Tag Archives: restaining a bowl and rim

The Coming Calm after the Storm

Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

Dedicated to Louis Arthur Hille (February 14, 1969-October 8, 2015)

“Part of me is afraid to get close to people because I’m afraid that they’re going to leave.” ― Brian Hugh Warner (a.k.a. Marilyn Manson), U.S. singer/songwriter/
performer/rock journalist/painter/actor, born January 5, 1969

INTRODUCTION

Like a panther, the young man caught in this rare snap-shot had the edge of menace in his pensive yet calm and subtly wild gaze and the firm set of his jaws. Though he seldom permitted the opportunity to penetrate the murky depths of his intellect long enough to preserve the moment in a photo, it shone through anyway. We were best friends and roommates for the past 15 years; I was his certified, consumer-directed caregiver during the last seven, and, in 2009, when his health took a big dive and he needed someone to protect him more than ever, he reluctantly made me his agent under a durable power of attorney. At the risk of being misunderstood (a possibility that really doesn’t threaten my hardy sense of self-identity in the least), we were soulmates.

The term snap-shot itself, as I may have noted before, originated as a hunting term: “A quick or hurried shot taken without deliberate aim, esp. one at a rising bird or quickly moving animal.” [Oxford English Dictionary] The word used in that sense dates at least to 1808, whereas the adoption by photographers appears to have started around 1860.

Louis told me, more times than I have mentioned in my blogs here how my dad was fond of saying I have a mind like a steel trap, that I would never meet anyone like him again. Once was well worth the almost manic-depressive ups and downs in near constant close quarters and proximity, but enough, if you can grok me. If my mind is a steel trap, Louis’ could go off when an ant happened upon it. To say Louis did not handle strict, unyielding strangers well, in particular those who could violate the sanctity of his room at will and in the hospital did so more or less constantly, and with apparent delight, is a gross understatement. He could and usually did revert to his five-year-old self and throw the kind of tantrums of which only an adult is capable. I’m sure the sole reason he was never put in four-point restraints, before the last year and a half or so when his hip and leg contractures became so bad that his knees were frozen up to his chin and made the heart’s desire of many a nurse and tech impossible, was the hospital staff’s well-founded fear of what I would have done.

A little more than a year before the serendipitous snapshot above, Louis celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday, on Valentine’s Day 2005, in a bed and hooked up to IV bags and monitors, during the second of many extended hospital stays. Before the end came last week, at home where he wanted to be, with his cats and me, Louis was to spend two more birthdays in hospitals, the most recent this year, on his 46th, and last. Celebrated, of course, is a modifier for birthdays that is worn thin by convention, and not at all the best choice in this case. In fact, the only way he lasted three months in that place was my gift to him his first full day of a large but portable CD/DVD player with headphones, as well as a couple of Stephen King’s better audio books and the latest Marilyn Manson release. That last would have been “The Golden Age of Grotesque”; this was two years before “East Me, Drink Me.” Yes, even Manson grew on me thanks to Louis’ knowledgeable and fervent guidance.

When I suspended the above moment in time, Louis had just recently been released (or, to be more honest, sprung by me) from the hospital full of quacks, imbeciles and ninnies. In their vast wisdom, which so often fuels a God complex, they mused at first over the likelihood of multiple sclerosis, given their myopic failure to get to the truth, so few years ago, that is now taught to pre-med students and even EMTs. Then they turned to lupus and several other look-alike possibilities. They even tested Louis for A.I.D.S. – not once, but twice, in case they missed it the first time.

This was how he often looked, for a time, after that quarter-year exercise in trial-and-error experiments that ended with our hectic, A.M.A., wheelchair career down several flights on the elevator and thence straight for the exit.

I have another favorite snapshot of Louis, taken with my cellphone when he had grown his hair back the way he liked it, which is to say very long. This one was taken around 2009-’10.It’s a favorite for æsthetic or artistic reasons as well as the way it shows the almost trancelike way he could stop in the middle of a step, having fallen into a reverie of contemplation that required stillness. I was surprised and pleased that he enjoyed this photo when I showed it to him after the barber had sheared off his beloved hair again.

The next year sometime, returning to my previous train of thought and meaning 2006 – I don’t recall the date but believe it was Spring – brought a surprise telephone call from Louis’ primary care physician.

I will never forget the similarity of the one-sided conversations, as I heard it from Louis’ side, and one of Bob Newhart’s hilarious 1960s “phone calls” from dead people, such as Abe Lincoln’s entreaty for help writing the Gettysburg Address – and Newhart’s deadpan response to one unheard complaint with something about how 87 years ago really wasn’t very snappy. Except that from my perspective, being able to “hear” what his doctor was saying based on Louis’ verbal responses, and in particular seeing the changes of his facial expressions, there was nothing to inspire laughter.

“Okay, then, I guess I’ll take the good news first,” Louis said after a moment’s exchange of niceties. Pause. “It’s not MS.” Pause. “That’s the good news?” Pause. “So what’s – the – bad news?” The last part was spoken as one word. “Oh.” Swallow. “It’s something different.” Pause. “Wait: neuro-what?” Repeating what the doctor told him, sound by sound. “Neuro-mye-litis op-ti-ca.” Nervous breathing, by both of us. “Oh. Yes, I heard you. MS isn’t fatal, but this is.”

And so the doctor did the unthinkable in a time when the pop medical practice remains to downplay the negative if not outright lie to the patient: he told the truth. Using the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan photos from the big machine at the private hospital from which Louis escaped – the same kind of contraption that seemed to scare the devil out of Linda Blair in “The Exorcist,” only somewhat quieter – the head of the neurology department at our local university hospital spotted healed and unhealed wounds from the back of Louis’ neck and down his spine that gave her a good idea of what she was dealing with. She confirmed it with a blood test introduced the same year that differentiates the disease Louis had as a distinct and fatal entity from MS.

As it turned out, Louis was host to a genetic anomaly. In other words, the neuromyelitis optica (NMO, or Devic’s Disease) with which he was born – and which was just beginning, after 37 years of passing time slowly but methodically eating away at the myelin sheaths, fatty substances protecting Louis’ nerves, starting with those in the optic region, to thereby render him legally blind – had no precedence in his family. It was more along the lines of a ghastly fluke.

For those of you who have no idea where I’m going with this long account of Louis’ non-pipe-related demise (in fact, I even succeeded in getting him off cigarettes by supplying him with pipes and tobacco, although there was little chance he would ever live long enough to die of cancer), I will now clarify. Louis was by no means easy to get along with, but during the 15 years we were roommates, he – how should I put it? – grew on me as a good friend does, regardless of the many differences. Almost everyone who ever talked to him agreed on two points: one, he was a genius usually more capable than the listener to discuss complex issues of mathematics, science, world events, religious topics through the millennia, detailed weather phenomena and even the day’s stock market numbers. He was possessed of the ability to memorize the entire dialogues of movies, TV shows, commercials, popular and rock songs and more or less anything else – on a single viewing or hearing – and he could recite them for the rest of his life. The other general characteristic people who talked to Louis agreed on was that he could be a downright rude jerk. I’m not speaking ill of the dead, as should be apparent by the end of this unusual introduction; it was the simple truth, and he was never even aware of it despite my attempts to make him so. The fact is, he sounded like his mother, whom I knew. There was also the fact that his mind and spirit traveled at a speed comparable by mental comparison to the F-22 Raptor and was just as deadly with its offensive and defensive weapons loads. All of these factors tended to intimidate or just embarrass people.

