Tag Archives: refinishing

Reworking a Poorly Done Topping Job on a Bulldog of Unknown Make

3 Replies

This poor old bulldog came in the pipes that were donated to the Vancouver Pipe Club and I decided to work on it and see if I could repair some of the damage that had been done when someone tried to top it in the past. The rim looked as if whoever topped it tried to do it by hand and not on a flat board. Because of that the surface of the rim was wavy with high and low spots and the outer edge was lower than the inner edge in several places. The top was also at a slight angle as the sanding had not been done on a flat surface.

The first two photos below show the damage to the rim from the side profile. Note the wavy surface of the rim. The third photo shows some damage on the underside of the stem next to the button and the fourth photo shows the rim from the top view. In that photo the bowl appears to be seriously out of round and the front edge seems thinner than the rest of the bowl. This is a bit of an illusion due to the poorly executed sanding on the rim. The way the bowl had been sanded left the front of the bowl lower than the back of the bowl thus creating the appearance of a thin wall. The stamping on it had been buffed out on the left side of the shank and on the right side I could still see very faintly London England over 403S. I am uncertain of the maker. I checked the Comoy’s shape number chart, the GBD and the Orlik shape number charts and there is no such number. Perhaps other may have some idea of the maker.
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I took a two close up photos of the top of the rim to show the damage more clearly. There was also significant burn damage to the front inner edge of the rim. Fortunately this damage was only surface and a retopping would take care of most of it.
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I also took a close up photo of the end of the stem next to the button to show the tooth marks on the underside next to the button.
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I set up my topping board and sandpaper to work on the rim and repair the damage. It took care to keep the high point of the bowl flat against the surface of the paper and sand until the rim flattened out. This took more time than usual as I had to continually check to see if the rounded spots, low dips and angle sanding of the rim surface were being removed. I also wanted to remove the burn damage as much as possible. The next five photos show the process and the results of the sanding. The profile views show the repair of the outer edge to a flat straight surface with a sharp edge. The top view shows the more even distribution of the thickness of the wall and the removed burned area on the front of the bowl.
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I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the remaining finish on the bowl so that it would be easier to match the colour of the bowl and the newly topped rim.
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I sanded the rim with a fine grit sandpaper and wet sanded with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove scratches and prepare the rim for staining. I stained the bowl and rim with MinWax Medium Walnut Stain and rubbed it on to the pipe and rubbed it off until I had achieved the colour and coverage that I wanted.
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I sanded the damaged areas on the topside and the underside of the stem near the button to remove the tooth marks. I started with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge to repair the tooth damage.
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The mark on the underside was deep and once I had sanded and cleaned it I put a drop of super glue on it to build up the divot. Once it was dry I sanded it again with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponge to blend it into the surface of the stem.
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I used my usual array of micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem repair – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. When it was dry I rubbed the stem down and reinserted it in the pipe.
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I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished the buffing with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go back to the Pipe Club and will make someone a nice pipe.
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Comoy’s St. James Shape 62 Restored

