Tag Archives: restaining

Plugging a burnout

Blog by Steve Laug

I picked up an old Dunhill Root Briar off eBay that I knew would have to have a lot of work done to make it smokeable once again. It was obvious that it would need a plug as it was burned out. Many probably would not have bid on it but I got it for cheap and thought it would be worth learning how to do a briar plug to repair it. With not a huge amount invested in it I figured it was worth the education I would get doing a repair. I often will buy pipes on eBay that are rejects for the sole purpose of learning a new skill in the repair department.

When the old Dunhill arrived I opened the package for the initial inspection of the pipe. I wanted to have a clear picture of what I would be dealing with in the repair. On the underside of the bowl there was some kind epoxy fill that had been injected into small burnout spot. It had been also daubed on the bowl to provide a layer of “insulation” or something. It was really a mess in terms of the application of the epoxy. No amount of wiping the bowl down with alcohol or acetone would remove the goo from the surface of the pipe. I sanded it until the bottom was back to briar alone and the glue was gone. I then used a dental pick to check the integrity of the bottom of the pipe. I wanted to find out from the outside how far the damage had gone into the briar. If it was charcoal like and soft I would know the extent to which I would have to drill out the bottom of the bowl. I marked the extent of the damage with a permanent marker to show how far the burnout had damaged the briar.

Once I had the outside of the bowl cleaned up and the burn out clearly marked I turned my attention to the inside of the bowl. Once I had cleaned out the grit and grime from the inside of the bowl I found that the previous owner had reamed far too aggressively and compromised the thickness of the bottom of the bowl. It was almost ¼ inch below the bottom of the airway. The bottom of the bowl was in fact very thin. Using my dental pick I probed the bowl bottom to identify the extent of the damage around the burn out hole. It was virtually the same as the outside. With that information in hand I was ready to drill out the spot on the bowl.

I sanded out the inside of the bowl with a dowel and sandpaper to smooth out the hack job on the bottom. I then drilled out the burned out spot from the outside of the bowl with a drill bit slightly larger than the area I had marked with the marker. I was careful to get all the burned wood. Once the hole was open I again tested the soundness of the surrounding briar with my dental pick. I wanted to make sure that the damaged briar was removed. I re-drilled it a second time with a slightly larger bit to remove what remained of the damage. I then cleaned the pipe yet again. I wanted to make sure that the inside of the bowl was reamed and sanded to bare wood and that the bottom of the bowl that remained was free of carbon and dirt. I washed the entirety with isopropyl alcohol and then let it dry out.

I measure the outer diameter of the hole in the bottom and the inner diameter of the bowl. I then cut a piece of briar to those dimensions. The briar plug was shaped like a “T” and was actually significantly bigger than the pin hole that was originally in the bottom of the bowl. I had decided to create a new bottom for the bowl and a plug for the hole I had drilled. I used some wood glue and coated the bowl bottom and the inside of the hole. I then inserted the plug in the top of the bowl and used a rubber mallet and a piece of dowel to drive peg to the bottom of the bowl. The leg of the T extended through the hole in the bottom of the bowl that I drilled out. I had purposely made it longer than the thickness of the bowl so that it would extend below the bottom of the bowl. Once it was in place it not only was glued but in essence was pressure fit. I laid it aside to dry over night before I worked on sanding the leg of the T flush with the bottom of the pipe. The next morning I sanded it flush with the bottom of the bowl. It was a great fit as can be seen from the pictures that are included in this essay.

Once the exterior was smooth and ready to go I turned to the inside of the bowl. The top of the T formed a new thicker bottom for the bowl. I had made it thick enough to provide a new briar bowl. Because of the thickness I had used a spade bit to re-drill the bottom of the chamber and give it a concave feel like the original bowl. I also re-drilled the airway so that it would come out in the bottom of the new bowl. I again used the dowel and sand paper to smooth out the junction between the new surface and the old surface of the chamber walls. I wanted the transition between the two pieces to be smooth.

