Tag Archives: polishing

Refurb on an Old BW Dog with Bling

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This one is another mystery to me. Because I am always picking up these old timers I have a habit of researching out as much information as I can once they have arrived and I can see the stamping and hallmarks up close. This one bears the hallmarking of the Anchor which tells me it is made or assayed in Birmingham, the Lion which tells me it is Sterling silver and the date letter that though worn looks to be a capital E which would date it as an 1850 pipe. That is as close as I can tell to the date and time frame for this old timer. There is also a Makers Mark in the silver stamped BW and the briar of the pipe is also stamped BW. I cannot find any information on that maker in all of my searching so that is where it stands. If anyone reading this can shed light on the initials and what they may refer to I would deeply appreciate it. Until then I have a nice old bulldog from 1850 that smokes exceptionally well and it is a mystery regarding its maker.

When the pipe arrived it was in rough shape. The silver was very tarnished and dull looking. It was also scratched and much worn in places. The bowl had a very spotty finish with just the remnants of the original stain. The rim was tarred and the bowl heavily tarred and caked. The stem is made of some amberoid substance or may be Bakelite. It seems to be a softer material than the hard Bakelite. It has a bone tenon that was over turned so the stem was off to the side. The button also has an orific hole in the button instead of the newer slotted button.

I reamed the bowl and cleaned it with Isopropyl alcohol and many pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I sanded the bowl to remove a bit more of the cake and take it back to the wood. I then put the bowl in an alcohol soak to remove the remnants of finish and the grime that was worked into the surface of the pipe. Once I removed it from the alcohol bath I re-stained it with Cherry stain. The stem was crackled a bit – lots of tiny spidering all over the surface so I did not want to chance using alcohol on it as it can cause more spidering and cracking. So I cleaned it with Gojo an all purpose hand cleaner with grit suspended in liquid soap. I ran it through the stem repeatedly to remove the tars and grime inside the airway. When it was clean I rinsed it with warm water to remove any residual soap. I sanded the tooth chatter and used my needle files to recut the button as it was pretty worn. I sanded and polished the stem with micromesh pads 1500-6000 grit as is my usual practice. I also heated the bone tenon with hot water and readjusted the fit to the shank. Upon completion of the refurbishing above the pipe and stem were given a final buff with carnauba wax. I also gave the black leather pipe case a cleaning with leather renewer and a coat of wax as well.

Here is what it looked like when I got it from EBay

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Here is what the pipe looks like today

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Refurb on an old AD pipe from 1909

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Blog by Steve Laug

I finished refurbishing this old timer. I love the looks of it and wanted to share it with you all. It is a bit of a mystery in that it has no stamping on the bowl. The only marking is a hallmark that dates it to 1909 and the letters stamped in the silver of the band AD. The pipe is a cased little thing – just 4 inches long. The stem has a bone tenon but a slotted button instead of the orific hole on most pipes of that era. The ivory band is part of the stem and it inserts into the metal band. The bowl is stained an oxblood red. I reamed and cleaned bowl and shank. I cleaned the threads and the inside of the stem with a shank brush, bristle pipe cleaners and fluffy cleaners. The silver band was polished with tarnish cleaner and a silver cloth. The stem was sanded to remove chatter and then I used Micromesh pads 1500,1800, 2400,3200 4000 and buffed with Tripoli and White Diamond. I rubbed down the case with some leather renewer and it definitely looks better.

The book, Who Made that Pipe attributes the AD stamping to Alfred Dunhill. The Silver Hallmarks site dates it as Birmingham Silver 1909 and the Makers Marks identify the work as being done by Arthur Downing Ltd. That sounds correct to me. The final attachment photo is the clip from the Hallmarks Site. So the mystery remains – is it a Dunhill or is it a nice older pipe banded by Arthur Downing Ltd? Who knows but it smokes great.