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This oddly shaped Comoy’s came to me in a lot that was donated years ago to the Vancouver Pipe Club. It has been sitting for a long time needing a bit of care to bring it back to life before going to the Club to be sold or given away. It is stamped on the top of the shank, St. James in an arc over London Made in a straight line. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Made in England by Comoy’s followed by 62. The finish was rough on this one; the top of the rim had been beaten against something hard and had damaged the outer edge to the point that it was no longer sharp. The inner edge of the rim was not too bad but the bowl had been coated with a black rubbery bowl coating that was grim. There was one rather large fill on the right side of the bowl near the shank/bowl junction. The stem had some oxidation next to the button and some small tooth chatter there as well. The stem also had one silver bar inset in the vulcanite on the left side. It is not a logo that I have come to associate with Comoy’s but rather with Savinelli. I am not certain the stem is original. Perhaps someone here can shed some light on the stem logo and this particular line of Made in England by Comoy’s Pipes.
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I decided to top the bowl and try to repair the outer rim damage. It was truly a mess. In the next photos you will see the set up for topping and also several photos of the bowl rim as I began to sand it out. The sanding dust stuck to the bowl coating.
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When I finally got the topping done to the point where the rim was more smooth and crisp I also sanded the outer edge to minimize some of the deeper chips and rough areas that I left because I did not want to top too much of the bowl. I then cleaned out the bowl and the shank and wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat that had been put on the bowl. I reamed out the bowl coating with a PipNet reamer as I wanted to remove the sticky black substance and wanted to see what the walls of the bowl looked like underneath the ooze.
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I sanded the bowl and rim with a medium grit sanding sponge and then with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the scratching that was present under the finish and that left behind by the sanding sponge. I wiped it down a final time with acetone on a cotton pad to clean and prepare it for restaining.
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I used a black permanent marker to bring grain lines into the fill area and minimize the way it stood out. In the second photo you can see the effect of the marker and stain on the fill near the bowl/shank junction. Previously it had stood out and now it was muted. I restained the bowl with MinWax Medium Walnut stain. I rubbed it on with a cotton pad and wiped it off with a cloth and repeated the process until the stain had given the bowl a good coverage. I sanded the oxidation and tooth marks near the button on the top and the bottom of the stem with the medium grit sanding sponge.
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I took the next photo to show the improvement to the damaged rim and the clean edges that were now present. The stain did a great job in bringing out the grain on the rim. It follows the pattern of the grain on the shank.
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I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and then sanded it with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1200-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with White Diamond and rubbed in a coating of Obsidian Oil to protect against further oxidation.
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I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. Soon it will go the Pipe Club for their benefit.
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Refinishing and Reworking the Rim on a Comoy’s London Pride.

5 Replies

I looked up some information regarding this line of Comoy’s on the internet as I was not familiar with its placement in the ranks of Comoy’s lines. There I found that Comoy’s introduced the London Pride as the second grade to the Blue Riband around the same time to meet the American demand for a lighter finish. It was priced in 1943 at $25 and in 1965 at $25, then in 1979 at $95. It was described as having a natural amber coloring and tending to be Birdseye/Cross-Grained pattern pipes. At the time this pipe was made it was the next-to-top-of-the-line. The original stem had a three-piece “C” logo and this one did not have that. Judging from that fact, the shape of the tenon and the stem shape I am confident that it is a replacement stem. The stampings on the left side of the shank are “Comoy’s in block script over London Pride” and on the right side the stamping is worn. The shape number is near the bowl shank junction on the right and reads 292. The next four photos show the pipe as it was when I brought it to the work table.
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The pipe was in fair condition. The stamping was faint, the finish had a thick coat of varnish over it and the rim was heavily damaged. The previous refurbishing had rounded the inner and outer rim removing the characteristic bevel on the inner rim and the sharp out edge. The stem was a replacement and the person who had replaced the stem sanded the shank down to fit the new stem. Fortunately they had not taken off too much of the briar. It was visible from the lines of the pipe and from the lightening of the area around the shank/stem junction. I have included the next photo to show the rim damage that needed to be addressed.
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I topped the bowl on a flat board and sandpaper to remove the rounded inner and outer edges. I removed only enough to clean up and sharpen the outer edges and reduce the inner rounding to a slight bevel. I also sanded the inner edge with a folded piece of sandpaper to redo the bevel. I sanded the top and the bevel with a medium grit sanding sponge and also with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the scratches.
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I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish coat and the remaining stain on the pipe. I find it easier to match the new rim colour if the bowl is also clean and the stain removed as much as possible.
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I stained the bowl and rim with Minwax Medium Walnut stain which brought the colour as close as I could to the photos I found of the original colour of the London Pride line. I applied the stain and hand buffed the pipe.
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I probably should have cleaned the inside earlier in the process but I did not bother until this point as it was quite clean. I scrubbed out the bowl with a cotton swab and Everclear as this bowl did not have the same black bowl coating as some of the others from this box of English pipes. The shank and the stem were not too dirty and it only took a few cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to bring it back to clean.
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The stem was in great shape so I did not need to remove tooth marks or dents. It was also quite clean so I rubbed it down with some Obsidian Oil and then took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed to a shine with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe – the combination of cross grain and birdseye matches the description I had found on the web regarding this line of Comoy’s pipes. It is ready to serve the next season of its life.
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Reworked Comoy’s The Guildhall London Pipe Stack – Shape 345

