almost all of them were missing the metal disk that sat in the base between the bowl and base. The stem shows some tooth marks on the top and underside. The final photo included by the seller showed the stamping on the underside of the base. It read Yello-Bole horizontally along the bottom of the shank. It also gave the patent number on the bottom of the base. It read PAT. over 2467002 over PAT. PEND. That was enough data to do a patent search on the US Patent Information site. http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/search-patents. From there I copied the patent drawing and included it below.The diagram and the accompanying documents show the conceptual and descriptive narrative of what the pipe was about and what its maker hoped to achieve with his design. The inventor was a Samuel Laurence Atkins of New York. He filed his patent application on July 14, 1945. The patent was granted April 12, 1949. The pipe that I have is stamped Patent Pending thus it is easy to extrapolate that it was made between the dates July 14, 1945 and April 11, 1949 which are the dates before the patent was granted. That makes this pipe between 67-71 years old. It is in pretty decent shape for a pipe of that age. I took the following photos when the pipe arrived. The seller’s photos were pretty good at showing the issues with the pipe. All the things noted above were correct. The pipe was quite easy to take apart. I unscrewed the bowl and tapped out the disk in the base. The stem came out of the shank with little effort. I took the photo below to show the parts. The second photo shows the cake in the bowl. I started the clean up with reaming the bowl. I used the PipNet reamer and the largest cutting head to ream from the top of the bowl. I used the second head to ream the bowl from the bottom. I reamed it back to bare briar. There was still some of the signature Yello-Bole bowl coating showing near the top just below the rim. I scrubbed the bowl base with a brass bristle brush to loosen up the dried tars and oils in the base. I used a dental pick to clean out the threads. I also scrubbed the disk with the brush. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean the surface of the disk and the inside of the base and airway.

I scrubbed the interior and exterior of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners to remove the build up on the outside and the oils on the inside.With the cleanup finished I set the parts on the table and took a few photos of the cleaned up pipe. Now it was time to restore it. I wiped down the bowl with cotton pads and acetone to remove the grime and the remaining finish on the bowl.

I stained the bowl with a dark brown stain pen. I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to spread and polish the stain. I buffed it with Blue Diamond and rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil. At this point in the process the bowl and the metal base was complete. I took the following photos to show the state of the progress thus far. I cleaned the stem and used a clear super glue to repair the deep tooth marks in the top and underside of the stem near the button. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem. I worked on the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I wet sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by dry sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Replacing a Threaded Mortise/Tenon system with a Push Mortise/Tenon System in a Meerschaum Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I received this meerschaum pipe the sender said that it needed to have the tenon replaced. It looked like it would be a simple repair so I left it until last. I restemmed the other little meerschaum that I posted earlier and put a new tenon on an Italian pipe for him and figured that this would be an easy fix. I unscrewed the stem from the broken tenon – it was split and half of it was missing. The stem came off with no problem. I had a perfect replacement tenon available to me so I screwed it into the stem and then looked at the broken tenon in the shank. Still the problem seemed quite simple. I used my wood screw and threaded it into the airway and tried to pull the tenon – either unscrewing it or at least wiggling it free. It did not move at all. I looked at it with a lens and saw that there were remnants of epoxy around the portion of the tenon that showed. Now I was in trouble. What had originally been an easy fix now was complicated. Before I drilled out the tenon I took a few photos of the bowl to show the condition of the meer. It was worn and scratched but had some beauty that shown through the grime and the scratches. The rim was dirty and pitted but the edges were sharp. The bowl interior was lightly caked and the pipe smelled of strong aromatics. I drilled out the tenon in the shank of the pipe starting with a bit slightly larger than the airway. No problem with that first step. I increased the size of the bit and drilled it again. It was my hope to have the glued tenon break free with the drilling. I increased the size of the bit yet again, this time to almost the same size as the threaded tenon. No luck. The tenon was absolutely stuck to the insert in the shank. I increased the bit size once more and this time the tenon broke. I tried to pick out the remaining pieces but they were solidly glued in place. I looked at the insert with a lens and could see that the glue and tenon had damaged the internal threads on the insert. This was turning into a real pain. I would have to drill out the entire insert and replace it. Once I had the tenon free I figured this would be easy as well. Again I was wrong. The insert was also glued in place. I increased the size of the bit several times until I had removed the insert itself. This old pipe was turning into a head ache.

I finally was able to remove the insert. I examined the inside of the shank. The original drilling of this pipe was fascinating. It was obviously drilled in several stages stepping down the mortise to the airway. I wrote to the owner and asked if it would be okay to replace the threaded tenon and mortise set up with a push tenon. I figured why complicate things. He confirmed that he was okay with that replacement. I started work on the stem and shank for that set up. I drilled the airway on the stem slightly bigger to take the push tenon. I cleaned out the inside of the stem to remove the debris and the tars. I checked the fit of the tenon in the stem and it was a good fit. I would need to countersink the airway to accommodate the rim on the tenon. I cleaned out the shank and airway on the bowl as well. I fit the insert in the shank. The fit was good but I would also need to countersink it to make a flat surface for the stem to sit against.I used a slightly larger drill bit to create the countersink on the shank and pushed the insert in place. The fit was perfect. Due to the damage on the shank from all of the glue I would need to use glue to hold the insert in place but I wanted to clean up the fit before I set the glue in place. In the photo below the new system can be seen. The mortise insert is in place and the push tenon is on the stem.I cleaned out the shank one more time and then mixed a two part epoxy for the insert. I applied the mixture to the insert and pressed it into place. I aligned the airway and the stem so that things would be straight once it dried and set the bowl aside so the epoxy could cure.I used a drill bit to countersink the rim on the tenon into the stem. I threaded it in place to make sure the fit was correct.

I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the roughness and bring back some of the shine of polished meer. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit pads and was able to bring back a lot of the life in the meerschaum. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads to polish it further. The photos below show the pipe after I had sanded it. When I am working on an older meerschaum I do not like to remove all of nicks and scratches as they add character to an old pipe. They are like battle scars and each of them has a story to tell. I clean up the surface damage and highlight the patina but leave the pipe clean but looking its age. I let the epoxy set over night and then this morning pushed the stem into the new mortise. The fit was a little tight and I could see some light between the stem and the shank end. I needed to finesse the fit of the stem and shank. I carefully sanded the end of the mortise with the Dremel to make sure the insert was flush against the meerschaum end of the shank. I also worked on the countersink of the tenon in the stem with a sharp knife to give it a wider and sharper bevel to accommodate the rim around the middle of the tenon. I polished the newly sanded and cut areas with micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the fresh work. I polished the stem and the bowl lightly with some soft white Beeswax and then buffed the pipe by hand with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Soon I will pack up the threesome of pipes and send them back to the pipe man who sent them to me. They are all functional now and to me actually look and work better than they did before. Thanks for looking.