Tag Archives: restaining

Dr. Grabow Colour – Damaged and Reborn

Blog by Steve Laug

I have had this old Dr. Grabow Coloured pipe for a long time. It had damage to the colour coat and to the rim. I kept putting off doing anything with it as I could see no way of repairing the colour coat. It had the nylon stem as well with the Medico filter system. It was a screw mount tenon. The stem was covered with tooth marks and I just did not want to do anything with it… until yesterday.

Yesterday morning I took the pipe out of the box of pipes for repair and wiped it down with some acetone to see if I could clean up the bowl. At this point it was my plan to find some of the same coloured paint and respray the paint on the bowl to fix the spots where it was scratched off. I put the pipe bowl in my pocket and took a trip to Walmart to see if I could match the yellow colour of the paint. I went through about 6 or 7 different yellow colours and none matched. I stuck it back in my pocket and headed home. By this point I had decided to strip the bowl back to the wood and see what was under the paint. I had always heard that the bowls used in these pipes were pretty devoid of grain and had many fills so I figured what did I have to lose on stripping the paint.

I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath for several hours while I was working on other things around the house. My hope was to loosen the paint coat not dissolve it into the water. Isopropyl should not dissolve the paint but it would certainly soften the paint and penetrate under the paint coat through the scratch marks in the surface. After I removed the bowl from the bath I used a sanding pad with medium grit and rubbed it across the painted surface and the paint began to peel back very easily. The next series of three photos show the effect of the paint coming off with a very light sanding.

I continued to sand the paint coat until it was gone. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the sanding. The paint coat is gone; all that remains is the light coating of yellow haze that will come off with a quick acetone wash. Once the paint was gone I was left with a pretty bland block of briar. There were fills around the front of the bowl and the sides. The shank, right side had a large fill that extended most of the length of the shank. The rim was in great shape with no dents of burns. The inner bevel on the rim was in great shape. I reamed the bowl to clean up the inside and the softened cake. It came out smooth and fresh. I cleaned the shank to remove and of the remaining tars and oils.

Once I had the internals cleaned up I washed the bowl down with a cotton pad and acetone. This removed the remnants of the yellow paint. It is amazing to me to see the amount of yellow colouration that came off with the acetone. The wood had quite a bit of yellow pigment on the surface of the bowl. I washed it down until the pads remained white. I sanded the tooth chatter and marks on the nylon stem (did I ever tell you how much I hate these nylon stems?? No? Well they are truly a pain). I was able to get the majority of the tooth marks out with emery cloth and then 240 grit sandpaper. I attached the stem to the bowl to have a look at what I had to work with and where I should go with the finish work.

The fills seemed pretty disguised in the light colour of the briar so I decided to do a bit of an experiment. With a pipe of this calibre what do you have to lose? I stained it with a black aniline stain, flamed it and stained it a second time. My hope was that the fills would be hidden well by the stain coat. At first glance they seemed to remain hidden under the stain. I took the pipe to the buffer once it was dry and buffed the bowl with Tripoli to give it a shine and polish. As I did that the fills really stood out. The matte finish of the black hid them but the shine made them stand out. In the second photo below you can see the round fills on the front of the bowl. The one on the shank also stood out a bit.

The next series of photos show the pipe after a buff with Tripoli and White Diamond. The fills on the front now appeared to be a pinkish/red colour under the black coat. The one on the shank also looked pinkish/red. In the second photo below you can see where I restained the fill area on the shank. It was a large fill shaped almost like a moustache. Once it was dry I buffed it again with a light touch. The fills were just too obvious and ugly in my opinion. I even tried giving the pipe a top coat of dark brown stain to see if that would hide them. It did not. So I set the pipe down and went to supper. While I was eating I thought about the possibility of rusticating the bowl and giving the pipe a whole new look.

I took out my modified Philips screwdriver that I use for rustication and went to work on it. The screwdriver has the x pattern and a point. I used my Dremel to cut out the point and create four points with the remaining tip. It has a handle which I pad with a thick cotton cloth so that I can push it into the wood and minimize the discomfort on my palm from pressing.

In the picture above you can see the work of rustication. The picture below shows the red coloured fills on the front of the bowl that made the decision to rusticate pretty easy for me.

I worked my way around the bowl as is seen in the next series of photos. I worked the front and then the bottom of the bowl and worked my way up each side of the bowl. In this case I decided that I wanted to see what the pipe would look like with a rusticated bowl and a smooth shank so I left the shank untouched with the rustication until I had finished the bowl.

The next three photos show the rusticated bowl and smooth shank look of the pipe. It just did not work for me. I did not like the look. As an aside – one of the great things with the rustication tool I use is the ability to use it in tight spaces and leave the surrounding surface untouched. By the way you will also note the photos that I left the rim smooth as well.

The next two photos show the putty fills that were used. They seemed to have been white putty that was chalky when I scratched into it during the rustication process. You can see the location and the size of the fills in these photos. I am glad that I decided to rusticate this bowl.

