Tag Archives: repairing a broken shank

Repairing and restoring a Kaywoodie Campus Apple

Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a text from Robert about restoring three pipes his brother had found in Eastern New York. There were two Kaywoodies and a Churchill. The Kaywoodies included a small apple stamped Campus and an octagonal pipe stamped Kaywoodie Standard. The Churchill 999 Pot shaped pipe. He sent along two photos of the pipes. You can see the condition of the three pipes. They are dirty and worn. The last pipe in the photo, the Campus has what appears to be a broken shank and a potential repair. It looks to be poorly done. Robert said that he was fairly certain that the stem was glued onto the shank with the repair. On Saturday he brought the pipes by for me to look at. The Churchill 999 Pot and the Kaywoodie Standard Oxagonal billiard were dirty but were in good repair. The one that got my attention was the little Campus with the cracked shank. I looked it over carefully and Robert was correct it appeared that the stem had been glued in the shank and it was overclocked. The repair was odd. It appeared that half of the shank that fit the depth of the metal threaded insert had cracked completely off. It had been repaired with what appeared to be white wood glue. It did not fit well and there were gaps on the top and bottom side as shown in the photos. There was also a moderated cake in the bowl with tobacco debris. There was some lava on the rim top that was quite thick but the inner and outer edge looked very good. The finish was dirty but otherwise showed some nice grain underneath. The stem was overclocked and dirty with light tooth chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I have seen other Kaywoodie Campus pipes but other than a faint memory was not clear where they fit in the line and when they were made. I turned to Pipephil’s site to refresh my memory and see what he had on the brand (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-kaywoodie-1.html). I did a screen capture of the pertinent section and have included the side bar information below the photo.The Campus Kaywoodie line was introduced in 1957 and these pipes do not bear the 2 digit shape code. Campus and Colt series are Kaywoodies smallest pipes (to be smoked between two classes). Although the Campus pipes have a Synchro Stem like screw-in attachment, the stinger itself is not of the Drinkless type (see enlarged view #2 – http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/lightbox/images/next.png)

I learned that the line was introduced in 1957 and did not have any shape numbers. The pipes were designed on the small side to give a quick smoke between classes on campus. The tenon/stinger was not a typical Drinkless type but the fit to the stem was the same threaded type of attachment. From that I knew that I was working on an older pipe.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by seeing if I could loosen the stem from the shank. I used a cotton swab to push acetone into the cracked area and the metal fitment on the shank. I repeated the process then soaked a cotton pad and wrapped it around the shank connection. I let it sit for 30 minutes while I worked on another pipe.I once again tried to turn the stem on the shank and it easily came free of the shank. The threads were very dirty but I could see no glue visible on the threads. I took some pictures of the shank repair at this point in the process. You can see how the white glue that filled in the cracks around the shank had begun to dissolve showing the damage clearly in the shank fit.I soaked the crack with more acetone using a q-tip. It did not take much for the broken piece to come free of the shank. I took a photo of the pipe at this point. You can see the cracked portion still glued to the metal insert in the shank. You can also see the grime in the threads of the tenon and in the ridges on the insert. It is dirty.I soaked the broken piece of briar in a small bowl of acetone to loosen the briar from the metal shank insert. It did not take long for the glue to soften on the shank piece and it floated free of the metal insert. I cleaned up the broken pieces of the briar and glued it in place on the shank. I pressed the parts together until the glue set. Once the repair cured I cleaned up the shank insert and painted the surface with wood glue then pressed it into the shank end. I let it sit until the glue hardened.I filled in the divots and cracked areas in the shank end with clear CA glue and briar dust to build up a smooth surface on the shank end. I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface.I used a rasp to reduce the size of the metal insert edge and the high spots on the briar of the shank in preparation for fitting it with a repair band to bind everything together. I sanded out the file marks on the briar. Once I had it smooth enough for fitting the band I fit the band on the shank end and heated it with the flame of a lighter. I pressed it against a hard surface to push it fully onto the shank end. I took photos of the newly fitted band on the shank and it looked very good. Now it is time to clean up the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grip sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I smoothed them out and the bowl walls looked very good. There was no heat damage or checking on the walls.I scrubbed out the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I had already done this to some degree when I had the pipe in parts earlier but I wanted to clean it up further. I also swabbed out the inside of the bowl with a folded pipe cleaner to remove the dust. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol.Quite awhile ago now, Mark Hoover of Before & After Restoration Balm fame sent me a sample of his briar cleaner. When it arrived it had leaked all over the package so there was very little left in the bottle. It was a mess to clean up so I just set it aside where it has been sitting for several years now. I thought I might as well scrub the briar with it. I scrubbed it down with a tooth brush and rinsed it off with some warm running water. I dried it off with a soft cloth. It looked much better. I touched up the stain on the rim top and around the end of the newly place band with a Cherry stain pen.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris on the surface. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the stem issues. To address the scratches and marks in the surface of the vulcanite as well as some residual oxidation. I sanded it with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. By the final 3500 grit sanding pad the rim top had a shine.The stem was in good condition to I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Kaywoodie Campus Saddle Stem Apple cleaned up really well and looks very good. The Before & After Restoration Balm brought the colours and grain out in the finish on the pipe. It works well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel. I followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Kaywoodie Campus Saddle Stem Apple fits nicely in the hand and I think it will feel great as it heats up with a good tobacco. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is .81 ounces/23 grams. I know Robert is going to enjoy this pipe once I return it to him with the other pipes he dropped off. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. m

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back together again – Stanwell Antique 15