Here are the pictures of the pipe before I worked on it
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Here are some pictures of the finished pipe.
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And here is a picture of the logo on the silver band as found on the British Hallmarks site. It matches the stamping on the silver band exactly.
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Refurbed Piece of pipe smoking history – A Brittish Buttner Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I picked this pipe up on Ebay awhile back solely for my historical interest in this kind of pipe. I am drawn to creative pipe manufacturers and the search for a drier and cooler smoke. It is that interest that attracted me to the gadgetry of the British Buttner pipes. This is the second one that I have purchased on Ebay. The first one is older (patent is earlier)and has a yellow Bakelite stem and is a pot in terms of shape. I have also collected a Bakelite canister that holds an extra clay insert bowl. I saw this one and added it to the collection. It looks like a briar billiard but is not. It is a Bakelite bowl and Vulcanite stem. The tenon is long and extends to the air hole in the bowl. There is a clay insert that sits in the bottom of the Bakelite bowl. This one has a few chips out of it but is still workable. The rim unscrews and holds clay bowl (much like a gourd calabash. It is mounted on the rim and screws into the bowl. I cleaned the inside of all three parts and cleaned the stem and shank. I have polished it with wax and since have smoked it several times. It is a very different smoke – very similar to a calabash smoke; very cool and dry.

Here are some pictures of it taken apart before cleaning:

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Here it is cleaned and polished.

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Here are some pictures of the older British Buttner

 

Refurbed Breezewood Acorn

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I picked this old timer up in the ebay purchase that included the Bertrams author. It was almost black it was so dirty. It is incredibly light weight. Once I got the grime off I could see a wee bit of the stamping left and it read Breezewood. I reamed and cleaned the inside. The stem is a screw mount like the old Kaywoodies. It has been clipped of stinger contraption but it is a good open draw. I cleaned the stem and used the micromesh sanding disks on it. The bowl was soaked in an alcohol bath to remove the finish and grime and then sanded with 220, 400, 600 sand paper and then micromesh 1800, 2400, and 4000 grit pads. Here are the before and after shots. Below the pictures I have posted a write up of the history of Breezewood pipes by the late Mike Leverette (a friend and historian of things pipe).

The pipe is pictured in the top photo below of the two pipes.

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Here is a series of photos of the refurbished pipe.

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Here are some informational ads on Breezewood pipes

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I wanted to include this brief article by Mike Leverette as it gives background history that is not commonly known or available regarding these early alternatives to briar that came out during the war years.

“There were at least three pipe brands made from the Mountain Laurel; Trapwell, Breezewood and Custombilt. Trapwell pipes were made by D & P Pipe Works beginning on or before 1943. D & P Pipe Works, owned by D. P. Levitas (Ross 2005), began making pipes in 1938 (Wilczak and Colwell 1997) probably in New York City but relocated to Sparta, Alleghany County, North Carolina in 1943 (Sparta/Alleghany CoC 2006), in order to be closer to the huge population of Mountain Laurel in the area. Later, this company changed their name to Sparta Pipe Works and still later to Sparta Industries. I have one Trapwell World’s Best Briar pipe in my collection, a small billiard, and here again; it is a great little smoker. World’s Best Briar was their marketing ploy for Mountain Laurel. Trapwell’s ‘trap’ is a highly complicated condensing system when compared to most regular metal condensers. After the war, Trapwell pipes were made from regular briar wood, or “imported briar” until their demise.

According to a 1942 Life magazine advertisement, Breezewood pipes were made by The Breezewood Pipe Company, located at 630 Fifth Avenue, New York City, though Wilczak and Colwell state the Breezewood pipes were made by Kaufmann Brothers & Bondy (KB&B) beginning in 1941 (Wilczak and Colwell 1997). The Breezewood Pipe Company may have been a subsidiary of KB&B. To quote the 1942 Life magazine advertisement; “There, deep in the Great Smoky Mountains, they found it – found an uncharted virgin forest of burls, great old burls that had been growing there uncounted years. And from these old burls, pipes of astonishing lightness of weight are made – their name: Breezewood.”

