Tag Archives: Reshaping a damaged bowl

A Ruined Stanwell Handmade 80R Bent Billiard – another ugly duckling

Blog by Steve Laug

Out of the three pipes from the “hackster” – the cut off Rhodesian, the coffee grounds Dublin and this Stanwell 80R Bent Billiard I have to say that the work he did on this one was by far the worst abomination. This pipe is stamped Stanwell Hand Made 80R Made in Denmark on the underside of the shank. It was a sandblast brown contrast bent billiard that would have been beautiful when it was made. The “hackster” decided to improve upon the finish and believe it or not he desecrated the pipe. He used a Dremel or sander to remove the majority of the sandblast finish leaving a dab of it on the back of the bowl at the joint of the shank and the bowl and a dab on the front side about 1 inch long from the rim. In removing the blast he completely ruined the shank leaving a thick band near the stem and the two thick sandblasted dabs. He sanded off the blast on the shank leaving it looking anemic and awful. He ruined the shape of the bowl and left it totally out of round on the outside. He also over reamed the bowl with what looked like a Dremel and sanding drum and took the bottom of the bowl almost ¼ inch below the entrance of the airway.

He did not leave the stem safe either he reshaped the button by removing the majority of the sharp edge. Then to add insult to injury he left the stamping intact on the bottom of the shank giving credit to Stanwell for the ruination of this fine briar pipe. It went from handmade to hand ruined. Over the entire bowl and slopping onto the stem was a thick coat of shellac. Runs and drips had hardened. The file and Dremel marks were held in perpetuity under a thick coat of shellac. That is where I started with this abomination. The question was could I do anything to redeem this mess. I took some photos of the stem and the left over sandblast sections. There is also a photo of the rim shows the out of round condition of the outer edge of the rim. I sanded off the remaining sandblast sections on the bowl and shank and rounded the bowl with a Dremel and sanding drum. I used the Dremel to reshape the shank and the bowl and shank. The damage done to the shank made it necessary to shape the stem into an oval instead of a round. With the rough shaping work done there was a lot of fine tuning to be done to the shape of the bowl. I topped the bowl with a topping board and 220 grit sandpaper to remove the deep saw and file marks and to flatten the surface. I sanded the areas on the bowl where I left the shellac and existing finish until they were smooth as well. I left the band on the bottom of the shank where the faint stampings that the “hackster” had left behind remained. I had still not decided whether to remove them as the pipe was certainly not a Stanwell any longer and when I was finished reclaiming it the pipe would be two times removed from the pipe that came out of the Stanwell factory. I hand sanded the bowl and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I sanded the stem as well to remove the damage that had been done to it and also to reshape it to the oval shank. I worked on the outer edge of the rim and shaped the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper. Fortunately, the inner beveled rim was undamaged. The bottom of the bowl was a mess that I would need to fill with pipe mud to restore the depth of the bowl to the bottom of entry of the airway into the bowl.I sanded the bowl and shank with a coarse grit sanding block to smooth out more of the curves. The larger surface of the block ensures and evenness to the contours of the bowl and shank. I used the heat gun to bend the end of the stem to the angle that would have originally been present when the pipe left Denmark. I sanded the stem and bowl further with sandpaper and gradually the pipe was taking shape. The swan was beginning to appear. During the sanding process I found that there were several flaws in the briar and at least one fill. During the course of the sanding these may well disappear. Overall this is a nice piece of briar with enough meat on it that I can still end up with a nice pipe.I cleaned out the shank and the airway to the bowl and in the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. It was amazingly dirty for a pipe that had been “refurbished”. The “hackster” had left the inside absolutely filthy while destroying the outside of the bowl and stem. I continued to sand the bowl and stem with a coarse grit sanding block to remove the remaining scratches left behind by the Dremel and sanding drum. Gradually the swan was beginning to emerge. I was getting excited about what this one was going to look like when it was finished. There was some nice grain emerging as I sanded. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads to further remove the scratches. I wet sanded the bowl with 1500-2400 grit pads and sanded until the grain began to shine. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and then rubbed on a coat of Danish Oil Cherry stain. I gave the bowl several coats of the finish and then set it on a cork stand to dry over night. I cleaned up the sharp edge of the button with needle files to redefine it as the shape was blurred into the body of the stem. I shaped the button with 220 grit sandpaper at the same time to give it definition. I sanded the file marks out with 220 grit sandpaper to blend the edge of the cut into the surface of the stem. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then gave the stem a coat of Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished by sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads and giving it a final coat of oil. I set the stem and pipe aside for the night. In the morning I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel to bring out the shine and then gave the 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. To me it looks far better than the mess I started with but what is your verdict? Did a swan emerge? The pipe certainly has some nice grain and the flaws are small in comparison to the overall look of the pipe. Thanks for looking.