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe is stamped The in script over Guildhall over London Pipe on the left side of the shank and number 345 near the bowl on the right side of the shank and Made in London in a circle over England. This is the third of the pipes from the box my daughters found for me. The first two were the Orlik’s that I wrote about earlier. This one was in better condition than the other two. The top was beat up with outer and inner rim damage and also the same varnish coat over the uncleaned rim and the bowl and shank. The stem was original and has the three silver bars on the left side as expected in the Guildhall series. There were tooth dents that had been buffed out and left the stem with waves around the remaining marks. The grain was quite nice on this one – lots of cross grain and birdseye but it was obscured by the finish coat. The interior was filthy as were the others. In the side photos below the finish looks pretty good but the grain could stand out more clearly.
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I took the next photo to show the damage on the rim. The inner edge was rough and the outer edge was also rough. There was tar build up under the varnish coat that had not been cleaned off before varnishing. The bowl was also coated with a black bowl coating.
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I sanded the top and bottom side of the stem with 20 grit sandpaper to smooth out the ripples in the vulcanite and remove the remainder of the tooth marks. Once I had them removed I worked on the bowl.
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I topped the bowl on the sandpaper and flat board as is my usual method. I took off enough briar to make the top smooth and the outer edge sharp as well. I sanded the inner edge with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damage there as well. The next two photos show the topping process and the sanding of the inner edge.
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The interior of the shank and stem were filthy and needed a lot of work with Everclear, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. The photo below shows the first lot that was used but by the time I was finished cleaning the shank I had used about twice that number.
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I wiped down the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat and the finish. I wanted to remove as much of it as possible so that when I restained the rim it would be easier to match.
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I sanded the stem with a medium grit sanding sponge and then with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem in between the wet sanding and the dry sanding with red Tripoli because I wanted to see what I had to work with and if I had removed the rippling on the vulcanite. I had so I went on to the dry sanding. When I had finished I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and put it aside to dry.
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I stained the bowl with MinWax Medium Walnut stain. I applied it with a cotton pad and rubbed it off with a cotton cloth. I repeated the process until I had the coverage that I wanted and the rim and bowl matched.
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I reinserted the stem in the shank and took the pipe to the buffing wheel for a buff with White Diamond. I gave both the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and polished it with a soft flannel buff. The reworked Comoy’s Guildhall Stack is shown in the photos below ready and clean for its inaugural smoke.
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Reworking an Orlik De Luxe L23 Billiard

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This is the second pipe from box of English pipes that my daughters found when cleaning out our storage room under the front porch (interior room). It is stamped Orlik De Luxe over Made in England on the left side of the shank and L23 on the right side of the shank. It looked as if it had been refurbished by the same gent who did the Orlik Canadian I reworked. This one also had a varnish coat on the bowl that made it shiny. Underneath the varnish the finish was spotty. The outer and inner edge of the rim was damaged and there were deep grooves on the surface of the rim. The tarry buildup had not been totally removed before the finish coat of varnish was put in place. The inside of the bowl had been painted with a bowl coating that was black. The stem appears to be a replacement but it was better craftsmanship than the previous one. The stem itself was clean but had scratches. The interior of the pipe and stem were filthy.