The final touch for this old timer was a good coating of pipe mud on the walls and on the bowl bottom. The mix I use for the mud is cigar ash and water. Others have used pipe tobacco or a mix of various things but I like cigar ash. The bonus is I get to smoke a good cigar in the process. I mix a good thick paste that I apply with a brush and a pipe nail. I brushed it on and tamped it into place with the brush and the nail. It gave a nice grey ash look to the inside of the bowl. The inside looked as good as new. I left it to dry through the night.

I sanded the rest of the bowl be careful to not damage the stamping. Once it was smooth and the scratches and nicks were gone I stained the outside of the bowl. I gave it a second and third coat with a Mahogany and then a brown stain. Between each coat of stain I flamed the stain by lighting it with a lighter. I find that this sets the stain a bit better than an air dry. I also buffed between coats of stain to make sure the coverage was even. The final coat of stain was applied, wiped off and then buffed with white diamond and then carnuaba.

I let the pipe mud cure for several days before I fired up the pipe. I was curious to see how hot the bottom of the bowl became. Success!! It smoked cool and dry to the bottom with no heat to the hand. The patch worked well. Next time I do a patch I will try to blend the flow of the grain a bit more!

I have been smoking it for a long time now and continue to be pleased with it. The patch is starting to blend in a bit more as it gets a patina. The pipe still smokes dry and cool throughout the bowl.

03/30/2012

This week my computer died!!! I was forced to dig out a very old laptop that I have sitting in the basement so that I could at least have access to the internet. While I was cleaning up the hard drive I found these old photos of the same pipe. The repair may be a bit more visible in these photos if you are interested to have a look.

Re-staining Estate Pipes – A Pictorial Essay

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am often asked by other hobbyist pipe refurbishers how I go about re-staining the pipes that I refurbish. I have answered the question in different ways over the years as I have worked out my own process. This past weekend I had some time and a box of pipes to work on so I decided to document the process I use. I took photos of four old pipes that I was reworking; these photos take you through my methods from start to finish. I have added written commentary to explain what I have done. The method I describe is how I work with estate bowls like these. I am certain that there are other methods that can be used with equal success. This is the one I have arrived at over the past ten years as I have been reworking estate pipes. I am sure that it will continue to evolve in the years ahead as it has over the past years. Here it is for your perusal and use. Feel free to use it, enjoy the process of rejuvenating the finish of an old pipe, adapt it and modify it as you will. Email your modifications and additions to the method to as we work to keep the fire alive in the home based pipe restoring hobby – slaug@uniserve.com.

I need to make a final confession before I jump ahead to describe and document the process. I totally forgot to take pictures of the state these old pipes were in when I received them. As is often the case for me, the cleaning process took on a life of its own and once it is moving along I find it hard to slow it down. So, with that out of the way, I begin with pictures of the pipes after I removed them from an hour soak in an alcohol bath.

Out of the alcohol bath
Once I have chosen the pipes to restore I remove the stems and place them in a soak of Oxyclean and water while I work on the bowls. I place the bowls in an alcohol bath. I use a plastic jar with a screw on lid to hold the 99% isopropyl alcohol for the bath. It is roughly a large mouthed quart sized jar and will hold four bowls. The size also allows me to reach in and retrieve them when they are finished. I reuse the alcohol in the bath for a long time. I find that it turns dark from the stains and the sediment settles to the bottom of the jar. I pour off the alcohol regularly and wash the jar so that there is no sediment remaining. I also top up the jar with fresh alcohol to keep the levels high enough to cover the bowls.

The first two pictures below show the four bowls after they have been removed from the bath and have been dried. (In each photo the bowls will be in the same order for ease of recognition.) Starting at the top left and working left to right you will see the effects of alcohol bath in removing finish. I have found that it does not remove all the stain but it removes the finish, waxes and oils that are over the stain. When the bowls are removed they have a flat finish look to them. The top left bowl has a slightly yellow stain once the varnish coat was removed. The top right bowl has a reddish stain that was also under a coat of varnish. The bottom left is a prehistoric GBD finish/sand blast with a dark red/brown stain. The pipe on the bottom right has a dark brown stain and had a coat of shellac or varnish over it. The varnish on the last pipe had turned milky white even before I put it in the bath and increased when I took it out of the alcohol bath. The fourth bowl will take the most work to remove the finish. All will need more hand work with an alcohol soaked soft cloth and a soft bristle tooth brush to remove the residual finish. The smooth bowls will be sanded and further cleaned.

