Tag Archives: repairing tooth marks

A Large Ben Wade Royal Grain Freehand brought back to life

Another ‘Hole in the Wall’ Find – BBB Banker Bent Volcano

Blog by Dal Stanton

Last April, during one of my earlier visits to what I have affectionately named, ‘The Hole in the Wall’ antique store near the Zhenski Pazar (Women’s Market) in downtown Sofia, Bulgaria, my eyes locked on to a very handsome pipe that called out to me resolutely – “Take me home!” The pipe was a slightly bent volcano shape, brandishing a broad flattened oval shank and stem that drew my attention. In my small collection of pipes then, and even today, I have nothing like it. After taking in the unique shape, the briar grain, obscured by layers of grime and old wax, gave me an internal ‘wow!’ that I carefully kept hidden from the shop owner who would see my excitement as potential greater profit for him – so I played it cool. I looked at how the grain moves horizontally across the bowl and shank giving the appearance of a tiger pattern looking down on the shank. Looking straight at the bowl the grain looked like horizontal flames terminating on the sides of the bowl with Birdseye patterns – I was anxious to work on this pipe. The top of the shank was imprinted with the classic BBB diamond mark over Banker. Underneath the shank had London, England over 739. The stem top also had the white diamond BBB mark. I also spied another pipe in the basket that looked like a good candidate to bundle with the BBB Banker, a French Jeantet Fleuron 70-7 which helped me negotiate 30 Bulgarian Leva for the pair – about 16US. Not a bad deal at $8 a pipe! The first picture is the Jeantet followed by the BBB Banker after I arrived home from the ‘Hole in the Wall’ with my newest acquisitions: I found a lot on the internet about the BBB name. The small blurb in Pipehill describes the evolution of the BBB moniker:

BBB: ” Best British Briar” is now a brand of the Cadogan Company (Oppenheimer group). American rights to use the brand name were sold to Wally Frank in 1980.

Founder of the brand in 1847: Louis Blumfeld. The oldest pipe brand name in the UK has been registered in 1876 (Blumfeld Best Briar).

Steve also posted a blog on the history of BBB pipes a few years ago using the French article:

