Tag Archives: removing oxidation

Restoring a gorgeous Amphora X-tra 821 Bent Scoop

by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one we picked up on 04/12/2024 from a pipe seller in St. Cloud, Florida, USA. It is an interesting looking pipe with the rim top scooped and some beautiful grain around the bowl and shank. It is stamped on the left side and reads Amphora [over] X-tra [followed] by the shape number 821. On the right side it is stamped Genuine Briar. The finish is dirty and the varnish coat is spotty and peeling on the front and back of the bowl. There are a few small fills in the surface but nothing too huge. The rim top and edges look good with some darkening on the top. There is a light cake in the bowl that should be an easy clean up. The stem is a vulcanite saddle and it is in good condition with light tooth chatter on both sides. It is a neat looking little pipe that will soon be looking for a new home. I 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 inner edge of the rim. I also took photos of the top and underside of the stem. The photos show the overall condition of the stem. The stamping on the sides of the shank is clear and readable and read as noted above. I took several photos to capture the stamping on the sides of the shank. I took the stem off and took a photo of the pipe to show the beauty of the piece. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn about the pipe and its maker. The photos did not show the same pipe but the information was helpful (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a5.html). I did a screen capture of the section and the side bar notes are shown below the photo.A brand of Elbert Gubbels & Sons – Royal Dutch Pipe Factory who has gone bankrupt on March 2012. See also: Big-Ben, Humbry, IRC, Roermond, Royal Dutch, Thompson and Porsche Design

From there I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Amphora) to see what I could add to the information. I quote below:

Amphora pipes are made in Holland by the Jos. Gubbels organization. The pipes are produced in relatively small numbers to a high standard and not commonly found. They were used primarily in promotions and incentives for Amphora tobacco.

The Royal Dutch Pipe Factory Elbert Gubbels & Sons B.V. is the only manufacturer of briarroot tobacco pipes in the Benelux countries where pipes of high quality are made under the brands Big Ben, Hilson, Royal Dutch and Amphora. They also supply numerous smokers’ accessories of high quality.

There was nothing specific about this shape but it gives some background. The pipes were made by the Royal Dutch Pipe Factory – Gubbles and Sons in Holland. From what I can find the shape is a bit of a rarer one with few made. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I reamed the light cake with my Pipnet reamer and the first cutting head. I took it back to bare walls. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife and finished by sanding the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a small dowel. The walls looked very good. I cleaned out the airway in the shank, the mortise and the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It came out smelling cleaner and the passages were clean.To remove the spotty varnish coat, I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad. I always like a pipe that has the natural shine of wax versus the shiny varnish coat. In this case the spotty, peeling varnish gave me the incentive to remove it! I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the residual grime in the grain. I rinsed it with warm running water. The grain really stood out and the bowl was clean and smooth to touch. The pipe is was in such good shape that I started my work on it by sanding 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 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. It was in great condition other than some light tooth chatter. 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 smooth, nicely grained Amphora X-tra 821 Bent Scoop 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 Amphora X-tra 821 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 38 grams/1.31 ounces. It is a great looking and light weight pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Pipes from Various Makers 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring a Richmond London Made 190 Bent Volcano

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe is on the table is an interesting looking smooth volcano shaped pipe with a vulcanite saddle stem. Jeff and I purchased it on 08/28/2024 from Antique Store in Astoria, Oregon, USA. The pipe is well shaped and has nice grain around the bowl. It has a flat thin rim top and a rounded heel on the bowl. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Richmond [over] London Made. On the right side it is stamped with the shape number 190 [over] Made in England. There was grime and dust ground into the smooth finish of the bowl and shank. 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 outer edge looks very good. The 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 no logo or stamping on the stem at all. 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 inner edge of the rim. 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 briar looked like. It truly has some nice grain around the bowl and shank. The stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable and read as noted above. Jeff took several photos to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank.The shape and conformation of this pipe reminded me of a Sasieni Four Dot Ruff Root Richmond Volcano I had worked on in the past. Here is a link to that pipe and I think you can see the similarity (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/10/04/restoring-a-sasieni-four-dot-ruff-root-richmond-volcano/). The curves of the bowl and shank match quite well as do the angles of the walls of the bowl. I need to do a bit more work but I think there is a potential Sasieni connection with this one.

I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r4.html) and found a listing for Richmond pipes – actually two of them. The first links the brand to Sasieni and the second links it to John Redmond. The stamping on both is similar however the Richmond stamp and the Made in England stamp is virtually identical to the John Redman.Pipedia confirmed that the Richmond brand is a Sasieni sub-brand or second. Here is the link for that information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/British_Pipe_Brands_%26_Makers_R_-_T). Given the information on Pipephil I lean toward the pipe being a John Redmond made pipe.

In googling the shape and brand further a link took me to the blog and to a post I had made on a John Redman Leaflet (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/02/04/john-redman-leaflet/). The third pipe down on the London Made Briar list (stamped on the pipe in hand) is the Richmond.

