Tag Archives: pipe restemming

Restoring and restemming the first of two Television pipes – a Pot

Blog by Steve Laug

The first Television pipe of the two that came to me in a gift box of bowls needing stems was this pot shaped bowl. I had not heard of the brand before so I put a question on the online pipe forums that I frequent and got two responses with information. The first was a link to the Smoking Metal website which has become a standard place I check for metal pipes that I pick up or pipes with screw on bowls. I had not thought of looking on that site as the Television pipes that I had found were regular briar pipes. The link follows and gives a look at a unique Television pipe with a threaded bowl http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=277. The second response came from Jose Manuel Lopes – Pipes Artisans and Trademarks. Lopes states that the brand was sold by A. Grunfield Co. and was produced by Gasparini. They were known to be an English brand with long stems.

The first bowl I had was a pot shape without a stem. Like the second bowl it had a thick coat of varnish. There was a large fill on the right side of the bowl toward the top. It was a putty fill and was lighter than the briar. The grain on the pipe was very mixed. On the back and front of the bowl was cross grain and on the sides was some nice birdseye. The rim had a tarry buildup and a burned area on the back right side of inner rim. The bowl had an uneven cake on the inside. The right side of the shank was stamped Imported Briar over Italy and the left side was stamped TELEVISION. The second pipe bore identical stamping. There were no shape numbers on either bowl or shank. Both pipes had a broken tenon in the shank. I used a wood screw I keep around for pulling out the broken tenons. I screw it in by hand and the wiggle it until it comes out. I removed the broken tenon from both of the pipe shanks while I was at it. I found a vulcanite stem in my can of stems that would work with the pipe and make it a standard pot shape pipe and stem. I turned the tenon on the PIMO Tenon Turning Tool until it was close and then fine tuned the fit with 220 grit sandpaper. The diameter of the stem was larger than that of the shank so I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to match the two. I decided to replace the large ugly fill on the right side of the bowl. It was a light brown/pink colour and stood out from the rest of a decently grained pipe. I picked it out with a dental pick and found that underneath the surface it was a white hard putty. There was also a fill on the underside of the bowl that I picked out and one on the rim. I decided to top the bowl to see how close to the side fill the top one was. I set up the sanding board and topped the bowl. Once it was topped I could see the fill on the rim and I decided to leave it as it was close to the inner edge of the bowl. I wiped off the surface of the bowl with isopropyl alcohol and spent time scrubbing the large fill on the side of the bowl. I then took some briar dust that I had and began to work on the patching material for the hole. I poured some Fiebings Dark Brown stain into the briar dust and mixed it until the briar dust was evenly stained a dark brown. I then mixed in some Weldbond multipurpose white glue into the stained briar dust. Once it began clumping I worked it into a dough and kneaded in the briar dust until it was evenly mixed. The mixture was tacky but not wet. I tamped it into the two repairs on the bowl, the bottom and the left side. I pushed it down into the deep parts of both fills with a dental pick and a pipe nail. When the patch had cured overnight it looked like the photo below. It was a solid bump on the side of the bowl. It took a lot of sanding with 180 grit sandpaper and 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the footprint of the patch and level it with the surface of the briar. The next series of photos show the process of sanding the patch. I also sanded the shank to smooth out the junction of the stem and the shank at the same time I worked on sanding the patch. I used 220 grit sandpaper and then sanded both the bowl and shank with medium and fine grit sanding sponges. When all the sanded areas were smooth I sanded them again with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-3200 grit pads and dry sanding with 3600-6000 grit pads. When the scratches no longer stood out I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain (same colour I had used in the briar dust patch). I applied the stain and flamed it and repeated until the coverage was even. I wiped the bowl down with acetone and isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to make it less opaque. It took quite a few wipes to get it to the colour I wanted. The next series of photos show the progress of the wipe down. (The stained briar dust and wood glue dough patch did not work well in terms of blending with the briar. It still stood out but now was a dark brown.) I still needed to do more sanding on the bowl – particularly in the area of the patch as it looked grainy. I wanted it to be smooth to the touch so I worked on it with the micromesh sanding pads and tried to blend it in more with the stain on the bowl. I also sanded the bowl and stem with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded as usual with 1300-2400 grit pads and 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down between each three grits of pads with Obsidian Oil. I decided to use a walnut stain and boiled linseed oil. I wiped it on the bowl and then wiped it down. I used a cork and candle stand to hold the bowl while I let the linseed oil dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and then buffed both the bowl and stem with White Diamond and gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed with a soft flannel buffing pad between coats of wax to give it a deep shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to load and smoke an inaugural bowl of tobacco by whoever owns it next.

A Painful Stem Refitting – a Schowa Briar Selected Billiard

3 Replies

Yet another gift bowl made its way to the work table today. It is stamped Schowa Briar Selected. The brand was one I had never heard of and never seen before. There is little background information on the brand on the internet. What I could find came from Pipephil’s website http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s4.html There I read that the brand belongs to the Schum family who were established in Bad König (Odenwald, Hesse), Germany. The name was a combination of the Schum name and Odenwald. The factory crafted briar and porcelain pipes (Bavarian style). I have no idea on the date or time of the brand. I did find some porcelain examples of their work from the mid to late 1970’s and some nice briar pipes with no dates. They seem to also have carved figurals in briar. That was the extent of information I could find.