Louis had theories far rarer than NMO, but as intricately informed as a spider’s web is spun, on such issues as the afterlife, prior lives, simultaneous lives, paranormal entities, abortion and other lively and nowadays popular and/or controversial concepts. Does a pattern emerge from these topics? Only now do I see it: Louis’ thriving thirst for life, before, during and after what most people would call his own. The thing about Louis is that he was out there way before it was cool to be out there.

The reason I stayed by Louis’ side almost as long as his parents, who kicked him out as an eighteenth birthday present, was that I could still see the same person I met the day after Thanksgiving in 2000. He was happy. He smiled and laughed and talked non-stop but coherently and cogently about almost anything, and when he couldn’t think of a name or a word or whatever, I was the only person who listened and understood where he was coming from and could fill in the missing spaces, and he could finish my thoughts, as well.

I miss those conversations at coffee houses or on buses or walking when I didn’t have a car, and he could still walk. I miss those good times not because we stopped having them after he grew sicker, but because they occurred less and less often, and now he is gone. All I ever wanted was to help him get better. Right now the only thing I have to replace that is working on pipes, trying to make them better.

This one, like Louis, was really messed up when I got it, and the consensus among my pipe restorer friends was to lop off about a half an inch from the top of the bowl and reshape it. But I thought: nah! Been there, done that. This time I wanted to try something a little different. Two previous restorations came to mind. One is a Ben Wade with an enormous crack down one side of the bowl that required emergency surgery to amputate about two thirds of the tall billiard, and is still in recovery as a squat pot shop pipe. The other is a no-name Italian freehand that I call the Beak and thought was someone’s first attempt at pipe making because of several mistakes I had to correct, including the unmissable in the following photos.

Louis, I know you’re listening, and this one’s for you.

RESTORATION

I am sure the reason my friends suggested the more drastic surgery is clear from these photos. Whoever put that gash in the rim ought to be brought up before the Pipe Court, have any other potential hostages he might be holding liberated and be forced to register as a pipe offender for the rest of his life, unless, of course, he can prove he is rehabilitated. The latter event is unlikely, as recidivism is high for this offense.

There are several not-so-easy to spot points. The traditional triangle with WDC, for William Demuth & Company (1862-1972), is missing, possibly from a previous owner gripping the bowl so tightly that it rubbed off altogether, or because of its original absence. Steve informs me that not all WDCs have the triangle. Also, the first few letters of Wellington are very faded, but the nomenclature type style is the same as other WDC Wellingtons, such as this System Billiard in the Peterson’s style that I restored a while back. Then there is the small STERLING mark on the close-up of the band, if you can make it out in the first group above.

At any rate, as much as the initial challenge appeared obvious – to see if I could pull off rounding the entire rim, thereby eliminating the horrid wound and hopefully leaving the rim even – I decided to clean and otherwise prepare the insides of the WDC first. The chamber appeared to have been well-cleaned, and all it needed was an easy sanding with 320-grit followed by 500. Then I remembered I needed a bit for the pipe and couldn’t even retort it until I found one! That’s okay, laugh all you like. I know I can be a bit spacey sometimes, and besides, laughing at the recollection now does me good.

What I wanted was about a three-inch tapered with the right diameter of the tenon end to fit flush with the shank, or a little bigger. Bigger, I can fix. In fact, considering I’m doing it the old-fashioned way, by hand and sand, so to speak, I’m becoming pretty adept. Of course, all I could find in tapered bits, even replacements (i.e., no brand marks) on other pipes awaiting restorations with which I am not above robbing Peter to pay Paul, had tenons that were way too small, or the diameters of the meeting points with the shank were too small. The pipe is banded, so neither of those options would do.

And so I turned to my sure supply of new saddle bits, which were just a touch shorter than I wanted but would do the trick. Here are shots of an uncut saddle bit next to the one I sanded down with coarse paper, identical except for the tenons, and the preliminary fit with the Wellington. Keep in mind that the condition of the pipe with the preliminary stem in it was taken after the next two steps, counting the basic fitting of bit to shank and the retort as finished.

I chose 200-grit paper for the task of rounding the rim so as to take more time and get the job done right with some extra work, but not overdo it with one fell swipe. I hope I’ve learned my lesson there! I was surprised at how easy it was to accomplish.

Here is the step I suggested above, under the photo of the pipe and bit, which made the wood look so inexplicably polished. Using 500-grit paper, I worked over the entire outer wood. I micro meshed from 1500-grit to 12000.

After a moment’s consideration of staining the wood below the rim a little darker, I concluded I would have to make it too dark for there to be any difference from the way it already was and opted to skip it. With that, I realized I only had to finish shaping the bit to the shank before buffing everything on the wheels.

That was when something really creepy happened. I had searched high and low for a tapered bit without luck, but in the meantime did a little straightening up in my office-shop. I had been working on the pipe in the living room with my mobile restoration cart handy and the couch much more comfortable. While looking for an upgrade DVD to an invaluable computer program that remains misplaced, I searched through a large plastic trash bag stuffed willy-nilly with papers, electronic gadgets and whatnot. I came across a nice, black wooden cigar display case with a hinged lid and clasp that I picked up at my tobacconist. No, there was nothing special in the box; it was empty, unfortunately. Then the thought occurred to me how it would make the perfect place to put my loose oddball bits scattered. Most of them were in one place on the bottom shelf, but I had come across some others all over the cart.

Back in the living room, I sat down on the edge of the couch with the box open on the floor in front of me and began to organize the bits in the box, tossing a few that could never be of any use as I went. At last I thought I had them all but checked the top shelf again, as I had before while looking for a tapered bit. I was about to call it quits when I spied two bit lips poking out from under a piece of sandpaper, and…well, I could not believe my eyes. One of them was tapered and appeared to have about the right size tenon. With near reverence, I tried it in the Wellington. The fit was a little loose – just enough to add a layer of black Super Glue, I figured. All it needed other than that was the slightest of sanding just below the lip with 320-grit paper, micro meshing and buffing on the wheel with red and white Tripoli.

Knowing it would be a perfect fit when the glue dried, I still could not stand having to wait another night to see. Of course that’s a figure of speech relating to patience, which I am normally all about, and so I physically survived the night. I was so worn out I even slept like a baby until morning came, and my first thought, like a kid at Christmas, was the present waiting for me on the cart. All I can add is that the black Super Glue had dried on the tenon in perfect shape, and the bit twisted to an exact, flush match with the shank.

Some of you may think this foolish, but I found breathing difficult. Emotion welled up in me again, and to fight it off I closed my eyes. I said out loud, “I’ll be darned [or another similar word]! Thank you, Louis.” He thought I didn’t believe in anything he ever talked about but told me many times he would be keeping an eye on me after he died. I believe he is.

Ready to finish this relaxing project, I buffed the bowl with red and white Tripoli, White Diamond and carnauba, using the dry wheel as usual between each, and then rubbed down the whole thing with a soft cotton cloth.