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I chose to work on came from a lot of 11 pipes I purchased from a lady in Regina, Saskatchewan. She had found them in a house she bought and wanted to know if I wanted them. We struck a deal, I paid for the pipes and shipping and the box arrived while I was traveling in Europe. In the box were 5 Stanwells, 1 Soren Freehand, 1 Calabash with a Briar Bowl, 1 Nording Freehand, 1 Italian Made Bertenetti, 1 Rhodesian with a banded cracked shank, and 1 Brigham.The pipe on the table is a mixed finish (sandblast and smooth) Bent Apple with a diamond shank and acrylic amber shank extension from the lot above. It is the pipe in the lot that is in the worst condition with a snapped shank at the bowl. The pipe is faintly stamped on the underside of the shank and reads Stanwell [followed by] the shape number 15 [over] Antique. Underneath it is stamped Made in Denmark. There was a thick cake in the bowl, cobwebs in the bottom and on the bowl walls and some remnants of tobacco. There was a heavy lava overflow on the rim top and down on the sides of the bowl and shank. The edges of the bowl were so thickly coated with lava that it was hard to know the condition. The finish is oily, dirty and dusty around the bowl and shank sides. The sandblast was almost filled in with lava. The smooth panel on the front was also heavily tarred and covered in lava. The amber coloured shank extension was so coated with tars that it was hard to see its true colour. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside. The snapped shank is a clean break and there is darkening around the airway on both parts. I took photos of the pipe before I started my cleanup work on it. I checked my usual sources for information on the Antique line but there was nothing specific on either Pipedia or Pipephil’s site. I also checked on Pipedia in the article on shape number and shape designers (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers).

15. Two versions of this shape number:

a) Quarter-bent footless cutty with a round shank and tapered churchwarden stem.
b) Bent apple with a triangular shank and saddle, or half-saddle, stem.

The data was all coming together finally – I was working on a Stanwell Antique in shape 15 which is a Bent Apple with a triangular shank and amber coloured extension with a saddle stem. Now it was time to work on the repair of this tired and worn looking old timer.

I reamed the bowl portion of the broken pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer using the third cutting head to take the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to smooth them out. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and the broken shank with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. It looked surprisingly better and the tars and lava filling in the sandblast was gone. I scrubbed the broken face of the shank and bowl with the tooth brush to remove the lava around the airway. I used a short piece of aluminum inner tube to bind the two parts together. I measured what it would take to have some of the tube in each side of the break. I cut it to fit with a hacksaw blade. I inserted it in the parts and took a look at the fit. I glued it in the airway in the bowl end with clear CA glue and painted the tube and the two briar faces with the clear CA glue. I pressed the two pieces together and held them together until the glue cured. I filled in the areas in the crack repair that were visible with another coat of clear CA glue and briar dust. I worked the area over with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the high spots on the repair and wiped off the excess CA glue with a cotton pad and acetone (fingernail polish remover). The photos below show the repair at this point. I wiped off the bowl with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and dust from the clean up at this point. I took photos of the repaired bowl at this point. I used a Dremel and a burr to clean up the worn sandblast patterns around the bowl and shank. I used it to also carry the blast across the repaired area. It looked much better. At this point in the process it was time to stain the pipe. I used a Cordovan to approximate the reddish brown stain that was on the original Antique pipe. I applied it with a wool dauber and then flamed the grain to set the stain. I repeated the process until I was happy with the coverage. I wiped the bowl down alcohol to make the finish more transparent and give some depth to the grain. I used cotton pads and isopropyl to remove it. I repeated the process until I was happy with the new coverage. I remembered at this point that I had not cleaned the internals. I scrubbed out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the shank and the airway into the bowl and the stem were clean. You will notice that there was some red stain that came out of the inside of the shank with the cleaning. I polished the briar with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the darkening on the high spots on the blast. The sanding would give depth and contrast to the finish. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The rim top took on a deep shine that highlighted the grain. 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 set the bowl aside and “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a “Bic” lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to raise them some but not completely. I filled in the remaining marks on the button edge and the surface with black CA glue. Once it cured, I used a file to shape the button edge and also smooth out the fill. I sanded the remaining marks with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the surrounding vulcanite. I started polishing the stem surface with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil to preserve and protect the stem. This Stanwell Antique 15 Bent Apple with a Triangle Shank and a saddle vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of Cordovan and black stains highlights the sandblasted grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and edges look very good. The finish on the pipe turned out great even in the repaired area. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Stanwell Antique 15 Bent Apple is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 62 grams/2.19 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over what appeared to be a hopelessly damaged pipe. This Stanwell Antique 15 Bent Apple turned out fairly well. It will make someone a great pipe at a great price. It will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know! Thanks for your time.

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.

Kenneth’s Pipe Incident Report

A Badly Broken Butz-Choquin Pipe makes its way back to me for Repair and Restoration

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Blog by Steve Laug

Back in August of 2018 I worked through the pipes in the estate of George Koch and one of them was an interesting Butz-Choquin Simour Pot that had a piece of copper inlaid into the back of the bowl on the left side. The stamping on the left side of the shank read Butz-Choquin and underneath it is a bit more faint but looks to read Simour. On the right side it was stamped St. Claude over France and a shape number 1507 beneath that. I was a great looking pipe when I finished. Here is the link to the blog on the pipe (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/08/16/bringing-a-butz-choquin-simour-1507-back-to-life/). I have included a photo of the pipe when I finished it and when it was sold to a fellow named Randy in North Carolina.Randy loved the pipe and thoroughly enjoyed smoking it. Here is where the story shifts to the journey of the pipe back to Canada.

