Tag Archives: removing tooth marks

Early Dr. Grabow Linkmans De Luxe Propeller Logo

Blog by Bill Hein

I bought a lot of pipes a while back that had one of these early Dr. Grabow pipes. Before I started cleaning this one up I started digging around the net to see what I could find out about it as I had never seen the propeller logo before. I mainly collect old Kaywoodies and as such didn’t know much about the older Grabows other than the few I have being great smokers. The bottom of the shank is stamped with the patent number 1896800. I went to the U.S. patent website and searched the number. The patent date is February 7th, 1933. I was unable to save the images but the patent looked to be on stinger design. From reading the patent, it seems the stinger and threaded stem were designed to help strengthen the pipe shank with the insert. The shape of the stinger was designed to also be used as a bowl scraper.

I went to Pipephil.eu and went to the Dr. Grabow section. The first pipe listed is a Propeller Logo De Luxe. They believe this model was made between 1933 and 1937 based off the markings. My pipe is stamped Linkmans’s in block letters above Dr. Grabow in script. The other side of the shank is stamped 9967 with De Luxe in script over bryure in block letters. Aside from the bowl number being slightly different on the Pipephil site, the other markings are the same. Below is the pipe as received.

The first thing I did was disassemble the pipe and throw the stem in an oxiclean bath. I then reamed out the bowl.While it soaked I filled the pipe with salt and 91% Isopropyl alcohol. After a few hours I removed the stem from its bath and gave it a good rinse. While it dried I knocked the salt out of the bowl and rinsed the inside of the bowl and shank to make sure all the salt was removed. I then set aside to dry. Once it had dried out a bit I took some 500 grit wet sandpaper and scrubbed off the oxidation from the stem as well as the gunk from the stinger. I noticed there was some build up on the rim of the bowl so I used the same paper to remove as much as I could.

I took a dark walnut stain pen to touch up the rim.

I started scrubbing out the inside of the stem, switching between bristled and soft pipe cleaners. This thing was nasty and I went through quite a few cleaners but finally they came out clean. I then went to my buffer and buffed the stem and stinger with white diamond. I switched wheels and buffed on a few coats of carnauba wax to both the stem and bowl. Once the buffing was done I buffed the pipe by hand with a microfibre cloth until I got a beautiful shine. Below is the finished pipe.

A Surprise Find – A 1980 Dunhill Shell Group 5 Saddle Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

When my brother and I went to visit the “older than me” pipeman on a recent trip to Idaho to buy estate pipes from him he had this rack of pipes on his counter top. I picked through them and my attention was caught by the White Spot stem that shows up on the right side of the rack in the photo below circled in red. It was a large pipe and when I picked it up and examined the underside of the shank it was stamped 52031 followed by Dunhill Shell over Made in England with a superscript 20 next to the d of England. That told me I was dealing with a pipe from 1980. The blast on it was quite stunning and the finish was in decent shape. The bowl was caked with a thick aromatic cake and smelled exactly like the pipe the man was smoking while we were there – Lane 1Q. There was lava spilled over the back side of the rim top and inner edge but the edges of the bowl were still in round. The bowl had a bit of an odd shape to it – kind of asymmetrical. That may be because of the sandblast. It has a good thick bowl and the shank is quite large. The saddle stem was oxidized and had some calcification on the back-end near the button from a rubber softee bit. There were some tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem. The slot in the button was half clogged with debris. The fit of the stem against the shank was snug but the underside where it had been flattened to match the bowl was slightly off. The finish was good so I would not touch that area but it was interesting to note. I did know that under the grime and dirt there was a beautiful large Dunhill residing that with just a little effort would come to light.I took some photos of the pipe once I got home to Canada and was going to work on it. You can see the beautiful grain in the blast and the state of the stem and finish in the photos. I took some close-up photos of the bottom of the shank to show the stamping and of the rim to show what the overflow looked like. Most of the blast on the rim was filled in with lava and the cake was uneven in the bowl. I used a needle file to clean up and sharpen the edge of the button and to remove the tooth marks on the stem. I had field reamed the pipe in Idaho using a PipNet Reamer to remove the majority of the cake. When I worked on it in Vancouver I scraped out the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and took the remaining cake back to bare briar.To clean up the oxidation and calcification on the stem I used some Meguiar’s Scratch x2.0 and scrubbed the stem with cotton pads. It took the majority of the oxidation off and removed the calcification around the button. I scrubbed the briar with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean out the grooves in the blast finish. I also used a brass bristle brush to scrub the rim surface and remove the lava. I had to use a dental pick to clean out the deeper grooves after the bristle brush.I rinsed and dried off the bowl with a cotton towel. The dried and dull pipe is shown in the photos below. It is clean on the outside and the rim is “lava-less”. I used a dark brown stain pen to touch up the edges of the rim and blend it in with the rest of the bowl. I scrubbed the airway and mortise in the bowl and the airway and slot with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I picked out the slot with a dental pick and ran pipe cleaners through the grooves to clean out the debris. I wetsanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads as is usual and then dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding I gave it a final coat of the oil and let it soak into the rubber. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand applied some Conservator’s Wax to the bowl and then hand buffed it with a shoe brush. I finished buffing with a clean buffing pad and a microfibre cloth to raise the final shine on the bowl and stem. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. If you are interested in this one it will be for sale on the blog soon. Contact me and it can be yours. Thanks for looking.

