Tag Archives: repairing tooth marks

Restoring a Savinelli De Luxe 132EX Pot

Blog by Flatticus

It is with pleasure that I introduce you to Flatticus. Flatticus is the designer and fabricator of the rustication tool that I wrote about a few posts back. We met via Smokers Forums and also through the blog. We exchanged quite a few messages and emails back and forth over the past months on refurbishing pipes and in building the rusticator. Flatticus has been reading the blog for quite a while now and I have asked him to feel free to write-up some of his work for us to read. Flatticus is a great communicator and does some excellent work in his refurbishing. Without further ado I will let Flatticus introduce himself and this pipe that he has restored.

Hi all, Flatticus here, an amateur to this wonderful hobby. This blog has taught me everything I know about restoration (but far from everything Steve knows, yet) and I’m excited to have a chance to share some of my recent efforts, all with methods learned right here at Reborn Pipes. I recently came across a large lot of pipes with some hidden gems, including this enormous Savinelli De Luxe 132 EX Pot. Even through the grime, it was clear at the outset that this was a beautiful piece of briar. I was a bit hesitant from the outset, though, because I’ve never meddled with a pipe this nice. Still, there’s only one way to learn!
As you can see, the oxidation was extremely heavy, enough to hide the significant tooth damage to the button and bite zone. The pipe itself was grimy in the extreme, and while a touch of murphy’s oil soap took enough grime off to assure me this wasn’t heat damage, it wouldn’t touch the majority of the blackening on the pipe. First step, then, was to put the pipe in my alcohol bath, a technique I first read about in Steve’s post here. So I reamed the excess cake, and dropped it in the bath. The stem got a quick scrub with some pipe cleaners, and was already pretty clean, so into the Oxyclean it went for 2.5 hours.
After the soak and a little scrubbing on with the Magic Eraser pads, actually bought as melamine foam on the cheap off eBay, but it’s the identical product, the stem looked great! At least unless you’ve read the recent post by Joyal Taylor here. Luckily, I had, so I knew to grab my trusty flashlight.
Oxidation was everywhere, and under an angled flashlight I could see it through the length of the stem. Ok, then I knew I had to sand. But first to address the bite marks. Step one was to try the heat gun, as I learned first here.
Unfortunately the marks were too deep to come out completely from the heat, so I filled them with black superglue, a technique I found an in-depth explanation of, among other places on the site, here. In the meantime I turned to the stummel itself while the glue was drying.
The bowl top was scratched pretty badly, and had some definite darkening to contend with. I knew I’d have to top it like Steve showed me in many posts like this one. I grabbed my topping board, actually a granite surface plate I bought from woodcraft years ago for lapping wood plane soles, and now use almost exclusively for pipes.
At 320 grit, my preferred poison for this procedure, the rim cleaned up quickly, but I soon enough decided that to eliminate all of the darkening I’d have to top the bowl lower than I liked. I came close, but left some of the color rather than lose the original shape. As you can see, the bowl was also a bit out of round (and still is, to a degree), which I went after with folder sandpaper to smooth out the curve without reshaping the bowl. The pipe had 2-3 fills, but I was confident they’d blend into the stain.
After this was done I gave the bowl one coat, applied twice with flame, of a medium brown Fiebing’s Dye, diluted to about 75/25 with isopropyl alcohol and set it to dry while I turned back to the stem.

Unfortunately after a quick bit of sanding it was clear the stem needed more glue to be built back up, so I added some and tried to be patient while it dried.
Once it had, I began sanding at 320 again, at this level with an eye towards shaping more than polishing. This is definitely a weak spot for me, so I’m glad for the practice, but I need more!
After a lot of trial and error (mostly error) I finally had the stem shaped properly and sanded through 320, 600, 800, 1000 grit in sandpaper and the full range of micromesh pads from 1500 to 12000. It was looking nice and shiny, so I gave it a thick rubbing with obsidian oil and set it out to dry for about a half hour.
At this point it was time to hit the buffing wheels. As you can see, I buff on the lathe, with a three wheel mandrel not made by Beall but suspiciously similar, and with tripoli, white diamond, and carnauba wax. One thing I’ll point out is that odd tool in the foreground, which is a wheel rake. You can get the job done with a hacksaw blade, but if you want clean buffing wheels, these are hard to beat.
After the three-part buffing, I chucked a 4” flannel wheel into my cordless drill for a final polish by hand. For a rank amateur, I must say myself, this turned out to be a very beautiful pipe.

Some pictures of the finished product:

Looking back, I still have an awful lot to learn, that much is clear. For one thing, that rim fill didn’t blend quite as well as I was confident it would. All in all, though, I’m pleased as punch at having learned how to do any of this, and I have Steve and the great contributors to this site to thank for it.

An Old Horn Stem, Bone Tenon Apple Restored

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I saw this old-timer on EBay I decided it had my name on it. The combination of shape and stem material are something that I love. It looked to be in pretty fair shape, just a bit of darkening at the rim, some nicks in the briar which is to be expected in a pipe this age. The stem looked all right – a few tooth marks on the surface but the horn material did not appear to have any splintering or cracks. The threaded tenon looked like it was a bone tenon and it too appeared to be in good shape. I put in my bid and was the only bidder. I have included the photos that the seller included in the sale. The pipe is delicate – a mere 4 inches.

The seller did not include any information on the stamping on the pipe. I wrote and they responded that it was not readable but that there was an oval on the left side of the shank. When it arrived I took it to my work table and did a cursory clean up and tried to read the stamping on the shank. I could see that the oval had remnants of gold in the marks. Under a bright light and using a jeweler’s loupe I could see that there was a letter visible on the right side of the oval that was readable – “N”. I wetted the stamping and looked more closely and could see what appeared to be the long straight leg of another letter on the left of the oval. It could easily have been a “K”, “R” or an “L”. On closer examination it seems to have a base on the bottom of the left leg. That would make it an “L”. So armed with that I did some digging in “Who Made That Pipe” and found several possibilities. The most likely was “LMN” and through continued observation of the logo I think that is what it is stamped. For me, a good part of the enjoyment of the hobby of refurbishing is the pipe mysteries that come along with the pipes I work on. So this pipe was going to be fun to work on and to research.

I used the information in WMTP to research more into the maker of the pipe (at least according to the book). The pipe seems to have been made by a company called Jacobs, Hart & Co. England. I searched the various online directories of business in London at the time and found the following information on the hallmark site. It simply says that in 1889 in London there was a tobacco merchant named Joshua Michael Jacobs. I found his hallmark which interestingly is an oval as well with the JMJ letters stamped on the silver. I also found that members of the Jacobs family were gold and silver smiths as well as involved in the tobacco industry.

At this point the trail went cold and I could find nothing else regarding the firm in the records. I knew that the family was involved in the industry but I could not find any information on the pipe brand itself. The only connection at this point was the listing in WMTP.

