Tag Archives: repairing bite marks

Restoring a NATIONAL Washington DC Square Shank Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

I picked up this little square shank billiard in a foursome I purchased on EBay. I wanted the Rhodesian in the lot and the others were really just a bonus. This one was in the group but there was no information on it in the advert. When I saw it in the listing I thought it had a bit of a look like an older Comoy’s or even an old GBD square shank. There was no stamping visible in the photos. The stem had some heavy calcification and tooth marks in the photo and what appeared to be a bite through on the topside of the stem. Once it arrived I would have a better idea of what I had purchased.

When I opened the box, of course I went for the BBB Rhodesian first and it was the first pipe I cleaned up. The apple shaped pipe at the top was a Bertram and it was my second cleanup. I pretty much ignored the little square shank billiard as the stem was a mess that I did not feel like tackling at the moment. Shortly after receiving this one I got a gift box of more pipes so this one was pushed to the bottom of the refurb box.

Finally last evening I decided to take it out of the box and examine it more closely. It had faint stamping on the left side of the shank that read NATIONAL over WASHINGTON DC. In many ways it reminded me of the stamping on the Bertram apple that is shown above. It read Bertram in script over WASHINGTON DC. There was no other stamping on the sides, top and bottom of the pipe.

The bowl had a heavy, hard cake that had chunks missing out of it in the bowl sides. The rim was heavily caked and tarred and also had cuts in the top of the rim and dents and chips in the outer edge of the rim.

The underside of the bowl and shank had been flattened to create a sitter. There were scratches and dents in the finish of the bowl. The bowl had evidently been finished like the Bertrams as well in that it did not have a stain coat. It had picked up a patina in the finish over the years that had some red overtones that would come out nicely once the bowl was cleaned up. The stem was in rough shape. With a buildup of white calcification that went half way up both sides of the stem. There were also a lot of tooth marks on the top and bottom sides of the stem. The stem was upside down in the photos and did not align properly with the square shank. I turned it over and everything fit very well. The stem had a pinhole like bite through in the surface that would need to be repaired. The stem itself had a slight cant to the right when it was manufactured and that could not be changed without drastically reworking the stem. The slot in the airway was clogged to an airhole the size of a pin that allowed minimal airflow and would not take a pipe cleaner.

Topside of the stem

Underside of the stem

With the stem removed from the shank it was obvious that the shank had never been cleaned out and had a thick build up of tars and oils. The tenon was a step down version and the step itself was tarred and caked to the point that the step did not show.

I had a gut feeling that the pipe had some connection to Bertram Pipe Company of Washington DC but only the vaguest memory of that connection. I could not remember where I picked that up but just had the memory. I did some searching on the Internet and found a National Briar Pipe Company of Jersey City, New Jersey with no clear ties to Washington DC on the Pipedia site. This was the company that purchased the Doodler after Tracy Mincer died. I could see that the Jersey City pipes were stamped differently and all had line names stamped on them. On the Pipephil site I found an English version that had very different stamping on the left side of the shank as well as Made in England on the right side of the shank.

I also posted a question on Smokers Forum and Pipe Smokers Unlimited regarding the brand. I received several responses that gave me information. One of them on SF came from Ed Klang and provided me with some confirmation regarding my memory of the connection with Bertram. I quote him in full, “In the history of the Bertram company, after the fire at the Washington facility and the decision was made to discontinue Bertram production a group of employees and a few investors wanted to buy the rights to the Bertram name, which was turned down and it was then proposed that they would rebrand the pipes as National, no mention was made whether anything ever came of that proposal. Supposedly this group did produce pipes for a while but the effort was finally abandoned and I have never been able to reliably confirm this. Just bits and pieces here and there.” Thanks Ed. This is the random memory that I was trying to dig up.

I also received a reply on SF from Radiobob that read as follows: “National Pipe and Tobacco was located on the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., just about a block from where I worked. I still have two Canadians that I bought there, as well as a Comoy’s Patina Apple. In my recollection, it closed down–much to my regret–in the mid to late 1980s.”

Those responses gave me the kind of details that I always find helpful in my restoration work. I will continue to do some digging on the company and see what I can find but that bit confirmed the visual tie to the Bertram Company of DC. Thank you for your help Ed and Bob.

I started work on the pipe by removing the stem and then reaming the bowl. The cake was hard as a rock but by beginning with the smallest cutting head of my PipNet reamer and working up to the third cutting head I was able to ream the bowl back to bare briar.

You can see in the photo above that there were still some rough places on the side of the bowl that needed more attention. I used a pen knife/letter opener that I keep in my refurb tool kit to carefully scrape away the remnant of cake. I started to slowly sand the top of the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper but found the damaged areas significant enough that I decided to top the bowl and reshape the top of the rim by hand afterwards.

I scrubbed the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime that had been rubbed into the bowl sides and shank. There were a few fills present but I figured that once I oiled the bowl these would blend into the reddish finish of the briar.

I reshaped the rim with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the rough spots on the outer edge and to give the rim a slight bevel toward the inner rim edge. I wiped it down with acetone and cotton pads as well. I set the bowl aside for a bit and worked on the stem. I sanded the stem surface to remove the tooth marks and the calcium buildup. I also wanted to remove the light oxidation that was underneath that and to also clean up the stem enough that I could see the extent of the damage around the bite through on the topside. The first photo below is enlarged to show the hole. It was not huge but there were small cracks radiating around the hole. There were no holes on the bottom side of the stem or tooth marks along the sides.

I picked the area around the small hole with a dental pick to remove any loose pieces of vulcanite that were present and then scrubbed down the area on the top of the stem with alcohol to clean it up for the repair. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly and inserted it in the airway under the hole. I filled the hole with a large drop of black super glue, intentionally overfilling it in order to have the glue go into the spidering cracks around the edges. I set the stem aside for the evening and let it cure. In the morning when the glue had cured I used a needle file to redefine the button and then sanded the repair with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess and feather it into the surface of the stem.

I sanded the stem with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge and found that while the major hole was filled and solidly repaired there was a small air bubble that once sanded produced a small hole that also needed to be fixed. It was right next to the newly shaped button. I used a drop of clear super glue to repair that. It dries quickly so I could easily sand it and blend it into the stem.

I sanded the patch and the stem with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. The results can be seen in the photos below. The hole is gone and the stem is ready for polishing.

I sanded the bowl, shank and stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and while it dried I decided to rub down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil. It serves to highlight the grain and brings out the red in the briar. The next four photos show the pipe at this point in the refurb.

I dry sanded the stem, bowl and shank with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads and gave the stem a final coat of the oil after the 12,000 grit pad.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and gave them both multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The olive oil really highlights the red tints in the briar and shows the contrast between the birdseye and the background briar as well as the grain on the front, back, top and bottom of the shank and bowl. It truly is a beautiful pipe – the briar is well grained and the fills disappear into the red colour of the briar.

Put Up Your Ducs: Restoring a Meer-Lined Le Duc

7 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

I recently completed work on this meerschaum-lined Le Duc pipe. It has a paneled bowl and a shape that sits somewhere between a squat egg and an elongated apple. It’s stamped simply, “LE DUC” on the left side of the shank and “1” on the right side, which I assume is the shape code. The stem is horn with an aluminum tenon and a twisting, screw-in stinger. This pipe presented me with a number of firsts. I had never worked with panels, meer-linings, or horn stems. So, I knew this one would be fun. It’s been difficult to dig up anything conclusive on the history of the Le Duc brand. Both Pipephil and Pipedia come up empty, and a Google search reveals very little more other than a couple of links to an estate pipe that was once available for purchase from Amazon and eBay (the same pipe at both sites). That pipe is the only other example of a Le Duc that I have been able to find. The previous owner of this one did mention that it was from the Netherlands. So, it’s possible that it’s somehow associated with Gubbels.