I wrapped the shank and stem junction with a cellophane tape in multiple layers and extended onto the shank a quarter inch. I wanted to make a smooth band that would not be rusticated and match the smooth rim that I was leaving. The tape gave me an edge so that I would feel that as I twisted the tool in rusticating the shank. I also would give an edge to put the teeth of the tool against when I twisted it into the wood of the shank. The next series of photos show the rusticated shank. On the first one you can see the size of the fill on the right side of the shank. It also was the same white putty. As I hit it with the rusticator it left a white chalky residue. You can also see the intent of the band on the shank and the rim of the bowl being left smooth and what that would look like in contrast with the rough finish.

When I had finished the rustication I removed the tape guard and then sanded the band to get it smooth and to bring out the grain with dark undercoat.

Once that was complete I stained the pipe with a black aniline stain. I applied it heavily and then flamed it. The flaming sets the stain deep in the grooves and recesses of the rustication. I gave the rim and the band a coat of black as well. Once it was on I rubbed it off with a soft cloth to get the effect that is visible in the pictures below.

Once the stain was dry I worked on the smooth areas of the bowl – the rim and the band – with micromesh pads from 1500-6000 to polish them and smooth them out. I also worked on the nylon stem. It was a pain. The material scratches no matter what you do to it. And as I learned a long time ago it does not work to buff it as it has a very low melting point. So I sanded it with increasing grits of wet dry sandpaper – 400 to 600 grit and water and then sanded it with wet micromesh pads from 1500-12,000 to remove the scratching. I polished it on the buffer with blue polishing compound and a verrrrry light touch to give it a shine. I had waxed the smooth surfaces and the stem with carnauba and then wiped the pipe down with a cloth impregnated with Briar Wipe. Here is the finished pipe. I think the experiment worked!

Reworked Jobey Shellmoor Apple

Reshaping a Dunhill Prince

Refurb on a BBK Panel Billiard – Swiss made

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This BBK Panel was an interesting refurb for me. I had not heard of BBK pipes until I came upon this one. I think it came in a box of pipes that was gifted to me but I am no longer certain where it came from or when I received it. It is stamped BBK both on the bottom of the shank and on the logo on the stem. It had a beautiful blast finish. When I took it out of the box it was dirty and the bowl had a thick cake in it. The rim was blackened and tarred. The stem was a brownish green from oxidation. The beauty was that it was not chewed or dented by tooth marks. It would take a thorough cleaning to learn more about this pipe.

I did not know that I was dealing with a meerschaum lined pipe until I wiped it down to begin the cleaning process. I always wipe down the rim with some Murphy’s Oil Soap to get to the rim and clean away the build up and grime. I use it undiluted and scrub it on the pipe with a toothbrush. Once found that I was dealing with a meerlined pipe I carefully reamed the cake that had built up and then sanded it back. I sanded the rim back to get the grime off of it and expose the meer again. In the second photo below you can see what I found once I had wiped the pipe down with oil soap.

The blast is really nice on this panel so I cleaned it and then restained it with a black aniline stain (Feibings Shoe Dye) to match the original colour of the pipe. I flamed the stain to set it in the briar and buffed it lightly with White Diamond to remove the excess and to give it a polish. I finished by giving it several coats of Halcyon Wax to protect the finish. The stem was oxidized so I buffed it with Tripoli to remove the surface coating of oxidation. I soaked it in Oxyclean to soften the remaining oxidation and then sanded it with 240 grit and 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper before using the micromesh sanding pads (1500 to 6000 grit) to finish the work. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then gave the entirety another coat of Halcyon on the bowl and carnauba on the stem.

I used some liquid White Out to try to recolour the logo on the stem but it did not stick… time to try again. Thanks for looking.

4305 Miles From Home – James (jogilli) Gilliam

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You have no idea how tempted I am to start this little story off with “It was a dark and stormy night”, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Especially since it was a lovely sunny July Saturday morning when this little adventure found start. But first a little history lesson little Jedi; I end up travelling a little with my job and often find myself in the Norfolk, Virginia area with absolutely nothing to do on Saturdays, or weekends in particular for that matter. Found the nearest tobacco shop I have, found the furtherest tobacco shop I have, and all those in between. So here’s my plan to stay out of the hotel room for a day knowing that the sanctuary of Emersons near Greenbrier Road will still be there for my evening visit. So, since even I can’t spend an entire day in a tobacco shop, if I had a job there I could, but since I don’t, just imagine the day-after tongue bite that would have caused me all sorts of discomfort had I not made other plans.

So what does a sprite young man do? He takes advantage of the scheduled rendezvous with his co-worker, whose name just happens to be Dani; his name will come up again, hence the gratuitous mention. Anyway, Dani, who happens to be in the exact same predicament, and I meet up in the coffee shop and I, explorerer extraordinaire, suggest a day trip to Colonial Williamsburg. Along the way we can visit some of the antique stores… I mean this is Virginia. Pipes are my thing, but I would really like to find an antique tobacco plug cutter…. And since Virginia grows tobacco, where better to look than in a Virginia antique mall located near a Colonial Village, we’re talking old stuff, very old stuff. At least that was my thought.

