Tag Archives: restaining a bowl and rim

Restoring a KB&B Kaywoodie Drinkless Rhodesian from Bob Kerr’s Estate

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen from Bob Kerr’s Estate is a KB&B Drinkless Kaywoodie Rhodesian with a chunky shank and stem. (Bob’s photo is to the left). If you have not “met” the man and would like to read a bit of the history of the pipeman, his daughter has written a great tribute that is worth a read. Because I have included it in most of the restorations of the estate to date I thought that I would leave it out this time. Check out some of the recent Dunhill restoration blogs (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/01/restoring-the-last-of-bob-kerrs-dunhills-a-1962-dunhill-bruyere-656-f-t-bent-billiard/).

This chunky Rhodesian is stamped KB&B in a cloverleaf followed by Drinkless [over] Kaywoodie [over] Made in England on the left side of the bowl. On the right side it is stamped with the number 83B. The thick tapered stem has the typical white inlaid Kaywoodie Cloverleaf logo. The tenon is threaded and has a stinger that is stamped Drinkless [over] Reg No 213598. The ball on the end of the stinger has been clipped off. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The exterior of the bowl is grimy and dirty. There is a thick cake and lava overflow on the rim top. It is thick enough that it is hard to know if there is any damage on top and edges. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show its general condition before he did his cleanup. The exterior of the pipe was very dirty – grime and grit ground in from years of use and sitting. The rim top was covered with a coat of thick lava that overflowed the bowl. There was also some darkening on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The bowl itself had a thick cake with flecks of tobacco stuck in the cake on the sides. Jeff took photos of the sides and the heel of the bowl to give a better feel for the condition of the bark around the bowl. The next photos show the stamping on the sides of the shank and it is very readable. It reads as noted above. The stem was dirty and extremely oxidized. Once again the stem appeared to be a replacement as I have learned Bob was a chewer and his stems seemed to have been replaced often. This one at least fit well to the shank and did not yet have the chew marks that were a norm on Bob’s pipes.Before doing cleanup work on the pipe I decided to do some research on the pipe. I looked first on the Pipephil website and found some information on the white club inlay on the left side of the tapered stem. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information on the logo itself (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-kaywoodie.html). From there I learned that the logo was used until the 1980s. After the early 50s the logo was on the side of the stem.I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie) and read the section on the rough outline on the history of the brand that links the brand with the English section of the company. I quote:

Again, demand for KBB pipes and especially Kaywoodie prompted another move for both the manufacturing facilities and the corporate offices. In 1930 the corporate office moved into the Empire State Building on Fifth Avenue in New York. By 1935, the manufacturing operations moved from Union City to 6400 Broadway in West New York, New Jersey which, at the time, was touted as the largest pipe making facility in the world. At the height of production, there were 500 employees producing up to 10,000 pipes per day.

The corporate offices were relocated in 1936 to the International Building, Rockefeller Center, 630 Fifth Avenue, New York. The invitation to visit the new office reads, “Kaywoodie is now on display at the world’s most famous address – Rockefeller Center. Here Kaywoodie takes its place among the leaders of industry and commerce.” The move to Rockefeller Center coincided with The Kaywoodie Company’s emergence as a subsidiary of KBB. All of the pipes manufactured by KBB including the Yello-Bole line were also on display here. By 1938 Kaywoodie had opened an office in London to meet worldwide demand. Kaywoodie of London was jointly owned with another famous pipemaker, Comoy’s of London.

From there I turned to a link on the article to a section called Guide to Kaywoodie Pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Collector%27s_Guide_to_Kaywoodie_Pipes#NOTES_ON_.22OTHER.E2.80.9D_KAYWOODIE_PIPES).

English Kaywoodies. All of the catalogs reviewed in this research contained the following copyright notification: Printed in U.S.A., Kaufmann Bros. and Bondy, Inc., New York and London. Kaywoodie Pipe cases and smoker’s accessories were also marked with “New York and London”. The catalogs, however, do not present any information concerning Kaywoodie’s London operations, or how the English Kaywoodies might have differed from those manufactured and marketed in the U.S. Lowndes notes that he has several English Kaywoodies acquired in Vaduz and Zurich. English Kaywoodies are now made by Oppenheimer pipes. Lowndes notes that English Kaywoodies with the “screw-in bit” come in Ruby Grain, Custom Grain, Standard, and Relief Grain grades. The traditional push-bit models come in Continental Plain and Relief, London Made, Minaret, Air-way Polished No. 707, and Lightweight grades. Prices in 1985 ranged from 9.50 (pounds) to 26.00 (pounds). Lowndes notes that the Super Star was a special edition English Kaywoodie made of finest briar with a handmade silver band. Lowndes has two: one from Zurich with a large white-outlined logo, and beautifully cased; and one in walnut finish with the black-­in-white logo. A recent catalog shows the Super Star without a band and the ordinary small white logo. A 1985 letter from Oppenheimer states that the black-in-white logo has been discontinued and only the regular white logo is now used.

I turned to Pipedia’s Kaywoodie Shape Number chart to check out the number 83B that is stamped on the shank side (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers). The chart gives the shape information and the time frame in which the shape was made. I did a screen capture of the shape number information and have included it below.From the above information I now knew that the pipe in hand was a Half Bent Heavy Round Shank Bulldog made between 1938-1955 in London by Oppenheimer. It had screw-in bit.

With over 125 pipes to clean from Bob’s estate I took a batch of them to the states with me when I visited and left them with Jeff so he could help me out. Jeff cleaned the pipes with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. Once he finished he shipped them back to me. This one was a real mess and I did not know what to expect when I unwrapped it from his box. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed it with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what cleaned bowl and rim top looked like. The rim top shows damage and charring on the inner edge of the bowl. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and the remaining oxidation on the stem surface.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I unscrewed the stem for the shank and took a photo of the bowl and stem to give a picture of what it looked like. You can see the ball clipped off the end of the stinger.Now, on to my part of the restoration of this KBB English Made Rhodesian. I decided to start by dealing with the gouges in the bowl front and heel and on the back of the rim cap. I fill them in with clear super glue. When the repairs had cured I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the inner edge of the rim. I worked on the inner bevel to clean up the damage and the darkening. I sanded to the top of the rim at the same time to minimize the darkening.I stained the repaired and sanded areas with a Walnut stain pen to blend it into the surrounding briar. Once the stain cured I polished the briar to further blend it into the bowl.I polished the top of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar bowl sides and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth dents in the top and underside of the stem at the button. There were a few deep tooth marks on the underside next to the button. I filled them in with clear super glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them out with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing them with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This KB&B Kaywoodie Drinkless 83B Rhodesian, English made pipe from Bob Kerr’s estate turned out to be a great looking pipe. The Walnut finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and works well with the polished vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished KB&B Kaywoodie Rhodesian fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This particular pipe is staying with me for a while as it is a lot like the GBD 9242 Bent Rhodesian that is on my bucket list of pipe. The fact that it is English Made and made by Oppenheimer makes me wonder about a GBD connection. Who knows for sure though! I have more to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Back to Briar from Bob Kerr’s Estate – a Charatan’s Make Belvedere 2502 Prince

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am continuing to work on the pipes in Bob Kerr’s estate for a while. I am getting closer to finishing restoring this large estate with only about 29 more pipes to do. This is the second of his two Charatan pipes that I am working on. I am cleaning them for the family and moving them out into the hands of pipemen and women who will carry on the trust that began with Bob and in some pipes was carried on by Bob. In the collection there were 19 Peterson’s pipes along with a bevy of Dunhills, some Comoy’s and Barlings as well as a lot of other pipes – a total of 125 pipes along with a box of parts. This is the largest estate that I have had the opportunity to work on. I put together a spread sheet of the pipes and stampings to create an invoice. I was taking on what would take me a fair amount of time to clean up. I could not pass up the opportunity to work on these pipes though. They were just too tempting. This beautiful Charatan’s Make Prince is a great pipe to work on. It is a classic shaped pipe with a Charatan spin on the prince shape. It will go on the rebornpipes store.