This bowl is on the small side with the stamping on the left side of the shank. It was pretty clean internally. The finish was gone and what remained was bare briar. There were several nicks in the sides of the bowl. The inner edge of the rim has some burn damage and there was a burn mark on the front middle top of the rim and inner edge. The back outer edge of the rim had a large divot out of it. The shank was pinched at the end and was out of round. The left side was significantly thinner than the right side. Restemming it was going to be a bit of a challenge in terms of getting a good clean/smooth fit of the shank and stem.
I found a stem in my stem can that would work with this bowl and sanded the tenon so that it would fit in the shank. The diameter of the stem was larger than the shank and the out of round and pinched shank was going to make getting a proper fit an issue. I took down the excess material with a Dremel and sanding drum and then hand sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth things out. I could easily sand about ¾ of the shank to get a smooth fit but the left side stamping made working on that side a challenge. In the photo below of the top of the pipe the indent on the left side is visible. The stem and the shank dip in at the joint and make the fit less than I wanted to achieve. The other three sides were perfect. I decided to leave the bothersome fit of the stem and work on the bowl. I topped the bowl with my usual method of a sanding board and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the burn damage on the front and the large divot on the back of the rim. I was able to remove most of it with a light topping. The remaining dark spot on the front of the rim would blend in to the stain fairly well. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish that remain and to prepare the pipe for staining. I cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol until the cleaners came out with no colour. The dip in the left side of the union of the stem and shank bothered me. I took photos of the shank end and the end of the stem to show the degree that they were out of round. These are slightly out of focus but the problem can be seen. The left side of the stem next to the tenon is thinner than the right and the same is true of the shank. The stem is straight and clean edged but the shank is pinched inward. The union of the two would always be slightly pinched on the left. I was not happy with the fit but decided to leave it for the moment. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain (Fiebings) and flamed it. I repeated the process until the coverage was even. I wiped down the bowl and shank with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to lighten the stain on the bowl and make it less opaque. (In the first photo the troublesome left side joint really stands out.) The joint bothered me enough that I took out a second stem and fit it in the shank. I sanded the outer diameter until it was a close fit to the shank. This time I did not sand the shank any further and avoided the junction on the left side altogether. I decided to focus on keeping the profile of the stem straight and not worry about the pinched end on the left side of the shank. I knew that it would look slightly oversized on the left when finished but I could live with that look. I washed down the bowl when I was finished with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to clean up the sanding dust from the stem and further lighten the look of the stain on the briar. Once I had finished with the bowl I worked on the stem. I sanded it with a medium and find grit sanding sponge to clean up the scratches left behind by the sandpaper and then used micromesh sanding pads to polish it. I wet sanded with 1500-3200 grit pads and dry sanded with 3600-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between the wet and dry sanding and also between each successive group of three grits of micromesh pads. This time the fit on the shank was better though far from flawless. It would work for me though. One day I may well end up banding this pipe but not today. I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it repeated coats of carnauba wax to raise a shine and protect the new finish. The finished pipe is shown below. While the stem fit is far from perfect it is now a serviceable pipe and ready for use.

Renewing a 30’s Era KBB Yello-Bole Honey Cured Briar

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I just finished restoring and restemming an older Yello-Bole billiard. The bowl was stamped with the KBB (no ampersand) on the left side of the shank and next to it is stamped Yello-Bole in capital letters. Underneath is stamped Honey Cured Briar. On the right side of the shank it is stamped 2068B.
The bowl was in decent shape. The finish had a heavy coat of varnish over the stain but the briar appeared to be quite nice. I could not find any visible fills in the bowl. There was some good grain under the varnish. The rim had been topped and was rounded and crowned. It still had some scratch marks in the wood and also it was stained in a much lighter colour than the rest of the bowl. The stem was missing. It originally had a push tenon stem as the mortise was not threaded. Fitting a new stem would not be difficult but getting proper look to the stem required that I had some idea of the era of the pipe. That pushed me to do a bit of research. Since Yello-Bole pipes are one of my favorite older US brands doing the research would be enjoyable. As with other early brands made in the states I have found that older is better. A KBB in a cloverleaf stamp will date them back to the ’30’s. I have found through my reading that the 4 digit shape numbers are older than 2 digit ones. The pipes with the logo on top of the stem are older than ones that have them on the side. That is just some of the information that I found with a cursory read through the forums and a variety of websites.

I found that Kaywoodie would sort shipments of briar and send the culls to be used for Yello-Boles, meaning they got some quality briar. One fellow on the web believes that is why Yello-Bole pipes tend to be smaller over all, working around flaws. He also said that he thinks calling them Kaywoodie seconds is a bit of a misnomer, being that Kaywoodie was one of the largest briar purchasers in the world at the time (’20’s-50’s) and got some fantastic wood.

I came across the SM Frank website http://www.smfrankcoinc.com/home/?page_id=2 and found a wealth of historical information on Kaywoodies, Yello-Boles and the merger between KBB and SM Frank and later Demuth. It was a great read and I would encourage others to give the website a read. The information in the next paragraph was condensed from that site. I found confirmation for the statement above that the Yello-Bole line was an outlet for lower grade briar not used in Kaywoodie production. Yello-Bole’s were introduced in 1932 and manufactured by Penacook, New Hampshire subsidiary, The New England Briar Pipe Company. Advertising from the 1940′s, pictures the Yello-Bole “Honey Girl” and urges the pipe smoker to smoke the pipe with “a little honey in every bowl.” Honey was an ingredient of the material used to line the inside of the bowl. It was said to provide a faster, sweeter break-in of the pipe.

I went hunting further to see if I could find information on establishing dates for Yello-Bole pipes and found that there was not a lot of information other than what I had found above. Then I came across this link to the Kaywoodie Forum: http://kaywoodie.myfreeforum.org/archive/dating-yello-bole-pipes__o_t__t_86.html I quote the information I found there as it gives the only information that I found in my hunt to this point.

