Tag Archives: refinishing

Restoring a Lovely Republic Era Peterson’s “Aran” Billiard 6 with a fishtail stem

by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a smooth Peterson’s Billiard. It was also incredibly dirty. It came to us from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on 04/11/2023. The grime was ground into the finish on the bowl sides. The contrast of the brown stains gave the grain a sense of depth. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] “Aran”. The right side had the had three lines reading Made in the Republic of Ireland [followed by] the shape number 6 stamped next to the bowl shank junction. There was a thick cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim top and inner edge. There was some darkening on the outer edge of the bowl. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had light tooth marks, chatter and scratches on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The photos of the stem show that it was oxidized and has light tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable and reads as noted above. I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Aran line. On page 294 it had the following information.

Aran (1965-) First issue of line described as “handhewn” (rusticated) with black semi-matte finish, in P-lip and fishtail mouthpiece. Second issue 1975, red sandblast, XL shapes. Third issue circa ’97, gold hot-foil P stamped on the mouthpiece, brown semi-matte smooth finish, no band. Fourth issue after 2010, with nickel band, no P stamped on the mouthpiece. Mounted and unmounted versions are available concurrently.

I knew that I was dealing with an Aran from the Third Issue of the Aran line that came out around 1997. It did not have a band and had a semi-matte smooth finish. It came with a fishtail vulcanite stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, shank brushes, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and shank brushes, pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close-up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top photo looks good. There is some darkening on the briar and some nicks in the surface. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and scratching on the surface near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left and right side of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. There is also a faint P logo on the left side of the stem. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good-looking pipe and has some great grain on the sides of the bowl.I cleaned up the top and inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the darkening and light scratches on the surface and edges.I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. By the final pad it was looking much better. I polished the briar bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I decided to see what the pipe would look like with a thin brass band. It is not required but I wondered if it would give a sense of bling to the pipe. Several of the previous Aran pipes I have worked on had bands so I wondered. I fit it on the shank end and looked at what the pipe looked like with it. After seeing it I made the decision to glue the band and press it onto the shank. I took photos of the bowl and shank with the new look. I really like the looks of it. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks as much as possible. I filled in the remaining marks with rubberized black CA glue and let it cure. Once it cured I smoothed out the repairs and recut the button edge with small files. I sanded out the remaining marks and repairs with 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before continuing. It was looking better. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch pads to further smooth out the surface and remove the light residual oxidation. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the debris and further protect the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave the stem a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s Aran 6 Billiard with a fishtail stem. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished thin brass band and the black vulcanite stem. This Classic looking Peterson’s Aran 6 Billiard feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams/1.34 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a worn and well used Comoy’s Made Sunrise Natural Stack 188

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table came to us from a seller in Bristol, Tennessee, USA on 12/13/2024. The pipe is beautifully grained tall and short Stack shaped pipe with what looks like a mix of medium brown stains. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Sunrise [over] Natural. On the right side of the shank it reads Made in England in a circle followed by the shape number 188 near the bowl shank junction. The pipe was very dirty with a lot of grime ground into the bowl with grain peeking through in spots. The bowl was heavily caked with a lava coat flowing onto the rim top and inner around the bowl. The stem was did not fit well in the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and dirty with light tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button. The stem had deep gouges around the shank end and appeared to have been damaged by someone trying to turn it with pliers. It was a mess. The pipe definitely had promise but it was very dirty. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and well as the lava and darkening on the rim top and inner edge. He also took photos of the top and underside of the stem to show the oxidation and the chatter and tooth marks. The first stem photo shows some of the damage on the vulcanite surface at the shank end. Jeff took a photo the sides and heel of the bowl to give a picture of the condition of the bowl and shank. You can see in the photos the damage and roughness to the outer edge of the bowl all the way around. It really is a mess. The stamping on the sides of the shank is readable and reads as noted above. If my memory served me correctly this pipe was Comoy’s made pipe and the France stamp on the shank pointed me to the connection between London and St. Claude. I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s13.html) to get some background information on this beauty. I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section. The side bar includes this interesting piece of information. I quote:

The Sunrise brand perfectly illustrates the split pipe production of a same label between Saint Claude (FR) and London (GB) during the period Chapuis Comoy and Comoy closely collaborated (prior to early 1970s).

I turned to Pipedia and looked under the French makers and the brand was not listed. Under the English makers it was listed as a Comoy’s Sub-brand or second. I turned to the Comoy’s listing and at the bottom of the article was a list of these pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s). I have included the list in its entirety and highlighted the Sunrise in red.