The Lot arrived and in it was a Small Dunhill Chestnut Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me a link to a lot of pipes on Ebay and I loaded and viewed the pictures in full size. There in the lot was a small bent billiard. In the photo below it pipe at the bottom of the photo circled in red. To my eye it looked for all things like a small Dunhill pipe. There were some other nice pipes in the lot but that is the one that caught my eye and made me suggest that we go for the lot. It was a bit of a bidding war and at the end the pipes were ours. When I was recently in the states to visit my mom and dad I stayed with my brother. The pipes came in the mail and I could not wait to open it.I could not believe my eyes when I unpacked the pipes. Sure enough the little pipe in the photo was a Dunhill. It was stamped 2102 next to Dunhill over Chestnut on the left side of the shank. The four digit numeric code tells a lot about the pipe. The first digit, in this case a 2 tells me that the pipe is a Group 2 sized pipe. The second digit, in this case 1 tells me that the stem was originally a tapered stem. The third and fourth number, in this case 02 tells me the shape of the pipe – a bent billiard. The Chestnut finish also had a Cumberland stem and there under the grime on the stem was Cumberland. On the right side it was stamped Made In over England with a superscript underscored 31 after the D. From my calculations that made it a 1991. I arrived at that date by at the superscript number to 1960. The Chestnut finish with the Cumberland stem was first released by Dunhill in 1982 so this is a later version of the finish.

I took some photos of the little pipe once I got it to the work table back home in Canada. It was a beauty. The Chestnut finish was dull and dirty but looked good under the grime. The rim had a coating of lava and was slightly out of round. The bowl had a cake that was soft and broken. The stamping on the shank was crisp and distinct. The stem fit perfectly and was oxidized. The first inch of the stem from the button forward looked as if the stem had sported a rubber softee bit. There was a thick coat of calcification and crud (technical term) where the rubber bit had been. The oxidation on the stem pretty well hid the Cumberland material – the striations of colour on the stem were almost invisible. The inside of the pipe was dirty and tarred. The slot was filled in partially with debris. I took a close-up photo of the bowl and rim. The picture below shows the tars and lava on the rim. I had reamed the bowl when I was staying at my brother’s so I have no picture of the cake. I would need to clean up the reaming with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. You can also see damage to the inner edge of the bowl where it is out of round. I also took two photos of the stem – the topside and the underside near the button. The next two photos show the stamping on the right and the left sides of the shank. I scrubbed the stem with Meguiar’s Scratch X2.0 on cotton pads and removed a lot of the oxidation and the calcification. The area under the calcification was lighter than the rest of the stem so I would need to polish and sand it to blend it into the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the areas of the stem. Once I had sanded away the tooth marks and the damage on the stem it was ready to polish with micromesh.I cleaned out the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. I also cleaned out the mortise with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. The fit of the stem in the shank was very tight so cleaning it out would make it fit well. To repair the out of round inner bowl edge I wrapped a piece of 220 grit sandpaper around my KleenReem pipe reamer and sanded the bowl. The size of the reamer and sandpaper was the same size as the bowl and twisting it around the inside of the bowl quickly brought the bowl back into round and cleaned it up.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads, gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I carefully scraped the surface of the rim with a sharp knife blade to remove the lava and then scrubbed the rim with a cotton pad and saliva to remove the darkening and smooth out the rim. I did not want to top the bowl but try to preserve the finish. I scrubbed until the surface was smooth and clean. I touched it up with a stain pen along the outer edge to even out the colour. I hand buffed it with a cloth. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and smoothed out all of the marks on the finish. I buffed with multiple coats of carnauba wax and then buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. It is a beauty. Thanks for looking.