The description says that the Richmond is a superior quality series in a full assortment of shapes, pre-smoked, hygienic filters, three or four finishes which include Antique, Natural Tinted, Red Natural and Shell and the line comes in single boxes and bags. I think that confirms that it is indeed a John Redman Pipe with a Red Natural Finish. Now it was time to work on 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, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He soaked the stem in a Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer bath and rinsed it off with warm water. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration work. It looked very good with just a slight tinge of remaining oxidation on the stem. The rim top cleaned up really well. The rim top, inner and outer edge of the bowl are in excellent condition. The stem surface looked very good with a few tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There was also some remaining oxidation. The stamping on the shank sides is faint in spots, double stamped but is nonetheless readable. It is stamped as noted above. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. The taper stem is nice and the photo gives a sense of what the pipe looks like. The pipe is was in such good shape that I started my work on it by sanding 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 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 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 smooth, nicely grained Richmond Volcano 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 John Redmond London Made Richmond Volcano 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 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 45 grams/1.59 ounces. It is a great looking and light weight pipe. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store 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. There are many more to come!

Restoring a “Malaga” Imported Briar Oom Paul

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a great looking full bent Oom Paul. The pipe has a vulcanite saddle stem. We purchased it from an eBay seller on 08/22/2024 in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. The contrast of the brown stains on this oil cured pipe makes the grain stand out. It was stamped left side of the shank and read “Malaga”. On the right side it was stamped Imported Briar (stamped upside down). It is a beautiful piece of briar. The pipe bowl was heavily caked and there was a coat of lava on the rim top and inner edge. There were some darkened spots on the inner edge on the front right side and left rear. The condition of the rim and top looks okay under the grime. The black vulcanite saddle stem was in good condition other than being dirty and having light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. There were no stampings or logo on the stem itself though it is certainly the original. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. The heavy cake in the bowl and the lava on the edges and rim top are visible. The next photos show the stem surface. There is light oxidation and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button and a groove on the underside of the stem. He also took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl and shank to show the beautiful grain around the bowl. It is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. They are clear and readable on both sides of the shank. I am including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand, the pipemaker, George Khoubesser and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. The information ther is a great read to garner understanding on Malaga pipes. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/tag/malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. Follow the links to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

I am also including a flyer “The Pipe of True Smoking Enjoyment” that Malaga sent with each pipe they made. The language of the brochure is well written and gives a clear picture of how Malaga sees the process of breaking in their pipes. Take time to read it as it is very much written in the language of the times.Now it is time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank end and stem with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils, tars and lava on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rusticated rim top and shank end. The inner edge of the rim looked very good. The outer edge looked very good. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with hot water. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges looked very good. I took photos of the stem to show the condition it was in. There were light tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button and what appeared to be some wrinkles in the vulcanite on the underside.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe with great grain. I started my work on the pipe by trying to reduce the darkening and damage to the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I worked it over until the rim edge was clean and smooth. There was also a deep scratch on the right side of the bowl toward the back top that I filled in with clear CA glue and sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the rim top, edges and sides of 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 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 out what appeared to be wrinkles in the vulcanite on the underside at the bend with 220 grit sandpaper. I also smoothed out the chatter and roughness on the rest of the stem at the same time (I forgot to take photos of this part of the work). 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 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 put the stem back on the “Malaga” Imported Briar Oom Paul and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several 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. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Malaga Oom Paul with a smooth finish and faux plateau on the rim top and shank end looks great with the vulcanite fancy saddle stem. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.61 ounces/74 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Breathing Life into a Malaga Second Freehand with carved plateau on the rim top and shank end

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is a Freehand with a faux plateau rim top and the shank end. The pipe has a fancy vulcanite saddle stem. We purchased it from an eBay seller on 08/22/2024 in Harrison Township, Michigan, USA. The contrast of the brown stains on this oil cured pipe makes the grain stand out. It was stamped left side of the shank and read Malaga [over] Second. On the right side there was not any stamping. I am uncertain why it is a second. Perhaps, it is because it has some small sandpits in the heel of the bowl on the right side. I am uncertain as it is a beautiful piece of briar. The pipe bowl was heavily caked and there was a coat of lava on the carved rim top and inner edge. The condition of the rim and top looks good under the grime. The black vulcanite saddle stem was in good condition other than being dirty and having light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. On the underside of the stem there was a groove that looked like it had been chewed in place. There were no stampings or logo on the stem itself though it is certainly the original. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the pipe. Jeff took close up photos of the bowl and rim to capture the condition of the pipe before he started his cleanup work. The heavy cake in the bowl and the lava on the edges and rim top are visible. The next photos show the stem surface. There is light oxidation and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button and a groove on the underside of the stem. He also took photos of the sides and heel the bowl and shank to show the beautiful grain around the bowl. It is very dirty but this is another beautiful pipe. He took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. It is clear and readable.I am including the link to a blog that I wrote that gives some of the history of the Malaga brand, the pipemaker, George Khoubesser and the Malaga Pipe Shop in Royal Oak, Michigan in the USA. The information ther is a great read to garner understanding on Malaga pipes. Here is the link – https://rebornpipes.com/tag/malaga-pipes/. That blog also includes links to a catalogue and the history of the pipemaker George Khoubesser. Follow the links to get a feel for the brand and the pipemaker.