“OK so there isn’t a lot of dating information for Yello-Bole pipes but here is what I have learned so far.
– If it has the KBB stamped in the clover leaf it was made 1955 or earlier as they stopped the stamping after being acquired by S.M. Frank.
– From 1933-1936 they were stamped Honey Cured Briar.
– Pipes stems stamped with the propeller logo they were made in the 30s or 40s no propellers were used after the 40s.
– Yello-Bole also used a 4 digit code stamped on the pipe in the 30s.
– If the pipe had the Yello-Bole circle stamped on the shank it was made in the 30s this stopped after 1939.
– If the pipe was stamped BRUYERE rather than briar it was made in the 30s.

That is all I have in my notes right now I don’t have anything on the multitude of stem stampings or any other age indicators. If anyone has more definitive information or other methods of determining date please feel free to post it and I will edit this as I go. I currently have 2 from the 30s and 6 from pre 55 and 2 fairly modern ones.”

One further item was also found on that site. It was just a passing comment in the midst of some information on Kaywoodie pipes. I quote: “The pre-Kaywoodie KB&B pipes were marked on the shank with a cloverleaf around KB&B. Some early Kaywoodies had this same marking on the shank, but the practice was dropped sometime prior to 1936. Yello-Boles also had KBB in the leaf on the shanks, but did not have the ampersand found on Kaywoodies.” (Highlighting is mine)

Given the above information I discovered that the pipe I was working on was made sometime between 1933-1936. It was stamped with the Honey Cured Briar stamping on the shank and had a four digit code. Thus it was an early Yello-Bole from the 1930s. With that information I had a fairly clear idea of what kind of stem I needed to fit to the shank. I looked for photos of the pipe online and found none from that era. So I looked at KW stems to get some sense of what the shape of the stem and the slope of the taper would have been like. I found one the shape I was looking for in my can of stems. It had the right taper and look and after turning the tenon I was able to fit it to the shank. The diameter of the stem was slightly larger than the shank on the top and would need to be sanded until the transition was smooth between the shank and stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess material on the top side. I sanded the shank to make the transition smooth. I planned on removing the varnish and touching up the stain on the rim anyway so to touch up the shank would not be a problem. I sanded carefully so as not to damage the stamping. There were some slight ripples in the taper of the stem so I sanded it with a sanding block to smooth out the high points on the taper and even out the line. I wiped down the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the varnish and some of the stain coat. I always do that when I am going to do a restain on the rim and shank as I find that it makes the new coat of stain much simpler. I wanted to remove the crown and rounding of the rim and flatten it out. The original bowls did not have a crowned rim but a flat one so I wanted to repair that and bring it back to its original look. I set up a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper and pressed the rim into the sandpaper and sanded the top flat. I sanded the rim with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and also with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to prepare it for staining. I stained the bowl, rim and shank with oxblood aniline based stain, flamed and repeated until the coverage was even. I then buffed the pipe with White Diamond. I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding pads once again and then sanded it with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it had dried took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax, buffing with a flannel buff between the coats. The finished 1930’s era pipe is shown below ready to be loaded and enjoyed for another 80 years. The stain does a great job highlighting the grain on this little pipe. It came out looking like new. The stamping stands out and is still sharp. The stem tapers just right to my liking. It is finished and waiting. Now the only decision left is what tobacco to use to break it in once again.

A Malibu Bent Billiard by Savinelli Restemmed and Restored.

1 Reply

The next pipe from the gift box of bowls was a bent billiard stamped MALIBU on the left side of the shank and Italy on the underside. There is no other stamping on the pipe. I searched the internet for information on the brand and also looked in the book Who Made That Pipe and there found that the pipe was made by Savinelli. I emailed Savinelli but have not yet received a confirmation of that information. I will update this post as soon as I hear from them. In the meantime I worked on the bowl. It was in decent shape though covered by a thick varnish coat that gave it a perma-shine. The bowl and shank were dirty but had not been smoked enough to build up a cake or tars. The rim was in excellent shape and the finish other than being very plastic looking was clean. In the first photo below you can see the two large fills that were on the bowl and shank on the left side. The first is on the side of the bowl, just ahead and below the bend. The second is on the shank next to and below the stamping. They seemed to have taken the stain and though they are visible are not a bright pink. There was no stem with the pipe so I found the one in the photo below that would fit the shank with a little work.

I turned the tenon down with a PIMO Tenon Turning Tool and then sanded some of the seams that still showed on the side of the bowl. The diameter was very close to being the same – I had to make a few adjustments on the top and the right side to get a seamless fit.

I sanded the stem in place and sanded the shank at the same time. I needed to remove the varnish coat anyway so I figured it would be okay to sand the shank at the same time. I did not want to reduce the size of the shank – merely that of the stem and then match them. I find that if I do that with the stem off the shank it is easy to round the edges of the stem. With it in place and using a sanding block I can get a smooth transition. I also work to restain the sanded area of the shank to match the bowl.

Once the transition was smooth I wiped down the bowl with acetone to remove the varnish coat. It took some scrubbing with acetone wet cotton pads. I was finally able to break through the finish with the acetone.

I sanded the bowl and shank, carefully avoiding the stamping, with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I sanded the entire bowl and shank and then wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol to remove the sanding dust.

I sanded the stem with the same sanding sponges and removed the majority of the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. I set up a heat gun and heated the stem to soften it so I could bend it. When it was pliable I bent it over a rolling pin with a hard cardboard tube over it to smooth out the wood. I bend it until the stem looks right with the bend in the shank and then use cool water to set the bend.

With the bend set I took it back to the worktable to sand the bowl to even out the existing finish and the stem.

I stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain, flamed it and repeated the process. I sanded the stem with the usual battery of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads and then as a final rub down once I had buffed the stem with White Diamond. I buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax – buffing with a soft flannel buff between coats of wax. The finished pipe is shown below. The fills on the left side are still visible but the blend into the bowl is quite good. It is tolerable. The pipe is cleaned, refinished and ready for the rack of the next pipe man who will smoke it.