https://rebornpipes.com/2012/08/05/history-of-bbb-pipes/

I discovered that there are many BBB collectors and enthusiasts in my research. Unfortunately, I could find nothing helping me to date or place my BBB Banker except some informed guesses comparing to the BBB stamps (pictured below) depicted in the French article Steve posted above which would probably date the Banker at the earliest in 1989 when the Cadogan Company consolidated manufacturing its various pipe lines at Southend-on-the-Sea, but more likely in the 2000s – not a terribly old pipe (Can anyone help me on that?):The condition of the Banker is generally good. There is some cake build up in the chamber but I still want to ream the bowl down to the briar for a fresh start and to be able to make sure there are no problems lurking beneath – which I really don’t expect. The rim has light grime and lava on it, but a significant wearing down of the front lip so that bare briar is exposed. The stummel looks to be in good shape – I detect one fill underneath but it looks to be solid and will blend well. The stummel grain is dulled and obscured by grime and oil build up. The stem is in good shape – showing almost no oxidation, but has a tooth dent on the lower side of the bit. I take a fresh close up of the rim to mark the progress. I begin with reaming the bowl with my Pipnet reaming kit. As I’ve become accustomed, I try to do the dirtier part of the cleanup on the 10^th floor balcony adjoining our bedroom where my work-station is here in Sofia, Bulgaria. Sometimes I wish I had a basement work area, but we do what we must! I use only the two smaller blades of the four blades available to ream the cake down to the briar. I follow the use of the reaming blades with 120 grit sanding paper to clean the cake further and finish with 240 grit on the chamber wall. The bowl looks good. True confession – while I was reaming the bowl my thoughts drifted off to a Savinelli reaming knife – on the eBay block, that I’ve had my eye on – one like Steve often employs. There are still a few days left in the auction and I’m hopeful that I might add it to the arsenal! I’ll let you know! In order to get a better idea of the rim’s condition, I clean the external stummel with Murphy Oil Soap and work on the grime covering the rim. I use cotton pads with undiluted Murphy’s. I also employ a brass brush to work on the rim. After the cleaning, I take the stummel to the sink and rinse it with cool tap water. The pictures show the progress. Ok, for you who have years of restorations under your belts, here are some newbie musings – your patience appreciated! At this point I realize I need to top the bowl to repair the front lip of the rim – it won’t take much but it is needed. When one takes the rim down to the bare briar, I’ve learned that one also must have a plan for matching the hue of the old stain if one desires to keep the old stain tone matching the bowl. I like the color scheme of the BBB Banker and I desire to keep it. To keep it, I need to match the rim color tone with the rest of the stummel AND I need to address the very minor scratches and wear marks on the stummel surface BUT NOT sand it aggressively to remove the stain. It is in some ways much easier to take the briar down to the wood with acetone and sanding and then apply new stain and voila! New surface and color all blended and ready to go. I know this situation calls for use of polishing compounds and such, which is a more passive approach to dealing with the surface – more opportunity to learn new things! So, I move forward with topping the bowl with the aim of maintaining the current rich, deep red tones – we’ll see how it goes. I took the BBB Banker to the topping board – 240 grit paper on a chopping block and rotated it on the paper in a gentle clockwise circle not applying too much pressure – letting the grit do its work. To make sure I wasn’t leaning into the damaged lip area as I rotated, I eyeballed that the damaged area was untouched during the early rotations which meant the topping was true – I took a picture at this point (second picture). I took off only enough to clear out the front lip problems. I think it went well and the bowl looks perfectly round. As I often like to do, to add a classy touch to the rim I bevel the inside lip. I make the initial cut of the bevel with 120 grit sanding paper followed by 240 grit. I’m satisfied with the bevel – not too much but just an accent. I use micromesh on the rim from 1500-12000 to complete the rim repair preparing it for stain later. Now, the stummel surface. I have questions rolling through my mind regarding how aggressive I can be to remove small scratches and wear blemishes but maintain the original patina of the briar as it came to me. I elect to micromesh the stummel surface and leave the small blemishes. I do not start with the coarsest pad (1500) but at 2400 – gentle approach (though the first picture below shows the 1500 it was not used). I’m not sure this is the best plan but I can always back up to a more aggressive posture if I’m not satisfied with the results. After a quick email with Steve, I feel better about the course of action. I continue on the stummel with micromesh pads 3200-4000 and 6000-12000. I am loving the briar grain popping out through the micromesh process – one of God’s small creations each piece of briar. The pictures show the progress: As I put the stummel aside to work on the stem, I realized that I was so involved in working on the externals that I forgot that I hadn’t cleaned the internal of the stummel nor stem. Before working on finishing the stem I decide to use the retort to clean the internals. Last time I used the retort, an alcohol saturated cotton ball was launched from the bowl during the process. I was gun-shy of the retort to begin with when I first acquired it – the launch didn’t help. Notwithstanding, I unwrap the retort, get out the vodka, and proceed to let the retort do its work. The pipe was surprisingly clean. After two retort cycles, I finished off with cleaning the internals of stummel and stem with Qtips and pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol. I think it’s better to clean internals earlier in the process…. Now to the stem externals. Earlier, I applied black super glue to two significant tooth dents on the underside of the bit (visible in picture above). I use 240 grit sanding paper to remove the excess super glue removing traces of the dents as well as file marks after using a needle file to fine tune the shape of the button. There was very little oxidation on the stem or teeth chatter so I proceed to wet sand with micromesh 1500-2400 and apply Obsidian Oil to the stem. I follow by dry sanding using 3200-4000 micromesh pads and then the same with 6000-12000 and apply Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to dry. I’m pleased with the vulcanite ‘pop’ – that wet reflective look is great. Well, I mentioned earlier that I was hopeful to add a Savinelli pipe knife to my tool box. Steve speaks highly of this tool and has increasingly put it to good use in his restoration work. He also posted a blog describing it when it arrived on his work table in Vancouver. When I saw one on the block in the eBay’s estate pipes in tobacciana listings a few days ago, I decided to watch the auction and see if I could snag it – it seemed to be calling out to me: “I want to live in Bulgaria!” As you would guess, others were watching too. I’m thankful that my bid was sufficient and my new Savinelli pipe knife will be delivered to my daughter and son-in-law who live in Denver. They will carry it with them to Bulgaria (along with some other supplies I’ve ordered including 32 oz. of Lane BCA Cavendish tobacco which I discovered with great enjoyment on my last trip to the US) when they visit in September! My son-in-law had no problem agreeing to find space in the suitcases when I bribed him with sharing bowls together of the Lane BCA! So, I’ll look forward to their arrival for the additional reasons that they will be packing new supplies and my new pipe knife!The BBB Banker slightly bent volcano is now in the home stretch. After topping and sanding the rim with micromesh, I left the rim the bare wood until I finished the sanding of the stummel. I did this so that the stain I would eventually apply to the rim would be more closely matched. Using an Italian brand stick, I applied a dark Mahogany stain to the rim and before it dried, lightly wiped it with a dry cotton pad to remove uneven stain application – the first two pictures below show before and after application of the stick. I’m very satisfied with the match up of stummel and rim and am anxious to finish the stummel. Living on the 10^th floor of a former Communist block apartment building and with my work station in my bedroom (shared with my gracious and understanding wife!) space is at a premium. My Dremel high speed tool is my workhorse when it comes to the polishing wheel. Starting with a felt wheel, I first purge the engaged wheel by using the flat edge of the Dremel’s metal tightening wrench against it. This softens the wheel and rids it of residue Tripoli caking from previous jobs. With the newly purged wheel, I begin the final polish of the BBB Banker applying Tripoli to the surface addressing the minor pits and scratches on the bowl surface that I did not sand out aggressively to guard the beautiful patina of this piece of briar. Finished with the Tripoli and Blue Diamond, I change to a cotton cloth wheel for the Dremel and apply several coats of carnauba wax. I use the slowest setting for the Dremel and keep a continuous circular rotation over the briar surface – oh my, does the grain pop! I cannot say exactly when this pipe was made, but if it’s been since 1989, someone employed by Cadogan Company’s Southend-on-the-Sea pipe making plant did an amazing job with the choice of this piece of briar and the volcano shape it became. The grain is beautifully showcased in horizontal movements laterally across the stummel so that one can see the horizontal flame grain facing the stummel straight on and then move to the sides of the stummel and see the grain emerge in Birdseye perspective and swirls. In the beginning I described the top-down view of the broad, flattened oval shank as reminiscent of tiger fir to me – now as I look at it zebra also comes to mind. Another example of the beautifully showcased briar grain in the Volcano shape is the broad landscape of its underside – from across the broad shank to the front lip of the volcano base, runs a robust dissecting flow of grain that is majestic from my vantage point. Yes, I confess, I’m a briar grain junkie. Its beauty reminds me of its Maker. With my last application of carnauba wax on stem and stummel, I change to a clean cotton cloth wheel and buff the entire stummel and stem. Then I give the BBB Banker bent volcano a brisk buffing with microfiber cloth to bring out the richness of this briar even more. I’ve enjoyed this restoration and look forward to loading the BBB Banker with its first bowl of tobacco in my hands. Thanks for joining me!