So off we head, down what should have been a trip down memory lane of Tobacciana. I mean we walked the isles of two gigantic antique warehouses, and I actually found 3 or 4 plug cutters, not priced within any range of money I was willing to part with, but at least they were there. I got to touch them, mission accomplished. We ended up almost playing NASCAR with each other as we cruised the aisles, looking at “stuff”. I was at least 3 stalls ahead when Dani informed me of two bags of old pipes behind a corner bookshelf. Since my search for plug cutters wasn’t panning out in my favor, I thought, what the heck and walked over to view the stash. And there they were, resting ever so peacefully in zip lock bags. Dani saw a bag of broken, ugly, neglected pipes.. I on the other hand, was breathtaken by the unpolished jewels that were there staring me in the face. I think I even heard angels singing. As I stood there rubbing my hands in the same fashion as Smeagol, delicately holding each one in my hands, stroking them ever so gently, and I even think I called one of them My Precious.

I grabbed the bag of five pipes and fell solemnly behind Dani as he made his way through the rest of the warehouse. I think we might have stopped at a stall or two, but I only recall the cashier telling me the price and my pulling out a wad of singles to gladly pay her. Laying each bill on the counter.. One Dollar…. Two Dollars… Three Dollars… and so the count went on until I had paid her in full. I might have even skipped out the front door to the car, only to become a little distraught as the realization hit that it would be at least another two weeks before I would get any workshop time….. What to do? What to say!

Fast forward two weeks and I’m back at home sitting in my basement workshop. Now being a pipe maker and not a pipe restorer I was facing a conundrum, as there are so many blocks of beautiful briar laying around just waiting, begging actually, to have the artistic pipe extracted ever so gently from the rough briar block. Fix, Make, Make, Fix, which should come first? Well since I had promised Steve Laug that I’d write a story of my foray into his realm of the universe, I left my rough cut briar blocks be..for a while.

Five beauties from yesteryear is what I picked up that Saturday in Virginia. A Ladd’s bent bulldog, a Lee bent bulldog, a Kaywoodie bulldog, a Kaywoodie Superior Grain Apple and a Yello-Bole Danish; and of the five laying on the table, my initial inspection deemed that the bent bulldogs would make great shop pipes. The one burning question I had was where do I start? There was really no drilling required, no shaping, no contemplation on how to pull a smoking instrument from raw material, so what am I supposed to do with all the fancy smancy power tools I’ve invested so much time in modifying? In order to explain the process a little more, I thought I’d devote a paragraph to the individual pipes, or at least attempt at doing something like that. But check out the picture, Sasquatches thick headed brother must have owned these. All the buttons are almost chewed off, the cake is so thick that I have no idea how anybody could receive any joy from smoking the instruments, and upon pulling them apart, ohhhh my gosh.. the stench, the smell, the tar, the buildup,… If you’ve ever sanded ebonite, you garner an understanding of the sulfuric bouquet that making a handcut mouthpiece creates.. these “Old Timers” surpassed even my love of sulfur.

Paragraph, schmerigraph, I can’t write an entire paragraph for each pipe. I mean really, what is so hard about restoring a pipe. I’d end up having 5 duplicate paragraphs explaining nearly the exact same thing for each pipe. So I decided against the Novel approach and chose the actually describe the repair aspect of the exercise.

So I reached into the recesses of my shop where the pipes were stored and pulled out the bent bulldogs and seeing that there wasn’t a shape that I was really going to return in its pristine state, decided to sand where I could, and of course remove electrical tape where it had been applied. Once all the digs were sanded down and out, I was astounded by how my meticulous application of pipe making skills could be applied to restoration.. Sanding is good right? Oh, yea I forgot to mention the two hours I spent carefully reaming the living daylights out of these gems, and yes more sanding inside the bowls. I think Tim the Toolman Taylor coined the phrase..or sound, “UHRRRRUHHRRUHRRR”. Back to nature for you guys I say.

Figure 1 Ladd’s Bent Bulldog

Figure 2. Lee Bent Bulldog

Five clean bowls. Two clean stummels. Mouthpieces, not a single useable device in sight. So I set off making two mouthpieces that would adorn the briar bulldogs of yesteryear. Mortises sorted and standardized for a 7mm tenon. Sure I had to do a little hand drilling..more tools.. it was a good day. Unfortunately, when I twisted in my carefully created mouthpieces all I hear is a sound that is so foul to a man’s ears that I cringed partly in shame, partly in disgust, and partly in astonishment. Cccrrrrrraaaaaack! I looked around to see if somebody had snuck into my workshop and tripped over the cables adorning my floor. But there I was, alone, with a stummel that had split from the end of the shank halfway toward the bowl. So much for a workshop pipe, but then there is still one more.