I am also including a flyer “The Pipe of True Smoking Enjoyment” that Malaga sent with each pipe they made. The language of the brochure is well written and gives a clear picture of how Malaga sees the process of breaking in their pipes. Take time to read it as it is very much written in the language of the times.Now it is time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and followed up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank end and stem with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils, tars and lava on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He was able to remove the lava build up on the rusticated rim top and shank end. The inner edge of the rim looked very good. The outer edge looked very good. He soaked the stem in Briarville’s Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and rinsed it with hot water. I took photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took close up photos of the rim top and the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges looked very good. I took photos of the stem to show the condition it was in. There were light tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the left side of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and took a photo of the pipe. It is a good looking pipe with great grain. I started my work on the pipe by trying to reduce the darkening in the faux plateau on the rim top and shank end. I wanted a bit of contrast in the finish but it had some uneven darkening. I used a brass bristle wire brush to work over the high spots and carved crevices in the carving. Once I finished the rim top and shank end I was happy with the look.I sanded the rim top, edges and sides of 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 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 filled in the deep tooth troughs ahead of the button on both sides with the rubberized CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once they cured I flattened the repairs ahead of the button area with a flat file to begin blending them into the surface of the stem. I followed that by sanding them with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. 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 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 put the stem back on the Malaga Second Freehand with a carved rim top and shank end and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl and the stem several 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. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Malaga Second Freehand with a smooth finish and faux plateau on the rim top and shank end looks great with the vulcanite fancy saddle stem. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.69 ounces/48 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the American Pipe Makers and Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

Fitting a new tenon and restoring a Trypis Oval Shank Apple

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by Steve Laug

While I was travelling in Europe I received and email from James regarding a pipe repair that he had. He was referred to me by the local pipe shop. I have included his email below.

Hello,

My name is James and I have been informed of the excellent work you do restoring pipes to working condition. I’ve attached a few pics of a recent acquisition of mine…

As you can see there has been a tragic incident involving mine, the stem snapped and now it’s stuck like this. I’m not sure of the brand or make (bought it second hand) and it’s quite old, uses a filter less vulcanite stem material.

Do you think this is recoverable? The guy at the tobacco store (city cigar) spoke very highly of your ability and experience. Please let me know what you think, and whether you can help.

Thank you for your time

James

He included the following photos of the pipe he wanted worked on. It was a nice looking oval shank Apple with a snapped tenon. The pipe appears to have some nice grain from the photos. The stamping on the underside of the shank reads Made in Canada Trypis. I wrote James back and told him I could repair the pipe. James stopped by yesterday and dropped the pipe off for me. This is what I saw. It was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Made [over] In Canada [followed by] Trypis. The bowl was smooth with a rusticated patch on each side and one on the backside of the bowl toward the top. The rustication is very reminiscent of the rustication on Brigham pipes. The finish was dirty and had some grime ground into the valleys of the rustication and on the smooth part of the bowl but still looked to be in good condition. The bowl was thickly caked with some light lava on the top at the back and some darkening on the top and the inner edge of the rim. The saddle stem had some light tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. It had promise but it was dirty. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my cleanup work. I took photos of the rim top and bowl to give a clear picture of the thickness of the cake and the overflow of lava on the rim top and inner edge. I also took photos of the top and underside of the stem to show the chatter and tooth marks.I took some photos of the stem end and the tenon in the shank. The tenon snapped almost smoothly against the stem surface. It was stuck in the shank but was certainly removable. I turned to Pipephil to confirm what I remembered about Trypis. I wanted to read a bit of the history (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-t8.html). I have included a screen capture of information on the site below. I have also included information from the sidebar below the screen capture.Artisan: Phillip Trypis first worked for Brigham as production manager. He continued to supply the Canadian brand when he was established on his own with his own Trypis label. Phillip Trypis had a pipe shop in Toronto.

I turned to the section on Pipedia about Trypis Pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Trypis_Pipes). I quote below.

Quoting Stefan Seles: “Phillip Trypis has been a pipe maker in Canada for well over 40 years. Originally from Greece, his experience ranges from cutting burls in a briar mill to making literally thousands of pipes out of his home in the hamlet of Oakwood, Ontario. Brigham pipes benefited from Phillip’s skills where he worked for a number of years. There he directed the pipe production of the company when it was producing over 50,000 a year. Even though he left to start his own pipe shop, he still imported briar and turned tens of thousands of bowls for Brigham not to mention produce a large number of his own branded pipes.