I have little experience with Orlik pipes so the numbering system was a mystery to me. I did a bit of research and found out that the shape numbers remain consistent throughout the various lines of Orlik pipes. The only difference is found in the letter that precedes the number. In the case of the two pipes that I have now worked on each had the letter “L” before the shape number. The letter signifies the line of pipes within the Orlik family that is in hand. The L stands for the Orlik De Luxe line. I have included the chart below that gives the various lines of Orlik pipes. I have also included the shape chart for Large Billiards that shows the L23. The one I have is similar to the one in the picture though I am certain that mine has a replacement stem as it has a different taper to the stem.
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The first three photos below show what the pipe looked like when I brought it to the work table. The issues that I noted above are clearly visible from these photos. The stamping on the pipe is faint but readable on the left side. The number stamp on the right side is in better condition.
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In the photo above the tars that were left on the rim before the varnish are visible by my thumb and also my forefinger. The bowl would need to be topped. I have included the next two close-up photos of the rim to show the condition it was in when I started the rework of this pipe and to explain why I was going to top the bowl. The inner edge of the rim had significant damage and showed signs of being hit against something to empty the bowl. The outer edge had similar damage and was badly pitted on the back and the front of the bowl.
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I set up the sandpaper on the flat board that I use for topping and topped the bowl until the rim and the edges were once again sharp and clean. I did not have to remove very much of the briar but what I removed took off the damaged outer edges of the rim and reduced the appearance of damage to the inner edge. I sanded around the inner edge with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inside. The newly topped bowl is visible in the second photo below.
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I used a lot of pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the black tars and oils that had not been cleaned out for quite a while. This is only the second pipe that I have cleaned up that came from this chap and I have to say I am not impressed at this point. These were sold in a shop as estates that had been refurbished and were ready to smoke. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat before I restained the bowl. I used a black permanent marker to carry the grain lines through the two fills on the left side of the bowl. The briar was actually quite nice under the varnish coat.
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I wiped the bowl down a final time with acetone and then gave it a coat of MinWax Medium Walnut stain. I rubbed it into the bowl and then wiped it off with a soft cotton towel. It really brought the grain to life on this old pipe.
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The stem had scratches from the sandpaper that had been used on it previously and a slight bit of tooth chatter near the button that had been buffed over. I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge and then with the usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with the 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I took the pipe and stem to the buffer and buffed the entirety with White Diamond, being careful around the faint stamping on the left side of the shank. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and hand buffed it when it was dry.
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I buffed the finished pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished buffing with a clean flannel buff to give the pipe a shine. The photos below show the reworked pipe, cleaned and ready for its inaugural bowl.
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Reworking an Orlik Matt Canadian Shape L78

1 Reply

A few years ago I was gifted a small box of English pipes. I had truly forgotten about it but my daughters were cleaning out our storage room under the front porch (interior room) and came across the box. So now I have five more pipes to restore. The pipe on the table this morning was a Canadian with a poorly fitted replacement stem. It was not the same oval as the shank. The shank had been sanded down to fit the stem and done in such a way that it was no longer an even taper. Even in doing so the stem still was larger on the top and bottom where it met the shank. The transition was thus rough and uneven. The stem also had significant scratches on it and a spot at the top and bottom where there was an uneven bump near the shank. The bowl had been topped and then the rim and shank restained but they did not match the rest of the pipe. The stamping though faint on the top of the shank reads Orlik Matt over Made in England in block letters. There is also a shape number on the right side of the shank as noted in the title – L78. I did a bit of checking to see if the shape number matched what I had. I have included a page of shapes – the one I have is at the bottom of the page.
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Here are some photos of the pipe when I started.
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I wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the spotty finish. I cleaned out the shank and stem as they were filthy and prohibited a true fit on the stem. Once I had the stem sitting in the stem correctly I sanded the shank and stem junction with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the transition and even out the taper from the bowl to the stem. I wanted to also remove the excess vulcanite and to reshape the oval of the stem and shank. I wanted the transition to be smooth to the feel. I think that whoever restemmed and restored this pipe the first time gave the bowl a coat of varnish so I removed that with the acetone.
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I sanded the stem shank union with a medium grit sanding sponge and a fine grit sanding block to further smooth out the transition and lines. I wanted a smooth flow of line from the bowl to the button.
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Once I had finished sanding the stem and shank and the briar was smooth and unscratched it was time to stain the shank and rim. I gave the shank end and the rim a coat of dark brown aniline stain to try to bring it back to the same hues and the rest of the bowl and then stained the entire bowl and shank with a Minwax Medium Walnut stain. The first time I did it the stain still did not match well so I heated the end and the rim with a lighter and reapplied the dark brown aniline. Then stained them both again with the Minwax stain. When I had finished they were closer than before.
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I sanded the stem and the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and then dry sanded the bowl and stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then took the pipe to the buffer to give it a light buff with White Diamond to polish. I was careful in the buffing to avoid the already light stamping on the top of the shank. I had buffed that section with a soft cotton cloth.
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I still was not happy with the stain coverage on the sanded portions of the pipe as they appeared lighter than the body of the pipe. I brought it back to the work table and touched up those two areas – the stem shank junction and the rim – with Minwax Red Mahogany Stain then set it aside to dry.
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Once the stain was dry I lightly buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. I polished the finished pipe with a clean flannel buff to protect it and give a shine. Even with the buffing I was seeking more of a matt look to the pipe than a shiny one. The finished pipe is pictured below.
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A Great Piece of Briar – Restored Square Shanked GBD New Era 9489 Billiard