Seconds made by Comoy’s

Ace of spades, Ancestor, Astor, Ayres, Britannia, Carlyle, Charles Cross, Claridge, Coronet?, Cromwell, Dorchester, Dunbar, Drury Lane, Emerson, Everyman, Festival of Britain, Golden Arrow, Grand Master, Gresham, Guildhall, Hamilton (according to Who Made That Pipe), Kingsway, Lion’s Head, Lord Clive, Lumberman, Hyde Park, Lloyds, Mc Gahey, Moorgate, Newcastle, Oxford, O’Gorman, Rosebery Extra, Royal Falcon, Royal Guard, Royal Lane, Scotland Yard, St James, Sunrise, Super Sports, Sussex, The Academy Award, The Golden Arrow, The Mansion House, The Exmoor Pipe, Throgmorton, Tinder Box Royal Coachman, Townhall, Trident, Trocadero, Westminster, Wilshire

Now it was time to turn my attentions to the pipe itself. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer and removed the rest of it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top and outer edge of the bowl are clean but clearly show the damaged top and outer edge. The stem photos show the damage on the shank end surface of the stem surface from pliers and also tooth marks on the stem on both sides that will need to be repaired. The stamping on the left and right sides of the shank is faint and readable and reads as noted above. There was also a stamp on the left side of the stem that is the triangle S with a stem logo of the Sunrise pipes. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The bowl looked very good and once I cleaned up the stem the pipe would look very good. I sanded the briar bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I worked over the rim top and edges of the bowl at the same time. I used some 220 to trouble shoot small portions of the outer edges that were damaged. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and dust from the clean up. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The grain really began to stand out by the final pads. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep gouges in the stem surface with black rubberized CA glue. The from the previous owners use of pliers to remove the stem had left these deep marks. Once the repairs cured I used folded 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It was a lot of sanding but well worth the effort. I followed that by sanding it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend repaired areas. I wiped the stem down between pads with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the sanding debris from the stem.I touched up the stamp on the left side of the stem with white acrylic nail polish and removed the excess with the sanding pads above. It is faint in spots but it is very readable with the white acrylic. The stem looked much better at this point so I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil to end the polishing at this point. This Comoy’s Made Sunrise Natural 188 Stack is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The smooth brown stained finish around the bowl is quite beautiful and highlights the grain. The finish works well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Sunrise Natural 188 Stack sits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/47 grams. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Danish Pride Ben Wade Hand Made Denmark Sandblast Freehand Sitter

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by Steve Laug

This particular mixed finished Freehand pipe was purchased on 03/225/2021 from as seller in Brazil, Indiana, USA. It really is another beautiful Freehand Sitter that combines a plateau rim top and shank end with curved smooth panels on a sandblast bowl and shank. It is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads Danish Pride [over] by [over] Ben Wade [over] Golden Tan [over] Hand Made [over] In [over] Denmark. The mixed finish is dirty but still a beautiful looking combination. The pipe had a thick cake in the bowl and a thick lava overflow in the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl. It is thicker on the back side of the bowl but present all the way around. There was grime ground into the smooth and sandblast finish and dust and debris in the plateau valleys on the shank end. The fancy vulcanite saddle stem had Crown logo on the top side. It was heavily oxidized and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe must have been a great smoker judging from the condition it came it. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem was dirty and had chatter and tooth marks on both sides near the button. He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to give an idea of the shape and the condition of the briar around the bowl. It really is a nicely shaped pipe that has the classic look of a Freehand carved by Preben Holm. The next photo Jeff took shows the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is faint in places but still readable as noted above. In a previous blog I had researched the brand quite a bit. I have included it below for information on this pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/10/03/restoring-a-danish-pride-by-ben-wade-mixed-finish-handmade-freehand-sitter/). I quote:

I remembered that the Preben Holm pipes were marketed under the Ben Wade label in the US and imported through Lane Ltd. I turned to Pipedia and read the listing on the brand to refresh my memory and flesh out the knowledge of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wade). I have included a photo from that site that was taken from a Tinderbox advertisement.I quote the portion of the article that summarizes the Danish period of the history of the brand:

Young Copenhagen master pipemaker Preben Holm had made a meteoric career heading a pipe manufacture employing 45 people at the age of 22! But around the turn of 1970/71 he was in major financial difficulties. His US distributor, Snug Harbour Ltd. in New York City, left him in the lurch. Holm had three unpaid invoices on his desk and another large shipment was ready for the USA, when Snug Harbour’s manager told him on the phone that there was no money at all on the account to pay him.

So the Dane went to New York for an almost desperate search for a new distribution partner. He made contacts with Lane Ltd. and met Herman G. Lane in February 1971. Lane Ltd. had no interest in Holm’s serial pipes produced at that time but so much the more in the hand-carved freehands because the hype for Danish freehands and fancies in the States was still on its way to the climax then. The meeting resulted in an agreement to start a cooperation. Lane insisted to improve the quality considerably and in return he assured to be able to sell essentially larger quantities.

Holm went back home to work on new samples with all-new designs and altered finishes for Lane. Both, Lane and Holm, agreed that it would be unwise to sell the pipes under Preben Holm’s name as long as Snug Harbour had a considerable stock of Preben Holm pipes and might sell them pipes at very low prices just to bring in some money.

So on Mr. Lane’s proposal it was determined to use the name Ben Wade belonging to Lane Ltd. Lane spent considerable amounts of money for advertising the new brand in the big magazines– the centerpiece being whole-page ads showing a very exclusive Seven Day’s Set.

The cooperation with Lane Ltd. proved to be an eminent business success for both partners. Within a very short time Ben Wade Handmade Denmark sold in much larger quantities and at higher prices than they had ever dreamed of. And the hype these freehands and fancy pipes caused went on unbroken long after Herman G. Lane deceased. Preben Holm – obviously much more brilliant in pipe making than in pipe business – was in major troubles again in 1986 and had to sack most of his staff. The Ben Wade production was significantly lowered but continued until his untimely death in June of 1989.