Same routine as the last, the pipe is carefully prepared for my artisan mouthpiece and again. Cccrrrrrraaaaaack! I looked at the stummel in a state of pure amazement, as it too had split from end to about midway down the shank. So I’m thinking great, some pipemaker you are. You can’t even repair a simple stummel. This was about the time I really started looking at all those briar blocks just begging for me to help them become a man’s (or woman’s) best friend in moments of quite solitude. Did I drill a block? No, not just yet… but almost. I did the second best thing. I went upstairs and packed one of my old durables with a great tasting tobacco and smoked it while watching some mind numbing show on TV about some subject I couldn’t even remember the next day.

Figure 3. SplitShanks

But the next day would come, did come, and what a day it was indeed. The Kaywoodie Bulldog and the Yello-Bole Dublin from the 50’s were the next two in the lineup. Great instruments from a time gone by. The only thing that was really wrong with them is that they: 1) had no mouthpieces; remember Sasquatches thick headed brother, and 2) had these metal things stuck in them. There was no tenon per se; I mean who makes a pipe without a tenon. Integrated tenon, Delrin tenon… no where in sight, but more aluminum than even I knew what to do with. How in the world was I supposed to fix a mortise when it has a screw in drool catching device (Kaywoodie) and a aluminum looking tongue thingy sticking out (Yello-Bole) of it where a tenon should be. I can’t make these things, but I can repurpose them.

Heat gun! Yea, I’ll heat these puppies up and just pull or untwist these monstrosities out. And low and behold it worked. Power Tools, they’re your friend I tell you… your friend! These things I can reset into a raw material that needs SHAAPPINNNG. Elation, joy, and pure ecstasy ensued. Easy part here.. figure out the diameter, drill, glue and Viola ready to shape. There really isn’t a great point to pontificate on here. Old mouthpieces were looked at, copied and made, but they were missing one integral part that the originals had. The emblems. I looked down and say my hacksaw just laying there begging to be used after such a long time of non-use.

First I attacked the Kaywoodie and cut out a square portion around the emblem out, repeat for the Yello-Bole. Chucked them in my lathe and with masterful skill got the Kaywoodie emblem to pop out of its abused resting place. At this point I’m feeling pretty good and figured I could do the same for the Yello-Bole. Cut out the square, mount in my chuck, and turn the piece down to the yellow circle. It was to my horror, or as the Dreaded Pirate Roberts would say “To the Pain”, that I watched the yellow dot disintegrate as I tried to free it from its resting place. Man that bites.

Figure 4. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 5. Yello-Bole Danish

So what does a maker do? He longingly looks at his briar block again. Picks up a pencil and starts drawing on the blocks. Two designs anxiously awaiting and two “Old-Timers” saying.. “Hey I’m still here young fella, and you ain’t done yet”. I ended up giving in to peer pressure and carefully figured out what the diameter of the Kaywoodie clover was.. drilled a hole in the mouthpiece where the emblem would set, mixed up my epoxy, and carefully placed the emblem in predetermined location. YES! I think I patted myself on the back about this time and since I was feeling so good decided to attack the Kaywoodie Premium Briar apple.

Figure 6. Mouthpeice Workings

The mouthpiece wasn’t really all that ruined. So I cut off the chewed up part and started reshaping a new button. And that is where the fun really stopped, and the briar blocks started screaming to me. I had to muster all my strength at this point as I was just about ready to throw the pipe across the room. I actually sanded into the airway. Now I have to cut a new stem! No, now I get to cut a stem. Yea, that’s it.. same shape, same emblem extraction exercise and same delicate placement in the proper place… well someday.

Here is where the story comes to an end. The Kaywoodie bulldog and Yello-Bole pipes are done. They have newly created artistically designed shiny new mouthpieces. One looks original, while the other is unfortunately missing the emblem. Good enough for now.

The 1955 Kaywoodie is mine. I didn’t have a bulldog yet, and the opportunity to have something made in the 50’s is just calling to me. The 1950-60’s Yello-Bole will be sold, someday to somebody that will appreciate it. Dublin isn’t really my shape, or at least doesn’t call out to me with the same longing voice as the bulldog does. Please don’t take my comment wrong, as it is a preference thing. Seriously though, I will say that I truly admire the works of Steve and Co. who devote their time to restoring old(er) pipes. It is a labor of love, the same labor of love that most makers enjoy. It takes time, determination, and an eye for aesthetics. I can only hope that most restorers don’t end up with mouthpieces so chewed up they can’t be fixed. My foray into the world of restoration was a fun time. Will I do it again? Probably, I mean I still have to make a mouthpiece for the Kaywoodie Apple. Just not today; and probably not tomorrow. There are two block of briar that somehow got pencil marks and drill points marked all over them. They’ll see a band saw in about two days and most definitely will feel various grits of sandpaper rubbing across them as their shapes are extracted.

Enjoy the before and after pictures below, smoke in peace, and take care of your pipes. Someday your son or daughter will cherish the memory you leave to them once you’re no longer there. Oh yea, resistance was futile so I included is a picture of the Quail Egg I made for myself during this process. As for the bent bulldogs, they’re destined to receive either bamboo or horn shank extensions/replacements. I really had a hard time thinking about getting rid of them, as they still will make great shop pipes. The Kaywoodie apple will also get a new stem… someday.