6 Replies

I am generally not a fan of square shanked pipes. I am not sure why but there is just something about them that has never caught my eye… that is until I saw this GBD New Era Billiard. It has stunning grain – cross grain on the back of the bowl and the top and bottom of the shank and the bowl. There is also some cross grain off centre on the front of the bowl. The left side has stunning birdseye and the same is also true on the right side of the bowl. The rim of the bowl is beveled inward and is also cross grain. The finish on the bowl was in excellent shape other than a heavy build up on the rim of tars and carbon. The stem was long, oxidized and had a huge bite through on the underside of the stem. It is stamped GBD in an oval over an arced New Era on the left side of the shank and London England over 9489 on the right side.
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I have included the photo below of the underside of the stem. The size of the hole made it unpatchable with my usual methods.
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I used the Dremel and sanding drum to cut off the end of the stem and remove the damaged portion of the stem. I would then recut a button on the end of the stem and rework the airway opening in the slot.
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I took the pipe back to my work table and used a file to cut the line for the button. For this initial part of shaping the new button I leave the stem on the shank as the bowl provides a good “handle” to hold on to when reworking the stem.
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I used a flat needle file to carve down the slope of the stem toward the button. I find that reworking the slope of the stem gives a smoother transition between the new button and the blade of the stem. I think we have all seen poorly cut buttons where the button looks pinched on the end – almost like someone squeezed the button out of the stem. I want the transition to move gently toward the new button and then have clean angles on the button.
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At this point I usually remove it from the shank as I have much more carving to do on the stem with needle files and I want to be able to turn it at various angles to get things the way I want them. I continued to work on the stem with various needle files and 220 grit sandpaper to shape and contour the stem. I sanded the rest of the stem as well carefully working around the GBD roundel to make sure not to damage it. When I had finished the shaping of the button I sanded the entirety with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches and further remove the oxidation. I probably could have soaked it in Oxyclean but since I was working the button over with sandpaper and files anyway I just sanded the stem.

I set the stem aside for a bit and scrubbed the bowl rim down with saliva on cotton pads scraping and rubbing until I got to the clean surface of the rim. I did not intend to restain this pipe so I was careful not to remove the finish in the process.
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I took it to the buffer after I had it cleaned up as shown above. I buffed the edge with White Diamond to remove the last of the detritus of the carbon on the rim. The first photo below shows the clean bowl rim. The three photos following that one show the bowl after it had been buffed with carnauba wax to polish it and protect it.
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I put the stem back on just to have a look at the work so far. Sometimes I need to get a bit of perspective on the stem work so I will stop and put things back together, take a few photos and study them to see what I need to do. Somehow the photos show things that my eye does not pick up as I work on the pipe.
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The pipe was looking good and the areas that needed work on the oxidation and scratches showed up clearly in the flash. I used micromesh sanding pads to work on the finish. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.
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When I finished sanding I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it as dry buffed it with White Diamond once again. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean flannel buffing pad to give it a shine. It is important when buffing to not press to hard around the nomenclature. I generally use a very light touch in those areas and then hand polish them with a soft cotton cloth. The finished pipe is pictured below. The stem came out quite nicely There is a bit of oxidation around the roundel that still remains. I will continue to work on that with the micromesh pads and see what I can do but it is ready to load a bowl and smoke.
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A GBD “Dublinish” Poker Brought Back to Life