Up to now Preben Holm made Ben Wade pipes are cult and highly sought for on the estate markets.

With that information my initial thoughts were confirmed. This pipe was a Preben Holm made Freehand distributed in the US by Lane Ltd under the name Ben Wade. The freehand rage occurred in the late 70s and the pipes were made until Preben’s death in 1989. My guess would be that this pipe was made sometime during that time period and potentially in the late 70s.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he reamed the bowl and then cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the plateau rim top and shank end and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the remaining oxidation. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were and what needed to be addressed with both. The rim top and bowl look good. The stem looked better and the light tooth marks and chatter were still present. I would need to remove those to bring the stem back.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see from the photo that it is faint but readable. It is clearer on the top half of the stamp than the lower but it is still readable. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe.The bowl was in such good condition after the clean up that I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the crevices of the plateau and sandblast portions. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and started working on the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. I am happy with the way that this Preben Holm Made Ben Wade Danish Pride Freehand turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a great shape and mix of smooth and sandblast finishes around the bowl and shank. The rugged plateau on the rim top and shank end are beautiful. The fancy original vulcanite saddle stem works well with the reddish brown of the stained briar. The pipe really came alive with the buffing. The rich brown stains of the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ben Wade Danish Pride really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 64 grams/2.26 ounces. The pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Restoring Someone’s Favourite Soren Hand-Carved Made in Denmark

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by Steve Laug

This particular Freehand pipe was purchased from seller Fort Meyers, Florida, USA on 06/13/2022. It really is a great looking Freehand pipe that combines a plateau rim top and shank end with a smooth bowl and shank. It is stamped on a smooth panel on underside of the shank and reads Soren [over] Hand-Carved [over] Made in Denmark. The finish is dirty and darkened with hand oils but that does not hide the beautiful grain around the bowl and shank. The pipe had a thick cake in the bowl and lava overflow on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl filling in some of the plateau. There was grime ground into the smooth finish and dust and debris in the plateau valleys on the shank end. The fancy grey/silver variegated, fancy saddle stem had a crack in the saddle portion that had been repaired. The tenon in the stem is a new one and the crack had been caused by the drilling and repair. It had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The pipe must have been a great smoker judging from the condition it came it. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when we received it. You can see the cake in the bowl and the heavy lava and darkening on the plateau rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The turned acrylic stem was dirty and had light chatter and tooth marks on both sides near the button. It also has a repaired crack on the topside of the saddle. Jeff took a photo of the crack in the stem. You can also see the replacement tenon that was inserted in the stem. I believe that it had cracked in the drilling of the stem for the replacement tenon. The new tenon was glued in the stem and some glue had been put in the crack. It had not been filled with glue so the crack gathered debris and had darkened.He took photos of the sides and the heel to give an idea of the shape and the condition of the briar around the bowl. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe highlighted by the plateau finish on the rim top and shank end. The photos show the scratches in the briar as well as some small light coloured fills around the bowl sides and heel. The next photos Jeff took show the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear but faint in spots and read as noted above.I went to a previous blog and reread what I had written in order to refresh my memory of the background and information on the Soren pipes (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/12/repairing-and-rejuvenating-a-soren-danish-freehand/). I quote from that blog post:

I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus, I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market. I did a screen capture of the photos of the pipes and stamping that were on the site. I have included it below.I was once again working on a pipe made by Soren Refbjerg Rasmussen for the US market as it was stamped Soren. I continued to do reading on another of my go to websites, Pipedia. Here is the link for the article there. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Refbjerg. I quote some of the more pertinent information.

Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen founded a company in 1969, which employed an average of 8 – 12 craftsmen in the 1970’s. The semi-freehands they produced were traded under his prename Søren. Rasmussen himself finished only the very best pipes. So his way of pipemaking closely resembled the ways of Preben Holm, Karl Erik Ottendahl or Erik Nørding. Altogether more than 1,000,000 pipes were sold.