Breathing Some Life into a Bari Squash Full Bent 7811

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

When my brother sent me a picture of this Bari Squash there was something about it that reminded me of the teardrop shape that Julius Vesz, a Canadian pipemaker, carved. It was more egg-shaped however but the similarity caught my attention. He was able to pick it up on Ebay for a decent price and it only remained for me to get it in hand and work on it. Once I got the pipe to the work table I could see that it really was in decent shape. The pipe fit nicely in the hand and is 4 3/4 inches long, the bowl is 1.875 inches tall, inside diameter of bowl is 3/4 inches. The stamping on the smooth portion on the bottom is unevenly stamped and reads: Bari over Squash. Next to that is reads Made in Denmark with the shape number 7811 at the end. I know next to nothing about the Bari brand so I looked it up on Pipedia. Here is the link: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Bari. I summarized the material that I found there as it gives a clear picture of the brand. I found several pipes in my latest hunt by Viggo Nielsen so this was very interesting information.

Pipedia states that Bari Piber was founded by Viggo Nielsen in Kolding, Denmark around the turn of 1950/51. His sons Kai and Jørgen both grew into their father’s business from a very young age and worked there till 1975. Both have become successful pipe makers. Bari successfully adapted the new Danish design that had been started mainly by Stanwell for its own models. Bari was sold in 1978 to Van Eicken Tobaccos in Hamburg, Germany though the pipes were still made in Denmark. From 1978 to 1993 Åge Bogelund and Helmer Thomsen headed Bari’s pipe production. Helmer Thomson bought the company in 1993 re-naming it to “Bari Piber Helmer Thomsen”. The workshop moved to more convenient buildings in Vejen. Bogelund, who created very respectable freehands of his own during the time at Bari got lost somehow after 1993. Bari’s basic conception fundamentally stayed the same for decades: series pipes pre-worked by machines and carefully finished by hand – thus no spectacular highgrades but solid, reliable every day’s companions were what they turned out. The most famous series are the smooth “Classic Diamond” and the blasted “Wiking”.

The finish on the Bari Squash that I was working on was dirty and tired looking but the blast was really nice. The rim was clean and both the inner and outer edges were in great shape. I had reamed the pipe back to bare briar while I was traveling. It looked to be in excellent shape. There was some wear on the front outer edge of the rim that would need a touch up of stain. The stem was oxidized and scratched. The top of the button had a tooth mark that indented it mid button along the sharp edge but not on the outer curve. The stamping on the left side of the stem read BARI and was light and uneven. After reading about the factory I wonder what era of the Bari life span this pipe came from. Once I got home to the workshop I cleaned up the “field” reaming with a Savinelli Pipe Knife to smooth out the walls of the bowl.I cleaned out the shank and airway in the bowl and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. The darkening on the cotton was a combination of tobacco juices and brown stain. It looked as if the inside of the shank had some stain. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and then rinsed it off and dried it. I gave it several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush.I gave the bowl a light buff on the wheel with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. With the bowl finished it was time to work on the stem. There was a bite mark on the top of the button that needed to be addressed. I used some black super glue to fill in the divot on the top and smooth out the damage.Once the glue dried I sanded and shaped the button with needle files and sandpaper. The photos below show the shape developing from the repair to the finished look. Much polishing still needed to happen but it was shaped and ready. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I gave it coat of Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded the stem with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then buffed it with Blue Diamond on the wheel. I took it back to the table and sanded it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe stem with Blue Diamond and then with multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth and took the final photos below. I love the shape of this little pipe and the feel of it in hand. It came out beautifully in my opinion. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Lovely Rhodesian by John Calich

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I have had a thing for Calich pipes since John made a new stem for a bowl I bought on Ebay for one of his pipes. It was a labour of love and one which led to several phone conversations and correspondence with John. He was a great guy and a definite loss to the Canadian pipe smoking community. Whenever I come across one of his pipes in need of work I try to purchase it and restore it. The pipe I am writing about at this time is a Calich Hand Made Rhodesian that is stamped that way on the underside of the shank. It also has a 04 stamping. The photos below were shown by the eBay seller. The bowl appears to be in great shape. The stem is slightly oxidized and the seller noted that there was a hole in the top side of the stem at the button. I knew what I was getting into when I purchased this pipe – or so I thought.I have written several blogs about Calich pipes that help give an idea of the age of the pipe. While I waited for the pipe to arrive I reread those pieces to refresh my memory on the stamping. I have included the links to the blogs below.