Just over a year ago, Phillip had a serious fall and although he is back making pipes, he is unable to travel around to sell them as he once did. He has asked me to help him in that effort.

The pipes listed below are some of his best work made from decades old MF and R ebuchauns as well as some recently purchased Italian plateau. The prices are excellent, especially given the age and quality of the briar used. In fact, I would venture to say that these pipes have no peers, especially below the $100.00 price. You must be the judge.

Many of the styles are traditional in form although Phillip has a number of freehand styles that are both familiar and off the beaten path. The vast majority of the higher priced pipes are very large pieces to be sure.”

I have worked on quite a few of Phillip’s pipes through the years and it is always a pleasure as they are well engineered and crafted.

I started my work on the pipe by pulling the broken tenon in the shank. I put the bowl in the freezer for a short time to loosen the fit in the shank. I used a screw that I turned into the airway to pull out the snapped tenon. I went through my tenons and found a match that I would use to replace the broken tenon. I began my work by reaming the bowl. It had a very thick hard cake that was like rock. I started with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the first, second and third cutting heads to remove all of the cake. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake on the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished by sanding the bowl walls smooth with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned out the inside of the mortise, shank and the airway in the stem with isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the externals of the pipe with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. I rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. The bowl and rim top cleaned up really well with the lava coat removed. The inner edge of the rim was in good condition. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It looked much better once I had finished.I polished the rim top and the smooth briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. By the end of the last set of three the bowl took on a rich shine. 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 set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I flattened out the broken tenon on the stem surface with my Dremel and sanding drum. I then drilled the airway open with several drill bits to open the airway to receive the new tenon end. I used the Dremel and sanding drum as well as a flat file to reduce the threaded end of the tenon replacement until the fit was snug in the opened airway. I glued it in place in the stem with black rubberized CA glue and set it aside to cure. I filled in the deep tooth troughs ahead of the button on both sides with the rubberized CA glue I had used on the tenon fit. I set it aside to cure. Once they cured I flattened the repairs ahead of the button area with a flat file to begin blending them into the surface of the stem. I followed that by sanding them with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I further sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. The repairs blended in very well and I was able to remove all of the oxidation on the surface at the same time.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished the stem with Before and After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I rubbed it down with some more Obsidian Oil. It was great to finish the tenon replacement and the restoration of this Smooth Oval Shank Trypis Apple. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the rusticated patches on the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the smooth portions and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. 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. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black, vulcanite, saddle stem was beautiful. This Trypis Apple is great looking and the pipe 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 52 grams/ 1.83 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and one that James will soon pick up. I think he will enjoy smoking this beauty. 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 Great Looking Big Ben London Style 2405 Extra Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table was one that I really have no memory of where it came from. In fact, to be honest I just stumbled on it in a box of pipes that had all been cleaned by Jeff. This one was not clean so I knew it did not come from him. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads Big Ben [over] London Style. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Extra over the shape number 2405 [over] Made in Holland. The taper vulcanite stem had a stamped logo that read V in a circle. The bowl had a thick cake and there was a light lava overflow on the rim top. The finish was coated with a varnish coat that would need to go once I cleaned off the lava on the rim top. The inner and outer edges looked to be okay. The pipe had some nice-looking grain under the dirty, oily debris on the finish. The stem was oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides near the button. I took photos of the pipe before I cleaned it up. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show the condition. The rim top has a coat of lava on it and the edges looked to be in good condition. The photos of the stem show the oxidation and the tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank and the top of the stem. It is quite a nice looking pipe. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the parts of this pipe. I think it will clean up to be a real beauty. For historical background for those unfamiliar with the brand I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-bigben.html). There were not any pictures of the series but the introductory information was helpful so I am including that.

Big-Ben is a brand of the Elbert Gubbels & Sons – Royal Dutch Pipe Factory. The company has gone bankrupt on March 2012. Production (2009): 250000 pipes/year See also: Amphora, Humbry, IRC, Roermond, Royal Dutch, Thompson and Porsche Design

I then turned to Pipedia for more information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben). I quote below:

The brand name Big Ben was originally owned by a small trade company in Amsterdam which was already well established in several countries selling pipes among other goods. The firm was bought by Elbert Gubbels & Zonen B.V. – see Gubbels – who were in search for a suitable brand name to further expansion on international markets. Big Ben became Gubbels’ mainstay brand with its own website.

There was a further link to the Gubbels listing on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Gubbels).

With the help of his family the father of Elbert Gubbels Sr. started a retail shop for tobacco pipes and other smoker’s equipment in 1870.

In 1924 Elbert Gubbels Sr., now father/grandfather of the present owners, transformed it into a wholesale trade business. The company grew steadily and imported pipes from various countries as there were no factories producing briar pipes in the Netherlands. The most important suppliers came from France and England.