From that I knew that the pipe in my hands came from the 1970s. It bears the Soren signature stamp which also says that it was made for sale in the American pipe market. Armed with that information I turned my attention to restoring the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe following his normal cleaning process. In short, he cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the lava and debris on the plateau rim top and shank end and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads to remove the debris and oils on the stem. He soaked it in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He rinsed it with warm water and dried it off. I took photos of the pipe once I received it. It really looked good. The crack in the stem around the replacement tenon was clean and the tenon was solid in the drill airway. I took close up photos of the stem and the rim top to show both how clean they were and what needed to be addressed with both. The rim top and bowl still had some minor darkening on the high spots of the plateau top and edges edge. It made me wonder if the darkening had been intentional and that all of them were originally dark. The stem looked better and the cracked area was clean and was ready for repairing and rebuilding. The light tooth marks and chatter were still present. I would need to remove those to bring the stem back.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see from the photo that it is faint but readable. It is clearer on the top half of the stamp than the lower but it is still readable. I removed the stem from the bowl and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the beauty of the pipe.I started my work on the pipe by wiping the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the darkening and oils in the briar. It looked significantly better once it was clean. I started my work on the pipe by wiping the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the darkening and oils in the briar. It looked significantly better once it was clean.I sanded the briar bowl with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and dust from the clean up. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth between pads to remove the sanding debris. By the final pad it shone. The bowl looked great after the polishing so I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the crevices of the plateau rim top and shank end. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Jeff had cleaned out the crack in the top of the saddle during his clean up. I filled in the crack with clear CA glue and built up the repair with multiple layers of the glue. I used several small files to flatten out the repairs in the saddle portion of the stem. I followed that up with a rolled piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out further. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further smooth out the repairs to the saddle portion as well as removing the tooth marks and chatter on the surface ahead of the button. I wiped it down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil cloth. It was looking much better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil and let it sit and absorb. I polished stem and bowl with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple 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. This Soren Hand-Carved Freehand pipe polished up pretty nicely. The plateau on the rim top and shank end and the smooth reddish brown finish works very well with the variegated silver and grey acrylic stem. The cleanup of the previous repair on the replacement tenon and the crack in the saddle worked well and it is solid and unmoveable. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I have worked on several Soren pipes by Soren Refbjerg Rasmussen and several Refbjerg pipes over the years and I have always been impressed by his craftsmanship and ability to work a pipe to follow the grain of the briar. He does great work and is quite innovative in terms of shapes, flow and finishes on his pipes. The dimensions of this particular Soren are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches wide and 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 7/8 inches. The weight of the pipe is 61 grams/2.15 ounces. It feels great in the hand. This one will be going in the Danish Pipemakers Section on the rebornpipes store. If you wish to add it to your collection let me know. It is a beauty! Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this Soren Freehand.

Restoring a Bjarne Hand – Crafted Made in Denmark Freehand

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe came to us from an antique store in Vancouver, Washington, USA on 10/20/2022. It is mixed finish Freehand pipe that feels great in the hand. Even though it was dirty it had some charm showing through the grit and grime of the years. The grain on the smooth top half of the bowl and panel on the shank is quite nice. The sandblast is deep and revealing around the lower part of the bowl and shank. On the underside of the shank it was stamped Bjarne [over] Hand-Carved [over] Made in Denmark. The finish is filthy with dust and grit ground into the briar of the bowl and shank sides. The bowl had a thick cake and heavy overflow of lava on the plateau rim top and inner edge. The variegated brown acrylic stem dirty and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The interior of the stem and shank were quite dirty with tars and oils. Jeff took some photos of the pipe to show its overall condition before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the good the pipe bowl looked inside. The rim and the inner edge were heavily coated with thick lava. It still appeared to be in good condition under the lava coat. The photos show the contrast of the bowl’s general condition with the overall condition of the fancy acrylic saddle stem surface. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl and shank to give a picture of what the mixed finish of sandblast and smooth looked like on the bowl. The grit and grime on the finish is very obvious in the photos below. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl and shank to give a picture of what the mixed finish of sandblast and smooth looked like on the bowl. The grit and grime on the finish is very obvious in the photos below.I turned to my favourite go to sites on the background of brands. The first is Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b5.html). There I looked up the Bjarne brand. I have copied the pertinent information below.

Bjarne Nielsen (1941 – † 2008) distributed his own “Bjarne” brand and pipes carved by Danish pipemakers (Mogens Johansen, Tonni Nielsen or Ph. Vigen). High grade pipes were stamped “Bjarne Nielsen” without any logo on the mouthpiece and graded A, B, C and D. Bjarne second brand: Viking.

I have included a screen capture of the section on the brand below. I turned to Pipedia and looked up the brand for a bit more information on the pipes that were stamped like the one that I am working on (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bjarne). It is a great history of the brand and a good read. Toward the end of the article I found what I was looking for. I quote:

Among the pipemakers that worked for Bjarne were Johs (for the lower priced high volume pieces), and makers like Ph. Vigen, Ole Bandholm and Tonni Nielsen for high grade pieces. The cheaper line was stamped “Bjarne” while the highest grades were stamped “Bjarne Nielsen” (never with the pipemakers’ name) and graded, from highest to lowest, by the letters: AX, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J.

Now I knew that I was dealing with the cheaper line of pipe made by the company. It was stamped Bjarne while the higher grade pipes were stamped Bjarne Nielsen with a grade stamp. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had cleaned up the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He worked over the debris on the plateau rim top and was able to remove it. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took photos of the pipe bowl once I received it. It really looked good. The bowl looked very good though there was some darkening and damage on the plateau rim top. The inner and outer edges of the rim looked to be in good condition. The stem looks really quite good. There were some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was clear and read as noted above. I took the stem off the shank and took a picture of the pipe to give a sense of its overall look. It is going to be a great looking pipe once the restoration is finished.I decided to begin my work on the pipe by dealing with the darkening and damage to the plateau rim top. I worked it over with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the grit in the grooves of the plateau and the dark coat on the high spots. When I was finished it looked a lot better than when I started. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the smooth surface of the bowl sides and shank with my fingertips and into the plateau rim top, shank end and the sandblast finish with a shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the issues with the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button with clear CA glue. I set it aside to cure. Once it cured, I flattened the repairs with two small files\. I smoothed out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to further blend them into the surface of the stem. It was looking very good. I sanded the stem surface further with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to smooth out the repairs and blend them into the stem surface. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and dust. It began to look very good.The stamping on the left side of the saddle stem was faint but I touched up what remained with white acrylic fingernail polish. I used a tooth pick to work it into the stamp. I sanded it with a worn 1500 grit sanding pad and buffed it with a soft cloth.I polished the scratches out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This smooth finished Bjarne Hand-Carved Mixed Finish Freehand is a great looking pipe. It is a pipe made in Denmark. The fancy, saddle brown variegated acrylic stem works well and goes nicely with the browns of briar. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bjarne Plateau Rim top Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 49 grams/1.73 ounces. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store shortly in the Danish Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. There are many more to come!