https://rebornpipes.com/2015/03/03/one-of-my-john-calich-pipes-a-calich-ee-billiard/

I summarize the dating information from those blogs now: From my research and conversations I learned that John’s pipes were graded 3E – 8E. The retail prices for them ranged from $145.00 to $500.00. Each pipe was stamped “CALICH” and given an E grade. His earlier pipes were graded from 3-14 and had a single, tiny silver dot applied to the top of the stem. More information can be found at the Pipedia website by clicking on this link. http://pipedia.org/wiki/Calich This information told me as expected that the pipe I had was an earlier one.

I vaguely remembered that I had found further information but could not remember it so I read the next blog I wrote. https://rebornpipes.com/2014/03/21/reflecting-on-my-collection-of-john-calich-pipes/ There the information honed in on the date more closely. I quote from that blog now: I did find out some further information on the dating of Calich pipes as the information on Pipedia was not complete. What I found was very helpful. His early pipes were graded with numbers from 3 – 14. By the late 1980’s Calich introduced 15, 16, and even one 17. In the mid-90’s the grade system changed employing a number of E’s. The more EE’s the higher the grade. From that information I knew that the pipe I had was not only an earlier one but came from early in the 1980s.

When the pipe arrived I took some photos of it to give a clear picture of what I was going to have to deal with in the restoration of this pipe. The stem was more oxidized than the seller’s photos showed and the finish also showed more debris in the rustication and the double rings around the bowl cap than had appeared in the photos. The rim top looked about the same – there was a thin build up of lava on the flat surface but the inner and outer edges were undamaged. The bowl had a light cake in it and would be easy to deal with. There was no damage to the inner bowl. As I looked over the surface of the bowl it was clear that under the grime the pipe was in pretty decent shape. The big issue was the hole in the top side of the stem at the button. I took a photo of the bite through to show the extent of the damage. The edges of the bite through were also pushed down into the airway on the stem constricting the airway so that a pipe cleaner would not pass through. The topside of the button was also thinned down considerably and would need to be built up. I used needle files and a dental pick to open up the airway and clean up the crushed edges of the bite through. It enlarged the hole but the airway was wide open when I finished. I also roughed up the edges of the cleaned up hole with the needle files to give a rough surface for the repair to bond to. With the stem hole cleaned up I was ready to begin the repair. I cut a wedge of cardboard and covered it with clear tape to make a surface that the glue would not stick to. I inserted it into the airway under the hole and wedged it in place. I mixed a batch of activated charcoal powder and black super glue to make a patching mortar and using a dental spatula applied the material to the hole and the top of the button to build it up. I sprayed it with some accelerator to harden the surface so I could continue to work on the pipe and removed the cardboard wedge. I reamed the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife to clean out the thin cake. You can see from the photo that there was not much of a build up so it was quick job.I set the stem aside and used a dental pick to clean out the rings around the bowl cap. I scrubbed the rustication with some Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean up the dust in the grooves and crevices of the finish.I scrubbed the top of the rim with saliva and cotton pads and was able to remove the lava on the surface without harming the finish on the bowl top. I cleaned out the inside of the mortise and shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol.By that time I was also able to clean out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol. The pipe cleaners went through with little issue and the stem was clean.The next morning after the glue had cured overnight I worked on the stem. I needed to reshape the slot to facilitate easy cleaning so I used needle files to clean up the entrance of the airway.I sanded the stem repair and the surface of the button top with a sanding board to begin the process of reshaping the surfaces of both.I cleaned up the edge of the button and shaped the surface of the button with needle files until the edge was sharp the surface matched that of the underside of the button.With all of the hard shaping done it was time to begin the tedious process of sanding the repairs. I started with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface and the transition to the rest of the stem.There were still some small holes around some spots on the fill. I used a clear super glue to fill these in and smoothed out the patch with a spatula. When the repair had dried I sanded it with some finer grit sand papers until the surface was smooth. I moved on to sand the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and then giving it a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and giving it a final coat of oil. I let the oil dry before buffing the pipe. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the stem several coats of Carnauba wax. I buffed the stem with a clean buffing pad. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The stem repair is solid and though visible to me as I have looked at it so long, it is not obvious. The pipe is useable and looks as close to what it must have looked like when John shipped it out from his shop in the 80s. Thanks for looking.

