Tag Archives: restemming a pipe

I Had Heard of Royalton but not of the Smoke-Control Deluxe

In my antique mall grab bag was the bowl that is pictured below. It is stamped on the left side of the shank, Royalton over Smoke-Control over Deluxe and on the right side of the shank, Selected Briar over Pat. No.2326658. I had heard of Royalton pipes and have cleaned up a few of them in the years that have gone by. But I had never heard of the Smoke-Control or the Smoke-Control Deluxe. Obviously it was a system pipe of sorts, one of those creative ideas that lasted about as long as its maker. It never seemed to have caught on because in all the years I have been hunting and refurbishing pipes I have never come across one even to walk by in my prowls of thrift, junk or rummage shops. It was a brand unknown to me.

The bowl was in excellent shape and had not even been smoked to the bottom of the bowl. The bottom half of the bowl was bare briar. The top half was darkened but not carbonized at all. It was for all intents and purposes a new pipe. The shank was clean and contained a strange metal apparatus that filled the mortise and then stepped down to fill the airway all the way to the smoke hole in the bottom of the bowl. It was aluminum, the first ¼ inch was smooth and then it had threads that went to the bottom of the mortise. The airway was smooth. The finish on the bowl was non-existent. Whatever stain or coating had been on the bowl was no long present. The stamping was crisp and readable. There were no fills in the briar but there was a nice swirling mix of grain all around the bowl. The rim was clean and showed no burn or dent marks. The pipe was missing the stem. Judging from the mortise the stinger apparatus on this stem must have been a unique looking piece of hardware.

Since I had no idea what I was working on I decided to do a bit of digging on the internest and see if I could find out about the brand and kind of stem and stinger apparatus that it had. I wanted to know what the patent on the shank covered so that once I had a clear picture in mind I could hunt down a stem or work on one that would fit the shank in the meantime. I found out that Royalton pipes were manufactured by Henry Leonard & Thomas, Inc. (HLT) of Ozone Park, New York. HLT manufactured other brands as well including Dr.Grabow, Bruce Peters, Broadcaster and Vox Pop. I found on Pipephil’s logos page the two photos below that showed the stamping on the stem and the shank. The stamping on the bowl I had was a Smoke-Control with a hyphen rather than the one picture below and also was a Deluxe rather than a Supreme.

Mine was also stamped Selected Briar instead of Imported Briar. I could see that the stem had an aluminum faux band that sat between the stem and shank.
So far I had learned the manufacturer and the stamping on the stem and the faux band. I had not seen the stem. I did a bit more digging and found several advertisements that showed more of the stem. The first is from Popular Mechanics and it gave a clear description of the purpose of the pipe as well as the meaning of the Smoke-Control feature. The pipe had an adjustable valve that regulated the daft on the smoke to match personal taste and preference.

This advertisement spoke of both the Supreme Grade and the Deluxe grade of the pipe. The stinger that is shown in the picture could have been similar to the one in the bowl that I had found but it was not quite the same in terms of the sketched in lines on the shank of the top pipe in the picture. My bowl’s interior was different from the one in the picture so the stinger apparatus too must have been slightly different in the one I found. I went to the US Patent web site and did some more research and found the Patent Number of the pipe that I had. There was a description and a diagram of the pipe. The patent was taken out on August 10. 1943 by Arthur Koenigsamen of Jamaica, New York, assigner to Henry Leonard & Thomas Inc. of Ozone Park, New York. Reading the patent data, I am struck by the familiar hunt to develop a better smoking pipe to deliver a dry and cool smoker to the mouth of the pipe smoker and to make pipe smoking more appealing to those who might not try it otherwise. Have a look at the details of the patent and pay attention to each part of the apparatus in the shank and on the end of the stem. There are some unique features that are not visible in the pipe that is shown in the advertisement from Popular Mechanics.