I posted pictures of the pipe on Pipe Smoker Unlimited and asked if anyone had any more information. General consensus was that it is a French-made pipe, but that’s about as far as it went. Due to some slight shaping errors that I found in both the stummel and stem, I’m willing to bet that it’s somebody’s seconds brand. Though, I’m not quite willing to bet all of my marbles on a particular country of origin yet. So, if anyone out there has any insight into the brand, please don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments section.

There were a few small scratches and dents on the surface of the lacquer-coated stummel. The worst of which was a series of more than a dozen nicks on one back panel. The narrow surface of briar around the rim was lightly scratched, but didn’t appear to be charred. A thin layer of old tar covered both the meer and the briar on the back of the rim.

The chamber was lightly caked, mostly in the top two-thirds. The meerschaum lining was by and large intact, but roughly a third of it had been broken out of the heel of the bowl around the draft hole. A crack in the remaining meer ran around the circumference of the heel and I could not for life of me figure out what was holding the rest in. I planned to eye this area with suspicion while I worked.

Some light chatter was present on both sides of the stem and there were a couple of shallow tooth impressions on the top. Someone had also chosen to add a dash of white paint to the bottom of the button, apparently for contrast and flair.

Overall, things could have been better, but I’ve seen much, much worse. The photos below should give you a better idea of the condition of the pipe when I started work.

(By the way, that dark spot in the photo above is not a natural coloration. It’s tar build-up showing through the translucency of the horn. More on that later.)

The first thing I did was remove the nasty, tar-caked stinger, which wasn’t easy. The build-up had pretty much glued it into place. I dripped alcohol around the joint until the tar had softened enough that I could unscrew it. Then, I dropped the stinger into a small container of alcohol to soften the remainder of the gunk.

While the stinger detoxed, I attempted to remove the schmutz along the rim with good ol’ cotton pads, saliva, and elbow grease, but I found it to be too stubborn. Since I needed to address the scratched in the briar along the rim anyway, I lightly topped the bowl with 320 and 400-grit sandpaper until both the tar and scratches were gone. The cake in the chamber was light but very hard. I started removing it by sanding out with 320-grit paper. Once most of it had been removed, I switched to 400-grit to finish it off. Unfortunately, like William Butler Yeats wrote, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;” and as careful as I was, the remaining bottom of the meer liner was sacrificed during the cake removal process. Of course, I wasn’t at all surprised. I think the cake was the only thing holding it in to begin with. After removing most of the cake, I checked back in with the gummy stinger. The alcohol had softened the tar enough that the majority of it could be removed with cotton swabs and a pipe cleaner. The crud in the air slot was still pretty firm, however, and I had to use a pick to scrape it out before I could scrub it clean with a pipe cleaner. I followed with some #0000 steel wool along most of its length. The aluminum is very soft. So, I maintained a very light pressure and avoided the threaded end. Then, I started scrubbing out the inside of the shank with isopropyl alcohol and a few shank brushes, cotton swabs, and pipe cleaners. Let me tell you, this was one dirty Duc. The tar was built up into peaks and ridges that seemed to rival the Himalayas. Removing the crud in the shank was less like cleaning and more like heavy landscaping.

Eventually, it did start to come clean and I was surprised to discover a cork gasket in the mortise that I hadn’t noticed before. It was quite worn and seemed to be deteriorating with age. I found a similarly colored, dry dust around the tenon and also clogging the airway of the stem that I assumed to be detritus from the crumbling cork. There still remained enough of the gasket to give the stem a fairly snug fit, though, and I didn’t have anything at hand for a proper replacement. So, I decided to leave it for the time being to give it some thought. Cleaning the stem internals was no more fun than the shank had been. It was completely clogged and would by no means pass a cleaner. To open it up, I had to drip alcohol into the tenon, wait for it to soak in, and then gouge the softened tar with a straight pick. Rinse and repeat all the way down. The process was a bit like mining, except there was no prospect of gold or precious jewels. When I finally broke through the button end, the sludge that came pouring out looked for all in the world like black squid ink. It actually cleaned up pretty quickly after that and you can see it for yourself in the photo below. Notice that the dark spot on the stem that I referenced earlier has lightened considerably after cleaning. The more I thought about the mortise gasket, the more I knew that I couldn’t leave it be. It was clearly on its last legs and I started to worry about the taste that might be imparted to the smoke by the years of tar soaking into the cork. I still didn’t have a solid solution, but I learned years ago with my first car that anything can be easily disassembled. If you want to continue using it though, you’ll have no choice but to figure out a way to put it back. With that in mind, I decided to remove the gasket.

I picked through my selection of drill bits until I found one that was a perfect match for the job. It was almost exactly the diameter of the mortise. So, I could insert it and rotate it by hand to remove the gasket without any fear of it scraping the briar. Afterward, I very carefully sanded the mortise with 400-grit paper wrapped around a pencil end to remove the remaining cork and glue. The photo below shows the mortise just after using the bit. I gave a lot of thought to how best to replace the gasket and experimented with a couple of different materials. Surgical tubing used as a sleeve fitted over the tenon had the longest legs at this stage. I found that tubing with a 1/32” wall would kind of work, but was much too tight of a fit and put far too much stress on the mortise. My ideas were just about exhausted. I began to consider drilling out the mortise to accommodate the tubing sleeve, but that was something that I really didn’t want to do. Then, I remembered that I had some marine heat shrink tubing that I’ve barely ever used. I gave it a try out of desperation. Perfect fit! Since it’s the marine quality stuff, it has adhesive on the inside to keep it from slipping. I made sure to use a piece without any printing because that would just be ugly. With that problem out of the way, I turned my attention back to the stummel. I stripped the lacquer coat off the bowl by wiping it down with acetone and cotton pads. It was quite stubborn in areas. So, I had to use #0000 steel wool to remove it in a few spots. When the bare wood was exposed it was much easier to tell which of the surface blemishes would require special attention. I then clamped the stummel in my bench vice to prepare it for the first step in removing the blemishes. I used some soft foam between the stummel and the vice jaws to protect the wood. Then, I set up my steaming kit, which includes a tea candle, a flat-blade screwdriver, a cotton cloth, and a container of water. I wet the cloth and placed it over the surface dents. Then, I heated the blade of the screwdriver and applied it to the cloth. A hiss and a tiny puff of steam later and the dents were on their way to being level with the rest of the surface. It took multiple applications of steam to raise the nicks along the back of the bowl. The edges were sharp. So, they weren’t removed completely, but they were raised enough to make them much easier to deal with when sanding. All in all, the steam treatment did a great job and would save a lot of time and material later. I addressed the remaining nicks and scratches by sanding them out. I used 220-grit paper on the deepest ones to knock them down until they were barely visible. Then, I used 320-grit to completely remove them along with some of the minor scratches. I followed that with 400-grit to blend those areas into the rest of the surface. The next order of business was to repair the damage in the chamber. The meer liner sits like a cup inside the bowl and there had been a slight gap between the bottom of the liner and the heel of the bowl. So, with a section of the liner completely missing at this point, there was a significant gap between the draft hole and the bottom of the chamber. I decided to use a two-stage mud application to build up the bottom and replace the missing lining.