I searched the web for information on the second name in the company – Hart, and found that the name was held by an Australian who was a tobacco merchant as well. I have no idea about the migration from England to Australia but the link is certainly possible. I have included some information from the records I read through on the Hart family to show at least the tobacco connection.

The first document I found was a birth announcement for an Alfred David Hart. The birth announcement reads in part: “Born at Franklin Cottage, West-terrace, Adelaide. Birth certificate held – Father, general merchant, Franklin St., Adelaide, number Vol 3, pg 140 Adelaide.”

Further information found in the Biographical Register of Australia shows that he is included. Quoting in part: “Partner Feldheim, (I), Jacobs (qv) & Co (later Jacobs Hart & Co) tobacco merchants (emphasis is mine), managing director at William Cameron Bros & Co, tobacco manufacturers 1895; director of British Australian Tobacco Co from inception, chairman to 1925; dir Foster’s Beer Co: left estate of at least Pounds 183,252. The references given are: British Australian (Lond) 5 Apr 1928 cover p ii, 14 June 1928 p 21; Brisb Courier 12 Apr 1928 p 6; Argus 18 Feb1928 p 31; Vic LA PP 1894 2 no 37, p 417, Vic LA, V & P 1895 6 1 no D4 p 52, 62, 1895/6 2 no 3 p 8 ? 34.” http://metastudies.net/genealogy/PS04/PS04_230.HTM

The last bit of information on this partner in the company I found was his obituary. It too links him to the tobacco company that is associated with this pipe.

Hart, Alfred David (1851–1928)
http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/hart-alfred-david-13552
Mr. Alfred David Hart, who died on Thursday night at his residence in St. Kilda road, in his 78th year, was one of the founders of the modern tobacco trade in Australia. Mr. Hart was born in Adelaide in November, 1850, and he came to Melbourne in youth. His long association with the tobacco trade began at that time. For some years he was with Feldheim Jacobs and Co., and afterwards the firm became Jacobs Hart and Co., with establishments in Melbourne and Adelaide. At a later time Mr. Hart retired from the firm and became chairman and manager of Cameron Brothers and Co. Pty. Ltd. When the tobacco companies of Australia amalgamated he became chairman of directors in Melbourne of the British Australian Tobacco Company Pty. Ltd. From that position he retired in 1925, though he still held large interests. At one period Mr. Hart was chairman of directors of the Foster Brewing Company, and to the time of his death he was one of the directors of the Swan Brewery Company and chairman of directors of the United Insurance Company Ltd. Mr. Hart had many other business interests. He was the proprietor of Elizabeth House, the large building at the corner of Elizabeth and little Collins streets.

That is the extent of that information as well. Once again there is no written link to the information noted in WMTP. I did some more research on the LMN brand and came across several pipes with that stamping for sale on various sites. Once of those was found on Worthpoint. It is pictured below. I have also included the link to the site. http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-lmn-hallmarked-bent-chimney-169605160 I did find that LMN was registered as a trademark in Australia and belonged to WD & HO Wills Australia LTD. Here is the trademark information:

Trademark number 4727 was lodged on 30/07/1907 and has a status of Removed – Not Renewed. The applicant/owner of the trademark is registered as W D & H O Wills (Aust) Limited Business names for this company include AMERICAN PALL MALL, AMERICAN PALL MALL CO, BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CO, BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CO., BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO COMPANY, BROWN AND WILLIAMSON TOBACCO COMPANY, CIGARETTE DISTRIBUTORS, CUSTOMPHONE, GENERAL CIGAR CO, GEORGE TICKLE & CO, LAMBERT & BUTLER, OGDENS TOBACCO CO, THE NATIONAL TOBACCO COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA, THE STATESMAN CIGAR CO, TICKLES TOBACCO SERVICE, W.A. AND A.C. CHURCHMAN, WILLIAM BUTLER TOBACCO COMPANY

With that I decided to put my research to rest for a while and went to work on the pipe. The next photo gives a clear picture of the size of the pipe. I have it resting next to my iPhone 4 for comparison sake.

The next four photos show the pipe as it was when I started the refurbishing. The bowl itself was in good shape. There were nicks and marks all around the bowl. On the bowl front there was an area where a fill had fallen out and left a deep hole in the briar. The bowl interior was fairly clean with a light cake and some remnants of tobacco left in the bowl. The inner edge of the rim had two areas that were burned. The burned area extended to the top of the rim in those two spots. The stem was quite clean. There was no evidence of the horn delaminating which was good news. Next to the button on both sides of the stem there were troughs left behind from tooth marks. There was tooth chatter over the surface, both top and bottom a 1/3 of the way up the short stem. The bone tenon was in excellent shape with no damage or broken threads. There was some staining on the end but other than that it was flawless.

Because I love the finished look of horn I worked on the horn stem first. I sanded the surface of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the tooth chatter and the deep troughs around the edges of the button. As I worked on them I realized that the horn material was thin in those spots. I roughened the surface and built it up with clear super glue. My goal was to level out the troughs and give a clean flow to the taper of the stem to the button. This took several applications of super glue. After each application dried I sanded it with 200 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge to make sure that the surface was level before adding a new layer.

When the troughs were filled and level I screwed the stem back into the bowl and took some photos to check out the taper of the stem to the button. I wanted to make sure that the taper was smooth and the flow correct. I find that taking a photo gives me some distance from the pipe and I can examine it more critically than in real life at this point. I would need to work on the button area but the taper was correct.

I gave the bowl a light reaming with a PipNet reamer. I decided address the deeper nicks and crevices on the bowl with briar dust and superglue. Before doing that I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the finish and clean the bowl.

I packed briar dust into the nicks and holes in the briar and then added drops of super glue followed by more briar dust. I always over fill the patches as it is easier to sand the patches than to continue to fill them as they shrink. The next two photos show the patches.

I sanded the patches with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the thicker portion of the repairs and then followed up with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. The repairs are smooth and match the surrounding briar. They are dark spots but I have found that I don’t mind those as much as putty fills. I also have found that they can be blended into the briar more easily when stained with a dark brown or black aniline stain. They are still present but do not stand out.

To remove the burned areas on the inner edge and top of the rim I topped the bowl using a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper. I move the bowl across the sandpaper in a clockwise circular pattern – more out of habit than anything else though I find that it minimizes the scratches left behind and is easier to smooth out with later sanding.

I took the top of the rim down until the burn marks were minimized and the top of the bowl was smooth to the touch. I sanded the bowl top with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratches. I did not go on to sand with higher grit paper as I would be sanding after I stained the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol and then applied and flamed the dark brown aniline stain. I repeated the process until I had good coverage on the bowl and rim. The stain was very dark and hid the grain. It was also very opaque and not what I wanted as the final stain on the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol to remove much of the stain. Doing this removes the surface coat but leaves the stain deep in the grain of the briar.