Doing Shaping Work on a Comoy’s Grand Slam Pipe 66

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Blog by Steve Laug

Recently I traded the Simpson Sandblast Billiard that I restored with a reader of the blog for a Comoy’s Grand Slam 66. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Comoy’s over Grand Slam over Pipe. On the right side it has the classic Comoy’s Circle Made in London over England Com Stamp and further along with the shape number 66. The finish was in decent shape though there was some sticky dirt buildup on the sides. The right side of the bowl had a small divot on the bottom front of the bowl. On the left side of the bowl there was a ring or a small trough that was indented in the bowl from the left rear of the bowl to left front of the bowl. It looked like a dent in the briar. It is very clearly shown in the second and the third photos below. The stem had some oxidation and three deep tooth gouges on the top of the stem and one on the button top. There were also some deep tooth marks on the underside of the stem and the button. The C stamp on the stem is a newer stamp in the vulcanite that is painted with a white paint. I measured and studied the side of the bowl before I decided what to do with it. I was not sure if the trough was caused by and issue inside of the bowl so my brother and I both cleaned and checked that out and could see nothing. I turned to look at the outside of the bowl and noticed that the bowl actually bulged above and below the line. That line itself actually was the same height as the rest of the bowl apart from the bulge. The bulge was thus briar that needed to be removed rather than the line a dent of missing briar. I breathed a sigh of relief and began to work on restoring it to normalcy.

I sanded the side of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to try to minimize the groove in the bowl side. The photos below show the progress of the repair. The first photo shows the first sanding on the bowl side. With the initial sanding you can see length of the groove on the side of the bowl. I sanded the bowl side on both sides of the groove until the groove disappeared. I was actually surprised that I was able to remove the damage to the bowl without making the bowl any thinner in the process. It was almost as if when the bowl was turned in the factory the cutting head that turned the bowl slipped and left a hump above and below the groove. Thus the groove itself was actually level with the rest of the bowl other than the humps. In the next photo you can see the slight divot at the 11 o’clock position at the top of the photo. It was a deep cut in the briar that must have happened when the pipe was dropped somewhere along process. I sanded it smooth and filled in the divot with clear super glue and briar dust. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and blend in the repair. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to remove the scratches in the briar. The rim on the bowl had a light buildup of tars so I lightly topped it on the topping board to remove the buildup. I topped it against 220 grit sandpaper then against a medium and a fine grit sanding block. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned with alcohol to match the colour of the existing finish. I applied it to the surface and flamed the stain. I repeated the process until I had a good even coverage on the bowl sides. I wiped the bowl and shank down with alcohol on cotton pads to even out the colour of the stain and make it more transparent. Once that was done, the finish of the bowl looked really good to my eye. The stem was a newer style Comoy’s as noted above because of the style of the logo. It was stamped into the vulcanite and then painted. There were some significant bite marks on the stem that needed attention. The lighter tooth marks I was able to sand out with 220 grit sandpaper and remove them. There were others that were quite deep. I cleaned the surface of the stem and used a thick black super glue to fill in the tooth marks. I sanded the repaired spots with 220 grit sandpaper and cleaned up the sharp edge of the button with a needle file. I was pleased with the overall look of the stem once the repairs had been sanded smooth.I wet sanded the surface of the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to begin the process of polishing the stem. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil.Before proceeding further with the micromesh I decided to touch up the “C” stamp. I used a fine bristle brush and white acrylic paint to fill in the letter. I sanded off the excess with the 1500 grit micromesh pad and went over that section with 1800-2400 grit to match the rest of the stem.I dry sanded the stem with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads, gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the pipe and the stem on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond polishing compound and gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The adjustment to the left side of the bowl worked well to smooth out the bulges and crease and the pipe looks as it should have when it left Cadogan. Thanks for looking.

Marxman Jumbo Lovat

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Blog by Aaron Henson

Several years ago when I was first getting into our hobby, I stopped into a local antique store looking for practice pipes. This particular store did not have much and what few they did were dirty, heavily caked and $25 each. The dirt and the heavy cake didn’t bother me but dropping 25 clams on an old briar pipe for practice was not going to happen.

A few weeks ago, one of my jobs happened to take me past this same store. It had been two years since I had been in so I thought it might be time for another look. After my last visit I wasn’t expecting much. When I asked the gentleman behind the counter about pipes he directed me to the same old display case at the back of the store. The same pipes were on display but this time the price tag had been changed. Clearly the pipes had been in inventory too long and he wanted to move them because now they were two for $10. Not one to pass on a deal this good, I selected four large bowl pipes including the Marxman below (shown second from the top) as well as a large caliber Emperor and an unmarked Custombilt look-alike. The Marxman is a truly large pipe (and not the largest of the three) with a bowl diameter of 1 1/2”, chamber diameter of 1” and a depth of 1 5/8”. The shank is a whopping 7/8” in diameter and the bit is that same width. The following page from a 1946 ad for Marxman calls the large size a “Jumbo” but I do not have any way of telling what letter size it might be.For background, Marxman only made pipes from 1934 until 1953 before being bought out by Mastercraft. But Bob Marx’s short run made an impact on Hollywood and on US pipe makers in general. Pipedia has a short article on Marxman.Taking the pipe to the work bench I started by cataloging the things that needed to be done. The bowl had a thick cake built up. So much so that I had to start with the smallest head on my Castleford reamer (and the largest head was too small to be effective to finish reaming the bowl). The rim had a significant buildup of tars and a couple burn marks. The outside of the stummel was grimy and had some dents but nothing too devastating. On the bottom of the bowl there were two dark burn marks. They were located on the bottom side of the shank which made me think they were not burn-outs but with the bowl cake so thick I could not be sure. When I removed the stem, I could see that the end of the tenon, the stinger and the inside of the shank were all coated with a heavy tar. This was going to be an arduous cleaning job. For as much build up as there was in the stummel there was little in the way of tooth chatter or marks on the stem. One small tooth dent on the top side of the stem was all. The button was quite small but the slot was nicely formed. Aside from some oxidation, all in all the stem was in great shape.

I set the stem to soak in an Oxiclean bath to loosen the oxidation and the tar build up in the air way and turned my attention to the stummel. First I reamed the cake out of the bowl. I could not believe just how much there was! I took it back to clean briar to make sure there was no burn through. After the largest reaming head, I still needed to finished off the chamber with 80 grit sand paper wrapped around a dowel. There was a slight loss of briar about half way down the bowl but no burn through. If I had to guess, the previous owner may have been in the habit of half loading the pipe early in its life.