I received an email from Randy early in December about the pipe he had purchased. It was in need of a repair. I include his email below.

Steve, I bought a pipe from you about a year ago. I think l paid around $60 for it. I dropped it off my deck and broke the shank. Is that something that can normally be fixed and would it be worth it when comparing the original cost vs whatever your repair is. generally speaking? I know you haven’t seen the it, just trying to get a general idea if you think it might be worth the expense.

I had Randy send me some photos of the pipe which due to computer issues on my old computer I know longer have but it was broken at the shank with a nasty break. We talked a bit back and forth by email and after the holidays he put it in the mail to me. I received it on Thursday late in the day and opened the package to see it up close and personal. The pipe was obviously a favourite of Randy’s and had been well smoked. The bowl had a thick cake and I needed to be able to see what was happening where the airway entered the bowl. I reamed it back with a PipNet pipe reamed so I could see it clearly. The shank had a thick build up of tars in the airway that made it hard to know what was happening with the airway from the break to bowl. I cleaned out the airway with a pick, knife and a lot of pipe cleaners and alcohol until was clean.I scrubbed down the externals of the bowl and the cracked shank area with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the grime so that I could work on the fit of the shank pieces together. The next photos show the cleaned bowl and shank pieces. It was a large chunk of briar that had broken off. I studied it for a while trying to figure out how I was going to repair it for him. Finally I figured out a plan. I would cut a piece of Delrin tubing and use it on the inside of the shank to provide a base to fuse the two parts together. The next photo shows the piece of Delrin. I needed to shorten the piece but it fit nicely in the shank and the broken piece.I roughed up the surface of the Delrin tube and glued it in the bowl half of the broken shank with black CA glue. I let it cure for a short period until the tube was solidly anchored in the bowl end.Once the tube was solidly in place. I gave the other end of the tube a coat of the black super glue and also coated the ends of the crack with clear super glue. The clear dries faster and that is what I wanted when I pressed the two halves together. I held them together until the glue cured and when it was finished I took the following photos. The depth of the crack for the shank end and the feather like rustications on the shank complicated the work a bit for me. I filled them in with clear CA glue so that the fit of the band would be solid. I filled in the crack with briar dust and clear CA glue until the surface of the crack was even with the surrounding briar on the shank.I sanded the shank repairs smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to prepare it for fitting the nickel band on the shank. My thinking was that the internal Delrin tube would stabilize the shank and the band on the outside would bind it together. Once it was cleaned off I knew I would need to do a bit more filling with briar dust but it was definitely getting there. I fit the band on the end of the shank. It was snug so I heated the band with a lighter flame and pressed it onto the shank by pushing the shank end down on a piece of padding on my desk top. I pressed into place so that the edge of the band was at the edge of the shank. It was a tight fit and held the pieces of the repair in place from the outside. I sanded the repaired area above the band with a folded piece of sandpaper and then with micromesh sanding pads until it was smooth. I cleaned off the rim top with a pen knife to scrape away the lava build up. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I cleaned up the beveled edge and the top until it was smooth. I restained the rim top and the shank repair with a Cherry and Walnut stain pen to match the rest of the pipe. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips to clean, enrich and enliven the briar. I let it sit on the briar for 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to take some of the vulcanite off of the tenon to refit it to the shank of the pipe. Once a shank has been banded it compresses the diameter of the shank enough that the original tenon was too large to fit in the mortise. I slightly reduced it and the fit was perfect. I put it in place in the shank and took photos of the pipe at this point. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. With the stem done it was time to put the pipe back together. From where it was when it arrived to where it is now is a long hard push and it is definitely a different looking pipe. While it is not flawless it should now give Randy a good smoking pipe that looks very good. The finish and even the band looks really quite good with the rest of the pipe. The finish hides the repair quite a bit and it is solid. I will send it back to Randy later this week. I am looking forward to what he thinks of the restoration. Thanks for walking through this with me.

Emergency Repair for a Friend – Repairing a Broken Shank on a Thompson Dublin

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Probably some time early in the past year Al purchased this pipe from Jeff and me. It quickly became his favourite pipe and he enjoyed smoking it. He wrote me a quick email a few weeks ago which I include here

Steve, I purchased a Thompson Freehand in red stain some time ago. It has become my most favorite pipe. However, the pipe suffered catastrophic damage as the stem broke cleanly at the base of the bowl, the result of a slip of the grip while at the buffing wheel despite my vise like grip.

I’ve included a photo of my favorite pipe in hopes that you can perform a miracle of craftsmanship.

Help me Steve, you’re my only hope!

