Tag Archives: refinishing

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe…

Blog by Steve Laug

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn’t know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread;
Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
-Child’s Nursery Rhyme – Mother Goose

When I opened the box and saw this old pipe that my brother sent my first reaction was why? Then I started to look it over and I began to understand the attraction of it. It reminded me of the children’s rhyme, “The old woman who lived in a shoe”, that I used to recite growing up so it led me down memory lane. From what I can find the pipe is probably from the 30’s. The carving and detail of the shoe is quite well done. The lines demarcating the stitching and the worn look of a well broken in shoe add to the attraction. The carver even detailed the sole of the shoe and the bead around the boot. He carved in the laces and the tongue of the shoe. Even the fills added to the worn and well broken in boot look of the pipe.

My brother sent me some photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when it was found. He found it in an antique shop on a recent trip around the Butte and Anaconda, Montana area. He added some other nice pipes and then this one as well. The pipe is not tiny, but is a full-sized smoking pipe. The dimensions will tell the story. It is 7 inches long and the bowl is 2 inches tall. The diameter of the bowl exterior is 1 ¼ inches and the chamber is ¾ inches in diameter. The photos focus in on the details of the carving on the pipe and the placement of the fills – which even give the pipe a worn and broken in feel of a worn boot. I decided to work on the bowl first. The missing fill on the rim of the pipe that is shown in the above photo at the 10 o’clock position (left side of the photo toward the top of the bowl) was the first one I worked on. I cleaned off the rim with some isopropyl alcohol then filled in the divot with some clear super glue and briar dust. Once it dried I sanded the fill smooth to blend it in with the rest of the surface of the rim. I sanded the inside edge as well and smoothed it out.I used a Black Sharpie pen to mark out the lines used demarcate the stitching and lacing of the boot. I stained the briar with a cherry stain/Danish Oil combination. I rubbed the stain onto the briar and used a cotton swab to apply it in the grooves. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The first photo below shows the pipe before I wiped it off.The next five photos show the pipe after I wiped it down. The cherry stain looked really good on the briar. I would need to reapply the black Sharpie to highlight the grooves and do some more highlights of brown into the worn areas of the boot. I used the black Sharpie to redefine the grooves in the stitching areas and tongue and laces once again. In the folds I applied some dark brown stain with a stain pen to add shadows. The next photos show the pipe after that. The browns add shadows to the finish and give the folds some depth. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughness of the old vulcanite. It was pitted and rough in texture. The initial sanding smooth out the roughness. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and the shine began to rise. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with the oil after each set of three sanding pads. After sanding with the 12000 grit pad and rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil I set it aside to dry. I used a sharper pointed Black Sharpie Pen and a red felt tip pen to highlight more of the shadows in the folds of the boot. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and .gave the pipe and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. My goal was to get the pipe looking like it was made out of old soft leather. I wanted the shadows in the folds and the stitch lines to look authentic. Hopefully the stain and the fussing with pens have achieved that. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below and personally I think the old woman’s shoe looks amazing. This was a fun project and really a diversion from the usual routine of pipe restoration. Thanks for looking. Enjoy.