An Interesting Multi-Finish Stanwell Buffalo Sitter 606

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe came to me in the last box of pipes that my brother sent me. It is a Stanwell as can be seen from the shape and finish. From my research I came to understand that it came from the Stanwell Buffalo line. It is stamped on the smooth underside of the shank with the words Stanwell Made in Denmark and the shape number 606. The shape number is very visible and I was unable to locate that number on the internet shape charts.The front of the bowl was smooth and there was an acrylic horn-like material as a shank extension. The bowl had a light cake and looked as if it had been reamed recently. The rim of the pipe was really dirty with lava overflow from the bowl but underneath I could see that it was originally smooth like the front of the bowl and the portion where the stamping was on the underside of the shank. There was some burn damage on the outer and the inner edges of the rim that would need to be addressed. The pipe was a mix of medium and dark brown stains and the finish had a light sand blast on the surface of the sides, back and bottom of the bowl and the top and sides of the shank. The finish was dirty with lots of grime in the grain of the blast. The stem is a military style stick bit. The stem was in good shape with only one tooth mark on the underside toward the right side of the pipe. The fit in the shank was snug. The stamping on the stem showed the Stanwell Crown and S and it was faint but visible. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the state of things when I started. You can see the buildup on the surface and the burn damage on the front inner edge of the rim.I cleaned up the reaming with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and then cleaned out the internals of the bowl, shank, mortise and airway in the stem. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils. I scrubbed the stem with Meguiar’s Scratch X2.0 plastic polish to remove the oxidation. I sanded the tooth marks on the underside of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until the stem was smooth. I lightly topped the bowl on the topping board. I wanted to remove the damaged surface and clean up rim edges. I also wanted to expose the burn marks so that I could address them.I sanded the rim top with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratching. I then stained it with a medium brown stain pen to match the smooth portions of the pipe. You can see the burn damage on the inside edge of the front of the bowl.I folded a piece of sandpaper and worked on beveling the inside edge all the way around the bowl to minimize the damaged area on the right front edge. While the damage is still visible it is much more subtle than it was before the beveling. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up some of the oxidation and then worked on it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond (lightly on the bowl except for the smooth areas and the rim top and more concentrated on the stem). I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed with a clean buffing pad. I hand waxed the bowl with Conservator’s Wax. I hand buffed the bowl with a shoe brush. I finished buffing the pipe with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am still debating rusticating the rim to match the bowl and stain it darker to blend with the sandblast but not sure… time will tell. Thanks for looking.