Sincerely, Al — newly retired and heartbroken…He had cleaned it and was buffing it and the pipe got away from him (pipe restorer’s and repairman’s nightmare). It hit the floor or wall or something hard anyway and the shank snapped off at the bowl. It was a clean break and looked repairable. It arrived on Tuesday this week. I opened the box and I found the stem and shank carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue and the bowl separately wrapped the same way. Both had been packed in a pipe box and carefully cushioned with paper and bubble wrap in a larger box. I always wonder what the Customs Inspectors must think when they open these carefully wrapped packages and find a broken, used tobacco pipe. They must shake their heads in disbelief that such care would go into packing such “debris”. I took the pipe from the boxes, unwrapped it and took the following photo. The shank was indeed snapped at the bowl and the stem was still in the shank!I took the stem off the shank and checked the fit. It was a pretty clean break – just a few small piece of briar chipped and missing. I went through my collection of tubes and found one that was close to the length I needed and was a perfect fit in the airway in the two sections. I roughed up the tubing with a file to give the glue a good surface to bind with. I coated the end of the tube that fit in the shank portion with a two part epoxy and put it in place in the shank. Once the glue had hardened I could adjust the length of the tube however much I needed on a topping board of with the Dremel and sanding drum.Once the glue cured and I had adjusted the length of the tube I spread the epoxy on the tube and on the surfaces of the snapped briar and pressed them together. I used an epoxy that hardened fairly quickly so I adjusted the fit and pressed the two parts together and held them until the glue had hardened. Once the repair had cured I took pictures of the repaired pipe. You can still see the cracked area on the right and underside of the bowl but the fit is quite tight. I needed to do a bit more work on those areas to get a good blend to the repair. I used my Dremel and a steel burr to replicate the rustication pattern around the bowl. I set the Dremel as the lowest speed and worked the burr to connect both vertical and horizontal patterns. It blended well. The first set of 3 photos shows the cut patterns and the second set of 3 shows the finished carving. I used a Black Sharpie and a Red Sharpie pen to stain the freshly carved rustication. The black went into the carving while the red was applied to the high spots. I covered the whole repaired area with some Mahogany stain to blend the colours into the rest of the finish. I gave the repaired area a coat of Danish Oil and Cherry stain to give it a shine that would match the shine on the rest of the bowl. I set it aside to dry.Once the Danish Oil coat had dried I lightly buffed the pipe with microfibre cloth to polish the repaired area. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I am happy with the repair and the finishing on the shank. The repair blends in very well. It is ready to send it back to Al. I will get it packed up and get it in the mail. I hope that he continues to enjoy this beauty. Thanks for following the blog and reading about the repair. Cheers.

Repairing a Broken Shank on a Sandblast Kriswill Golden Clipper 1803 Apple

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I was contacted by Mike, reader of rebornpipes about fixing two of his pipes. It was probably over a month ago when he emailed me. The first one was a gift from a friend and when he tried to take of the stem the shank broke away from the bowl. This sounds awful but it is not as bad as it sounds. He sent me photos of the pipe so I could have a look at it. It is made out of pear wood I believe and is a Chinese made pipe (at least it appears to be). He packed it up with another pipe, an old Custombilt that needed a new stem and mailed them to me. When it came the pipe was in a bag – it looked much liked the first series of photos below. It looked like Mike had been loading a bowl for a smoke when it broke. The shank and bowl were held together by an inner tube that appears to be plastic but even that is not overly clear at this point. Whatever it was it was brittle and broke neatly apart. The brass washer that was used for decoration was loose, having been held in place by the joint. The pipe was very dirty on the outside and the inside and needed some work. I would soon find out why it was not cleaned.The stem was tight in the shank and was hard to remove. Mike had said that the pipe was a filter pipe but I am not certain of that. Certainly the tube looked like it could hold a paper filter but the inside of the tube had been stepped down several times. There was a thick cake in the bowl and an overflow of lava on the rim top and some darkening around the edges and top.I took a photo of the end of the shank to give a bit of an idea of what that portion looked like. It was a tube within a tube with something stuffed in between the two tubes.I scraped out the load of tobacco in the bowl to begin my cleaning process. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and took the cake back to bare wood. I wanted to be able to see what was going on under the cake. Everything looked good once I had removed the cake.I cleaned out the internals of the pipe and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. Cleaning out the airway into the bowl proved to be a difficult proposition. It was hard to work a pipe cleaner through and blowing air through it seemed really constricted. I worked on it quite a while and was able to work the pipe cleaner through. It seemed like there was some kind of fitting in the bottom where the airway entered the bowl that dissipated the smoke. It felt like some kind of nipple with multiple air holes. Cleaning the shank was simpler but even there I ran into several step downs along the inside of the shank piece.I took a photo looking down into the airway and you can see the broken tube that held the shank to the bowl just inside the shank walls. Deeper down the shank is another tube that appears to be aluminum. Inside that tube at the bottom is a centered hole that descends into the bowl and to the nipple with multiple air holes at the bottom where it enters the bowl bottom.I cleaned the end of the short shank entering the bowl and flattened the broken tube that held the shank and bowl together on both. It was ragged and crooked. I cleaned up the brass washer that acted as an ornamental space with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. I used all-purpose glue and reset the washer in place on the bowl end of things.I had a piece of steel tubing that was the right size to insert in both the shank and the bowl end of the broken tube. I roughed it up with a file to give the glue something to anchor too on the smooth steel. I mixed a batch of JB Weld to bind the metal tube in the shank first. I packed the mixture in around the broken tube and the outside of the wooden shank with a dental spatula and set it aside to dry. I joined the family for dinner and afterwards the glue was cured enough to connect the bowl end. I applied another coat of the JB Weld mixture to the tube and to the edge of the two sides that would be pressed together. I aligned the two parts and held it tightly until the glue had set enough for it to be stable when I laid it down. I set it aside to let the glue harden. After a short time I took photos of the newly joined bowl and shank. I set the bowl aside for the evening to let the glue cure overnight and turned to work on the stem. I cleaned the inside with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. Once more I was in for a surprise. There was a brass grate inside the airway at the place the saddle portion is on the outside of the stem. It was very dirty but the cotton swabs and alcohol cleaned the grate. I was able to work the pipe cleaner through each section of the grate until the grate and stem was very clean. The tenon was wide open like it was made for a paper filter. A 9mm filter would work well in this tenon. My only issue is that with all of the brass pieces in the airway in the bowl, shank and stem the filter would further constrict the flow of the smoke through the airway into the mouth of the smoker. I don’t think it is worth smoking with a filter.I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem next to the button to remove the damage in those areas. I used 220 grit sandpaper and was able to smooth out all of the damage. The stem is not vulcanite but seems to be a soft plastic that is similar to the tube that runs through the entire shank and that broke at the joint of the bowl and shank. I polished it with 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper to polish out the scratches in the soft plastic. I continued to polish the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad with Obsidian Oil. After the final 12000 grit pad I gave it a final wipe with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. The oil is not absorbed like it is with the vulcanite but it did clean up the remaining dust and grime from the polishing. I set the stem aside and wiped the bowl down with alcohol. I cleaned up the excess glue that has squeezed out at the bowl shank joint. I removed all of the oils, grime and dirt that were ground into the pear wood. I worked on the rim top with alcohol and micromesh sanding pads until the wood was clean. With the wood clean I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth between each pad. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I wiped it down a final time and hand buffed it with a soft cloth. I waxed the bowl and shank with multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed the stem with carnauba wax. I buffed bowl and stem with a clean buffing wheel to raise a shine in the pear wood. The photos below show the finished pipe. It is actually quite unique in terms of shape and design the multiple brass grates in the bowl, shank and stem constrict the air flow but the draw is ok. It definitely should be smoked without a filter. Once I finish the second of Mike’s pipes they will wing their way back to New York where I am sure he is waiting to fire them up and enjoy them once again. Thanks for looking.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS – Is this pipe repairable?