Washed and sanded
The pictures below show the bowls after they have been washed in alcohol and sanded and rewashed and re-sanded repeatedly. The stain colour is removed as much as it will be at this point in the process. There is still a lot of work to do on each bowl before staining can be done. The top coat of varnish, wax and the grit and grime have all been removed at this point. From the pictures you can see that there is still some varnish on the bottom right pipe but the majority has been removed and the others are getting ready to go to the next step in the process. Once I finished this stage of sanding I washed them a final time with a tack (soft cotton material) cloth to remove dust and such and also let me see any remaining shiny spots on the finish.

Two of my favourite tools are shown in the following pictures (I use both constantly in the process of refurbishing and always have them near at hand) – a tooth brush and a dental pick. The dental pick allows me access to the rings on the bulldogs. I carefully use it to follow the rings around the bulldogs and clean out the grit that gets stuck in them. I follow that up with the tooth brush which allows me to rub the alcohol into the rings and to scrub other places in the blast on the prehistoric and stubborn shiny spots on the smooth pipes. They both are used in cleaning rims and the dental pick also precedes my pipe cleaners in the shank. I have straightened one end to make access to the shank easier. These pictures show the bowls after the third sanding and alcohol wash. I also sand the rims with 400, 600 and then finally with 1200 to remove any grit or rough spots on the finish. All the bowls have been sanded with 1200 grit sand paper. I sand them one more time with the 1200 grit sandpaper and then I use micromesh pads to get a good smooth surface on the bowl. If you choose to go for a scratch-free finish you can examine the bowls with a jewellers loop under a bright light and re-sand as necessary to remove any noted scratches. For the majority of the old timers that I refurbish, I sand until they are scratch free to the naked eye in a bright light. To my mind some of the deeper nicks and such lend character to the old pipe and contribute to the look of age. My main requirement is that they are smokeable when I am finished and that they look good for their age. Should you choose to go further with the finish the choice is yours as you re-work them.

The next picture shows the foursome after all the smooth pipe bowls and smooth rim on the sand blast have been sanded with 1800/2400/4000 micromesh pads. They are smooth to the touch and have a rich shine to them. This is a good time to give them an inspection for any marks or scratches that you want deal with further. After I inspect them this last time, I wipe them down with an alcohol damp cloth to get any residual grit or dust off the bowls and set them aside. The bowls are ready to be re-stained.

Re-staining the bowl
In preparation for staining each pipe bowl, I insert folded pipe cleaners in the shanks to enable me to manipulate them with ease while I am applying the stain. This gives me some flexibility in turning the bowl at different angles to apply the stain coat. You will note the Fiebing’s stain in the previous picture – that is the stain I use. It comes in a variety of colours and is an aniline (alcohol based) stain. It works extremely well on wood. All of these bowls were given a first coat of Fiebing’s Dark Brown stain applied heavily. While it is still wet I use a match to light the stain to set it in the grain. It does not light the bowl on fire at all but only burns off the alcohol in the stain coat. For these four bowls, I started with the blast and liberally applied the stain to the bowl. I start with the bowl held bottom up and let the stain flow toward the tops. I follow the flow of the stain to ensure that I have thoroughly and evenly covered the entire bowl surface. I finish the first coat using the dauber pictured in the lid below to stain the rim. I reapply the stain to make sure the coat is even and not streaked.