I buffed the bowl with White Diamond on the wheel to further remove some of the stain and smooth out the surface of the briar. I avoided the area of the stamping so as not to further damage the already faint stamping. I then folded a piece of sandpaper and worked on the inner edge of the rim to remove the damage and work the bowl back into round afterwards. I have included the photos below to give an idea of what the stain looked like at this point as well as the way the repairs were hidden by the stain. There is some great grain on this old pipe.

I sanded the bowl and stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil to preserve the horn and renew it.

I buffed the bowl and stem lightly with White Diamond and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it lightly with a soft flannel buff and then hand buffed the area around the stamping. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The horn has a rich shine to it now and the briar looks very good. The contrast between the rich brown stain and the striations of colour in the horn stem give the pipe a distinctive look. There are still some battle scars that add character to the pipe in my opinion. Overall the pipe looks almost new. It is cleaned and ready for a smoke.

Restoring an old Harlequin Pipe and Trying to Unravel the Mystery of its Origin

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When I saw this old pipe on eBay something about it caught my eye. I could see that it was structurally sound. There were no cracks or significant problems with the bowl or shank. The rim was dirty and the bowl very caked but there did not appear to be any damage to the surface of the rim. The outer edge had been tapped out a few times and showed some minor denting around the bowl. There were some gouges/scratches on the left side of the bowl. It looked as if a sharp instrument had scored the briar. There were some dark stains on the briar that easily could have been burn marks but did not appear to be so from the photos. These stains were on the underside of the shank near the junction of the shank and stem on the left side, on the lower right side of the right side and on the lower left side of the front of the bowl. It looked like stains in the grain rather than burns in the photos so I took a chance on it. The stem looked like it was grey/silver Lucite in the photos and that also intrigued me. The tobacco juices had stained the airway dark. Other than that the stem appeared to be undamaged and would be a pretty easy clean up.

The stamping on the shank was the mystery to me. I had never heard of Harlequin pipes and this one was clearly stamped Harlequin in block letters over Made in England. I wanted to see what I could find out about the brand so I went to my usual sources of information. I checked in “Who made that Pipe” by Wilczak and Colwell and “Pipes Artisans and Trademarks by Lopes to see if either of them identified the maker. Both books had nothing listed for the brand. I went on the British Trademark site and read through many of the listings for Harlequin and found that the name was used by many companies for things from wallpaper to graphics design. There were lines of greeting cards, children’s toys and clothing all bearing that name. I found nothing listed that hinted that the pipes were a registered name. I posted on several online forums that I frequent to see if anyone had any ideas. Several folks on the forums recalled that Gallaher’s Tobacco Limited in Ireland had made a tobacco for years called Harlequin. I did some research to see if they had made pipes.

As I dug through various sites on the hunt for information I received some responses on the forums. One person responded that several English tobacco brands also sold pipes – St. Bruno for one did that. Another respondent on Smokers Forums, Chris (flatticus) posted a couple of links to Gallaher’s that confirmed that they had not only made tobacco products but had made pipes or had them made. He included this information:

Ok, so Gallaher’s made at least some pipes into the early 70’s. And according to this link: http://books.google.com/books?id=LAO…20pipe&f=false

They made a Balkan Sobranie pipe. Or at least intended to enough to register the trademark, and along with the trademark for the tobacco itself. Certainly adds a bit of credence to the idea of a tobacco and pipe sharing the same brand name and stamp.

I have included the information cited above from the link to Google books – the Kenya Gazette and have posted it below. In correspondence from E.G. Bunyassi, Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks he clearly states under the heading of Balkan Sobranie that Gallaher’s Limited, a company organized under the laws of the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had made cigarettes, pipe tobacco and pipes.

I asked on the forum whether anyone knew whether the company made pipes. Chris (flatticus) responded again with the following information:

Interesting question, I don’t honestly know, but Gallaher’s used that trademark for like 70 years, and they were a big, big company. Actually from Northern Ireland, and had the biggest tobacco factory in the world in 1896 in Belfast, didn’t completely disappear until they were bought out by Japan Tobacco in 2007, but before that had a distribution conglomerate with RJ Reynolds for their cigarettes and were pretty gigantic. But they didn’t let the Harlequin mark until at least after 1963, when they last registered it. If I had to guess, they probably let it die after 1969 when American Brands, who I think owns Lucky Strike and similar brands, bought them out. They let the mark expire in 1980, but I see no record of anyone else buying it, and apparently it’s still available.

So, blindly guessing, I’d be surprised if anyone had the guts to use the same mark in a same or similar industry other than Gallaher’s. At least not in Ireland or the Commonwealth. But, that said, I can’t find a record or advertisement suggesting they ever made a pipe. However, I did find this thread, containing a quote from Gallaher himself talking about making pipes as a possible future avenue to address the “aging” nature of pipe smokers. http://christianpipesmokers.net/modu…wtopic&t=24081

Perhaps this was part of the “pipe renaissance” project he was talking about, made to get new pipe smokers interested. I checked harlequin ads, there a few vintage ones out there in images, but none of them referenced a pipe, just the tobacco. But the idea of a free pipe with tobacco, or at least a cheap or, as he put it, “disposable” pipe does seem to fit nicely with his intention there. Any way you slice it, though, it’s a nice bit of mystery to ponder. One of my favorite things about estate pipes, hands down.

In another link there was information on the Gallaher Company. I copied that information and have posted it below. It makes an interesting read in terms of history of this old brand. I have one chunk of Gallaher’s Irish Roll Cake here that is a good strong smoke. I also have some of their other tobaccos in my cellar but sadly it is no more. I think the likelihood is that the Harlequin pipe was made by them and matched the Harlequin Tobacco blend they sold.

Once the pipe arrived I unpacked it and took it to the work table to begin the clean up. I was surprised that the stem was not grey but in real life almost a light green with heavy black tars in the airway. There were also some tooth marks on the top and bottom of the stem that would need to be repaired. The fit of the stem to the shank was snug and smooth. The bowl was badly caked and the rim covered with thick tar. The bowl had some deep gouges that had appeared in the photos on eBay but they were not as deep as I expected. The grain was far better than I expected. Underneath the dark marks, which appear to be ink stains rather than burn marks was some beautiful cross grain and birdseye as well as mixed grain. It would look beautiful when it was cleaned up and refinished. There were several spots on the briar that had large sticky spots of a glue-like substance.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the cake. It was surprisingly soft and crumbly. I took it back to a very thin cake to form the base for a new cake.

I set up a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to clean off the build up on the rim. It was hard and no matter how hard I scrubbed it, it would not come off. The outer edges of the rim were also damaged from knocking out the bowl after smoking. The light topping would smooth out the edge damage and minimize the effect without changing the look of the bowl.