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Blog by Steve Laug

In this next installment of the Answers to Questions blogs, I want to address a question that comes to me via email, the contact button on the blog or through Facebook. I receive photos and descriptions of pipes in a variety of conditions asking if I think the pipe is repairable. I have learned over time that the question has a variety of possible answers. I think that questioner thinks it will be a yes or no question. Really, I suppose that is what they want to hear. Yes I think it can be repaired or No, it cannot be repaired. Often when I answer yes, they want me to do the work, and sometimes when I answer, no they want to send it me to “dispose” of properly. But really the question is not a yes or no question. Every pipe gives multiple options for how to proceed.

I think the right question to ask is, “How badly do you want to keep this pipe?” or “How much work are you willing to put into this pipe?” These questions determine what a person will do and what lengths they will go to in order to keep or return the pipe to smokable condition. If the question is merely a simple yes or no then many pipes will end up in the tinderbox destined for the fire. However, if the question is as I have spelled it out above then the answer will lead to the next steps of restoration. Let’s talk about some of the pipes that have come across my desk or my email address that can illustrate this variation on the question.

A Beautiful older Peterson 999 with a huge burned out hole in the lower left side of the bowl. Many would have simply said good-bye to this old friend because you could put your index finger through the side of the bowl. It appeared to be a goner. When I looked at it I remembered an old Blatter and Blatter pipe that I had picked up on eBay that had a burn out on the back side of the bowl. I had talked to the shop in Montreal and they had me send it back to them. They drilled out the burned out area until they had solid briar. Then they cut a chunk of new briar and fit it into the drilled out hole. They glued it in place and once it had set, they rusticated the patch to match the rest of the bowl. They gave the inside of the bowl a bowl coating to protect it until a cake had formed and sent it back to me. I have had that pipe for over 20 years now and it is still going strong. You would be hard pressed to find the repaired area.

With that living memory I said yes to the burned out Peterson. In days past, I would have walked away and left it for firewood but I had learned. I drilled out the burned out area with a drill bit until the surrounding briar was solid. I cut a plug from a piece of briar and adjusted it to fit into the hole. I glued it in place and rusticated the area around the plug and lower part of the bowl until it blended in well. I stained the lower half of the bowl with a dark brown stain and the upper half with a medium brown stain. The finished exterior looked very good. I coated the inside of the bowl with bowl coating to protect it. The fellow still smokes the pipe I believe and the repair has held up well. Here is the link to the blog: https://rebornpipes.com/2014/02/06/plugging-a-burnout-on-a-petersons-irish-whiskey-999/

You can see from that example that a simple yes or no question would have probably sacrificed what turned out to be a repairable bowl. The question was whether I wanted to take the time and invest the work to make it smokable again. In this case the invested work was worth the results in my opinion.

An Ardor Urano Fancy with a ½ inch deep chunk broken out of the right side edge of the rim. This is one that caught my eye on Ebay. Many would have simply passed it up and said it was not worth repairing. The large broken out chunk of briar from the back right side of the bowl near the top and the general wear and tear on the bowl would have easily made it a pass. But to me something about the rugged rustication and the blue of the shank end and stem just caught my eye and made me want to give it a try. So I put in the only bid on the pipe – no surprise there and picked it up for a decent price. This was a pipe that would go in my collection and not be sold and it was a pipe that would provide more schooling for me in the art of pipe repair.

I had it shipped to Idaho and my brother cleaned it up for me. When it finally came to Canada I was excited to see what could be done with it. I cleaned out the damaged area with alcohol and cotton swabs until the surface was clear. I smoothed out the edges of the break to make fitting a new piece of briar a little easier. I cut a piece of briar from the side of one of my sacrificial briar bowls that I keep just for this purpose. I shaped the piece of briar with my Dremel and a sanding drum until I had it close to fitting. I used the Dremel to give the inner edge a bit of a curve that would match the wall of the pipe around it. Once I was close I used a file and 80 grit sandpaper to bring to the size that I could press it into the damaged area. I coated the edges with epoxy and pressed the chunk in place. I filled in around the patch with clear super glue to ensure that the seal was tight. I set it aside to cure.