Restemming and Restoring a Potpouri Author

10 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I have a growing box of bowls that came to me without stems. It seems each time I clean it out and restem the pipes I inherit more of them. This is not a complaint as I actually enjoy restemming pipe bowls. It is always a challenge to get a new stem to align properly with the shank and to deal with cracks or damages to the bowl or the shank. This bowl came to me and I immediately fell for the rustic rocklike features of the rustication. It was gnarled and rough looking and felt great in the hand. The bowl was dirty and the deep grooves of the rustication had a lot of dirt and grime build up in them. The rim was caked and the rustication pretty much filled in the grooves making the rim surface smooth. The bowl had a rough cake in it and looked as if someone had started reaming the bowl but did not finish. There were some small fissures like cracks in the sides of the bowl near the entrance of the airway and on the bottom and the top of the airway. Someone had cleaned out the shank so it was not too dirty. There was a small crack on the top of the shank that was about 1/8 long. I could open it slightly with a wedge so it would need to be glued and banded. The pipe showed a lot of promise though and I could see it come alive if I had the correct stem for it. In the photo below there is a small crack barely visible in the middle of the shank end between my fingers. I have circled it with red to focus your eye on it. The tip of the red arrow is on top of the crack in the shank. It extends about 1/8 to ¼ inch. I took a close-up photo of the bowl and rim to give you an idea of the state of things when I started. It is hard to see but at this point I could see some small cracks around the entrance of the airway to the bowl.I went through my can of stems and found a green acrylic stem that would do the trick on this pipe. It would go well with the rustication and the length and width of the stem would carry through the thickness of the bowl. I sanded the tenon with the Dremel and sanding drum until it was a close fit to the shank. I finished sanding by hand with 220 grit sandpaper. It fit well in terms of the width of the shank but it was slightly thicker on the top and the bottom where it met the shank. I was careful inserting it as I did not want to crack the shank further. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to remove much of the excess thickness on the top and the bottom of the stem at the shank junction. I do this carefully with the stem in place in the shank so that I can get it as close as possible without damaging the finish on the shank. You can see in the next two photos that the junction is pretty smooth now and the thickness is almost a match. I finished the fit with a file and took off the remaining thickness that had to go. I also used the file to remove the tooth indentations on both sides of the stem near the button. With the fit nearly perfect it was time to sand out the filing marks and smooth out the stem. I have a medium grit sanding stick that works perfect for this application and I sanded with it until all of the file marks were gone and the transition between the shank and the stem was smooth. With the stem fit roughed in I turned my attention to the bowl and shank. I wanted to have the shank and bowl clean so I could deal with the repairs to the airway in the bowl and the crack on the top of the shank. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer using the largest cutting head. I cleaned up the remaining cake with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush on the sides, shank and the bowl of the bowl. I scrubbed the rim with a brass bristle brush until all of the lava that filled the rustication was gone.I rinsed off the soap with warm water and dried the bowl with a soft towel. The cleaned and reamed pipe is shown in the photo below.With the bowl reamed and the finish clean I turned to the internals. I cleaned out the mortise and airway into the bowl with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It did not take too much to clean out the pipe. I cleaned the stem the same way and used a dental pick to clean up the slot in the end of the button. I lightly sanded the crack on the top of the shank and spread it open with a dental pick. I used a tooth pick to push super glue into the crack and then held the crack together until the glue set. Once it was dry I found a round band that had the right circumference to fit the shank and heated it with a lighter and pressed it onto the shank of the pipe. With shank repair complete and the bowl cleaned and ready I put the stem in place in the shank and took some photos of the pipe. I really liked the look of the band breaking up the rustic bowl and the smooth green stem. The band fit perfectly and did not cover the stamping on the underside of the shank. I still needed to sand the stem some more to get a shine but you can see what the pipe will look like at this point. I mixed a batch of pipe mud (cigar ash and water) and used a dental spatula to apply it to the bottom of the bowl. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the airway and used the spatula to apply the mud to the small cracks and fissures around the airway. Once the mud cured the pipe bowl would be in good shape until a new cake was built.I heated the stem in a cup of water in the microwave until it was pliable and then put a gentle bend in it to give it a more elegant look and comfortable feel. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratches. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and then finished with 6000-12000 grit pads. I rubbed away the sanding dust with a damp cloth. I gave the pipe a light buff with Blue Diamond on the wheel to bring some deep shine to the stem. I then gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I finished by hand buffing it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The green acrylic stem works well with the rough finish on the bowl. I like the finished look. What do think? Thanks for looking.

Introduced to a Bamboo Briar of Spain Oval Shank Billiard

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I don’t know why but I keep taking out some unique pipes from the box my brother Jeff sent me. He has an uncanny ability to find the unusual and interesting pipes for me to restore. This one is one I had never heard of before. I have seen other bamboo rusticated pipes but not one that had the stamping that this one does. It is stamped on the underside of the bowl with the words BAMBOO BRIAR in an arch over the word Spain. The carver did a marvelous job of replicating the look of bamboo in the briar. The nodules, lines and grooves that he/she put in the briar really look like bamboo. To give it even more of an interesting look they left the briar natural to highlight the subdued grain of the briar coming through the smooth areas of the bamboo and the carved nicks in the surface. It is really beautiful.

When I took it out of the box the bowl had a thick cake of carbon built up in the bowl. The rim was thickly caked as well with lava. The outer edges of the bowl had some nicks in it and there was a small burn mark on the front right inner edge of the bowl. The stem did not fully seat in the mortise because of the tars and oils there. The exposed portion of the tenon and the stem were badly oxidized. There was some light tooth chatter on the stem but overall it was in decent shape underneath the oxidation. I took some close up photos of the rim and the bottom of the bowl. The picture of the rim shows the thickness of the cake and the state of the top of the rim. This old pipe was pretty clogged up with cake and tars. The picture of the bottom of the bowl shows the stamping. It reads Bamboo Briar over Spain. I removed the stem and dropped in a jar of Oxyclean to soak the heavy oxidation for several hours. Before working on the bowl I did a little research on the brand and found that on my go to site, Logos and Stampings, or pipephil there was a notation. Here is the link: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-b1.html#bamboobriar.