This Charatan’s Make London England Belvedere smooth finish with lots variation in the grain around the briar is a beauty! The pipe is stamped on the left of the shank and reads Charatan’s Make [over] London England [over] Belvedere. On the right side it has the shape number 2502. The grain grime and dirt ground into the mixture of grain around the bowl. It had rich dark and medium contrasting brown stains that do not look too bad. There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a thick lava overflow sitting on the total rim top. The inner edge of the rim is dirty and may have some damage under the grime. It was a beautiful pipe that was dirty and tired looking. The replacement taper stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end. It had the characteristic tooth marks that I have come to expect from Bob’s pipes. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it.  He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim top and edges from damage. It was hard to know for sure from the photos.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful grain under the grime and grit ground into the finish. He took photos of the stamping on both side of the shank. The stamping was readable as you can see from the photos and read as noted above. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button.To try to figure out the era of the Charatan’s pipe I was working on I turned to the Pipephil website, Logos and Stampings. There is some really helpful information on each of the lines of Charatan’s Make pipes that entered the market. Here is the link to the section of the site that I turned to (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html). There is an alphabetical listing of the lines but the Belvedere they showed had a stem made for a 9mm filter while the one I have is a nonfiltered pipe. The site did give a short history of the brand. I quote the portion that is most pertinent.

The brand was founded in 1863 by Frederik Charatan. When his father retired in 1910, Reuben Charatan took over the family business. All the pipes were handmade until 1973. The brand name has been overtaken by Dunhill in 1978 and sold in 1988 to James B. Russell Inc.(NJ, USA). During the period 1988-2002 Charatans were crafted by Butz Choquin in St Claude (France). Dunhill re-purchased Charatan brand name in 2002 and Colin Fromm (Invicta Briars, Castleford) followed up on freehand production.

I turned to Pipedia to see if I could find more information on the brand and possibly a link to the Belvedere line (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan) but once again in the general article it was not listed.  It did give a little more historical information. I quote the pertinent parts and have highlighted in red the sections that give information on this particular pipe.

In 1863 Frederick Charatan, a Russian/Jewish immigrant, opened a shop in Mansell Street, located in the borough of Tower Hamlets, London E1, where he began to carve Meerschaum pipes. These pipes got very popular soon, and thus Charatan moved to a bigger workshop in Prescot Street, just around the corner. Here he began to make briar pipes which should make the name famous the world over. Charatan was the first brand to make entirely hand-made briars from the rough block to the finished pipe including the stems. The nomenclature “Charatan’s Make” refers to this method of production and was meant to differ Charatan from other brands who “assembled” pipes from pre-drilled bowls and delivered mouthpieces.

Being the undisputed No. 1 in English pipemaking, Charatan was approached by Alfred Dunhill who was unsatisfied with the quality of the pipes he imported from France. During 1908 – 1910 Dunhill bought pipes from Charatan paying exorbitant prices to ensure he had some of the very best pipes for sale in England. In 1910 he lured away Joel Sasieni, one of Charatan’s best carvers, and opened his own small pipe workshop on 28 Duke Street. On the retirement of his father in 1910 Reuben Charatan took over the family business…

…The pre-Lane period (prior to 1955) and the Lane era pipes (1955 to until sometime between 1979 – 1984) are of primary interest the collector. The Lane era is often quoted as beginning about 1950… Charatan records are almost non-existent before Lane due to a factory fire, making it difficult to date pre-Lane pipes. Charatan used 4 basic grades prior to 1950: Supreme, Selected, Executive, and Belvedere. After 1950 Herman Lane’s influence began, and the grades started to expand. In 1955 Lane took over sole distributorship of Charatan in the US. In 1957 he introduced the Supreme S. Most of his other introductions were from the 60’s and early 70’s…

I continue digging further into the dating of the pipe, but what I had found was a good start for me. If some of you would like to try your hand at dating it more accurately as to the time period it came out you might want to check out the article on Pipedia on Dating Charatans (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dating_of_Charatans).

I also reread the article on Pipedia by the Italian fellow who contributed some really helpful information on the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Charatan_-_Milan_2014). I quote the section on the Second period: Reuben Charatan 1910 – c. 1962

– In 1962 Herman Lane took over the business from the Charatan family, although he had already influenced production from the 1950s.

– The pipes were mostly larger than the previous ones and corresponded in size to Dunhill group 5. These are slightly less rare, but still difficult to find.

– Stem: Usually in ebonite, saddle shaped or tapered, bearing a fine “CP” stamp, underbore system (see below) used when necessary.

– Shank: The shape code is stamped on it together with the nomenclature “CHARATAN’S MAKE LONDON ENGLAND” arranged in two lines. From 1955 onwards on the models marketed for the USA there is also a serif and circled capital “L” (but not all models bear this) which resembles the pound sterling symbol. The “L” is for Lane, the importer.

From 1958, Lane changed the nomenclature for models marketed for the US to clarify the message: “MADE BY HAND”.  In this period the underbore was introduced. Its manufacturing period ranged between 1920 and c.1930. This model was equipped with a duralumin plunger trap fitted in the stem, which served to clean the residue more easily. This particular model bore a special stamp on the stem, and also had its own catalogue…

QUALITY GRADES…The stem did not only display the stamps mentioned above. Another stamp that can help dating is the one referring to the quality of the pipe. Until Herman Lane arrived on the scene there were four quality grades. Starting with the lowest: Belvedere, Executive, Selected, and Supreme. Lane went on to add higher grades from time to time: Supreme S, Supreme S100, S150, S200, S250, S300, Coronation, Royal Achievement, Crown Achievement, and Summa Cum Laude; these last three are extremely rare and almost impossible to find. He also invented other, different grades, even changing the previous pipe classification standards. We will not go into detail here, but it means that if we find an S100 or Coronation the pipe was manufactured following Herman Lane’s acquisition. In particular, the FH mark, or Freehand pipe was commissioned to the famous Danish craftsman, Preben Holm.

I am also including a shape chart from that site. I have drawn a blue box around the 2502 Prince shape.With over 125 pipes to clean from Bob’s estate I took a batch of them to the states with me when I visited and left them with Jeff so he could help me out. Jeff cleaned the pipes with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. Once he finished he shipped them back to me. This one was a real mess and I did not know what to expect when I unwrapped it from his box. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed it with Soft Scrub and soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked a lot better. The stem still had a lot of deep oxidation. I took photos before I started my part of the work.   I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what cleaned bowl and rim top looked like. The rim top shows damage on the inner edge with some charring on the front inner edge. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the light tooth marks and the remaining oxidation on the stem surface.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and it is clear and readable. It is stamped as noted above. I took the stem off the shank and took some photos to give a clear picture of the pipe from the left side profile and the top looking down. It is a really pretty pipe.Since this is another pipe Bob’s estate I am sure that some of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that has been done on the previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. I asked Brian if he or his wife would like to write a brief biographical tribute to her father, Bob. His daughter worked on it and I received the following short write up on him and some pictures to go along with the words including one of Bob’s carvings. Once again I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