When German troops occupied the Netherlands in May of 1940, a period of almost five years began in which the Gubbels family could hardly operate their business at all. During this years of forced rest Elbert Gubbels had a notion to become independent of foreign suppliers and he drew up plans to start his own production of tobacco pipes after World War II.

Immediately succeeding the war, it was very difficult to obtain good pipes for the import of foreign pipes was limited and so the time was right to go for something new. In 1946 he launched pipe production at Godsweerdersingel No. 20 in Roermond with a couple of new machines and some workers, a couple of them being foreign specialists and considered himself to commence. Yet the cramped accomodations and the needy equipment of the workshop showed the limits all too soon. It was obvious that the workshop was inadequate and Mr. Gubbels invested in another building covering an area of 900m² that also offered a sufficient warehouse. Now the production could be increased going hand in hand with developing new models and improving the quality of the pipes being produced.

The production grew steadily but it showed now that an “international” brand name was required for further expansion on international markets – obviously no one cared too much for pipes made in the Netherlands. Feeling that the time involved to get a new brand established was too lengthy, Mr. Gubbels bought a small trade company in Amsterdam which owned all the rights to the brand Big Ben and was already well established in other countries selling pipes among other goods. A real happenstance – Gubbels products could be marketed now in all European countries, the USA, Canada and many other countries, and nowadays they can be found in almost every country world-wide.

In December 1972 the company opened new and very modern factory in Roermond at Keulsebaan 505. With the official opening by the Governor of the Province of Limburg, the Gubbels company was, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, granted the title “Royal” so that the official name became: Elbert Gubbels & Zonen – Koninklijke Fabriek van Tabakspijpen (Elbert Gubbels & Sons – Royal Dutch Pipe Factory).

Armed with that history and having a sense of the brand it was now time to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls looked to be in good condition and there was not damage. I cleaned out the inside of the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. It was a dirty pipe.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl down with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed off the grime and the soap with running water. It was definitely looking better. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads to smooth out the scratching in the surface. I wiped the briar down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the inner and outer edge of the rim as well. After each pad I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It really took on a shine by the last three sanding pads. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips where it works to clean, restore and preserve the briar. I let it do its magic for 15 minutes then buffed it off with a cotton cloth. The pipe looks incredibly good at this point in the process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looked much better at this point in the process.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding debris.I touched up the stamping on the left side of the stem. It was faint on the front part of the stamp so I was unsure what would happen. I filled in the stamping with white acrylic fingernail polish. I scraped it off with my fingernail and lightly sanded the excess with a worn 320 grit sanding pad. The stamping is fine on the right side of the stamp with the left side more worn.I continued to polish 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 further with Before & After Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Big Ben London Style 2405 Extra Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it with just a few small flaws in the briar. The polished grain on the pipe looks great with the black vulcanite stem. This smooth Big Ben Billiard is great looking and the pipe 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. It turned out to be a beautiful pipe. I will soon be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the Pipe From Various Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Remember we are the next in a long line of pipe men and women who will carry on the trust of our pipes until we pass them on to the next trustee. Thanks for your time reading this blog.

Restoring a Rare Peterson Kapruf 56

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Well, now, this is quite the pipe! I recently acquired a collection from a (late) gentleman who clearly LOVED his pipes. They were all well used and, according to his family, he had a pipe hanging out of his mouth at all times. As I was looking through them, this particular Pete caught my eye. It’s a handsome one, isn’t it? It’s a Peterson Kapruf 56 chubby bent billiard, with a beautiful sandblast. This one is really worth restoring. It’s such a comely pipe and deserves to be back in someone’s collection. Let’s look at the markings. We’ve got Peterson’s [over] Kapruf. Then we have Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland. Finally, there is the shape number, 56. Of course, there is also the stylized P on the stem, indicating the famous Peterson company of Ireland.The history and origins of this particular model are quite interesting. It’s an uncommon pipe and, if you’re a Pete collector, you ought to have one. In a blog post from 2019, Al Jones posted here on Reborn Pipes about a Kapruf 56 he had been working on and expounded on the background of this pipe. Rather than simply retyping what he wrote, I urge you to read his blog here and learn more. Meanwhile, here’s a catalogue photo from one of Steve’s blogs on the same pipe:I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you: the pipe was a bit of a mess. The stummel was in decent condition, but so, so dirty and clogged. The stem, on the other hand, was a localized disaster. The oxidation was extreme, the chomping of the bit was extreme, the tooth scrapings were extreme – and there was a small fissure in the vulcanite (on the underside of the P-lip to boot. I had my work cut out for me. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. Sadly, in this case, not much happened. The stem’s calcification was quite substantial. I used an old butter knife and gently scraped some of the thicker accretion off. Doing this now helps later in removing the oxidation.