A Grenci Calabria Italy Dublin with Stunning Grain

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I drew out of the box of pipes that my brother sent was stamped Grenci over Calabria-Italy on the left side of the shank. It had amazing looking grain on the sides of the bowl and on the rim. There was a burned area on the inside rim edge on the front side of the bowl. It was caused by a lighter and had left a burned area that damaged the look of the rim top. Other than that the bowl was clean in terms of dings and dents. The finish was worn but functional. The stem was in decent shape with a little bit of tooth chatter on both sides near the button. I did not know much about Grenci as a brand so I looked it up. I found that on the pipephil website (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-g5.html) that the brand was made by a carver named Domenico Grenci from Clabria, Italy. He was born in1920 and died in 1998. On Pipedia I looked up some background history on the braned (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Grenci,_Domenico). There I found that the bulk of Grenci’s pipes were smooth in most cases – only few pieces were sand blasted or rusticated when showing excellent graining otherwise. Generally, blasting and rusticating contradicted his high claims on his pipes. All models were formed free hand and mostly of generous dimensions. Grenci dedicated highest attention to the course of the grain. Light tones, but nevertheless rich in contrast, were preferred for staining in order to show the entire beauty of the wood. Therefore he also refused to coat the bowl’s interior.My brother took a close up photo of the rim and of the stamping on the side of the shank. They are shown below.His close up photo of the stem shows the tooth chatter on the top side of the stem.My brother scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and it removed the waxes and light stain that had been on the bowl. It also removed the grime and tars that were on the briar. He cleaned out the internals of the pipe with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. When it arrived in Vancouver it was really clean and ready to restore. The next photos show the condition of the pipe when I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim top that clearly shows the burn damage to the front inner edge of the bowl. Though the mark does not go too deep into the briar I do not want to top the bowl but will work on another solution to the issue.The stem was lightly oxidized and the tooth chatter was very light.I worked on the damaged rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I beveled the rim until the damaged area was removed and the overall look of the bowl was clean and fresh once again.I wet sanded the bowl and shank (being careful to not sand the stamping on the shank) with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and buffed it by hand with a cloth. (The photo of the bowl after sanding with 3200-4000 grit pads is out of focus so I chose not to use it.) I sanded the stem at the same time with each successive grit of micromesh sanding pad and rubbed it down after each set of three with Obsidian Oil. I took some photos of the polished bowl after using the micromesh sanding pads. I liked the look of the grain and the way it stood out. I decided not to stain this one but buff it and polish it further.I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. It is a beautiful pipe that really shows the lay of the grain. According to the piece in Pipedia this would be a classic Grenci pipe and it is a testimony to his ability to read the grain and set up the lay of the pipe to follow the flow of the grain. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one will also be on the store shortly so if any of you want to add it to your collection before it goes on the store email me at stevelaug@uniserve.com and we can talk about the price. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a damaged rim on a Chacom Noir Dress Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

One of my recurrent nightmares in terms of refurbishing pipes is to find a black dress pipe with a perfect finish on the bowl and some kind of damage to the finish at some point on the pipe that ruined the perfectly good pipe. Well that nightmare came to life in the most recent restoration project I took on. My brother sent me a boxed Chacom Noir. It was stamped on the left side of the shank Chacom over Noir. On the underside of the shank it had the shape number 43 stamped next to the sterling silver band stamped with 925 in an oval. He had shown me pictures of it and we decided to leave it alone in terms of clean up until I had in it hand.