CONCLUSION

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.

As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.

Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly–. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
― Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Austro-Hungarian poet, in “The Panther”

This was one of Louis’ favorite poems. I was surprised when he revealed this insight into his personality, oh so long ago it seems now, back in the happy autumn days that are no more, to paraphrase another poet’s description of the feeling of ennui. Louis liked those somewhat morose lines of verse, also, the first time I spoke them to him from memory, and several times later asked me to repeat them. I used to recite the words in gushy, over-dramatic tones dripping with the contempt I thought I had for them. But in verbal repetition, I overcame that bad habit, for there was a reason I could recall the brilliant if brief sample of prose from a high school sophomore lit class that really was a long time ago.

For most of the 15 years I knew him, Louis had an intense fear of dying appropriate to someone with an equally free spirit of the simple joy of living that was stolen from him. I tried to reassure Louis, over and over again, that he was not there yet based on my knowledge of the progressively more horrible stages of the disease he came to face almost every waking hour. My mistake was not expecting the unnatural, man-made obstacles that hastened, for him, the day no one truly wishes to see. I am beginning to be at peace with the knowledge that Louis no longer suffers as he did for so long – that he is in a better place, despite my best efforts; and I am still here, to enjoy my life the way my friend wanted me to do, and to fight the good battles. Now I understand that tears are seldom idle.

Just a few more words with some illustrations to sum up: compare the photos below, one antique and the other still fresh. That’s Rilke – somewhere.

And just one more photo of Louis, age 16, happy at home with his parents.

MARILYN MANSON LINKS
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-19990624

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vyZK_CKkZo Marilyn Manson’s first David Letterman appearance – yes, he was invited back…and back!

Ship-Shape: Refurbishing a Mokin Corsaire 7087

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Blog by Anthony Cook

The second pipe sent to me by my PSU friend for some work is a unique one. Let me introduce you to the Mokin Corsaire 7087. It’s a small pipe, just shy of five inches in length and about one and a quarter inches tall at the bowl. It has an author-ish shape, except that there is a spine that runs along the bottom like the keel on a ship. I suppose that’s where the “Corsaire” comes from, but despite the masculinity in that name, to my eye there is something distinctly feminine in the shape. The condition of this one was rough to put it mildly. The stummel had some fairly heavy scratches and dents. The rim was scorched and there was a divot on one side where the wood had been burned away. The briar was unstained but covered in a thick, tinted lacquer coating. I suppose this was done to help hide the many fills, but the lacquer wasn’t thick enough to prevent the black stain on the bottom from seeping through into the grain. Oh, did I mention the beautiful horn stem with the busted face and a crack that ran along half the length on the underside? Yeah, like I said, rough.

Here are some more triage photos:

Stamping detail: I gave the pipe a thorough internal cleaning, and then stripped off the lacquer finish with acetone and cotton pads. The lacquer lifted easily but it was a mess. It turned into a thick, sticky residue when it came into contact with the acetone. Once the stummel was clean, the grain became more apparent and it was stunning! I’m a bit of a grain-hound. So, I already knew that I was going to have to work that up as best I could.

I scrubbed at the dark stain on the bottom with the same acetone dampened pads to try to lift it or at least lighten it, but the attempt was in vain. The acetone didn’t even put a dent in it. I was fresh out of ideas and thought that I would probably have to sand them out, but before I did that, I shot Steve an email explaining the problem. He suggested that I try lemon juice. It seemed counterintuitive to me. What could lemon juice do to a stain that acetone couldn’t touch? Anything is worth a shot when you’re desperate though. So, I gave it a try and it worked amazingly well! The only stain that remained was what had set into the softest grain and that was something that I could work with. With the tinted lacquer removed, the fills were more evident than ever. There were seven of them in all and a couple of them were quite large. That’s a lot for any pipe, but especially so for a stummel this small. I picked each of them out and patched the pits with CA and a mix of fine briar dust and course briar file shavings. I find that the course shavings take the stain better, but the fine dust is a better mix with the CA. When mixed together, the resulting patch is still dark but it is mottled with lighter areas that will accept stain well.

I sanded out each of the patches with 220-grit and 320-grit paper and topped the bowl with the same grits until the majority of the burned wood around the rim was removed. Then, I gave a slight chamfer to the inner rim to soften the edge and lightly sanded the entire stummel with 320-grit paper to remove most of the scratches.

It was while I was sanding the stummel that I noticed that the carving was a little sloppy. The left side of the stummel was noticeably less rounded than the right, which made the stummel appear a little lopsided. It was obvious that it wasn’t intentional, but I debated with myself whether to try to correct it or preserve it as part of the personality of the pipe. In the end, I chose to split the difference and round off the upper and lower areas of the left side for a better match with the right. The stummel was ready for finishing. So, I moved on to address the damage to the stem. Usually, I would drill a small hole at the end of the crack to stop the run. In this case, however, that wasn’t really an option. The main crack that extended up from the stem face fractured into several short, stair-step cracks at the end. I decided that it would be best to just seal and stabilize them and hope for the best.

I wrapped clear tape around a thin bit of cardboard and cut a hole for the tenon to push through. This little contraption would serve a dual purpose as both a method for keeping the patched area of the stem face relatively flat and even, and also as stand to support the stem while the patches dried. I patched the cracks and holes with baking soda and CA in the same manner that I would apply a briar dust and CA patch on the stummel. I use super-thin CA for patches. It has about the same viscosity as milk and I think that it penetrates better into the dust than standard CA. It can be tricky to work with until you get used to it. Even though I’ve kind of gotten a handle on it by now, you can see in the photo below that it still got away from me a bit in the bend of the stem. I also filled a couple of bite marks on either side of the stem and when all the patches were fully dry, I sanded them out with 220-grit and 320-grit paper. The cracks were fairly tight. So, I didn’t get as much baking soda worked into them as I would have liked and they appear dark in the photo below. They are sealed and smooth to the touch though.

I continued to sand with 400, 600, and 1200-grit paper to smooth the surface. I used a drop of mineral oil between each grit. The oil allows the sanding dust to collect as slurry on the stem rather than build up on the paper. It also moisturizes the horn, which keeps the ends of the fine fibers from raising and splintering. A good polish with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads finished up the work on the stem. I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t leave the finish natural. There were just too many fills for that. I also knew that I couldn’t completely hide them. So, I hoped that I could give the grain enough “pop” with a bit of stain to draw the eyes away from them.

I applied four stains in all; dark brown, medium brown, light brown, and British tan. The first three were thinned with three parts isopropyl alcohol to one part stain. The last stain was thinned by eye until it was just a light wash. I applied the first stain, and then sanded with 400-grit paper. The second stain was applied before sanding with 600 and 1200-grit paper. After the third stain, I polished the stummel with 1500 through 4000-grit Micro-Mesh pads and gave the stummel a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. Then, I applied the stain wash and finished up the work on the stummel with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits. All sanding up to 3600-grit Micro-Mesh was wet sanded and the stummel was hand-buffed with a soft cloth after each stain to remove any excess.

Finally, I polished up the brass ferrule with Semichrome polish and used a bit of epoxy to affix it to the stummel. All that remained after that was to buff the pipe with White Diamond and apply several coats of carnauba wax before it was time for some photos.