James (of JSEC Pipes http://jsecpipes.com/

Figure 7. Finished and Restored

Figure 8. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 9. Yello-Bole Danish

Figure 10. Kaywoodie Bulldog

Figure 11. Yello-Bole Danish

And the pipe that resulted for Briar calling my name

A Beatup GBD 9438 Given a New Look

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I bid on this one knowing full well that it was going to take a lot of work to get it back to some semblance of beauty and functionality. When I found it on EBay I thought it might be worth the effort but let it sit for awhile and then before the bidding ended I put in my bid. I honestly think I was the only bidder so I got it for a pittance.

When it arrived it was more rough than the EBay pictures intimated. The front edge of the bowl and rim looked like it had been used as a hammer. Not only were there dents and holes on the front of the bowl but the rim was chewed up like it had been hammered out on a piece of concrete. The finish was absolutely gone. The surface of the bowl was permeated with oils and grease from dirty hands and from looked like having been laid on its side in a full ashtray! At least the bowl was still semi-round and there were no burn marks. The other remarkable thing to me was that the stem was virtually unchewed. That surprised me actually given the overall state of the pipe. It was very oxidized and a deep brown colour.

I reamed and cleaned the bowl and shank to remove the grime and tars. It took a lot of pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol to clean things up. I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath and the stem in a bath of Oxyclean for a while and went about other work that I had going. I believe it soaked overnight before I got back to it. When I did I removed it from the bath, dried it off and went to work on the damaged rim and bowl. I used some medium grit emery cloth to reshape the rim. The tricky part here was to keep the angles even on all sides of the bowl. The front edge was heavily damaged and the rim itself was also badly chewed up. After the emery cloth I used 240 grit sandpaper to smooth the scratches out and then 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper to finish the shaping. The series of three photos below show the progression of the shaping.

Once the top was smooth and the shape retained I wiped the bowl down with an alcohol soaked cloth to remove any dust from the sanding. I also used a dental pick to clean out the rings around the bowl to prepare them for staining. I find that those collect a lot of grit and grime and can almost be smooth due to the buildup. I then stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain and flamed it to set the stain. I took it to the buffer and gave it a light buff with Tripoli to remove the excess stain and also give it a slight polish. Then took it back to the work table to work on the stem and to sand the bowl with micromesh to smooth the surface and bring the grain to the front. The pictures below show the stem after the soak in Oxyclean and then light sanding with 400 grit wet dry sand paper to remove the oxidation that was softened. The stem still needed more work to get out some of the stubborn places but it was getting close.

I used micromesh pads 1500-6000 grit on the bowl and the stem to finish the smoothing and restoration. Once it was done and shining I gave the whole pipe a buff with White Diamond to polish it and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean soft flannel buff to polish.

Irwin 943810 by GBD – A Makeover.

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I have had this older Irwin 943810 made by GBD for some time now. It is described on the GBD Models website http://www.perardua.net/pipes/GBDlines.html as follows: “The warm dual-tone brown finish deepens with repeated smoking. Finest rum is used in the special process of maturing these fine pipes. Its smooth flavour compliments the natural taste fine tobacco. Catalogue (1976)” With that description my old pipe looked pretty faded and worn. The warm dual-tone brown finish was pretty much washed out and no longer “warm”. The dark undercoat on the pipe was clearly visible, highlighting the grain but it seemed that previous owners had buffed the pipe hard and the top stain of brown was gone. The bowl was dirty. The stamping is really light and I can just make out the Irwin stamp and the numbers on the side. The stem had some tooth damage in terms of scratching and tooth chatter but at least there were no deep dents. The edge of the button on the top had some minor denting to it. Tonight I decided it was time to give it a makeover.

As an aside, I have never seen the 6 digit stamping on the GBD lines so this one was interesting to me. I have sent out several emails to search out the stamping details but so far no luck. Anyone have any clue as to the meaning of the stamping? Thanks.

I started the makeover by wiping down the bowl with acetone and cleaning off the remnants of the stain and the finish that was pretty well gone. I also wanted to see if wetting the stamping would make it a bit more visible to my eye. It did and afterwards I was able to read the stamping. You can see the scratches and marks on the stem in the last two photos below. Right next to the button and on top of it there are some white spots that show the marks and scratches.

I decided to work on the stem with a medium grit sanding pad to remove the tooth marks and scratches. It also brought up the oxidation that was present but not visible in the photos above. Once I had the rough sanding done I stained the pipe with some oxblood stain. I daubed it on with the cotton/wool dauber that comes with the stain and then flamed it to dry it. In the photos below you can see the stain just after I applied it. I put it on good and heavy as I was wanting a rich coat to this old timer.