When I opened the Chacom box and saw the pipe sock in the box and the quite stunning Noir pipe nestled in the folds of the cloth I was hoping for the best. I turned it over in my hands and was visibly relieved when I saw the condition of the finish on the bowl. It looked great. There were no scratches or gouges in the finish the nice black bowl was set off perfectly by a sterling silver band that had a bit of oxidation and by the Cumberland stem that was stamped Hand Cut. The stem had no significant tooth marks just a lot of tooth chatter that would be easily cured. This pipe looked like it would be an easy restoration. Those thoughts would come back to haunt me. I examined the rim with a light and my finger tips and immediately saw a big issue. The inside edge of the rim was damaged all along the back side. Repeated lighting had burned the edge and created a burned area in that spot. The wood was charred and missing and there was a significant slope to the rim. That particular area on the rim was thinner than the rest of the bowl. There was also a burn spot on the rim top on the right side of the pipe that was not nearly as bad. Now I had a problem and the work would be a challenge. Could I remove the burned area and still retain the black finish on the bowl? That would be something that I would find out. It was either give it a try or get rid of the pipe. I tend to love the challenge so of course I took this pipe on. The worst case scenario was that it would end up with a smooth stained rim that would contrast with the black bowl. The best case would be that I could make it work. The photo below shows the damaged area on the two spots on the bowl. I have circled them in red to highlight them.The stem was oxidized but otherwise fair condition. There was a bit of tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem at the button as can be seen in the next two photos.The stem would be the easiest part of this restoration (besides the polishing of the silver band) so I decided to start there. I removed the stem and dumped out the 9mm filter. I was still thinking about the rim issues and the black finish so I had given no thought to the fact that my brother had cleaned out the internals of the pipe. He had reamed it and cleaned the mortise and shank and he had cleaned out the airway in the stem. I just naturally grabbed some pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol and recleaned them only to find that other than removing black stain from the mortise the pipe was impeccably clean. Thanks Jeff!I sanded out the tooth chatter with 220 grit sandpaper until it was smooth and then worked on the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. After each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. After the last rubdown with Obsidian Oil I set the stem aside to dry. With the easy work done I spent some time looking at the rim top to decide the best course of action to take. I knew that I could top the bowl but the extent damage to the inner edge of the bowl would mean that I would need to top it pretty radically. I also knew that if I topped the bowl I would expose a raw edge to the black finish at the bowl top. I was not sure if I was dealing with paint or stain but I dreaded sanding back the rim only to have the outer edges of the bowl begin to peel. So I decided to do something a bit different. I worked to bevel the inner edge of the rim to remove the burnt portion and to match the rest of the bowl to that area. It took quite a bit of sanding with 220 grit sandpaper to get the rim edge smoothed out. I sanded it with 1500-1200 grit micromesh sanding pads to polish the newly sanded bevel. Once I was finished the rim looked better. It was still a little thinner at the back of the bowl but overall it was more round looking. I was hoping that a black stain would blend with the rest of the bowl and minimize the look of the rim edge. I still was not certain that a black stain would match the finish on the pipe. It could easily not work and the rim repair would have to be addressed in a different manner. Several possible issues could arise – the stain would be too transparent or it would be a different shade of black. I would not know unless I tried so with a bit of trepidation I stained the rim and bevel with a black aniline stain, let it dry and restained it. I did not flame the stain as I did not want to risk damaging the rest of the finish on the bowl. The photo below shows the rim after several coats of black stain have dried. After this I gave it several more coats of black stain to get a match.I cleaned the sterling silver band with a jeweler’s cloth until the silver shone. This cloth easily removes most light oxidation without much effort. They are available at jewelry shops for a minimum cost. I have had mine for about 10 years and it works well.I gave the bowl and rim several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. I did not want to risk removing some of the finish from the bowl by buffing it on the wheel. I was relieved to see that the rim colour blended in very well after waxing and buffing. I would still need to clean out the debris in the bowl but the pipe was beginning to look better than when I started. I decided to use a black Sharpie pen to add some depth to the colour on the rim of the pipe. I wiped down the rim to remove the wax then used the Sharpie to give it a top coat. The black pen and the stain together made a better blend to the rim. I gave it another coat of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the rim.I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth. While the rim is not perfect the colour matches perfectly and the shine on it matches the finish on the bowl. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am pleased with the finished pipe and the results of the experiment. This pipe will also find its way to the rebornpipes store soon. It comes with a Chacom box and pipe sock. There is a lot of life left in this beautiful pipe. The contrast of the Cumberland stem, the silver band and the matte black finish on the pipe works really well together. Email me if you are interested in the pipe before it goes on the store. My email is slaug@uniserve.com.

Thanks for looking.

Cleaning up an Erik Nording Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is yet another interesting pipe from the latest box of pipes that my brother Jeff sent to me. It is a hand carved Erik Nording Freehand. It has a hand rusticated rough finish on the shank and the bowl. In looking at Erik’s website I am pretty sure that the pipe is from the Vahalla series as it has the same rustication. The difference is in the small bit of plateau left behind on the rim and the shank.The rim has some plateau with smooth areas around the edges and top of the bowl. The shank end was also smooth with a tiny spot of plateau there as well. There is a contrast stain on the bowl and shank with dark reddish undertones and a light/medium brown top stain. The stem is turned with a ring and ball after it insert into the shank. There is a cursive N on the stem that is the Nording stamp. The stamping on the underside of the shank is readable but double stamped on the smooth portion of the flared shank. It reads Handmade by Erik Nording.The rim is quite dirty with tars and oils built up in the plateau. It is heavily clogged with tars and oils and there are some burn marks on the inner edge of the rim top. The inner edge was originally smooth tapering into the bowl and rising to a ring of plateau on the top. The outer edge also flows from the plateau toward the bowl edge and is shaped like a cap. The underside of the bowl and shank shows the rustication pattern. The finish is in very good shape.My brother cleaned the bowl and the internals of the pipe. He scrubbed the finish with Murphy’s Oil Soap and reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. He cleaned out the shank and airways with alcohol and pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I took the next photos when the pipe arrived at my work table. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the caking and damage that had filled in the grooves in the plateau and darkened the inner edge of the bowl.I took photos of the stem to show the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem near the button. The stem was otherwise quite clean.I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper until they were gone. With the surface of the stem smooth it was ready to polish with the micromesh sanding pads.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after sanding it with each pad. I did a quick clean on the mortise, airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was pretty clean.The bowl top was actually quite a mess. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean out the grooves. As I cleaned it I noticed that the inner edge of the rim was originally smooth. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damaged areas and smooth it out. I worked to blend it into the plateau areas.I polished the rim edge with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wanted to get the inner edge of the rim smooth and clean. I bleached it using a cotton swab and bleach to remove some of the darkening. I sanded it until it was smooth and polished and looked like it must have when the pipe was new. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to polish it. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one will certainly be on the store soon. If you are interested in purchasing it ahead of time send me an email at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook or here. Thanks for looking.