Now on to my part of the restoration of this Charatan’s Make 2502 Prince. I decided to start by dealing with the damage to the inner edge of the rim. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage on the rim top. I followed up with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the edge and give it a slight bevel to remove the damaged area and bring the bowl back into round. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I touched up the stain on the rim top with a Maple and a Cherry stain pen blended on the top. Once the bowl was polished it would blend in well with the rest of the briar around the bowl.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I worked over the rest of the remaining oxidation and the tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. At this point it is starting to look much better.  I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Charatan’s Make Belvedere Prince from Bob Kerr’s estate turned out to be a great looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the sandblasted grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Charatan’s Make Belvedere 2502 Prince fits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. If you are interested in carrying on Bob’s legacy with this pipe send me a message or an email. I have more to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Rusticating a Bald Spot on the Briar on a Bjarne Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is one of Alex’s pipes and one that I have admired for a while. Bjarne pipes are well made and a pleasure to smoke. This particular pipe has some amazing grain on the right side, shank and front and back. The left side has a large bald spot with no grain to speak of that pretty much covered the entirety of the left side. Alex wanted me to try to come up with some kind of rustication pattern that would highlight the character of the bowl and add to that rather than change it. I took photos of the pipe from around the sides and the top and bottom of the bowl. It is a short pipe with a full sized bowl. The shank looks long and the stem is short and stubby but very comfortable. Have a look. I did a bit of research on some of the other carvers and how they used spot rustication to give character to a bowl. I found a great looking pipe by Winslow that used the same idea as I was thinking and sent it to Alex. He was good with the concept so I was good to go. However, I am always very slow to change someone’s pipe as it is generally not possible to make it like it was before! I spent a few months really thinking about it and looking at the Winslow and looking at the Bjarne and then putting the pipe aside and doing other things. I have included the photo of the Winslow below for comparison sake so you can see where I was heading with the rustication.I finally decided to give it a go this afternoon before supper. Sometimes I mark the portion of the pipe with a line or tape to give definition to the area I want to rusticate. But today I decided just to go with the flow and chase the grain around the edges of the bald spot. I have a rustication tool that a friend of rebornpipes made for me. It has a great ball handle and a cluster of hardened nails set in the head and kept from flexing by a hose clamp. I worked over the area of the bowl with that to get the rustication started. I used a Dremel and some burrs to cut a groove around the rusticated portion of the bowl similar to the way that Winslow did. I also knocked off the high spots on the rustication with both burrs and reworked areas that were not even. I used a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the high spots a bit and then stained the rusticated portion with black aniline stain. I applied it and flamed it with a lighter to set is in the stain. I buffed the bowl with red Tripoli to smooth out the high spots on the surface. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process. I still had some more sanding and polishing the surface of the rustication but the basic form is taking shape. I used a sanding sponge to smooth out the high spots a bit more. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and rubbed some Conservator’s Wax into the rustication of the left side of the bowl. I buffed the rest of the pipe with carnauba wax and gave the pipe a clean buff. I hand buffed it with a clean cotton pad to raise the shine. The finished rustication on the pipe is shown in the photo below. It is a nice looking pipe. Thanks for your time.

 

 

Bringing Life to a WDC Demuth Gold Dot 77 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a WDC Demuth Gold Dot Bulldog. It is a pretty pipe with a great shape. The condition is very dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and some darkening around the beveled inner edge of the rim. The previous pipeman took good care of this one. It is well smoked and other than dusty and grimy it is in decent shape. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank with the logo inverted equilateral triangle with letters “WDC” enclosed in it. This is followed by “Demuth” over “GOLD DOT” in block capital letters. On the right side of the shank is stamped “IMPORTED” over “BRIAR ROOT” followed by the shape number “77” towards the bowl and shank joint. A quarter inch wide gold band is on the shank end and is stamped on the left with the trademark WDC triangle over “14 K”, indicating the purity of the gold band. The ¾ bent saddle stem has two gold dots on the left side of the saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl, rim top and edges. The cake is quite thick and there are a few spots of grime on the edges and around the cap on the bowl.He took photos around the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition. You can see the grime in the finish and the damage on the heel. It is primarily on the right side but goes across the ridge. He included a close up photo of the damaged areas on the heel it has some deep gouges in the briar that look like it has been dropped.He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank and the band. You can see that it is clear and readable. You can see the 14K stamp on the band and the two dots on the stem side.The next two photos show the condition of the stem. You can see that it is lightly oxidized and has some tooth chatter on the underside. Otherwise the stem is in very good condition.I was going to do a bit of research on the brand and line but then I remembered that Paresh had worked on an identical pipe from his grandfather’s estate. I turned to the blog on rebornpipes to read what he had discovered (https://rebornpipes.com/2019/01/18/sprucing-up-the-first-of-my-wdc-a-demuth-gold-dot-77-bulldog/). I quote:

I searched pipedia.com for more information on this pipe and attempt at estimating the vintage of this pipe. Here is what I have found on pipedia.

William Demuth. (Wilhelm C. Demuth, 1835-1911), a native of Germany, entered the United States at the age of 16 as a penniless immigrant. After a series of odd jobs he found work as a clerk in the import business of a tobacco tradesman in New York City. In 1862 William established his own company. The William Demuth Company specialized in pipes, smoker’s requisites, cigar-store figures, canes and other carved objects.

The Demuth Company is probably well known for the famous trademark, WDC in an inverted equilateral triangle. William commissioned the figurative meerschaum Presidential series, 29 precision-carved likenesses of John Adams, the second president of the United States (1797-1801) to Herbert Hoover, the 30th president (1929-1933), and “Columbus Landing in America,” a 32-inch-long centennial meerschaum masterpiece that took two years to complete and was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

The Presidential series was the result of Demuth’s friendship with President James A. Garfield, a connoisseur of meerschaum pipes. Demuth presented two pipes to Garfield at his inauguration in 1881, one in his likeness, the other in the likeness of the President’s wife. Later, Demuth arranged for another figurative matching the others to be added to the collection as each new president acceded to the White House, terminating with President Hoover.

In early 1937, the City of New York notified S.M. Frank & Co. of their intent to take by eminent domain, part of the land on which the companies pipe factory was located. This was being done to widen two of the adjacent streets. As a result of this, Frank entered into negotiations to purchase the Wm. Demuth Co.’s pipe factory in the Richmond Hill section of Queens. It was agreed upon that Demuth would become a subsidiary of S.M. Frank and all pipe production of the two companies would be moved to DeMuth factory. New Corporate offices were located at 133 Fifth Avenue, NYC.

Demuth pipes continued to be made at the Richmond Hill plant till December 31. 1972. Then the Wm. Demuth Company met its official end as a subsidiary company by liquidation.

I came across an interesting advertisement on the same page on pipedia.com which shows the exact same pipe that I am now working on. It is the same pipe as the first pipe on the left. A close scrutiny of the picture confirms the following:

(a) The Gold Dot line of WDC pipes was offered sometime before 1941 as inferred from the bottom line of this flyer which encourages readers to “WRITE FOR NEW 1941 STYLE BOOKLET”, implying that this flyer was published prior to 1941!!

(b) The Gold Dot line of WDC pipes was at the time their top of the line product as it is the most expensive of all the pipes advertised in the flyer, retailing at $10!!Pipephil.eu too has the same pipe shown with shape # 77. Here is the link; http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-w1.html

From Paresh’s research I confirmed that this WDC Gold Dot was WDC’s top tier of pipes and was made in 1940s. It is definitely a good looking pipe. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim edge lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the damage on the inner edge on the rear of the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are fairly light. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. They are clean and readable and read as noted above.    I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. I noted that the tenon is metal and is made for a paper filter. I think it would fit a Medico paper filter.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the heel of the bowl. I filled in the damaged areas with clear super glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and also began the polishing with 40o grit wet dry sandpaper. I turned to work on the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge to remove the darkening and bring it back into round. I cleaned up the beveled edge. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better.I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris.       I used an Oak and a Maple stain pen to blend the repaired area on the heel of the bowl into the colour of the rest of the bowl. The match worked very well.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.  I worked over the light oxidation on the stem and blended the tooth marks into the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. At this point it is starting to look much better.  I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This beautiful WDC Gold Dot 77 Bulldog is a great looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the mix of grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished WDC Gold Dot Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring another Jobey Dansk 3 Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff picked up another Jobey Dansk 3 freehand pipe on one of his adventures pipe hunting. It had really nice grain and plateau on the top of the rim and on the end of the shank. It came with a Jobey Dansk Pipe Sock. There were rusticated spots on the right side and back of the bowl and top of the shank as well as the heel of the bowl. There was something familiar about the style of carving that reminded me of other Danish Freehand pipes I have worked on. I seemed to remember that Jobey Dansk pipes were carved by Karl Erik. The finish on this pipe was dirty with dust and lava on the plateau top. The bowl was lined with a thick cake. There was thick dust in the rustication around the bowl and shank as well as the plateau on the shank end. The smooth finish was also dirty and dull looking. The stem is a turned fancy turned vulcanite stem. The fit of the stem to the shank was snug. There were tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button and on the smooth parts of the button on both sides. Otherwise it was a very clean stem. Jeff took of the pipe to show the overall condition of the bowl and stem. He took close up photos of the bowl and rim top from different angles to show the condition of the plateau finish. You can see the lava and build up on the rim top and the lava flowing over the inner edge of the bowl onto the plateau. It is hard to know if there is damage or if the lava protected it. The bowl has a thick cake that lining the walls and overflowing into lava.He took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the lay of the grain and the rustication around the pipe. It is a nice piece of briar. The top of the bowl is craggy and rugged looking. Unique!Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to capture it. It was clear and read Jobey Dansk at the top. Under that it read Handmade in Denmark followed by a large number 3.The next photos show the condition of the vulcanite stem. The first photo shows flow of the stem as a whole. You can see the tooth marks and damage both on the surface of both sides. I wanted to look at who had carved the Jobey Dansk line to confirm some suspicions I had about it. I had a feeling that the pipes were carved by a Danish carver known as Karl Erik. I looked up the Jobey listing on Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey) and found the following information. I quote a portion of the article that is pertinent as follows.