I know that many may regard this one as just a novelty pipe, but despite the rough edges, it may be my favorite refurbishment work to date. The photos barely do justice to the color or the grain on this pipe. The credit for the transformation is not really mine though. This was one of the most cooperative pipes that I’ve ever worked with. It set on the bench and said, “Make me a star.” I was charmed and did the best that I could.

Breathing new life into an LHS Park Lane De Luxe Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

When I repaired Troy’s LHS Park Lane Lovat he gifted me this little beauty as a thank you. It is a small billiard and is stamped on the left side of the shank, Park Lane in an arch over the LHS Diamond and underneath the diamond it is stamped De Luxe. On the right side it is stamped with US Pat. 1,908,630. The shape number 19 is stamped on the underside of the shank. The finish was dirty and chipped all around the bowl. The rim had a buildup of tars and lava and the cake in the bowl left the bottom virtually conical. The stem was under clocked slightly. The stem (Bakelite?) was oxidized and had some small tooth marks near the button on the top and bottom sides. I love the swirl patterns of the stem material. They really give the pipe a look of class. When I removed the stem the stinger itself was black with tars and the inside of the shank was also dirty.

I looked up the patent number on the US Patent information website and found out that the patent was filed for the stinger and tenon apparatus in 1933. The one in the diagram is shorter and slightly different from the one in this pipe so I am thinking that it is a later modification that was introduced. That combined with the dates for Bakelite I would put the dates on this pipe in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It is in pretty decent shape for a 75-80 year old pipe.

I took the next three photos to give an idea of the state of the rim. I was uncertain of the condition of the inside edge of the rim because of the thickness of the build-up. The stamping was weak in the middle and the LHS diamond also quite weak. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I find that I use that reamer for almost all of the refurbs that I do. The four different sized cutting heads, the T-handle and the carbon steel blade make short order of the most difficult cake. In this case I reamed it back to bare wood. I really wanted to see what the interior looked like as there was significant darkening around the top half of the bowl. The rim itself was just slightly out of round so it would be no issue to clean up. I used a brass bristle tire brush on the long aluminum stinger to clean off the tars. I wanted it clean before I heated it to reclock the stem. With it clean I heated the stinger with the lighter to loosen the glue in the stem. Once it was loose I was able to align the stem correctly. I let it cool in place. With everything aligned I decided to try to pull the end of the stinger to get it to line up with the top of the stem. I wanted the slot in stinger to match the white bar in the stem material. I wrapped the jaws of a pair of needle nose pliers with cellophane tape to protect the aluminum from damage when I clamped them on it. I gently twisted on the end of the stinger and to my surprise the entire tenon unscrewed from the stem. That was a good thing by the way as it made cleaning the stem far simpler. I cleaned the inside of the stem and the stinger with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. I had already tested the stem material and I knew that it would not dissolve with the alcohol. With the inside of the stem clean I put the tenon back in place on the pipe and worked on the exterior. I sanded the surface and particularly the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper until they were smooth and blended into the stem surface. I decided to work on this pipe from the opposite direction of my normal practice and finished working on the stem first. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads and then rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads and then gave it another coat of oil. I finished with 6000-12000 grit pads and a final coat of Obsidian Oil. I set the stem aside and let the oil dry.

I cleaned out the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until it was clean and smelled fresh. I thought about using the retort on it but I am just not certain what the hot alcohol will do with this stem material. Once the rim was cleaned I could see the chips and damage to the surface so I decided to lightly top the bowl. I decided to do some experimenting with Dave Gossett’s method of stripping a bowl finish. I read about it on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. He uses Oxyclean and alcohol he said. I had no idea how he went about it and fired him an email. Due to my impatience I did not wait and just jumped in. I tried to mix the Oxy with the alcohol. It did not work! It made a grit paste but I decided to give that a try anyway. I scrubbed and scrubbed and succeeded in removing a lot of the finish. The mixture left a white/grey ghost on the briar.

I happened to check my email and saw that Dave wrote back. He said that he dissolved the Oxy in hot water and then added the alcohol. He said to be careful of the stamping as the mixture had a tendency to raise the stamping in the weak areas. Boy I wish I had not been impatient. I lost some clarity on the week areas of the stamping. I did the mixture as Dave suggested and wiped down the bowl with it and was able to get some more of the finish removed. There were some deep cuts in the surface of the bowl. I steamed out the dents but these did not raise. I repaired them with superglue and briar dust. I sanded the repaired areas smooth to match the surface of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol to remove the dust. I heated the briar with a blow dryer and then stained it with a Dark Brown aniline stain thinned with 3 part alcohol to 1 part stain. I flamed the stain and set it in the briar. I buffed it with White Diamond and found that even with the thinning it was too dark to my liking. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on cotton pads to remove some of the stain and make it more transparent. The grain showed through nicely and the colour once it was waxed would look good with the stem material. I buffed with Blue Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then with a microfibre cloth by hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks for looking.

Silver Linings: Restoring a Savinelli Silver 320KS

16 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

A friend from the Pipe Smoker Unlimited forum recently gifted me a batch of pipes that need a little TLC. In exchange, I offered to do some repair and restoration work on a couple of their own pipes. Believe me when I say that I received the better end of that deal. So, I wanted to go the extra mile on these if I could.

The first of my friend’s pipes that I chose to work on was this Savinelli Silver 320KS. I love the shape of the 320. When I hear “Savinelli,” this is the shape that I think of. Unfortunately, somebody had gotten to this one before me and it wasn’t better for it.

The initial request was just to repair the deep scratches that ran all the way around the rim. However, as I looked the pipe over, I could see that it had a few additional issues. The bowl rim was uneven and looked like it had been heavily buffed. The pipe should have had a deep, cherry red stain from the factory, but this one appeared to have been partially stripped and the stain was uneven and closer to the color of red clay. The silver shank band was loose and it had a couple of small dents on the right side. Finally, the shoulders of the stem face had been rounded with a buffer, which created a thin trench all the way around the stem where it met the band.

Oh, there was one more thing, but for reasons that I can’t explain, I hadn’t noticed it yet. I’m sure that you’ll see it in these photos of the pipe as it was on arrival.