Rejuvenating a GBD Colossus Fantasy 9552 Bell Dublin

Just a few simple touches brought this Giorgio Orsini Bulldog to the top

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I opened the last box that my brother Jeff sent and saw this Orsini Bulldog I was drawn to the shape, rusticated finish, smooth rim and shank end and the band of briar across the stem. There was something pleasing looking about this pipe that made me think it was going to be a keeper. He sent me the following photos by the eBay seller before the pipe arrived so I had some idea of what was coming but I have learned not to trust the photos of sellers. They tend to show things in their best light. The seller described the pipe as follows: The Pipe has a nice sand grain. Mouthpiece has very small bite marks and usable with 9mm Filter. Pipe is smoked and not cleaned, but in a good estate condition. The dimensions are: length: 5.5 in/14.1cm, height: 1.7in/4.4cm, width: 2in/5cm and chamber width: .75in/2cm. The only real negative to my mind was the 9mm filter in the shank but even that could be dealt with. Overall the pipe looked to be in pretty decent shape and even the filter was new. My brother did a cursory cleaning on this one as it came in refurbished condition. The stem looked good as did the interior of the pipe. The next set of photos set on the colourful cloth are ones my brother took after cleaning the pipe. He took some close up photos so that I could see what the rim and the stamping looked like on this pipe. The rim had some scratches and it looked to me like someone had stripped the varnish coat and some stain off of it. There were some shiny spots that remained.He took a photo of the smooth underside of the shank that clearly showed the sharp stamp on the underside of the shank. It has the signature of the maker, Giorgio Orsini as well as the stamping E 06.He took a close up photo of the look of the rustication and the logo on the stem. The stem logo was a G and O superimposed and highly stylized. The second photo below shows what looked like a flaw in the shank.I looked up the brand on my usual sources, Pipephil and Pipedia and found that Giorgio Orsini is from the Livorno region of Italy. His pipes were principally sold by Dan Pipe. All of them had acrylic stems. I took the following photos before I started working on the pipe. The next close up photo of the rim shows the damage to the inner edge of the rim. I was a bit surprised as it did not show up clearly in earlier photos. You can see the uneven bevel to the rim particularly between the 6 and 8 o’clock position in the photo below.The stem showed scratches and light tooth marks as the seller had noted in his advertisement. These would be easy to deal with.I lightly sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads.I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish using both the fine and extra fine paste. I am still experimenting with this product but so far I really like how it brings a shine and removes even scratches left behind by micromesh sanding pads.I repaired the flaw in the shank end and right side with a drop of clear super glue. I sanded it smooth once it dried and the flaw all but disappeared.I sanded repaired area lightly and the rim lightly with 220 grit sandpaper and also with 400-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the surface. I stained it with a dark brown stain pen. In retrospect I should have done that after addressing the poorly done bevel on the rim. But live and learn.I polished the rim with a bit of Conservator’s wax to smooth out the stain. I reworked the bevel on the inside edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I slowly reshaped the beveled edge to remove the unevenness of the previous bevel. I was able to remove it and give it a cleaner more original look. I polished the rim top with 4000-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads.I buffed the rim with Blue Diamond polish and gave it and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I hand waxed the bowl with Conservator’s Wax and lightly buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth for a finished look. The completed pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a stunning looking pipe and one that feels great in the hand. I am pretty sure that this one will stay with me. Thanks for looking.

A Living Tiny KBB Yello-Bole Salesman’s Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have always been fascinated with miniature copies of larger items. When my daughters were younger we used to buy them brass miniature stoves and household items that were surprisingly real. All of them had working parts and were small copies of the larger counterparts. I found out that Salesmen’s samples were similar to these items I bought my daughters. They were a common item in the early 20th century. Salesmen needed a smaller version of their product to show off to retailers, and retailers in turn needed a way to demonstrate the features of larger items, which might need to be ordered from the manufacturer, to their customers. Many salesmen’s samples were highly detailed, with additional marketing copy pointing out important features of the product. http://www.collectorsweekly.com/advertising/salesmans-samples I have cleaned up a few tiny salesmen’s pipes over the years that were working models of larger pipes. They have all been smokeable.