English – American – Danish – French… Information about the brand Jobey are only to be found in form of smithereens…

Probably established in England around 1920(?) the brand hiked into the USA later. In the course of time owner, distributor and manufacturer changed repeatedly. As far as known:

George Yale Pipes & Tobacco, New York (1942)

Norwalk Pipe Co., New York (1949)

Arlington Briar Pipes Corp., Brooklyn (when?)

Hollco International, New York (1969).

Weber Pipe Co., Jersey City, NJ (1970’s)

The Tinder Box, (1970’s – 80’s).

Throughout decades Jobey pipes were mainly sold in the USA, Canada and England but remained almost unknown in continental Europe. The bulk of Jobeys was predominantly made according to classical patterns and mainly in the lower to middle price range. The predominant judgment of the pipe smokers reads: “A well-made pipe for the price.” So there is hardly anything very special or exciting about Jobey pipes although a flyer from ca. 1970 assures: “The briar root Jobey insists upon for its peer of pipes is left untouched to grow, harden and sweeten for 100 years. […]Jobey uses only the heart of this century old briar and only one out of 500 bowls turned measures up to the rigid Jobey specifications.” 99.80% of cull… that makes the layman marveling!

From that information, my suspicions were confirmed. The pipe that I was working on was carved by Karl Erik Ottendahl. There were some similarities to the Karl Erik pipes that I have worked on in the past. The dating of the pipe line in the 70s fits well with the pipe I have in hand. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration.

Now that I was reminded about the Karl Erik Ottendahl connection it was time to work on the pipe on my end. When I received it Jeff had once again done an amazing job cleaning the pipe. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and got rid of the cake. He cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife so that we could see the walls of the bowl and assess for damage. He cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. He rinsed the pipe under warm water. He dried it off with a cloth and then let it air dry. The stem was scrubbed with Soft Scrub and soaked in Before & After Deoxidizer. It came out looking very good. The finish on the bowl and the rim top cleaned up nicely. I took pictures of the pipe to show how it looked when I unpacked it. I took some photos of the rim top and stem to show the condition of them both when the pipe arrived. Overall it looked good. There is some darkening and damage to the inner edge of the bowl. The stem had some deep tooth marks ahead of the button and on the button surface on both sides.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is readable and in great condition.I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to show the look of the pipe.I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down after each pad with a damp cloth. The bowl is starting to look very good. With the polishing finished I used a Black stain pen to fill in the crevices of the plateau top and give some contrast to the smooth high spots. I like this look as it give the pipe a sense of dimensionality. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and into the plateau rim top and shank end with a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The stem was very clean so I filled in the tooth marks and built up the button with clear super glue and set it aside to cure. The second photo is blurry but still is clear enough to see the filled in area. Once it had cured I flattened out the repairs and sharpened the edge of the button with a needle file. I sanded out the tooth chatter and blended in the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it began to shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This is a beautiful Jobey Dansk Hand Made by Karl Erik with a fancy, turned, black vulcanite stem. It has a great look and feel. The shape fits well in the hand with the curve of the bowl and shank junction a perfect fit for the thumb around the bowl when held. I polished stem and the bowl with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I gave the plateau on the rim top and shank end multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The rich combination of browns and black in the smooth finishes and the plateau areas took on life with the buffing. The rich colour of the briar works well with the polished vulcanite stem. I like the grain and finished look of this Jobey Dansk pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The shape, finish and flow of the pipe and stem are very well done. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ wide, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. This Danish Freehand is a real beauty. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Making Section shortly if you would like to add it to your collection. Thanks for your time.

What a Mess – Restoring a Stanwell Made Danish Sovereign 332

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is from the next box of pipes I am working through. It is a Stanwell Made Danish Sovereign 332. The acorn/pear shaped bowl, round shank and saddle stem made up a nicely made pipe in a classic Danish shape. The smooth finish showed great grain through the ground in dirt and grime. There are also quite a few fills and deep gouges in the surface of the briar. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Danish Sovereign over Made in Denmark. On the right side it had the shape number 332 stamp. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the bowl and rim top as can be seen in the photos. The bowl had a thick cake with a lava overflow onto the rim top and the inner edge of the bowl. There were hash marks on the top front of the rim top and nicks around the edges. The stem was oxidized, calcified and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. It was also stamped with three XXX marking it as a second. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show lava build up around the rim, the edges and cake in the bowl.  This one was obviously someone’s favourite pipe and it was a mess. You can also see the hash marks on the front edge and top of the bowl. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the absolutely dirty finish ground into the briar. It was a dirty pipe but I think it will be a beautiful one once we are finished. You can see all the damaged areas and fills on the bowl in these photos. The bowl is really quite dirty. The stamping on the sides of the shank is shown in the photos below. It is clear and read as noted above.  There was a triple XXX stamped on the left side of the stem. The stem was a good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-d2.html) to see what information I could find there. On the site was a pipe similarly stamped to the one that I am working on. It is clearly identified as a Stanwell second that was marketed only in the USA and Canada.I turned to Pipedia to read more about the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Danish_Sovereign). There was nothing definitive there only a statement that it may be a Stanwell second line.

It looks I am dealing with a pipe made especially for the American and Canadian market by Stanwell. Now it was my turn to work on the pipe now. I was really looking forward to what the pipe would look like once Jeff had worked his magic. What would the rim top look like? What would the dirty bowl look like? I had no idea. When I took it out of the box I was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He had reamed the pipe with a Pipnet piper reamer and taken the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed the stem off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the hash marks on the front of the rim top and the darkening and damage to the inner edge of the rim. There are nicks on the top all the way around. The stem is clean and the tooth damage on the button top and bottom edges.   I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is readable as noted above.    I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the damage to the rim top and edges. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inner edge and sand the darkening on the top and smoothing out the nicks and scratches and minimizing the hash marks on the front top and outer edges.    I filled in the deep gouges and nicks in the briar on both sides of the bowl with clear super glue and when the glue cured I sanded them smooth to blend them into the surrounding briar.    I stained the briar with a tan stain. I applied it to the stummel with a dauber and then flamed it with a Bic lighter. I repeated the process as often as needed until I was happy with the coverage on the briar. I set it aside to cure for several hours.    I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a paper towel to make the stain a bit more transparent. I buffed the bowl on the buffer with Red Tripoli to polish it and get a sense of what the bowl looked like at this point in the process.    I polished the briar with micromesh – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth.  I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.      I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the indentations on the button edge and built it up with clear super glue. Once the repair cured I used a needle file to reshape the button edges and also flatten the repaired areas.    I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it.   I used some Paper Mate Liquid Paper to touch up the white that remained in the XXX stamp on the left side of the stem.   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.    This Danish Sovereign 332, made by Stanwell with a saddle vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and edges look very good. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Acorn is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 ¼ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This Stanwell made Danish Sovereign 332 will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interesting in adding it to your collection let me know! Thanks for your time.