The picture below was taken after the second application and flaming of the stain. After the first coat of stain is dry to touch, I give each bowl a second coat of stain and set it aflame with a match or lighter. After flaming the stain the bowls are basically dry to the touch and I set them aside until they are thoroughly dry. (I often let the bowls sit over night to dry.) The next day (or later the same evening if I get impatient or curious) I take them to my buffers and see what they will look like with a light touch on the buffing wheel. I generally use the Tripoli buff with a light touch, though I have also used the White Diamond buff as well. For those who do not have a buffer I have also sanded the bowls at this point with 1200 grit sand paper or higher. If the stain is too dark to my liking I wipe the bowls with an alcohol damp cloth until I get the colour the way I want it on each pipe. That is one of the beauties of aniline stain! The briar in each pipe bowl will make them quite unique looking once the stain is buffed.

While the bowls are drying I turn to work on the stems. Throughout the process described above, the stems have been soaking in an OxyClean bath. I put a mixture of once scoop of OxyClean into a one quart plastic covered jar and mix it with hot tap water. I shake it until the powder is all dissolved and the liquid is a milky white. Then I place the stems in the bath to soak. Generally I soak them a minimum of two hours but often will leave them in the wash over night. They remain in the bath the entire time I am working on the bowls.

With this foursome I grew impatient and was curious to see the finished product once I buffed the stain off the bowls. The bowls were dry so I took them to the buffer. The following pictures show the bowls – stained, buffed and polished. At this point in the process, I still need to wax them with carnauba but the pictures give you the idea of what they look like. Each pipe bowl took the dark brown stain in its own way. To me one of the joys of the process is arriving at this step and seeing the freshly stained bowls. I love the contrasting colours and grain that comes through in the pipes.

The final pictures in this essay show the finished product using two of the pipes. I finished working on the stems while the stain was drying. They are both WDC pipes. The apple is an Aristocrat shape 11. The bulldog is a Royal Demuth shape 79. Both are screw mount stems with interesting diffusing apparatus in them.

Topping a Bowl – A Pictorial Essay

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I finally used my camera to take photos of the process I use when I top a pipe. I decided to put together this pictorial essay to show the steps on topping a pipe bowl. It is an easy process and can return an otherwise beat up pipe bowl top to new or at least a cleaner vintage look. In the following essay I will take pictures throughout the process from beginning to the finished product with the bowl restored to an acceptable look for me.

The pipe is a Marxman Super Briar billiard. The bowl overall is in pretty rough shape, but the top looks like it was used for a hammer. All the outer edges of the bowl are chipped and rough. To clean and polish it as it stands would leave a very rough looking bowl top and no one clean edge. It was a perfect candidate to benefit from a slight topping.

Before taking it to the sand paper I reamed the bowl and cleaned up the inside so I was working with something a bit cleaner. I also did a quick buff with Tripoli to remove the external chunks of dirt and stickiness that were on the bowl. A clean surface gives me a clearer picture of what I have to work with and how far I will be able to go in the topping process.

Below are three pictures of the pipe when I picked it out of the box. Note the grime that needs to be removed before cleaning and the rough edges around the top and the deep chunks missing on it. Many of these go to a depth of about 1/8^th to 1/16^th of an inch so it is in need of topping to clean it up. The decision that needs to be made is how far to go without changing the profile of the pipe too much. I will decide that as I work with the bowl sanding off the roughness. It is hard to say how much will need to come off without actually starting the process. I may have to stop at some point and bevel the outer edge a bit to keep the profile in tact but time will tell.

When you are topping a bowl it is important to maintain the flat and straight profile of the bowl top. It is easy to change the angle if care is not exercised. I use a flat desk top or a piece of wood to ensure that the flatness is maintained. I put a piece of sand paper, usually 240 grit, on the board or desk top. Others use a piece of glass to provide the hard surface. Sometimes I sand it on a desk pad like the one pictured below. I hold the sand paper with one hand to make sure it does not move. The desk pad helps keep it from slipping as I work the bowl on it. The bowl is held top down and tightly placed on the surface of the sand paper. I move the bowl in a rotating pattern, turning clockwise, always applying equal pressure on all points to keep it flat on the paper. The process is pictured below.

As I sand the top, I repeatedly check to see if it is staying level and to see progress in removing the rough edges. I have found that as I work the process the rough edges are highlighted by the freshly sanded bowl top. They really are clearly visible as most of the time they are either blackened or at least more stained than the fresh wood. I give me a constant picture of what needs to come off on each edge of the top. The picture below clearly shows the rough edges on the outside of the bowl. I continue to sand until I have minimized those and the outer edge begins to return to round. I sand until the top is smooth and round. I generally have to make a decision regarding when to stop based on the depth of the chips and rough edges and whether I should bevel the edge to finish the work.

In the next two pictures the bowl is at the point of decision. Either I continue to sand and take out more of the roughness or I will do a slight bevel on the outer edge of the pipe. I take the overall look of the pipe into consideration in this decision. How much will more sanding change the profile of the pipe? How much will a slight bevel change or maintain that integral look and flow? Those are considerations that I make at this point in the topping process. I check the depth of the remaining spots on the bowl and from there come to a decision.

This bowl is finished with the topping and I have decided to bevel the edge to minimize the remaining chips on the edge. To do that I take a small piece of sandpaper and fold it in half and place it at an angle to the bowl edge between my fingers. I am aiming for an even bevel at this point and must be careful to maintain the angle the entire circumference of the bowl. To facilitate this I work the entire circumference each time I go around the bowl. Between each time around I check to see that the angle is maintained and to see what remains to be removed in order to give a new smooth surface to the bowl. The two pictures below show that angle and the general work of the beveling.

The four pictures below show the first turn of the beveling. You can see from the first picture that the roundness of the bowl top is coming into shape. The other three pictures show the two sides and the front of the bowl from the side to show the angle of the bevel – it is subtle as I do not want it to look to rounded. I am aiming for the roundness that comes with age and wear on a pipe.

The four pictures below show the beveling process completed. You will note that a few deep chips still remain on the edge of the bowl. The stain will hide most of these and those that remain give character to the old pipe in my opinion.

When I have finished beveling the pipe I will often sand the entire bowl with 1200 grit sand paper to even out the rough spots from the bowl sides, front and back. It also allows me to better match the new stain that will be applied to the entire bowl. After sanding I wipe the bowl down with 99% isopropyl alcohol (less water content with more percentage). The wipe down removes a bit of the colour of the original stain which aids the match on the restain. It also highlights areas that I need to give more attention to with sanding. The pictures below show the pipe after sanding and the alcohol wipe down.

The prepped bowl provides a few challenges to a good restain. The very visible pink fill on the back of the bowl will need to be blended in with stain. I will also have to blend the edges that have been beveled with the colour of the bowl sides and top. My goal is to make that transition look natural and original. Before staining it I wipe the entirety of the bowl with isopropyl alcohol one final time. This wipe will take off any remaining dust on the wood and ready it for the stain. I will be using a black cherry aniline stain on the bowl as I hope it will blend in the fill and make it a bit less noticeable. I apply the stain with a q-tip and then light it on fire with a match or lighter to set the stain. This process is called flaming the bowl and burns off the alcohol but does not harm the briar. Once it has been flamed I wipe the bowl off with a soft cloth and completing the staining process. Further application of stain is an option that will darken the bowl. I applied the stain a second and third time to the fill and surrounding areas to see if I could blend it a bit more. The fifth picture below shows the fill. It still shows in the picture but in hand it looks more subtle and subdued. From the pictures you can see the effect of beveling the edge very clearly. The top shows some nice grain and a gentle curve to the sides of the bowl. The overall effect is to restore the clean and well broken in look of the pipe. The colour brings out the natural patina in the briar and blends the older and the newly stained freshly sanded briar. Here are pictures of this step in the process.

Once the stain is well dried the pipe is taken to the buffer and given a good buff with white diamond. The idea is to polish and give a bit of depth to the pipe bowl. Carnuaba wax is then applied for a final shine to both pipe and the stem. For the sake of this essay I have not done much with the stem. I still need to sand and clean off the remaining oxidation. But I wanted to show the flow of the entire pipe in its topped, finished and stained form. The stem still needs work at this point but that will come next.