The next day I used the Dremel with various burrs to rusticate the repaired area to match the surround bowl sides. There was an uneven smooth area around the rim top so I left that smooth on the repair as well. Once the rustication was complete and I was satisfied with the match I washed the area down with a cotton pad and alcohol. I mixed a batch of JB Weld and coated the wall of the repaired area. Once it dried I used the Dremel and sanding drum to carefully smooth out the inside of the bowl. I gave it a thick coat of pipe mud and let it dry. I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and washed it lightly with alcohol to blend it in. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I have had the pipe now for almost a year and it smokes really well and looks pretty good for a repair. Here is a link to the full blog: (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/02/26/with-just-a-little-work-i-now-have-a-dr-ardor-urano-fantasy-apple/) The next three examples show very different repairs and issues with old pipes that I have dealt with. I decided to use two of them as examples in this blog. https://rebornpipes.com/2016/09/03/what-to-do-with-a-cracked-bowl-options-for-their-repair/. The first was cut off and the job was done very poorly. It had originally been a GBD 9438 in a previous life and someone had cut off the entire top half of the bowl. They had restained the bowl but had not sanded it so there were saw marks and file marks and a very rough look to the pipe. This is another pipe that could easily have been relegated to the dust bin. My brother Jeff picked it up in a bunch of pipe from a fellow on Ebay who called himself a refurbisher. This pipe came as one that had been restored. It had a lot of problems. Not only had he cut the bowl off he had also used a Dremel and took it straight down the bowl leaving a mess in the bottom of the bowl. I figured that maybe there was something redeemable in the pipe. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to reshape the top and round it over giving some form to the damaged bowl. I decided to round it over leaving a rounded top edge to the rim. It took a lot of sanding and shaping but I think in the end I had a smokable pipe with a bit of charm that previously had been severely lacking. You be the judge. Was it worth the effort to do the work on the bowl?

The second pipe in the lot was an Alpha freehand rusticated shape that someone had done the same hack job to the bowl was very short and held a mere thimble full of tobacco. It had thick walls on the portion of the bowl that was left so I decided to experiment. If the experiment did not work there would be no loss. I had a bowl with the shank missing and damage to the bottom side that could easily be salvaged and the two parts connected to make a new pipe. I cut off the damaged (cracked) bottom of the sacrificial bowl in preparation for the new union. I drill small holes in the top of the bowl and the base that matched each other and cut some stainless pins that would join the two parts. I glued the pins in the base and coated the surface of each part with epoxy and pressed them together until the surfaces joined. I filled in the gaps and crevices joining the two bowls with briar dust and super glue. Once everything had set I reshaped the bowl so that the joint was less visible and then rusticated the new top half to match the base. I coated the inside of the bowl sealing the area where they joined with JB Weld and when dry sanded it out with my Dremel leaving the JB Weld only in the joint. I coated the bowl with a bowl coating of sour cream and charcoal powder. I restained the bowl with a dark brown stain. Once the pipe was finished I had an interesting chimney pipe that would give many more years of service. Was this worth it? To me it was worth the education for me. GBD Made Square Shank Poor Richards Pipe Shop with a lot of cracks around the bowl. This one was a challenge that Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes Blog and I took on together. We were experimenting with the question, “When was a pipe no longer redeemable.” https://rebornpipes.com/2016/03/06/a-humpty-dumpty-cross-canada-project-could-this-poor-richards-select-square-shank-billiard-9489-ever-be-whole-again/. The pipe was one my brother had picked up that was stemless. The bowl was a mess with cracks on all sides of the bowl. Charles and I had been chatting on Skype about repairing pipes and I told him about it and we decided to make it a joint effort. Charles was experimenting with using rods to stitch a cracked bowl back together again and this was just the one to do that on. He drilled angled holes on each side of the crack and pushed a rod through. The angles of each set of holes was drilled in opposition to the previous one so that it acted to pull the crack together. The next series of photos show the process of stitching the bowl together, filling in the holes and refinishing the bowl. Putting the shank back on a broken LHS Park Lane DeLuxe — Lovat 12. The next one was a fun pipe to work on. It was one that I would have thrown in the bin for parts in the past. The shank was completely broken off leaving a short section on the bowl. I liked the look of the Cumberland stem and the Lovat is one of my favourite shapes so I figured it was worth a try. You can read the details on the blog here: https://rebornpipes.com/2015/09/29/repairing-a-broken-shank-on-an-lhs-park-lane-de-luxe-lovat-12/ I cleaned up the broken ends of the shank and bowl and used a brass tube to insert, glue and bind the two parts together. I filled in the gaps in the crack with clear super glue and briar dust to make things smooth. The crack virtually disappeared into the grain once I stained the pipe with a dark brown stain. The finished pipe is shown in the last two photos. The repair has held up for several years now without any sign of the joint failing. Crafting a Frankenpipe from a cut off Brebbia Lido Bowl and a piece of bamboo. The next example is a Brebbia Lido that my brother picked up on one of his trips. Someone had glued a stem in the shank and the shank itself had been cut off crooked so the entire pipe curved toward the right. The short shank also did not work well with the stem that had been put on the bowl. We removed the stem during the cleanup process and cleaned off the glue and crud in the shank. It looked like another broken pipe but I thought that the shank had enough length that a piece of shank could be added. I checked out the look with a piece of briar, acrylic and bamboo. The bamboo worked for me the best. I used a topping board to square up the shank end on the Lido and both ends of the piece of bamboo. When I put the two together the junction was smooth and tight. I joined the bamboo to the shank of the pipe using a piece of Delrin tenon that I glued into the shank first and then into the bamboo. I filled in the small gaps around the joint with super glue to seal it tight. Once it had cured, I glued a drilled out acrylic button on the end of the bamboo to keep it from fraying or splitting when the stem was in put in and taken out repeatedly. The longer stem worked well with the rustication and the bamboo the contrast of finishes and colours made the pipe a beautiful addition to my rack. What had been a throwaway was rescued and given a new look. It is now a pipe that I enjoy smoking. If you wish to read more about the process, I have included the link to the blog on the restoration of the pipe. https://rebornpipes.com/2017/10/09/another-frankenpipe-salvaging-a-lido-root-briar-dublin-bowl/