I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the ink and sticky build up on the finish. I also decided to remove the finish so I scrubbed it until the majority of the finish was gone.

I cleaned the stem with cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I was able to scrub out the airway and the slot in the button removing the stains. I also scrubbed the end of the tenon to clean out the staining there. I scrubbed the mortise with alcohol and cotton swabs as well until they came out clean. The internals were cleaned and smelled fresh rather than smelling like old aromatic tobacco.

Once it was clean, I tried to steam out the gouges in the bowl but they would not lift. I could have sanded them out but that would have changed the profile of the bowl so I opted on repairing them with super glue and briar dust.

I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and then followed that by sanding with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to blend the surface of the fill with the rest of the surrounding bowl. After sanding the fills I sanded the entire bowl with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the rest of the finish on the bowl. I carefully worked around the stamping so as not to damage it.

I used clear superglue to repair the deep tooth marks on the top and bottom sides of the stem near the button. The bottom repair can be seen in the photo below. I later sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponges to blend it into the stem surface.

I decided to use the contrast stain process I have been working on to highlight the grain on this beautiful pipe. I gave it an under coat of black aniline stain. I used a Delrin tenon for a handle in the shank to be able to turn the bowl while I was staining. I applied the stain, flamed it, applied it and flamed it again until the coverage was even.

When the stain had dried I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the surface stain while leaving the grain highlighted with the black. I wiped it down repeatedly with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to check and see what the grain was looking like after sanding. This process took far longer than the staining and initial preparation. I sanded and washed, sanded and washed the bowl and shank until the grain stood out against the briar.

I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit to further remove the black stain that was stubbornly sticking in the angles of the bowl and shank. I then gave the bowl a top coat of oxblood stain. My thinking was that the contrast between the black in the grain and the red in the other portions of the briar would make the grain stand out.

When the oxblood stain dried I dry sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to remove some more of the dark stain and make the grain stand out even more. I rubbed the bowl down with olive oil and used it as a medium for the sanding. It worked well to remove the darker areas of the bowl near the shank and along the top edge and rim.

After sanding I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond to polish the briar and the Lucite stem. I had previously sanded the stem repairs with the sanding sponges to remove the bump of the glue and blend it into the surface. I followed that with sanding the stem with all grits of micromesh from 1500-12000. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and polish it. I finished by buffing the pipe with a clean soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is cleaned, stained and ready to smoke. I am really pleased with the finished look of the pipe. The yellow mother of pearl looking stem works well with the contrast stain on the bowl.

Repairing a Cracked Bowl on a GBD London Made Canadian

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Andrew sent me this old pipe as a bit of a challenge and I thought I would give it a go. This was a great looking pipe at one point in its life – nice grain. It is stamped GBD in the oval on the top of the shank with LONDON MADE in an arc under the oval. That leads me to believe the line is the LONDON MADE rather than the location. On the underside of the shank it is stamped: LONDON ENGLAND over D256. The 256 is the correct shape for an oval shank Canadian but I had not seen the D stamping before a number on GBD pipes.

The finish was rough and there was split in the back side of the bowl that ran horizontally in an arc across the bowl about ½ inches from the top. It was as if the grain had separated that way across the back of the bowl. It follows the arc of the grain in that part of the briar. From the main split there was a tiny crack branching off into another line of grain on the left side of the bowl. The weird thing about the split is that it was only external. There was no sign of it inside the bowl after removing the thin cake. The stem was not with the pipe so it would need to be restemmed. I found an old saddle stem in my can of stems that would work for this pipe after I modified it.

In talking on the phone with Tim West last evening while I was ordering parts for repairs I discussed this pipe with him. He said that in his estimation the crack being only on the outside of the bowl suggested that the issue was a moisture problem.

I shaped the stem with a Dremel and a sanding drum. I removed the saddle on the stem and converted it into a taper shape and also narrowed it to fit the dimensions of the oval shank. The next four photos show the newly fit stem and the rough shaping that I did with the Dremel. All that remained in the stem fit was a lot of hand sanding!

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to remove the existing cake and to check the interior walls of the bowl. They were not cracked as noted above. I washed down the pipe with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the finish in preparation for doing the repair on the cracks. I picked out the debris in the cracks with a dental pick and cleaned out the sides and interior of the cracks. I washed that part of the bowl down a final time with acetone to clear away any debris left behind by my picking at it.

I packed briar dust into the cracks with a dental pick and then dripped super glue on top of the briar dust to bond it and make a fill for the crack. The next series of photos show the repair at this point from various angles.

Once the glue was dry and the patches were solid I sanded the patch with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out to match the surface of the bowl. I sanded it with medium and fine grit sanding sponges afterward to smooth it out further. The next photos show the initial sanding of the patches. There was still much sanding to do and some more filling in spots that were low.

I sanded the bowl and the new stem further with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the finish and smooth out the transitions. On the crack repair I wanted to even out the transition between the fill and the surrounding briar. On the new stem shank union I wanted to make that transition between the briar and the vulcanite stem seamless.

The next series of three photos show the newly sanded repair. It looks better but there are still a few areas that will need to be filled and sanded some more.

At this point in the process I was still undecided as to whether I would stain the repaired bowl or rusticate it. I posted on an online forum to see what others thought and the audience was split. I decided to stain it and see how the repair looked. If I changed my mind I could rusticate it later. I wanted to use a contrast stain on the bowl to minimize the look of the crack so I used a black aniline stain to do the undercoat. It would also highlight any areas on the repair that needed more attention. I applied the stain, flamed it and did the same again until the coverage I was looking for was achieved.

I took three photos of the repair after staining to show what the repair looked like at this point.

When the stain was dry I wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol to lighten it and bring out the grain. I wanted the black stain to settle into the grain and highlight the stripes. I wiped it down with acetone as well to further lighten the stain. I buffed the pipe with red Tripoli and White Diamond to further lighten the black undercoat. I stained it with a top coat of dark brown aniline stain, flamed and restained it for the coverage I wanted. It must be remembered at this point that this was not the finish coat but merely the way in which the repair is highlighted and makes it clear where I still need to do some work on the fills. The photos below show the repair and make it very clear where there was still work to do. This meant more filling of the crack with briar dust and superglue and more sanding. It also meant that I would need to restain that particular area of the pipe

Once the pipe was at this point several things stood out to me. I really like the grain patterns on the bowl and shank and I need to continue to work on the patch until it was well blended. So I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond and then took it back to the work table to do some more work on the patch.I sanded down the area around the repair with 220 grit sandpaper and then packed in more briar dust with the dental pick. I added more superglue until the repair was mounded slightly. While this would take more work in terms of sanding, I knew it would make the patch as perfect as possible.

