Tag Archives: polishing a stem

GBD Oval-Shank Pot “Seventy-Six” Restoration

In 1976 GBD introduced a series called the “Seventy-Six” to commemorate the United States Bicentennial. I was in Sophomore in high school during 1976 and the year-long celebration had a big impact on me. The Seventy-Six model remained in the GBD catalog until 1981. From the 1976 Catalog:

“The GBD “Seventy-Six” is our contribution to the Bicentennial celebrations. We have really pushed out the boats for “the colonies” in launching this new series that will be remembered by its proud owner long after the celebrations are forgotten.”

My first “Seventy-Six” model was a 1976 Coloussus and I’ve since added three more, including this Shape 1353. I would call this a banker, but in a Smokers Haven sales ad, it is referred to as a “bent oval-shank pot”.

The pipe was in decent shape, with a moderate coating tars on the bowl top, along with a few nicks and dents. The stem, while heavily oxidized still had the brass rondell. The rondell along with the “London, England” stamp indicated a pre-Cadogan era GBD. The stem was also free of any serious teeth marks. Several of the nicks were very noticeable and I wasn’t sure they could be removed or hidden easily.

I reamed the bowl and soaked it for six hours with some Everclear and sea salt. Prior to soaking, I buffed the pipe lightly with some Tripoli and White diamond followed by a buff with carnuba wax. I like to leave the wax on the pipe during the soaking process in the event some alcohol is splashed on the briar bowl top and I believe the wax gives it some protection from lifting the stain. While the bowl was soaking, the stem was also soaked in a mild solution of Oxy-clean. I put a dab of grease on the brass rondell. The oxidation was so heavy, part of the rondell was obscured and at first I thought it was just worn heavily. That turned out not to be the case.

After the bowl was soaked, I emptied the salt and alcohol solution. I heated a kitchen knife with a torch and applied that to the dents with a wet towel. The steam generated allows the dents to pop back out most of the time. In this case, the dents did spring back to shape and I was able to reduce the depth of some of the nicks. Next I buffed the briar bowl again, using separate wheels of Tripoli, White Diamond and several coats of carnuba wax. I was able to diminish all of the nicks, in particular the one on the right side of the oval stem.

Next I went to work on the stem, which I re-attached to the bowl in order not to round off the crisp edge. I removed the oxidation with 1500 grade wet paper (dipped in my oxy-clean solution) followed by 2000 grade paper. Next I moved to the Micromesh sheets, using 8000 and finally 12000 grade paper. I then buffed the stem with white diamond and Blue Magic brand plastic polish.

A wire bristle brush dipped in Everclear was used to clean the shank. It took approximately 25 swabs with the bristle cleaner until the brush came out clean. I’ll let the briar dry out for a few days before smoking the pipe. Below are some pictures of the finished pipe.

Breathing New Life into a Dr. Grabow Riviera

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I am refurbishing pipes I take the same care on older factory made pipes as I do on the more collectible ones. To me this is part of the stewardship of refurbishing. It does not matter what the original price of the pipe was – it is worth redeeming and bringing back to life. The refurbishing of the next pipe is one of those. It is an older Dr. Grabow Riviera. It was given to me by a good friend in Ponoka, Alberta. He gave it to me as a gift when I visited him recently. It is stamped Riviera over Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Adjustomatic over a patent number – PAT. 2461905 on the right side of the shank. The stinger apparatus in this one is an insert into the metal tenon. It is tube with a scooped portion on top that has a hole in the bottom of the scoop. The air/smoke circulates in the shank and is drawn into the stem by the smoker. The surface area of the apparatus acts as a condenser and filter. The beauty of this design is that it can be removed. The stem was badly oxidized and also had tooth dents on the top and bottom near the button. The finish was shot and the varnish was peeling from the bowl and shank. The rim was darkened and dirty and had a small crack on the top left side. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when I brought it home.

I love doing research on old patents and with US made pipes it is very simple. The following website is a simple way to find data and diagrams. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm In the search parameters you enter the patent number from the pipe and click on the search button. Generally, these older patents have been made into PDF files that can be downloaded. Here is a copy of the information I found there. It is a patent for the Adjustomatic connector. I always find reading through these patent application documents gives me a feel for why the designer came up with invention. This proved true of this application as well.

After reading through the patent information I was ready to restore this old pipe. It appeared to be made somewhere around the time of the Patent as it had the patent number stamped on it. That dated it somewhere around 1949 after the patent was given. I began by reaming the bowl with the PipNet reaming set to clear up the uneven and broken cake. I decided to work on the externals first. I wiped down the bowl and shank with acetone on a cotton makeup pad to remove the finish. There was some very nice grain poking through the mottled finish and very few tiny fills that made it even more attractive to me. The acetone removed the varnish very well and also took away the dirt and filth on the exterior. The first two photos below show the process of wiping down the bowl. The old finish is visible on the cotton pad.

Once the finish was removed from the bowl as much as possible with the acetone, I sanded it down with 340 grit sandpaper and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the finish. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the acetone wash and the sanding. The grain on this one is very nice. The inner rim would need to have some attention to smooth out the rough edges and the darkening.

I sanded the metal shank band as it had some deep scratches and gouges in it. I could not remove the damage but I minimized its look. I worked on the tooth marks in the topside and the underside of the stem surface. I heated the stem with a Bic lighter – passing the flame over the tooth marks to lift them to the surface. I then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining marks that were present (Photos 1 – 4 below). I followed that by sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper (Photos 5 – 6 below).

I sanded the entire stem with the sanding sponge to remove the oxidation from the vulcanite. I took the pipe apart and cleaned the stinger apparatus with a cotton swab and alcohol. The next two photos show that design of the stinger. It is a two part piece and the extended tube can be removed from the screw in metal tenon. I cleaned the inside of the stem and also the inside of the stinger to remove the buildup of tars and oils inside.

I sanded the bowl with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads, being careful around the stamping on the shank. Once the scratches were removed and the bowl was smooth I restained it with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. Doing this makes the stain less opaque and also several shades lighter. I wanted to highlight the grain not hide it so this was the perfect mix to do that. I applied the stain with a cotton swab, flamed it with a lighter to set the stain and then repeated the process a second time. The next three photos show that process. You will note that I also cleaned up the inner edge of the rim with the sanding process noted above. Most of the roughness is removed. A small crack remains on the top of the left side of the bowl rim.

I set the bowl aside and worked on finishing the stem. I sanded it with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads until it was smooth and finished. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil to protect and remove the oxidation. I reattached it to the bowl and buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond on the buffer. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax to bring out the shine and protect it. The final four photos show the finished pipe – cleaned, restored and ready to smoke. The photos show tinges of brown/oxidation still remaining in the stem under the flash of the camera. To deal with that I polished the stem some more and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it soak in. Upon finishing I buffed it again with carnauba.

Comoy’s The Guildhall London Pipe Liverpool Renewed

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Blog by Steve Laug

The Comoy’s pipe pictured below was one of the pipes I picked up at an Antique Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. It was by far in the best condition of the three pipes I purchased that day. It also had the highest price tag – $30 of the three. It is stamped on the left side of the shank The Guildhall over London Pipe and on the right side it is stamped Made in London in a circle over England. The shape is stamped as 30. The grain on it is very nice with a few bald spots on the sides and front on the lower portions of the bowl. The contrast stain that is on these older Comoy’s pipes is extremely well done and it is what always draws me to them. The top of the bowl rim was covered with a little tar. The bowl itself was partially caked and a few tobacco remnants sat in the bottom of the bowl. The stem had tooth chatter and slight oxidation. When I picked it up the stem was on upside down so the three metal lines that were stem logos on these pipes was not visible. I was able to rotate the stem but it was tightly stuck in the shank. I did not want to damage the shank so I left it until I got home.

When I returned home from my trip and things settled down I took the pipe to the work table to refurbish it. I decided to take it apart to begin the process of cleaning it. The stem was tight in the shank and I needed to use the freezer technique to loosen it easily. The tenon is often easily snapped if you try to turn it when it is stuck. I put it in the freezer for 15 minutes and then it came out very easily. When I pulled it out of the shank it brought a lot of chunks of tar and oily buildup with it. The cloth on my worktable was littered with the black pieces that fell out of the shank. Once I had it out of the shank there was a stinger contraption that I have found is common in the older Everyman and Guildhall pipes. This one was covered thickly with tar and oil. It was pressure fit into the tenon but was tightly bonded to the vulcanite. I used a pipe cleaner with alcohol to scrub the inside of the stem and to also work around the exterior of the stinger. I scraped at the gunk that held it to the tenon and was able to remove much of the grit with a dental pick. I grabbed it with a piece of cloth and twisted and pulled at the same time. I kept the stem level during this process as I did not want to damage the tenon by pulling up as I tried to remove it. It finally broke free of the tenon and I laid it aside on the table top. I do not put the stinger back into a pipe that I intend to use. I tag the stingers and save them should I decide to sell the pipe in the future.

I then cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners and Everclear. It took a lot of pipe cleaners to remove the oils and tar from the stem and the shank. I cleaned it until they came out only stained but not covered in grime. I intended to use a retort on this pipe so my purpose was only to remove the heavy buildup on the surface in the stem and shank.

Once I had the interior relatively clean I took out my retort and hooked it up to the pipe. The retort is made up of a test tube and stopper with a permanently inserted brass tube to which a piece of surgical tubing is fitted on the end of the brass tube. The tubing fits over the stem. I put about ¾ of an inch to 1 inch of isopropyl alcohol in the test tube. I stuffed the bowl of the pipe with a cotton boll to stop the alcohol from coming out of the top of the pipe when I heated the alcohol. I lit a candle to heat the alcohol and boil it into the stem and shank. I began with a large candle to do the heating. The next series of seven photos show the first boil of the alcohol through the pipe. I let it boil for several minutes and then removed the test tube from the heat. As it cooled the alcohol was drawn back into the test tube. It was dark amber in colour and smelled strongly of old burned tobacco.

I removed the tube from the flame, and once it had cooled I emptied the alcohol from the test tube, rinsed and refilled it. This time I chose to use a small tea light to heat the tube. It gave a better angle on the test tube and pipe. I boiled it again and when it cooled let the alcohol return to the tube. The series of five photos below shows the second boil and the amber fluid that filled the tube. I ran the retort a third and fourth time until the alcohol came out clear and then I knew the shank and stem were clean. I continue to boil the alcohol through the pipe until it is clean. The retort leaves a pipe smelling brand new once the alcohol smell has dissipated and the pipe dried out.

I removed the retort from the stem and the cotton boll from the bowl of the pipe. Once it was removed I ran pipe cleaners through the shank and stem to remove any of moisture that may have been left behind and the pipe quickly dried out. It was time to clean the top of the rim of the pipe. Early on in the process I had examined it and found that the tars on the top were on the surface and that a good scrub with saliva on a cotton pad would remove the buildup quite easily. The next two photos show the cleaning of the rim with the cotton pads.

Once the rim was clean I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and gave the bowl and shank a first coat of carnauba wax. It was then time to work on the stem. I sanded the stem with 340 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and small dents in the surface of the vulcanite. I then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next two photos show the stem after the initial sanding with the 340 grit sandpaper.

The next two photos are randomly taken after I had sanded with the micromesh sanding pads 3200-12,000 grit. I dry sanded with these grits and the stem developed a shine and a depth to the blackness of the vulcanite. When I had finished sanding the stem I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil to preserve the finish and then buffed it with White Diamond and finally multiple coats of carnauba wax.

The final four photos in this essay show the finished pipe. There is a bit of ghosting around the three bars in the photo that appear to be oxidation. The oxidation is gone. Rather what is happening is a reflection off the metal bars. In natural light the stem is a deep and rich black.

Refurbishing a Hilson Giant – Brian Devlin

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Here is another post by Brian Devlin. I enjoy reading about and seeing photos of his refurbishing work. I am again posting this piece for your viewing. I wrote and asked Brian about more of his process in cleaning stems and rims and he answered with a pm on Smokers Forums. I have integrated that into the text of this piece for those who are interested in knowing more. Without further delay here is Brian’s article.

I picked up another eBay buy that needed a bit of work. This one was a dirty Hilson Giant badly charred rim and heavily oxidized stem. What it looked like when it arrived can be seen in the photo below.

Once again I followed my process of cleaning and refurbishing. I begin by always cleaning the oxidation from the stem. I coated the stem spigot (tenon) and the Hilson logo with Vaseline to protect them from damage by the bleach soak.

I then put the stem in the bleach soak. For this I use an old butter box half filled with a mixture of 50% bleach and 50% water and let it soak for 30 minutes. I have found that this amount of time in the wash works well to remove the oxidation.

I rinse of the stem and then reassemble the pipe. I attach it to a retort to clean out the inside of the bowl, shank and stem. I use 99.9% isopropyl with the retort. You can see how I set up the retort in the photo below. For the heat source I use canned heat (editor’s note: in North America Sterno makes a product that works very well for this. Great idea Brian!).

The stem is pitted after soaking in the bleach mixture so I just buff with brown stick (middle cut) followed by white stick (finishing cut). For the rim I use white stick to polish the rim taking off the char build up. I finish by using Carnauba resin on an open mop (buffing pad) to finish the briar and the stem. It seems to stop the stem from oxidizing. I then buff the pipe and you have BRIAR REBORN!

A Renewed WDC Bakelite and Briar Pipe Restemmed

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I received the Bakelite bowl base in a lot that I picked up on EBay. At first glance I figured I would trash it and not worry about working on it at all. However, I tend to be drawn to working on things that others would throw away so I decided to see what I could do with it. The two bowls pictured below are threaded and both fit the base. The Dublin like bowl, once on the base, was too narrow for the base but the bulldog bowl fit well. It was packed with a cake and there were chips out of the double line band around the bowl. The bowl rim was damaged and the finish was absolutely shot with dark black stains in the briar all around the bowl where the thumb and fingers held the bowl. The Bakelite shank had the WDC in a diamond stamped on it. The ornate band that usually adorned the shank as well as the metal washer like band on the top of the bowl base was missing. The shank had a broken metal tenon stuck deep within it. The surface had scratches in it but none of them were too deep.

Bakelite bowl base and two potential bowls before beginning the process of refurbishing.

The bowl is pictured below. You can see the thickness of the cake and the rough surface of the rim where a previous owner had damaged it when emptying the bowl. The second photo shows the exterior damage and the finish on the pipe. I reamed the bowl to clean out the cake. I decided to take it back to bare wood and start over with the cake. I checked the bowl for cracks and damage but surprisingly there were none to be found. Eventually I would top the bowl.

SIde view of the bowl before refurbishing.

Top view of the unreamed pipe bowl showing its condition before cleaning

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad, used a dental pick to clean out the grooves and screwed bowl on the base to get an idea how the pipe would look. I also wiped down the bowl base with Everclear to clean off the grime and buildup on that surface. I went through my can of stems in search of a diamond shaped stem that would finish out the look of the pipe. I came up empty-handed so I chose a round stem of the right diameter and length that I could shape to fit the shank. I drilled out the shank to remove the metal tenon and also to open the diameter of the mortise. The original stem had been a screw on one and the metal mortise and the metal tenon were firmly welded together so the drill was the only way to remove it. I opened it as wide as possible while still leaving enough material on the shank to maintain strength. I turned the tenon with the PIMO tenon turning tool and then a Dremel to bring it to the correct size for the new shank. The next two photos show the stem and the fit of the stem to the shank.

WDC base in need of a diamond shaped stem. Necessity is the mother of invention. I used a round Lovat stem.

I turned the tenon to fit the mortise and then inserted the stem against the shank.

Now I needed to shape the stem and remove material to transform the round saddle bit to a diamond saddle bit. I used a Dremel to cut the basic shape in the stem. I proceeded from side to side with the stem on the shank to make sure to match the angles of the shank. I wrote a post on the process for the blog and posted that earlier. You can read about the details of that process on this link https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/shaping-a-diamond-shaped-stem-from-a-round-one/ The next eleven photos give a quick look at the shaping work on the stem. It took time and I had to be careful to not damage the shank when I was using the Dremel and sanding drum on the stem.

Figure 3 I used a Dremel to shape the stem to match the diamond angles of the shank. I worked on one side at a time.

Figure 4 Pipe resting against the Dremel with a sanding drum. Shaping progressed quite quickly. This picture shows one side beginning to take shape.

5 Top view of the shank. Both sides of the round stem are beginning to take on the shape of the shank.

Figure 6 Top view after more shaping with the Dremel.

Figure 7 Bottom view before the Dremel did its work.

Figure 8 Left side view after the first side has begun to take shape.

Figure 9 Bottom view after both sides have begun to take shape.

Figure 10 Right side view of the stem after it began to take shape.

Figure 11 Back to the worktable and the hand sanding.

Figure 12 Hand sanding continues.

Figure 13 Hand sanding continues.

The original shank had sported an ornate band and the stain in the Bakelite showed the marks of the band. I did not have any ornate bands in my collection of bands so I chose instead to band it with a nickel band. I shaped the band to fit, beginning with a round band. This took a bit of fussing to get the shape and fit correct. I have written that process up in detail in a previous blog post as well. You can read about the process at this link https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/shaping-a-round-metal-band-to-fit-a-square-or-diamond-shank/ Once the band was shaped correctly I heated it with a heat gun until it was pliable and then pressure fit it on the shank of the pipe. The next series of five photos show the process I used to pressure fit the band on the shank. Once it was in place I carefully used my furniture hammer to flatten the band against the shank.

The square is done

Fitting a nickel band on the shank

Nickel band fitted on the shank

The next series of four photos show the newly shaped stem in place on the banded pipe. There was still a lot of work to do on the pipe including cleaning the internals and reworking the bowl and rim but the overall look of the “new” pipe is intriguing.

New band and stem in place.

New band and stem in place

Bottom view of the newly banded and stemmed pipe

Top view of the new band and stem

I have included one photo below to give you an idea of the shape of the new stem. I remove a lot of vulcanite to get it from its original round shape to the diamond shape pictured below. The fit and the angles match the shank perfectly. These older pipes are tricky to fit a diamond stem on because none of the sides of the diamond are the same dimensions. Each one is just slightly different so you have to do the fitting work with the stem in place on the shank.

View from the tenon end of the diamond stem at this point in the process.

With the stem fitting correctly it was time to tackle the bowl. I set up my board and emery paper so that I could top the bowl. The first photo shows the set up. The second photo shows the state of the bowl rim when I started the process.

Set up for topping the bowl

Reamed and ready to top

Once I had it topped I decided to wipe it down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the finish and the grime from the topping. The next three photos show the clean bowl and the topped bowl. The finish work would take some time but the bowl was ready to move on to the next stage of rejuvenation.

Wiping down the bowl with acetone

Wiping down the newly topped rim with acetone

Wiping down the bowl with acetone

I sanded the bowl with 240 and 320 grit sandpaper and finished sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the cleaned and prepped bowl ready for staining. The dark oil stains on the sides of the bowl would not come out. I wiped the bowl down with repeated washings of acetone and the surface was clean. I also sanded the stem with the sanding sponge while I worked on the bowl.

Bowl sanded, in place and ready to stain.

Bowl in place, sanded and ready to stain.

I decided to restain this old timer with an opaque oxblood aniline based stain. I wanted the opacity so that the dark stains would be minimized beneath the new stain and would eventually be blended in through smoking the pipe. I applied the stain and then flamed it. After flaming I hand buffed it to remove the excess stain. I also used a cotton pad and a dental pick to clean out the grooves on the bowl.

Stained with oxblood stain.

The next series of four photos shows the hand buffed bowl in place on the pipe base. The finish was matte at this point and still needed to be taken to the buffer to raise the shine. The third photo shows the rim. The surface is smooth but there is still damage to the inner edge of the rim. I chose to leave that without reworking it too much. I did not want to change the roundness of the inner bowl and decided that I could live with the nicks in the inner edge.

Left side of the pipe with a hand buff on the newly stained bowl.

Right side of the newly stained bowl with a hand buffed surface.

Top view of the hand buffed newly stained bowl.

View of the underside of the bowl and Bakelite bowl base.

The next three photos show the pipe after I had buffed it with White Diamond. The bowl shines and the dark marks around the bowl show faintly beneath the finish but add a flair of character to the old pipe.

Buffed with White Diamond

The next series of three photos are included to give an idea of the polishing process that went into bringing the stem work to completion. Again I invite you to read the post mentioned above on the transformation of a round saddle stem to a diamond shaped one to understand the full work that the shaping took to bring it to this place.

Stem sanded with 320 grit sandpaper

Stem sanded with micromesh sanding pads

Once I had finished polishing the stem with the various grades of micromesh from 1500-12,000 grit I took the pipe to the buffer once again and buffer the entirety with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect it and to give it a deep shine. The next series of four photos show the finished pipe. It is ready to load up with a favourite tobacco and be gently sipped in the solitude of an afternoon on the porch.

Reworking and Reshaping an Old French Briar (CPF?) Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This old timer was one of the pipe bowls that I picked up in that EBay lot that had others with the French Briar stamping. The others had the same stamping but also had been stamped CPF on the shank or on the end cap. This one was missing the end cap so it remains a bit of a mystery as to its maker. It was also stemless. From the photos below you can see that at one point in its life it also had a rim cap that was also missing. What was left was the line around the top of the bowl and a darkened rim where the silver cap had covered it. The end of the shank was in pretty good shape but the likelihood of finding another end cap that fit or in making one was pretty low for me. The four photos below show the general state of the pipe when it came to my desk top. The finish was gone. There were several visible fills that stood out. It was one that I had to give a little thought about how I was going to tackle it. I knew that I would have to modify the shank and rework the bowl. I would also have to redrill the mortise way and fit a stem for the newly formed pipe. Ah well… let’s begin the work.

After many failed attempts over the years to get a good straight cut on the shank and end up with a smooth and even mortise I finally figured out a way with my limited tools to accomplish that. I slip a nickel band on the shank to the place that I want to cut it off. I use the band as a guide for my hacksaw to follow. So far this method has worked for me and left me with some nice evenly cut shanks. The next three photos show the process from start to finish.

After cutting off the shank I sanded the area where the new band would be fitted. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to begin the process of cutting back the shank to receive the band and finished by hand sanding it with medium grit emery cloth. I set up my heat gun on it end stand, slipped the band in place and set the heat on low to warm the band so that I could press it into place. The next two photos show that process.

With the band in place I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to clean off the grit and the remnants of the finish on the pipe. After I had cleaned the bowl I topped the rim with a medium and fine grit sanding pad to remove the damage to the rim edges. The next four photos show that process. During that time I also used superglue and briar dust to fill the obvious sand pits on the bowl (at the back of the bowl near the shank and on the underside). I sanded them once they were dry and was able to blend them into the bowl quite well. In the first photo below you can see the first large sand pit clearly. It was quite long and fortunately flowed with the grain so that it was easy to blend in with the briar dust and superglue. The one on the bowl bottom was a bit more difficult to blend in. In either case both are now smooth surfaces that the finish sanding would blend in as much as possible.

I sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the damage caused by the rim cap and to remove the darkened line around the top of the bowl. The next series of three photos show how the bowl is shaping up after initial sanding. The wood is stamped French Briar but as I work it I am wondering. It is very hard, dense wood with interesting grain. It is very light weight and the feel of the sanding dust and the wood itself calls this into question for me. Maybe it is only a question of age on the pipe as it is probably from the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.

I inserted the stem and took it to the buffer to see what it looked like at this point after buffing. I buffed it with Tripoli. The next four photos show the pipe after buffing. There was a natural reddish colour to the wood that came out more and more as I sanded it.

After buffing the pipe I reamed it with my PipNet reamer to clean out the crumbling and broken cake that was on the surface of the bowl (Photo 1). I sanded it some more and then wiped it down with an alcohol dampened cotton pad and prepared tit for restaining (Photos 2 & 3).

I receive regular tweets from Grant Batson, pipemaker. In one of the latest he wrote of experimenting with Danish Oil in finish the bowl of a pipe. I have several cans of that around from my refinishing furniture days so I decided to use some medium walnut coloured Danish Oil on this bowl. The next four photos show the stained pipe. I had yet to buff it or polish it at this point in the process. I just rubbed on the Danish Oil and then rubbed it off.

I set the pipe aside for the evening so that the finish had a chance to dry well. This morning I worked on the stem and the bowl with the micromesh sanding pads. I used all grits that I have available from 1500 – 12,000 grit to sand both the bowl and the stem. The next series of six photos shows the progressively developing shine on both the stem and the bowl.

After finishing with the micromesh sanding pads I took it to my buffer and buffed it with White Diamond. I find that this buffing with a light touch really sets the shine to a glossy finish. The next four photos show the pipe after buffing. I still had to put on the wax but the shine is very evident.

The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad. I am pleased with the way it turned out. The pipe is ready for smoking and should provide service for many years to come.

New Life to an Aarhus?? Unique

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I have no idea what the final letters of the name on this pipe are supposed to be. The shank had been poorly cut off and there were two cracks, one on each side. It is stamped Aarhus over Made in France on the left side of the shank and the number 6 on the right side. The walls of the shank were quite thin. The bowl top was caked and dirt. The bowl was caked and needing cleaning. There was no stem on the bowl. The finish on the pipe was worn and dirty. There were two small sandpits that had been patched with white putty that had fallen out and left two white spots on the bowl. The shape of the pipe is what interested me. It has a pencil shank and the bowl tapers to a ridge on the front and the back. The bowl is also canted toward the front similar to a cutty and from the top is almond shaped. It is a uniquely interesting shape. The grain on this one is quite nice – birdseye front and back and cross grain on the sides. It does not quite align with the cut of the bowl but is very close. The pipe was a part of the lot that I have been working on lately – a purchase from EBay of 12+ pipe bowls that needed to be stemmed. The first series of four photos below show the state of the bowl when I began. The final photo of the four gives a closer look at the mortise and the thinness of the walls of the shank. Note the notches out of the end that give evidence of the shortening of the shank. In the photo I also included the stem that I took out of my can of stems and turned the tenon on.

The next three photos show the stamping on the shank and the angle of the cut of portion. It actually cut off the last letter or letters of Aarhus (pipe brand) and the E of France. The third photo shows the crack on the left side of the shank. There was a matching crack on the right side as well.

I reamed the pipe and then topped the bowl to remove the damage to the rim and smooth out the surface. I was intending to refinish the pipe anyway so I started with fine grit emery paper to clean off the thick tars on the surface (Photos 1 &2). I then used a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the surface from the scratches of the emery paper (Photo 3).

I worked on the tenon in order to get a good smooth fit in the mortise. In Photo 1 below you can see how I used the stem to open the crack so I could repair it. I dripped in some superglue and squeezed it back together. You can see in Photos 1 and 2 the fit of the stem against the shank. The gap between stem and shank shows the angular cut that had been done on the shank. There were also small pieces of briar missing on the bottom edge of the shank. The end was rough and with the cracks left no choice but to band it. (In the photos there are some chunks of briar. These were inside of a band that I was cleaning up to reuse on the tenon of this pipe.)

I set up my heat gun and placed the band on the end of the shank. It was a tight band and I was able to just insert the edge in the band so that I could heat the band for pressure fitting it on the shank. The next four photos show the heating of the band and the metal plate that I use to press it into place on the shank. I heated it and pressed it on in three different increments as the band cooled before it would go all the way into place.

The next two photos show the newly banded shank. In the second photo you can also see the white putty fill about half way down the side of the bowl.

I finished fitting the stem on the pipe and sanded down the slag from the edges and end of the stem. I also wiped down the bowl with acetone. It had a coating of varnish on it that was crackling and also did not allow me to rework the fills properly. Once I had it wiped down I picked out the white putty in the two fills that were present with a dental pick and wiped down the bowl again with the acetone. The fills were on the right side mid bowl and on the left side at the bottom of the shank bowl junction.

I sanded the bowl and shank with 320 grit sandpaper and then a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish completely. The next three photos show the sanded bowl and shank. The grain was quite nice on the pipe. The dark stain had hidden it pretty well. I was beginning to think about not restaining the bowl but leaving it with the remaining colour and polishing and buffing it. Time would tell.

I packed briar dust into the clean sandpit areas on the pipe and then dripped superglue on top of the briar dust. The next two close up photos of the bowl show the patches before I sanded away the excess and cleaned them up to match the surface of the briar.

I used 320 grit sandpaper to remove the excess that was shown in the above photos and smooth out the surface. I followed that by sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge. The next four photos show the replaced fills. There were also some dark stains on the bowl that I wanted to work on. I continued to sand the bowl as a whole with the sanding sponge to minimize the dark stain marks on the briar. The colour of the briar is really starting to look great.

I then sanded the bowl and the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wanted to remove the scratches and begin to develop a shine. I wet sanded with the 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then went on to dry sand with the 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. The next 9 photos show the developing shine on the bowl and the stem. I also sanded the nickel band with the micromesh pads.

By the time I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pad the bowl looked really good. I decided against restaining it and instead reinserted the stem and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the entirety lightly with White Diamond to remove any remaining light scratches and to brighten up the shine on both bowl and stem. I then wiped down the stem with Obsidian Oil, and buffed the pipe with carnauba and a soft flannel buff. The final five photos show the finished pipe. It is ready to use. The only remaining question is, “What is the brand? What letters follow Aarhus???” Can any of you help me with that information? It is an unfamiliar brand to me and I can find nothing on the Pipephil Logos and Stampings website or in Who Made that Pipe. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

Irwin’s (GBD Second) 9448 Refurbished

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Blog by Greg Wolford

I picked this Irwin’s 9448 up not too long ago expecting it to be an easy clean up, which was partly right and partly wrong, and knowing it was a GBD second it should be a great pipe for the money. From the seller’s photos I figured a little heat to lift the tooth dents, some light sanding and then micro meshing and the stem would be good to go. The stummel I figured would need to be cleaned, soaked in an alcohol bath and retained. Here are the photos from the seller:

Seller’s Photo

I forgot to take my own photos when the pipe arrived and during the process so only the seller’s before and my after photos will be shown. The process went as follows though:

The stummel was in better shape than I anticipated: it was dirty and did have a few dents to raise but was in really good condition overall. The stem was another story: the tooth dents were much deeper than the photos showed or than I had expected. I knew that this stem was going to require filling the dents and thought over a few options, which I have more to say on later here. So, I decided to start with the stummel.

After reaming the bowl and cleaning the shank, I began by wiping the pipe down with acetone on disposable cotton pads, and went through many of them. After get most of the dirt and wax off, I took some cotton swabs dipped in 91% isopropyl alcohol and began to work off the heavy build up on the rim. It was a slow process but as the layers came off I could see the rim was in very nice shape and didn’t need topped. Once all the gunk was off, I took a few more passes over the entire stummel with a couple more cotton pads wet with alcohol to make sure all the finish and dirt was removed. I then turned my attention to the dents: one on the front of the bowl, two on the bottom near where the curve of the bowl met the flat “sitter” area, and a couple on the rim.

I used my heat gun to heat up the end of an old kitchen “butter knife” and a wet scrap rag to produce the steam to raise the dents. All of them came out fairly easily except for one on the “sitter” portion and it took several applications of steam to get it out. But it did finally raise.

At this point I went to the buffer to see what the stummel looked like. I buffed it with some Tripoli and then again my hand with an old t-shirt. I saw then that the pipe had good color under all the dirt, it had just been hidden. And the steam had done its job very nicely, too, giving me a pretty well smoothed out stummel. There was one fill on the left side of the bowl but not a large one and it didn’t really stand out to my eye so I decided to leave it alone. I wiped it down with one more alcohol pad to remove any trace left from the Tripoli and then decided to not sand or re-stain it; the color was really nice and the grain showed in a nice contrast. So I set the stummel aside to work on the stem.

I began by heating the stem, with a pipe cleaner inserted to make holding, moving and not damaging the airway easier. The dents lifted some but, as I expected, were too deep to come anywhere near level. So now it was time to try some patching or filling of the dents.

A while back Al, another contributor here on the blog, had mentioned he had used cigar ash to fill in a few dents but that they were still visible repairs. I have been experimenting with a couple of ideas that so far have not made any great improvements over just using super glue alone. I thought that on this one I would try to make a patch with carbon reamed from the pipe. The carbon is much darker, a real black, than ash so I thought this might make a better repair. I worked in layers, packing in the carbon, applying a drip of super glue, allowing it to dry, sanding it back down with an emery board and repeating; I think I did three rounds on each side of the stem, trying raise the dents slowly and make them stronger in the long run. After the last application on the underside, I began to work with my needle files, then emery boards, 320 grit wet sand and finally onto micro mesh, wet sanding 1500-2400. I then applied the Novus 2 plastic polish, rubbing it on and off with cotton pads. The remaining grits of micro mesh I used dry through 12,000. Finally I used the Novus 2 again, applied the Mother’s Back to Black with my fingers and let it dry before buffing it off with another cotton pad. The final step was to polish it with the Novus 1 plastic polish. Now it was time to reassemble the pipe and take it back to the buffer. At this point I knew the patch wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be: it was better, I think, but it was also still noticeable.

I buffed the stummel with Tripoli again before I reassembled the pipe and buffed the entire pipe with white diamond. I then applied several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe and buffed it out with a new soft cloth wheel. This is what the pipe looks like now, cleaned up (except for the fact I smoked it before I took the photos) but without any new staining done to it.

After

The bit area does look a lot better and it is smooth, almost; apparently the layering technique wasn’t my best idea as a small piece of the top patch came off at some point, probably on the buffer. Next time I will not work in layers but more like a briar-dust fill and do it all at once, which be faster, too. I do wish it were less noticeable on the whole,though.

Before and After

I have a few other ideas about trying to get a less visible patch that I may pursue. However, now that I know I can get black super glue, already made, that may be my future course. But the “can I do it myself ” part of me wants to keep experimenting so we shall see. If any of you readers have any ideas on making these repairs less visible I’d be most appreciative if you would share them in the comments section.

Restoring a GFB Bent Billiard – Another Reclamation Project

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Blog by Steve Laug

This project was another pipe bowl that was in the lot from EBay. It is a billiard stamped French Briar in script on the left side of the shank and it too was in very rough shape at first glance. It is an old timer. The band on this one was also as badly oxidized as the CPF billiard I wrote of before. It was to the point of being crusty with oxidation and a greenish hue. They were also rough to the touch which led me to believe that they were pitted underneath all of the oxidation. It came stemless but I found a stem of the proper age in my can of stems. The finish was rough, a reddish hue in terms of stain, but there were no deep dings or dents. There was one spot on the right side of the shank near the shank cap where there was a sandpit that had darkened from some bleed off the oxidized shank cap. This one did not have any darkening around the bowl or shank other than the one spot near the sandpit. The shank cap on this one was also loose and when I touched it, it came off (I am glad they stayed on the pipe long enough to arrive here. One of the lot is missing the end cap so that will prove a later challenge. Again after the initial examination I came to see that underneath the grime there was a pretty nice piece of briar. The first series of two photos shows the state of the pipe when I took it to my work bench to begin working on it early this morning.

I cleaned the shank cap the same time I worked on the CPF billiard. I applied the Hagerty Tarnish Remover and scrubbed the cap with a cotton pad. I was able to remove some of the heavy oxidation and darkening but not a significant amount. The next two photos show the process of cleaning the shank cap with the Hagertys.

I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath with the CPF billiard and let it soak while I work on the CPF pipe. Once it had been sitting in the bath for about an hour I removed it and dried it off.

The next series of four pictures show the pipe after it had been sitting overnight and dried from the alcohol bath. Most of the grime is gone from the outside of the bowl of the pipe and the oxidation on the stem was not fairly smooth – just black and needed to be cleaned. The shank cap also had quite a few dents that would make it a challenge to remove the oxidation.

At this point in the process I decided to bend the stem. It was pretty clean and did not have any oxidation on it. It merely needed to be polished and shined. So I set up my heat gun and the old rolling pin to bend the stem over and went to work on it. The next three photos show the bending process and the finished bend in the stem.

At this point in the process I took the pipe back to the work table and took two more pictures before taking the end cap off the shank and working on the pipe bowl and end cap.

I scrubbed down the shank cap with the Hagertys Tarnish Remover while I had it off of the shank. I also sanded it with my fine grit sanding sponge to remove the heavy buildup of oxidation. It took a lot of elbow grease to clean it off and to avoid damage to the stamping that became apparent in the cleaning of the cap. Once I had it relatively clean I sanded the bowl with the sanding sponge, wiped it down with an acetone wet cotton pad and prepared to reglue the shank cap. I used white glue to reglue the cap. I applied the glue to the shank of the pipe quite heavily as I wanted to close the gap between the cap and the shank. I pushed the cap into place and wipe away the excess glue. The next three photos show that process.

While the glue was drying I picked out the grit from the sandpit on the right side of the shank and repaired it with briar dust and superglue. The photo below shows the filled and repaired sandpit just next to the shank cap. The second photo below shows the newly place end cap and the work that still remained on the nickel/silver (?) shank cap.

I worked on the shank cap once it was dry with micromesh sanding pads. I used 1500 – 2400 to wet sand the cap. It took much elbow grease to get it to the point is at in the four photos shown below.

The GFB stamp on the cap shows up clearly in the photo above and the ones below. There were many small dents in the cap that I was not able to remove. However, I continued to polish the cap with some Neverdull Wool – a cotton product that is impregnated with a tarnish remover. It is soft enough to get into the dents on the cap. I then went on to sand the bowl with the fine grit sanding sponge to clean up the finish. The next six photos show the sanding progress. Once it was finished I wiped the bowl down with some Everclear on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and prepare the surface of the wood for restaining.

I decided to restain the pipe bowl with an oxblood stain to maximize the stain that remained in the briar. I believe the original stain was oxblood coloured so the look would approximate the original finish of the pipe. I applied the stain, flamed it, reapplied it and flamed it a second time. The first two photos below show the pipe after the application of the stain. The next four photos show the pipe after it has been hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth to remove excess stain on the briar. The filled area near the shank cap on the right side is visible and the darkening of the area is also clear.

At this point in the process I set the bowl aside and worked on polishing the stem. I quickly gave it a once over with the fine grit sanding sponge and then worked my way through the micromesh sanding pads from 1500 – 12,000 grit. The next series of eight photos shows the shine that comes to the surface of the vulcanite with each successive grit of micromesh.

I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then hand waxed it with some carnauba paste wax that I have in the shop. It is the wax available from Walker Briar Works and I will often hand apply it to the stems at this point in the process and hand buff a shine. I then reassembled the pipe, polished the bowl with a little of the carnauba as well. I hand buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth I use for that purpose. The next four photos show the pipe after this process. I purposely did this on this pipe to see if the wax would cause the area on the right side of the shank that is darker to blend in a bit and be less visible. It seemed to work very well.

Once I was finished with the hand buff and had checked out the dark spot I took the pipe to my buffer. I lightly buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and a final buff with a soft, clean flannel buffing pad. The next four photos show the finished pipe. It has been brought back to life and should well serve a new generation of pipe smokers. I do believe it will live longer than I do!

As I finished this piece on the GFB pipe I thought I would take some photos of the CPF and the GFB old timers posed together. The next two photos show the pair in their newly found glory. I can’t help but think that this is how they looked when they were purchased by the original owner. I believe that both came from the same pipe smoker so now they are returned to the look that must have caught his eye when he purchased them. The pair look enough alike I wanted you to see them in this pose! A noble pair of old pipes, don’t you agree?

Restored CPF Bent Billiard – A Reclamation Project

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This is the second CPF pipe bowl that was in the lot from EBay. It is a billiard and it was in very rough shape at first glance. It is an old timer. The rim cover and the band were badly oxidized to the point of being crusty with oxidation and a greenish hue. They were also rough to the touch which led me to believe that they were pitted underneath all of the oxidation. It came stemless but I found a stem of the proper age in my can of stems. The finish was rough but there were no deep dings or dents. There was a deep, almost black darkening around the bowl just under the rim cap. The darkening was such that made me think that the oxidation had oozed into the briar and would be interesting to remove from the finish. The same was true of the area around the shank cap. The rim cap originally had a hinged lid on it but that was gone. The shank cap was also loose and when I touched it, it came off. The briar underneath was thick with a reddish coloured glue but was also free of cracks or fissures. It was intact. After the initial examination I came to see that underneath the grime there was a pretty nice piece of briar. The first series of three photos shows the state of the pipe when I took it to my work bench to begin working late yesterday afternoon.

I decided to work on the oxidation on the shank cap and the rim cap. I wanted to see if either one was redeemable. I used a jeweler’s tarnish remover called Hagerty to work on the finish of both. I applied it with a cotton swab and scrubbed it with that until it was dry. Then I wiped it off with a cotton pad. In doing this I saw that the rim cap and the shank cap were both brass. The rim cap had two tears or cracks in it around the hinge that showed up once it was clean. The next two photos show the tarnish remover on the rim and shank caps.

After the initial cleaning of the two I decided to remove the cracked rim cap. This was not as easy as it appears in the photos as it was nailed to the rim and also was pretty tightly bonded with the tars and oils of the tobacco. I used a pair of needle nose pliers and a flat blade screw driver to lift the edge of the cap. I began at the hinge and lifted it from there. It came off with a bit of work and broke at the two nails that held it to the rim mid bowl on each side. The back half of the cap came off in one piece. I was able to lift the front edge carefully using the flat blade of the screw driver to pry the edge and work my way to the front. The nail on the right side came out with the cap while the one on the left side was stuck. I used the flat blade of the screwdriver to lift it from the surface of the rim without scarring the rim and pulled it out with the pliers. Underneath the rim surface was actually smooth and had a slight caking of oils that would come off easily. The two nail holes would need to be filled. The one on the right side of the bowl had been put in at an angle and would take a little more work to repair. The first picture below shows the torn rim cap on the work table next to the pipe bowl. The holes and the state of the rim are also clearly visible. The second picture shows the darkening that seeped down the edges of the bowl from underneath the rim cap.

I used briar dust and superglue to fill the two nail holes. It took several applications to get a smooth and even surface. I packed some briar dust into the nail hole with my dental pick and my finger. I wanted the briar dust to fill the holes so I tamped them down with the dental pick. Then I dripped in the superglue to bind the briar dust to the surrounding area. The first photo below shows the top of the rim after briar dust superglue patch has been done.

After patching the nail holes I worked on the stain line around the bowl. I removed the finish from the bowl with a cotton pad soaked with acetone. I continued to wipe it down until the finish was gone. After that I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge. The next six photos show the sanding process with the sponge. I also sanded the end cap with the sponge being careful around the CPF stamping that I had found under the oxidation.

The dark lines were better after the sanding but still very present. I was able to remove the indentation in the briar from the metal cap to a large degree but the black was stubborn. I decided to soak the bowl in an alcohol bath to see what would come out. I took the shank cap off to work on it while I left the bowl in the bath for about an hour. I was able to remove much of the oxidation on the shank cap. I scrubbed it with the tarnish remover and then sanded it with the micromesh sanding pads using 1500-2400 grit pads.

Once I remove it from the bath I dried it off and the lines were lighter than before. I sanded the bowl some more with the sanding sponge and glued the shank cap on with white glue. I wait to glue it on until I am done with the alcohol and acetone as I found out the hard way the glue is dissolved and has to be redone. After that I reinserted the stem and set up my heat gun to bend the stem to the correct angles. The next four photos show the bending of the stem from its beginning to the final look after bending.

I took it back to the work table and did some more sanding on the bowl especially working on the surface around the top sides near the rim. The black line was stubborn. I wiped it down with white vinegar to see if it would lift any of the stain as I remembered reading about that in an old book on furniture repair on how to remove dark rings from the wood. I also wet a cotton pad with bleach and wiped down the area as well. The result of all that work is evident in the two photos below. It was not going to come out so I sanded it with 1800-3600 grit micromesh sanding pads and then wiped it down with an alcohol dampened cotton pad to remove the surface dust and prepared to stain it. The two photos below show the bowl ready to stain. (Incidentally note the shine on the shank cap. It cleaned up amazingly well.)

I applied an oxblood thick aniline stain for the first coat. I flamed it and reapplied it and flamed it a second time (the first two photos below show the staining of the bowl with the oxblood stain). I then buffed it off to see what I had to work with. The black lines still showed so I restained the bowl around the top edge to see if I could darken that area and mask the black (photos three and four show this process).

I buffed it a second time to see where I was at with the staining. You can see from the next two photos the effect of that restaining around the top of the bowl. It did indeed darken the edge but the line was still visible and I did not like the look of the dark edge. So I buffed it yet again to see if I could smooth out that look a bit more.

I was not happy with the finished look after buffing. The darkening around the edge still showed both in the top edge of the bowl and around the end cap. I decided to restain the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain. So I applied the stain, flamed it and restained and flamed it a second time. The next two photos show the pipe after the stain had been flamed and had dried.

I buffed it to see how the second stain had covered the darkening around the top edge and near the shank cap. I was pleased by the overall look now. It was still there for sure but it certainly was less visible and blended in well with the finish. The next four photos show the pipe after restaining and buffing.

I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads 1500 – 12,000 grit to polish the stem. I put the stem back in the bowl and then took the pipe to the buffer and gave the entire pipe a buff with White Diamond and then gave both the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba. The finished pipe is picture below. It came out very well and the black line around the top edge seems to be less visible. The pipe is restored to a bit of its former glory!