At the present time, this is all I have been able to find on the history of Breezewood pipes. Here again, the one Breezewood pipe, a small billiard, I have in my collection is a great little smoker. I am not overly fond of metal condensers and this Breezewood pipe has a simple tube condenser similar to Dunhill’s “inner tube”.

 

Refurbed Social by Comoy’s

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This afternoon late the postie delivered the Social pipe made by Comoy’s that I picked up off Ebay a few weeks ago. I took it apart and went to work. The bowl was pretty caked and broken up inside… cake falling off the walls. The The top was tarred. I reamed and cleaned it. Interestingly this is an old timer. It has the old orific button as I show in one of the before shots of the stem. It has some kind of reservoir between then end of the stepped tenon and the the airway into the bowl. It is below the airway and the tenon is drilled with the airway high to match up.

I put the bowl in an alcohol bath and cleaned it up. The mess came off really well. I then sanded the bowl with 600, 1800, 2400 and 4000 grit and then restained it with a medium brown stain. The Stem was soaking in Oxyclean and when I removed it I cleaned the grime off of it. It was a bit oxidized so that came off no problem. I then buffed the entirety with white diamond and then Carnuba. Here are the before shots:

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You will note there are some pretty deep dents in the side of the bowl. These came out a bit but they remain as character marks. There were some on the underside of the shank as well. They too remain.

After refurbishing:

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Refurbed and old timer – WDC Bakelite

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I finished up a pipe that is stamped WDC in a triangle and Bakelite on the shank. The bowl is briar and by the way the stem is put together it is clear that it is an old timer. It has a screw mount stem with a bone tenon and the red Bakelite stem has an orific button.

The bowl was caked and had cob webs! (no kidding). The bowl and shank were cleaned and reamed as usual. The stem had bite marks and needed to be sanded and then finished with micro-mesh pads and finally a trip to the buffer and Tripoli and White Diamond. The bowl was re-stained with cherry and then buffed and polished. The stem was over turned a bit so heated the tenon water and it seemed to expand (?) a bit and loosen so I was able to straighten it out on the shank and it fit perfectly. I wonder if on these old bone tenons that the hot water may actually expand them a bit – not sure how that works but it certainly worked with both of the ones I did today.

Thanks for looking and all of your comments. It made for a great day and it is good to look back and see the work completed today!

Before:

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After:

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Refurb on a Gourd Calabash

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This one needed a bit of work. The Meer bowl came out easily. The cork gasket was dry so I greased it with Vaseline to soften it. While it softened I cleaned out the gourd with a pic and wipes. It had some hard tars in it. The bottom of the bowl was black so I cleaned it as well. The rim was tarred and dark so I wiped it clean and then sanded with micromesh pads to get the grime off and give it a sheen. I set it aside and went to work on the outside of the gourd. It had lost its shine. I cleaned it with Murphy’s Oil Soap and once clean sanded with the micromesh pads. Once done I buffed it with White Diamond and Carnuba. Then I went to work on the stem. It is amber. In the case a piece of the stem was chipped and lying loose. I used super glue and repaired the chip. The silver band was loose on the gourd so I removed it and cleaned it with silver polish. I refastened it with superglue. Once the entire pipe was cleaned and the stem was cleaned and dry I reassembled the pipe and gave the cork another coat of Vaseline before putting the bowl back in. It is stamped with hallmarks that are hard to see as they are worn. It looks like the reclining lion (sterling silver) the other two are worn. The makers mark is MSNF in a rectangle. Not sure who that is? Anyone know??

Here is the finished product. Thanks for looking.