Nomenclature and logo details (notice the “trench” on the stem next to the band): This 320 appeared to be pretty clean, but there’s no such thing as a pipe that’s too clean. So, I gave the internals of the stem and stummel a bit of a scrub with isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, a shank brush, and a percolator cleaner (the fat brush in the upper right). I’m glad that I did. As you can see below, there was still grime to be removed. After that, I gave the surface of the stummel a scrub with acetone on cotton pads to remove the old, spotty finish. I took a few photos of the rim damage, and after seeing them enlarged a few hundred times on the big screen, I noticed that the edges of the marks were rounded. That seemed to indicate that they were more like dents than scratches. So, I decided to see what a little bit of steam would do for them. I used a tea candle to heat the end of a flat-head screwdriver. Then, I placed a wet cloth over the dents and pressed it into the cloth. The steam worked well on the marks, although I had to repeat the process several times to lift the deeper ones. After I had worked my way all the way around the bowl, the rim was in much better shape. It would still need some sanding, but not nearly as much as it would have taken before to get it smooth. I sanded out the remaining dents with 220-grit paper before addressing a couple of small pits that were possibly missing fills on the bottom front of the stummel. I refilled them with a mixture of briar dust and CA, and then sanded them out with 220-grit as well. Three more fills were present on the front of the bowl, but they looked like they were in good shape and I had confidence that they would blend in with the final stain.
Next, I topped the bowl to level it out and chamfered the inner rim to match the original, factory shape with 220-grit paper. Then, I started cleaning up some of the light scratches and blemishes on the stummel with 320-grit. I then heated the stummel to open the grain and prep it for the first stain. I applied a mahogany stain thinned 3:1 with isopropyl alcohol. Mahogany is a nice dark color that gives contrast to the grain and it would play well with the red tones that would come later. After flaming the stain, I hand-buffed it with a soft cloth to remove the excess, and then wet sanded the stummel with 400-grit to remove most of the stain except for what had set into the soft grain.

To start bringing in those red tones I mentioned, I applied a 50/50 oxblood and medium brown stain thinned to the same ratio as the previous application. I again flamed and hand-buffed before lightly wet sanding with 600-grit and 1200-grit paper, and then polishing with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-2400.

I applied a third stain, red this time, and hand-buffed before giving the pipe a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. Then, I polished with Micro-Mesh pads 3200-4000. At that point, I didn’t like how bright the red was. So, I decided to darken it up with a thin stain wash. I can’t tell you the exact mix, because I just eyeballed it until it was what I wanted. I can say that it was at least 50% red mixed with a small amount of oxblood for richness and an even smaller amount of dark brown to darken it. I thinned it until it was about the same color density as Kool-Aid and applied it with cotton swab. After that, I hand-buffed the excess off and continued polishing with the remaining grits of Micro-Mesh pads. That finished up the work on the stummel. So, I thought I’d try to do something about those rounded shoulders on the stem face. In a scrap piece of wood, I drilled a hole large enough to easily accommodate the tenon. Then, I clamped a strip of sandpaper over the block and cut a matching hole with an X-Acto knife. I inserted the tenon into the hole and rotated it while applying firm but gentle pressure to keep the plane level. I started removing material with 220-grit and worked up to 600-grit. All in all, I probably removed 1/16 of an inch or less from the end of the stem. It wasn’t enough to completely correct the problem, but it did make it a great deal less obvious. The shoulders were nice and sharp again and I didn’t compromise the flow of the joint by creating a “step” down to a smaller diameter stem. You can see for yourself in the photos below. To be honest, I thought I was done at that point. It wasn’t until the pipe was reassembled and I was preparing to give it the final buff and wax that I noticed the glaring damage that I’m sure you’ve already seen. For the life of me I can’t figure out how it had escaped my attention, especially since I had just done work on the stem, but the button had been severely worn away by overbuffing. There was barely a button left at all. Of course, that wouldn’t do at all. So, after getting permission from the pipe’s owner to do some extra work, I began to create a new button.

I used 220-grit paper to rough up the surface of the damaged button and also a bit of the surrounding area. Next, I applied thin layers of black CA glue to the button to build it up. I lightly sanded between each layer with 220-grit to roughen them and ensure that the next layer had a good surface to cling to. Once the mound of CA was slightly higher than I wanted the button to be, I used 220-grit paper to start shaping the button, needle files and sanding files to carve a sharp edge at the back, and 320-grit paper to refine the shape. I continued to refine the shape and smooth the surface through 400, 600, and 1200-grit paper. Then I polished the button and the rest of the stem with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads and applied a drop of Obsidian oil to wrap up the stem work.

Before reassembling the pipe, I tried to lift the dents in the silver band by placing it over a wooden dowel, pressing firmly, and rotating it from side to side. My attempt was mostly in vain though. I was able to lift them slightly, mostly the one at the edge, but stopped when I began to worry about raising the stamping or tearing the band. I polished the band with Semichrome polish and placed it back on the shank with a small drop of CA to fix the looseness.

Finally, I put the pipe back together and buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. After buffing again with a clean wheel to remove any excess compound, I gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax to complete the work on the pipe. The end results can be seen in the photos below.

I think the lines of a 320 are iconic and it is a fine example of the author shape. I’m glad that I was able to restore this one to at least a bit of its former glory and get it back into rotation. Thanks for looking!

A Peterson 301 System Pipe Reborn

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I have this pipe and one other left to clean up of the donated pipes for the benefit of Smokers Forums. This one is a Peterson’s System Standard Bent Pot. It is stamped Peterson’s System Standard on the left side and on the right side it is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland over 301 which is the shape number. The finish was shot, worn and stained with most of the colour faded out. The nickel ferrule was oxidized and dull. The rim was dirty and nicked on the top surface but undamaged on the inner or outer edge. There were some deep scratches on the underside of the bowl that went across the surface of the briar. They were ragged and I knew that steaming them would not raise them. There was also some road rash on the right side of the bowl where it looked as if the bowl was dropped on concrete. The bowl had a thick cake that was soft and crumbly. The stem was oxidized and dirty with some tooth chatter on the top side and the underside near the p-lip. The interior was also dirty with grit. The inside of the shank/mortise was surprisingly clean with dust and tobacco residue but little tar and oil. The inside of the stem was also dirty. The hole in the end of the button was in great shape.

I took a close up of the rim and bowl to show the thickness of the cake. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took the soft cake back to bare briar so that a new hard cake could be developed by the new owner of the pipe.

I sanded out the bowl to remove the ridge that appears in the photo below. You can also see the dents and nicks in the surface of the rim. I lightly topped the bowl with a topping board to take out the damaged surface of the rim and clean up the top. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and the grime in the grain of the briar.

I filled the deep scratches in the bottom of the bowl with clear super glue and also filled the road rash nicks on the right side of the bowl. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and then sanded them with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I also sanded them with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches. I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain that I thinned with 3 parts alcohol to 1 part stain. I flamed the stain to set it deep in the grain. To make the stain more translucent I scrubbed down the surface with alcohol to lighten the stain and make it more transparent. I put a light coat of wax on the bowl to protect it while I cleaned the inside of the pipe. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the shank and mortise area. I polished the nickel ferrule with a silver polishing cloth and was able to remove the oxidation.

I let the stem soak in Oxyclean for several hours while I worked on the bowl and then gave it a vigorous rubdown with coarse cloth to remove the loose oxidation. I then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the oxidation. Once it was gone I buffed it with red Tripoli and then moved on to sand it with the micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads, rubbing it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanding with 3200-4000 grit pads and giving it another rub down. I buffed it with White Diamond and then finished with 6000-12000 grit pads before giving it a final coat of oil and letting it absorb into the stem.

I finished by buffing the pipe with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then giving the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed with microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below.

Get Me to the Church on Time: Restoring a Longchamp Billiard

8 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

I was browsing through Reddit’s /r/PipeTobacco sub-forum when I saw a post from a member looking for someone who could restore an old, leather-wrapped Longchamp pipe. He wanted it in time for his wedding day, which was a couple of weeks away. I could see in the accompanying photos that the pipe had a chip out of the rim and a bite through on the stem, but otherwise it appeared to be in good condition and both the leather and stitching looked solid. So, I contacted him and offered to take care of it.
The pipe arrived at my door a while later. I was happy to see that there were no hidden “gotchas” and the condition of the pipe was pretty much as it had appeared in the photos.