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 pipe cleaners dipped in lemon-infused 99% isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was very clean. Given the general state of the pipe, I was surprised at how relatively clean it was.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. Quite frankly, this was a substantial rebuild of the button – including the fissure on the underside. This was done by filling those parts with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on. After this, I painted the logo on the stem with some enamel nail polish. I restored the logo carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.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. You can see in the profile photo below just how much better the P-lip looks after my work. 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.The inside of the stummel needed to be cleaned thoroughly. However, this pipe was so clogged, that I first needed to open the horribly occluded airway. So, I took a long drill bit, held in a drill chuck, and hand-cranked it to dislodge the dreadful detritus inside. Hand cranking is essential because it provides a precision and caution that a power drill cannot provide. 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 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 distilled water, with cotton rounds. I also used a toothbrush in the crevices. I also scoured the inside of the stummel with the same detergent and tube brushes. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean.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. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench polisher and carefully buffed it – with three coats of conservator’s wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.

This Peterson Kapruf 56 looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘Irish’ pipe section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5½ in. (140 mm); height 2 in. (52 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅞ oz. (55 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring and Restemming an Angelo Saddle Stem Bulldog

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by Steve Laug

While I was travelling Rob stopped by with a bag containing a pipe that was gift from his daughter. It was a mess with a very thick cake in the bowl, burns and damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The finish was very worn and the shiny varnish coat was spotty and very damaged. The shank end was coated with a lot of grime and oils and had cracks on the topside of the diamond shank on both right and left sides. The tenon was stuck in the shank and the stem was wrapped in electrical tape to hold it in the shank. The button on the top side was chomped and showed a lot of tooth marks. The underside of the button was cracked and a chunk was missing. The pipe appeared to be a basket pipe from Italy and bore the stamp Angelo on the top left side under the dirt and debris. The crack ran through a portion of it and obscured it. It was a brand I was familiar with and had worked on before. Here are some photos of the pipe as it was initially fit together. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts. I also removed the tenon from the shank using a pair of pliers and took a photo of the parts.I took a photo of the stamping on the left topside of the shank and captured crack on that side of the shank as well.Before I started my cleaning up the and crafting a new stem for the pipe I wanted to have a bit of information on the Angelo brand. I personally like to have the background so that when I am working on a pipe I know who carved or made it originally. Then as I work on it I can carry on a dialogue with them (at least in my mind) about my changes. I turned to PipePhil’ site for information (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-a6.html#angelo). I have included a screen capture of the pertinent section and the sidebar information below the photo.Second brand used by the Rovera family (Angelo and Damiano) who produces Ardor, Roverart and Rovera.

I started my work on the pipe by reaming the bowl. You can see the spotty varnish coat of the finish on the bowl and shank in the photos. I started the reaming with a Pipnet Pipe Reamer using the second and third cutting heads to take back the cake to the bare walls. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape the remnants. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. It looked. much better. I decided to try and remove the spotty varnish coat. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove as much as I could. I would need to do some sanding on it as there were still dark spots on the finish that would need to be removed. I went through my bands and found a ferrule style diamond band from the shank end. It was a good fit from the look of it. I heated it with a lighter and pressed it onto the cracked shank. It fit very well and brought the cracks together. It slight covered the “o” on the end of the Angelo stamping. I sanded the top of the bowl with a folded piece of 320 sandpaper to clean up the rim damage and the inner edge. Once it was flattened I used a wooden sphere to further clean up the rim top and to minimize the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. I sanded to remove the darkening around the rim and inner and outer edge of the bowl. It is frustrating, but I forgot to take photos at this point so I posed the bowl after my polishing to show what I had done.I stained the bowl with dark brown aniline stain (Feibings Shoe Dye) and flamed it to set it in the briar. Once the stain cured, I sanded the bowl with sanding pads – 320 -3500 to smooth out the finish and remove all the scratches and excesses. Once again, I forgot to take these photos. I think I am out of the habit of photographing the pipes as I work on them. After sanding the bowl with the 320-3500 grit sanding pads I moved on to polish the briar with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the dust and debris left behind. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm and set it aside to let the product do its work. After about 10 minutes I buffed it off with a soft cloth to polish the briar. The pipe bowl and polished band looked very good. I really am rusty after a month of not restoring any pipes. I forgot to clean out the inside of the shank. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners – both bristle and fluffy and isopropyl alcohol to work over the inside of the shank. It is much cleaner now that I remembered to do it!I polished the nickel band on the shank with a jeweller’s cloth to give it a shine and protect it from oxidizing. It looked much better with the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the new stem I needed to fit on the pipe. The previous stem (origianal??) had many cracks in the saddle portion, the tenon was loose and the whole thing had been wrapped tightly with electrical tape. I went through my stems and found one that would work well wit the bowl. In the photo it looks longer but it is actually about the same length. The tenon will need to be reduced in diameter and the casting marks removed but the stem should look great once it is finished.The next phojto showed the bowl before I had finished it. I started fitting the stem to the shank before I worked on the bowl finish. I used two files to reshape the tenon. I shortened the tenon to match the depth of the shank with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once I had the length correct and the fit of the tenon correct I put it on the shank and took photos of the pipe to show the new look it had with the new stem. It still needed much more work to smooth out the stem surface but it looked good on the shank with the band. I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. I smoothed out the castings on the sides of the stem and the button surface. I sanded the saddle portion and the top and underside of the blade with the 320 sandpaper. It looked better and the fit to the band on the shank end was very good.I sanded the stem further with 320-3500 sanding pads. I worked on the surface of the stem to give it a smooth finish. The finish on the stem was getting smoother with the work.I polished the stem with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. It began to take on a rich glow and the surface was very smooth. This reworked and restemmed Angelo Straight Bulldog has a beautiful finish now that the varnish coat has been removed and the bowl restained. It truly has a new lease on life. The medium brown/black finish gives depth to the grain around the bowl and shank. The newly fit polished black vulcanite stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Angelo Straight Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/49 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. The fellow who dropped it off will pick up his pipe on the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing what he thinks of it.