There has got to be a Swan in there somewhere – doesn’t there?

9 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes you are handed an ugly pipe. This one came to me from my brother and was part of a lot from an eBay seller who claims to be restoring estate pipes. Let me tell you, this guy should be shot for what he does to old pipes. My brother picked up four of his pipes. From his photos they appeared to be okay. But when they arrived they were absolutely awful. He had a lovely Stanwell sandblast billiard that he hacked the blast off of. He had a nice looking Dublin shape that he glued what appears to be coffee grounds around the rim from the top down about ¼ inch of the side. The third was butchered as well. Then there was this one – it must have been a nice Rhodesian but he had sawed it off below the rings and then left a very rough rim. He had drilled out the bowl and left it rough and out of round. To my thinking this one had been a GBD Rhodesian. The stem was stamped with the characteristic FRANCE across the joint of the shank and stem. There were remnants of a shape number on the right side that was illegible. There was also a very faint part of the oval on the left side of the shank. He had ruined a very sought after pipe. Added to that he had not even bothered to open the airway as it was plugged with thick black tars and I could not blow any air through it.

To top it all off he even pictures the final insult – in his sales he shows a can of shellac and proudly says he coats all of his work with shellac. Well the amount of dried, runny shellac on these bowls was astonishing. Under the shellac there were even hairs and dust permanently encased in a coat of the thick shiny mess. They all looked awful. The dried runs, the scratches and grooves left much to be desired. Even the stem had not escaped his savage attempts at restoration. There were sanding marks and large dings along the surface of the top and the bottom. The tooth marks that had been there were still evident. A large part of me wanted to throw them all away. But there is always that part of me that wants to see if I can reclaim these hack jobs and make something useful and beautiful out of the guy’s mess. I decided to tackle the cut off Rhodesian first. Time would tell if I could redeem the pipe and make it usable and beautiful once more.

Here is what it looked like when it arrived. Understand that the photos do not begin to give an idea of what the pipe looked and felt like I person… the best that they can do is give you a sense of what was there. The first thing I decided to do after looking at it was to reshape the bowl. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to round the edges of the top to make it look more like a prince. It was a lot of sanding with the Dremel to reshape the bowl. The photos below show the process of shaping from the beginning. The first two photos show the first steps in the removal of briar to give the pipe some shape. Was the swan starting to appear? Not sure at this point. I gave the sides of the bowl more of a curve toward the rim and reduced the size of the rim with the Dremel and sanding drum as shown in the next photos. At this point I decided to top the bowl and get rid of the deep scratches on the rim top. The bowl after topping was beginning to take some stately shape. Maybe the swan was beginning to appear. There was still too much width on the rim and not enough curves to the sides of the bowl for my liking. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to further shape it. I used acetone to remove the shellac and the messy finish on the remaining part of the bowl and shank. The pipe was quickly becoming mine rather than the work of the “hackster”.I tried in vain to blow through the shank. The airway was blocked. I used an unfolded paperclip to break through the thick blockage. I poked and probed until I was able to blow through the airway. Once it was opened I used the drill bit on a KleenReem pipe reamer to unblock the airway. It took a bit of pushing and twisting to get it through the hard tars that lined the airway. Finally I was able to break through. I cleaned the shank and airway with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. I put the pipe away for the night. In the morning I was still not pleased with the curvature of the bowl top so I used the Dremel and sanding drum on it once again and gave the bowl more of an upward slant toward the rim. I reduced the width of the rim top to almost nothing. Once I had the bowl shape better defined I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to shape it further. I then went to work on the rim. I decided to bevel the rim inward to try to clean up the shape of the bowl. I folded a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and worked on the rim until I had a nice rounded top and beveled inner edge.I sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding block to remove the scratches. To me the swan is finally emerging. This piece of briar has some beautiful grain that was hidden beneath the dirty finish and the overcoat of shellac. I am liking the look of the pipe more and more. The stem was actually more of a mess than I had initially thought. In sanding out the bite marks as much as the hack had done he has changed the slope of the stem. Now the angles of each side were different and the marks he had left behind were quite deep. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the marks and to try and reclaim the shape of the stem. Once I had the shape of the stem repaired I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and gave it a final coat of oil. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads at the same time. Each successive grit pad from 1500-12000 gave the bowl a deeper shine. I finished by buffing the pipe on the wheel with Blue Diamond polish and giving it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad and then gave it a final hand buff with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. The grain on this old timer that has been given a new life is amazing. What do you think did the swan emerge from this ugly duckling? I think so but I am curious as to what you think. Thanks for looking.