Here are a few photos of the pipe on arrival:

Notice in the image below that the stem has almost no tooth chatter despite the massive bite through. What’s up with that? Weird. The next image shows some detail photos of the stamping and the rim damage on the pipe. The pipe needed to be cleaned up before I tackled any of the damage. This is my “getting to know you” time with the pipes that I work on. I learn a lot about the pipe as I’m cleaning it and I often discover things that I hadn’t noticed previously.

I used a very lightly damp rag to remove the tar and soot from the rim. It came away easily. You can see some light spots on the rim in the photos above. I had been afraid that they were fills (that would be a nightmare), but they turned out to be… something else. Whatever it was, it came off with the rest of the grime and I could see that the rim was in good condition other than the noted chip.

Then, I cleaned out the interior of the stem and stummel with a few cotton swabs, pipe cleaners, a shank brush and some isopropyl alcohol. The pipe was already pretty clean. So, it didn’t take much work. I then gave the pipe a retort just to be sure and another quick scrub to remove anything that the retort had left behind. To prevent any lingering tobacco ghosts, I stuffed cotton balls into the chamber and used a dropper to drip in alcohol until they were saturated. I then sat the stummel aside overnight to let the cotton balls and alcohol do their job. The image below shows a photo of the bowl just after adding the alcohol, another taken about three hours later, and another at about twelve hours (just before I removed the cotton).

Meanwhile, the stem had been soaking in a bath of Oxyclean and warm water. I removed it from the bath and scrubbed it with cubes cut from a Magic Eraser until all of the yellow-brown oxidation was gone and the stem was restored to a satin-black finish. Using needle files, I cleaned up the edges of the bite through hole to remove any loose material and scored the surrounding surface to prep for the patch. Then, I inserted a wedge of thin cardboard wrapped in clear tape through the slot making sure that it completely covered the bottom of the hole. I applied several thin layers of black CA glue over the hole. I allowed each layer to dry and lightly sanded with 220-grit paper between layers to give the next one a good surface to bite into. The patch was ready to be blended in when it was slightly higher than the surrounding surface. I used needle files to carve a sharp transition at the back of the button and sanded back the patch and much of the tooth chatter with 220-grit paper. I followed that with 320-grit and 400-grit paper to further smooth the surface, and then I lightly sanded the entire stem (carefully avoiding the logo impression) with 600-grit paper.

I wanted to repaint the stem logo to give the pipe a more complete look. So, I used a silver leaf paint pen to paint over the logo and fill the impression with paint. Once it was dry, I carefully sanded the paint from the raised surfaces with 1200-grit paper leaving behind only what was left in the impression. Some of the impression had been worn away until it was nearly level with the surrounding surface. So, I had to try to shape those by hand using a printed photo reference of the logo. I lightly sanded the rest of the stem with 1200-grit paper, and then polished with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit to 12000-grit. Somehow, I forgot to get a shot of the completed stem, but you can see it in the photos of the finished pipe.

The stem was finished. So, it was time to take care of the stummel. I filled the chip in the rim with briar dust and CA glue, let it dry, and then sanded the patch back with 220-grit paper. It’s just about impossible not to sand away some of the surface surrounding a patch. So, there was a very slight depression in the patched area. To even the rim out, I lightly topped the bowl, first with 220-grit, and then with 320-grit paper. To bring the color back and blend the patch, I applied Fiebing’s dark brown dye to the rim with a cotton swab, flamed it, and sanded the rim with 400-grit and 600-grit paper. Then I stained with medium brown and sanded with 1200-grit. I polished the rim with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit through 2400-grit before giving the rim a final buckskin stain, and then polished with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits. Again, I forgot to get photos of any of this. Sometimes, you just get caught up in the work, you know?

All that was left to do to get this pipe ready for the wedding day was to spiffy up the leather a bit. I used a hairdryer set to high heat and low flow to heat the leather and raise the dents. I used my fingers to knead and stretch the leather around the deeper ones to help lift them. Then, I used Fiebing’s buckskin dye to restain the scratches and a small tear on the right side of the bowl. The tear itself was then patched with a bit of leather glue. Finally, I used Fiebing’s 4 Way Care to clean and condition the leather wrapping before burnishing the ends of the leather and edging the seams. The pipe work as finished and it was ready to be sent back for the big day. Here are a few photos of the finished pipe:

Thanks for looking and CONGRATULATIONS, NATE!!!

A West German Mystery: Refurbishing a Merkur 2000 720

10 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

A friend from the Pipe Smoker Unlimited forums recently picked up a volcano-shaped Merkur 2000 pipe as a birthday gift to himself (we all know that those are the best gifts). He was drawn to the shape and the bit of nice grain that he could make out beneath the grime and dark stain. He mentioned in a comment that it was going to need a little cleaning up. So, I offered to take care of that for him and he accepted.

I gave the pipe a good look over when the pipe arrived some time later. I was immediately impressed by how light it was for its size. It appeared to be in good, clean condition too. The stem had barely any tooth chatter, but it had some reddish oxidation that almost matched the stummel stain and there were strange bands of raised vulcanite in some areas. My best guess is that something had lain across the stem for a very long time to cause the warping. The stummel appeared to have a few scratches, including one on the rim that was the most pronounced, but they were small and looked shallow. So, I was confident that they could be easily removed.

Here’s the pipe as it was on arrival: In the photo below, I don’t know what that is in the chamber. It’s best not to think about it too much.

The actual manufacturer of this pipe is a bit of a mystery to me. It’s stamped “MERKUR 2000” along the left shank, “REAL BRIAR” along the right, “WEST-GERMANY” and “720” along the bottom, and there is a slanted “H” logo on the stem. Pipephil has a listing for a Blackwood pipe with a matching stem logo and “2000” in the same location and typeface. It’s my guess that neither Merkur nor Blackwood is a manufacturer brand name, but rather they are either model names or shop-branded names. Whatever the case may be, the “WEST-GERMANY” stamping is a clear indication of the country of origin and that the pipe was made sometime before the 1990 German reunification.

Here are a few detail photos of the stamping in question and also the Blackwoods pipe from pipephil:

When I asked my friend what he wanted done with the pipe, he said that he would like me to lighten the color a bit and make the grain “pop.” So, to begin, I wiped the stummel down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the grime and lift some of the old stain. I think a good, internal cleaning is the foundation of any estate pipe work. So, I scrubbed out the stem and stummel with a few pipe cleaners, cotton swabs, and a shank brush. Next, I set up the retort for some deep cleaning (kind of like steam cleaning the carpet). I flushed the stem and shank 10-12 times with the boiling alcohol, let the pipe rest for about 10 minutes, and the flushed it 10-12 times again with fresh alcohol. After the second retort the alcohol in the vial was almost as clear as when it was fresh (the debris seen in the photo is bits of carbon build-up on the outside of vial from the candle flame). So, I gave the pipe a final scrub to remove anything left behind from the retort. The stem was dropped into a bath of Oxyclean and warm water for about an hour, and then I removed the softened oxidation by scrubbing with cubes cut from a Magic Eraser pad. I sanded down the tooth chatter and warped bands on the stem with a progression of 220, 320, and 400-grit paper and the entire stem was lightly sanded with 600-grit paper to get rid of the pitting and smooth the surface.