New Life for an old KBB Doc Watson Dublin

A Non-descript Old Bowl turns out to be a Worthwhile Peterson

1 Reply

In the gift box that I received there was an old worn bowl that had a thick coat of grime on the finish. The shank was cracked and had been repaired but still showed. There was stamping on the shank but it was illegible without magnification. The bowl had been reamed but was out of round. It had been topped at some point but had not been flattened it had an odd crown and was quite a bit lighter than the rest of the bowl. The briar itself was quite nice under the grime. The right side of the bowl had some birdseye grain while the rest was mixed grain. The rim also had birdseye grain on it. I used a magnifying glass to look at the stamping – low and behold it was stamped Peterson’s (with a forked P) over Kapet on the left side of the shank. It was faint but clearly readable with light and magnification. The right side was even more worn but I was able to make out that it was stamped Made in London England. The shape number was not readable. There was not a stem with the bowl but I had one that would work in my box of stems.

I cleaned up the shank area with a wipe down with acetone on a cotton pad. I wanted to avoid covering the remaining stamping with the band but wanted a band that would strengthen the repair that had been made to the cracked shank. I heat the band and pressed it into place on the shank. I also sanded the tenon on the stem so that it would fit the shank.

With the new band in place I cleaned up the tenon and pushed the stem into the shank. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and also to adjust the diameter of the stem at the band. I wanted it to fit evenly against the band so that looking at the pipe from the end view there would we equal silver all the way around the stem junction.

When I had the fit against the shank and band correct I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to clean up the scratch marks. I also used a folded piece of sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim to bring it back to round. I wiped down the bowl with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the grit and buildup on the bowl and lighten the bowl to match the current colour of the rim. Even though I would later end up topping the bowl I knew that the lightening of the stain would make the restain much simpler.

I cleaned the inside of the shank and stem with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until the cleaners went in and came out the same colour. The photo below shows some of the building pile of cleaners that were used to get the pipe clean.

I set up the topping board and 220 grit sandpaper and twisted the rim into the sandpaper until I had the top of the bowl flat once again. I took out the rounded/crowned rim that had been done earlier and squared it up with sharp edges once more.

I sanded the rim with the sanding sponges and also with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratches. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain with several more applications of stain to the rim to achieve a match with the bowl. I applied, flamed and repeated the process of staining until I got an even coverage on the bowl and rim.

To make the stain less opaque I washed it down with alcohol on cotton pads. I wanted to remove enough of the stain to make the grain visible.

I sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to further lighten things. I buffed the bowl with White Diamond, while avoiding the light stamping. I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil. The result was exactly what I was aiming for. The reddish brown tint of the briar came through beautifully.

I sanded the stem with the medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then went on to sand with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 150-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each of the three groups of micromesh pads. The Oil penetrates deeply into the vulcanite and makes the sanding simpler. The oil that sits below the surface lubricates the surface and the micromesh cuts into the vulcanite to clean up the scratches.

I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and when it dried I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax and between the coats I buffed it with a soft flannel buff. I hand buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is not a large pipe – a mere 5 ½ inches long and 1 3/8 inches tall. The bowl is in good condition and cleaned and ready to smoke. This should make a great little Virginia pipe.

One Just for Fun: A New Frankenpipe – Combining a Few Parts to Craft a Rustic Pipe

2 Replies

In the box of gift bowls that came to me were a few that I could fiddle with and see what I could come up with. There were no stems for these items so it was a blank slate to work on. The first of these was an old rustic bowl. As I looked at it I could see some possibilities for this old bowl. The bowl had a decent cake on the walls and there were no cracks in the piece of wood. It was like an old branch of cherrywood. The bark had been peeled and the top roughly carved. The bottom of the bowl was rounded. Internally the bowl bottom was flat and sound. The airway entered the bowl precisely on the bottom. There was a drilled airway on the side of the bowl that looked like it probably had a long stick for a shank and stem – possibly a reed stem.

I did not have a reed stem or a wooden shank to insert in the bowl but I did have an old vulcanite long stem that would work. The tenon had been tapered down and it had a slight saddle that gave it a unique look.

I sanded the taper and reduced the diameter of the end of the stem/tenon. I sanded it until it fit snug in the hole in the bowl. I sanded it with 150 and 220 sandpaper to shape the stem and clean up the fit. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sandpaper to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper.

I have a briar shank piece left over from other work I had done and for a short time considered inserting that between the bowl and the stem. I laid it out to see what it would look like and did not like the look so I set it aside for a later project.

I turned the stem directly into the bowl and checked on the fit. The short tenon end on the stem was the precise depth of the hole in the side of the bowl. That made the fit perfect.

I decided to glue in the stem with wood glue rather than leaving it a pressure fit stem. I decided the look would be similar to a mini-church warden cob and the fixed stem would work well with this particular bowl. I put the glue on the tenon and pressed it into place. I wiped up the spill over and wiped it down with a cotton pad to clean the briar and vulcanite surfaces.

I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The look of the pipe was quite acceptable.

I gave the bowl a thin coat of medium brown aniline stain, flamed it and buffed it. The finished pipe is shown below. Now I need to get a straw hat and use it as a yard pipe. It should work well as a pipe that will not leave any worry when I am working in the garden or mowing the lawn. It will be a good pipe to smoke while sitting and reading on my front porch.