On that site the pipe is described as follows: The bamboo like decorative carving was typical of Valencia’s manufacturers since the early 20th century. However it’s difficult to say who exactly the maker was.

With that information in hand I went to work on the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer beginning with the smallest cutting head and working up to one that was the same diameter as the bowl. I removed the cake and took it back to bare wood. I finished the reaming and cleaned up the bowl walls with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. The outer edge of the rim was rough and the top had some nicks in the briar that made topping the bowl necessary. I topped it to remove the damaged areas of the rim using a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with acetone (fingernail polish remover) on cotton pads to clean up the dirt and oils from the natural finish of the briar. I sanded the topped rim with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then used a light brown stain pen to stain it to match the patina on the bowl. I used a black Sharpie pen to touch the “root nodules” of the simulated bamboo. I hand applied some Conservators Wax to the bowl and once it dried hand buffed it with a shoe brush.I took photos of the pipe after buffing it. The colour of the rim and the patina that came out on the bowl with the wax gives it an aged bamboo look that I really like. I cleaned out the shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the tars and oils. I was quite surprised by how little came out of the shank with the cleaning. I expected it to be far worse.The stem had been soaking in Oxyclean for about four hours so it was time to work on that. I set the bowl aside and removed the stem from the Oxy soak. The soak had softened and removed much of the oxidation from the surface. It had also brought the deeper oxidation to the surface.I rubbed the stem down to remove the softened oxidation and then used needle files to clean up and define the edges of the button.I used pipe cleaners and alcohol to clean out the inside of the stem and again was surprised by the lack of real oils and tars.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the file marks and to remove the oxidation on the surface. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry. I buffed the stem on the buffer with Blue Diamond and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I used a light touch on the bowl and shank so as not to clog up the nodules or grooves in the bamboo carving with too much wax. I raised the shine with a clean flannel buff on the buffer and then gave it a hand buff with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I really like the way the patina of the briar and the carvings on the bowl and shank give the pipe a look of aged bamboo. The unknown Spanish carver did a great job on this one in my opinion. Now I have to decide whether to keep this one or not. It is so unique that I think it deserves a place in my collection. Thanks for looking.

Refreshing a Beautiful and Unusual Clairmont Pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again my brother Jeff scored a beautiful and unusual pipe. It is stamped Clairmont on the left side of the shank. On the underside it is stamped MY PIPE and Handmade Italy. On the right side it bears the stamping 810 (it appears to be double stamped). The briar is naturally finished with no stain. There are some small fills on the shank extension and one on the left side of the bowl on the underside of the outer rim lip. They are small but visible at this point. The bowl had a slight cake in it that was uneven and there were some tobacco remnants on the bottom of the bowl. The top of the rim was dirty as was the rest of the finish. The Cumberland stem was in good shape but there were some light tooth marks on the top and underside next to the button edge. The slot in the end of the stem was rough and uneven. There was some red (maybe Tripoli) in the edges of the slot. I took the pipe apart and photographed the parts. The shank insert is pressure fit in the mortise of the bowl. It is a good snug fit with no looseness. The stem fit in the other end is also very snug and clean. The green dot on the Cumberland stem looks good. The tenon on the stem is integral to the stem. The finish on the stem is dull. While I really liked the looks of the pipe and knew it was Italian handmade I had no idea who made the brand. The stamping MY PIPE on the underside still has me mystified. I don’t know if the maker stamped it that way or if the first owner had it stamped that way. I will probably never know that but I wanted to know who made this pip as I had never seen this brand. Like always I begin the hunt for information at one of my favourite websites Pipephil’s Logos and Stamping site. It did not take long and I found the information at this link: http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c5.html.