Today I worked on one that came in my brother’s box of pipes. It is stamped KBB in a cloverleaf and next to that Yello-Bole over Imported Briar. The stem is vulcanite and the pipe bowl is briar. It had been smoked and there was a light cake in the bowl.None of the reamers that my brother had would fit the tiny bowl of the pipe. My little finger is still too big to fit into the bowl. The bowl had a light cake in it and the rim was damaged both with tars and with dents from tapping the pipe out. The stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on the top and the bottom sides near the button. The finish on the bowl sides was peeling and flaky. The pipe was tiny but well used. I took the next four photos to show what the pipe looked like when I started to work on it. I put the pipe next to the seashell that I have been using for all my photos to give an idea of its diminutive size. I reamed the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife but forgot to take photos of it before and after. When I took the stem off the pipe it had the standard Yello-Bole shovel like stinger. It was pressure fit in the tenon. The tenon on this tiny pipe was metal which was different from previous Yello-Bole Salesmen’s pipes I have refurbished.I carefully removed the stinger from the tenon with a pair of pliers. While the pipe was apart I cleaned out the shank and the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I cleaned the spoon shaped stinger with a brass bristle wire brush, cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. Once it was clean and the stem was clean I pushed it back in place in the shank.I took off the peeling varnish coat on the bowl with acetone and cotton pads. It did not take a lot of scrubbing to take off all of the finish. The acetone took off the varnish coat and some of the opaque stain on the bowl. Once it was gone I could see some nice grain showing through. The cotton pads give an idea of how small this pipe is. I sanded the bowl with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to even out the finish and smooth out some of the dings and dents on the briar. There was a dark spot on the bottom of the shank where it joined the bowl that appeared to be a burned area. I sanded it and was able to remove most of it. Each successive grit of micromesh sanding pad brought more shine to the surface of the briar. By the end of the progression, the 12000 grit pad the bowl had a shine to it that looked really good and showed off the nice grain on the bowl. I sanded out the tooth chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I set the stem aside to dry after sanding it with the 12000 grit pad. I put the stem on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. The polish made the bowl and the stem shine. I was careful around the stamping so as not to damage it. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. To give an idea of the size of the pipe I took the photos with a Canadian dime or 10 cent piece next to it. The Canadian dime is the same size as the American dime. Thanks for looking.

Kaywoodie Connoisseur 49 Large Oom Paul

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Blog by Andrew Selking

It is an honor to once again write an article for Steve’s blog. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Andrew and a bit obsessive about Kaywoodie pipes and the entire Kaufman Brothers and Bondy’s (KB&B) family. Until recently my favorite pipe has been a four-digit Yello Bole 2062 small Oom Paul. I’ve had this large Oom Paul in the drawer, waiting for restoration, for over a year. (Sorry I forgot to take a before picture).I start this pipe as always by soaking the bowl in the alcohol bath. Here is the pipe right after it came out.Next I reamed the bowl. As you may have noticed this is a rather large bowl, my reamer barely reached the bottom. This also accounts for the reaming damage done to the rim.The pipe has a replacement push stem, which initially caused me to think it was an export model, but looking at the shank you can see the groves that the stinger originally screwed into.I find that the alcohol bath does a nice job of softening any protective coating or wax. In order to remove the rest, I used 0000 steel wool and acetone.Here is what the pipe looked like after removing the finish.My next step was to further clean the insides of the pipe and stem using a retort.The average bowl takes two cotton balls to fill it, three if it’s kind of big. This bowl swallowed four cotton balls. Here is a picture of them after the retort (notice how the boiling alcohol pulled the tar out of the wood).As you may have noticed in previous pictures, the rim on the bowl was in rough shape; scorching, reaming damage, and deep dents. I planned to top the rim and the end of the shank to remove some of the worst damage, but I decided to leave the dimensions as close to original as possible; so I refrained from getting crazy with the sand paper.