In stage one; I ran a pipe cleaner through the shank and slightly into the bowl to protect the airway. Then, I mixed up a batch of what I like to call “pipe tar” and applied a small amount to the bottom of the chamber with my pipe tool. Pipe tar is equal amounts of activated charcoal and FFFF-grade (very fine) powdered pumice mixed with just enough sodium silicate (waterglass) to give it a tar-like consistency. It’s very sticky and sets up quickly. So, it can be difficult to work with when fresh. It clings like ivy, though, and it can be applied in fairly thick layers without developing cracks while it dries. This makes it an excellent choice for building up the bottom of a chamber. It takes about three days to fully cure, but once it has, it is as hard as concrete and just as porous. However, due to its hardness it’s extremely difficult to sand. So, I’ve learned that it’s best to use it sparingly.

In stage two; I again secured the airway with a pipe cleaner, and then mixed up a batch of more traditional pipe mud. The recipe is largely the same, except that I used water instead of sodium silicate for the mix. Although, I did add a drop or two of sodium silicate to act as a binder and to give it a little more “stick”. The mud has a more paste-like consistency than the tar and is slightly gritty. I used my pipe tool to apply the mud around the edges of the heel, and then shaped it to round out the bottom. It takes a full day to dry. Once it has, it’s a bit softer and easier to sand smooth than the tar. The photo below was taken shortly after applying the mud. I wasn’t idle during all of that drying. I took the opportunity to get some work done on the horn stem while I was waiting. As I’ve said, this was my first time working with horn and it was quite different from any other stem material that I have encountered.

I started by leveling out the chatter with 220-grit paper. The horn turned out to be much softer than I expected. So, I used a very light touch to avoid removing too much material. Next, I applied a thin patch of clear CA glue to the tooth impressions at the top. The dents were small and very shallow. So, instead of dripping glue directly on the stem, I put a couple of drops on a cardboard surface. Then, I used a flat toothpick to pick up small amounts of glue and applied it to the stem. When the glue had dried, I sanded the patches down with 220-grit paper. I began blending them in with 320-grit followed by 400-grit. I rubbed the stem down with a drop of mineral oil between each grit to keep the fine fibers from splintering. Once the patches were blended, I again rubbed the stem down with mineral oil and lightly sanded the entire surface with 600-grit and 1200-grit to remove a few faint scratches and smooth it out. Finally, I polished with 1500-12000 micromesh pads with an application of mineral oil between each progression of three grits.

I had no idea when I began working with it that this stem would turn out like it has. When the light hits the stem, the translucency gives it a soft glow. I am completely in love with it and ready to replace all of my stems with horn. The polished stem can be seen in the two photos below (although they don’t do it justice).

With the stem work completed, it was time to get back to the chamber. The tar and mud repair had cured. So, I used a finger to sand the patch smooth with 400-grit paper. Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten to take any photos at this stage. I get caught up in the work sometimes. No worries. You can see the final patch in the photos of the completed pipe.

There was nothing left to do then but to work on the finish. I was very nervous about staining around the meer liner. The briar around the rim was so narrow that it seemed impossible to stain it without touching the meerschaum. So, I made an attempt to protect it by smearing a little petroleum jelly over the surface of the meer with a toothpick. I began staining by applying a rather sloppy coat of Fiebing’s medium brown dye thinned 3:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I used a size 10/0 filbert brush to paint over the grain. I made sure to leave several open and unstained areas to provide some contrast. Normally, I would heat the briar before doing this, but I didn’t want to melt the petroleum jelly into the meer. So, I made do.

After application and flaming, I wiped the rim clean and realized that the petroleum jelly had been a mistake. It had given the meer a slight yellow stain. I scrubbed it out as best I could with a couple of cotton swabs lightly dampened with alcohol, but some of it still remains. Oh, well. Lesson learned. I won’t be doing that again.

I finished this step by hand-buffing the stummel with a cotton cloth to remove the excess stain. You can see the results in the photo below. Next, I lightly sanded the entire surface with 600-grit paper before using a size 20/0 liner brush to make a more specific application of dark brown dye thinned 3:1 with alcohol. I used this sparingly, since I just wanted to add some depth to a few areas in the grain. After flaming the stain to set it, I hand-buffed the stummel with a cotton cloth again. Obviously, I skipped the petroleum jelly this time. It turns out that it was unnecessary anyway. The liner brush did a great job of precisely applying the stain to the rim. The stummel was sanded with 1200-grit paper, which I followed with 1500, 1800, and 2400-grit micromesh pads. Then, I gave it one, final coat of stain. This time I used light brown thinned to the same ratio as the previous applications. I used a cotton swab to apply it to the entire stummel, except for around the rim where I used the liner brush. I gave it a final hand-buff to achieve the results in the photo below. To finish up the work on this pipe, I polished the stummel with the remaining pads in the micromesh series. I then gave it a light buff and a few coats of wax to seal the deal.

I think this one turned out quite nice. There is a “warmth” to the pipe that is difficult to describe. It was also a pleasure to work on a pipe that did not require any major modifications to facilitate repairs for a change (repairs to the bowl lining notwithstanding). You can see the final pipe for yourself in the photos below.

A Savinelli de Luxe Milano 431KS Reborn Twice – PART 1: reshaping a broken stem.

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

You will see by the end of this blog why I say the pipe was reborn twice. Suffice it to say in this opening paragraph that a near pipe repair tragedy occurred when I had all but finished the first rebirth.When I picked up the pipe it was one of two that I found while on a pipe hunt in Bellingham, Washington with a friend. The other pipe was a Custom Bilt that I have already blogged about. The grain on this pipe attracted my attention and made me want to see what I could do with it. When I brought the pipe to the work table most of the issues were with the stem. The bowl had originally had a natural finish so it was dirty but not stained. There was no finish on it or varnish that needed to be removed so the clean up would be quite simple. The rim was caked with a thick tar and oil buildup that was shiny and hard. The bowl had a cake of the same material and had the sweet smell of an aromatic – lots of vanilla. The main issue with the stem was twofold. The top surface of the stem from the button up the stem about 1 inch there were many dents and bite marks. The underside of the stem had a large piece of vulcanite missing from the stem and the airway had been clamped down by biting. It also was oxidized and calcified. The fit against the shank was fairly decent with a slight gap on the left side, top and bottom at the shank.

The next two close up photos of the stem show the damage to the top and bottom side of the surface next to the button. The underside is the most damaged with a huge chunk missing. The second photo shows the top of the stem with the many tooth marks and bumps that created a thin surface on the top of the stem.

I took the next photo to show the rim. All edges are intact but the surface is coated with a thick, hard coat of oils and tar. The tenon had an inner tube insert in it. I have had several of these Savinellis but never had one with the tube. It would turn out to come in handy later. I weighed my options with the stem for several days before I decided to cut off the damaged portion of the stem. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum and took the stem back to solid material.

The next four photos show the look of the pipe with the shorter stem. Personally I like the more compact look of the stem as it seems to fit proportionally well with the pipe.

I decided to work on the button on the pipe before turning to the bowl. You can see from the photo below that the underside of the area where I would cut the button was quite thin. I did not want to cut back the stem any further so I built up that area with black super glue. I applied the glue and set the stem aside to cure. It would take several coats before the button was built up.

While the glue cured and hardened I worked on the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and working up to a head that would cut back the cake to bare briar.

With the bowl reamed back I could tackle the top of the bowl. Even using the reamer did not chip or crack the buildup on the top of the rim. It was like rock. I scrubbed the rim with oil soap and a tooth brush. I picked at it with a dental pick and was not able to break through the rock. I decided to lightly top the bowl to remove the buildup. The idea was not to remove any briar but merely to take of the rock hard tars on the rim. I used my topping board and 220 grit sandpaper and worked the rim carefully to ensure that I only took the rim down to briar. Once I broke through the rock I took several more turns on the sandpaper to finish up the rim.