New Life for a Savinelli Extra 412KS Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. It is an interesting straight Dublin shaped pipe with darkening and lava around the rim edge and top. It is stamped with a oval with SAVINELLI inside and EXTRA below that on the left side of the shank. On the right side of the shank it was stamped with the Savinelli “S” shield and the shape number 412KS over Italy. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a combination of brown stains that highlighted some nice mixed grain around the bowl sides. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top and beveled edge all around the bowl. It was hard to know what was underneath the lava and grime in terms of damage to the inner edge and the top of the rim. The taper stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. There was gold crown stamped on the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the rim top and the beveled inner edge of the rim.  Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the great looking grain around the bowl. It is actually a nice looking pipe.  The stamping on the sides of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable.  There is also a crown on the left side of the taper stem. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli2.html) to read about the Extra Line. It is a smooth finished pipe with the same stamping on the shank and on the stem as the one that I am working on. I have included the screen capture from the site below.Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the damage and the darkening on the inner edge and the top on the right front and the rear of the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are fairly light.  I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. They are clean and readable and read as noted above.    I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper on a board. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge to remove the darkening. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better. I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris.      I used an Oak stain pen to blend the cleaned rim top into the colour of the rest of the bowl. The match was perfect.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to “paint” the stem surface to raise the dents in the vulcanite. The process worked very well.     I built up the edges of the button and filled in the small dents in both sides of the stem. Once the repairs had cured I used a needle file to recut the edge of the button. I worked over the oxidation on the stem and blended the repaired area of the button with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. At this point it is starting to look much better.   I touched up the gold crown on the stem side with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I pressed the gold into the stamp and buffed it off with a cotton pad.   I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!     I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This Savinelli Extra 412KS Dublin is a great looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the mix of grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite taper stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Savinelli Extra 412KS Dublin is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

 

New Life for a Comoy’s Second – A Town Hall Made in England 136 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am getting to the bottom of the current box of pipes for restoration. I think there were probably 40+ pipes in the box when I started. I am down to the last two. I took out an interesting older billiard that Jeff and I had picked up on our Oregon Coast Pipe Hunt. It was a well-shaped billiard that was absolutely filthy but there was something about it that ticked the boxes for me. The exterior of the bowl was coated with sticky oils and grime around the walls. The rim top was beat up pretty badly and there was a thick coat of lava and burn marks on the rim top and inner edge. There was a thick cake in the bowl. Between the lava and the cake overflowing the bowl it was hard to know what the inner edges looked like. The exterior edge was nicked and chipped with quite a bit of damage. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There was also a large hole in the underside of the stem – a large bite through that covered about half of the area ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took some photos of the rim top from various angles to show the condition. You can see the thick lava on the top and the dust and debris as well as some damage on the rim. There is a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the inner edge. The next photos show the bowl sides and heel. The finish around the bowl was very worn and tired looking. There were spots of paint on the briar as well as quite a few fills on the heel and the front of the bowl. There was some amazing grain showing through the thick grime on the finish. The next photos capture the stamping around the shank and band. Jeff did not get a good photo of the shape number and worn stamp on the right side of the shank so I have not included that. The stamping read as noted above and they are faint but readable with a light and lens. The silver band is also stamped Sterling London.The stem was oxidized and calcified and the photos below show the tooth marks and chatter on the surface. The second photo shows the large bite through on the stem surface ahead of the button. This stem will need to be replaced.  I turned to Pipephil to try and figure out any information regarding the Town Hall brand. I was not familiar with and was hoping I would get some info (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-t7.html). I did indeed find out that it was a Comoy’s Second. The photo of the stamping looks like what I have. The stamp on the right side of the shank in the photo below is very faint on the pipe I am working on. I have included the screen capture of the section on the brand below. I then turned to the Pipedia article on Comoy’s pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s). I read through the article until I came to the section entitles “Seconds made by Comoy’s”. I scrolled through the list of brands and the Town Hall was listed. (There is a typo in the name in the list as it runs the two words together.) I have emboldened and underlined the name in the list below.

Ace of spades, Ancestor, Astor, Ayres, Britannia, Carlyle, Charles Cross, Claridge, Coronet?, Cromwell, Dorchester, Dunbar, Drury Lane, Emerson, Everyman, Festival of Britain, Golden Arrow, Grand Master, Gresham, Guildhall, Hamilton (according to Who Made That Pipe), Kingsway, Lion’s Head, Lord Clive, Lumberman, Hyde Park, Lloyds, Mc Gahey, Moorgate, Newcastle, Oxford, O’Gorman, Rosebery Extra, Royal Falcon, Royal Guard, Royal Lane, Scotland Yard, St James, Sunrise, Super Sports, Sussex, The Academy Award, The Golden Arrow, The Mansion House, The Exmoor Pipe, Throgmorton, Tinder Box Royal Coachman, Townhall, Trident, Trocadero, Westminster, Wilshire

I knew that I was working on a Comoy’s Made pipe and once I read that I could see the classic Comoy’s Billiard shape and the shape number confirmed that. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush but it was in rough condition. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it.  I took a photo of the rim top showing the damage to the rim top and the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. It was in rough condition. There was some darkening and nicks around the outer edge of the bowl and some burn areas on the inner edge. The stem was also in rough condition with a large bite through on the underside.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The stamping is clean and still readable.I decided to start with finding a new stem for the pipe. I took the stem off and looked for a replacement. I have so many pipes to work on that I am not bothering with filling in bite throughs at this point. I am leaving this to the master Paresh Deshpande to do! I found a suitable estate stem that was the right diameter and right tenon size. It is slightly shorter and a bit less tapered than the one that was on the bowl but it would work. I cleaned the airway in it with alcohol and pipe cleaners to get a good start on it then put it in place on the shank and took some pictures of the new stem. I decided to address the damage to the rim and the edges of the bowl – both outer and inner. I topped the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the inner and outer edges with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove them and to remove the damages. Once it was finished it looked a lot better. There were a lot of fills around the sides and heel of the bowl. I checked them for soundness and filled in some of the more damaged ones with clear super glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them and blend them into the surrounding briar.I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad. The fills were very obvious on this pipe and to me they were just ugly enough to bother me. I could have stained just the rim top to match but figured I would try to mask the fills a bit with a darker stain. I used what is labeled as a Light Brown stain to cover the bowl and rim. I applied the stain and then flamed it to set it in the grain of the bowl. It was dark but I think it will look good once I am finished. I let it sit for several hours then buffed it off with Red Tripoli on the buffing wheel to get a feel for what it looked like at this point. I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol to make the stain coat a little more transparent and show the grain on the bowl. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turn to address the issues with the stem. The stem was in decent condition with no bite marks. It was dirty and oxidized as could be seen in the photos above. I sanded out the oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil to preserve the stem and to give some bite to the sanding. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I rubbed the stem down with the polishes and buffed it with a cotton pad. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This Comoy’s made Town Hall 136 Billiard was one I was looking forward to seeing come together. The new light brown stain hides the fills nicely while still highlighting the grain around the bowl – sides, top and heel. The polished black vulcanite taper stem that I fit to the shank works very well with the look of the pipe. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I polished the silver band with a jeweller’s cloth. The finished Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Recommissioning a Smart Savinelli Dry System 3621 Bent Dublin