Once I had the patch sanded back to match the surface of the surrounding briar with the 220 grit sandpaper, I sanded it further with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. The scrathes left behind by the sandpapers disappeared with the micromesh sanding. I restained the area with the black undercoat, sanded it again and then gave it a topcoat of dark brown aniline stain a second time. I did not bother sanding and restaining the whole pipe as my plan was to sand the entire bowl to create the contrast I wanted with the two stains. I sanded the pipe with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to blend in the freshly stained portion of the pipe with the rest. The next three photos show the status of the repair at this point.

I continued to sand the bowl and shank being careful around the stamping on the top and bottom of the shank with the micromesh sanding pads until the top stain was almost translucent. I wanted the top coat to be there but I wanted the grain to pop through it. I also wanted the colour to blend in such a way that the dark repair would not be hidden completely but would be minimized. The next four photos show the pipe after all of the sanding and a buff with White Diamond to enhance the shine.

I worked on the stem to remove several small tooth marks on the underside and one on the topside of the stem. I then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it and get the flow of the taper just right. I sanded it with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then used my normal range of micromesh sanding pads to finish the work. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit and then dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it soak into the vulcanite.

I did some more sanding with micromesh sanding pads on the stem to remove some of the light scratching that showed up under the flash and then buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond. I gave them both multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. The first three photos below show the repair as it stands now. The surface of the bowl is smooth to the touch. The light and the dark spots on the repair are some of the briar dust in the patchwork. Some takes the stain and is dark and there seem to always be light spots as well. This old pipe has come a long way since I received it in the mail.

The finished pipe is shown in the next series of four photos. The stem fit came out nicely. The change from a saddle to a taper style worked well. The contrast stain looks great on the pipe. Over all I am well pleased that I decided to stain it and not rusticate it. I look forward to loading up a bowl and enjoying the “new” pipe.

Some remarks on dealing with damaged stems of smoking pipes by Jacek A. Rochacki

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Blog by Jacek A. Rochacki

This is Jacek’s second article on pipe repairs. I appreciate the slant that Jacek brings to the work of pipe refurbishing. His art restoration background lends itself to some beautiful solutions to the challenges that face the pipe refurbisher that are far different from those that have been used by myself and others as we deal with the work we do. I am very appreciative of Jacek’s willingness to share his methodology with us here on rebornpipes. Thank you Jacek for taking the time to write-up these pieces and sending them to us. They are a significant contribution to our work and love of all things pipe.

We all have known many different ways in which the stems/mouthpieces of our pipes are damaged. Let me indicate some of them: – broken mouthpiece – sometime in the middle, often in the “lip”/”button”area – tooth dent – this is often at the lip/button area and it does not look so nice – different holes/losses, mostly in the lip/button area, often such holes are”bitten up” by willing smoker. – broken tenon (sometime it is stuck/jammed in the shank) Let me begin from few words on materials. In general we deal mostly with vulcanite/ebonite and transparent Perspex (some models of GBD). But those are not the only materials. There are some similar materials like Ashtonite invented by late William “Bill” Ashton Taylor and used in his Ashton pipes; it is a little harder than typical vulcanite/ebonite. In older pipes we often see mouthpieces in yellow color looking like and named “Amber”; these are seldom made of original amber, more often of yellow glass-like material and are hard and break easily. (There are also yellow stems of softer materials like vulcanite/ebonite, and I would proceed with them as I usually proceed with black or Cumberland vulcanite/ebonite). Their tenons are often made of different, more appropriate material for their function, possibly bone, and sometimes such tenons are of screw in type. In some briar pipes tenons are made of metal – aluminum. And I know cases when owner wanted such metal tenons to be removed and changed for tenons made of vulcanite, modern Teflon etc. in belief that these materials will “cooperate” better with briar wood. I mention this not as advice as it is “intrusion” into originality of the pipe but as some kind of curiosity. As a matter of fact I note that even in case of vulcanite mouthpieces there was/is tendency to remove original tenons and fit tenons of Teflon or other modern material. Here is list (partial to be sure) of some of the different kinds of vulcanite/ebonite materials that have been used for mouthpieces:

Ace – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Super-Ace – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Amcosite – Siemens Bros. & Co., UK
Bulwark – Redfern’s Rubber Works, UK
Cohardite – Connecticut Hard Rubber Co., USA
Dexonite – Dexine Ltd., UK
Endurance American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Gallia-Rubber – French ebonite
Keramot – Siemens Bros. & Co., UK
Level Chuck – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Luzerne – Luzerne Rubber, USA
Mercury – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Navy – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Onazote – Expanded Rubber Co., UK
Permcol – British Hard Rubber Co., UK
Resiston – American Hard Rubber Co., USA
Rub-Erok – Richardson Co., USA
Rub-Tex – Richardson Co., USA
Solid Rubber – used by some English makers in 1914-1918 years

I have seen these names/markings on stems/mouthpieces of old pipes. Sometimes it is of help in dating and attributing a pipe that is so marked. Remember that vulcanization of natural rubber with sulfur was invented by Charles Goodyear in USA in 1839 and was patented in 1843; in the same year Thomas Hancock patented it in Great Britain. Here is have good source on vulcanite
http://www.seattlepipeclub.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=969877&module_id=16894

In the’30’s vulcanite of different mixed colors became popular in making pens and is similar to what we see in some mouthpieces of pipes named “Cumberland”.

As vulcanite consists of vulcanized natural rubber, it may be of help to mention that oil (like in old days was used in oil lamps) and/or turpentine may serve as solvents, helpful with restoration if needed be.

I said all this in order to point out the importance of recognizing the material that our mouthpieces are made of in order to find best matching material for making eventual repairs to missing elements etc. The practical solution seems to be making one’s own “stock” of repair materials – simplest would be to collect broken, unrepairable mouthpieces. But there other ways: I found vulcanite rods that were used in schools for experimenting with electricity to be good material for fixing damaged mouthpieces. In the field of transparent materials I have been using old fashioned artificial plastic glass (sometime named Plexiglas) that was used in aviation some half of century ago. It is also important to choose right type of glue.

Beside the matters of tenons, I would briefly divide our work into two categories:
– joining together broken elements
– filling in holes or broken areas.
Of course, in practice these categories will “mix up” together.

In the case of a repairing a stem or mouthpiece that broken in half, the solution is quite simple. What is to be done is to use a strengthening/enforcing invisible element that will serve as sort of “hard core” – constructional element. The simplest way would be to use thin tube of internal diameter corresponding with diameter of the air channel of our mouthpiece. “Walls” of such tube, if it is tube of metal, may be of 0.3 – 0.4 mm in thickness. In order for it be fitted properly, we have to drill a kind of “nest”/mortise/”channel” for it, drilling the air channel with drill bit of proper diameter making this “nest”/mortise as long as required by length of our tube. The choice of such tube is important as not only air but also condensate will be in contact with the tube, so I would avoid brass, copper etc. The best IMO would be a tube of pure silver or high percentage silver alloy, or some aluminum like that which was used by Dunhill for his Inner Tubes, just of larger diameter. Silver tubes may be available in goldsmith’s supply places.