I hand buffed the bowl with a soft cotton cloth to remove the excess stain and to give it a quick polish. I decided not to use my buffer as I did not want to further damage the stamping that is already faint on this one. My goal was to enhance the pipe and try to raise the stamping a bit to make it more legible. I was able to do it enough to read it but it is still very faint. The hand buffing takes more work but I find that it does not harm the stamping at all.

The next series of four photos show both the new stain and the work that I was doing on the stem. You can see in the first and the third photos how the whole stem looked at this point in the process. The major scratches have been removed but there are still small scratches and oxidation that needed to be dealt with. In the second and the fourth photos you can see close up shots of the stem and button area. I continued to sand the stem at this point moving on to a fine grit sanding block to remove more of the scratches and the marks in the stem and the button.

I sanded the stem with micromesh pads from 1500 to 12,000 grit and the stem began to take on a shine. I gave it a coating of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it in and let it dry. I finished by giving the pipe several coats of carnauba wax.

Restoration of an old BBB Own Make 622

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When I saw this one on EBay it grabbed my attention. I have always loved BBB pipes and found that they are great smokers and often fly under the radar. This one is stamped BBB Own Make on the left side of the shank and Made in London England 622 on the right side of the shank. The stem was an obvious replacement stem from the pictures. The band is a factory original stamped BBB and Sterling Silver. The grain showed promise and the bowl looked to be in good shape under the grime. I would know more once it arrived.

Once it arrived I took time to look it over. The bowl indeed had some great looking grain under the grime. The rim was covered with a thick coat of tar and carbon. The bowl looked to be unmarked by reaming and was still round. The cake on the inside was crumbly and sticky. The entire shank was caked with the sticky grime as was the stem. Definitely a goopy aromatic had been smoked in this old timer. The sterling silver BBB band had dents in it but was unbroken and uncracked. It was definitely an original band as when the stem was removed the shank was not cracked or damaged. The stem was indeed a replacement. It was a standard blank that still had some of the edge marks from the casting on it. It also short in terms of the length of the original pipe as I have found it on pictures on the web and in the catalogues. I was unable to find the 622 with a saddle stem like this one. It did not have the BBB diamond logo or a stamping of BBB on the stem either.

One of the reasons I bid on the pipe was that I had a BBB taper stem in my can of stems that looked like it would be a perfect fit for the pipe. Once I had it out of the box and on my work table I took out the old stem and sanded the tenon a little to make it fit correctly and slid it into place. The diameter of the stem was a perfect match to the shank and the tapered stem fit well with the pot shape. The two looked like they belonged together. Once the fit was smooth and well seated I put the replacement saddle stem into my can of stems to be used one day on a pipe that needed to be restemmed.

I put the bowl into the alcohol bath for about a half hour while I worked on removing the oxidation from the stem. I placed the stem in a bath of Oxyclean and hot water to soak when I took the bowl out of the alcohol bath. The Oxyclean softens the oxidation and makes it easier to work with than the hard unsoftened oxidation. The bowl was a real mess and I wanted to get the grime and remnants of the old finish removed so I could start fresh with the bowl and restain it. When I took the bowl out of the bath it looked like is shown in next three pictures. The finish was gone but for a few grey spots at the bowl shank junction and around the rim. The top of the bowl was seriously covered with goopy tars and black sludge that would take some work to remove. You notice in the first picture that on the right side of the bowl near the front were two fills that needed to be addressed as the putty had shrunken and they were divots.

I reamed the bowl to remove the internal grime and get back to the wood. I find that a soak in the alcohol bath softens the cake making removal much easier. It does not chip or break around the rim. I also cleaned the shank with pipe cleaners, a shank brush and alcohol to clear out the tars. I also used a drill bit that I had turned into the shank to clean out the hardened tars. Once I had it clean I used some emery cloth and turned the bowl top into the cloth to remove the chunks of tar and carbon build up. The next series of three pictures show the pipe during and after using the emery cloth. The last picture shows clearly the extent of the grime and tar build up even after sanding the top of the bowl.

Once the bowl was at the point in the photo above I then reamed the bowl a second time to clean up the remaining build up and then wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads. The next series of five pictures show the pipe after the repeated wipe down with acetone. The briar is clean and ready for some work on the fills and some work to remove some of the damage to the inner side of the rim – you will notice in the last photo in the series.

I picked out the putty fills and wiped the bowl down one last time with acetone before dripping super glue and briar dust into the sandpits. The briar dust and superglue makes a far nicer looking fill in my opinion than the pink putty ever will. Once the glue had dried I sanded it with 240 grit sandpaper to see if there were any dents or dimples in the patch and refilled until the surface was smooth. I sanded repeatedly with the 240 grit until the patch blended into the surface and the glue was off of the surround clean briar.

I then used a piece of sandpaper to bevel the inner edge of the rim into the bowl to lessen the effect of the burned area. I aim for an even bevel all the way around the bowl rim and thus the effect of the burn will disappear with the stain coat. I took the stem out of the Oxyclean bath and wiped it down with a cotton cloth to remove the softened oxidation. I then reinserted it into the pipe to check for a good fit. You can see in the first picture below the beveled rim and the fit of the stem. The stem is almost back to a clean black finish. The oxidation is virtually gone and only needs to be polished and sanded with micromesh pads to bring back the shine. This particular stem also had two deep tooth marks on the top and bottom of the stem near the button. I decided to deal with them after I had finished cleaning and polishing the stem and staining and polishing the bowl.