I already knew that I couldn’t completely restore the stem logo; the upper-right portion of the “H” was almost entirely worn away. I thought that it would look better with something there though. So, I painted over the logo with a grout pen, let the paint dry, and then very carefully sanded away the excess with 1200-grit paper to reveal the partially restored logo. Then, I sanded the rest of the stem with 1200-grit and polished with the full range of Micro-Mesh pads to wrap up the stem work. The scratch on the rim didn’t seem too deep. I thought that I would be able to remove it with just a light topping. It didn’t take much sanding with 220-grit before I noticed that the “scratch” was widening and realized that it wasn’t a scratch at all, but a small pit. I thought that it might still be shallow enough that I could sand it out, but when the pit was still there after a bit more sanding I decided to cut my losses and patch it with a briar dust and CA glue patch. Then, I topped the bowl with 320-grit to even everything out.

Unfortunately, that pit wasn’t the last one that I encountered while working on this pipe. At least two more revealed themselves along the rim and a few more on the rest of the stummel. Now, before I tell you about how I did the rest of the stummel I have to issue an apology. I failed to take any more photos before finishing up the pipe. I’ll lay the blame on the previously mentioned pits that kept cropping up, which caused me to backtrack at almost every stage and redo sections of the work. However, I’m sure that you can follow along with no problems. I won’t detail any of the pits, since they were all addressed in the same way as the one above.

In order to honor the request to make the grain “pop,” I heated the stummel with a heat gun to open the grain and applied a dark brown stain thinned to one part stain to three parts isopropyl alcohol. After flaming the stain to set it into the grain, I hand-buffed with a soft rag to remove the excess, and then sanded the stummel with 400-grit. This removed most of the light scratches as well as much of the surface stain, which gave the grain some nice contrast.

I heated the stummel again before applying a medium brown stain thinned the same as before. I flamed and hand-buffed again before lightly sanding with 600-grit and 1200-grit papers. I also began polishing with Micro-Mesh 1800-grit to 2400-grit.

Next, I applied a light brown stain, flamed, hand-buffed, and reattached the stem to give the stummel a Tripoli buff on the buffing wheel. I don’t buff the stem with Tripoli, but it’s good to have it in place to prevent the buffer from rounding the shoulders of the stem and shank faces. I use a rubber tourniquet tightly wrapped around the end of the stem to protect it from the wheel.

I polished the stummel with 3200-grit through 4000-grit paper before giving it one final stain of British tan thinned by eye until it was just weak wash. Then, I polished with the remaining Micro-Mesh grits before buffing the entire pipe with White Diamond and applying several coats of carnauba wax to finish up the pipe.

The final results are pictured below.

I think the pipe will now be a proud addition to my friend’s collection and I’m sure that it will serve him well for many more birthdays to come. Thanks for looking.

First in Flight: Refurbishing and Restemming a Falcon #4

6 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook

I had never smoked a metal pipe before, but I was curious. I liked the idea of interchangeable bowls, especially when dealing with stronger and “ghostlier” blends (I’m looking at you, Lakelands). So, when this Falcon #4 showed up on eBay I put in a low bid that luckily turned out to be the winning one. I knew from the seller’s photos that the pipe was going to need a bit of work to get it into shape, but I was still in for a few surprises.

When it arrived, I could see that the aluminum frame was in good shape. There were several small dents and scratches, but nothing that would affect the smoking qualities of the pipe. The nylon stem (or, “bit” in Falconese), however, must have really suited someone’s taste because had been chewed so badly that it was crushed and the airway was almost completely closed. The larger, pot-shaped bowl was in fair condition with some tar build-up and a few scratches on the rim, but the smaller Dublin/apple-shaped bowl was charred and almost beaten to death around the rim. Luckily, the threads on both bowls were still in good shape and they would screw tightly to the frame.

Here are a few photos of the pipe as it was when it arrived:

The first order of business was to remove the stem, since there was no way that it would work in its condition. Thankfully, Al (upshallfan) offered to send me another one that was in better shape. Removing a Falcon stem is easier said than done though. They’re intended to be a permanent part of the pipe.

I turned to the forums in the hope of finding someone who had done it before and had developed a reliable removal method. I received several suggestions and tried them all with no luck. In desperation, I decided to try to heat the stem in boiling water. I knew from past experience that nylon would blister and burn all too easily when exposed to high heat, but I thought that this method might heat the stem slowly and gently enough to avoid that risk. Surprisingly, it worked like a charm! After about 20 minutes of submerging the stem in boiling water, not only was I able to remove the stem, but the aluminum smoke tube came out as well. That would make cleaning and polishing the frame much easier. After soaking the frame in alcohol for about 30 minutes, I cleaned out the interior. Without a doubt, this was the easiest cleanup job that I have ever done on a pipe. That’s not to say that it wasn’t dirty. This was obviously a well smoked pipe, but the grime came away easily from the nonporous aluminum. It took only three pipe cleaners (two for the airway and another folded one to scrub the cup) and an old toothbrush (for the threads) to completely clean the frame. The bowls were next on my to-do list. I reamed them both back to bare wood so that I could see what I was dealing with, and then I placed them in a jar of isopropyl alcohol to soften the build up on the rim and strip the finish. An hour or so later, I removed them and used a soft cloth to scrub away the remaining finish and grime.

I set up my topping surface to sand out the scratches on the rim of the larger bowl and level the uneven rim of the smaller one. I lightly topped the larger bowl first with 220-grit paper, and then with 320-grit until the scratches were gone. I started to top the smaller on the smaller one, but the condition of the rim was so bad that chunks of it began to fall out as I worked. I could see that was going to be a losing battle and decided that if I couldn’t beat ‘em, I’d join ‘em.

I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to bevel the inner rim of the smaller bowl back as far as the deepest gouge. I was only doing some rough shaping at that point to create the general depth and angle of the bevel. Then, I used 220-grit and 320-grit paper to clean things up and further refine the shape. After that, I lightly sanded the surface of both bowls with 220-grit and 320-grit paper to remove most of the scratches and dings. Once the heavy lifting was complete on the bowl cosmetics, I turned my attention back to the stem. The stem that Al had sent me was in much better shape than the original, but it was still badly chewed. It also wouldn’t pass a cleaner, which seems to be an issue with Falcon pipes in general. They make thinner cleaners specifically for Falcons, but I don’t like the idea of having to buy something else just to overcome a design flaw. So, I decided to try an experiment to see if I couldn’t open up the airway and remove much of the chatter all in one shot.