Reworking a Badly Damaged Nording Made in Denmark 4 Freehand

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that Jeff picked up from our contact in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 16, 2023or so it has been sitting here almost a year. It is a Bent Freehand with a mix of rusticated and smooth finishes. The smooth portions are spot carved like water or flames coming down from the rim top and up from the underside of the shank and shank end. The stem is a fancy saddle that looks very good. The stamping on the underside of the shank is in a circle read Nording Made in Denmark with the number 4 in the center of the circle. The stem has a Nording “N” stamped on the top side that is faint. There was some dust in the rusticated portions of the finish and general dullness on the smooth portions of the bowl. He rim top and inner edge of the bowl are severely burn damaged with deep char. There is a thick coat of cake in the bowl and spilling onto the inner edge and the burned rim top. The fit of the stem in the shank was smooth and flawless. The stem was vulcanite and it was lightly oxidized but there were tooth marks or chatter on both sides of the stem. Jeff took the following photos of the pipe before he did a clean up. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the heavy lava and burn damage on the smooth rim top and inner edge of the bowl. He took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the light oxidation and the light tooth marks or chatter. It is a pretty clean looking stem. Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the well done shape and the interesting combination of finishes on the bowl and shank. It looked very good. The damaged rim top and edge of the bowl is not visible in the photos below. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. The honey coloured finish and black rustication looks good.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 was a disaster in progress to me. It was burned and badly damaged. The rim top was burned down into the bowl and as badly damaged on the inner edge of the bowl. 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 a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. 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 decided to address the serious burn damage on the rim top and inner edges of the bowl. I began by topping the bowl to flatten out the damage on the top. I used a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the slight spot of rustication on the rim top to knock off the grit in the grooves. I used some 220 grit sandpaper and a half sphere to clean up the bevelled inner edge and smooth and reduce the damage. I wiped down the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the shiny coat. I repeatedly worked it over. The varnish coat was quite thick but with repeated wiped downs started looking much better. I sanded the smooth portions of the bowl and the cleaned up rim top with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the grit and debris from the sanding process. It began to look much better. I restained the reworked rim top and edges of the bowl – inner and outer. I used an Oak and a Maple stain pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl.I polished the smooth portions of the bowl with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the debris. The restored rim top looked much better with the clean up and removal of burn damage. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush 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 touched up the faint “N” stamp on the top of the stem with white acrylic nail polish. I let it cure and then scraped off the excess and then move on to sand it with a worn 320 grit sanding pad.I set the bowl aside and sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit 2 x 2inch sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. The stem started looking much better by the final pad.I polished the stem 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 and set it aside to dry. It is fun to come to end of the restoration of the Nording Mixed Finish Danish Freehand. It turned out to be a nice-looking pipe. The reworked rim top and the finish came alive with the work I had done on it. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the shiny black vulcanite saddle stem. It really was beautiful. This Nording Freehand is nice looking and the pipe 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 ¾ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches wide x 2 ¼ inches long, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 54 grams/1.90 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon put on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe trustees who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Fresh Life into a Sasieni Four-Dot Rustic “Buckingham” England Rusticated Billiard