I gave the pipe a first coat of oxblood stain, flamed it and buffed it off with Tripoli. You can see that it gave a fairly good coverage but was a bit too opaque to my liking. I wanted the grain to be more visible so I washed the pipe down with acetone to remove some of the depth of colour and highlight the grain. In the photos below you can see the pipe after I wiped it down with the acetone and buffed it with White Diamond. It still was not the finish I was looking for so I sanded the bowl with 1500 and 1800 grit micromesh to smooth the surface and then heated the bowl with my heat gun to open the grain of the wood before giving it a second coat of oxblood stain.

The next series of four pictures show the finish that I was looking for. The grain shows through clearly and the bevel and stain on the rim minimize the effect of the burn marks. The stem is also cleaned and polished but the bite marks still remain in the pictures below. After staining and flaming the pipe I buffed it with White Diamond and then waxed it with several coats of carnauba before buffing with a soft clean flannel buff.

At that point last evening I set the pipe aside to be finished today. When I came home from work this evening I used the heat gun to raise the dents in the stem on the top and underside. The first two photos show the effect of the heat gun in raising the dents. Once I have the dents raised as far as I can lift them I used 240 grit sandpaper to level the surface of the stem and I have found that the combination of the heat and the sanding takes care of most dents in the surface of the stem as long as they are just dents and not cut marks. I finished sanding those areas of the stem with micromesh pads from 1500-12,000 grit until the stem had its own inner shine. When I was finished I coated the stem with Obsidian Oil and once dry, buffed it with carnauba wax and a soft flannel buff. To finish off the pipe I gave it several more coats of wax and buffed it by hand with a soft cotton cloth.

A Second Bewlay Olde 49 Bent Billiard Repaired and Rejuvenated.

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Here is the mate of the other Bewlay Olde 49 bent billiard that I posted about recently. They had both been sitting in my box of pipes to repair and refurbish for several years now. Yesterday I worked on the first one and restemmed it. This afternoon I decided to work on second one. The finish was exactly like the other one – grime ground into the surface and the wax and shine were gone. The top of the bowl was tarred and caked. The stem had been chewed through. The button was gone and the previous owner had made it into some kind of dental bit but cutting a groove in the stem along the end of the chewed off portion. It was a mess. I decided to cut off the chewed portion of the stem and then rework a button into the smooth surface of this one rather than restem it. I find that often this takes far more time to do this than it would just to cut a new stem for it. Such was the case with this one.

I used my Dremel with the sanding drum on it to cut back the damaged stem. I removed just under ½ inch of the stem. I cut it back until there was plenty of vulcanite over the airway on the top and bottom so that I could work in the new button and open the airway into a nice slot. The next series of pictures show the cut off stem. You can see that there is plenty of stem left for the work of shaping a new button.

The next four pictures show the stem from the end and then from the top and the bottom to give a good idea of what the stem looked like once I had removed the damaged material. I worked on the end of the stem to keep it a straight cut. I would eventually curve the ends of the new button but at this point I wanted to keep a straight edge to work with. You can see from the airway pictured in the first picture that there is plenty of vulcanite above and below the airway for the new button to be cut.

I used a rasp with a flat straight edge to do the initial cutting work on the button. I followed up with the flat needle file to clean up the work after the rasp did the initial work. The first two photos below show the freshly cut button. The first photo is of the underside of the stem. The button is cut to match an existing Bewlay stem that I have here. I also wanted it wide enough that I could taper it on the ends and the front edge after I had cut the slot. The second photo shows the topside of the stem after the initial cut of the new button. You can see from that photo that the left edge of the button has a slight indentation in it that will need to be worked on to make the button have a smooth and flowing shape.

The next series of four pictures show the stem after I have smoothed out the initial cut of the rasp with the needle file in the picture. The edge of the button is becoming distinct and clear. The first picture shows the underside of the stem and the clean flow of the button. The second picture shows the topside of the stem. Notice that the line is at a slight angle in the photo. That will be corrected once the left side of the button has been built up with some super glue. Pictures 3 and 4 show the shape of the button and how it is beginning to take the final shape – the oval or “football” shape that was on the old Bewlay pipes. At this point I had not begun to work on the airway to open it up and make a smooth slot into the stem.

I continued to work on the button and the surface of the stem to smooth out the transition and shape and to give some definition to the edge of the button. I used a variety of sandpapers and emery cloths to do the work. For emery cloth I used medium and fine grit and for sandpaper I used 240 and 280 grit. The next two photos show the look of the stem at this point. The line of the button on the top is now straightened out. The spot on the bottom edge of the button in the first photo is the cleaned up divot or dent in the button.