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The fourth pipe I have refurbished from the lot I just picked up is an oval shanked “Dublinish” Poker that has a GBD on the brass stem roundel. It is stamped on top of the shank with GBD in an oval over New Standard in script. On the underside of the shank it is stamped London England over 9558. I looked up the shape number on the GBD shape site and was unable to find a listing for a pipe of this shape. I looked other places on the web and did not find this shape either listed or pictured. It is certainly not a shape that I have seen for the years that I have been working on pipes and collecting GBD pipes.
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The picture below shows the state of the bowl when I brought it to the work table. It had a thick and crumbly carbon cake and carbon and tar build up on the concave surface of the rim. The front of the outer edge had burn marks from repeated lighting. The GBD roundel on the stem was badly oxidized and looked to be corroded. The stem was badly oxidized and on the bottom had a large hole where the previous owner had bitten through the stem.
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The picture below shows the size of the bite through and gives a pretty clear picture why I chose not to patch the stem but rather to cut the bite through off and rework the stem and button.
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I cut off the end of the stem with a Dremel and sanding drum attachment. I cut it back to the place behind the bite mark that was solid and undamaged. The next four photos show the pipe with the damaged portion of the stem removed and a straight cut made across the end of the stem.
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I took it back to the work table and reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I used three of the cutting heads from the smallest up to remove the cake and clear out the debris in the bowl. I wanted to remove the cake to assess the soundness of the rim and the bowl of the pipe. I scrubbed the rim down with saliva and cotton pads. It took a lot of elbow grease to finally get the rim clean of the buildup and tars. In the photo below the burn mark on the front of the bowl is visible.
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I used files, a wood rasp and needle files to cut the line on the button across the top and the bottom of the stem. I trimmed the thickness of the stem tapering toward the shank with the needle files. I wanted to thin down the stem and taper is more smoothly into the new button making for an even transition from the saddle to the edge of the button.
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I used the needle files to open the end of the button and shape it into and oval and a funnel into the airway. I wanted a good open airway that would easily take a pipe cleaner.
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After working with the files I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and to continue to shape the stem into a smooth taper from the saddle to the button.
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I sanded the end of the button to angle it back toward the slot and to smooth it out and shape it. I also used the needle files to clean up the straight edge of the button.
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Once I had the taper and the angles correct I sanded the stem with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches from the sandpaper.
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When the stem was finished in terms of shaping I moved on to work on the bowl. I wanted to stain the rim and the edges of the bowl where the burn marks were. I used a red mahogany Minwax stain and rubbed it into the rim and gave the entire pipe a stain coat. Once I had wiped that off with a clean towel I gave it a second coat of medium walnut stain to blend it in even more with the rest of the bowl. I buffed it with White Diamond to polish it and give it a shine.
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I sanded the stem with my regular regimen of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with the 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with the 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed in a coat of Obsidian Oil and when it had dried took the stem to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond to give it a shine.
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I buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond and then multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing the bowl and stem with a clean buff with soft flannel to bring out a high shine. The finished pipe is shown below in the pictures. The shortened stem came out looking very good and the reduced length does not detract from the look of the pipe as a whole.
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Restoring a Comoy’s Tradition Shape 225 Bent Dublin