Crafting another Frankenpipe from a broken shanked apple, a piece of briar and a metal tube. The final example is another broken shanked apple. It was a no name pipe with a nice shape on the bowl and a jagged broken shank. I decided to take a totally different tack on this one. I had an old metal flashlight tube that had a cross hatch pattern on the metal. It was an open tube. I had a sacrificial pipe that had a long shank that I cut off and used to make this more of a Lovat style apple. I wanted a pretty indestructible pipe to use while I was working in the yard or the garden. I cut off the broken shank on the apple and topped it to square it up. I turned the other shank that I was using so that it would fit into the metal tube and allow me to use the mortise for a new shorter stem. I joined the bowl and the shank with a piece of stainless tubing. I scored the tubing and epoxied it in the bowl end first then added the shank end to it. Once it cured I used a file to step down the end of the shank on the bowl end so that the tube would fit closer to the bowl staggering the new joint and giving it more stability. I pressed the metal tube on the shank piece until the end was flush with the briar of the bowl. I filled in the gaps with clear super glue to make the transition seamless. I wanted the transition between the metal and the stem to be seamless so I stepped down the end of the stem just past the tenon to sit inside the metal tube. I restained the bowl and polished the vulcanite and the pipe was ready to smoke and it was pretty indestructible. This is yet another example of the lengths that I will go to salvage a pipe that I like or that I see promise in. Here is the link to the blog if you would like to read about the process in detail. https://rebornpipes.com/2015/02/07/pipe-resurrection-from-a-broken-shank-to-another-frankenpipe/

Looking at the various examples above of pipes that have crossed my worktable you can see how I chose to answer the question, “How badly do you want to keep this pipe?” or “How much work are you willing to put into this pipe?” In each case, my decision was that the pipe was worth saving and investing time in whether it was for the sake of repairing a beautiful old pipe or for learning new skills that I could use on other pipes that came to my desk. The decision was not quick or foolish it was made with full awareness of the extent to which I would have to go to bring the pipe back to useable condition. With that I bring this Answers to Questions blog to a close. I hope that this installment has been helpful to you. Have fun crafting what you can out of the broken pieces of the pipes that come your way. Think hard before you throw the pipe in the fire and look beyond the pieces and see if you can imagine a way to make it work. Thanks for reading.

Repairing a Broken Shank on an LHS Park Lane DeLuxe — Lovat 12

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Blog by Steve Laug

I came home from a two-week work trip to Berlin and Budapest to find a package from Troy Wilburn waiting for me. It contained a beautiful little LHS Park Lane De Luxe Lovat shape 12 that we had been speaking about before the trip. I am a sucker for LHS pipes and really like the Park Lane series as they have a quiet elegance about them. The shank on this one had broken near the bowl. Fortunately it was a clean break and not splintered or chipped. The repair on these has become pretty straight forward for me. I have learned a few tricks in joining the parts of a broken shank together from the Frankenpipes that I have crafted. That was their purpose and their schooling has paid off on quite a few of these shank repairs for me. The Park Lane had a Bakelite stem (at least I think it is Bakelite as it feels and acts different from Cumberland). The next two photos show the snapped shank.

Just as I suspected I had a piece of brass tubing that was the perfect size and fit for the repair. I used a file to cut grooves into the tube and to roughen the surface for the glue to have something to hold onto when I glued it in the shank.

I cleaned out the airway on both sides of the broken shank to remove debris and to give a good clean surface for the glue to bond with. To check the size and the fit of the tube in the two parts of the shank I inserted it in the bowl end of the break and then twisted the shank end onto it. The fit was perfect and once glued the repair should be solid. I mixed some epoxy and applied it to the metal tube being careful to not get any inside of the airway. I inserted it into the bowl side of the break. I left slightly over half of the tube extending so that when I put the shank piece in place there would be enough of the metal tube to strengthen the repair on that end.

When the epoxy set and the tube was solidly in place I painted some more of the epoxy on the opposite end of the tube and a little on the briar surface of each side of the break. I have learned not to overdo the glue on the briar as it is a pain to remove from the wood when it dries. I twisted the shank piece in place, lined it up and pressed it in place against the bowl side. I held it firmly until the quick set epoxy set and that portion of the repair was finished.

I pushed some fine briar dust into the small space that remained around the surface of the crack and then filled it with clear super glue. I applied it with the point of a dental pick so as not to get too much glue on the briar.

I sanded the repaired area carefully with a folded piece of worn 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess glue and briar dust from the patch. Then I sanded with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches. I used a medium brown coloured stain pen to touch up the sanded area around the patch. I cleaned out the shank with a pipe cleaner to make sure that there was no glue in the tube.

The stem was slightly under clocked. I heated the stinger with a lighter until the glue in the stem softened and then carefully screwed it into the shank while holding the shank. I was able to align it perfectly with the shank. With that completed, the repairs to the pipe were finished. The stem was in the right position. The cracked shank repaired and strengthened with an inner tube. All that remained was to clean up the surface of the pipe and give it a coat of stain to blend in the sanded areas around the repairs. I also needed to do some work on the stem with micromesh to raise the shine and polish the Bakelite. (I rarely use the buffer on these older LHS stems as I do not want to risk it. I would rather polish them by hand than damage them.)