Reworking a WDC Wellington – Removing a Finish and Restemming the Bowl

1 Reply

The second bowl I decided to work on from the box of bowls I was gifted was an old Wellington bowl that was actually in decent shape. The bowl is 2 inches tall and 1 3/8 inches in diameter. The bowl has an internal diameter of 7/8 inches. It is quite a large bowl. The nickel ferrule was in good shape but slightly oxidized with a few small nicks and dents. There was an uneven cake in the bowl and the sump area was filled with tars and oils. The finish was varnished but peeling as can be seen in the photo below. The rim had a tar build up and the varnish was peeling under it. The inner edge and outer edge of the rim was in excellent shape. The stamping on the bowl was on the left side of the shank and included the WDC inverted triangle and letters and next to that Wellington in script over the words IMPORTED BRIAR. There was no other stamping on the bowl. The stem did not come with the bowl. I had an old Yello Bole stem from the same era as the Wellington and with the same structure at the tenon and the P-lip. It was scratched and oxidized and had some tooth marks on the top and bottom sides just ahead of the button. The stem has a bright yellow “O” on the top. The bend in the stem had straightened so it would need to be re-bent to work well with the bowl.

I have several WDC pipes and have done quite a bit of research on the brand that I have written about on the blog. I have even repaired and given away quite a few Wellington’s over the years. This one appeared to be a great piece of briar so I wanted to repair it. I also wanted a quick refresher about this line of WDC pipes and how it fit within the hierarchy of WDC lines. The following is a brief excerpt from the pipedia.org article on WDC pipes.

“William Demuth, a native of Germany, entered the United States at the age of 16 as a penniless immigrant. After a series of odd jobs he found work as a clerk in the import business of a tobacco tradesman in New York City. In 1862 William established his own company. The William Demuth Company specialized in pipes, smoker’s requisites, cigar-store figures, canes and other carved objects.
The Demuth Company is probably well known for the famous trademark, WDC in an inverted equilateral triangle. William commissioned the figurative meerschaum Presidential series, 29 precision-carved likenesses of John Adams, the second president of the United States (1797-1801) to Herbert Hoover, the 30th president (1929-1933), and “Columbus Landing in America,” a 32-inch-long centennial meerschaum masterpiece that took two years to complete and was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

The Presidential series was the result of Demuth’s friendship with President James A. Garfield, a connoisseur of meerschaum pipes. Demuth presented two pipes to Garfield at his inauguration in 1881, one in his likeness, the other in the likeness of the President’s wife. Later, Demuth arranged for another figurative matching the others to be added to the collection as each new president acceded to the White House, terminating with President Hoover.

In 1897 Ferdinand Feuerbach joined the Demuth Company and by 1903 had become the production manager. Feuerbach is credited with developing Demuth’s popular Royal Demuth and Hesson Guard Milano pipelines. He left in 1919, when Sam Frank Sr. needed an experienced pipe man to run his pipe factory, located at 168 Southern Blvd., in the Bronx. Feuerbach and Frank had been close friends since Frank started his own business in 1900 and was closely associated with the sales staff of WDC, selling their line of pipes.

In early 1937, the City of New York notified S.M. Frank & Co. of their intent to take by eminent domain, part of the land on which the companies pipe factory was located. This was being done to widen two of the adjacent streets. As a result of this, Frank entered into negotiations to purchase the Wm. Demuth Co.’s pipe factory in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. It was agreed upon that Demuth would become a subsidiary of S.M. Frank and all pipe production of the two companies would be moved to DeMuth factory. New Corporate offices were located at 133 Fifth Avenue, NYC.

Demuth pipes continued to be made at the Richmond Hill plant till December 31, 1972. Then the Wm. Demuth Company met its official end as a subsidiary company by liquidation. Demuth’s mainstay pipe, the Wellington continued to be offered in the S.M. Frank catalog until 1976. In the mid-80’s, the Wellington even made a brief return as a direct to the consumer offer.”

The two leaflets below give some of the details on the Wellington pipe. The first one is a sales leaflet that speaks of the assets of the pipe and what it has to offer the pipe smoker. The second one is a cutaway picture of the Wellington pipe that clearly shows the details of the drilling both of the airway and the sump or well in the heel and shank of the pipe.

With the above diagram and information I was better equipped to work on the internals of the pipe and give it a thorough cleaning. I really like digging out the information and some of the diagrams of the pipes that I work on so that I can get a feel for the design and an appreciation for the work.

I fit the stem on the bowl and the overall look and feel was the same as the Wellington. The shoulder or ridge that formed the saddle was not as sharply defined as in the original stem but the look was close. The P-lip was the same and the tenon insert end was a match to the diagram above. Once the stem was re-bent the look would be even closer to the original.

I cleaned the top of the rim with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. I then reamed the bowl with a PipNet Reamer – a tool that I use on virtually every pipe I work on. The interchangeable heads allow me to use various heads to careful trim back the cake. In this case I took it back to bare wood to clean it up and remove the uneven buildup.

I scrubbed down the finish with acetone on cotton pads. The varnish came off with scrubbing. Underneath the peeling varnish the stain was in good shape. The briar was very clean with no fills. The grain was quite nice with a mix of cross grain and birdseye.

I scrubbed out the sump and the internals of the pipe with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Once the cleaners came out unstained I stuffed cotton balls in the shank and the bowl and then used an ear syringe to fill both with isopropyl alcohol (99%).

I put the bowl upright in an ice cube tray that I use for a stand when sweetening the pipes I clean. It works very well in wicking out tars and oils. I let it sit overnight. The first photo below shows the bowl after filling. The second photo below shows the bowl after 12 hours of soaking. Once I remove the cotton and re-clean the bowl and shank the smell of the pipe is fresh and clean.

Over the weekend I picked up a few new tools to make the clean up simpler. One set of tools was the sanding sticks shown in the photo below. The various grits are clearly on the sticks. These work exceptionally well in the crease next to the button and on the shelf on the underside of the P-lip stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and with medium and fine grit sanding sponges.