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The second Comoy’s I picked up on the recent hunt was a beautifully shaped 225 Tradition. It is a shape that I love for its graceful flow and bend. The stamping on it was weak but visible under a lens. The left side of the shank was stamped Comoy’s over Tradition and the right side was stamped 225. I looked up the shape on Chris Keene’s Pipe Pages and found this page on a 1960’s catalogue http://pipepages.com/64com19s.htm . It is the 225 shape at the bottom of the page.
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When I picked it up the pipe the stain on the briar was slightly faded. The stamping was weak. On the side where Comoy’s Tradition was stamped it is very faint, though still visible with light. On the side of the shank where the shape number was stamped the 2 and the 5 are clear and the middle 2 is very light. The bowl was caked and the rim was caked with tars and carbon build up. The inner bevel was clean and undamaged though dirty with tars and the outer edge was also very clean. The exterior of the pipe had no dents of dings. The stem was a replacement and was missing the usual step down tenon that I have come to expect and the existing tenon was shorter than normal. The stem itself was oxidized and had a large bite through on the underside. Of the six pipes (GBD and Comoy’s) that I picked up all but the little bulldog have the same issue.
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The photo below shows a closer look at the bite through on the underside of the stem. It’s size, the length of the stem and the fact that it was an obvious replacement stem made my decision of whether to try to repair the hole or to cut the stem back quite easy to make.
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I used a Dremel and sanding drum to cut the stem back to solid vulcanite and remove the damaged spot and the button. This would necessitate recutting and shaping a new button on the stem as well as reshaping the slot in the button.
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After cutting it off I took it back to the worktable to prepare it for the new button. I wiped the stem down to remove the dust from cutting and to clean the surface so that I could get a good clean line on the button.
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I used files, a wood rasp and various needle files to cut an edge for the new button on both the top and the bottom sides of the stem. I also used the files to cut back the stem on the slope before the new button on both sides of the stem. The stem needed to be thinned down from the button forward to the shank for more comfort in the mouth and to keep the graceful lines of the shape intact. I used the needle files to carve back the stem thickness and smooth out the lines so that the button did not look choked and pinched at the line. Once I had a clean slope on the stem previous to the button I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to further highlight the angles of the button.
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I sanded the end of the new button to give it a slope toward the slot and to remove the sharp edge look of the new cut. I opened up the button to give it a funnelled shape to the airway and also made it oval. The side profile photos give a clear look at the stem and the angle of the stem previous to the new button.
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I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to get rid of the cake and to clear away the debris from the inner edge of the bowl. I cleaned the rim with saliva on a cotton pad and scrubbed until I had removed the tars and buildup from both the top and the inner bevel of the rim.
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I sanded the stem to further define the button and shape it using 220 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge. When I was happy with the overall shape of the stem, I sanded its entirety to remove the oxidation. I finished sanding it with my usual regimen of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.
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When I had finished sanding with the final grits of pads I put the stem in the shank and buffed it with red Tripoli to remove some of the scratches that still remained on the underside of the stem near the button and then buffed the whole stem with White Diamond. I lightly buffed the pipe as well before taking it back to the worktable to give it a top coat of red mahogany Minwax stain. I rubbed the stain on the bowl to bring back some of the reddish colour that I have found in my other Tradition pipes and used them to match the colour on this pipe.
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I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil to preserve the vulcanite. And when the stain was dry I gave it a light buff with White Diamond. I finished by giving the entire pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax to preserve and give it a shine. The finished pipe is picture below. It is cleaned and ready to continue a life of service.
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Reworking a Couple of Pipes with my Son in Law on a Grey Vancouver Day