I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the grit and grime on the surface of the bowl and to remove the remaining finish.

I cleaned off the tars on the stinger with 0000 steel wool. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I continued to dry sand the stem with 3200-4000 grit pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished with the final three grits of micromesh – 6000-12000 – and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. Once the oil dried I gave the stem some coats of Paragon Wax and hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth.

I gave the bowl a rubdown with some olive oil and then buffed it out. I touched up the light areas of the stain on the repaired shank with a dark stain pen and then rubbed a little more oil onto the shank. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed it with the microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. I am hoping to put it in the mail later today or tomorrow to get it back to Troy.

There was some light damage to the rim surface. I decided to leave it alone as it was not enough to top the bowl. It gives character to this old pipe.

Doing an interior shank repair and restemming a KBB Yello Bole Lovat

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Blog by Troy Wilburn

I got this pipe from a member of Dr. Grabows Collector Forum, John McP. He hails from across the pond in Scotland. He had contacted me about a old KBB Yello Bole pipe that he had picked up that did not have a stem and wanted to know a little about it and what kind of stem it originally had. He also informed me it had an old repair of a cracked shank.

It is stamped 2079 and had the “Honey Cured Briar” under the KBB Yello Bole, which made it a pre 1936 model. I then checked my Kaywoodie charts. It’s a large bowl, long shank Lovat saddle bit. Even though the KW shape charts call it a Canadian I don’t think so because of its round shank. I’ll never consider a round shank as a Canadian. I informed him that it was a nice pipe and should be a good smoker once cleaned up and a replacement stem found. Unfortunately for John the old repair was not a good one and it had made the shank weak. When John tried to fit some stems to it, a piece broke out of the shank. He asked me if I wanted it free of charge as he did not want to tackle repairing the pipe.

The pipe as John showed me before he sent it. I agreed that I would see what I could do with it. Well after over a month in the mail it finally arrived and I got a good look at it and found a donor saddle bit from another Yello Bole.

The bowl had some black scorch marks from smoking hot. I was going to get this pipe blasted after repairs to help hide them and cover some dark burn marks on the bowl. After much thought I decided to restore it close as factory as I could. The possible history of this pipe was just too good to alter it. In the short time of my possession of this pipe it had already been half way around the globe. That’s just a fraction of the long life that this pipe has had over it’s at least 80-year-old life. Maybe it was taken over by an allied soldier and left behind as a gift of friendship? Maybe it was carried by an OSS agent behind German lines during the war? Maybe not but its fun to think of the possibilities.

So all the sand pits and small fills were left as is and not covered or filled. After all it’s a Yello Bole if it did not have these imperfections it would have been a Kaywoodie. The old war horse has some scars from repairs and wear. The stamping’s are quite worn but it’s a pipe someone had thought enough of to repair it once before. Hopefully it has many more years left in it.

I decided to do an inner band like Steve did on a YB I sent him for repair. I found an old metal tenon from a Grabow filter stem I had. I filed out the inner shank and broken shank piece to clean up and to give the glue something to grab too. After grinding the metal tenon to fit inside the shank. I cleaned up the shank and broken piece with some 91% alcohol and marked the best way it fit with a black sharpie so I know where to place it when glued. I mixed up some two part epoxy and then set the inner band in the shank. After it set up I got ready for the broken piece and cleaned off the Sharpie from the metal band to ensure a good bond. I put two part epoxy on the metal band then super glue on the briar edges and set the broken piece. Then I applied briar dust before the glue set. I had to work fast so no pics during this process, only before and after.

I then sanded the repairs; the old repair had a bad high spot and took some filing. I had to build up the bottom from making the old repair flush again. It was a bit lower than the stem. I then filed the stem to match the shank. After cleaning out the shank and bowl I noticed that all the old YB coating was gone from wear or scraped out over time. I decided to remove all the cake and address this later. I then stripped off the old finish with warm water and Oxy Clean bath. I did some light scrubbing with a toothbrush and a Scotch Brite pad used on the stubborn spots. I then wet sanded repairs and bowl with various grits of wet dry paper from 600 – 2500. After this I wiped the pipe several times with household bleach to lighten the dark spots and repairs so it would be harder to spot with the dye. After bleach bath the pipe is ready for dye. I then mixed up some dye close to original stain but slightly darker to help cover the repairs and black marks. I applied three coats. Pipe dry and ready for some base wax. After applying three coats of wax to lock in the dye I mixed up some homemade Yello Bole bowl coating. I applied the bowl coating and found a Yello Bole paper cover from a NOS pipe I have. The cover is from an Imperial but I thought it would look nice for the pictures.

After several more coats of wax the pipe is done. First off the repairs are not perfect and I wish I could have gotten a tighter fit with the stem. This was my first inner banding so I didn’t get the band quite as square as I should have making the stem fitting a bit difficult .The more I tried to get a tight fit the more gap I would get on one side, so I settled for a uniform gap. I’ll know better next time and should get a better fit. Here are some pics of the finished repairs.

As Steve pointed out to me on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum, if you flare the tube it will make it fit more squarely. I think showing your mistakes is as important as showing your successes for the next person trying to do a similar repair. So if you are doing an inner band repair soon I suggest you flare the end before you set it with epoxy.

I did manage to save what little of the stamping’s were left.

Pictures of whole completed pipe

Even though this was a tough and time consuming refurbish it was quite fun and wish to thank John for sending me this old soldier to be used and enjoyed again.

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