I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the soiling and oils in the briar. It did not take much to bring the briar back to its natural state.

I decided to rub down the bowl with a light coat of olive oil to protect the briar and give it some life. I applied the oil with a paper towel and rubbed it in and rubbed it off. It also served to highlight the grain and make it stand out.

I cleaned out the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol until they came out clean. For the amount of build up of tars and oils on the rim the shank was quite clean. I decided to use a cotton ball and alcohol soak on the bowl to remove the sweet smells of the aromatics that had been smoked in the bowl. It had a thick vanilla smell that needed to go in my opinion. I set the stuffed bowl in an ice cube tray and used an ear syringe to fill it with alcohol. I let the bowl soak overnight to leach out the oils in the wood.

By the time I had finished setting up the bowl I called it a night and went to bed. The next morning I worked on cutting and shaping the new button on the stem. I used my usual knife blade file to make the initial cuts and shave back the slope of the stem.

When I had the slope and look right I sanded the newly shaped button and stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I then repaired some of the low spots with clear super glue. I recut the button with the needle files and sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the edges.

With more sanding and shaping I had it where I wanted it and then sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to clean up the scratches in the vulcanite.

With the button shaped in I worked on the slot in the airway. I used my usual three needle files – a flat oval, an oval and a round file to work on the slot. I always start with the flat oval and work to the round file.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inside of the slot. At this point I worked some more on the surface of the button. It still was too rough to my liking. I sanded and filed it to reshape it. The next two photos show it before I worked it over with files and papers.

Once I had the button shaped to my satisfaction I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads, rubbed down with Obsidian Oil and then set it aside to dry. I was pleased with the overall effect of the new button and could not wait to finish polishing it. This is where I made the first mistake in this repair.

Instead of leaving it on the work table and calling it a night I brought the pipe upstairs with me from the basement work area. I wanted to show the girls in my family the result of my work. I know that they are not that interested but they attempt to humour the old man. I stopped at the fridge to get some water and that is when the disaster struck. I could not believe it. The pipe simply slid through my fingers and hit the hardwood floor in our kitchen. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened with no issues. But this time there was going to be a major issue and it came with a vengeance. When it hit the floor, really only 2 feet as I was bending over, I heard the awful click and the stem and bowl separated. The tenon snapped at the shank. All that work done and now what to do? I was sick with the thought of starting over. I carried the broken pipe down the stairs to the work table and left it in the dark and went to bed – just a tad frustrated. If you are interested in seeing what I did to try and redeem this disaster make sure to read Part Two of the work on this pipe.

Restoring an old Wally Frank Ltd. Huntleigh Pot

7 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I gravitated toward restoring this old Pot shaped pipe next because it looked rough with a worn finish and what I thought was an oversized band on the shank. When I took it out of the box and looked at it more closely my first impression was that someone had banded it post manufacture. It covered the stamping on both sides of the shank so that on the left the HUNTLEIGH stamping only read HUNTLEI and the Wally Frank Ltd. on the right only read ally Frank Ltd. On the flat bottom of the shank it is stamped Imported Briar in a Germanic Script. You can imagine my surprise when I found that what had appeared as a band was not. It was metal mortise and cap fitting that held a threaded screw mount stem and tenon. The tenon had a stinger apparatus that extended into the shank. Now the mystery – I don’t know if this was how the pipe was shipped from Wally Frank or if it was a later addition to a favourite pipe. The saddle stem appears to be original and fits against the cap perfectly. It is the same diameter as the shank of the pipe.

The finish on this old boy was very tired. The finish on the top half of the bowl was worn off while on the lower half it had an old varnish coat that was peeling away. The outer edge of the rim was not beat up or worn at all. The inner edge was slightly damaged and had nicks in that made the bowl out of round. The top of the rim was damaged with small pin prick holes that look like they came from knocking out the pipe on a rough surface. The end cap/mortise insert was polished aluminum and it was oxidized. The stem had a lot of tooth chatter on both sides from the button up the stem about an inch. The button itself had nicks in it and there was a small tooth mark on the top and bottom of the stem next to the button in virtually the same spot. The stinger was quite clean. The bowl had been reamed out recently.

I decided to start with cleaning up the finish on the bowl. The peeling varnish and overall worn and tired appearance bugged me so I started there. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove as much of the finish as possible.

I mentioned above the damage to the rim surface so I have included the first photo below to show a close up view of the damage. I topped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board and removed the damaged surface. I sanded until the rim was smooth and the pinpricks were gone.

With the rim clean and the finish partially removed I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath and let it soak awhile. I figured the alcohol would loosen what remained of the finish and also lend a patina to the sanded rim and the bowl. When I removed it from the bath after an hour of soaking it looked pretty good – as long as it remained wet!

Once I dried it off I could still see the line around the bowl where the finish had been and where it had worn off. This was a stubborn bowl. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I also repaired some of the fills that were pitted with super glue and briar dust. The next two photos show the bowl after I had sanded the finish off. It was finally getting to the point where I could start again with the finish. There were many imperfections and fills in the bowl and shank. This one was going to be a challenge. I knew I could not remove all of them but I wanted to give the old pipe a bit of dignity and take away the tired looking finish.

While I reflected on what to do with the bowl I worked on the stem. I sanded the tooth chatter and tooth marks with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove all of the tooth marks and chatter. The stem would clean up nicely.

I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the sandpaper. The stem surface was free of marks now but still needed to be polished to bring back the shine to the vulcanite.

I cleaned out the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. The dirty portion of the shank was the grime in the threads of the mortise. The airway ahead of the metal mortise was clean. It took a bit of scrubbing but I was able to clean out the grime. The internals of the shank were clean. I ran pipe cleaners through the stem and stinger. I was surprised that I could easily run a pipe cleaner from the slot to the bowl without major issues with the stinger. Once it was clean I threaded the stem on the shank to see what the pipe looked like so far. It had come a long way and had the potential to turn out to be a good looking pipe. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth and then worked it over with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-3200 grit pads this time and then dry sanded with 3600-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. I also used the later grit pads to polish the aluminum of the mortise insert. After sanding the stem with the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and let it soak in before taking it to the buffer.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and a blue plastic polish bar that I picked up. It really gives the stem a deep shine.

I stained the bowl with several coats of a cherry aniline stain and flamed it. In the photos below the pipe is shown after a light buffing with a soft cloth. (These photos were taken before I polished the stem.)

I sanded the bowl with the 6000-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads and then buffed it with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. I have also included a photo of the reworked rim and the tenon and aluminum mortise just to show the finished pipe in all of its parts. It should make someone a good smoking pipe if the original condition was any sign of the smoke-ability of this pipe.

Restoring an Old Yello Bole 2033 Apple

10 Replies

Blog by Troy Wilburn

This is the other pipe I got with the Doc Watson. Both came from the same owner estate sale – an old gentleman that had them has since passed on to glory. The two pipes have been together longer than I have been alive. It’s an early Yello Bole in that it has the Imported Bruyere stamp but no “Honey Cured Briar” along with the 2033 four digit shape stamp. I’m guessing 1930 – 1933 roughly.

The pipe as it was when I got it.

I started out by removing most of the cake, then sanding inner bowl with some rough grit paper leaving a thin coat of cake. Next I cleaned out inner shank and stem with 91% alcohol. On these large airway YBs I like to twist 2-3 shank brushes together for better scrubbing. I also scrubbed outer stem with 91% alcohol and a Scotch Brite pad to remove grease, oil, wax etc. This is easiest way I’ve found to remove rim cake. I mix up some Oxy Clean and warm water. Dip a piece of Scotch Brite pad in it leaving it not quite dripping wet. Lay it flat on surface and move rim along lightly. It takes it off pretty fast and will not harm under finish if you are trying to save it. It will leave it discolored but a little mineral oil will bring the color back to original.

Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. Next I went ahead and scrubbed bowl and stem with same pad and Oxy Clean solution. It will remove contaminants and not hurt the finish just dull it. It will remove any light oxidation from stem that might be present. I scrub the stem harder than the bowl. After getting a good look at the bowl after old dirt and such was removed the finish looks toasted. Sadly it cannot be saved.

So I went ahead and sanded bowl with 400-2000 grit sandpaper. Never touching the stampings with any grit sandpaper less than 1200 grit. I will leave a defect or mark near a stamping just so it won’t be harmed. Luckily the stain I had left over from the Doc Watson was a good match so I was able to use it. I applied three coats letting in dry in between. After third coat of stain I like to apply mineral oil to help the grain stand out and condition the briar. The mineral oil lets you see any defects in the finish and what the bowl will look like when waxed. I set it to the side and let it air dry. I had to do some filing on the stem and button to remove some tooth marks. If you noticed in before pic the stem did not fit tight to the shank, so I filed down tenon a little at a time until it fit tight.

I wet sanded the stem again using 400-2000 grit sandpaper. I put the bowl and stem back together and it is ready for some buffing and wax. On bowls I’ve stained I put about 3 coats of base wax then go back over with white Tripoli then go back to wax .

On the stems I use brown Tripoli, white Tripoli and then wax. Here are pics of the finished pipe.

It was missing a stinger so I dug out an extra I had and cleaned it up.

It should make a fine daily smoker and better than most any pipe I could buy today for under a 100 dollars. I have less than 12 dollars in it.

Giving a Large No Name Imported Briar Cutty a New Look

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

In the box of pipes that I was gifted was a large cutty shaped pipe that looked to be in pretty decent shape. It appeared that it did not need a lot of work to bring it back. The finish looked pretty good with birdseye on the sides and cross grain off to one side of the front and back of the stem. The grain followed a similar pattern on the shank. The bottom of the bowl had some mixed grain patterns. The stem was not oxidized. The bowl had a minimal cake in it. The only issue appeared to be the outer edge of the rim. On the back side it was very beat up and the briar was broken and nicked. All of this is what I assumed when I took it out of the box and took a closer look at the pipe.

The pipe is large, at least for me. It is seven inches long from button to the front of the bowl. The bowl is 2 ¼ inches tall. The chamber is ¾ inch in diameter. Proportionally it is a well made pipe. There are no fills in the briar. There are no sandpits. But there were issues! The bottom of the bowl had been flattened but the flattened portion was not centered on the bowl and shank bottom. It was off to one side. This gave the bowl and pipe a distinct cant to the right. The damage to the rim was deep on the back outer edge. The stem had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides next to the button. All of these would need to be addressed in a restoration of this pipe.

I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer. I seem to default to this T handled reamer as first choice in most of the refurbishing that I do. It is an easy tool to use. The T handle is small enough in diameter at the junction of the cutting head that it can be pushed deep into the bowl which was necessary with this pipe. Since I was planning on topping the bowl to repair the rim damage I decided to remove the finish from the pipe so that matching stain would not be necessary. I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The finish dulled but it did not completely come off the bowl. It has the feel of a Urethane coat. Once I topped the bowl I would deal with that issue.

I set up my usual topping board with 220 grit sandpaper. I would need to remove quite a bit of briar from the surface of the rim to take care of the damage. I also found that the cant on the bowl and shank left me with a canted bowl top as well. I sanded the bottom of the shank until the pipe sat upright and then had to work on the rim to make it horizontal without a slant. As usual I collected the briar dust for later use on fills and repairs.

I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge of the rim and lightly bevel/chamfer it and remove the charring.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium grit sanding sponge to break through the urethane finish. I wiped it down further with acetone until it was gone. I decided to drop the bowl in my alcohol bath to soak while I worked on the stem. I have found that the stain darkened alcohol bath works really well to give some patina to briar once the finish has been opened up. For such a large piece of briar the bowl was surprisingly light weight and it floated on the surface of the bath. I sanded the bite marks on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until they were removed. I followed that by sanding the stem surface with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratches in the stem.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside. I took the bowl out of the bath. The finish had completely disappeared with the soak and the entire bowl, including the rim had picked up a nice patina. The grain just popped in the clean surface of the bowl. It would be easy to stain and polish.

The colour of the topped rim matched the bowl colour perfectly – in fact it matched so well that I was unsure that I would even stain it. The next photos show the bowl as it stood after the soaking and drying. I love the way that the grain stood out.

I ran a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs soaked in isopropyl alcohol through the shank to clean it out. I was surprised with how dirty the shank was. The buildup of tars and oils was heavier than I expected. I set up a retort and boiled alcohol through the pipe until the alcohol came out clean.

After the retort I used a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to remove the alcohol and remaining tars from the shank. With the bowl and shank clean and ready to go it was time to finish the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and let it dry.

I gave the bowl a light coat of olive oil to highlight the grain. I did not stain the bowl as I really liked the natural look of the briar. I gave it a buff with White Diamond and did the same with the stem. I then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and a buff with a soft flannel pad. I took the photo below to give some idea of the size of this pipe. It is sitting next to the Kaywoodie Prime Grain Lovat that I finished restoring recently. The finished pipe is shown below. The first four photos show the overall look of the pipe. The last three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem. The pipe is like new. The new finish is far better than the one that came with the pipe. The look of the grain and the way the bath and olive oil highlights it is quite stunning. This pipe will make someone a great addition to their rack and should be a great smoking pipe. It is too large of a pipe for me at this phase of my pipe smoking. I am much more drawn to smaller bowls and lighter pipes, but that being said, the grain on this one makes it very tempting.

Restoring a Horn Stem Terminus Apple – An Early Version of a Reverse Calabash

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I was gifted a beautiful rusticated Terminus apple from Anthony Cook. At least it has the potential to be a beautiful pipe to my eye. I have kept an eye out one of these old system pipes for a long time. They are like an early reverse calabash design. From my reading and observation it is both similar and different from the Keyser Hygienic pipes that I have written about before on the blog. It is similar in that it has an aluminum condensing contraption in the mortise of the shank with a centre tube that extends about ¼ inch beyond the end of the shank and rests in a larger tube in the military mount stem. This is the similarity – tubes, condensing contraption and the military mount stem. The dissimilarity is that at the end of the mortise where the flat base of the condensing unit sits there are two airway entries toward the top on either side of the centre tube. In the bowl there are also two airways at the bottom of the bowl. I found an online photo of the apparatus in the mortise and also how the stem and shank fit together. The Terminus I have is older than the one in the photo but the design is the same. Terminus was a St. Claude, Francepipe maker. This is one of the early models, dating from the beginning of the 20thCentury.The patent was for an inner tube in the shank with two draw holes either side and a smaller inner tube in the stem, thus keeping “gunk” to a minimum.A straight apple with cow horn saddle bit.5.25 inches (13.5cms) long. Bowl height 1.75 inches (4.5cms). Looking up the name on Pipephil Logo and Stampings website I found the following information. On the screen capture from the site above you will note the phrase patented anti gunk system by Jean Masson. I clicked on that and was taken to the following information. There are several differences that I can see between this diagram (pictured below) and the pipe I have in hand. The first difference is that the back end of the condensing chamber is flat and does not have an extension or well on the bottom side of the chamber. The entire chamber extends the length of the mortise up to the two airways. The second difference is that the condensing chamber actually continues in the stem and there is a larger draw tube that the smaller tube in the mortise rests in. The third difference is that the stem is military mount and fits into the mortise around the smaller tube in the mortise. The tube seems to extend as far up the airway in the stem as I can see with a flash light.Otherwise the diagram gives an approximate idea of how the system fits together. Anthony sent me several pictures of the Terminus Pipe he was sending to give me a feel for what was coming. Overall it looked to be very workable. There was nothing in the pictures that gave me pause in terms of what it would take to clean it up. It appeared that the finish was basically gone – or it may have been a natural finish it was hard to tell. The horn stem looked interesting. It looked to be quite large and the taper on it was unique to the horn stems that I have worked on and kept in my collection. The tars on the rim did not seem to hide damage to the inner or outer edge of the bowl. The twin draught holes in the bottom of the bowl seemed to be hidden in the cake on the sides of the bowl. The condensation chamber in the mortise had a thick build-up of tars and oils that would be a challenge to get out.