After the initial sanding was finished I used a heat gun to heat the stem and bent it over a rolling pin covered with a thick cardboard tube to give the stem a clean bend and avoid kinking the airway. I have been using this for quite a few years now and have not experienced trouble with damaging the airways in the bending process.

I sanded the stem once again with a fine grit sanding sponge. I generally do this before moving on to the micromesh sanding pads.

I wiped down the bowl with a damp cloth to remove any dust and to get an idea of whether I would give it a coat of stain. Once it was clean it looked good to me. No stain would be necessary on this old timer. The colouring once it was buffed would be perfect.

The rim needed a bit more sanding with the micromesh to clean up the top and then a folded piece of sandpaper on the inner edge to smooth things out.

I worked on the stem with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads. Afterwards I noticed the oxidation that still remain at the saddle so I sanded it again with the medium and fine grit sanding sponges and repeated the micromesh wet sanding.

I sanded it with the 3200-4000 grit pads and still saw some oxidation in that area. I repeated the process above with the sanding sponges and the six grits of micromesh to clean it more deeply. I then buffed it with Tripoli and then finished the final three grits of micromesh from 6000-12,000 grit. I buffed it with White Diamond.

I polished the nickel ferrule with silver polish and a polishing cloth and then buffed the bowl and stem a final time with Whtie Diamond. I gave the entire pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax, buffing in between coats with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. I am quite pleased with the new look. The old Yello Bole stem works well with the pipe.

Restemming and Restoring a John Bessai Special Diamond Shank Bent Brandy

13 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I was gifted a box of pipe bowls that needed varying degrees of work and a few odds and ends of pipe parts that now reside in my cans of parts. The bowls have refilled my refurbishing box. The first of these that I chose to work on is a beautifully grained, flawless piece of briar made into a diamond shank brandy. It is stamped on the left underside of the shank – John Bessai over Special. There is no other stamping on the pipe at all. The rim of the bowl is rounded. The pipe bowl is in excellent condition with no problems with the finish. The bowl needed reaming as it had an uneven cake on one side and on the upper portion. The shank is dirty with tars and oils but otherwise in good shape. The drilling and finish on this pipe is perfect. It is a beauty. From a previous Bessai pipe that I had found nearly three years ago I knew a little bit of history. I had hunted to gather information at that time.

HISTORY & BACKGROUND
I started out with what I had found previously and written about on the blog. I quote the following paragraph from Pipedia http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Bessai

1. “John Bessai was a long time pipemaker, repairman and tobacco shop owner who operated his pipe shop at the “Old Arcade” in Cleveland, Ohio. The shop was opened in approximately 1898. It was a small 2-room shop where he hand-crafted his own pipes in the back room and could work when customers were not there. Like so many other shop made brand, John Bessai’s limited production was quickly acquired by regular customers and thus his craftsmanship remained little known outside of Ohio and the Midwest. While his name is known by pipe collectors in the Midwest, his work is seldom seen elsewhere! He died before 1969. Nevertheless, John Bessai left behind a small number of classic shaped pipes; all were made on-site. They are praised worthy of collecting and reflecting skills well beyond most American pipe makers. John Bessai’s logo “JB” appeared as one letter as the “back” of the “J” and the “back” of the “B” share a single line. The logo was stamped on the stem and on the left side of the shank. His son Herb Bessai took over the business and also continued making pipes. He closed the shop in about 1978.”

I suspected that there would be more information three years later. I did some further research and came across the information found in the paragraph below on one of the pipe forums.

2. “John Bessai was located in the Colonial Arcade at least into the late 1980s. After his death, his son Herb ran the shop. It was taken over after Herb’s retirement by a male and then name was changed to “Old Erie Pipes”. This was then located in the Erieview Plaza and when that mall closed, taken over by Cousin’s Cigars which has a store on Euclid Avenue near CSU, and a store on Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere Village.”

That small quotation gave me a bit more information of the state of the store after John’s death and Herb’s retirement. But I still wanted more information. I wanted to know about the history of the brand and if there was any information on the various grades in the brand and the stamping on the pipes. I wanted to know a bit of a timeline for the brands. Finally my digging paid off. ON one of the pipe forums I came across a link that led me to a gold mine of information gathered by a man after my own heart, Andrew Hross. He has a blog call Classic Pipe Shop on Blogspot. I have included the link below for those who want more information. Andrew has done an amazing job of gathering information on the Bessai Brand so rather than rewrite the history I am quoting portions of Andrew’s work on The John Bessai Pipe Clinic.

http://classicpipeshop.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-john-bessai-pipe-clinic-information.html

3. The John Bessai Pipe Clinic, 35 Colonial Arcade, Cleveland, OH 44115 – by Andrew Hross
a. Owner(s):
**John Bessai 1920s until his passing in 1969
**Herb Bessai ~1962-1983
**Daniel Gottschall 1984-~1993
**Purchased by Dad’s Smoke Shop / Cousin’s Smoke Shop and rolled into the Old Erie Smoke Shop about 1993.

Cousin’s Cigars purchased the remaining stock of Bessai pipes near after Herb Bessai passed away in 2002.

b. Years of Operation:
1920s (unkown specific date at this time) – 1983. After 1983 the business was sold to Daniel Gottschall who later sold it to Cousin’s Cigar (Euclid Ave) around 1993. The name was changed to “Old Erie Tobacco Company”. They were forced to move to the Galleria when all the tenants of the Old Arcade were cleared out to make room for renovations. Their new address was The Galleria at Erieview, 1301 East 9th Street in Cleveland.

After this move the location wasn’t as busy as they had hoped and Cousin’s moved all the Old Erie Tobacco assets to their Euclid Avenue Store. The store has since moved to a St. Clair location after Cleveland State forced them out due to anti-smoking regulations on campus. Their St. Clair location offers many of John Bessai Pipe Clinic’s old tobacco blends.