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Blog by Dal Stanton

This is the second of 4 pipes that pipe man Nathan, from St. Louis, has commissioned from the online ‘Help Me!’ baskets that I call ‘For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!’ – a collection of pipes waiting to be commissioned by pipe men and women which benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  I acquired this Savinelli Dry System along with almost a twin brother from a seller in Poughkeepsie, New York.  What attracted me initially to the pair was the ‘Peterson-like’ description – ‘Dry System’.  I also liked the tight 3/4 bend and the ‘Dublin-esque’ conical bowls – a tight configuration that got my attention immediately.  They almost seemed identical, but one had the shape number 3621, the one on my worktable now, and the other had 362.  When I unpacked them here in Bulgaria and took a closer look, I could see the differences.  Both have identical shapes but the 362 was a lighter rusticated finish with a smooth rim.  The 3621, Nathan’s choice, is a darker blasted finish with a blasted rim.  These pictures show the before & after comparison of the results of my first restoration, the Savinelli Dry System 362, which is now under the watchful care of a steward in Jackson, Mississippi.  It turned out great!Nathan commissioned 4 pipes after seeing some of my other restorations posted on various pipe Facebook groups.  I appreciate the opportunity to work on this next pipe that got Nathan’s attention, the Savinelli Dry System 3621. The smooth underside panel holds the nomenclature.  To the left is stamped arched, SAVINELLI [over] DRY [over] SYSTEM (reversed arch) forming a unified oval stamping.  The Savinelli crown ‘S’ logo is to the right of this.  Then on the far right of the logo is 3621 [over] ITALY.  The nickel shank cap is stamped on the left side with ‘SAVINELLI’ along with ‘S’ on the topside of the military stem. In my previous research, I found nothing about the Dry System on Pipedia but Pipephil.eu helped with some useful information – especially about the shape number differences.  Looking at the Savinelli shapes chart on Pipedia’s Savinelli article, shapes 362 or 3621 were not among those listed.  Pipephil.eu provided this on the Savinelli Dry System with the information that the Dry System could be stamped with either 3 or 4 digits for the shape number:I find interesting that the panel above also references a link comparing Savinelli’s Dry System P-Lip stem with the Peterson standard. Repeating my previous research: I found the most information about the Savinelli Dry System on another site as I broadened my online search.  A South African based tobacconist, Wesley’s  (See LINK), provided a gold mine of information about the Savinelli Dry System:

Launched in 1981, it had taken several years of research into the negative points of existing system pipes, in order to improve on them. Perseverance paid off – by combining trap and filter, and enlarging the smoke hole, Savinelli achieved the “Dry System”, which in our opinion is the best answer to “Wet Smoking” so far developed.

Especially for new pipe smokers, the Savinelli Dry System pipe incorporates everything needed to provide a cool, dry smoke.

The name “Dry” comes from the introduction of the Balsa “filter” into the traditional system pipe – the “System” being the presence of the built-in moisture trap in the shank, linked with the “smokehole on the top” mouthpiece. The balsa mops up the moisture in the smoke hence the term “Dry” system, and if the pipe is smoked without the balsa all that will happen is that this moisture will condense and collect in the trap. It can then either be mopped up with a folded pipe cleaner or flicked out. Just be careful where you flick it!

Put this all together and you can see why we say these are technically our best designed pipes. But the technical qualities are not all these pipes have to offer. Extra bonuses are the feel, the finishes and the balance.

This information marks the genesis of the Savinelli Dry System line in 1981. Added to this information, Wesley’s included the following benefits of the Savinelli system with a helpful cut-away showing the internals:The description of the ‘smokehole’ of the mouthpiece, is interesting in the way it disperses the smoke so that it avoids tongue burn as well as keeping moisture entering the stem from the mouth. The trademark filtering system is also optional – use of the balsa insert which I use with great satisfaction with some of my own Savinelli pipes.  Yet, even if you do not utilize the absorbing qualities of the balsa insert, the built-in moisture trap will hold the moisture for clean-up after smoking.  Sounds good!

Wesley’s Tobacconist also included this helpful Shapes Chart for the Savinelli Dry System pipes. The description for the 3621 suggests:

Regular shapes 3613 & 3621 are ideal for the new pipe smoker or for a short smoke for anybody.

Looking now at the 3621 now on my worktable, the chamber shows thick cake that will be removed to recover fresh briar and to inspect the condition of the chamber walls. The blasted rim and stummel have grime and in need of cleaning.  The blasted briar landscape is attractive, and I look forward to what cleaning will reveal.  The nickel shank cap is in ok shape but needs cleaning and polishing. There are evidences of the nickel plated surface around the facing having come off revealing the base metal beneath.  The stem has deep oxidation and will take some work to clean it out.   The P-Lip, which is much easier to clean than Peterson’s version, has some compressions and chatter and needs sanding out.