I shaped a soft wood stir stick into a narrow spatula shape and used it to clean out the caked gunk in the shank. I also need a short piece of wire coat hanger to open the air way. I finished scrubbing the internals of the shank with bristled pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol and cotton swabs until they came out clean.

Now that the insides were clean I turned to the outside of the pipe. The rim was heavily coated with crusted tar/lava. I had hoped to clean up the rim without needing to top the bowl but that was not the case. There were some burn marks in the rim under the tar build up that were best removed at the topping board. When topping a bowl, I use 100 grit paper on a smooth flat surface and work the bowl in a circular motion. I have recently started rotating the bowl a quarter turn every 10 passes. This helps me keep the topped bowl level by ensuring I don’t put too much pressure on one side of the bowl all the time.I started cleaning the outside of the pipe by wiping down the briar with acetone. This removed the wax and grime build up. I had hoped that the burn marks on the bottom of the shank were superficial and would be removed with a light sanding but I was mistaken. I am not sure what happens to the pipe but it appeared to have been exposed to a significant heat source because the burns were deep. The wood was not damaged, that is to say there was no charring. After a significant amount of sanding with 220 grit I had removed as much of the burn as possible without significantly impacting the shape of the pipe. I was careful to sand the entire area around the burn to blend, or feather, the repair. Even so, it did not completely remove all of the burn mark.Next I steamed out dents by wrapping the bowl with a wet terrycloth rag and applying a clothes iron. The important thing here is to keep your fingers away from the steam and the iron away from any stamping.

I finished the bowl by sanding the outside with 1500 – 3200 micro mesh pads. I also took the liberty of beveling the inside of the rim which I thought gave the large bowl some visual character.Even though I sanded the chamber back I could still smell some ghosts of the old tobacco so thought I would give the pipe a salt and alcohol soak. I let sit for 24 hours but there was still a residual odor. Before I was done with the restoration, I had to run three tubes of grain alcohol in a retort through the pipe before the pipe was truly clean (sorry no pictures).

The original finish was very light colored, almost a natural. To hide the remnants of the burn I decided to go with a light brown stain and contract the worm grooves with a slightly darker stain to make them stand out. This would also help hide the burn.The stem was an easy clean for a saddle bit. The Oxiclean bath had loosened the crud in the airway and a few passes with bristled than soft pipe cleaners took care of the internals. The outside I sanded with 1500 grit micro mesh then added a small drop of black super glue to the one small tooth mark and a another dent that I didn’t want to sand out. I had tried to raise both with heat first but with little success hence the super glue. Continued sanding with micro mesh pads up through 12,000 grit. I kept the pipe assembled during this process in order to keep the shank-stem connection flush.

With sanding and polishing complete I coated the entire pipe in mineral oil and let sit overnight. The mineral oil seems to help hydrate the briar and vulcanite of the stem.After 12 hours I wiped off any remaining oil and took the pipe to the buffer. I went over the whole pipe with red diamond then applied multiple coats of carnauba wax. As a finishing touch I decided to apply a bowl coating to the chamber. I wiped the inside with maple syrup then add a table spoon of charcoal powder. Placing the heel of my palm over the rim I shake the pipe until the charcoal evenly coats the inside. I let the pipe dry for a week before dumping out the excess charcoal.

Now it’s time to “Relax with a Marxman”. Thank you for taking the time to look.

Restoring a Chubby Shank Bruyere Shop Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

This one came to me in the box of pipes from my brother, Jeff. It is stamped Bruyere Shop on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar on the right side. It has a sterling silver band that is stamped STERLING and bears three hallmarks – an Anchor, a Lion and a T. The band thus reads Birmingham (the Anchor), .925 Sterling Silver (the Lion) and the letter T which dates the pipe to 1943. The band appears original as there are no cracks that it is banding or repairing. There is no damage to the pipe under the band. The silver band was oxidized and tarnished. It is pressure fit on the shank. The bowl was in decent shape when I got it – dirty and worn. There were paint specks on the briar. The beveled/rounded rim had darkening and heavy coating of tars and oils. The bowl had a cake that cover the sides and bottom. The thick shank was extremely dirty and oily. The stem had tooth marks on the top side and the underside next to the button. It was oxidized and very dirty as well. I took a close-up photo of the rim to show the buildup and the cake in the bowl. The second one shows the stamping on the band that I spelled out above.The next two photos show the condition of the stem and show the oxidation and the tooth marks next to the button.I scrubbed the bowl and rim with acetone on cotton pads to remove the old wax and grime on the finish. I worked on the rim to remove the buildup that had collected there. I used the Savinelli Pipe Knife to cut back the cake to bare briar.I sanded the inner edge and top of the rim to clean off the tarry buildup and also smooth out the dents and nicks in the rim.I scraped out the shank with a dental spatula and scrubbed the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean.I polished the silver band with silver polish to remove the tarnish and oxidation. The bright shine of the sterling silver came through the polish and I could see that it was going to be a beauty once the tarnish was gone.I used a light brown stain pen to restain the rim and polished it.I buffed the bowl lightly with Blue Diamond to polish the briar. I buffed it until the bowl and rim matched each other. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks on the top side of the stem. I repaired the one on the underside with black super glue. I built up the top of the button on both sides of the stem with black super glue. I sprayed it with an accelerator to dry it quickly.I used a needle file to rehape the sharp edge of the button and smooth out the surface of the stem.I cleaned out the airway with pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the stem.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove all of the oxidation. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I gave the stem a coat of Obsidian Oil and dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and sanded it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish it. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. If anyone knows anything about the Bruyere Shop please let me know in the response below. Thanks for looking.