In the next two photos I wanted show the developing profile of the stem and button. The button is actually beginning to show quite clearly and is distinguishable from the surface of the stem.

Quite a bit more sanding needed to be done to clarify the edges and the cut of the button. In the next two photos you can see the new button very clearly. I also had used some clear super glue to build up the top of the button and fill in the divot. I sanded it smooth once it was dry. In the first picture below you can see that the divot is gone and a black spot is in its place. The second photo shows the ongoing development of the underside of the stem and button.

I then used my needle files to work on the slot and open up the airway from the button end. I used an oval needle file to begin to cut the ends of the slot open. The four pictures below show the development of the slot from the start to the finished shape that I was aiming for. It is a nice open draw and should deliver a good smoke. In the fourth picture you can also see that I have tapered the button back toward the slow so that it is a good smooth transition and is comfortable in the mouth. I used a folded strip of emery cloth and 240 grit sandpaper to sand the inside of the slot and smooth the internals.

At that point I decided to take a break from the stem and work on the bowl finish. I wiped down the bowl and rim with acetone to clean off the existing finish and give me a clear surface to work with. This one also has some interesting grain patterns under the old finish. It is a bit more mixed cross grain and birdseye with no real pattern to the grain like the other Olde 49. But it cleaned up nicely.

I sanded the stem some more with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12,000 grit to get rid of the file marks and sandpaper marks that were left behind. I wet the stem and sanded them through the various grits. The photos below show the rich blackness of the stem that has come back with all the sanding.

At this point I decided to restain the pipe. I did so with a Dark Brown aniline stain. I flamed it to set the stain and stained it a second time. I took pictures but the batteries on the camera gave out at this point and I was left with no photos of the stained pipe. It was dark like the other Bewlay pipe so I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads to lighten the colour. The picture below gives a bit of a look at the pads and the dark stain that came off with the wash. The pipe is a little dark. This was the last of my batteries and the only picture that came out at this point in the process.

The next four pictures are of the finished pipe. The stain came out very nicely with the grain coming through very well. I buffed it with White Diamond once I had wiped it down with the acetone. The shine came up well on this one. I also buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff.

The last picture is of the two Bewlay Olde 49 pipes together and ready to smoke. In person they are not quite as red as they come out in these photos. The rich older brown stain really matches these two well.

Restemmed an Old Rogers Deluxe for the Second Time

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I picked this old timer up on EBay. It is stamped on the left side of the bowl – Rogers De Luxe. The stamping on the silver cap is Sterling in an arc over the letters HC in an oval with the word London in an arc below the oval. The right side of the shank is stamped with London in an arc over a reverse arc of Los Angeles. In the centre of the oval formed by the two arcs are the words PIPE SHOP. There is also a shape number 25 stamped just ahead of that stamping. The stamping makes me wonder who the maker was. The HC on the cap leads me to think it may be a Comoy’s pipe but I am not sure of that. The stem that was in it was badly chewed and cut off. It was very short and not usable. The bowl was in rough shape and all the stain and finish was worn off. The silver end cap was tarnished and when it arrived it was split on the underside. It had been repaired with some glue and that was a mess. There were some dents in the sides of the bowl but underneath the grime and dents of a beat-up old pipe was some nice grain. Evidently the previous owner had found that it was a good smoker and chomped his way through the stem and enough tobacco to let it build up to thick hard cake.

I cleaned and reamed the pipe, cleaned the shank and worked a new stem for it. The stem I chose is an old stock orific button stem. I polished and cleaned the silver. I soaked the bowl in an alcohol bath to remove the grime and remnants of the finish. Once it was dry I restained the pipe with an oxblood aniline stain. I flamed the stain to set it in the grain. I then polished it with Tripoli and White Diamond to give more visibility to the grain. It has been polished and waxed. The stain really highlights the grain on this old beauty.

The stem I chose, while it fits, is still not quite right for the pipe. I am keeping an eye out for a new one that is more proportionally correct. This one is a bit short for the size of the bowl and kind of changes the beauty of the pipe. I know what I am looking for and when I find it I will restem it and it will be as good as new.

Today (September 9, 2012), I found the stem I was looking for, though it was not an orifice button the slot and the shape tell me it is an old stock stem. I used my Dremel to rework the taper on the military bit end so that it would fit the shank correctly. I sanded the stem with Fine grit emery cloth to remove the oxidation on the stem. I also sanded out the scratch marks left by the Dremel. I proceeded to sand with 240 grit sandpaper, 400 and 600 grit wet dry sandpaper and water to further remove the scratches. I then used micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 to finish the sanding. When I had finished with that I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond to deepen the shine. I then wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil and finally inserted it in the pipe and waxed the pipe and stem with several coats of carnauba wax. I really like this stem better.

rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: restaining

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A Beatup GBD 9438 Given a New Look

Irwin 943810 by GBD – A Makeover.

Restoration of an old BBB Own Make 622

A Second Bewlay Olde 49 Bent Billiard Repaired and Rejuvenated.

Restemmed an Old Rogers Deluxe for the Second Time

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