I had noticed earlier that the boiling water had not only loosened the original stem, but it also appeared to raise the dents to some degree. It wasn’t enough to save it, but I found it surprising all the same since I’d had no luck lifting dents in nylon with heat previously. I thought I’d try it again with the replacement stem. I rigged up a simple suspension mechanism with some string, a hex nut, and a wooden spoon, and then put the stem into a pot of boiling water. After nearly about 40 minutes of being submerged, there was some slight improvement but not enough to make much difference. So, I called an end to the experiment and decided that the method wasn’t worth the effort. I have a suspicion that there was some harm done to the stem with this method however, and I’ll talk more on that later. The constriction in the airway extended about ¼” behind the button. So, I decided to drill the airway out from the slot end. The airway was so tight that I had to start cutting through with a 3/64” bit and work my way up to a 3/32” bit. I tested the draw and it was good, and then I tested with a cleaner and it would pass, but it still needed a bit of force to get through the tight area. The stem wouldn’t take a larger bit, however, and I had to be satisfied with what I had. I finished up the work on the airway by cleaning up the slot and giving it a slight funnel with some sandpaper, needle files, and sanding needles.

In the photo below, you can see one of the drill bits chucked into a Dremel, but I never actually used the motor. That would likely have been a disaster. Instead, I used the Dremel to stabilize the bit while I turned the stem over it. The mechanics of the stem had been addressed and it was time to start working on the cosmetics. I used a course, flat needle file to score the surface of the stem, applied black CA glue to the indentations, and sanded it back with 220-grit paper once it was dry. Then, I began to rebuild the button. I wrapped clear tape around the area behind the button to create a sharp edge and applied more CA to the button to build up the surface. I used 220-grit paper to sand the CA back and start shaping the button after it had completely dried. When the shape was vaguely buttonish, I began to clean the edges and remove more chatter from the stem, first with 320-grit, and then with 400-grit paper. I lightly sanded the entire surface of the stem with 600-grit and 1200-grit paper to smooth it out and remove the seams and molding artifacts from the sides. Then, I polished the stem with Micro-Mesh pads 1500-grit through 12000-grit and used a drop of mineral oil to lubricate the stem between every three grits.

Remember when I mentioned something about the heat of the boiling water doing harm to the stem? This is where that comes into play. I had noticed that the stem felt different under the paper as I was sanding it. The higher the grit, the more noticeable it became. The surface felt normal to the touch, but it kind of grabbed at the sandpaper and pads and gave some resistance as they slid across, almost like it was gummy. It was unlike any nylon stem that I had ever worked with before and I believe that submerging it in boiling water changed the surface in some way. I’m just making a guess, of course, but in the end I wasn’t able to achieve the level of glossy shine that I had with previous nylon stems and I doubt that I’ll be trying the boiling method again. You can see the finished stem in the photo below. The stem was out of the way. So, it was time to get back to the bowls and start wrapping this pipe up. I wanted each bowl to have a slightly different color. So, I used a heat gun to heat the briar and open the grain, and then applied a 3:1 mix of isopropyl alcohol and Fiebing’s dark brown dye to the larger bowl and the same ratio with mahogany dye to the smaller bowl. After hand buffing with a soft cloth and sanding the surface of both bowls with 400-grit and 600-grit paper to remove most of the dye except for what was in the grain, I gave the larger bowl a medium brown stain and the smaller one an oxblood stain using the same ratio of stain to thinner as before. Then, I hand buffed again and sanded each bowl with 1200-grit and gave them both a light Tripoli buff. Both bowls received one final stain; buckskin for the larger one and British tan for the smaller. They were hand buffed again to remove the excess stain, and then polished with Micro-Mesh pads 3200-grit to 12000-grit.

Before reassembling the pipe, I polished the frame with Semichrome polish and buffed the stem and bowls with White Diamond compound on the buffer. I put everything back together (it went easily) and applied several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. Finally, I applied a bowl coating to both bowls to give them some protection until they could build a little cake. You can see the completed pipe in the photos below.

And here are a couple of shots of the other bowl… I’m still not happy with the stem on this one and I’m sure that I’ll be replacing it sometime in the future when there aren’t other pipes that need attention. For now, though, it serves its purpose well. I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical of the metal pipe concept, but this pipe smokes wonderfully and I can see many more Falcon bowls and a few more metal pipes in my future. Thanks for checking it out!

Cleaning up my Budapest Pipe Find – A Parker of London Earl 576 Bent Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

On my recent trip to Budapest I visited several of the pipe shops that I found when I was there five years ago. The experience was sad in that much has changed and the pipe and tobacco selection has greatly diminished. I was in the Gallwitz Shop and looked at their estate pipes. I turned several over in my hands before leaving and not buying any. I walked about a block before I got to thinking that this would probably be the last time I was in that shop and if the downward turn of pipeshops in Budapest continued it might not last. I turned around and went back to the shop and purchased a small bent Dublin that is stamped on the left side of the shank, Parker of London. On the right it is stamped Earl and on the underside it bears the shape number 576. I have included a photo I took on my phone of the pipe and some of my other finds that day. The pipe was in decent shape. It had quite a few fills on the right side of the bowl and a long narrow fill on the underside of the shank that had shrunk and left a groove. The rim had a lot of grooves and damage that had been waxed over. The bowl was out of round but was clean. The inside of the shank and stem were still pretty dirty. The original stem was loose but relatively clean with no tooth marks and the faint diamond P logo on the top of the saddle. There was some minor oxidation in the crease at the button and the surface of the stem had some scratches that had not polished out. On the underside of the stem there were some bits of metal that were in the mix of the rubber stem. I know that in the war years the rubber used for stems was recycled so I am thinking that this one may come from that era. When I got home from Budapest I took the following photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when I began.

I also took a few close-up photos of the rim and the stamping on the shank. To me there is a quiet elegance to this shape. You can see the rim damage and the inner edge damage in the first photo below.

I worked on the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to even out the inner edge and minimize the out of round look. I gave it a slight bevel to get rid of the damage. In doing so I did not particularly care that I scratched the surface of the rim because I planned on topping it lightly to remove the damage.

I topped the bowl on a topping board to remove the deep scratches and damaged areas on the surface of the rim.

I sanded the rim with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. I then sanded it with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads to polish the rim. I then stained it with the staining pens – starting with the lightest colour and gradually working my way up to the darkest colour. I worked to blend it into the same colour as the bowl and shank. The long worm shaped fill on the bottom of the bowl needed to be refilled. I decided to use clear super glue and no briar dust as the groove was not very deep. I filled it and let it dry. I sanded the repair with micromesh sanding pads until it blended into the surface of the briar. It is smooth to the touch now and is better blended into the surface of the briar.

I rubbed down the bowl and shank with a light coat of olive oil and then buffed it with a microfibre cloth to raise a bit of a shine.

I worked on the oxidation on the stem in the crease with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads. I scraped the groove in the crease with a dental pick and then sanded it until it was smooth. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads, reoiled it and then finished sanding with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and then let it sit until the oil had been absorbed into the vulcanite.

I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff to raise the shine. I took it back to the work table and buffed it by hand with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown below. It is cleaned and ready to use. It should give many years of good service now that it is clean. Every time I pick it up I will think of the Gallwitz shop and the changes that it went through from the first time I visited until this past time. The sad changes will go through my mind for a long time.

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

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Blog by Steve Laug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: restaining a bowl and rim

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First in Flight: Refurbishing and Restemming a Falcon #4

Cleaning up my Budapest Pipe Find – A Parker of London Earl 576 Bent Dublin

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

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