Restoring and fitting an AB Gourd Calabash with a new Meerschaum Bowl

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by Steve Laug

A few days ago, I received an email from our local pipe and cigar shop regarding a repair that needed to be done for a customer. Joe included some photos with his email to help me see what he was looking at. I have included the email and the photos below so you can read and see what I read and saw.

Good afternoon Steve! How’ve you been?

Seems like it was every other day I’d email you about a broken pipe, and you’ll never guess….

A gentleman dropped off a beautiful Calabash Meerschaum pipe, I believe he said a part of the bowl cracked when he dropped it. Regardless, I can’t really tell what’s wrong with it from looking at it. I’ve attached a couple pictures, and was wondering if you could help us with it.

All the best,

Joe

I looked over the pipe photos to see what I was going to have to work on. It was a nice-looking Meerschaum Gourd Calabash. The gourd was dry and dirty with some discoloring around the sides from the top to the shank. The shank end was a briar extension that looked nice, but also dirty. The stem was well bent but was oxidized, calcified and had light marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.The photo of the bowl from the top down seems to show the bottom has broken out of the bowl and it too was very dirty. I was curious to see what the pipe looked like once I had it in hand. Perhaps I would have a replacement bowl here that could be used in the bowl.Joe dropped the pipe by this afternoon and I had a look. I was very interested in seeing what I could do with it. I took photos of the pipe before I started working on it to show what I saw. It really is a pretty pipe. The stem is as I noted above and the Meerschaum Bowl was missing its bottom and the nipple that fit into the gourd. The briar shank extension was stamped on the left side with an AB in a circle. That interested me even more in that it pointed me to a well Austrian Meerschaum carver Andreas Bauer. I would need to do some more checking on that but that is what I remember at this point in the process. I took the pipe apart and took photos of the parts. You can see the badly damaged meerschaum bowl. It truly was broken when the bowl was dropped.Before I started working on the pipe I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about my AB guess pointing to Andreas Bauer (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b2.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site and included the sidebar info below the photo. Company founded in Vienna (Austria) by Andreas Bauer in 1906. In 1942 Ernst Bauer, the founder’s son, took over the management of the enterprise until early 1970s when Turkish law banned the export of raw meerschaum. At this time Otto & Kopp Gmbh bought the trademark. They were a large Meerschaum distributor to the German tobacconists and good customer of the Turkish Konçak Meerschaums. Lastly Sedat Konçak bought the trademark in 1990. Unfortunatly the pipes carved in Turkey continue to be labeled “Made in Austria” (pipe next).

It is indeed an Andreas Bauer pipe and it looks like it may be one that was made either in the 1970s by Otto & Kopp Gmbh who bought the trademark or by Koncak Meerschaums in the 1990s who also bought the mark. Even though made in Turkey Koncak still labled the pipes as Made in Austria.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself.

To prepare the pipe for the replacement bowl I need to clean up the gourd and shank to be ready for the replacement. I scraped out the build up inside the gourd with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I followed that up with some 220 sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I was able to sand the walls smooth. It looked much better.I scrubbed the exterior of the gourd with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I was able to remove the debris in the gourd and the briar extension. I rinsed off the soap and the debris with warm running water. I carefully dried off the gourd inside and out with a soft cloth. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the Gourd Calabash with my fingertips on the smooth gourd surface. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the gourd. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. After the clean up and rub down with Before & After Restoration Balm I took a photo of the AB stamp on the left side of the shank extension. It is clear and readable. I worked Vaseline Petroleum Jelly into the cork gasket on the inside of the Gourd Calabash. The cork would swell and come alive with the Vaseline and hold the Meerschaum bowl or cup in place in the gourd. I worked it into the cork and set it aside for the evening to be absorbed. In the morning I would fit the new Meerschaum bowl into the Gourd.I went through my Meerschaum bowls that I have in boxes here. I have bought quite a few over the past years so I was pretty sure that I had one that would fit in the gourd. Sure enough, I had a bowl that had the same nipple/cone that fit the gourd perfectly. The height of the Meerschaum cup or bowl is a bit taller but it looks good. I cleaned out the shank extension and shank of the gourd and the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners.I fit the new meerschaum cup in the gourd calabash base. The fit was actually very good and it looked like new once more. I worked on the oxidation and calcification on the stem with Soft Scrub and cotton pads. I was able to remove the majority of it using this process. It was looking significantly better.I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks in the surface of the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth before moving on to the next step.I followed that by sanding it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend down the sanding areas. I wiped the stem down between pads with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the sanding debris from the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. This Andreas Bauer Gourd Calabash with a replacement Meerschaum bowl and a vulcanite taper stem is a beautiful pipe. The waxed and polished gourd and calabash looks stunning. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bauer Gourd Calabash fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 3 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 102 grams/ 3.60 ounces. I will be calling the local pipe shop and Joe will pick up the pipe very soon. I look forward to hearing what he has to say and what the customer thinks. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restemming and Restoring a Unique Venezia Bruyere Garantie Thick Shank System Billiard