To begin the recommissioning of this Savinelli Dry System 3621, the military stem’s airway is cleaned using pipe cleaners and a cotton bud dipped in isopropyl 95%. As I said above, this P-Lip system is much friendlier than Peterson’s!  The cotton bud reaches up into the balsa wood filter cavity to clean.  The pipe cleaner works through the airway and P-Lip ‘smokehole’.To get a head start on the deep oxidation, a ‘Soft-Scrub’ like product available here in Bulgaria is used with 000 grade steel wool.  I’m hoping to break up the oxidation to enable the Before & After Deoxidizer to be more productive.Next, the Savinelli stem joins other stems in the Before & After Deoxidizer soak.  I leave it in the soak for several hours, but it seems that more hours does not translate into more effectiveness.After removing the stem from the Deoxidizer, the liquid is drained back into the vat and I help by squeegeeing with my fingers.  Pipe cleaners and cotton buds wetted with isopropyl 95% are used to clear the liquid from the airway and filter cavity. Cotton pads wetted with alcohol also wipe the surface to remove raised oxidation.To help with conditioning the vulcanite stem, paraffin oil is applied, and the stem is set aside to absorb the oil.Turning now to Dublin stummel, I first take a picture to show the starting point.  I remember my experience with the 3621’s brother – the conical chamber is angled severely toward the floor of the chamber. To avoid carving a reaming ‘shelf’ from using the regular reaming blade heads, I go directly to using the Savinelli Fitsall Tool which lives up to its billing.  My general rule of thumb in reaming to determine if you’ve removed all the carbon cake build up is, cake crunches as you’re using the tool, but wood surface is smooth.  After cleaning the carbon cake off the walls of the chamber, the chamber is sanded using 240 paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.After reaming is completed, an inspection of the chamber reveals healthy briar – no burning or heating problems.Next, using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap, a cotton pad goes to work on cleaning the blasted surface of the Savinelli Dublin stummel.  A bristled toothbrush assists in cleaning the blasted surface and the brass wired brush helps with lava flow on the blasted rim.Next, the stummel is transferred to the kitchen sink where internal cleaning is commenced using warm water with anti-oil dish liquid soap and shank brushes.  After scrubbing and rinsing thoroughly, the stummel comes back to the worktable.Next, internal cleaning is continued using pipe cleaners and buds wetted with isopropyl 95%.  The built-in moisture trap has done a good job of trapping the gunk in the trap.  It takes many buds and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95% to do the job.  Using a small dental spoon also helps by scraping the buildup on the internal walls allowing me to scoop out the old gunk left behind.  When the buds and pipe cleaners start emerging lighter, I call it a cease fire with the plan of continuing the cleaning at the end of my work day using a kosher salt and alcohol soak to further clean and refresh the internals for the new steward.Pausing now to examine the stummel after cleaning, I like the blasted finish.  The finish is thin, but a good foundation is present. On the rim, I’m interested to observe that the right side has more of a rough blasted surface, but the left side is smoother.  Looking at the picture above you can see the grain moving upwardly toward the rim.  What one would expect the rim to be showing as a result, would be the bird’s eye grain formations.  Hence, smoother roughness on the left side of the rim.  Also, on the rim, the Savinelli folks cut a ‘smart bevel’ on the internal rim edge.  My next step before sprucing up the stummel’s color is to refresh the bevel. To do this, I use a hard surface to back 240 sanding paper and recut the bevel. I follow the 240 paper with 600 grade paper.  The results are good!  This slight bevel which reveals some smoother briar will look great later in contrast to the rough, blasted rim surface. To refresh the stummel’s hue, I use Fiebing’s Dark Brown Leather Dye to provide an undercoat foundation.  The great thing about blasted surfaces, they are forgiving but later with some light sanding, the tips of the blasted briar landscape can give an attractive lighter contrasting that gives the surface depth and character.  I assemble the desktop staining module and after covering the nickel shank cap with masking tape, I heat the stummel with the hot air gun to help the briar surface to open and be more receptive to the dye. I then paint sections of the stummel with a folded pipe cleaner and flaming it as I go.  The lit candle ignites the alcohol in the aniline dye and after it combusts it leaves the pigment in the grain.I then put the newly stained stummel to the side for several hours allowing the new dye to set.With the stummel on the side, I turn to the military mount P-Lip Savinelli stem.  I take another closer look at the issues with the stem.  Both upper and lower bit have some tooth chatter, but it is minor.  It should sand out without difficulty. The bigger issue is the oxidation. The picture below tries to show the contrast between the inserted part of the stem that is black, without oxidation, and the rest of the exposed stem.  UV light is not good for vulcanite and the oxidation comes primarily because of this.To address the oxidation and the light tooth chatter, 240 grade paper is used to sand the upper- and lower-bit area.The sanding it expanded to address the oxidation throughout the stem.  To protect the Savinelli ‘S’ stem stamping, I cover it with masking tape.After the 240 grade paper, the entire stem is wet sanded with 600 grade paper and this is followed with 000 grade steel wool.Continuing with the stem, the full regimen of micromesh pads is applied.  Starting with pads 1500 to 2400, the stem is wet sanded.  Following this the stem is dry sanded with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000.  Obsidian Oil is applied between each set of 3 to condition the stem as well as protect it from oxidation. Turning now back to the stummel, the flamed dye has been resting for several hours and ready to be unwrapped.  To do this, a cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted to the Dremel with the speed set at about 40% full power.  Tripoli compound is used to help clear the fire crusted dye revealing the blasted surface beneath.After using the cotton cloth buffing wheel, I transition to a felt buffing wheel again using Tripoli compound with the Dremel set to the slowest speed.  I lightly go over the rough blasted surface primarily to buff the peaks of the blasting with the coarser wheel to create flecking in the surface.  This gives the surface more contrast and depth.I then wipe the dyed surface with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol not so much to lighten the dye but to blend the hue and to dissolve any dye clumps that didn’t dissolve during the buffing process.I reattach the stem and mount another cotton cloth buffing wheel to the Dremel setting it at 40% full power.  I then apply Blue Diamond compound to the Savinelli blasted surface and to the stem.After completing the application of Blue Diamond compound, I look at the stummel more closely.  I’m getting the desired flecking affect in the blasted surface, but I’m not satisfied with the hue of the flecks.  The flecks appear more of a light brown rather than a darker, richer reddish bend. I decide to apply a dye wash of red aniline dye over the dark brown. After heating the stummel once again, I apply the red dye over the entire stummel surface with a folded pipe cleaner.  After applying the dye thoroughly, the stummel is set aside for a few hours for the overcoat red dye to set.After a few hours, I again use the Dremel and apply Blue Diamond compound with a cotton cloth buffing wheel.  I realize later that I didn’t picture this process.  I like the results of the overcoat red dye wash.  Next, to prevent the new dye coming off on the hands later when the pipe is put into surface, I warm the stummel with the hot air gun.  This emulates the heating up of the stummel when lit and this usually is when newly dyed briar leaches dye onto the hands. After heating the stummel, I give it a rigorous hand buffing using a cotton cloth to remove the raised dye. Before moving on to the waxing of the stem and stummel, I have a few mini projects to do.  The first is to clean and shine the nickel-plated shank cap.  I first use a tarnish remover which is applied to the nickel with a cotton pad. After the liquid is buffed on, I rinse the cap with tap water.  The tarnish remover does some good but leaves a lot to be desired.  The nickel cap is rough, and you can see some small patches of the nickel I referenced earlier have worn off.After the tarnish remover, I transition to using Blue Diamond compound on the nickel.  After mounting another cotton cloth buffing wheel onto the Dremel dedicated to nickel buffing and I methodically apply the compound to the metal working around the cap.  I like these results.  The nickel has cleaned and shined up very nicely.The second mini project is to color the Savinelli ‘S’ stamping on the stem.  Using white acrylic paint, I place a small amount of paint on the ‘S’ and then dob it dry with a cotton pad.Then I use the flat edge of a toothpick rubbing gently over the stamping removing the excess paint from the stem.  The ‘S’ is left with color and with definition.In the home stretch – another cotton cloth buffing wheel is mounted on the Dremel with the speed at 40% of full power.  Carnauba wax is then applied to both stem and stummel.  After a few coats of wax, the pipe is given and rigorous hand buffing to raise the shine and to disperse undissolved carnauba wax.Ugh – I thought I was finished but remembered that I was going to further clean and freshen the internals with a kosher salt and alcohol soak.  After twisting and stretching a cotton ball to form a wick, I use a wire to help guide the cotton wick down the airway into the mortise/trap and airway. The cotton wick serves to draw out the residual tars and oils during the soak process.  After inserting the wick, kosher salt is placed in the bowl.  Kosher salt has no aftertaste unlike iodized salt.  Using a large eye dropper, Isopropyl 95% fills the bowl until it surfaces over the salt.  After a few minutes, the alcohol is absorbed into the internal cavity and I top off the alcohol once again.  After several hours, the wick and salt do not appear to have been soiled at all.  I hope this means that the internals are clean.  After removing the expended salt from the bowl, paper towel is used to wipe the chamber and I blow through the mortise to make sure all the salt crystals have been removed.  I follow this by using one cotton bud and pipe cleaner to confirm that the internals are indeed clean.  I forgot to picture this!After reassembling the pipe and a quick hand buffing with a microfiber cloth, the recommissioning of this Savinelli Dry System 3621 is completed.  The tight Dublin bend presents a smart, compact look, with a genuinely nice flow from the bowl through the nickel shank cap that is carried through the military mount P-Lip stem.  The smooth briar contrasts are nice – the internal rim ring and the nomenclature panel.  Nathan commissioned this Savinelli Dry System 3621 and will have the first opportunity to acquire him in The Pipe Steward Store.  This pipe benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Thanks for joining me!