When the package arrived I quickly unwrapped it and took out the pipe. I really like the look and feel of it. It was comfortable in the hand and showed a lot of potential under the worn finish and dirt. It is stamped on a smooth rectangle on the left side of the shank with Serie No. 8349 in an arch over Terminus over Pipe. Under that it is stamped Brevete S.G.D.G. in a reverse arch. On the right side of the shank is a matching rectangle that is stamped 3036 over GP.The first four photos below show the pipe as it appeared to me fresh out of the box. The finish was slightly worn but underneath the tight rusticated pattern (almost a blast) was some beautiful ring grain that shone through the rustication. The bowl appeared to be unstained natural briar and would clean up very nicely. The stem was horn and had some tooth chatter on the top and bottom sides and also a deep tooth mark on both. The colour of the horn varied from a cream colour to a dark brown and seemed to move in waves that ran the length of the stem. When polished this stem would be beautiful.

The next two photos are close-ups of the top and bottom of the stem and show the tooth chatter and the deep bit mark on both sides.

I decided to address the chatter and bite marks on the stem first. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the tooth chatter and the wear around the button. I also wanted the surface of the stem smooth before I repaired the bite marks. I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the surface then wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used a drop of clear super glue to fill the holes on the top and bottom. And set it aside for ½ hour for the glue to cure.

When the glue had cured I sanded the two patches with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. The two photos below show the patches after sanding and before I worked over the stem with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to further blend in the repairs and smooth out the nicks in the surface of the horn.

I cleaned out the shank, condensing chamber in the shank and stem and the airway in the stem and two airways in the end of the shank using alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I did not use the retort on this one as I am not clear on how the boiling alcohol would affect the horn stem. It took a lot of soaking and scrubbing before the aluminum chamber in the mortise and the chamber in the stem were clean and shiny once more I reamed the pipe back to bare wood and the used a dental pick to clean out the debris from the twin airways in the bottom of the bowl. I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush and then rinsed it off with running water. I dried it off then wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to further clean the dirt and wax from the bowl surface. I scrubbed the aluminum shank band with silver polish and then lightly sanded it with the 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad.

I worked on the tars and oils on the rim with saliva on a cotton pad and then used acetone on a cotton pad and was able to remove all of the build up. The grain really stood out on the rim and was a nice contrast to the rusticated pattern of the bowl. With the mortise and airways cleaned out I decided to use the cotton ball and alcohol treatment on the bowl to remove the heavy aromatic tobacco smell that still hung onto the pipe. I stuffed the bowl with cotton balls and used and ear syringe to fill it with isopropyl alcohol. I let it sit all day while I was at work. When I returned in the evening the oils had wicked out of the briar into the cotton. Once I removed the cotton and the bowl dried out the smell was gone and the bowl was fresh. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the horn down with Obsidian Oil in between the sanding and while the oil was drying continued to sand with the pads. I find that the oil gives the micromesh the kind of bite on the horn stem that really raises the shine and removes the scratches and marks left behind from age.

After polishing with the micromesh I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to protect it. I decided to rub down the bowl with some olive oil on a paper towel. I rubbed over the surface of the bowl so that oil went down into the grooves and soaked in. Once the oil had penetrated the briar I wiped it off with a soft cotton cloth and hand buffed it with a shoe brush. This morning I gently buffed the pipe and stem a final time and gave it a light coat of carnauba wax. I finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buff to give it a shine and make the horn material glow. To me there is nothing more beautiful on these old pipes that the warm luminescence of polished horn. In this case the variations in colours from cream to dark brown and everything in between gave the stem an almost three dimensional look. The oil enlivened the old briar without muting the ring grain that shone through the rustication. To me this old pipe just glows with deep inner warmth that will make it a pleasure to smoke. I am looking forward to the interesting smoke that the twin airway in the bowl and the condensing chamber in the pipe and stem will provide. The draught on the pipe is quite open so it should smoke well. My guess is that it will deliver a cool smoke. The horn stem provides a unique feel in the teeth and mouth that nothing quite rivals. The finished pipe is shown below.

The final photos give a close up view of the parts of the pipe beginning with the cleaned and polished rim and walking you through the condensation chamber and a photo of how the two tubes intersect when the stem is in place.

Turbulence: Rusticating a Medico Jet Stream

10 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

I recently completed work on another pipe in the batch that was sent to me by an online friend. This time, it was a Medico Jet Stream. These were produced by Medico from sometime around 1965 until 1971. There were a couple of shapes in the line and each was quite a departure from the classic forms. This one is by far my favorite. I think it has a nice, streamlined flow to it. The pipe is right at six inches long with a small bowl that is barely more than inch tall. Mechanically it was sound but it was obvious that it had let itself go cosmetically in its 44 years (at minimum) of existence.

There were no deep dents or scratches in the stummel, but it did have some light charring and a few nicks around the rim. It was coated with a thick layer of deeply tinted lacquer that had been worn to bare wood in spots. It looked like there might be some interesting grain under there, but the fills… Oh, Jeeze! The fills!!! It was so riddled with them that it looked like it had the pox. The nylon stem was in predictable shape for a pipe of this age with jagged chatter and tooth dents on both sides. You can see the condition of the pipe when it arrived in the following photos.

I began by cleaning the internals of the pipe. The cake in the bowl was light and reamed out easily enough. I think removing the old cake really helps to eliminate any ghosting issues that a pipe may have. So, I took it down to bare wood. I made a surprising and disappointing discovery at that point. The fills did not stop on the outside of the bowl. There were at least two fills in the inside of the chamber. Oh, Medico, say it ain’t so!

I took the opportunity to sand out a few of the nicks on the inner rim while I was working in the area, and then moved on to the rest of the pipe. There turned out to be quite a bit of residue inside the shank and stem. I took care of that by running a variety of alcohol soaked pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, and shank brushes through until they came out clean. When I was satisfied that the internals were clean, I gave the stummel an acetone wipe-down to get rid of the spotty lacquer coat, and then dropped it into an alcohol bath to remove the remaining of the finish. Usually, there’s a satisfying Ker-Plink! when I do this and the stummel goes right to the bottom. Not this time. This one actually floated belly-up like a dead fish. I had to put tweezers in to hold it down to make sure the entire thing was submerged. I’m guessing that it was the fault of the fills, but it’s a good thing that we weren’t in Salem, Massachusetts. If we were, I would have had to get out the pitchfork and call the Witch Finder General. While the stummel enjoyed a pleasant soak, I went to work on the nylon stem. The first step was to clean the surface with citrus cleaner and cubes cut from a Magic Eraser. There really wasn’t very much filth to remove and it cleaned up quickly. The photo below shows the stem after the surface cleaning. Next, I set out to remove the dents and chatter around the button. I began by roughing up the area around the dent with the point of needle file to give the patch a better surface to cling to, and then filled the dents with a drop of black CA glue (seen in the first picture below). When the glue had dried, I sanded it back with 220-grit paper and refilled the area with glue. I did this on both sides of the stem until the dents were filled and level with the rest of the stem surface. I then sanded out the high spots of the chatter with 320-grit paper (seen in the second picture below) and followed that with 400-grit, then 600-grit to give the area a completely smooth surface.

With the dents filled and the chatter removed, I lightly sanded the entire stem with 1200-grit paper to even out the surface. Then, I used the full complement of micromesh sanding pads 1500-12,000 to polish the stem. You can see the results of the finished stem in the photo below. The stem work was all wrapped up. So, I pulled the stummel out of the alcohol bath to see what I had to work with. The bath had done an excellent job of removing the old finish and exposing the briar wood. Unfortunately, it has also done an excellent job of exposing all of the fills. I counted fifteen of them in all and that’s not counting the ones in the chamber. After using a pick set to remove all of the pink fill material on the outside stummel surface, it looked like a block of Swiss cheese. At that point, I had to admit that I didn’t see any way that I could fill all of those pits and hope to have them blend them into the final pipe without the benefit of the tinted lacquer to cover them. Rustication seemed like my best way forward, but I really didn’t want to go that way. I felt that it would really break up the great flow of the shape and stop the movement. I know when I’m whipped, though, and with all of the pits it appeared to be partially rusticated already.

I decided to leave the rim, the shank end, and the area around the stamping smooth. That meant that I would have at least one pit on the rim to fill. I packed it with briar dust that I have gathered from work on other pipes, and then dripped a small dab of clear CA glue into the dust. When the glue was dry, I sanded it level with the surface. With that out of the way, I prepared to rusticate the surface.

I have a variety of tools that I use to carve into the briar. Some of them are handmade and others are off-the-shelf tools, but my favorite is an old Craftsman T-handle tap wrench. It has a chuck on the end that will accommodate any ¼”–½” bit. It makes it very easy to switch out any of the several bits of various sizes and shapes that I have modified for carving different textures. The chuck provides a tight grip without any of the “wobble” that I’ve encountered when using a bit in a standard driver.

For this project, I began by using modified Phillips bits similar to what Steve has previously detailed here. First, I taped off the end of the shank with painter’s tape to make sure that I didn’t carve into that area. Then, I used a #2 bit to carve around the stummel, twisting and turning as I went. I wanted a deep, craggy texture to give some good contrast with the smooth areas. I switched to a smaller #1 bit for a little more control while I edged up to the smooth areas. The photo below shows the tool and the stummel after I had just started carving. After carving with the bits, I used a wire brush to remove any loose material in the texture. Then, I had the idea that I might be able to restore some of the movement in the shape by carving a few deep “waves” into the rustication. I used a Sharpie pen to sketch some curved lines onto the texture to test out my idea and to give me something to follow should I choose to go that way. I liked it well enough and decided to go ahead. I never pass up an opportunity to break out my trusty Dremel (it really is an addictive tool). So, I fitted it with a #107 engraving bit and etched in the lines that you see in the following photo. I then used a smaller #108 engraving bit to etch a few divergent “cracks” off of the curved lines. This was followed up with some more work with hand carving tools to give it a more natural, less machined, look. I went over it again with the wire brush, and then used 400-grit paper to slightly smooth the peaks for a better tactile feel. You can see the final rustication texture in the photo below (the dark spots are the remains of my Sharpie lines). Then it was time to stain. I used isopropyl alcohol to thin some black Fiebing’s leather dye 3 to 1, applied it to rusticated area with a cotton swab, and flamed it. Then, I heated the wood with a heat gun until it was very warm to the touch and used a 20/0 liner brush to paint the dye across the grain in the smooth areas. After allowing the stain to set, I lightly sanded the entire stummel with 600-grit paper. This included sanding the surface of the rusticated areas to give it some highlights to accent the darker crevices. I then gave the entire stummel two coats of dark brown stain thinned with alcohol, and flamed it between each one. The stummel was hand-buffed with a cotton cloth. The smooth areas were then lightly sanded with 1200-grit. I also lightly and strategically sanded a few of peaks in the rustication around the smooth areas to allow one texture to fade into the other a bit. I then used micromesh pads 1500-2400 in the same manner.

Another couple of stain coats were then applied to the stummel using the same mix and technique that I had used earlier. This time, it was an ox blood stain to add some brightness. Then, I continued with the remaining grits of the micromesh pads. When done with the pads, I gave the stummel a couple of coats of Halcyon wax to wrap up the work.

I think the rustication worked out fairly well and it has a great feel in the hand. You can judge for yourself from the photos of the completed pipe below. I’ll always wonder what could have been if I had left it smooth, though. I guess I’m on the hunt for another Jet Stream so that I can find out!

Repairing a Bite Through on a Vulcanite Stem with Black Super Glue

12 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I recently posted about an old BBB 701 Rhodesian that I restored. It was quite a mess and needed a lot of attention to both the bowl and the stem. In the process I took some photos of the stem repair I did and thought I would write a blog on the process. The first three photos below show the state of the stem when I started. The top and bottom sides of the stem at the button had significant tooth chatter. The top of the stem had the bite through at the button and a much worn edge on the button. The underside of the stem had deep bit marks next to the button and small chatter up the stem about 1 inch. There was oxidation on the stem as well. In the photo there appears to be a crack from the bite through hole into the button and to the edge. That mark is more tooth marks but the stem material is not cracked in that way. The red arrow in the first two photos highlights the apparent crack. In the third photo the arrow points to the tooth marks on the surface of the stem.

The first step in preparing to patch the hole in the stem is to clean up the surface and remove any loose or damaged portions of the stem. I use a dental pick to pick at the edges of the hole and the cracks and broken spots on the stem. I also probe other potential thin spots on the top and the bottom of the stem. I particularly probed the tooth marks on the underside to see how thin the vulcanite was in those areas. Once I had picked away the damage I wiped down the areas with a cotton pad and alcohol. The surface needs to be free of wax or dirt before the patch is applied because these will cause the patch to not bind to the surface of the stem.

I have a nail file that I “stole” from my daughters that is a perfect fit in the slot of most pipe stems that I work on. It is tapered and pointed so that it fits deep into the airway underneath the hole in the stem. I want a hard surface under the patch for the glue to puddle against. In order to not glue the file into the stem permanently I apply a thick coat of Vaseline petroleum jelly to the end of the file before I insert it. I only put enough of the jelly on the file that it does not squeeze out of the hole and soil the repair area. This took time to get the hang of. Too much jelly makes a mess of the repair area and too little makes the super glued file the next problem you will need to address in repairing the stem. It takes practice to get it just right – don’t get frustrated and remember too much jelly is better than too little!