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on was purchased on 08/24/2024 from a seller in Wheeler, Oregon, USA. It is a nice looking rusticated Billiard with 4 light blue or white dots on the left side of the taper stem. It was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Sasieni in script with the tail of the “i” short and tight. Underneath that it was stamped FOUR DOT RUSTIC in block letters [over] “Buckingham”. Next to the bowl shank junction it was stamped Made in England shaped like a football vertically. The rusticated finish was very dirty with dust and debris in the grooves of the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake in it with lava overflow into the rustication on the rim top. It was an incredibly dirty pipe. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem ahead of the button The 4 light blue/white dots on the left side of the taper stem were in good condition and very light in colour. Jeff took these photos of the pipe before he started the clean up work on it. Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl and rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is quite thick and the rim top has a coat of lava and debris on it that will need to come off. You can also see the lava on the inner edge of the rim. You can also see the condition of the inner and outer edges of the rim and down the outside of the bowl. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. The bowl appears to be still round. His photos of the stem surface confirmed and heightened my assessment of the condition. You can see the oxidation, calcification and tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. From the photos you can see the light blue four dot diamond the top of the taper stem they are in good condition. He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the rustication patterns in the briar. It is a unique finish and in places the grain can be seen through the finish. He took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the shank to capture what was stamped there. It is faint in spots but readable as noted above. I decided to do some work on the stamping of this pipe to get an idea of the time period it was carved. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni.html). I found a pipe that was stamped the same way as the one I am working on. I is stamped on the underside of the shank like the one in the screen capture photo below. Mine is stamped the same way Sasieni in script without the fish tail. Underneath it is stamped FOUR DOT [over] “Buckingham”. To the left it is stamped with a football shaped Made in England stamp. I included the side bar notes below the picture. Pre-transition, 1946 – 1979. Four Dot Rustic: Name for a rusticated finish. One star near “Four”.

I then turned to Pipedia for more detailed information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I quote a section of that article below. The underlined portion below is particular pertinent to this pipe.

To begin with, there are three main elements to dating the Sasieni pipe, the patent number, the style of the name “Sasieni” as it appears on the shank, and the Dots themselves. Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules (this hobby would be boring without them), but for the most part these guidelines apply better than 95% of the time. All Sasieni One, Four, and Eight Dot pipes made before W.W.II and destined for the U. S. market carried a patent number on the shank which usually started with the numbers “15″, with 150221/20 and 1513428 being representative of the group. Also, the name “Sasieni” was stamped on the shank in a very florid manner, with the tail of the last “i” sweeping underneath the name forming a shape which has been compared to a fish by more than one collector. This script was discontinued by Alfred almost immediately after he took over the company, so this alone tells you your pipe is pre W.W.II. Underneath in block lettering are the words “London Made”, with the patent number making the third line.

The dots will help you narrow this down further. As we mentioned, the short lived U. S. market One Dot was introduced around 1920, and was replaced by the early to mid 1920’s by the Four Dot. The 1920’s Four Dot is distinguishable by the florid Sasieni script, a patent number, and four blue dots, which are quite small compared to the pipes of post war years. Furthermore, by 1935 Sasieni began stamping pipes, based on the shape, with their own names, which were usually, but not always, English towns. For example, apples were stamped “Hurlingham”, bulldogs were “Grosvenor” or “Danzey”, and panels were “Lincoln”. One rare and interesting variation of this was the large bent, dubbed “Viscount Lascelles”. Even in this soft Sasieni market, these pipes regularly sell for $150 in their rare appearances in mailers…

In reading the history of the brand on the page I also read through the various photos and brochures that were included in the article. I found a photo of a page from a catalogue describing the rustic briar that I have included below. The rustication pattern is very similar to that on the pipe one that I have here. It is interesting to read the descriptions on the page both of the rustication and the patent. The pipe on the table has the stinger apparatus, or Patented Extension, shown in the second paragraph and photo in the flyer belowNow that I knew the approximate dating of the pipe that I had in hand it was time to work on it.

Now that I was reminded of the history and background of the Sasieni Four Dot “Rustic” it was time to work on the pipe on my end. When I received it, Jeff had once again done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, shank brushes and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and soaked in Before & After Deoxidizer. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took photos of the rim top and the top and underside of the stem. You can see the clean bowl and rim top. The stem has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button. It is dirty but otherwise great. It is a nice looking pipe.The next photo shows the stamping on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank. It is faint in places but is still readable as noted above. I also took a photo of the four dots on the side of the stem. They appear white in the photo but may have a faint tinge of blue. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of the overall look of the pipe. It is really a nicely looking pipe that will look great once it is cleaned up.I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the rim top. The rustication patterns on the surface came back to life with the brushing. The bevelled inner edge looked surprisingly good. I touched up the nicks and light spots on the top and the edges of the bowl with a walnut stain pen. The match was perfect and looked great with the other parts of the rusticated finish.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the nooks and crannies of the rusticated finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and worked it into the deep rustication with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for 15 minutes to let it do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem surface ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all of the tooth marks and chatter and smooth out the surface.I sanded the stem surface with 320-3500 grit 2 x 2 inch sanding pads. After each pad I wiped the stem down with an Obsidian Oil cloth to remove the debris. It was looking very good.To polish the stem and repairs I use micromesh sanding pads and water to dry sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the extra fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection from oxidizing quickly. This is another pipe I am excited to finish. It is a Sasieni Four Dot Rustic “Buckingham” Billiard. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine and hand buffed it with microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished vulcanite stem. It really was a beautiful pipe. The rusticated surface is quite unique and there is grain shining through the rich browns/black stain on the finish of this Sasieni Four Dot Rustic Billiard. It is nice looking and the pipe 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: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.73 ounces/49 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be going on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section. Thanks for walking through the cleanup with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.