1 Reply

On a recent pipe hunt my son in law went with me and picked up a couple of pipes of his own. The first one was an interesting little Medico VFQ apple with a red stem. The stem was not too badly damaged. It was a filter pipe and still had the old paper Medico tube in the shank. The bowl was a mess. The rim had been burned and chipped and the bowl was badly caked and it looked as if the previous owner had smoked gooey aromatics in it that left behind a heavy residue of tar in the bottom of the bowl. It had hardened into lava like material. He liked the stem colour and the shape of the old pipe so I said to go ahead and pick it up and the two of us could work on it and bring it back for him. So he shelled out the $12.50 for the pipe and it became his first estate purchase of the trip.
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This old pipe took every trick I had up my sleeves to refurbish. The stem was nylon not rubber so it was fussy to clean up. Every scratch shows in nylon and it cannot be buffed except with a very gentle hand. Everything had to be done by hand. I worked on the stem while Lance worked on the bowl. I sanded the stem from the button up the stem for about an inch to remove the calcification on the end and remove the tooth chatter on the top of the stem. On the underside there were a couple of deeper tooth marks that needed attention. I heated the nylon carefully with a lighter to try to raise the dents in the stem. I moved quickly across the surface so as not to melt the nylon. All but one of them lifted nicely – it remained a stubborn part of the sanding process. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge. I finished by sanding the stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit – wet sanding with the first three grits and then dry sanding with the remaining grits. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I also sanded the aluminum tenon with the 2400 grit micromesh pad to remove the oxidation on it. I polished it with a silver polishing cloth.

In the mean I had Lance top the bowl and flatten out the rim surface. Then he beveled the outer edge to give the pipe a rounded look like it had previously. He gave the inner edge a slight bevel as well. There were three flaws in the rim surface where the fills were missing. I had him repair these with briar dust and super glue. He then topped the bowl lightly a second time to smooth out the fill repairs. He wiped the bowl down with acetone and sanded it with the sanding sponge. He gave it a quick sand with 1500-2400 grit micromesh as well and then stained it with a black undercoat making sure that the stain went into the grooves that were carved in the bowl surface. He then wiped it down with acetone and sanded it again to remove the black stain from the surface of the bowl leaving it deep in the grooves and around the rim. The black feathered out down the bowl sides and at the tenon shank union. He sanded the aluminum band with a 3200 grit micromesh sanding pad to polish it and then restained the bowl with a red mahogany Miniwax stain. We buffed the pipe with White Diamond and then gave the stem very lightly making sure to not let it heat up. We gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax. Here is the first pipe he had ever refurbished after it was finished.
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The second pipe was less of a challenge and it was found second on the hunt. It is a Kirsten SX. With a little research we found out that the X designation added to the shape and size S usually meant Brass but that during the 1960’s there was a brief period of time where the SX was an antiqued black and silver finish. That is what he had! Thus we were able to date the pipe a bit for him. The bowl was unsmoked new stock and was probably a replacement. The stem was oxidized and covered with tooth chatter. The barrel was oxidized and much of the antiquing had worn of the finish. The valve at the end was stuck in place. The ramrod was oxidized and dirty. It would be a very easy refurbishing job. Considering the pipe cost him $15 it was well worth the effort.
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Lance took the pipe apart unscrewing the bowl and removing the stem and ramrod from the barrel. The valve at the end was stuck so we had to drive it out with piece of rod I have here. Once it was apart we each went to work cleaning the parts. Lance worked on the barrel and the valve cleaning the outside and the inside of the parts. I worked on the ramrod and the stem. He cleaned out the valve with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and Everclear and also cleaned out the inside of the barrel with the same. He polished the barrel with silver polish to remove the oxidation and then we washed the barrel with a wash of black aniline stain to give it a bit of an antique look. I sanded out the tooth marks on the stem and polished the ramrod. Lance then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit. Once the stem was polished he rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then we gave the stem a quick buff with White Diamond on the buffer. We rubbed Vaseline into the O-rings on the valve and the stem/ramrod then reassembled the pipe. We gave the entire pipe a light buff with carnauba wax and a soft flannel pad to polish it. Here is the finished pipe.
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When we finished we filled a bowl with well aged Balkan Sobranie Virginian No. 10 and retired to the porch to have a bowl and a visit. It was a great way to spend a grey Vancouver day and get to know my son in law a bit better. We are already planning more hunts and pipe refurbishing sessions. It is great to have someone working with me who is interested in learning the tricks of the hobby living so close by.