With the file inserted in the airway it is time to start the patch. I drip black super glue around the edges of the hole first to solidify the broken edges and provide a live edge to build on when I fill the hole. I let that first coat of glue dry hard to touch before adding the next layer of glue. I have used an accelerator in the past to quick dry the patch. This time I decided to do it the long way and let the patch cure between coats. In the photo below you can see the ring around the bubble of the patch that is that first layer of the repair. The arrow in the picture points to the cured edge of the repair that surrounds the bubble in the centre. I apply several more coats to the edge to build it out toward the middle. The final coat I purposely overfill because as the glue cures it shrinks. It is a bit more work to sand out the excess material but in the end it makes for a thicker and stronger patch. I also filled the tooth marks on the underside of the stem next to the button with the superglue. These took two coats to build it up enough to reshape the button with files and sandpaper. I set the stem aside overnight to give the glue patch time to cure and harden. The next morning, when the glue had hardened I sanded the patch with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper followed by more sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I work to blend the edges of the repair into the surface of the stem and feather out the surface of the repair to match the surface of the surrounding stem material. In the photo below the arrow points to the patch. It is a slightly different colour of black to the rest of the stem at this point in the process. More sanding and working on the patch will change that. On the underside of the stem I sanded the patches until they were smooth as well. On this particular repair there were two small air bubbles that showed up when I sanded the patch. They are shown by the arrows. I refilled these small holes with a drop of black super glue and let it cure until hard then resanded the patched areas. When repairing the surface of the stem I always check the profile of the stem to make sure that I am not creating bulges in the surface of the stem. I want to maintain the flow and lines of the stem and not change the profile. When I sand the repairs I repeatedly look at the profile and often take pictures to make sure the flow and lines are smooth. The photo below shows the smooth profile of the stem after the repairs and initial sanding. I sanded the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper with a spot of water on the stem. I sanded to remove the oxidation and to blend the patch into the surface of the stem on both the top and the bottom sides. As can be seen in the photos below the patch on the top side is smooth and blended into the stem. It is still a slightly different black colour but more sanding will remedy that. The patch on the underside is well blended. More work needed to be done with the two air bubble repairs to blend them further.

I sanded the stem further with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. 3M makes this product and it is very flexible. I find that it allows me to follow the curves of the stem and the sharp edges of the button with little effort. The top and bottom of the stem are shown after sanding in the next two photos. The patches are now little more than small spots on the stem that will further disappear after sanding with micromesh sanding pads.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads to smooth out the repair and further blend the patches. In the photo below you can see that the patch has all but disappeared on the top side of the stem. The one on the underside looks similar at this point in the process. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The surface of the stem began to shine and have a rich glow in the surface. Each successive grit of pad deepened the shine and the richness of the black stem.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The final two photos show the top and underside of the stem the shine is rich enough that the flash is shown reflected in the surface of the stem. The hole is solidly repaired and the tooth marks on the underside of the stem no longer show. The edge of the button has been sharpened as well to distinguish between the stem surface and the button. The finished stem looks as if it was never damaged though under a bright light the spots are slightly visible if you know what you are looking for. The stem is now ready to be put into service. The proof of the durability of the patch will be seen over time as the pipe is smoked and used. On other stem repairs like this I have never had a problem with durability and I am hoping for the same with this stem.

New Life for an Old and Tired BBB Own Make 701 Rhodesian

12 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I saw a foursome on Ebay and the one pipe in the lot that caught my eye was of course this older Rhodesian. At first glance I figured it was a GBD 9348. Then I looked more closely at the photos and could see that it was not a GBD at all. It was clearly a BBB with the brass inset on the top of the stem. I bid and won the lot. While the other three pipes are probably fine in terms of additions to the pipes for sale this one was the one I wanted for my collection. It had two things going for it that caught me – it was Rhodesian and it was a BBB. Both fit the one of the focuses of my collection. Needless to say but the one in the roughest shape was the BBB. In the photo below you can see the hole in the stem and the roughening around the inner edge of the rim on the left side of the bowl. It was going to take a bit of work to bring this one back from the brink and keep the original stem.

When the package arrived I took out the BBB and unwrapped it from the bubble wrap. The stem was stuck in the shank and the damage to the bowl was quite extensive. The stamping on the left side of the shank read BBB in a Diamond and under that was Own Make. On the right side it read London England in a straight line over the shape number 701. On the right side of the bowl and on several spots on the shank it had dark stains from sitting in water or juice. It had discoloured the briar and damaged the finish. There were also some dents and dings under the dark discolouration from the bowl having been dropped on concrete or something that left the side of the bowl dimpled with dents and marks. The stem was quite gnawed on – the hole on the top was solid around the edges and the button was chewed and worn on the top side. The underside of the stem had bite marks and was worn from clenching.

I put the pipe in the freezer for 30 minutes and when I took it out I was able to easily remove the stem. I cleaned the edges around the hole in the top of the stem with alcohol and a dental pick to remove the buildup and the detritus that was caught in the edges. The good thing was the edges were solid and not crumbling. I put Vaseline on a nail file that I have here and use for more wide repairs on the stem and inserted it into the slot. It provided a solid base for me to drip superglue onto the hole. I built up the edges and worked my way to the centre of the stem bite. You will note that I grossly over filled the hole with the superglue. I have been having trouble with the accelerant that I am using. It tends to dry out the surface of the patch and the centre never sets correctly. I decided to set the stem aside overnight and let the patch cure overnight. I dropped the badly stained bowl into my alcohol bath and called it a night. The bowl soaked for over 12 hours and the stem cured while I slept soundly. In the morning I took a look at the stem and saw that it was pretty hard. I removed the bowl from the alcohol bath and dried it off. You can see the dark stains on the right side of the bowl and on other spots on the bowl. It was almost black in colour and the alcohol had not lightened it at all.

The top view of the bowl below shows the extent of the damage to the bowl. It was out of round and the gouge out of the left inner edge was rough. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and see if it would lighten the stains on the bowl. While it indeed lightened them it did not remove them. It was encouraging to see the grain through the stains however, so I knew that sanding the damaged areas would remove much of the darkening.

I lightly topped the bowl on my topping board to remove some of the damage to the rim surface.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to bare wood. I wanted to remove as much as possible and see if I could also clean up the inner edge of the rim. I used a retort as has become a habit lately and boiled alcohol through the stem and shank to remove the tars and build up. After the retort I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol.

I worked on the stem using needle files to recut the button and clean up the sharp edge. I sanded with 180 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repair to the topside and underside of the stem. I followed that by sanding with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out some of the scratches left behind by the lower grit paper.

While I had the 220 grit sandpaper out I sanded the bowl as well to remove the stains on the sides of the bowl and the cap. I also used a folded piece of sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim and give it a slight bevel to minimize the damage there. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol and then sanded it with a medium grit and a fine grit sanding sponge followed by 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. In the photos below you can see how it worked to remove the majority of the stain on the bowl. I very carefully sanded around the stamping on the right shank as I did not want to damage the stamping.

I used a hot knife and wet cloth to steam out the dents on the bowl sides, cap and rim. When I had lifted them as much as possible I sanded the bowl further with the 400 grit wet dry paper and also with the fine grit sanding sponge. I wanted to clean up the damaged areas on the sides and top as well as the stem repairs.

After the steaming and sanding I spent some more time on the inner edge of the rim. I wanted the bevel to smooth out the damaged side of the rim and also wanted to bring the bowl back into round. It took quite a bit of time to handwork the rim damage but I am happy with the end result. When finished I rubbed the bowl down with a soft paper towel and olive oil. I rubbed the oil into the bowl, paying special attention to the areas that were previously damaged with the stain and the dents. Again, I set the bowl aside for the night to let the oil soak in and be absorbed into the briar.

The next morning I worked on the stem with fine grit sanding sponges and then with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The higher grit pads allowed me to blend in the repair as much as possible and though still visible it looks very good. The patch is hard and solid with no give when pressed on.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it had dried I buffed it on the wheel with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and then finished by buffing it with a soft flannel buffing pad to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It is ready for loading up and enjoying a good smoke. It should serve me well for a long time.