Their new store opened in the Merriman Valley area in Akron, Ohio where the store manager John Coleman oversees the day to day operations. John was instrumental in helping me piece together a lot of loose ends during Bessai Pipe Clinic’s transition years.

My father visited their shop several times in the early 60s as he attended Fenn College (now Cleveland State University) as an undergrad before moving on to Ohio State University for his Masters. He’s way smarter than I am so I just go with the flow…

He mentioned meeting John at that time who quickly gave my father some pointers on smoking a pipe and how to take samples from the shop’s expansive sample jar collection. His pipes were on display in the shop although I don’t believe he had a lot of pipes on display at any given time due to production in-shop.

John’s son Herb took over the shop in the early 60s after he graduated from Cleveland State University / Fenn College (unclear) as he is listed as having played Basketball for CSU. Herb was also a helpful, informative and friendly individual. Articles exist from the Herald in 1962 where they interviewed Herb (with photograph) about the state of smoking in the new age of the early 60s. I visited the shop in the late 70s / early 80s with my father during a trip to Cleveland and couldn’t tell you much about the shop other than the guy working was very friendly. Back then it wasn’t unusual to be a kid and walk into a smoke shop with your father. Clearly I didn’t purchase anything but my father probably picked up some tobacco but I remember him looking at pipes displayed on a back wall. The shop was small but impressive.

If anyone has any pictures of the shop or old catalogs, I would love any additional information as it’s tough to come by 30+ years later!

c. Pipes offered by John Bessai Pipe Clinic:
Most of the pipes that were offered by the John Bessai Pipe Clinic were fairly standard in shape… I would say most of the pipes Bessai offered were smooth pipes. My assessment would be 90% smooth and 10% rusticated / sandblasted…

…The story is that John crafted pipes in the back room or off site and finished them in house while the store wasn’t busy. Very little information is available on the accuracy of this statement. Some of his pipes from the late 1960s through the 1970s (John passed away in 1969) I feel were left over stock from previous turnings and sometimes showed fills or sand pits. Some of these pipes even carry Herb’s markings (see below). These pipes still smoke very well but are not as eye-appealing as other earlier pipes from the store’s career.

d. Stampings and rough dating of John Bessai Pipe Clinic Pipes:
Which pipes did John make and which ones did Herb make/finish? All Bessai pipes carry his standard large JB stamp either on the stem or shank or both. Typically the JB on the stem is within a circle.

All pipes created by John Bessai’s hands reportedly contain the miniscule ‘jb’ stamp on the shank or body of the pipe. I have older pipes in my possession that do not contain this stamp (condenser, old stamps, etc) that were clearly shop made pipes. I feel he started using the tiny ‘jb’ stamp in the 50s to early 60s.

An interesting note about John Bessai’s stems – they always clean very nicely and aren’t prone to as much oxidation (that brownish / green color) as most dunhill and Charatan pipes tend to oxidize. His cuts to his stems were very impressive and often transitioned from diamond-shaped shanks almost architecturally. Very comfortable to smoke.

John Bessai Special Pipes:
… I have a couple Bessai Special pipes. These stand out either by large size, graining or possibly shape. Most Specials are unique pipes and are rare to find in comparison to his regular issue pipes.

John Bessai Special X pipes:
I only have one of these and it’s a beauty. This one is a larger bowl (around a group 4 dunhill) with deep colored grain and a hefty substantial shank. Special X pipes are probably the rarest of John Bessai pipes and should be sought out if possible. I’ve smoke mine roughly 4 or 5 times and it performs with the best of my pipes…

Herb Bessai Pipes:
Unfortunately none of these pipes that I’ve seen have astounded me with grain or general appearance. Having said this, these pipes smoke nicely and are a great value if you can find them. I have one that my father found at an Antique Show in the South. There’s another author shape on reborn pipe’s blog that someone refinished because of the amount of fills in the pipe. He also states it’s a wonderful smoker (Editor’s note: This is my pipe and the write up I did on the blog). These pipes are likely from the late 60s through the early 70s. I believe many pipes after this period were created en masse at a factory in the US. It is unclear what stamp was used on these later pipes…

e. Dating / Circa era Bessai Pipes:
If the pipe carries a stamp stating Cleveland, O U.S.A. it’s considered an older production pipe (pre1960s). I’ve not seen any newer pipes with that stamp.

Bullseye stamping usually indicates an earlier pipe as that stamp seems to have been abandoned pre1960 as well.

Most of the earlier Bessai pipes have an unusual ‘stinger’ or condenser at the end of the tenon which is unique to Bessai pipes. They are either a hard plastic or created out of wood. They are typically easy to remove and could have been easily lost if misplaced. These pipes I would consider pre-1960 and possibly 1940s-early 1950s production based on their stamps and patina of the pipes.

1970s 1980s and beyond: My feeling on these pipes after John’s passing is that they purchased finished pipes from a large manufacturer and stamped them with the John Bessai or Bessai stamp (on shank and/or stem). Most of these shapes are standard among many stores from that period and offer less than spectacular grain (and sometimes fills). Stamps on these pipes are probably fairly plain and don’t have the tiny ‘jb’ stamp on the shank indicating it was produced by John Bessai.

RESTORATION
I went through my can of stems and found an older diamond-shaped saddle stem that fit quite well in the shank of the Bessai. The tenon was a little big so I sanded it with the Dremel and sanding drum until it fit snugly in the shank. The stem was an estate stem so it was dirty and had tooth chatter and some small indentations from teeth on the top and bottom of the stem near the button. It was slightly larger than the shank so that it would need to be sanded until it fit the line and shape of the shank.