Refreshing a Comoy’s Sunrise Made in London England H 16 Volcano

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Blog by Dal Stanton

The next pipe on my desk was commissioned by Nathan, a pipe man from St. Louis.  Nathan’s multiple trips to my virtual ‘Help Me!’ baskets in the online collection I call, For “Pipe Dreamers” Only!, resulted in 4 very nice pipes being commissioned by Nathan each benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Nathan’s communications with me indicated that he was happy to help a great cause.  Here are the pipes Nathan has in the Pipe Steward queue: a Savinelli Dry System, Pipstar Dublin Sitter, Lorenzo Carnevale Sanremo Italy Rusticated Squat Apple and the Comoy’s Sunrise Volcano H 16 now on the table.The Comoy’s Sunrise Volcano came to me in the acquisition of a large eBay lot I’ve called the ‘Lot of 66’.   It came from a non-profit in Georgetown, Texas, called the Caring Place which I was happy to support.  Here are some of the original pictures I took when the Lot of 66 arrived. The nomenclature is located on the upper and lower panels of the oval shank.  On the upper side is stamped, ‘Comoy’s’ [over] SUNRISE.  On the lower shank panel is stamped to the left the rounded, MADE IN LONDON [over] ENGLAND.  To the left and above is stamped ‘H’, a random letter.  Below and to the right is stamped the shape number, ‘16’ which indicates a number after the Cadogan acquisition of Comoy’s in 1979 when the shape numbers were reduced from 3 to 2 digits.  The stamped ‘C’ on the stem also is consistent with a post Cadogan pipe.  I looked on Pipedia to see how the shape number, ‘16’ would be described. I discovered that it’s not listed there.  I’ve restored other Comoy’s with the ‘H’ stamped on the shank and from what Steve has shared with me, what he has heard is that the random letters indicate a certain parts replacement regimen.Even though the shape number is not listed in the Comoy’s listing on Pipedia, I’m calling this a Volcano.  The dimensions are: Length: 5 1/4 inches, Height: 1 3/8 inches, Rim width: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber width: 3/4 inches, Chamber depth: 1 1/4 inches – a nice, more diminutive size.  The oval shank flowing into the slightly bent stem creates a genuinely nice flow.  The original color of the stummel leans in the direction of an Oxblood/reddish hue which is now pale.  The chamber appears to have been cleaned somewhat with no cake build up.  The rim has some lava build up which should clean off with little problem along with the rest of the stummel which bears minor nicks and bumps.  The grain looks good – no fills jump out at me.  The stem has some chatter but not major.  There is oxidation which will be addressed.  To begin the recommissioning of this Comoy’s Sunrise Volcano for Nathan, the stem’s airway is cleaned with a pipe cleaner wetted with isopropyl 95%.It then joins other pipes in the queue for a soak in Mark Hoover’s product, Before & After Deoxidizer (www.ibepen.com) which does a good job on stems that are not too heavily oxidized.  I allow the stem to soak for a few hours.After taking the stem out of the soak, I squeegee off the liquid with my fingers and use cotton pads wetted with alcohol to wipe off the raised oxidation.  Another pipe cleaner also wetted with isopropyl 95% clears the airway of remnants of the Deoxidizer.To start the process of conditioning the vulcanite stem, paraffin oil is applied, and the stem is put aside to absorb the oil.Turning now to cleaning the stummel, I start by cleaning the chamber.  The cake buildup is almost non-existent, and I give the chamber walls a quick scraping using the Savinelli Fitsall Tool.  I then sand the chamber with 240 paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen.  The chamber is in good shape.  Little effort to clean is needed – a nice change!Next, turning to the external surface, undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap is used to clean with a cotton pad.  A brass wire brush, which is not harmful to the briar, is used to help clean the rim along with scraping it very carefully with the edge of my Winchester pocketknife.  Then the stummel is taken to the kitchen sink to continue the cleaning with warm water using shank brushes to clean the mortise with anti-oil liquid dishwashing soap.  After a thorough rinsing, the stummel is brought back to worktable to continue cleaning the internals with cotton buds and pipe cleaners.  A couple buds and a pipe cleaner confirm the cleaned stated of the internals.  Moving on. Taking a closer look at the stummel, the Oxblood/reddish finish is very thin and has disappeared from the edge of the rim which has a nice rounded sloping pitch toward the chamber – a stylistic touch for the volcano shape.  The rim cleaned up nicely and along with the rim, the finish is thin but present. I see no fills that need attention. To clean the surface of the minor nicks, I proceed to using the full regimen of micromesh pads on the stummel surface.  I begin by wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400 and then dry sand with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. After the micromesh process, it is evident that the finish has lost its original luster and what is left is a pinkish tint that is not attractive.  However, the micromesh sanding did bring out the grain very nicely. To make sure the surface is clean of the old finish, acetone on a cotton pad is used to wipe the stummel.  The results reveal the former color. I will apply a new dye to the stummel, and I will begin with an undercoat of Oxblood and if needed, follow with a dye wash of red aniline dye.  I’ll see how the first phase goes before deciding on the second.  After assembling the staining module on my desk, I begin by warming the stummel with the hot air gun to open the briar helping the grain to be more receptive to the dye.  After warm, I use a folded pipe cleaner to apply Fiebing’s Oxblood Leather Dye to the stummel.  After painting a section with the pipe cleaner, the dye is this ‘flamed’ using a lit candle combusting the wet aniline dye.  When lit, the alcohol in the dye combusts and leaves behind the pigment set in the briar grain.After a thorough covering a few times over, the flamed stummel is set aside for several hours to allow the new dye to settle in.With the stummel resting, I turn to the Comoy’s stem.  There is minor damage to the bit. Using a needle file, I refresh the lines of the button.  Afterwards, using 240 grade paper, the minor chatter is sanded out on the upper and lower bit.To address any residual oxidation, the remainder of the stem is sanded with 240 grade paper.  A plastic disk helps to guard against shouldering the stem facing.Transitioning now to 600 grade paper, the entire stem is wet sanded.  This is followed by applying 000 steel wool.Ugh!  During this sanding phase, the Comoy’s ‘C’ factory stamping was damaged.  This I don’t like. This mishap will not be easy to restore as thin as the factory stamping is.  Unlike the older inlaid Comoy’s ‘C’, this stamping is more of a painting of a ‘C’ as there is no impression in the vulcanite for new paint to hold.Avoiding  the ‘C’, I continue with the full regimen of micromesh pads is applied beginning with wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400.  Following this, pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000 are used to dry sand.  Between each set of 3 pads, Obsidian Oil is applied to continue conditioning the stem and protect it from future oxidation. Restoring the Comoy’s ‘C’ stamping has no good options as my regretful pining has produced.  Simply to paint a ‘C’ on the surface is not easy to do and it is resting on the surface and will be easily wiped away without too much effort.  I considered attempting to engrave a ‘C’ but without machine shop precision, I’m left to freehand and that leaves no room for errors.  My hand is not that steady!  In the end, the only option open to me is to paint a ‘C’ building on the remnant of the original.  I apply white acrylic paint several times and then carefully shape the lettering with a toothpick.  It’s slow work.  I’ve done the best I could.  I move on. With the fired stummel ready to unwrap after applying Oxblood dye to the briar grain surface, a felt buffing wheel is mounted to the Dremel set at the lowest speed.  Tripoli compound, a coarser abrasive compound, is then used to ‘unwrap’ the flamed crust of dye – removing the excess dye leaving the dyed grain that has absorbed the pigment. I pause to take a picture showing the contrast of the unwrapping process.I mentioned earlier that I anticipated doing a ‘dye wash’ using a red aniline dye over the Oxblood.  This I decide to do using a pipe cleaner.  I simply paint the dye on the stummel and after covering it thoroughly, I put the stummel aside for several hours for the dye to settle in.After the dye had dried enough to handle the stummel, I rejoin the stem and stummel to examine the fit.  I notice a gapping on one side of the oval shank/stem fitting which I’ve pictured below.Attempting to remedy this gap, I use a folded piece of 240 grade sanding paper wedged between the stem and shank on the opposite side of the stem from the gapping – the tight side.  After gently compressing the shank and stem against the sanding paper, I move the paper back and forth in a sawing motion to sand down the tight side resulting in closing the gap on the other side of the stem/shank – hopefully!  After a few attempts, checking and repositioning the paper, the gap is reduced and the seating of the stem into mortise is now much better.After several hours, the red dye has seasoned long enough.  With a cotton cloth buffing wheel mounted on the Dremel and set at about 40% full power, Blue Diamond compound, a finer abrasive compound, is applied to the surface to remove excess dye and to smooth the briar surface.Next, to help avoid dye leaching onto the hands of the new steward when the pipe is initially put into service, I heat the stummel with the hot gun to emulate the initial use of the chamber.  After heating the stummel, I give the stummel a vigorous hand buffing with a cotton cloth to remove the dye loosened by the heating.  I forgot to picture this, but the old t-shirt cotton cloth used had red residue.The final step is to apply carnauba wax to the stem and stummel.  After mounting another cotton cloth wheel onto the Dremel with the speed the same, the wax is applied to the pipe.  Following applying a few coats of wax, the pipe is given a hearty hand buffing to raise the shine.The Comoy’s Sunrise turned out well.  The grain pops now and the Volcano shape, with the wide heel, fits well in the hand ready for a new steward.  The only disappointment was the ‘friendly fire’ damage done to the Comoy’s ‘C’ stem stamping – ugh!  Nathan commissioned this Comoy’s Sunrise and will have the first opportunity to acquire it in The Pipe Steward Store benefitting the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited.  Thanks for joining me!