I used 150 grit sand paper on a piece of glass to top the rim and shank, followed by some 400 grit. A note of caution when topping an Oom Paul, the shank and the bowl are close to each other. Be sure not to take off wood where you don’t intend to.Once the rim was to my liking I started on the bowl with the 400 grit wet/dry. I sanded around the marking on the shank and kept the stem inserted while working on the end of the shank to prevent rounding. Here is the bowl after the 400 grit.After the 400 grit I turned to a progression of micro-mesh pads (1500-12,000 grit) to polish the wood.I used the same progression on the stem. I polished the stem using a rotary tool set on the lowest speed with white rouge and carnauba wax. I used my buffing wheel (aka heartbreaker) with white rouge and carnauba wax on the bowl. I reassembled the pipe and wiped on a couple of light coats of Halcyon II wax. Here is the finished result. Just to give some perspective on the size of this pipe, here is my four-digit yellow bowl for comparison. Normally I wait to smoke a restored pipe until after taking pictures, but we were without power this morning so I loaded the bowl with some Dunhill Early Morning Pipe and commenced to smoke. The draw is fantastic! After about an hour I thought I must be getting close to the bottom of the bowl so I got my pipe cleaning tool and started to clean the bowl. I had only smoked half the bowl! This the first pipe I’ve encountered that has a basement!

I now have two Oom Paul pipes in my collection. I imagine they will vie for my attention for a very long time.

Breathing New Life into a Gold Star Giant 8597

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have a lot of pipes to work on so making a decision which one to work on it a bit interesting. Several months ago now Steve in Dawson Creek sent me a box of pipes for restoration as allowed. He sent me a list of priorities regarding which pipes he wanted restored in the order of importance to him. So I decided to work on one of the pipes that he sent me for restoration. The next one on his list of priorities was a bulldog that was in pretty rough shape. It is stamped Gold Star on the left side of the shank and Giant on the right side. On the underside of the left side of the diamond shank it is the shape number 8597. I can’t much information about the brand. It is a bit of a mystery pipe but under the grime and the peeling finish there was nice looking grain. The pipe was dirty and the finish was very rough. The varnish coat was peeling away. There was a large chip out of the ring on the right side of the bowl. The rim was darkened and caked under tars. The cake was thick and overflowing the bowl. The stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem next to the button.I took a close up photo of the rim and the bowl to show you what I was working on in dealing with this pipe. The bowl was a mess. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the bite marks on the top and underside of the stem. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and a Savinelli Pipe Knife to take the cake back to bare briar on the bowl walls. There was a lot of cake so it took some time. I used the largest cutting head and the cutting head just below that one.I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I worked the rim against the sandpaper until the damaged bowl top was removed and the bowl was once again smooth and round.I repaired the damaged portion of the ring around the bowl with briar dust and super glue. I mixed the two together and made putty and pressed it into the damaged area of the ring. In the photo below you can see the repaired area on the ring.I used the Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess patch and sanded it back until it was smooth against the rest of the bowl.I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper until the ring blended in with the rest of the pipe. I used a hack saw blade to recut the grooves on each side of the ring repair. The photo below shows the recut grooves and the repaired ring. It still needs to be cleaned up but it is looking better.I used a knife blade needle file to clean up the grooves. I was able to match the grooves on the rest of the bowl. I sanded the ring with 220 grit sandpaper.I wiped the bowl down with acetone (fingernail polish remover) on cotton pads. I broke up the peeling varnish with sandpaper and wiped it down again.I scraped the inside of the mortise with a dental spatula to remove the hardened tars. It scraped away all of the buildup and then I scrubbed it down with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean. I cleaned the airway in the stem until it was clean. I sanded the tooth marks out the top and underside of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until they were minimized.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches in the vulcanite.I scrubbed the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation. It took some elbow grease but I was able to remove all of the oxidation with the new product. I am starting to really like this stuff.I polished the stem with the Before & After Pipe Polish using the fine and the extra fine polishing compound. I rubbed it on by hand using a finger and then scrubbed it off with a cotton pad until the polish was gone and the stem shone. I stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain and flamed it to set it in the grain. I repeated the process until the stain was evenly spread on the bowl.I buffed the bowl on the buffing wheel to see what the new stain coat looked like. I liked the new look of the old Gold Star Giant. What do you think? I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel to bring a shine to the bowl and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Steve, this one turned out to be another beauty. I am looking forward to hearing what you think about it once you get it back to Dawson Creek.