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by Steve Laug

Once again, I am breaking the rhythm of restoration of pipes that Jeff has sent to me work on a bowl that I have in a very big box of bowl without stems. There are probably about 100 bowls that I have been chipping away at for a long time now. Yesterday I had to urge to restem a few of the bowls. The next bowl I chose was this interesting thick shank Billiard bowl that was a system style pipe that had two airways entering the bowl and shank. I ran a pipe cleaner through each airway in the shank and the came out in the bowl bottom. The shank end had a thick step-down brass fitting that was oxidized and greenish coloured. The stamping on the left side of the shank was an oval that reads Bruyere [over] Garantie. The front of the bowl was carved with the word VENEZIA (smooth) in a rusticated oval. Somewhere along the way Jeff had reamed and cleaned the bowl and it was waiting a new stem. The briar was dirty from sitting in my box for years. The rim top had a bit of debris and darkening on the surface that was probably present after Jeff’s previous cleanup. I examined the brass shank end for any stamping and there was nothing in the brass as it was unmarked.

I found the VENEZIA carving interesting, which is what drew me to it in the first place. I have worked on Savinelli pipes that were in a line called VENEZIA and I have worked on a folding pocket pipe from my late friend Chuck (https://rebornpipes.com/2012/09/05/chucks-gift-pipes-part-1-venezia-vogini/) that also bore that name along with Vogini. I have done a bit of digging and I cannot put a finger on the maker other than it is separate from the Savinelli Line. The one thing I know is that they have certainly made some unique pipes. This System Pipe is certainly another unique and special looking pipe. My guess is that it probably had a horn stem with a plunger in the centre of the tenon and an airway on the top left and right of the centre dropping the smoke into the rest of the airway in the stem as cool and dry. I took a photo of the carving on the front of the bowl and the left side of the shank. They are clear and readable as noted above.I took a photo of the airways as they entered the shank. You can see one at the top right and top left. There is also fitment at end of the mortise that looks like it held a pin in the centre as a condenser that fit in the mortise.I went through my stems and found an interesting white acrylic saddle stem that would look good with this bowl and the brass shank end. I would need to reduce the diameter of the tenon to fit in the large mortise and would also need to reduce the diameter of the saddle portion to reflect the diameter of the shank.I used a Dremel and a sanding drum to take down the diameter of the saddle portion of the stem and also the tenon. I decided to try something a bit different – to fit the end of the stem with a reversed shank band/ferrule. I reduced the stem diameter enough to press the band onto the end of the stem.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the marks from the Dremel. I followed that by sanding it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend down the sanding areas. I wiped the stem down between pads with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the sanding debris from the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I wiped down the bowl with alcohol to remove the spotty finish and the debris on the bowl sides. It began to look much better. I sanded the bowl with 320-3500 grit 2 x 2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a rich shine. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the end of the process the pipe bowl looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with a shoe brush to get into the carving on front of the bowl and my fingertips on the smooth. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. This Unique Vezania System Bowl with the new White Acrylic stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich finish gives the shape an elegant look. The flow of the bowl and the new stem have a great hand feel. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Vezana System Bowl and new stem fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams/2.08 ounces. This is unique enough that for the time being I am going to hold on to it and enjoy its look, feel and smoke it! Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

New Life into a Handmade by Erik Nording Made in Denmark Freehand

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe is on the table is an interesting looking sandblast Freehand shaped pipe with a vulcanite saddle stem with a twist. Jeff and I purchased it on 09/12/2021 from a seller in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA. The pipe is well shaped and has nice grain showing through the sandblast around the bowl. It has a crowned rim top with plateau on the top of the rim. The shank end has a black acrylic spacer. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Hand Made [over] By [over] Erik Nording [over] Made in Denmark. There was grime and dust ground into the sandblast finish of the bowl and shank as well as in the plateau on the flat portion of the rim. The bowl was heavily caked with lava on the rim top and edges. The inside edge looks like it may actually be undamaged under the lava coat. The twisted vulcanite saddle stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside near the button and on the button edge. There was a Nording “N” logo stamped on the stem top after the twists. The pipe showed a lot of promise but it was very dirty. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. He took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and tobacco debris as well as the lava in the plateau on the rim top. He also took photos of the top and underside of the stem. The photos show the overall condition of the stem. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to give a picture of what the sandblast on the briar looked like. It truly has some nice grain highlighted with the blast around the bowl and shank. The stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable and read as noted above. Jeff took a photo to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank and the “N” logo on the top of the stem.I turned first to Pipephil to get a quick review of the brand (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-n2.html). The pipe was carved by Erik Nording. Nording is a prolific carver who continues to make pipes and sell them globally. The screen capture below shows a Nording with stamping like the one I am working on. The one here is lacking the shape number in the middle of the circle but otherwise it is the same.I then turned to Pipedia to have a look at the history of the Nording brand and see if there were any pipes like the one in hand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%B8rding). The history was worth a read, though there were no photos of the pipe that I had.

With the information I learned in the above articles I had the background on the pipe. Now it was time to work on it.

I am really happy to have Jeff’s help on cleaning up the pipes that we pick up along the way. He reamed the bowl 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 on the shank and bowl sides was quite coated with varnish and was shiny. The rim top was heavily burned and the inner edge was badly burned. The lightly rusticated portion on the right side was almost smooth from the burn damage. It was a huge mess. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub All Purpose Cleaner to remove the majority of the grime. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver it looked very good. I took some close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. The rim top looked quite good. You can see the plateau on the rim surface and the contrast with the smooth crown of the rim. I took close up photos of the stem to show the condition of the surface and button. The stem was very clean on both sides with some light oxidation.I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe and has an interesting finish on the bowl and shank.I stripped the varnish coat on the bowl and shank with acetone on cotton pads. I was able to remove the full shiny coat and it looked significantly better. I sanded the rim top and smooth portions of the shank with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. It really started to be smooth and looked amazing. I polished the smooth briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. By the end of the process the pipe bowl looked very good. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with a shoe brush to get into the carving on the rim top and shank end and my fingertips on the smooth. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the vulcanite stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the tooth marks and chatter against the button edge. I wiped the stem down between pads with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the sanding debris from the stem. I touched up the “N” logo stamp on the top of the stem surface with white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it cured I scraped off the excess and sanded over the surface with a worn 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the excess. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another wipe down with Obsidian Oil. This Sandblast Erik Nording Handmade Freehand with a plateau rim top is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The rich finish gives the shape an elegant look. The flow of the bowl and stem are well done make for a great hand feel. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Erik Nording Freehand fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 50 grams/1.69 ounces. It is a great looking and light weight pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemaking Companies Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Restemming and Restoring a GBD Prehistoric Bulldog with a Cracked Shank

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table was another bowl I had sitting in the box. This one was a nice-looking bulldog with beveled rim top and a sandblast finish on the bowl. There was a very faint stamp on the left underside of the shank. It had the GBD oval logo [followed by] Prehistoric [over] Made in England. The bowl had been reamed and cleaned. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned it before it went in the box. The rim top was smooth and other than a few small nicks was in good condition. The twin rings around the cap were also perfect. The sandblast finish was worn and the stain was faded. The shank had a crack on the right and the left top side. I had an old silver band that would fit the diamond shank well. I was so excited to fit the band on the shank that I did not take any before photos. I did however take photos of the band once it was in place on the shank. I heated it with the flame of a lighter and pressed it onto the shank end. The band is oxidized and is stamped with three hallmarks – an anchor, an M and a rampant lion [over] Sterling. I went through my can of stems and found a nice diamond taper stem that was unused. The tenon had been worked on but the rest of the stem still had the casting marks and debris on the angles and the button. Only later did I figure out that it was a twin bore or bite proof stem. I really liked the look of it and with the banded bulldog it worked well. The photos also show the condition of the bowl at this point in the process. I started on the bowl. I polished the smooth portions of the rim with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. It really began to take on a rich shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush to get into the depths of the sandblast on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the silver band with 1500-3000 grit micromesh sanding pads and then finished with a jeweller’s cloth to raise the shine and protect it from further oxidation.I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to clean up the tenon angles and smooth them out. I also used it to remove the excess vulcanite on the shank end of the diamond stem. I was excited and totally forgot to take any photos of the process. For that I apologize.

Once finished I sanded out the marks from the Dremel and the scratches with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked on it for quite a while to smooth out the surface and get the fit to the shank correct. I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend down the sanding areas. I wiped the stem down between pads with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the sanding debris from the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. This Sandblast GBD Prehistoric Bulldog is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored and restemmed. The rich finish and Sterling silver give the pipe an elegant look. The Twin Bore stem works with the pipe and is unique. The flow of the bowl and stem make for a great hand feel. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished GBD Prehistoric Bulldog fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 47 grams/1.62 ounces. It is a great looking and light weight pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it.