ADDENDUM

I was doing some reading on the web and found a reference to a pipe shop in Buffalo, N.Y. called the Bruyere Pipe Shop in a May 1953 Popular Mechanics Magazine. I wonder if there is a tie…

Restoring a Fieldstub Bullmoose for a Friend

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is the second pipe that my friend dropped by for a restoration and cleaning. The first was the Tom Howard that I wrote about recently https://rebornpipes.com/2016/07/09/restoring-a-tom-howard-rhodesian-scoop/. This one is a Fieldstub imported briar. The most I can find out about it is that is American made in the 30-40s by and unknown factory. It shares a lot of features with pipes made by Tracy Mincer and the Custom-Bilt line but I can find no link. This one was dirty and tired looking. The rim had a lot of darkening and the bowl had a cake. The grooves on the rim were dirty and darkened. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks at the button on both the top and underside of the stem. The pipe is stamped FIELDSTUB over Imported Briar on the left side of the shank. I took a few close-up photos of the rim and the stem. The first shows the buildup on the rim top and the cake in the bowl. The second and third show the stem with the tooth marks right next to the button edge. I scrubbed the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap, used a brass bristle brush on the rim top and rinsed it under running water. I dried it off and took these photos. I scrubbed the top of the rim to remove the darkening using acetone and cotton pads. I was able to remove most of the darkening. I wiped down the rest of the bowl with acetone as well to remove the wax and any debris that remained. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the nicks and dings on the edge.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and cleaned the airway with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I used alcohol and wiped off the damaged areas next to the underside of the button where the worst of the tooth marks remained after sanding. I filled in the tooth marks with black super glue and sprayed it with an accelerator to speed the drying time. I cleaned up the edge of the button and smoothed out the repair with a needle file. I wanted a clean, sharp edge on the button.I sanded the patch with 220 grit sandpaper to blend it into the surface of the stem and remove the file marks.I stuffed a cotton ball into the bowl and filled it with alcohol to pull the tars and oils out of the bowl and shank. I let it sit for several hours while I worked on the stem.I took the cotton ball out of the bowl and cleaned out the shank and bowl with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs to clean up the last of the alcohol. I let the bowl dry and turned to the stem. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads, gave it a final rubdown of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I hand waxed the bowl with Conservator’s Wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth. This one joins the Tom Howard as they wait for Theo to stop by and pick them both up. They are cleaned, polished and smelling great! If you read this blog, they are both ready for you Theo. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Tom Howard Rhodesian Scoop

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Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe is stamped Tom Howard on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar on the right side. A friend of mine emailed me and asked if I would clean it up for him and bring it back to life. He said the stem tasted awful. He said he had tried to clean it up a bit but was not happy with the results. He dropped it by the house before he left on a short trip. Here is what it looked like when it arrived. There was a pretty thick cake in the bowl and the rim had overflow on the top. The grooves and worm trails were pretty much filled in with grime. The stem was badly oxidized and there were some deep scratches in the surface. There was tooth chatter on the top and bottom of the stem near the button.I reamed the bowl in stages. I began with a Savinelli Pipe Knife to take back the inner edge of the bowl.I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean off the top of the rim and get rid of the buildup.I scrubbed the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the buildup of tars and oils that darkened the bowl and shank. It did not take too much to get the briar clean. I rinsed the bowl with running water and dried it off with a towel. The cleaned exterior is shown in the photos below. I did the second stage of reaming the bowl with a PipNet Reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up that reaming with the Pipe Knife again.I used the dental spatula to scrape out the mortise and then scrubbed it with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean.I decided to scrub the surface some more with a cotton pad and acetone. I was able to remove more of the finish on the bowl and lighten it even more. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner edge of the rim and smooth out some of the damage that was there.I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation that was on the surface of the saddle, the groove where the saddle joined the bowl and the area around the button.Before continuing on the stem I stuffed a cotton ball in the bowl of the pipe and also the bowl of a second one I was working on and filled it with alcohol. The alcohol pulled the tars and residue from the bowl and shank into cotton ball.I let it sit in the bowl for several hours while I worked on the stem. You can see the oils and tars that are being drawn into the cotton ball in the next photo.The underside of the stem near the button had one deep tooth mark in the surface that I was unable to sand out. I cleaned it up and then filled it with some black super glue. Once the glue had dried I sanded the patch back to blend it into the surface of the stem.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I sanded and polished the stem. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set it aside to dry. I stained the bowl with some medium walnut Danish Oil and then buffed it with Blue Diamond on the wheel. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The pipe is clean, the smell and bad taste are gone and to me the pipe looks better than when I started the process. The bowl smelled clean. The pipe is ready to go back to its owner once I get the second pipe finished. Thanks for looking. Theo if you see this – your first pipe is ready for you when you return.

A Clean and Restore of a Viggo Nielsen Handmade Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff is developing quite an eye for beautiful pipes. He came across this freehand on eBay and sent me the photos. He bid on it and soon received it in the mail. It is a stunning piece that Viggo made in such a way that the shape absolutely maximizes the grain. It is stamped with Viggo’s normal stamp Viggo Nielsen in a circle over Handmade in Denmark on the left side of the shank.Its finish is a combination of smooth and what looks like sandblast but I am not sure it is not just a well done rustication made to look that way. The colours of the stains are a rich medium brown on the smooth portions that accentuate the grain. The colour on the rustication shows both a medium and dark brown stain that is repeated on the plateau on the rim of the pipe and small bit of plateau that peeks out on the top edge of the shank. The stem is a custom cut square piece of vulcanite that is carved with a square ring and a round one just before the tapered tenon. The finish was dirty with thick wax and grime from years of use. The bowl had a light cake. The rim edges were in perfect condition and the plateau top look new under the grime. The rustication/blast on the front of the bowl also looked to be in great shape. There were no dings or nicks in the finish. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks on the top and bottom sides near the button.

I turned to Pipedia to learn about Viggo Nielsen. I had memory about him being somehow connected to Kai Nielsen but I was not sure of the relationship of the two. In Pipedia I learned that Viggo, now deceased, was born in 1927. I believe that during World War II he worked for Stanwell making pipes out of birch due to a shortage of briar. In 1948 he opened the Bari pipe factory and in 1951 began to make briar pipes. He carved both classic and freehand pipes.

In 1978 Bari was sold to a company in Germany and he and his two sons, Jorgen and Kai started making Faaborg pipes. Now I knew the connection between the two names that I remembered. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen,_Viggo

I scrubbed the surface of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap on cotton pads to remove the old wax and accumulated grime. Once the pipe was cleaned I rinsed it under running water and dried it off. The grain just stood out and showed how well Viggo laid out the shape to the grain. I cleaned out the internals of the mortise and airways in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the pipe was clean.I reamed the light cake back to bare briar with a Savinelli Pipe Knife – a tool that I am using more and more often since I purchased it. It works exceptionally well to pare back light cake and clean up remnants in a bowl after I have used my other reamers.The oxidation on the stem was stubborn so I soaked it in an Oxyclean solution for a day and a half to soften the oxidation. After I removed it from the solution I scrubbed it dry with a coarse towel to remove as much of the softened oxidation as possible. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks on both the top and bottom sides at the button. There were tooth deep tooth marks on the top edge of the button that needed attention. I cleaned off the stem surface and then used clear super glue to repair the two deep tooth marks. I sanded them back to the surface with 220 grit sandpaper and later with the micromesh sanding pads.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. In the photo below you can still see the battle I am having with the oxidation on the turned stem. It was a bear to get it off.I repeated sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and repeated the wet sanding with the 1500-2400 grit pads. I was beginning to conquer the issue. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads to bring out the shine and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set the stem aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and worked on the tight areas on the stem – the grooves in the stem. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond – lightly on the rusticated/blast and plateau portions and more heavily on the smooth portions. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to finish polishing the finish. I have found that this last step adds some depth to the shine. I am pleased with the finished look of the pipe. Thanks for looking.

Sofia Hole in the Wall #3: A Butz-Choquin Rocamar with a Cumberland stem

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Blog by Dal Stanton

This is my third restoration from what I called the ‘Bag of 4’ that Steve and I saw at the ‘Hole in the Wall’ antique store during his visit to Sofia, Bulgaria. Thanks again for indulging my ‘newbie’ offerings. My favorite of the bunch was a Savinelli Tortuga (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/06/18/sofia-hole-in-the-wall-find-savinelli-tortuga/). The second, which I didn’t write up, was a beautiful Danske Club Vario, which I discovered on Pipedia is a Stanwell second. Behind the Tortuga, the Vario was a close second. It is now next to my Tortuga in regular rotation – a great addition to my growing collection. Take a look at a few pictures of the finished Danish Danske Club Vario. I’m drawn to the blended smooth and sandblasted briar finishes on this pipe: The markings I found on pipe #3 on the left side is Butz-Choquin over Rocamar with a ‘Filter 9’ diagonal imprint. On the right side, St. Claude, France 1333, which I assume is the BC shape or series number. The Cumberland stem has the BC imprinted marking. From Pipedia I discovered a bit of the early history of the name from Pipedia:

“Jean-Baptiste Choquin of Metz started out as a tobacconist. This enterprise was prosperous; he had several employees. Among those, there was a certain Gustave Butz who was its first workman and who became his son-in-law by marrying Choquin’s daughter Marie in 1858. In 1858 Jean-Baptiste Choquin created, in collaboration with Gustave Butz, the Choquin pipe. This bent pipe with a flat-bottomed bowl was finished with an albatross-bone mouthpiece, fixed with silver rings. In 1858, still in Metz, Gustave Butz built an establishment for the manufacture of the Choquin pipe which took the name of -. In 1951, the Berrod-Regad company bought the trademark, continuing manufacture until 2002. Departing from Metz, the workshop was relocated to Saint-Claude, then also called ‘the world capital of the briar pipe,’ under the Berrod-Regad group.”

I could find nothing specific about the series name Rocamar so I decided to send an email to Butz-Choquin using their info contact from their current website which is under construction (http://www.butzchoquin.com/). We’ll see where that goes.

The BC Rocamar has an attractive fiery grain and the bent billiard chimney is tall and elegant to me – perhaps tending toward an egg shaped bowl. What I’m drawn to also is the bent Cumberland stem – my first to work on. Not quite knowing what kind of stem it was I did a bit of research and discovered pipesmokersforum.com a thread discussing this stem:

“Cumberland proper is a vulcanite rod made up from red and black rods, melted and swirled together for the brown/red marble effect. It is very soft, and oxydizes fairly quickly if the protective wax coating is scraped off. There is a harder version in ebonite, which has a higher sulfur content if I understand these things correctly, but the color combos are not quite as subdued as the vulcanite version. It’s a bit more “brick” colored.” Another comment I read was that if one found a Cumberland stem it was most likely hand cut – to me that is cool. Helpful information. Here are pictures of the BC Rocamar when it arrived home from the Hole in the Wall: The briar is in great shape and will need basic clean-up. The rim shows a burn scar about 2 o’clock and lava build up. As the comments about Cumberland stems and oxidation stated, this one had its share. The bit has significant teeth chatter and some significant divots that will need repair. Yet, I see the potential of the color swirl of the Cumberland being a very nice augmentation to the fiery briar stummel. The filter casing had dislodged from the stem and that will need to be reattached. I decide to drop the stem in an Oxyclean bath to start working on the oxidation while I turn my attention to the bowl – whoops, that is after I retrieved the stem from underneath the bed – I forgot it was on my lap when I stood to head for the Oxyclean! I took a close-up of the rim and bowl before I go to work. I moved from the bedroom work table to the 10^th floor balcony mobile work station with Pipnet reaming kit in hand. I want to minimize pipe soot being released into the bedroom atmosphere resulting in a happier wife. I use only the two smallest blades from the reaming kit to take the cake down to the wood. I finish the fire chamber by rubbing it with 120 then 240 grit sanding paper to smooth and clean the chamber walls even more. Turning to the rim, I clean it with isopropyl 95% and a brass brush which will not scratch the surface of the bowl. I want to see the rim wood clearly before I top the bowl to repair the burn scar and reveal the briar. With the sunshine helping I can see the rim (and holding tightly not to lose it over the edge!). I note that the rim circumference is small as the sloping shape of the bowl culminates. I move to top the bowl but with a view to take off as little as possible to preserve the dimensions of the slender egg-peeked chimney of the bowl. With the stem soaking in the Oxyclean bath I’m not able to reattach it to the stummel to help make sure I’m maintaining a true perpendicular top and not leaning into the softer burned area. Before rotating the bowl to top it, I let it free stand and gently rotated the pitch of the bowl so that I could ‘feel’ the low spot where the rim was burned. By doing this I was able to acclimate to the ‘healthy’ flat part of the rim during the sanding rotation. It worked well! I took a picture after only a few rotations on the topping board. It revealed that I wasn’t fudging into the low spot as it was not yet impacted by the sanding but the other ¾ of the rim was. I’m careful to keep eyeballing the progress. I use 240 grit paper on a chop board as my topping table. Moving in a circular, even motion I remove only what is needed. Satisfied with the topping, I made a small bevel on the inside of the rim using 120 and 240 grit paper. I did this to take out a bit of inner rim damage and a small bevel is always nice and gives a classy touch. I followed this by using micromesh (1500-12000) on the rim to remove all scratches. The pictures tell the story. I decided to wait on staining the rim using a stain-stick and move to the cleaning of the internal and external of the bowl. The reason I did this was I was able to differentiate the actual unstained color of the briar by looking at the newly repaired rim and compare it to the bowl color. The rim briar leaned brown whereas the bowl, to the reds. With cleaning with Murphy’s Soap of the external bowl, I expect there to be a slight change in the color of the bowl briar. At that point I would go to work again on the color of the rim aiming for the best match. I decided at this point to move to cleaning the internals of the stummel with Q-tips and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. I found the internals to be amazingly free of muck and it was not long before Q-tips and pipe cleaners were coming out clean. Turning to the external cleaning, I used Murphy’s Soap undiluted with cotton pads to remove the wax and grime on the bowl. The bowl itself is in great shape – no significant scratches or fills. At this point, I came to a road block which necessitated a quick email to ‘Master Obi-wan Steve’ for his input. After the Murphy’s Soap cleaning I was expecting/hoping the high gloss finish on the bowl to have been dulled – getting to a more natural grain look not competing so much with the bared rim – at least this is what was in my mind. My hesitations were not wanting to be too aggressive with the bowl finish and mess up the patina that is under the gloss…. With the time difference between Sofia and Vancouver, I put the stummel aside and turn to the much anticipated work on the Cumberland stem – what to me is the unique part of this BC stummel/stem ensemble. After I extract the stem from the Oxyclean bath, I take some pictures to chronicle the progress. After an initial buff with 000 steel wool to remove the surfaced oxidation, I take a closer look at the significant teeth divots on the bit and decide to apply super glue to the top and bottom to be able to redefine the button and cover the chatter damage. I want the superglue patches in place before beginning the sanding of the stem. With the superglue curing, Steve’s reply came about my bowl conundrum and it is now decision time. He suspects that I’m dealing with a urethane finish much like he just dealt with in a Jobey restore (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/06/29/i-thought-this-one-would-be-easy-boy-was-i-wrong/) that was a bear to remove. The options before me are to either come up with a high gloss finish for the rim seeking to match up with the bowl or to aggressively remove the plastic, gloss finish and rescue the beautiful briar beneath. The close-up picture below revealing the bare briar in rim repair sealed my decision – I put the bowl in an overnight alcohol bath hopefully to soften the glossy finish to be revisited tomorrow. The time had come to watch some European football – Portugal and Poland – on my widescreen HDTV in my favorite recliner.The next day, with Poland and Portugal playing to a 1-1 tie the night before, I was anxious to see if the alcohol bath made a dent on the glossy finish. Upon inspection (picture 1) it was still pretty shiny so I took a light grit sanding sponge to loosen the finish. I was careful to lightly work around the nomenclature. This did the trick. The alcohol bath undoubtedly softened things up. After the sponge sanding, I followed with rubbing the bowl with acetone with cotton pads to draw the stain out of the grain. I finished with wiping down the stummel with isopropyl 95% to make sure all was cleaned and no grit left behind. I feel like I’m on a roll and I’m anxious to see the grain of this piece of briar unveiled. I use micromesh pads from 1500 to 2400, 3200 to 4000, and 6000 to 12000. The pictures below show the progress. I have to be honest, this is perhaps my favorite part of the restoration process – each set of micromesh pads brings out more of the grain revealing the profoundly unique ‘fingerprint’ of each piece of briar we handle. I euphemistically think of micromesh pads as ‘magicmesh’ pads – they bring the wood to life. In my opinion, the grain that I’m now enjoying is much more satisfying than looking through the plastic shiny sheen of the original Butz-Choquin design. I decide to put the bowl aside and focus now on completing the Cumberland stem clean up and restoration. I want to have an idea of the colors of the finished stem before I decide on the best finish for the stummel. I like working on a clean stem so I first clean the airway using pipe cleaners and Q-tips dipped in isopropyl 95%. During the cleaning, I saw something that I had missed before. The button airway opening has a divot – I’ll need to add that to the list. The superglue applications on the bit and button have had plenty of time to dry. I use 240 grit sanding paper and needle files to work on the bit and button repair. The bit repair looks good so I move to micromesh and the homestretch. I wet sand using 1500-2400 and then apply Obsidian oil to the stem. At this point, I inspect the repair work on the bit to make sure there are no scratches that I’ve missed before proceeding. I’ve learned that often scratches are covered by the rough vulcanite. With the Obsidian oil on the stem I dry-sand using micromesh pads 3200-4000 and apply more Obsidian oil. I do the same with the last set of three – 6000-12000 and give a good coat of oil and put it aside to dry. The pictures show the progress rejuvenating the Cumberland stem. I like what I’m seeing. I had one undone job – re-attach the filter casing to the stem. My assumption is that it was initially glued and after inspecting the inside of the stem, I detected residue that I assume was the glue previously used. I clean the old gunk off the housing and the inside of the stem with alcohol and cotton pad and reattach the housing with superglue. To get the job done I used my Winchester pocket knife and a dental pick to dig out the old glue. With the filter housing reattached, the stem is complete. I really like the rich color of the Cumberland stem. After allowing the filter housing glue to dry I want to see the lay of the land, I rejoin the Cumberland stem to the stummel (picture #1 below). I decide to stain the bowl with a new stain I found at the German owned ‘Mr. Prakteker’ – like Home Depot in the US. Finding alcohol-based stains in Bulgaria has been a challenge so I’ve been mixing my own batches up to this point. The brand is Italian and the cost was a bit more – I’m hoping that translates into better quality. When I opened the tin, a whiff of the stain revealed alcohol. With the help of Google Translate, the flavor of the stain is Dark Nut. The Bulgarian stick-on information tag said Dark Walnut. My thinking is to aim for a darker stummel to blend with the darker hues of the stem. If this succeeds, then I’m hoping the reds of the Cumberland stem ‘pop’ more instead of competing with the stummel. We’ll see! I can use alcohol-dipped cotton pads to lighten the stain after application if I choose. After setting the stummel up on the cork/candle stand I apply the stain undiluted with a cotton swab to see how it goes. I liberally allow stain to move over the inverted stummel – making sure of coverage over the inverted rim. After a good covering I use a lighter to fire the stain which is a quick-combustion of the alcohol leaving the stain to set well into the grain. The Italian stain ‘fired’ as hoped! I repeated the procedure and then used the alcohol dipped pads to clean off the burn layer of the stain revealing how the grain received the stain – it’s never the same! I take a picture to do a quick compare of stummel and stem. After comparing I’m thinking that I like the dark hue but it needs some reds so I decide to add a layer of Cheren stain – red which I will mix with alcohol as it is a water based stain. In my mind I’m thinking of the ‘Ox Blood’ depth that Steve uses – which is not found in Bulgaria! I think the addition of the red stain does the trick (last picture) though it’s difficult to see the difference comparing the last two pictures. Next, I apply several layers of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem with Dremel and cotton wheels. I’m careful to keep the Dremel wheel moving in rotation over the wood and use the lowest speed so not to overheat the wood. The buffing brings out the grain and the luster of the Cumberland stem. I continue the buffing with a clean cotton wheel over the entire stummel and stem surface. I finished with a thorough vigorous buffing with microfiber cloth to bring out the grain depth while watching Germany and Italy’s World Cup match. The recommissioning of this Butz-Choquin Rocamar was more of a project than I was expecting. I prefer the finish now before me to the shiny finish I started with. I like the new color scheme for the bowl and Cumberland stem – I believe it works well. The reds in the Cumberland stem match the grain amazingly well and the grain swirl in the rim has the appearance of continuing in the stem – a neat effect. I’m very pleased with the color blends. Another project done with new things learned to draw upon for the next candidate brought back to life! Thanks for joining me!