After making proper strengthening/enforcing tube and making sure that all parts fit well, I use simple glue of cyanoacrylic type – kind of “super glue”.

A more advanced way would be to make the strengthening/enforcing/ element – a drilled tube/cylinder from vulcanite/ebonite. It is possible to make it without using a lathe, just the laborious and precise use of files. The starting material could be the broken tenon from unrepairable mouthpiece from our “stock” of materials. The “nests”/mortises in parts to be glued should be of larger/proper diameter, because it is practically impossible to hand make the vulcanite mini tube with walls of 0.3 or similar thickness, so the outer diameter of our vulcanite tube will be larger than in case of metal tube. We make “nests”/mortises/”channels” of required diameter using drill bits of proper diameter. If we are not sure about precision of our fingers necessary for hand making short tube of vulcanite, we may make just a small cylinder of vulcanite of desired size which would make/allow parts to be glued to fit perfectly, and after gluing all parts together, drill the air channel from the tenon side with a long drill bit of right diameter corresponding to diameter of the air channel and in delicate, secure direction-wise way, drill the inserted cylinder through the air channel so the air/draft channel will be “operational” again.

Summary: use the enforcing/strengthening elements and we may be surprised how many unrepairable looking elements may be repaired and then serve really well.

Now for filling in holes or broken areas.

The relatively simple thing seems to be filling in tooth dents. I begin by cleaning the surface of the dent with some sharp tool – scraper or blade of size of small pocket knife, better with rounded tip, such as those found on pipe knives. This is to remove oxidation from the surface that is to be filled. After “cleaning” the surface I take a needle, scraper or similar sharp tool with sharp pointed tip and “score”/”draw” delicate lines/”mini-groves” on the cleaned surface. This is the old trick used in enameling for better adhesion of filling material (extender) that will be “put” on the prepared surface. This material is simple and known us vulcanite dust – the result of filing a properly chosen piece of vulcanite, sometimes it is result of filing the stem that is to be repaired, sometimes we may use another piece of vulcanite from our “stock” if we are sure that it will fit well. Then I mix this dust with cyanoacrylic glue making my “filling material/paste” – kind of putty, and I apply it on scored dent. After some time – rather longer then shorter – say – good couple of hours depending on thickness of the filling, I use a file and sandpaper and finally polish on the patched stem – this is known as the finishing procedures.

After all this please, be prepared for unpleasant surprise at the first glance. The filled up area may be of different color than the color of the stem. Please do not worry! It is not without reason that I have mentioned before that oil (like in old days was used in oil lamps) and/or turpentine may serve as solvents that are helpful with restoration… so a drop of oil or turpentine applied on the repaired area and “distributed”/”smeared” all over will turn the surface of the glued parts to match the rest of the stem. When the surface dries, I would return to delicate polishing and be prepared for repeating such finishing operation as many times as necessary. At very end I would apply a wee drop of olive or proper mineral oil and smear it all over with soft cotton textile; this is old method of conservation of surfaces of objects made of vulcanite/ebonite – “hard rubber”.

This was an easy case. What about situations when the lip or end of the stem/mouthpiece is partly broken, “eaten up”, has holes, or part is missing? Please, take a look at illustrations published by our host at the beginning of his text “Cutting and shaping a new button on a severely damaged stem”
https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/cutting-and-shaping-a-new-button/

Instead of cutting/removing the damaged part and carving the lip/button of what is left, I would proceed in different way. Keeping in mind my wish of keeping original dimension, proportions, form, I would try to reconstruct damaged stem/mouthpiece as following:

By using sharp cutting tools – engravers/burins, scrapers or in case of better equipped “workshop corner” – cutters, like those used by jewelers for stone settings, or even a sharp pocket knife, a frame saw and needle files I would work on the damaged area making it a proper shape a piece of the same material carved that I will later shape/carve to fit what is missing. The words “making it of proper shape”, may be a subject for another longer text. But as sort of inspiration may be the different ways dentists use to “elaborate” holes in teeth so that the filling will be kept securely in place. In a stem the situation is easier as we have good binding glues and are binding together the same kind of materials – vulcanite/ebonite to vulcanite/ebonite.

When the newly carved material is fixed into the missing area with glue, I work with files and drill bits to achieve desired missing shape. Then I proceed with finishing techniques. Let us look at the pictures:

In case of stems/mouthpieces made of transparent material I have been proceeding as described above, just choosing proper equally transparent material for making missing parts. After polishing the seams are invisible. I would use fast cyanoacrylic glue of kind that creates transparent seams.

In Steve’s article one commenter mentioned a missing lip on his Peterson P-Lip pipe. Again: in glue we trust: just proceed as described above and if the work is done properly, it should be impossible to distinguish reconstructed lip from the rest of the stem by the naked eye. In general, if the whole lip is missing, I would glue in a large piece of matching material and would shape it by files etc. The air channel can be easily drilled (easily as we are dealing with comparatively soft materials) with drill bits of proper diameter.

I would deal with problem with missing or broken tenon in ways described above, depending on particular situation. Sometimes I use the reinforcing “inner tube” glued in place as described above. Other times I drill the “nest”/mortise of a diameter corresponding with diameter of new tenon to let it fit tight and correct/straight then glued in place. The old and best known method of removing broken tenon from the shank is:
– use of strong alcohol to dissolve eventual dried condensate and/or residues that “glued” the broken part in the mortise.
– take a self-tapping screw often used in construction, by woodworkers etc. and screw it into the air channel of broken jammed part in the mortise.
– keeping the head of this screw firmly in place carefully use pliers to twist it out while at the same time pulling on the broken part. If it does not come out it often means that it is still “glued” in place by dried condensate, tars, etc., so go back to the strong alcohol and please, repeat over a couple of hours or even days.

In conclusion I would like to present some simple hand tools that I find useful in working with pipe restoration. I would like also to say, that for cutting vulcanite/ebonite I use the typical jeweler’s frame saw with proper blades, similar to this shown here together with workbench pin and set of blades.