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I wrote to Gary Schrier regarding the Calabash via email and he replied as follows:

… Your pipe was made in the London area, and hallmarked at Goldsmith’s Hall, London, because of what sounds like a leopard’s head, that hall’s guild mark. The maker’s mark, “MSNF,” is unknown to me. Chances are likely it belongs to the “mounter” or silversmith who did the work (but not necessarily the maker of the actual pipe). It’s an insignificant brand, though; this does not detract from the pipe. It was probably made around 1907 thru 1911. I hope you enjoy it.

An Interesting Wellington Straight Billiard

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Just finished researching a bit on WDC Wellington Pipes. Yet in all of the research I cannot find the one that I picked up. It is a straight billiard. It is chunky and 5 1/2 inches long. It is a system pipe like the Wellington Bent pictured below but it is a standard P-lip stem with a regular tenon. The band is sterling silver and has the WDC triangle and hallmarks stamped in it – an anchor, a five point star, and an eagle. The shank is also stamped WDC in a triangle under a script Wellington. The stem is stamped the same way. The bowl is U shaped with draft hole at the shank side as usual. From there it drops down into the shank where there is a chamber – a bit different than the well in the picture below. It is more of a wide open chamber that tapers a bit to receive the end of the tenon. Very interesting design.

It was rough so I reamed and cleaned the bowl. Cleared out the reservoir and the shank with pipe cleaners folded in half and then gave the bowl an alcohol bath. I left it in for about a 1/2 hour and then took it out and cleaned it again. It did not need to be re-stained as it retained its colour. I buffed it with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax. The stem needed a buff as well. It was a bit oxidized. The stem is unique as well in that the tenon end is very open and tapering back to the whole in the Plip. Here are the after pics.

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I have also included a couple of adverts that I came on that are interesting bits of history of the brand.

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Had fun with this one – GBD International

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I just finished this beauty – a GBD International. It is a beautiful little pipe. The shape #9456 says it is a bent apple – I suppose that is so. I did some work on what they originally looked like. They had a plateau (Faux?? not sure) top that was stained black and the bowl was a medium warm brown.

This one was pretty well stained with dirt and grit. The finish was blown and the bowl was caked and dirty. The stem was brown and it was a pretty gross mess. It was one I was going to put off but today I decided to work on it. I am glad I did as it was actually quite fun to work on.

I cleaned the stem as usual. It was tough and still shows some oxidation under the flash of the camera. I will do a bit more in brighter light. But it looks good to the natural eye. The bowl was reamed and cleaned and put in the alcohol bath. I removed any of the bits of left over stain left. Then I used a pipe cleaner and stained the plateau black. Once I did that I had the notion to stain the whole pipe black as well. I then wiped off the stain on the bowl and washed it with a damp alcohol rag to get it to the tone of brown I was looking for. I am really pleased with the stain and how it came out. I love the contrasts of the brown undertones and the black overstain. The wipe and then sanding with micromesh really worked to highlight the birdseye and grain in it.

Thanks for looking.

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Here is a final picture to give you an idea of the size.

 

 

   

Reworked Old Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

I had this old apple with very faint stamping that looked like it could have been stamped Edwards but not clear. I decided yesterday to rework it. The old stem had a split in the button and was shot. I decided to fit a new stem for it. I reamed and cleaned the bowl and fit the stem. While I worked on the stem I dropped the bowl in my alcohol bath for an hour. Once it was done I sanded the bowl and cleaned it some more. There were a couple of spots on it where small fills had fallen out so put some briar dust in them and then a spot of super glue. Once dry I sanded them smooth so that the stain would take around and in them. I put the stem on and stained the bowl with an oxblood stain as I figured that would match what was originally on the pipe. Once it was all polished it reminded me of an old timer that I had seen and been hunting for – a straight shanked BBB apple. Well that got me thinking and I dug through my box of bands and sure enough I had an old BBB silver band hallmarked 1909 that fit perfectly. The stem and pipe look older so the band added some more age to it. I really like the final look of this one.

Before pictures:
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And the finished pipe:
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