Restoring a Comoy’s The Guildhall Twin Bore Long Shank

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I brought to my table to work on was stamped on the left side of the shank The Guildhall over London Made and on the right side Twin Bore over Made in England. The stamping was readable with a light and a magnifier but it was faint. It was a nicely shaped long shank billiard or some would call it a Lumberman. I have worked on many Comoy’s The Guildhall pipes but never have seen one stamped like this. The stem indeed is a twin bore. It was in decent shape but it did not bear testimony to the point of the twin bore “bite proof” stem. It had a lot of tooth marks and chatter on the top and the bottom side of the stem. The tooth marks were quite deep but did not enter the airway in the stem. So I guess in that way the stem was “bite through proof”. The finish was quite nice. The pipe was in good shape with just some grime on the surface of the briar. The rim had been topped and restained sometime in its history as the stain is quite a bit lighter than the rest of the pipe. The outer and inner edges of the rim were darker than the surface of the rim. The bowl had been reamed but the cake was left uneven on the walls of the bowl. I took a close-up photo of the rim to show the previous topping and the darkening of the inner and out edges. You can see that it had been touched up and the rim edges not cleaned up. I also took some close-up photos of the damage to the stem in terms of tooth marks and chatter. I sanded the top and bottom sides of the stem to remove the tooth chatter on the surface and to clean up the area around the deeper tooth marks. I wiped the areas down with alcohol and then used black super glue to fill in the deep marks.While the stem repairs were drying I reamed the bowl with the Savinelli Pipe Knife. I took the cake back to bare briar.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the bevel on the inner edge of the bowl. I worked slowly to make sure that the bevel maintained the roundness of the bowl. Once I had it finished I stained the rim and inner edge with a medium brown stain pen to match the colour with the rest of the pipe.I used a dental spatula to scrape out the inside of the mortise as there was a ridge of tar and oil part way down the shank. I scraped out the grime and then scrubbed the inside of the mortise and the airway in the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean.By the time I worked on the twin bore stem the repairs were dry. I lightly sanded them and then cleaned out the twin bore airways.I sanded the repairs on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper until the surface of the repairs was blended into the surface of the stem.I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I sanded it with the last set of three micromesh sanding pads – 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and worked over the scratches that still showed up on the top surface of the stem. It did not take much to remove them and get a deep shine on the stem. I buffed the bowl as well, being careful around the stampings on the shank of the pipe. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine on the briar and vulcanite. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It shines and has depth to the finish. The stamping is faint but is my only example of a Twin Bore Comoy’s The Guildhall Pipe. It is a beauty in my opinion. Thanks for looking.