I sanded the stem and shank with 150 and 220 grit sandpaper to bring all sides and angles to match the shank angles and sides. I sanded the stem to remove the tooth marks and the tooth chatter in the process.

I sanded the stem and shank with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratch marks left behind by the sandpapers.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the uneven build up of cake in the bowl.

I wiped down the surface of the briar with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish on the bowl and make restaining it simpler.

I cleaned out the bowl and the shank with isopropyl alcohol (99%) on cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until the bowl and shank were clean. I cleaned out the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol as well. I also beveled the airway on the end of the tenon to make the flow more open.

I set up a heat gun and heated the stem to bend it to fit the shape of the pipe. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the stem and then bent it over a rolling pin and set the bend with cool tap water.

I wiped down the bowl and stem with isopropyl alcohol. The grain on this pipe is quite stunning so once it is restained and the stem finished it will be a beautiful pipe.

I stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain and flamed it, I gave it more stain and flamed it again. I then sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. Between each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil.

When I finished sanding with the final grits of micromesh I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and then buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and used a soft flannel buffing pad between coats to polish it. The finished pipe is shown below. The new coat of stain and the shine on the stem give the pipe a new and clean look. It is ready for its inaugural smoke. The background history sets the stage for a deeper appreciation of the pipe once I fire it up. It should smoke very well.

A Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 05 Reborn

7 Replies

The third pipe in the Peterson trio of pipes shown in the photo below came to the worktable today. It is a Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 05 bent Dublin. It is the second pipe in the photo below. The bowl was badly caked – uneven and broken. The rim had a thick coat of tar and carbon buildup and was damaged on the right front side of the rim. The stem was missing and the nickel band was tarnished but undented. The finish was worn and the grooves of the rustication were filled with grit and grime from years of smoking. Like the other two pipes in this lot it must have been a favourite of the previous owner to be smoked to this degree. The inside of the shank was clogged with thick tars and oils and I was unable to blow air through it.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer until the cake was gone and the bowl was bare wood. My goal was to take back all the cake and rebuild a new smooth one. I pushed a paper clip through the airway to open the clog. I used cotton swabs, shank brushes and a drill bit to remove all of the grime and buildup in the airway and the shank. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a soft bristle tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it under warm water to remove the soap and patted it dry. Once it was clean I filled the bowl with cotton balls and used an ear syringe to fill the bowl with isopropyl alcohol. I let the bowl sit over night in an ice cube tray to keep it upright. The first photo shows the set up when I first filled it. The second photo below shows the bowl after it had soaked over twelve hours.

I took the dirty cotton balls out and washed out the bowl and shank with clean isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs. While it was drying I scrubbed the rim with a brass tire brush to clean off the build up on the rustication. In the photo below the damage to the rustication is very evident. It is burned and worn smooth on the right front and side.

I used the Dremel with one of the burs that Joyal gave me to re-rusticate the rim. I followed the patter on the portions of the rim that were still visible and tried to duplicate them on the rest of the rim.

After rusticating the rim I restained it with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied the stain, flamed it and repeated the process until the coverage was even across the rim. I stained the bowl with the dark brown stain as well and flamed it.

The brown stain was too opaque and the contrast between the dark in the crevices and grooves of the briar and the lighter brown on the high spots was gone. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad until I had the contrast that I was aiming for.

I ordered some stems that were the correct diameter and length for the 05 from Tim West at J.H. Lowe and Company. They arrived on Friday so I was able to fit one to the shank. I turned the tenon with a PIMO Tenon Turning Tool. The fitting of a tenon to the tapered shank of Peterson pipes takes a little getting used to. I worked to match the taper of the tenon to the taper of the mortise and was able to get a good fit on against the band.

I used the sanding drum on the Dremel to remove the casting seams on the sides and the button of the stem.

I sanded the stem with 150 and 220 grit sandpaper to match the diameter of the shank to the diameter of the band.

I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the scratching left behind by the sandpapers.

I wanted to bend the stem to match the original stem that would have been on the pipe. I looked up photos on the web of the 05 and copied one of them. I decided to use a fishtail stem instead of the p-lip stem but I was able to use the photo as a template of the bend.

I heated the stem with a heat gun until it was flexible and then bent it over a rolling pin with a cardboard sleeve over it. I have found that the cardboard prevents the hot vulcanite from marring when I bend it. The second photo below shows the first attempt at the bend and the third photo shows it after I reheated it and rebent it to match the template.

I sanded the stem with the medium and fine grit sanding sponges again. At this point in the process the stem was ready for the fine sanding work with the micromesh sanding pads.

I sanded the stem with the usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. In between each set of three pads (1500-2400, 3200-4000 and 6000-12000) I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I let it dry before moving on to the next grit of pads. Once it was finished I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and when it had dried I buffed the stem with White Diamond. I gave the bowl a coating of Halcyon II wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush and gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax, buffing with a clean flannel buffing pad between applications. The finished pipe is shown below. It too is ready for its inaugural smoke – maybe a bowl of Louisiana Red will start this one off also… anyway, it is ready for the a long life ahead.

rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: pipe restemming

Restoring and restemming the first of two Television pipes – a Pot

A Painful Stem Refitting – a Schowa Briar Selected Billiard

Renewing a 30’s Era KBB Yello-Bole Honey Cured Briar

A Malibu Bent Billiard by Savinelli Restemmed and Restored.

New Life for an old KBB Doc Watson Dublin

A Non-descript Old Bowl turns out to be a Worthwhile Peterson

One Just for Fun: A New Frankenpipe – Combining a Few Parts to Craft a Rustic Pipe

Reworking a WDC Wellington – Removing a Finish and Restemming the Bowl

Restemming and Restoring a John Bessai Special Diamond Shank Bent Brandy

A Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 05 Reborn

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: