Tag Archives: polishing stems

This is labeled a Sasieni Second but to me it is a beauty – Sasieni Trafalgar 70

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on came in a recent box from my brother Jeff. He picked it up in one of the online auctions he frequents. It is interesting long shank Lovat with a detailed sand blast finish. The pipe is stamped Sasieni block letters over Trafalgar over London Made on the underside of the shank. That is followed by the shape number 70 and a rugby ball shaped COM stamp that read Made in England. The grain showing through the blast is a mix of swirls and birdseye around the bowl sides and shank. It had a rich dark brown stain with red hints showing through but it was dirty and hard to see the colour well. There was a thick cake in the bowl and it had overflowed with lava was dirty and tired looking. The stem was badly oxidized with light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside near the button. The button was in excellent condition. There was also some calcification that generally comes when a pipe has a SOFTEE Bit to protect the surface. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. The lava coat looks horrible and it points to a well-used good smoking pipe.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish – the grime and grit all over the sides and flat bottom of the bowl. It is a dirty pipe.Jeff took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping was very readable – it read Sasieni in block letters over Trafalgar over London Made. As you move toward the stem the shape number 70 is stamped followed by a rugby ball shaped COM Stamped Made in England.Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the scratching, oxidation and light tooth damage to the stem surface and slight wear to the edges of the button.I have worked on quite a few Sasieni in the past and always found them to be well made smoking pipes that were obviously someone’s favourite pipe. This one certainly was that for the pipeman who had owned it previously. I had never work on a Trafalgar before so I did a bit of digging to see if I could find information. I turned to the Pipephil website to see what was listed there. I found it listed under the section Seconds and Sub-brands. Here is the link to the section: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni2.html. I have done a screen capture of the section on the Trafalgar and included it below.To the right of the photo of the pipe in the screen capture above were two small boxes. When I clicked on them it took me to some photos of the pipe. I have included them as well. What is fascinating to me is that it appears to be the same pipe as the one that hold in my hand. It may be slightly different in terms of the sandblast but it is the same shape, the stamping is the same and the look is identical. The S in a shield on the left side of the stem is also the same. The one that I have is more faint in colour and damaged but it is the same.Now I had the information that I was searching for. The Sasieni that I have is an interesting second or sub-brand but it is still stamped Sasieni. The stem style and look of the pipe is older. My guess is I am dealing with an early 1950s pipe.

Jeff cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I did not know what to expect when I unwrapped it from his box. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with mixed grain around the bowl and shank. There was still some darkening on the front and rear edge of the rim. The briar was rough in those two places. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top. The rim top looks very good with no lasting damage to the edges. The inner bevel on the bowl was also flawless. The bowl looked very good. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter in front of the button on both sides. The S stamp was very shallow – almost a decal on the side of the stem.I also took photos of the stamping on the pipe on the underside of the shank. It read as noted above.The sandblast exterior of this pipe was perfect for me to continue experimenting with a new product from Mark Hoover of Before & After Products. This one is a product he labels briar cleaner and it has the capacity of absorbing grime and dirt from the surface of briar. I rubbed the bowl down with some of his Briar Cleaner to see how it would work in this setting. I rubbed it onto the bowl and rim top with my finger tips and worked it into the grime and grit on the bowl. I let it sit on the pipe for about 5 minutes before I rubbed it off with a microfibre cloth. I rinsed it under warm running water to remove the residue. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the surface on the bowl looked when I was finished. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and the rim top with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the results. I set the bowl aside and started working on the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the chatter and remaining marks into the surface of the stem. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem off with Obsidian Oil to remove the dust and see where I was at with the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The shine on it makes the variations of colour really pop. The pipe polished up really well. The polished black vulcanite stem seemed to truly come alive with the buffing. The Lovat shaped pipe feels great in my hand and when it warms with smoking I think it will be about perfect. I am not clear what makes this pipe a second or a Sub-brand as it is a beauty. It must have been a fine smoking pipe judging from the condition it was when we received it. There should be a lot of life left in this Sasieni Trafalgar 70. Have a look at it in the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This is one that will go on the rebornpipes online store shortly. If you want to carry on the pipe trust of this older Sasieni let me know. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners, we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Fresh Life into an Inherited Ben Wade “The Gem” from the Year 1900!

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

It’s been a while since I have worked on any of my grandfather’s pipe collection that I have inherited after his demise a few years ago. Amongst the collection, this small quaint Ben Wade was beckoning me for a long time. It is now that I decided to work on it. I had one Ben Wade without a stem, that Steve had taken back to Canada from his visit to India to fashion a stem from his bag of spares. This prompted me to fish out this Ben Wade and work towards its restoration.

This small sized straight Bulldog is typically classic British shape, with a diamond shank and a horn stem with a threaded bone tenon. The shank end is decorated with a sterling silver ferrule with embossed leaves, which is loose and came off easily. On this ferrule are the stamp details which will help in determining the vintage of this pipe. The silver shank ferrule is stamped as “A & Co” over a series of three hallmarks running from the left near the bowl end to the end of the shank on the right.The first hallmark is an “Anchor” in a shield shaped cartouche and identifies the city of Birmingham in England where the silver was crafted. The second hallmark is a passant Lion in a cartouche which signifies that the band is silver and that it was crafted by a British silversmith. The third hallmark is a square cartouche with the small letter “a” in the box which is a date letter that will give the year of the making of the pipe. Steve had recommended a site which he frequents while dating silver hallmarked pipes. Here is the link which helped me identify the city mark as Birmingham and further following the link on Birmingham date letter chart on the same page brought me to a separate page with all the letters along with the period in which they were stamped. I found the letter which matched to the one seen on the pipe in my hand and I can now say with authority that this silver ferrule is from the year of manufacture1900!! Unfortunately, the site did not allow me to copy/ edit and reproduce the relevant charts for including in this write up.

https://www.925-1000.com/british_marks.html

The next stamp which I researched was the “A & Co” stamp over the three hallmarks. I conferred with The-Beard-of-Knowledge on all things pipe, Steve and he suggested that I visit http://www.silvercollection.it and sure enough I got the information that I was looking for. I reproduce the relevant information from the site and also the link for those who may need to refer when researching their pipes.

http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilvermarksXA.html

A business which is supposed to have been established in 1781 at Mitcham, Surrey, by William Asprey (died 1827).

CHRONOLOGY:
Francis Kennedy, c. 1804-c. 1841
Kennedy & Asprey, c. 1841-1843
Charles Asprey, 1843-c.1872
purchased the business of Charles Edwards, c.1857
Charles Asprey & Son, c.1872-c.1879
Charles Asprey & Sons, c.1879-c.1888
acquired Leuchars & Sons
C.& G.E. Asprey, c.1888-c.1900
Asprey (& Co), c.1900-1909
acquired Houghton & Gunn, 1906
acquired William Payne & Co, 1908
Asprey & Co Ltd, 1909- 1998
Asprey & Garrard, 1998-2002
Asprey & Co Ltd, 2002

The relevant stamping is highlighted in blue. The period/ vintage of the ferrule now perfectly matches and confirmed that it is from the year 1900.

With the year of make of the ferrule established as 1900, I wanted to confirm if this matched with the year of manufacture of the pipe itself. This is essential since the makers did stock up on such silver ferrule before they even made pipes for them. The stampings on the pipe itself should provide some clues to the link with the vintage of the pipe. The pipe is stamped as “B W” in a rectangle over “THE GEM”, all in golden block capital letters. There are no other markings on this pipe, not even COM stamp.I searched pipedia.org for information on this brand and further confirmation on dating this pipe. There are some interesting details on this brand and makes for an interesting read. I have reproduced some snippets of the information from pipedia.org which are relevant to dating this Ben Wade.

The company was founded by Benjamin Wade in 1860 in Leeds, Yorkshire, where it was located for over a century. Ben Wade started as a pipe trader, but yet in the 1860’s he established a workshop to produce briar pipes. The pipes were made in very many standard shapes – always extensively classic and “very British”. Many models tended to be of smaller dimensions. Ben Wade offered a very high standard of craftsmanship and quality without any fills. Thus the pipes were considered to be high grade and a major competitor to other famous English brands.

In the second World War the factory was destroyed by German air raids on Leeds. But the Ben Wade family decided to re-build it immediately after the war and pipe production was re-started soon and successfully linked to the fame from the pre-war years.

Before the second war Ben Wade clustered their offerings into three price points: “Ben Wade” included the higher end pipes (eg the Larnix, Super Grain, Selected Grain, etc), “BW” included the mid-level pipes (eg Statesman, Natural Grain, County, etc), and “BWL” were the least expensive (eg Hurlingham, Adelphi, Tense Grain). Champion was in the last group, and in the 1930s at least retailed for 2/6.

Even though the owner family decided to leave pipe business and sell off the firm. The family went into negotiations with Herman G. Lane, president of Lane Ltd. in New York at about the same time as the Charatan family. Lane Ltd. bought both firms in 1962.

From the above it is confirmed that the Ben Wade that I have inherited is from the family era and from the era before the second war, placing it before 1939. Now, I had read somewhere that it was common for pipe makers not stamp the pipe with the COM stamp in early 1900s and this was confirmed by Steve. Thus, to sum up all the information researched to date this particular piece, it is safe to conclude that this pipe is likely to have been made in the year 1900!! My inheritance indeed has some very nice and very old pipes.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
In the month of January this year, I had restored a Loewe Kenton from my inherited pipes that was nicely reamed with no overflowing lava over the rim top (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/17/restoring-a-classic-british-billiard-loewe-co-pipe/) and now this is the second pipe which is without a layer of cake in the chamber. However, the rim top surface is darkened and covered with lava overflow. I searched through the remaining large carton of inherited pipe for another pipe which is sans cake, but did not find any. Coming back to the pipe on my work table, the rim inner edge is mighty uneven, most probably a result of using a knife blade and shows signs of darkening due to charring. However, the outer edge is without any damage. The walls of the chamber are in excellent condition with no signs of heat fissures/ lines, but slightly uneven. A little magical touch from Pavni, my daughter who specializes in making the chamber smooth should address this issue. The stummel surface has developed a nice patina over 119 years of its existence and I have no intentions of destroying it during the restoration. Therefore, the few dents and dings that are visible shall stay and be a part of the pipes history through the years. Maybe, micromesh polishing will address a few of these dents and scratches. I wouldn’t say that this pipe has beautiful grains all round because it does not!! But yes, there is a smattering of some straight grains in the cap of the stummel and few on the shank while rest of the stummel has just some swirls of grains here and there. Even though the stummel is covered in dust, dirt and grime from years of uncared for storage, through it all the pipe still has a feel of quality maybe because of the shape or the proportions, I am not able to pin point exact reasons, but the pipe shouts vintage and quality!! The double ring separating the cap from the rest of the stummel is filled with dirt and dust, but is intact with no chipping or unevenness, which is surprising. At this stage of my initial inspection, in order to see the condition of the shank end and mortise, I tried to separate the bone stem from the shank end. The stem would not budge. I had no desire of applying more force for the fear of breaking the bone tenon inside the mortise and this would have really complicated the restoration for me as well as the originality of the pipe would have been compromised. I wanted neither and so in went the entire pipe in to freezer for a chill. A few hours later, I took the pipe out from the freezer and slightly heated the shank end. Once satisfied, I gingerly turned the stem with success. A little coaxing and finally the stem and shank were separated. Whew! What a relief. However, when I tried to reattach the two, there was a slight gap between the stem and the shank end and indicated with red arrows. I am sure that with the cleaning of the shank/ mortise of the entire gunk, the fit should improve. After the stem was separated from the shank end, the sterling silver ferrule too fell out easily. I will have to fix it with superglue. A closer examination of the mortise confirmed that it is clogged with accumulation of oils, tars and gunk of yesteryear. The threads too are covered in the gunk and most probably the cause of the incorrect seating of the stem in the mortise.The horn stem itself appears dull and lifeless and has tooth chatter on both the surfaces of the stem. The slot is perfectly round and correct for the time period of the pipe and shows accumulation of dried tars and dirt. The button edges, however, are sharp and sans any damage with a little dirt embedded at the bottom of the edges. I could make out one crack emanating from the right bottom edge of the diamond saddle and extending to more than half the length of the saddle panel. This crack is shown by a yellow arrow. The dark and light hues taken on by the stem over the years should polish out nicely and will add an additional touch of class to this classy pipe. THE PROCESS
Pavni, my youngest daughter loves to help me in pipe restoration in her free time and her forte is getting the walls of the chamber as smooth as a baby’s bottom. With a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper she completely evened out the wall surface. Once she was through with her sanding regime, I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the mortise with a few hard and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I also cleaned out the threads in the shank end with cotton buds and alcohol. With a sharp knife, I gently scraped away the lava overflow from the rim top surface. I followed it up by cleaning the external surface of the stummel with hard bristled tooth brush and Murphy’s oil soap. I rinsed it under running tap water and dried it with paper towels and a soft cotton cloth. I diligently scrubbed the rim top surface with a scotch-brite pad and Murphy’s oil soap to remove the remaining lava overflow. With this step on this particular project, I achieved two results; firstly, the gold lettered stamping on the shank was consigned to past tense and secondly, a couple of fills were revealed (marked in yellow arrows) at the front of the bowl and in the bottom left panel of the diamond shank. Thankfully, there is no charring over the inner and outer edge or the rim surface. I removed the old and loosened fills from the front of the bowl and one on the shank that was closer to the bowl. The old fill at the shank end; I let it be as it would be covered with superglue while attaching the silver ferrule. Next, I decided to address the issue of darkened rim top surface and uneven inner edge by topping the rim on a piece of 220 grit sand paper. The progress being made was frequently checked as I had no desire to lose any briar estate than absolutely necessary. Once satisfied with the result, I wiped the rim top surface with a moist cloth. The darkened rim top has been addressed completely, however, the inner rim edge is still uneven (though greatly reduced) with slight charred edges. I address these issues by simply running a piece of 220 grit sand paper along the inner rim edge without creating a bevel, but a nice rounded even surface.Next issue to be addressed was the fills. As mentioned above, I had cleaned out the old and loose fills using my sharp dental tool. I filled these with a mix of superglue and briar dust using the layering technique. Using a toothpick, I first spot fill superglue in to the surface of the intended fill and press briar dust over it. I repeat this process, if need be, till the fill is slightly above the rest of the surface. Once all the fills are covered, I set the stummel aside to cure. Once the fills are sufficiently hardened, which is quite rapid, I sand it with a flat head needle file to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stummel surface. I follow it up by sanding with a piece of 220, 600 and 800 grit sand papers to a perfect match. Discerning readers must have noted that I did not sand the entire stummel surface. This was because, as I had decided earlier that I would maintain the aged patina that the briar had taken on over the 119 years.At this stage, I decided that I would tackle the stem repairs as addressing the crack observed on the diamond saddle would require curing time and while the stem repair is curing, I could get back to the stummel, saving on time. I began by first cleaning the bone tenon and the stem surface with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove all the dirt and gunk from the surface. I was contemplating whether or not to drill a counter hole to prevent the crack from progressing further and after weighing the cons, I decided not to do so. The probability of the stem chipping or the crack developing further was reason enough for me to avoid this drilling. I filled this crack with plain superglue and set it aside to cure. The CA superglue would seep and spread inside and stabilize the crack. During his visit, while discussing various aspects of pipe restorations, Steve had made a passing comment that in his experience the best way to preserve the patina on a briar if you need to sand it is to dry sand the stummel with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. I followed his advice and went ahead and dry sanded the entire stummel surface with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. The results are amazing. The stummel has now a deep and rich dark brown coloration and this will further deepen once I go through the polishing and wax application regimen. Most of the readers would have noticed that the double ring separating the cap from the rest of the stummel shows accumulation of briar dust and grime. Also the fills are darker than the rest of the stummel surface. I have noticed it too and will clean the rings at the end as the polish and wax would also be accumulating in these gaps subsequently. The issue of the fills was addressed by staining the fills and surrounding surface with a dark brown stain pen. I set the stummel aside overnight for the stain to set. The blend is near perfect and should blend further after application of balm and carnauba wax polish.The superglue applied over the crack was by now well cured and had seeped in to the crack as well. I sand the entire stem and the fill in particular, with a worn piece of 220 grit sand paper. This helped to address the tooth chatter seen in the bite zone as well as blend the fill with the rest of the stem surface. I followed it up with dry sanding the stem with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. I wiped the stem with a moist cloth after every three pads to remove the resulting bone dust. To finish, I applied a liberal coat of Extra Virgin Olive oil and set it aside to be absorbed by the porous bone. I am very pleased with the way the contrasting dark browns and lighter grains in the bone are now highlighted. Once polished further, this will further add a touch of class to an already chic looking Bulldog!! I applied petroleum jelly over the bone tenon and tried the fit of it in to the mortise after temporarily attaching the silver ferrule over the shank end. The alignment and seating of the two was spot on. I separated all the parts again and continued further. While the stem was being hydrated with olive oil, I went back to work the stummel. The stain had set well by this time. I applied a little “Before and After Restoration” balm with my fingers and rubbed it deep in to the stummel surface. This balm rejuvenates the briar and the transformation in the appearance of the stummel is almost immediate. The fills are now so well blended in to the briar that it is difficult to spot them. The only part that needs TLC is the sterling silver ferrule. I polish the ferrule with a very soft powder specifically available locally, and widely used by jewelers, for polishing of silver. I align the ferrule stampings with the stummel stamping on the shank and fix it over the shank with a little superglue. The contrast that this shiny ferrule provides against the dark brown of the stummel looks fantastic.Next, I ran a thin and sharp knife through the double cap ring and cleaned it. To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel and mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my rotary tool. I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied several coats of carnauba wax over the stummel and the stem of the pipe. I finished the restoration by giving the pipe a rigorous hand buff using a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine further. The completed pipe, with dark brown hues of the stummel contrasting with silver ferrule and the shiny dark browns and lighter grains in the bone stem makes for a visual treat. The pipe looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs speak for themselves. Thank you for your valuable time. P.S. This was the last pipe that I had restored during my leave from my work. The following write ups are now on pipes that I have already restored after returning to my work place. I shall sorely miss the help that Pavni, my 10 year youngest daughter and Abha, wifey dear, extend in my work. There are about 40 odd pipes that I have carried with me and which have been cleaned by Abha. So the next couple of months are going to be interesting. Keep following rebornpipes.com for some nice, unique and interesting pipes from here in India in the near future.

Oh, missed out on one aspect!! I tried to repaint the shank stamp with a gold glitter pen towards the end, but it would just not stay. Any suggestion would definitely help me mark this oldie as well as for future.

Giving a Second Chance to a Throw Away Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

This morning I was looking through my boxes of pipes to restore to find what I wanted to do next. I went through several options and finally settled on a bowl that I brought back from Idaho. It was a Custombilt style bowl that we were ready to pitch in the trash because it was in rough condition. Someone had cut off the shank with a saw – a real hack job that left the shank end rough and the surface not flat. The bowl had a thick cake in it and an overflow of lava on the rim top. The inside and outside edges were dirty but it was unclear if there was damage. There was no stamping on the shank or underside. The finish was shot and there was a lot of dirt and grime in the grooves of the finish. There was also some shiny coat on the smooth portions of the bowl that made wonder if it had been varnished at some time in its life. It was an unbelievable mess. But it was enough of a challenge that I wanted to take it on. Here are some photos of the bowl when I started. I went through my cans of stems and found one that fit the mortise. I would need to work on the face of the shank itself to make it round again but it showed a lot of promise. The stem was lightly oxidized and the bend was too much but otherwise I liked the look of the saddle stem.I put the stem on the bowl and took a few photos of the pipe. To me it showed a lot of promise. It would take a bit of work to get the fit just right but the pipe had a lot of potential.I heated the stem with a heat gun to straighten out the bend. Once the vulcanite had become flexible I took the majority of the bend out so that the angle of the stem matched the angle of the top of the bowl. I took photos of it at this point in the process. I am happy with the progress. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it back to bare briar with a PipNet pipe reaming set. Once the bowl was smooth I cleaned up the reaming on the walls and scraped the rim top with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage and smooth out the surface of the rim. There was a lot of damage to the rim top and the topping took care of the damage to the rim top. I scrubbed the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush under running water. I rinsed off the grime and took the following photos of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals on the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I worked until the shank and mortise was clean and smelled new.There were still some shiny spots on the shank and smooth portions of the bowl. I wiped them down with acetone on a cotton pad. I used the Dremel and sanding drum and 220 grit sandpaper to reshape the shank. I rounded it to match the diameter of the stem and also faced the shank end on the topping board. I was moving through this restoration while I was talking with my brother and totally forgot to take photos of this part of the process. I smoothed out the sanded and reshaped shank and stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-6000 grit pads. I sanded the top of the bowl at the same time to smooth out the scratches.

Once I had finished shaping the shank I decided to continue my ongoing experiment with the Briar Cleaner on this pipe. I scrubbed it with the product from Mark Hoover of Before & After Products. He says that the briar cleaner has the capacity of absorbing grime and dirt from the surface of briar. I rubbed the bowl down with it to see how it would work in this setting. (Just a note: In speaking to Mark he noted that the product is completely safe to use. The main product is even FDA approved edible.) I rubbed it onto the bowl and rim top with my finger tips and worked it into the remaining sanding grit on the bowl. I let it sit on the pipe for about 5 minutes before I rinsed it under warm running water to remove the residue. I hand dried it with a microfiber cloth. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the surface on the bowl looked when I was finished. The various surfaces of the carved briar just begged for a variety of stains to give the pipe some real dimensionality. I heated the briar and gave it the first coat of stain – a Tan Fiebings. This tan has some red tints in the dried and fired coat. I applied the stain with a dauber and then flamed it with a Bic lighter to set it in the grain. I repeated the process until the coverage was what I wanted. I buffed the bowl with a clean microfiber cloth and gave the bowl a light shine. All of this was preliminary for the next stain coat. I put the stem on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. The buffing really brought the reds to the surface of the briar. It helped me to make the next decision regarding the contrast stain. I touched up the rim top with a Mahogany stain pen to smooth out the finish. I then stain the entire bowl with the contrast stain coat using Watco’s Danish Oil with a Cherry stain. I rubbed it on with a soft cloth and let it sit for a while before buffing it off with a soft cloth. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a horsehair shoe brush. I also buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to polishing the stem. I worked it over with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads. I buffed it on the buffing wheel with Red Tripoli to further remove the oxidation on the surface. I reworked it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it apart. With both parts of the pipe finished I put the pipe back together again and I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich finish and the interesting grain on this briar came alive with the buffing. The finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe looks almost like it came out of the factory like this. It is a well-proportioned, nicely grained shape that I would call Bent Apple. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This throw away, cut off bowl met a stem from another place and the pipe that came out is a beauty. The condition of the bowl showed that it was a great smoker so this new edition should also be one! I am not sure who made the bowl originally but from the looks of the finish it could very well be a Custombilt. I am not sure I will ever know with certainty but it has the look. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Cleaning up a Striking GBD Constitution Made in London England, 1978 Calabash

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Blog by Dal Stanton

This beautiful GBD came into my collection from the eBay auction block from a seller located in Cocoa, Florida, USA. When I saw it, I decided I wanted it, thinking I would add it to my own personal collection, but in the end I added it to the ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!’ collection where Lowell saw it. Lowell became the very happy steward of a striking Poker, what I called, Refreshing a ‘Faux’ Mastro de Paja Poker in the write-up. It was not actually a Mastro de Paja, but the Poker was absolutely striking and Lowell has expressed his appreciation for this addition to his collection on several occasions.I’ve communicated with Lowell now and again on various FaceBook pipe man groups and when he messaged me about the GBD Constitution, it didn’t surprise me that it got his attention! He commissioned it and I’m thankful for his patience as the GBD worked its way up the queue and now is on my worktable, and it benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – our work here in Bulgaria helping women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Here are pictures of the GBD Constitution now on my worktable which I would call a briar Calabash shape. A very short history of GBD by Jerry Hannah is in a PDF file that Rebornpipes contributor, Al Jones, shared with me. The PDF is entitled ‘GBD Pipe Shape & Model Listings’.

The company was founded in Paris France in the 19th century by Ganeval, Boundier and Donninger who were no longer associated with the company by the turn of the century. By the time they left the GBD name was well established and thus retained. In 1903 an additional factory was built in England and ran by Oppenheimer. The Paris factory moved to Saint-Claude in 1952. Since 1981 the majority of GBD pipes come from the English factory. At about that same time GBD merged with Comoys, since then all production for both GBD and Comoy comes from a single factory.

Based upon information I’ve gleaned from communications with Al, this GBD is like others that I’ve restored that straddle the transition when the Cadogan takeover happened. From a previous communication I had with Al discussing the GBD Americana I previously restored (See LINK), he wrote:

Typically, the stamping used on pre-Cadogan pipes is the straight line COM, “London, England” stamp (see attached) combine with the brass rondell stem logo. Cadogan era pipes (made after 1981) have the round “Made in London” (with England under) COM, as shown on your pipe. But, they typically have stamped stem logos. I see these pipes occasionally, and my assumption is they were made after the merger, until the brass rondell inventory was exhausted. One common denominator on these pipes is a single letter. I have no idea as to what it may mean, but M is frequently used.

These pipes also had many more finish names, like your Americana, that were not scene before. Comoy’s started doing the same thing, adding lines and letters just after the merger. I’ll look forward to seeing the restored pipe, it looks like a good candidate.

The GBD Constitution falls into the early 80s most likely since it still carries the brass rondel on the stem, which was used pre-Cadogan, but shows the post-Cadogan rounded MADE IN LONDON over ENGLAND. Al’s guess is that they used the brass rondels until the inventory was eventually exhausted after 1981. As Al said, GBD had many line names after 1981 and ‘Constitution’ is one of them. The one on my worktable doesn’t have the rogue ‘M’ but a rogue ‘L’ – I’m not sure what it signifies either. I’m open to input on this! I could not find the shape number 1978 in any of the random lists of GBD shape charts that I have. Even so, I’m calling this GBD a briar Calabash.

Looking at the pipe itself, the chamber has a light cake build-up with lava covering the rim. The briar on this stummel is beautiful and needs cleaning from usual wear. The acrylic stem is beautiful but has been scuffed up with some with minor tooth chatter. It also shows interesting looking sub-surface imperfections just above the GBD brass rondell. I call them imperfections – they look like cracks or bubbles. Perhaps sanding will address these….

I begin the cleanup of the GBD by reaming the chamber using the Pipnet Reaming Kit. I use 3 of the 4 blade heads available and then switch to using the Savinelli Fitsall Tool. I scrape the chamber walls further and then finish the chamber cake removal by sanding using 240 grade paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. Finally, I wipe the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to remove the remaining carbon dust. After inspection of the chamber, I see no heating problems. I move on. Moving directly to cleaning the external surface, using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a cotton pad, I begin work on the stummel surface as well as the thick lava on the rim. I also use a bristled toothbrush and a brass bristled brush on the rim. I then take the stummel to the sink and continue to clean using anti-oil dish liquid soap with the bristled toothbrush to scrub the rim and shank brushes through the mortise and airway. After rinsing I go back to the table and take some pictures. The rim cleaned up beautifully. Next, to further clean the mortise, I use isopropyl 95% with cotton buds and pipe cleaners. It doesn’t take much and the buds and pipe cleaners are coming out clean.Looking now at the rim, it has a tight, classy internal bevel that looks good. I use both 470 and 600 grade papers to freshen it with crisper lines. I also lightly sand the rim with both grades of paper to freshen it. It’s in good shape and the grain will be looking good over the rim. The stummel is generally in good shape, but inspecting it closely, as expected with normal wear, there are fine scratches scattered over the surface. I take a picture of one such scratch below to understand what I see.To address these light scratches and to clean up the surface, I like using sanding sponges which are great for cleaning the surface but not very invasive. I use 3 sponges, from a coarser and medium grade to a light grade to sponge sand the surface. The results are good.Working now on the acrylic stem, I had a question about the kind of acrylic this GBD stem was. Being in the early 80s I didn’t think it was Perspex, the earlier clear acrylic that GBD utilized. If this is the earlier Perspex, then I would not use alcohol or isopropyl 95% to clean the airway which can craze or shatter the acrylic. After shooting a quick question to Steve, I was confirmed by him in my use of isopropyl 95% to work on this 80s vintage acrylic stem. It didn’t take a lot of work and pipe cleaners emerged clean.The bit has very mild tooth chatter, mainly on the lower side.I use 240 grade sanding paper first to sand out the tooth chatter on the upper and lower bit.I then use 470 and 600 grade papers to smooth the acrylic bit further. I expand the sanding by wet sanding the entire stem with 600 grade paper followed by applying 000 grade steel wool.I press forward using the full regimen of 9 micromesh pads on the acrylic stem. First, I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 then follow by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and then with pads 6000 to 12000. After each set of 3, as with vulcanite stems, I apply a coat of Obsidian Oil. The rich, swirling honey colored acrylic looks great, but something is bothering me. I saw this acrylic imperfection around the brass rondel previously but decided to let it go because I thought the sanding I applied would work it out. True, the coarser 240 grade sanding paper was only applied to the bit, not to this area. The problem with these imperfections is that it’s not clear that they are on the surface of the acrylic. I look at the area with a magnifying glass and probe lightly with a sharp dental probe to see if I can feel a surface disturbance and I don’t. The reality is that I could detour here and sand and be left with the same problems because they are deeper in the acrylic. How much sanding would it take and what is sacrificed in the rounding of the stem around the GBD roundel? Sometimes being somewhat of a perfectionist is a problem – not being able to let go of an imperfection! The following pictures shows the source of my consternation.I decide to do a compromise detour. I suspect that the bubbling or cracking in the acrylic is deeper than sanding can address, but I will test the impact of sanding with a light strategic sanding of this area above the rondell using 240 grade paper. I want to see if it makes a difference. If not, I will move on. The first picture shows some strategic sanding with 240 grade paper.Using the spittle approach to clean the area, I can see residual imperfections. After sanding a little more, I come to the quick decision that sanding will not fully address these imperfections. To remove them would require more sanding than this stem can muster.I’ll spare you the pictures, that resulted in the final picture below after again applying 600 grade paper, 000 steel wool and 9 micromesh pads 1500 to 12000 and Obsidian Oil. The result is that the detoured sanding may have reduced the presentation of the imperfections in the acrylic, but they are not fully removed. As with life and our imperfections, they go with us! I move on.The GBD Constitution stummel is waiting for attention. To further clean the briar surface and coax out the beautiful vertical flame grain, I take the stummel through the full regimen of micromesh pads. Sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 the process begins with wet sanding. This is followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and then with pads 6000 to 12000. The pictures show the progression – I like what I see! There is no doubt in my mind that this GBD Constitution Calabash comes off an upper shelf. The grain emerges through the micromesh process with no shyness! Next, to bring out the subtle natural briar hues in this already striking grain, I apply Before & After Restoration Balm to the stummel. I apply it on my fingers and work the Balm into the briar grain. It starts off having a thinner viscosity, like cream then gradually thickens into a waxier texture as it’s worked in. After applying it thoroughly, I set it aside to allow the Balm to absorb and do its thing – the picture below captures this. I let it set for 20 minutes or so and then wipe the excess Balm off with a cloth and then buff up the stummel with a micromesh cloth.After reuniting the stem and stummel, I apply Blue Diamond to the pipe. I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel, set the speed to 40% full power and apply the compound.After finishing with the compound, I wipe the pipe with a felt cloth to remove the compound dust in preparation for applying the wax. I change to another cotton cloth buffing wheel and keeping the speed the same, I apply Carnauba wax to the GBD Constitution Calabash. After applying the wax, I hand buff the pipe with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.My, oh my! This GBD Constitution Made in London England was eye catching before I began the restoration, now its simply amazing. I can’t get over the grain on this stummel. The flame of the grain is beautiful as it rises vertically toward the rim. The gentle sweep of the Calabash as it transitions from bowl, to shank, to stem, and to button, is very nice and cradles well in the hand. The only imperfection in this pipe are the small specks in the acrylic stem next to the rondell. Notwithstanding, a very nice pipe to add to the collection! Lowell commissioned the GBD Constitution Calabash benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. As the ‘commissioner’, Lowell will have the first opportunity to acquire the pipe from ThePipeSteward Store. Thanks for joining me!

Replacing a Broken Tenon in a L’Anatra Square Shank Pot

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Blog by Steve Laug

I received a phone call referral from another customer of City Cigar. I was at work so I gave him a quick call and once again after playing some phone tag we connected. I had Friday off so he stopped by with his pipe. It was a beautiful L’Anatra Smooth Pot shaped pipe with amazing grain all around the bowl. The pipe was in parts – he held the stem in one hand and the bowl in the other. He had dropped it and it had flown across the floor in his parking garage. There was a bit of road rash on the left side of the bowl and the tenon had snapped off in the shank. He had smoked maybe one or two bowls in the pipe before it broke so he was pretty heartbroken. I could see why he was shaken as it was a very beautiful pipe. There was still unsmoked tobacco in the bowl. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with an egg at the bowl shank junction. That was followed by “L’Anatra (over) dalle Uova d’Oro”. On the underside of the shank it was stamped Hand Made in Italy. There was some darkening on the back top side of the rim. The Lucite stem was in excellent condition with just a little tooth chatter on both sides near the button. There was a golden duck head on the top of the stem that would make things interesting. I needed to pull the broken tenon from the shank and drill out the stem and add a new tenon. It was a small pipe so the tenon would take work to get the right diameter. I took a few photos of the pipe in pieces to show what I was dealing with. I tried to pull out the tenon in my usual way – a screw in the airway and wiggling it but it was stuck and would not come out. I put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes and when I took it out I screwed the screw into the airway in the broken tenon and wiggled it free of the shank (a side benefit of the freezer was that as the bowl warmed up I was able to wipe the blackening away from the rim top and it looked new).I took a photo of the bowl side to show the “road rash” on the left side down low. I have circled the damaged area in red to make it easily identifiable. I decided to steam it out. I heated a butter knife over the gas stove and put a wet cloth on the marks and applied the hot knife to the cloth. The steam that was generated helped to raise the dents in the briar. I was not able to take all of them out of the briar but a few were left behind. I really have come to appreciate Mark Hoover’s Before & After Restoration Balm for its restorative properties with dry briar. I use it on virtually every pipe that I work on. I worked it into finish of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it as I usually do at this point in the process. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The Restoration Balm really makes the grain stands out beautifully. I went through my box of tenons and found one that would fit once I had reduced the diameter. The photo below shows the original tenon while the upper one shows it after I have shaped and reduced it. I used the PIMO tenon cutting tool to reduce the tenon as far as I could with the adjustments available. I finished the reduction with a Dremel and sanding drum. It took work to get it the right diameter. I also cut the length to match the depth of the mortise and to make sure I had enough length to glue into the drilled stem. (I of course was on a roll and forgot to take photos of the process of shaping the tenon.)I drilled out the end of stem as well. This was a touchier job as there was the Duck head on the topside of the stem. I would need to be careful of the diameter of the drill bit so that I would not damage the pin that held the duck in place. I started with a drill bit a little larger than the air way. I went through 5 other bit until the diameter was big enough for the newly shaped tenon end.I took a photo of the drilled airway and the tenon before I glued it in place. I put super glue on the tenon and swabbed it around the entire end. I pressed it in place in the stem. I took photos of the newly installed tenon. There was quite a bit of tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. Though in talking to the client I did not mention cleaning up the stem to me it is just part of the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each pad and gave it a final coat and the 12000 grit pad and set it aside to dry. I put the newly repaired stem and bowl back together and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I polished the briar and the stem until there was a rich shine. This Italian Hand Made “L’Anatra (over) dalle Uova d’Oro” has a classic Italian shape and a rich finish that highlights the amazing grain on a proportionally well carved pipe. Once I buffed the pipe the grain just popped. The black Lucite stem had a rich glow. The finished pipe is actually quite stunning. It is a beautifully grained pipe that fits well in the hand and sits right in the mouth. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I will be giving the owner a call to let him know it is ready for pickup. Thanks for walking through the repair on the stem with me as it was a pleasure to work on.

New Life for a Mystery Pipe – an Imported Sterling Briar Author

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the queue is a ¼ Bent Author that Jeff picked up from an auction he follows in Michigan. It is a great looking pipe with some beautiful grain – swirls of birdseye, straight and flame grain around the bowl and shank. The carver did a great job utilizing the block of briar to maximize the grain. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank. It reads Sterling with Imported arched over the Sterling name and Briar arched underneath. The pipe was filthy with a thick cake in the bowl and overflowing lava on the back of the beveled rim top. There was some burn damage and darkening on the back inner edge of the rim but it was hard to know how badly damaged it was until it was cleaned up. There were some nicks in the outer edge of the bowl as well. Even though it was dirty there was some nice grain peeking out from under the grime. The exterior of the briar was dirty and dull looking – lifeless after sitting unused for years. The bent tapered stem is vulcanite and has no marking or stamping. It is good quality vulcanite but is pitted all over both sides. There are some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There was a tarnished Sterling Silver band on the shank with the following Hallmarks – a rampant lion (.925 silver stamp), an anchor (the Birmingham assay office) and an upper case letter “T” which will give me some idea of the date on at least the band. The photos below tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe before clean up. I took photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before Jeff did his cleanup work. There was significant darkening on the rim top and a cake in the bowl flowing over as lava on the back top edge. The inner edge showed some burn damage to the back side and rim top. The outer edges of the bowl had some nicking from the pipe being knocked out against something hard.Jeff took some photos of the side and underside of the bowl to show some of the issues with the old finish. It was more scratched than nicked but it was very worn looking on the underside of the bowl. You can also see the tarnish on the silver band in the photos.He took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. It reads as noted above. The stamping is well done and readable. The photo of the silver band shows the hallmarks as noted above.The stem had some oxidation but was good quality vulcanite. There was some wear on the button edges and some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the stem. The surface was also pitted and worn looking.I remembered working on a similar brand but was not sure how the Imported Briar stamped (which is usually used on USA made pipes) with the Hallmarks identifying the Sterling Silver band as Birmingham made and bearing a “T” date stamp. The conflicting information had several possible resolutions. One was that the pipe could be an American made pipe and the band added as bling later in its life time. Another would be that the pipe was made in England for export into the USA and the band was original. At this point I was not sure what to think about the situation. More work was necessary to see if I could gain some insight.

I turned first to the Pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s12.html). There was some information on a brand that was stamped Sterling Hall that was made by Briarcraft in New York City. The stamping was very different from the one in my hands. The stamping on Pipephil was Germanic script and had the Shield B logo of Briarcraft. The one that had in hand had neither one of those. The Aged Imported Briar stamp was also longer and different from the arched Imported Briar in block letters around the uppercase block STERLING. So at this point I was not sure there was a link to Sterling Hall. I have included a screen capture of the stamping for you to compare with the one above on this pipe.I turned to my other go to site for information – Pipedia. I looked in the British makers list for Sterling pipes but there was nothing listed. I turned to the same in the USA makers list and again it was not listed. I decided to have a look at the listing for Briarcraft and see if I could possibly find some pertinent information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Briarcraft). I quote:

Richard Kliethermes Sr. was the founder of Briarcraft. First located on Pipetown Hill Rd, Spring Valley, NY., it moved later to 66 Central Ave., Spring Valley, NY. After the death of RK Sr., business was run by Richard Kliethermes Jr. († 1943) and was quite prosperous between 1920 and 1940. The company closed in 1950.

Briarcraft Pipe Company was very prosperous between 1920 and 1940 and usually feature a diamond shield logo. They also produced a line of seconds under the following names: Airo, Arcadian, Briarmeer, Smokemaster, Cavalcade, Hallmark, Sterling Hall, and Wimbledon. They closed their doors in 1950.

Briarcraft was started by Richard Kliethermes Sr. and located on Pipetown Hill Rd, Spring Valley, NY. It received its power from a dam on Hyenga Lake, later it moved to 66 Central Ave., Spring Valley, NY. At first it was housed in a 2 story frame building and later a 2 story stone building was added. Upon the death of RK Sr., business was run by Richard Jr, between 1920 and 1940 it was second in size to Frank Medico pipes. All the briar root was imported from Africa, with the start of WWII, imports stopped and a briar like root was imported from S. Carolina. Richard Kliethermes Jr. was the inventor of a pipe known as Smokemaster, which used a doubled up pipe cleaner in the bit to absorb tobacco juice. With the decline in business during WWII and the following 5 years it closed its doors 1950.

I have highlighted in red text the name Sterling Hall. There is no other help with the brand and there was nothing to link it to the Sterling I was working on. The other interesting thing of note in the above information is that the pipes were usually stamped with a Diamond Shield logo. The word “usually” could apply to this one not having a stamped logo.

I also checked in my copy of Who Made that Pipe (WMTP) by Herb Wilczak and Tom Cowell, copyright 1997. There I found a bit more help. There were several listings for the Sterling pipe and also variations on the name. I did a screen capture of the section showing the brands.In the above chart you can see that Arlington Briars in the US and Comoy’s, Delacour Bros and Orlik made them in England. You can also see that Kapp & Peterson made them in Ireland and Stanwell also had a Sterling brand made in Denmark. There was also a Sterling Band brand listed under Wally Frank in the US. It was pretty easy to say that the pipe in hand was not a Stanwell or Peterson made pipe so that left others that interested me.

I turned to the section on Arlington Briars to see if there were any ties there to help me get a better picture (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Arlington). I quote a part of that article and highlight the section that may give some insight. Again there is nothing certain in the article tying the brand to this company.

According to José Manuel Lopes, “North American brand that belonged to Arlington Briar Pipes Corp., Brooklyn, New York, founded in 1919. In the 1940s, Ludwig Rosenberger gave the company new life, and it continued until the 70s. His son, Mel Rosenberger, has recently launched the DiMonte brand. Jack Uhle was also linked to Arlington.” Arlington, as far as known, mainly operated as a sub-contractor for other brands. The Jobey pipes are said to be made by Arlington at an unknown point of time. Arlington’s own pipes are seldom seen.

I checked out the article on Pipedia on Delacour Bros. to see if there was a tie. But it did not have enough information to be truly helpful (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Delacour_Brothers).

I also checked the section on the Comoy’s and the Orlik article that pertained to seconds lines and there was no tie to the Sterling in either of them.

I then turned to the last noted make from the above WMTP chart – Wally Frank. I thought maybe that was a possibility as they had many companies make pipes for them. Here is the link on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Frank). I quote a portion of the article here for my purposes and have highlighted the portion that is interesting to this discussion:

Their numerous private-label pipes were made by many makers, including Charatan, Sasieni, Weber, and many others. Wally Frank, Ltd. also owned the Pioneer brand of meerschaum pipes, made from both Turkish and African meerschaum. In addition to importing pipes, he had many pipes made in his own name and also employed pipemakers like Peter Stokkebye, Svend Bang, and Ed Burak (who later became the owner of Connoisseur). As a result, each Wally Frank pipe must be individually evaluated on its own merit.

I have run into a dead end on the research of this pipe. I do not know where else to turn with looking for the brand. What I do know is that the most that can be said about this pipe is that it is certainly a USA Import Pipe. How it came to have a British Hallmarked Silver band on the shank is shrouded in mystery and I will probably never figure out the connection. Perhaps one of you readers can shed some light on the brand. If so let us know. Onto working on the pipe itself!

Jeff did his usual thorough cleaning of the pipe. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe reamer to take the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the reaming with the Savinell Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the bowl off with warm tap water to remove the grime. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol until they were clean. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and when it had done its magic, rinsed it off the exterior and in the airway with warm water. He dried it and buffed it with a soft clot to remove the oxidation. I took the following photos of the pipe before I did my part in the restoration. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show its condition after Jeff had scrubbed it. You can see the darkening and the damage on the back inner edge of the bowl. You can also see the nicking on the outer edge of the bowl. The stem looked very good other than the few tooth marks on the surface of both sides ahead of the button. There was also some damage to the sharp edge of the button that would need to be dealt with. The silver band looked good.I took a close up photo of the stamping on the shank. The reflection of the flash makes it hard to capture the stamping on the band but it has the following Hallmarks – a rampant lion (.925 silver stamp), an anchor (the Birmingham assay office) and an upper case letter “T” which will give me some idea of the date on at least the band.I decided to figure out the potential date on at least the silver band. I found another helpful website on British silver hallmarks that covered hallmarks dating from 1743 to 2024 (https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/Birmingham.html).I know that the graphic is small but check the link. When you are on the site you can click on the date letter you are looking for and it will give you every listing on the chart with that letter. I clicked on the “T” link which I have included below and it took me to a listing of the T dates (https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Dates/Birmingham/Date%20Letters%20T.html).

The date that corresponded to the hallmarks on the band were those listed for 1943. When I clicked on the date I was taken to a larger view of the stamp. I have included that here as well.

So at least I could be certain that the band for the pipe was Sterling Silver that bore the Birmingham hallmark Anchor and the date stamp of a capital T which identified it as having been stamped in 1943.

The trouble was I could not link it to the manufacturer of the briar… ah well. There always remains a bit of mystery in these restorations.

I decided to address the issues with the rim edges of the bowl first. I filled in the deep nicks and gouges on the outer edges of the bowl with clear super glue. Once the repairs had cured I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also worked on the inner edge of the rim to remove the damage to the back side of the bowl. Once I beveled the inner edge of the rim to bring it back to round, I decided to continue my ongoing experiment with a new product from Mark Hoover of Before & After Products. This one is a product he labels briar cleaner and it has the capacity of absorbing grime and dirt from the surface of briar. I rubbed the bowl down with some of his Briar Cleaner to see how it would work in this setting. In speaking to Mark he noted that the product is completely safe to use. The main product is even FDA approved edible. I rubbed it onto the bowl and rim top with my finger tips and worked it into the grime and grit on the bowl. I let it sit on the pipe for about 5 minutes before I rubbed it off with a microfibre cloth. I rinsed it under warm running water to remove the residue. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the surface on the bowl looked when I was finished. I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the sanding debris. My goal was to further remove the darkening on the both the rim top and the outer edges of the bowl. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. While there is still a bit of darkening on the rim it is still quite a stunning pipe. Have a look at the bowl now. With the bowl finished I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I wiped the surface down with some Obsidian Oil and dried it off. I filled in the deep tooth marks on both sides and repaired the edge of the button with clear super glue.Once the repairs had hardened I used a needle file to redefine the sharp edge of the button and to flatten the repaired areas. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface of the repairs and blend them into the stem. I started the polishing of the surface with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each pad. I further polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with a coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. With both parts of the pipe finished I put the pipe back together again and I polished the bowl and the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich finish and the interesting grain on this briar came alive with the buffing. The finish on the briar works well with the polished black vulcanite stem. The finished pipe is a well-proportioned, nicely grained shape that I would call an Author. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This beautiful mystery pipe is bound to be a great smoker. Was it made in England or the USA? Were the band English and the pipe American? I am not sure we will ever know for certain. But it was an interesting mystery to research and restore. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me.

Restoration of a No Name “Genuine Briar” from Steve’s Grab Box

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During one of the many Facetime interactions with Steve, I expressed my anxiety of ‘what after’ I had gone through restoring all of my inherited collection. Also discussed during this interaction was that I would be interested in working on pipes from various makers and with greater variety of repair works to gain more experience and learn new techniques. Since the ‘pipe culture’ in India met its last in the early 1970s, I did not have access to large lots of estate pipes as is available in Europe and USA. Steve suggested that I grab one of the grab boxes which he had in his store. I requested him to make one from an assortment of pipes that he had to which he agreed. Soon the awaited grab bag along with other pipes that I had liked arrived in my home town and was received by Abha. She sent me this picture of the pipes that were received. The one crossed in red is a Dunhill Cherrywood sitter that is added to my personal collection.There are a total of 15 pipes in the grab bag, each with different shapes, issues and requiring different skill sets to address them. This is exactly what I was looking for and that there are some nice branded ones is like an icing on the cake. This lot included pipes that Jeff, (Steve’s brother who does all the preliminary cleaning of pipes) had cleaned and sent to Steve for further restoration works.

The next pipe on my work table is a no name Pot that had been reamed, cleaned and readied for next stage of restoration by Jeff. The only visible stamping of “Genuine Briar” is on the right side of the shank. This pipe is marked in yellow arrow with the numeral 1.The pipe has some beautiful and densely packed straight and cross grains on the left side of the bowl and shank. Dark swirls adorn the rest of the stummel. The only stamping that is present on the right side of the stummel seen is “Genuine Briar”. There is no COM stamping and even the stem is devoid of any logo, in short there are no identifying marks that will help me in identifying or dating this pipe. However, this classic Pot shape and quality somehow makes me wonder that this could very well be an English made pipe. Since there is nothing that points me to the maker or country of origin or model/ shape code on this pipe, I move ahead with initial inspection of the pipe for further restoration process.INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
The stummel is clean and one can make out beautiful densely packed straight grains all around on the left and interspersed with dark swirls of grains on the right. There are very few minor dents and dings on the stummel surface. In all probability, I shall let these minor dents and dings remain. Maybe, sanding and further micromesh polishing will address a few of these dents and scratches. There are a few very minor fills towards the back and on the heel of the stummel. The stummel has a natural finish to the briar. The bottom of the shank is flat, making it a sitter. This is the first time that I am working on a pipe that has been cleaned by Jeff and he does amazing prep work, I say. The chamber is clean and odorless without any trace of the old cake. There is no damage to the inner walls of the chamber. A few specks of yellow paint are seen on the front of the bowl, but nothing serious to address. The rim top has the maximum damage and is peppered with numerous deep dents and dings, probably caused due to knocking the rim against a hard surface to remove dottle. The rim top surface is darkened but not because of any overflow of lava, but maybe due to charring. There is significant damage to both the inner and outer edge of the rim all around, more so on the on the right side in 3 o’clock direction (marked in yellow arrows) due to charring. Simple topping of the bowl on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper should address this issue, however, in addressing this issue, though I absolutely hate it unfortunately, I would be losing some briar estate, a price I am willing to pay to resurrect this beauty. The shank end of the pipe is clean and so is the mortise. The draw is smooth, full and open. The vulcanite stem has minor tooth chatter on the upper and lower surface. Both upper and lower button has minor tooth marks and would need to be made crisp. The stem no oxidation and is an even black. The tenon is also clean and though the seating of the tenon in the shank is flush, attaching it is very hard and requires effort and there is a possibility of breaking the tenon if too much pressure is applied. I would need to address this issue. The air way is clear and draw is easy and smooth.THE PROCESS
Since Jeff had done the initial cleaning, I straight away get on with addressing the issues as observed during my initial inspection. The first issue that I decided to address is the fit of the tenon in to the mortise. Close examination of the mortise revealed an uneven surface and this could be the reason for the extremely tight fit. I roll a piece of 220 grit sand paper and sand the inner surface of the mortise to even out the surface. Once satisfied, I tried the fit of the stem in to the mortise. The fit is nice and snug with all the right noises! I sand the entire stummel surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. This should address the minor dents and dings on the stummel that I had initially observed and even out the entire stummel surface. I was careful around the only stamping on the shank. I absolutely detest losing any briar from the stummel, but to address the issue of uneven rim top surface and the dents and dings on the rim edges, this is a necessary evil. Thus, with a heavy heart, I began the process of topping the rim to reduce the charred surface and bring the bowl back to round. I use a square piece of 220 grit sand paper and firmly hold it with my hand on my work table. I work the rim top on the sand paper in circular motion, frequently checking the progress as I wanted to keep the briar loss to a bare minimum necessity. Once I was satisfied that the charred surface has been reduced and the roundness of the bowl has been restored to the extent possible, I created an inner edge bevel by pinching a folded piece of 180 grit sand paper between my thumb and forefinger and moving along the inner edge with a constant pressure, to minimize the charring on the inner edge of the rim. Similarly, I created a slight bevel on the outer edge of the rim. Thereafter, I moved to the next stage of polishing and revitalizing the entire rim top and the stummel. I even out stummel surface by polishing with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stummel with a moist cloth after each wet pad to see the progress. I paid special attention to the rim top surface and the newly created inner and outer rim edge bevels. I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. I ran a couple of hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol to be sure that the internals of the stem are cleaned out. A little bit of filing with a flat head needle file followed by sanding with folded pieces of 220 and 600 grit sand papers smoothed out the little damage to the buttons and the button edges are now even and crisp. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Extra Virgin Olive Oil after each set of three pads. I set the stem aside to dry. To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applied several coats of carnauba wax over the stummel and the stem. I finished the restoration by giving the pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe, with the natural finish and beautiful grains on the stummel contrasting with the shiny black stem looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs speak for themselves. P.S. While working on the stummel a thought to stain the stummel with either dark brown or a combination of dark brown and cherry red stain did cross my mind. I did not entertain that thought long though, as I was convinced that as the pipe is smoked, it would darken beautifully and would add to the character of the pipe.

Thank you all for walking on this journey as a part of me.

A Simple Sprucing Up of a Pair of Tim West Pipes

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Just five months ago, I had worked on a Tim West large (read that as huge and beautiful) Free Hand pipe that I had purchased on eBay. Though I haven’t smoked it till date (I never did smoke any of my restored pipes till Steve came to visit us and made me smoke one!!), but something about a Tim West carved pipe has got me hooked on. Maybe it is the finish or grain or size, I can’t pinpoint exactly but the bottom line remains that I absolutely like the pipes carved by this gentleman. So when I came across a pair of Tim West pipes for auction on eBay, I just could not resist the temptation of going in for the kill. Tim West pipes sell for big money and many clamor for them, but surprisingly, for this auction there were no bidders until the last hour. Finally, when the auction ended, there were a few bidders including self, and I ended up winning it at a price point that I was very comfortable with (even though I had to stay awake until wee hours of the morning to place bids)

Am I glad that I made this purchase!! They are in pristine condition, maybe smoked a few times only. These pipes reached my home while I was away at my place of work. But Abha, my wife took the delivery and posted pictures of the pipes as she received them. Both these pipes appear to a part of a set, but did not come in their presentation case, if there was one. I inferred this as they are identical in many aspects. Both the pipes are Paneled Bulldogs with a diamond shank and diamond saddle stem and similar grain and natural finish to the pipe. The only difference being in the stampings they bear and that one is ½ bent Bulldog while the other is a straight Bulldog. These pipes have minimalistic stamping with the bent Bulldog stamped as “TIM WEST” in fancy block letters on the left side of the shank while the straight Bulldog is stamped with two overlapping square boxes bearing the stamp “TIM” over “WEST” over “PIPE” in the lower box again on the left side of the shank. Shown below are the pictures of the pipe, as received by Abha and the stamping on each.Since I had worked on a Tim West pipe but only a few months ago, the research I did then, is still fresh in my mind. However, for those interested, I would recommend that they visit rebornpipes.com for an update on the restoration and background information about the carver. Here is the link to the write up: https://rebornpipes.com/2019/03/11/restoring-a-tim-west-pipe/

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
As stated above, both the pipes that were received were in pristine condition. The stummel surfaces were clean with a natural finish to the surface. Both stummel had a beautiful mix of straight, swirls and bird’s eye grain on the sides, front, back, shank and the heel respectively. There is not a single dent; ding or fill on the stummel surface of either pipe. The finish had dulled a little. This will be addressed once I polish the stummel with carnauba wax.The rim top surface was in excellent condition with no signs of overflowing lava or burn/ charring on the surface on either of the pipes. The inner and outer rim edges on both these pipes are sans any sort of damage. What little darkening over the rim surface that is seen on the straight Bulldog should get cleaned with a simple wipe with saliva and folded pipe cleaner. There is a little cake formed in the chamber of both pipes, an indication that the pipe has been smoked a few times. I do not foresee any issues with the condition of the walls of the chamber. The draught hole in both the pipes is dead center and at the bottom of the chamber and should be fantastic smokers. The chamber is odorless. The mortise and shank of both the pipes has signs of usage and little accumulation of gunk, but it should clean up nicely by just running a few pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol through it. The airflow is nice, even and smooth. The vulcanite stem on these pipes are without any tooth chatter or bite marks. The button and button edges are also intact. There is a little deposition of grime at the bottom of the button edge on both pipes. A simple cleaning with a sharp knife should clean it up nicely. The tenon and the slot of both pipes show little deposition of dirt and tar residue. The vulcanite stem is nice black and shiny without any traces of oxidation. This did give rise to a question in my mind; is it possible that the stem is made from high quality plastic and not vulcanite? But to me it appears vulcanite. The long and short of my initial visual inspection is that this is a very simple project that only requires a little cleaning and polishing to get both the pipes like the way they would have come out when brand new.

THE PROCESS
Abha, my wife, started this project by first removing what little cake that was formed due to previous use. With the fabricated smaller knife, she took the cake out down to the bare briar. While she did the second pipe, Pavni, my youngest daughter, further sanded the chamber walls of the first pipe with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and removed the last traces of the remaining cake. When Abha finished reaming the second pipe, Pavni worked her magic on it too. Both the Bulldogs now have a smooth and even surface sans any old cake. The chamber walls, as expected, are in excellent condition. Once the chamber was cleaned, Abha cleaned out the internals of the shank and the mortise of both the pipes. Just a few pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol were sufficient to clean the shank and mortise of both. She wiped the shank end with a moist cloth to remove what little grime had accumulated on the end surface. The pipes are now smelling clean and fresh.With the internals of the stummel of both pipes nice and clean, Abha turned her attention to the cleaning of stem airway of both these pipes. She ran a few pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol and this was sufficient to have clean and fresh airway and the slot in each pipe. With the thin sharp edge of another fabricated small knife, I removed all the depositions from the bottom of the button edges of both the pipes. Since there was no damage or oxidation on either stems, Abha rubbed a little “Before and After Extra Fine” stem polish in to the stem with her fingers. She continued the rub till there was no trace of the polish on her fingers and followed it up with a vigorous buffing using the microfiber cloth. Rubbing a small quantity of Extra Virgin Olive oil in to the stem surface of each pipe completed the refurbishing of the stems. Unfortunately, neither of us took any pictures of the finished stems as we both were engrossed in talking with each other while simultaneously working on the pipe.

She wiped the stummel surface of both pipes with a moist cloth to remove any dust or carbon that would have settled on the surface during the cleaning of the internals. She scrubbed the stummel down with the microfiber cloth to further clean and dry the surface and rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance. She buffed the stummel of both these pipes with a soft cotton cloth and handed over the pipe for me to finish. To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel and mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my rotary tool. I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied several coats of carnauba wax over the stummel and the stem of each pipe. I finished the restoration by giving both the pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine further. The completed pipe, with the dark and light brown hues of the stummel contrasting with the shiny black shank extension and stem, looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs speak for themselves. The beauty and shapes of these pipes make it my favorites and have been added to my rotation. If only these pipes could tell some of the stories and techniques used by Mr. Tim West while carving his pipes… Cheers!! P.S. Many readers would be wondering as to why I would take the trouble of doing and recording this write up when there is no major repair/ restoration work/ processes involved in this project. Well, the answer is two folds; firstly, the discerning reader would have noted that the majority part of sprucing up of these pipes was done by Abha, my wife and it is for this reason that I decided to pen it down, to give her, her due. Secondly, these pipes were completed when the two of us were left alone (Pavni had left for her playtime and Mudra, my eldest daughter was studying for her Entrance exams). The quality time that we spent together chatting and discussing things out was very satisfying and this while we both (she more than me!!!) worked on pipes, makes it all the more sweeter. That she shares my passion and enjoys it too is a blessing. I feel complete when I am with her. And those are the reasons for this write up!!

The pictures have been so arranged that all pictures to the left of your screen are of the ½ bent Bulldog and those to the right, are of the straight Bulldog.

Hope you enjoyed and shared our happiness while reading through this write up and yes, thank you for your time which you have spent while reaching here!!

New Life for a BBB Tortoise Canted Square Shank Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

It was time to work on one of the pipes that Jeff and I purchased from a guy in Pennsylvania. The next pipe on my worktable comes from that collection. This one is a canted Dublin with a long square shank and a saddle stem. The rim topped is worn and dirty but it appears that the shape follows the grain of the block of briar very well. It is stamped on the left side of the shank BBB in a diamond over Tortoise and on the right side it is stamped London, England and the shape number 719. The stem has a BBB Diamond medallion on the topside of the saddle. The pipe was very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflowing on to the rim top. It was hard to know what the inner edge of the rim looked like because of the lava and cake. From the photos there seemed to be some damage to the inner edge at the front of the bowl but I could not be sure. Other than being dirty the finish appeared to be in good condition. The stem was pearlized white. There was some light tooth chatter and tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button. I have included 3 photos that the seller sent to me to give an idea of what Jeff and I saw when we were deciding to purchase the pipe. We had the pipe lot shipped to Jeff in the US so he could do the cleanup on them for me. He took photos of the pipe before he started working on it so I could see what he was dealing with. I am including those now. He took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the overflow of lava. The cake is thick and hard and the lava overflow is a thick band around the bowl. The bowl is a real mess. This must have been a great smoking pipe. There appears to be a damaged spot on the front bevel of the inner edge.The next photo shows the side and bottom of the bowl to give a clear picture of the beauty of the mixed grain around the bowl of the pipe. Under the grime some great grain peeks through.Jeff took photos of the stamping to capture the clarity of it even under the grime. The brand and the shape number are very readable. He also took a photo of the BBB Diamond Medallion on the stem top. The pearlized, tortoise stem looked dirty and there were some light bite marks and tooth chatter on the stem.The BBB Tortoise was a line of BBB pipes that came with a pearlized stem that almost looked like it was made of abalone. It was acrylic of some sort but has the softness of vulcanite. It is remarkable material.

I turned to address the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the heavy overflow of lava on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show their condition. Jeff was able to clean up the incredibly thick cake and lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. He was also able to get rid of the grime and grit in the surface of the briar. There was a deep burn gouge on the front edge of the rim. There was some darkening around the inner bevel of the bowl. The outer edge and the rim top looked very good. The stem was much cleaner than before. There was some staining just ahead of the button. The tenon was a replacement – a black Delrin tenon. The clear white pearlized stem shows the black of the tenon through the back edge of the saddle on both the top and bottom side.I took a close up of the dark spot in the back end of the saddle. It is not a hole or a drill through. It is really the black of the Delrin replacement tenon reflecting through the translucent pearlized stem material. I have to say it is ugly but it not damaging and in no way effects the smoke.I decided to address the bowl first. I worked on both the rim damage and try to minimise the burn damage on the front inner bevel of the rim. I worked on the inner edge of the rim first using a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper smooth out the damage, bevel the inner edge and bring the bowl back as close as possible to round.Once I beveled the inner edge of the rim to bring it back to round, I decided to continue my ongoing experiment with a new product from Mark Hoover of Before & After Products. This one is a product he labels briar cleaner and it has the capacity of absorbing grime and dirt from the surface of briar. I rubbed the bowl down with some of his Briar Cleaner to see how it would work in this setting. In speaking to Mark he noted that the product is completely safe to use. The main product is even FDA approved edible. I rubbed it onto the bowl and rim top with my finger tips and worked it into the grime and grit on the bowl. I let it sit on the pipe for about 5 minutes before I rubbed it off with a microfibre cloth. I rinsed it under warm running water to remove the residue. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the surface on the bowl looked when I was finished. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. It also helps to blend the newly stained areas in to the surrounding briar. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. After it sat for a little while I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I sanded the light tooth chatter on the stem with folded pieces of 220. The marks came off very easily. I rolled a piece and sanded the back edge of the saddle on both sides where the dark mark was. I took photos of the stem from various angles to give a clear picture. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil to enliven and protect the stem material. I used the Before & After Pipe Polish to remove the small minute scratches left in the pearlized, white stem even after the micromesh regimen. I finished by wiping the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the pipe and took the pipe to the buffer. I worked it over with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up really well and even the newly beveled rim top looked good. I was happy with the results of the reworking of the rim. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The unique canted Dublin shape is a beauty and unlike any of the BBB Tortoise pipes that I have restored. It is a very stunning looking pipe with the mixed grain and the pearlized, white stem. The polished stem looks really good with the browns of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. This is another pipe that I will be putting it on the rebornpipes online store shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Restoring a Dr. Grabow “Commodore” #39

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

After we bid our farewells to my Guru and Mentor, Steve Laug and his brother, Jeff, (Dal had left a couple of days earlier) I felt a void. All of a sudden there was nothing to look forward to, no pipe talks, no planned activities, nobody to share a smoke with and above all, their mere presence was being missed by Abha, my wife and both daughters, not to mention me too! It was my youngest daughter, Pavni, who suggested that we restore a pipe!! What a suggestion that was! Our spirits immediately soared and I pulled out my “MUMBAI BONANZA” pipe box to select one pipe.

The one that caught our collective attention was a pick axe shaped pipe that we had come to associate with Kriswill as I have inherited a few. However, this had a “Spade” stamped on its stem in white. It was a Dr. Grabow.

For those readers who have missed out on my previous work, I was fortunate enough to have heeded the advice of my dear friend and mentor, Steve, and struck a deal with a junk collector from Mumbai. He did not know what he was selling and I did not know what I was buying as we reside in different cities!! The argument that Mr. Steve presented was that if not anything, I shall at least have some spares and this was logical. I struck a deal and here are pictures of the pipes that I received in this lot. This lot contains some very nice collectible pipes, a few well known brands and some mediocre brands. Overall, with seven Dunhill pipes, a Preben Holm #1 FH, a couple of “Made in England” Pete System pipes, a couple of Charatan’s Belvedere, Custom-Bilt, Stanwell and other assorted pipes, I would say that I had struck a decent haul!!! This is indeed my “Mumbai Bonanza”.

The eleventh pipe that we decided to work on from this find is a pickaxe shaped pipe and is indicated in red colored arrow in the picture below. It is stamped on the right side of the shank as “COMMODORE” in block letter over “DR. GRABOW” again in block letter. The shape code “# 39” is also stamped on the right side towards the shank end and away in the middle of the two lines. The left side of the shank is devoid of any stamping, which is slightly unusual as most of carvers and makers prefer to stamp their pipes on the left. The stem bears the famous “Ace of Spades” logo in white, embedded on the left side of the stem. Now coming to the research of this brand and line/ model in specific, I referred to pipedia.org and as expected there is an extensive research on this pipe and even has a separate page on the dating of Dr. Grabow pipes, starting from the Linkman era to later pipe lines and numbers which makes for an interesting read and is highly recommended. This research has been done by Russell McKay, and is from his website DrGrabow-pipe-info.com. Here is the link to the page on pipedia.org:

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Models_(Series,Line)_Names_Through_the_Years

I found what I was looking for in the list of most “newer” Dr. Grabow pipe names and is reproduced below;

COMMODORE (c1964) — First appears in a magazine ad for $7.95 as early as 1964. Like the Sculptura, later models were sandblasted in a “big” blast circa 1967-69 (See “Sculptura” for details.)

From the above information, it is evident that the pipe currently on my work table is from the period 1967-69, even though the line was first introduced in 1964 since the stummel is beautifully sandblasted. With this input on the vintage of this pipe, I move ahead with the restoration of this 50 plus years old pipe!

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
I usually start my initial visual inspection by going over the chamber first. However, in this particular pipe, I was so drawn by the beautiful sandblast on the stummel that I decided to change the order and start with the stummel.

The stummel boasts one of the most beautiful sandblast patterns with the front of the bowl having circular blasted pattern and from the outer most part of this blast ring, the sandblast that radiates from the front of the stummel and moving around to the sides and back of the stummel with the cross grains and the straight grains forming an intricate crisscross patterns. It is a visual treat to say the least and difficult to explain in mere words! The following two pictures of the cleaned stummel will give the readers an idea of the sandblast patterns on the stummel.The sandblasted stummel is covered in dirt and grime of 50 plus years of its existence. This should clean up nicely. The stummel surface is solid with no damage to the external surface. The dark browns of the raised sandblast contrast beautifully with the black stain of rest of the stummel. A thick layer of cake can be seen in the chamber. The sandblasted rim top surface is covered in thick overflow of lava, dirt, dust and grime. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber and rim top surface will be known once the cake has been taken down to bare briar and the rim top crud has been scraped off completely (thankfully readers cannot see or hear me muttering silent prayers!!). The inner rim condition appears to be in good condition with no burn/ charred surfaces. Even the outer rim edge appears to be in a decent condition. Only once the stummel has been thoroughly cleaned that I can be sure of my initial appreciation. In spite of the thick cake, the chamber odor is, surprisingly, not strong and should be addressed once the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The shank end has a metal band around the center and this metal band extends inside the shank with threads, over which the threaded stem stinger is seated in to the mortise. Thankfully, the band and threads are all intact. The mortise is blocked with dried gunk, adversely affecting the airflow. The metal band is dull and dirty in appearance.The stem is an “Adjustomatic” type (a patent for stem to shank threading system, later Patent #2461905 which was filed on 25th January 1946 by David P. Lavietes). This patent allows the stem to be turned in the shank for a perfect alignment without having to detach the two. The stem is attached to the shank by a threaded “tool” stinger (again patented by the brand way back in 1924 and upgraded over the years) and the stem can be turned over this stinger for alignment of the shank and stem. Unfortunately, the previous owner had this stinger cut ahead of the threaded portion so that the attachment of the stem to the shank is not affected at all. The vulcanite stem is heavily oxidized and has calcification deposits towards the button end. There are a few deep tooth marks on the lower and upper stem surface. The button edges also have bite marks. The stinger opening and the horizontal slot shows accumulated oils and tars. The threaded portion of what remains of the stinger is covered in dried dust, dirt and grime. The alignment of the stem and shank skewed with the stem being overturned to the right.THE PROCESS
I started the restoration with cleaning of the stummel as I was keen to know the condition of the walls of the chamber. With size 1 head of a Castleford pipe reamer, I took the cake down to bare briar. Using a folded piece of 180 grit sand paper, I sand out the last traces of cake and expose the walls of the chamber to ascertain that there are no cracks/ heat fissures. I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad dipped in isopropyl alcohol to remove the carbon dust left behind by all the reaming and sanding process. I was happy to note that the walls of the chamber are in pristine condition without any heat fissures or pits. The inner and outer edge of the rim are intact and without any burn or char marks. Next I decided to address the stem. I cleaned the internals of the stem using hard and normal bristled pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. The stem airway and the open ended stinger were filthy as can be made out from the number of pipe cleaners that were used up in the cleaning process. I cleaned the complete stem with a cotton swab and alcohol to remove the calcification from the button end and thereafter flamed the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth indentation to the surface. I scrubbed and cleaned the portion of the stinger that remained. I liberally applied petroleum jelly to the stinger to protect it and dropped the stem in to the “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution which Jeff had lugged all the way from Idaho, USA for me. This solution, which has been developed by Mark Hoover, has reduced my time in working on removing stem oxidation by ¼ and should form a part of the list of ‘must have’ items for restoring a pipe.While the stem was soaking in the “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution, I cleaned out the internals of the shank and mortise. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out all the dried oils, tars and gunk that had accumulated in the shank airway and mortise. The amount of crud that was scrapped out leaves no surprise why air flow through it was restricted. I finished the cleaning by running a few pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I also wiped the metal band and the threads with cotton buds and alcohol. With this cleaning, all old smells in the pipe are history. The pipe now smells clean and fresh.With the internals of the stummel now clean, I cleaned the external surface using a hard bristled toothbrush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. I diligently scrubbed the crevices formed by the sandblast to remove all the dust and dirt that was embedded in between. With a soft bristled brass wired brush, I gently removed the overflowing lava from the rim top surface and rinsed it under running tap water. I wiped the stummel dry with an absorbent soft cotton cloth. I am very pleased with the way the stummel has cleaned up. The sandblast looks absolutely gorgeous. Next, I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my finger tips, work it deep in to the sandblasts and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful sandblast patterns on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. With this, I keep the stummel aside and turn my attention to the stem repairs. While I was working on the stummel, Abha, my wife had in the meanwhile fished out the stem from the ‘Before and After Deoxidizer’ solution after a soak of about 6 hours. She rinsed it under running tap water to remove all the sticky solution that remained on the surface. She also let the water run through the stem airway and blew through it to dislodge the solution that remained inside and followed it up with a thorough cleaning with Mr. Magiclean sponge and 0000 grade steel wool. She finished her part in cleaning of the stem with a vigorous rubbing with a microfiber cloth. This removed nearly all of the oxidation from the stem surface, however, the deep tooth indentations at the button edge and in the bite zone still needed to be addressed. And as is her habit, she did not take any pictures of this process.

I began my part of stem repairs by sanding the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. This helps in getting rid of what little oxidation remained while providing a smooth surface for the intended fills to reconstruct the damaged bite zone on both surfaces and also the button edges. I wiped the stem surface, particularly the damaged areas, with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any traces of dirt and grime. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and carefully applied it over the damaged bite zone on both surfaces, and button edges and set it aside for curing over night. I had applied this mix in sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding to match the fills with the stem surface and shaping the button. Once the fills had cured sufficiently, using a flat head needle file, I reshaped the button and roughly matched the fills with the rest of the stem surface. I followed it up by further sanding the stem with 320, 600 and 800 grit sand papers to achieve a perfect blending of the fills with the stem surface and a crisp button edge on either side of the stem. Using the micromesh pads, I complete the polishing cycle by wet sanding the surface with 1500 to 12000 girt pads. The stem looks great with the fills nicely matched with the rest of the surface. I rub a little quantity of Extra Virgin Olive oil in to the stem surface and set it aside to be absorbed by the vulcanite. The only issue that remains unaddressed at this stage is the issue of overturned stem. Being an adjustomatic stem, I fixed the stem in to the shank and tried to turn the stem to match the shank applying just adequate pressure. However, the stem would not budge. Not wanting to create further complications like broken stinger or wearing down of the threads, I unscrewed the stem from the shank. With the flame of a lighter, I heated the aluminum stinger to a point where the stem was just about able to rotate on the stinger. I reattached the stem to the shank while the stinger was still warm, and turned it till the alignment was perfect as I desired and set it aside to cool down. Actually the reasoning behind heating the stinger is that the gunk which accumulates on the stinger and further percolates inside is loosened, thus freeing the stem.

To complete the restoration, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool. I set the speed at about half of the full power and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. With a cotton buffing wheel earmarked for Red Tripoli, which has a finer grit than White compound, I buffed the stem to a fine glossy finish. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is now ready for its long second innings with me. I only wish it could share with me its life story of the past 50 plus years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it!! P.S. I have to admit to the readers of this blog that I had completed this project in the month of May 2019 but I kept procrastinating on the write up. To be honest, I find doing the write up on any project more tedious and difficult than working on the project itself and Steve will bear with me on this fact. And the fact that English is not my first language further makes it all the more challenging. There are nine more pending write ups which I shall be tackling before I undertake any new restoration, God!! I don’t want to scare myself!! I wish to thank each one for sparing their valuable time to read through and any inputs or advice is always welcome.