porcelain pipes | rebornpipes

Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff and I picked up this collection of older pipes that came from an older professor who taught in Eastern Europe and still does when he can get there. There are a broad assortment of meerschaums, clays and some briars.

The first of these is an Ulm pipe I believe. The bowl is meerschaum and quite large and heavy. It has a metal wind cap over a rim cap as well as a shank cap and ferrule to hold the carved Cherry wood stem with a horn end, flexible hose portion and horn stem. It is an old timer that comes from that area of Europe. It is dirty and scratched but every kilometer of its journey can be seen in the bowl and shank of the pipe. I am looking forward to working on it. Here are some photos that were included by the seller. The second pipe is also a meerschaum. It has a wind and rim cap that is quite fancy. There is a shank end cape as well. The stem has a horn end and horn mouth piece with a flexible hose portion in the middle that is in quite good condition. The photos below show the pipe from a variety of angles and close up views. It will be another fun one to work on. The third one is a clay cutty or tavern pipe. It has some rich patina developing along the shank and bowl. It is quite delicate so I am quite amazed that it is still undamaged. Next is an older Peterson and one of the briar pipes in the collection. It is hard to read the silver hallmarks on the ferrule but the shape speaks of it being older. Here is the second briar pipe – a Sasieni Four Dot with a gold (coloured?) band that is like a pile of nuggets. Not my favourite pipe but look at the sandblast on the bowl and the condition of the stem. It is a pretty looking billiard with an ugly band. Back to another meerschaum. This one is a bent billiard with a rectangular shank, band and saddle stem. The stem is probably Bakelite but I am not sure. I will know more once I have it in hand to clean and restore. The third briar is a Savinelli Dry System pipe. The bowl has a great sandblast. The nickel ferrule is made for the filter style stem that holds a Savinelli Balsa Filter. Another of the older briars was made sometime between the late 1890s and early 1900s. It is a WDC (William DeMuth and Co. Bakelite French Briar straight Bulldog. The band around the shank is rolled gold with a floral pattern around the sides. The stem is ruby Bakelite and it is an attractive looking pipe. The last briar pipes was a bent apple bowl with a rolled gold rim cap and band on the shank. The pattern on both seems to be leaves or floral. I will know more for sure when it arrives here. The shank is stamped WDC in a triangle same as the pipe above. It was a well smoked with a thick cake in the bowl. The next pipe is a porcelain pipe that has come to be known as a wine pipe. The bowl and the base are porcelain and are fired with a beautiful figure on the bowl and accoutrements on the base. The shank is cherrywood and the top is horn that has a horn stem screwed into it. It is a fascinating pipe that I want to know more about once I start working on it. These are all with Jeff at the moment for him to work his magic. It will be a fun haul to work on as all have a fair bit of age on them and all have differing issues that will need to be dealt with. Keep an eye out on the blog for these pipes once I start working on them. There are really some fascinating pieces here that I can’t wait to ferret out the history about. Thanks for sharing in my excitement. Cheers.

Blog by Steve Laug

In a box of pipe parts I was given was a hexagonal shaped ceramic/porcelain pipe bowl with a thin pencil shank. It was cut off mid-shank at a slight angle. Looking at it I decided that it would be an interesting looking pipe to restem. The finished pipe would be unique and well worth the work to restem. I am guessing that the pipe originally had been longer and possibly had a bit on the end. There was a tiny chip cracked in the end of the shank. I reglued that and held it in place until it dried. Since the shank had been cut at an angle, I used a topping board to flatten the edge and square the end of the shank as much as possible. I then used a nickel band that I had in my box of bands and heated it and pressed it in place on the shank. I left a small portion of the band extending beyond the end of the shank to help square the fit of the stem to the shank. I went through my can of stems and found one that was the perfect diameter for a match to the shank. The tenon would need to be made smaller to fit in the shank and the mortise would need to be opened further with needle files for the stem to fit well. I scrubbed the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and polished it with a microfibre cloth. There was a small hairline crack on the left side of the bowl coming from the rim downward about one half-inch. It was sealed so it was not currently a problem that I would need to deal with. I took some photos of the newly banded stem and the polished bowl to show the new look of the pipe. The bowl is quite thin so it will be a hot one to hold. It will need to be smoked slowly to keep it cool.

I used a coarse needle file to open up the mortise in the shank to accommodate the tenon. I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to reduce the tenon as much as possible. I worked on the mortise to file down the inside of the shank. It took some careful file work to keep the mortise round so that once the opening was sufficient the tenon would not be loose inside.

The next photo shows the finished mortise. The files worked well and the newly shaped tenon fit the shank perfectly. I put the stem in place on the bowl and took some photos to get a better look at the new pipe. The newly stemmed pipe actually looked very good. I loved the delicate look of it. The slight bend in the stem worked well with the bowl and allows the pipe to sit upright on a flat surface.

The stem was rough and lightly oxidized. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to loosen the oxidation and then used a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches on the stem. I then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbed the stem with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads, gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the stem and bowl lightly with Blue Diamond polish on the wheels and then gave the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax. I polished it with a clean flannel buff on the wheel making sure to hold the bowl tightly. To have the buffer grab this one and throw it would be a disaster that the pipe would not survive. Once I finished the buffing on the wheel I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to raise the final shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. There is some slight coloring forming on the sides of the bowl midway down from the top. I am wondering if the rest of the bowl will also colour with use. The pipe looks really good with the new stem and band. It will fit well in my collection of unique older pieces.