Restoring a Kaywoodie Drinkless Volcano

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I was gifted this Kaywoodie Drinkless Volcano with a three hole stinger by Andrew, a reader of the blog. He wrote me an email about the pipe as follows:

Steve, I have this Kaywoodie Volcano shape with a 3 hole stinger, so probably 70’s or newer. It was burned out when I got it. I ended up slopping some fireplace cement in the bottom of it trying to fix it but it didn’t come out well as I was trying to form it with a pipe tool and it is rough. The stem is over turned as well. I figure this might “challenge” you as far as trying to bring it back to life somehow. Is this is something you might be interested in trying to some how to fix? — Andrew

I wrote back that would gladly see what I could do with it so he sent it out to me to work on. When it arrived I saw that he had begun the work on it already and had reamed and cleaned the bowl. He had mentioned that when he bought it there was a small burn out area on the bottom of the bowl. When I got it the inside of the bowl was actually quite alright. His repair looked quite good. A little cleanup of the bowl would bring things in order. The fireplace cement needed to be cleaned off the walls and rounded a bit in the bottom of the bowl but it was not bad.

Besides the obvious damage to the bowl there was some other damage to the pipe as well. The outer edge of the rim was damaged on the front and the inner edge was slightly out of round. The external bottom of the bowl had a half-inch long crack that had been cleaned out and repaired but there was still a slight groove in the crack. The sides of the crack had been joined and repaired so what remained was cosmetic. The stem was overturned and slightly out of round in comparison to the round metal insert in the shank. The stem had a partial stamp of the KW cloverleaf but was in bad shape in terms of appearance.

I set up my topping board and topped the bowl of the pipe to remove the damaged portion of the inner and outer edge of the rim. I sanded the top of the bowl, pressing it against the board and turning it in a clockwise direction until the damaged briar was removed. I used a PipNet reamer with a cutting head that fit the bowl diameter and turned it against the cement until it was removed from the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl had a slight indentation.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone and cotton pads to remove the remaining finish on the bowl and to clean up the partial repair to the bottom crack. I continued to wipe it down until the briar on the bowl was almost the same colouration as the sanded rim of the pipe.

I scratched out the surface of the crack with a dental pick and packed in some briar dust that I had left from sanding the rim of the pipe. I tamped it and then dripped some superglue into the briar dust until it formed a bubble over the crack. I always overfill the crevices and fills to make sure that when they dry they do not shrink and make a second fill necessary. When the glue had dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and also with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the bubble and blend it into the surface of the bowl.

On the bottom of the stem there were also two very deep tooth indentations that would not lift when heated with a heat gun. I sanded the area around the dents and dripped clear superglue into the dents. I chose clear superglue as the stem did not appear to be vulcanite. When I sanded it the dust was grey rather than brown. I have found that the clear glue blends very well on this material. When it dries and is sanded it blends in quite well to the surrounding stem material.

I wiped down the bowl again with acetone and sanded the whole bowl with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

The overturn on the stem is something that is easily corrected. I heated the stinger with a heat gun until the glue holding it in place was softer and then turned it in the metal inserted mortise until it lined up correctly with the bowl. I was almost a quarter turn to the right so I needed to turn it all the way around. Once it was aligned I laid it aside to cool. The final photo gives a clear view of the inside of the bowl. The repaired bowl bottom with the minor adjustments I had made with the PipNet reamer are visible.

With the stem aligned it was evident that the diameter of the stem was different than that of the shank. In looking at the stem from the stinger end I could see that the left side was slightly larger than the right side. There was an overhang passed the metal insert in the shank. The next photos show that the left side would need to be sanded to fit properly.

I sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper folded and was careful to not sand the stamping on the left side of the shank. I wanted the transition to be perfectly smooth to the touch. I sanded it with medium and fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the scratches left behind by the sandpaper.

I stained the bowl with an aniline oxblood stain. I applied it and flamed it and reapplied it and flamed it again until I had a good even coverage across the bowl. I hand buffed the finish with a soft cloth.

I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then followed up with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-13,000 grit pads.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then sanded it a final time with the 4000-13,000 grit pads. I lightly buffed the stem with White Diamond. I screwed the stem back into the shank and then buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff for the final shine and protection. The finished pipe is pictured below and is ready for more years of service. The bowl repair done by Andrew provides a solid base in the bowl and the external repair and stem repair makes the pipe cosmetically more pleasing. Thanks Andrew for a good challenge. The pipe is ready for its inaugural smoke. I am sure it will last far longer than I do!

Topping a Badly Damaged Georg Jensen Bent Billiard

5 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

In the process of going through the box of pipes for the Vancouver Pipe Club to put back the ones I had worked on, I found another that really needed attention. I just could not leave it in the box as the damage looked awful and I knew it could look so much better. It is an oddly shaped bent billiard to me but it had a quaint quality about it that I liked. It is stamped Georg Jensen over Made in Denmark Pipes on the left side and Zenta on the right side. On the underside of the shank it is stamped 525. I am assuming that is a shape number. The stem was oxidized around the shank. The bowl had been coated with varnish – even over the grit on the surface. There were also finger prints in the varnish. The worst part of the pipe was the rim. It was worn down on the front side and the varnish had covered the rough surface of the beat up briar. It was also burned on the back inner edge of the rim and onto the rim surface. The inner edge of the rim was also damaged and nicked and gouged out of round. The stem had one tooth mark on the topside near the button.

I have included the next two close-up photos to show the rim damage. The front edge is very worn, the back inner edge is burned and the inner edge of the rim is clearly gouged and marked. Fortunately the damage did not extend deeply into the bowl was limited to the top 1/8th inch of the bowl top. The bowl had also been coated with a black rubbery bowl coating. I chose to leave it as the bowl also had some gouges in the bottom from the knife that someone used to ream the bowl.

I set up my board and sandpaper that I use for topping pipe bowls and sanded the top of the rim. This one was a little tricky in that the front slope was lower than the rest of the rim. I worked the back half of the rim first to bring the height down to the same place as the highest portion of the front slope. Once I had that done it was an easy matter to proceed with topping the rest of the rim. I worked until I had removed the burn damage and the rough front edge and had a flat, smooth and rim with an even circumference.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish coat and the rest of the finish so that I could blend in the stain on the freshly topped rim with the rest of the pipe.

I used MinWax Red Mahogany stain to restain the pipe. I rubbed it on and then wiped it off several times until I had the even coverage I wanted on the bowl. I had buffed it with a cotton cloth to give it a slight shine and get a feel for the overall look of the stain on the bowl. I retouched the stain on the rim to darken it slightly. I lightly buffed the bowl with White Diamond and gave it an initial coat of carnauba wax.

The tooth mark on the top of the stem needed to be heated to lift it as much as possible and then I used some superglue to finish the repair. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to feather it into the surface of the stem. I followed that with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I finished the stem with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then buffed the pipe with White Diamond. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to finish. The completed pipe is shown in the photos below. I also included a photo of the top of the rim to show the repair. The pipe is now ready to join the rest of the ones heading to the Vancouver Pipe Club. It should provide years of service to the pipeman who takes it home.