Bringing Some Honour Back to a Dunhill 59 Billiard

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by Kenneth Lieblich

A gentleman in England contacted me recently about repairing a handsome, old Dunhill Root Briar billiard he had. He communicated to me that the pipe was in dire condition, but was such a good smoker that he needed it brought back to life. As always, I was game, but needed to see the pipe in order to assess the situation. Well, the situation was grave indeed – if this pipe was a person, I might have called a priest to administer Extreme Unction. In this case, however, I opted to be the ‘surgeon’ and I needed to operate. Let’s look at the markings on the pipe, so we know what we’re dealing with. On the left side of the shank, we can see the number 59 (the shape number). Next to that is F/T (which stands for ‘fish tail’ – the type of bit on the stem). Next to that is Dunhill [over] Root Briar. On the right side of the shank, we see Made in [over] England5. At least, I think it’s a five – it could be a six – and this indicates that the pipe was made in either 1965 or 1966. Next to that we see ④ R, which indicates the size of the bowl (group 4) and the R indicates that it is root briar.Oh boy – where to begin? There are very many issues with this pipe. The stem has about as much oxidation as any stem could handle. There is some calcification, and several tooth dents, scratches, and marks. Extra work will be required on this stem. Meanwhile, the stummel is really where the action is. It is very dirty inside and the bowl has a thick layer of cake. There are many scratches in the briar, a few nicks, and some notable chunks missing. There are also six burn marks on the outside of the bowl – that’s pretty impressive. There is grime everywhere on the briar and it has a grungy feel. Furthermore, there is a major and unsightly flat spot (likely an old burn) on the part of the bowl nearest the shank. Finally, there are no fewer than two substantial cracks in the bowl that run quite a distance. I say ‘…no fewer than two…’ because more cracks would be revealed in due course. Naturally, there was considerable damage to be found on the inside of the bowl too.This is an epic repair – it isn’t really restoration or conservation. Regardless, it was fun, nerve-wracking, and educational. Let’s get started! First of all, I used isopropyl alcohol on a few cotton rounds and wiped down the stem to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning came next. I disinfected the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. Fortunately, the inside wasn’t too dirty at all – it’s just the outside that needs serious help.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result was a hideous, brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some Briarville Stem Oxidation Remover. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface of the vulcanite. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew out the stem from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush. Due to the severity of the oxidation, I then repeated the scrubbing with the cream cleanser for maximum effect.As the stem was now clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. This was done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduced the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I removed the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I used all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also applied pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done. Quite frankly, the stem is now incomparable with how it started – just look at those photos!As the stem was (nearly) complete, I moved on to the stummel. The first step was to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplished a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleaned the bowl and provided a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake was removed, I could inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there was damage or not. I used a reamer, a pipe knife, and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensured that all the debris was removed. However, there was considerable damage, heretofore undiscovered, to the walls of the bowl. We’ll come back to that in a bit.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get clean. I also used a dental tool to remove the gunk, old glue, and other detritus from the cracks in the bowl.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused the remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I wiped down the outside, using a solution of a pH-neutral detergent and some distilled water, with cotton rounds. This did a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process was to scour the inside of the stummel with the same mild detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.Now it was time to get serious. I performed a close examination of the many burn marks on the outside of the bowl. The good news was that they were all quite superficial – there was no deep burning of the wood. The bad news was that there were so many, and they would remain as an interesting detail in this pipe’s history. The two original cracks were now clean – and there were now two more cracks on the opposite side of the bowl. Coupled with the major flat spot I mentioned earlier, this was severe damage and was going to require significant work to salvage. Here is a photographic survey of what I was dealing with. I decided to repair the tiny cracks in the briar next. Before anything else, it is imperative that I ensure that the cracks do not continue to creep after I repair them. To that end, I took a micro-drill bit, inserted it in my rotary tool, and very carefully drilled a hole right through the wall of the shank. That hole will stop the crack from progressing. As you can see, the drill bit is incredibly thin and quite prone to snapping if great care is not taken.The next step is to line these cracks with clear cyanoacrylate adhesive. To prevent the adhesive from dripping into the bowl, I lined it with a piece of duct tape – because cyanoacrylate adhesive does not stick well to it. Applying the adhesive neatly and cleanly is not important at this stage – but being thorough is!Having completed that, I moved on to repairing the grievously damaged interior of the bowl. Prior to my customer’s ownership, this pipe was heavily smoked and not cared-for as it should have been. There are heat fissures throughout the bowl and have resulted (obviously) in the cracks migrating to the outside. To fill damage like this, I used an epoxy adhesive that is extremely hard, resistant to high temperatures, and completely inert when cured. It worked superbly. I filled the affected area with the epoxy and let it cure for a full 24 hours.I had a long discussion with my customer in England about how to proceed in addressing the large flat spot, the remnants of the cracks, the chunks missing, etc. – in other words, how do we want the pipe to look in the end? The fact is that there isn’t any all-encompassing solution to this pipe’s aesthetic woes. Having said that, the best of a bad set of options was to round off the top of the pipe and make it look even all around. We know that the cracks will always be there; we know that the burns will always be there; but we can at least do this and make the pipe better. I used my rotary tool and removed some material. I progressed with sandpaper and, below, you’ll see a series of photos which document some of this procedure. Following that, I roughened up the epoxy’s surface (inside the bowl) with 220-grit sandpaper for the next step. I thinly coated the inside of the bowl with a mixture of my wife’s homemade yogurt and activated charcoal. Once hardened, this provided a good, faintly rough surface for a new cake to build. I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand the outside of the stummel and finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some LBE Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed the stummel with a microfibre cloth. The gentleman from England and I did discuss the possibility of staining the briar – but ultimately decided against it. We felt that stain would not hide the damage well anyway, so why not lean into the scars and accept them. This isn’t quite kintsugi, but it did remind me of it. So, for the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – first with a blue diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – despite the difficult circumstances.

All done! This Dunhill Root Briar 59 billiard pipe has had a remarkable transformation and it’s hard to believe that it’s the same pipe – perhaps some would say that it isn’t. I am pleased and proud of the work and the results – I certainly hope my customer will be pleased too. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.