The site showed a nice looking full bent pipe with a Lucite stem that had the green dot on the top side just as the stem I had did. The stamping was the same in terms of the script Clairmont. The Sardinian Briar * stamp was not present on mine. I found out that the brand was created by Alberto Paronelli in the 1970’s. I found that the pipes were usually crafted by Tom Spanu. Both of those names were familiar to me so that help. I have one of Tom’s Olivewood pipes and love it. The link gave information on the name. It turns out that “Clairmont” is a Francization of “Chiaramonti” which is the birthplace of Tom Spanu.Now I knew that I was dealing with a 1970’s era pipe made by Tom Spanu and named after his birthplace. For me this solidified the connection to Spanu. It was time to work on his pipe. As I worked on it I wondered if the MY PIPE stamp on the bottom was stamped by Tom and this was one of his own pipes. I cleaned up the internals of the pipe, reaming the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife and scrubbing out the airways from button to bowl with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I scrubbed down the exterior of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and oils that were dirtying the natural finish of the bowl and shank extension. I was able to get quite a bit of the rim darkening off this way. The crowned rim top is beautiful. I thought it was fitting to rub down an Italian natural finish pipe with a light coat of olive oil. I rubbed down each of the briar parts of the pipe and put it back together. The olive oil brought life back to the briar and the grain began to shine through. This is a beautiful piece of briar. I set the bowl and shank aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and smooth out the flat surfaces. I sanded the end of the button to clean up some of the nicks and damage there. I also used a needle file to clean up the inside of the slot and smooth out the lines.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit micromesh pads to progressively polish the stem and bring the depth of the Cumberland back to life. I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to add depth to the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I like this one a lot so I think it will probably stay in my collection. Thanks for looking!

Unzipped an old Pouch and found a Butz Choquin Oval Shank Capitan 1635

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother sent me another box of pipes that he had picked up on eBay and in different shops. Included in this lot was a suede leather pipe pouch. It was dried out and worn with a zipper on the top and a zipper on the bottom. I unzipped the top area and found that it was canvas lined and had an old 3 way pipe tool inside. I unzipped the bottom and found a small compact Dublin pipe. It was a mess and looked well smoked and poorly cared for. The finish was worn and dirty but had an interesting sandblast poking through. The rim was caked with lava and it was hard to see any of the blast on the surface. The bowl had a very thick, hard cake inside that would need to go. The pipe was stamped Butz Choquin over Capitan on the underside of the shank. At the stem shank union it had the shape number 1635. The mouthpiece did not sit against the shank. There was a gap on both sides with the stem touching in the middle. When held up the light this gap was angled and large. It was also wider on the underside of the stem than the topside. The stem was oxidized and dirty. The slot in the button was closed to the size of a small thumb tack. I took some pictures of the pipe before I started working on it (I remembered to do that once again!). You can see the issues that I pointed out above as you look at the photos. I took some close up photos of the rim/bowl and the stem to try to capture how dirty this pipe was when I removed it from the pouch. In the photo of the stem you can see the gap I mentioned at the stem shank union. I decided to try a variety of methods to try to tighten up the fit of the stem. I started by carefully facing the shank on a topping board. I have had success in the past with this and was hoping that it would solve the issue.I also used a sharp knife to bevel the end of the mortise thinking that it would better accommodate the rise around the tenon.But none of these measures solved the issue of the fit against the shank. The fit was better but the gap remained. I would need to come up with another solution. I laid that issue aside and reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. After reaming I used a brass brush to clean off the buildup on the rim. I was able to get rid of the thick tars and reveal the sandblast that was underneath.I scrubbed the finish on the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the grime and grit in the crevices of the blast. The more I looked at the pipe the more I wondered if someone had not cut off the end of the shank to shorten it or to remove damaged areas. The number stamping was really close to the stem even before I faced it. I worked on the stem to clean it up. I used a dental pick to open the slot on the end and then used pipe cleaners and alcohol to clean out the tars and oils.I cleaned out the shank at the same time with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. While I was at it I thought a band might look good on the pipe and give me a clean edge to fit the stem against. I went through my box of bands and found a round one that was the correct diameter. I squashed it to the shape of the shank and heated it with a lighter. I pressed it onto the shank. It covered the shape number but did not affect the rest of the stamping.I liked the classic look of the nickel band on the shank of the Dublin and figured that once I had polished it and the stem I would have a good looking pipe. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the bite marks, the tooth chatter and the build up around the button. It also loosened the oxidation. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave it a rub down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I let the oil dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise the shine on the stem and the band. I lightly buffed the bowl so as not to damage the sandblast. I gave the bowl a light coat of carnauba wax and the stem several coats of wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I think the band gave this particular pipe a touch of class. The pipe is a beautiful example of this shape. Thanks for looking.