Topping and Refinishing an Evident Super Billiard

1 Reply

This is yet another of the pipes from the lot of Vancouver Pipe Club pipes that I have been working on. This is not a brand that I have ever heard of and I cannot find any information on the web regarding it. If anyone reading this has any information on the brand please leave a comment and give us a few clues. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank Evident in script over Super in block print. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Old Briar. On the underside of the shank next to the stem it is stamped 760. The finish was covered with the standard varnish and the bowl coated with the black rubberized bowl coating. The rim was in very rough shape – the inner bevel was in good shape with minor nicks to it but the outer edge of the bowl had been hammered all around the top. There was also spillage from the bowl coating on the side of the bowl on the back and right side. The stem was clean other than some very minimal tooth chatter near the button. It seems to have a light stamp on the left side – the letters J.T.

I took some close up photos of the rim and edges of the bowl before and during the time I was topping it to give a clear picture of the damage that had been done to this pipe. The first photo below is a close up of the rim. It was an absolute mess and the edges of the bowl was hammered and broken.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper and began the process of topping the bowl. I took some photos after I first started to show clearly the edge damage.

I topped the bowl until the majority of the rim damage was gone. I then used a folded piece of sandpaper to re-bevel the inner edge of the rim. I used a sanding block to smooth out the rough edges that remained after topping the bowl. I decided that if I were to top the bowl to totally remove all of the damage it would change the profile too dramatically so I took the majority of the damage down and then lightly rounded the outer edge of the bowl with the sanding block.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish, bowl coating spillage and old stain. I reamed the pipe with the PipNet reamer to remove the black bowl coating and cleaned up the inside of the bowl with some Everclear.

As mentioned before I have been using a MinWax Medium Walnut stain as it is quick and easy to use on these pipes that I am working through for the club. It does a great job, the colour matches the old original stain quite well and it is a simple application – rub on and off. Each successive coat adds depth and richness to the final colour.

I sanded the tooth chatter on the stem to remove it and sanded it with micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem. I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the bowl and stem with red Tripoli and then White Diamond. Once I had finished I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the vulcanite. I buffed the stem and bowl one last time with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished with a soft flannel buff on the wheel. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to join the other finished pipes in the box of pipes for the Pipe Club. I look forward to seeing what they do with the lot.

Cleaning up a Partner Deluxe Fine Briar Lumberman 129

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next little pipe that I reworked for Vancouver Pipe Club donation of pipes is a nice lumberman. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Partner over De Luxe and on the right side it is stamped Fine Briar over 129. Further research has led me to information that this pipe was made by Savinelli. The shape number matches the number for a pipe shaped like this one. The finish was spotty with light and dark areas around the bowl and shank. The top of the rim had damage on the flat surface and burn marks all the way around the outer and inner edge of the bowl. The outer edge was rough to the touch. The grain was a nice combination of birdseye and cross grain. There were two repaired fills on the top of the shank. The stem had one tooth mark on the underside of the stem and there was tooth chatter on the top side of the stem.

The first photo below is a close up of the rim to show the damage to the surface of the rim and the inner and outer edges. The second photo below shows the burn marks around the outer edge of the bowl.

I topped the bowl using the method I have written about previously to remove the damage to the rim surface and edges. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to bevel the inner edge of the bowl and smooth out the damage and minimize it in the bowl.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads until I had removed the varnish coat and the stain as much as possible. It always makes matching the freshly topped rim with the rest of the pipe if the briar is as neutral as possible.

The tooth mark on the bottom of the stem and the tooth chatter on the top of the stem needed to be sanded. The first photo below shows the damage on the bottom of the stem next to the button. I sanded both surfaces with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge until the tooth chatter was gone and the tooth mark was minimized.

I continued to sand the stem with my usual array of 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 and then buffed the stem with White Diamond. I took the pipe back to the work table and restained the bowl and shank with MinWax Medium Walnut stain to bring life back to the briar. I stained the light areas on the rim and at the shank stem junction multiple times until they matched the rest of the pipe.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond a final time to remove any remaining scratch marks and then gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown below. It joins the others I have refurbished for the Vancouver Pipe Club box of donated pipes.

Reworking a Poorly Done Topping Job on a Bulldog of Unknown Make

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This poor old bulldog came in the pipes that were donated to the Vancouver Pipe Club and I decided to work on it and see if I could repair some of the damage that had been done when someone tried to top it in the past. The rim looked as if whoever topped it tried to do it by hand and not on a flat board. Because of that the surface of the rim was wavy with high and low spots and the outer edge was lower than the inner edge in several places. The top was also at a slight angle as the sanding had not been done on a flat surface.

The first two photos below show the damage to the rim from the side profile. Note the wavy surface of the rim. The third photo shows some damage on the underside of the stem next to the button and the fourth photo shows the rim from the top view. In that photo the bowl appears to be seriously out of round and the front edge seems thinner than the rest of the bowl. This is a bit of an illusion due to the poorly executed sanding on the rim. The way the bowl had been sanded left the front of the bowl lower than the back of the bowl thus creating the appearance of a thin wall. The stamping on it had been buffed out on the left side of the shank and on the right side I could still see very faintly London England over 403S. I am uncertain of the maker. I checked the Comoy’s shape number chart, the GBD and the Orlik shape number charts and there is no such number. Perhaps other may have some idea of the maker.

I took a two close up photos of the top of the rim to show the damage more clearly. There was also significant burn damage to the front inner edge of the rim. Fortunately this damage was only surface and a retopping would take care of most of it.

I also took a close up photo of the end of the stem next to the button to show the tooth marks on the underside next to the button.

I set up my topping board and sandpaper to work on the rim and repair the damage. It took care to keep the high point of the bowl flat against the surface of the paper and sand until the rim flattened out. This took more time than usual as I had to continually check to see if the rounded spots, low dips and angle sanding of the rim surface were being removed. I also wanted to remove the burn damage as much as possible. The next five photos show the process and the results of the sanding. The profile views show the repair of the outer edge to a flat straight surface with a sharp edge. The top view shows the more even distribution of the thickness of the wall and the removed burned area on the front of the bowl.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the varnish and the remaining finish on the bowl so that it would be easier to match the colour of the bowl and the newly topped rim.

I sanded the rim with a fine grit sandpaper and wet sanded with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove scratches and prepare the rim for staining. I stained the bowl and rim with MinWax Medium Walnut Stain and rubbed it on to the pipe and rubbed it off until I had achieved the colour and coverage that I wanted.

I sanded the damaged areas on the topside and the underside of the stem near the button to remove the tooth marks. I started with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge to repair the tooth damage.

The mark on the underside was deep and once I had sanded and cleaned it I put a drop of super glue on it to build up the divot. Once it was dry I sanded it again with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponge to blend it into the surface of the stem.

I used my usual array of micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem repair – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and then dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. When it was dry I rubbed the stem down and reinserted it in the pipe.

I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I finished the buffing with a clean flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is ready to go back to the Pipe Club and will make someone a nice pipe.

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