The stem in the above drawing in Fig. 2 shows the tenon that would fit in the mortise in the bowl I have. It is threaded about mid-tenon with three bands. Before and after the threaded portion the tenon is smooth. The apparatus goes into the stem as well, Fig. 3, in a way that was not shown in the advertisement above. It appears that there is a cooling reservoir in the stem that traps moisture and delivers a cool smoke out the wide slot in the end of the stem. The mortise in the bowl I have looks exactly like the one in Fig. 5 and screwed onto the tenon in Fig. 4. The shank on the bowl that I have is set up precisely like the nipple unit in Fig. 5. It is aluminum and set in the shank. I have included the photo below showing and end view of the shank to show what the insert looks like. You can see the flat area, the step up to the threaded portion and then the step up to the airway just as is shown in Fig. 5 above.

My problem was that the bowl did not come with the unique stem unit that fit the shank. I tried several older Dr. Grabow stems and a Kaywoodie stem that I had here and the threads did not match those found in the shank. I had a choice to make, save the bowl until I found a stem someday by chance or to try to work on a stem and jerry-rig it to fit the shank system. I figured I had nothing to lose so I chose to work on a stem. I had just the right stem in my can of stems. It was a chubby stem from an Orlik pipe and the tenon was already shaped partially for a shank like this. The end of the tenon was slightly smaller in diameter than the portion of the tenon next to the stem itself.

I slowly turned the vulcanite stem into the metal mortise, being careful to hold the stem straight as I turned it in place. I figured that by doing so I could score the vulcanite with the metal threads of the mortise and in so doing tap thread the tenon on the vulcanite. Low and behold it worked. The stem fit tightly against the face of the shank. The diameter of the stem would need to be adjusted but otherwise the fit was good.

I carefully sanded the stem and the shank avoiding the stamping. I did not want to damage the stamping on either side of the shank. I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I sanded the rest of the bowl and the rim as well. When I finished the fit of the stem at the shank was smooth.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove any remnants of the original finish on the bowl and to remove the sanding dust.

At this point in the process things were going too well! Everything was working without a hitch and the pipe was looking really good. This is when things inevitably take a turn for the worse and they certainly did in this case. I unscrewed the stem from the shank in preparation for staining the bowl. I wanted to clean out any briar dust that was trapped between the stem and the shank. I cleaned out the dust and blew air through the mortise. I then slowly and carefully screwed the stem back in place in the shank. They no longer lined up! The fit of the stem against the face of the shank was not tight. The smooth transition between the shank and stem was no longer there. The fit was not right. I took the stem off and examined the mortise and tenon. I could see that the insert in the shank had definitely been pushed deeper into the mortise. When I started it was even with the face of the end of the shank and now it was sunk in and the mortise bevel showed as it probably should have from the start. Arggghhh. Now the fit was off and the diameter of the stem would have to be corrected again. The big problem was that the way the stem fit against the end of the shank was no longer perfect. There was a gap that I could not correct no matter what I did in adjusting the insert or the stem.

I decided that I would have to band the shank, not as a repair on a bad shank but as a cosmetic measure to clean up the fit of the stem and the shank end. This irritates me to no end in that as you could tell from the above photos it was perfect! Ah well so goes the life of the pipe refurbisher who is restemming old pipes with replacement stems. I adjusted the diameter of the shank to fit the flow of the shank without the band. Once again it was round and smooth. If there had not been a gap at the bottom of the shank/stem union a band would not have been necessary. I looked through my box of bands and found a band that would fit and not go to deeply up the shank as to cover the stamping. I found just the right band. I put all purpose white glue on the shank and pressed the band in place. Once the glue had set I screwed the stem on to the shank and lined everything up. The fit and finish of the stem and shank looked good. I actually liked the band on the shank as it broke the line between the shank and the stem and added a bit of bling to look of the old bowl. I guess I can live with the look of the pipe after all. It is not what I wanted when I started but it would do.

I wiped down the bowl with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to remove any excess glue that had seeped out around the band and removed grime from my finger prints on the bowl. I gave the bowl a first coat of dark brown aniline stain thinned 1:1 with alcohol. I flamed the stain and then wiped it down with an alcohol pad. I buffed it with White Diamond to see what the finish looked like with the brown stain. While I liked the look, the mottled look of the grain seemed to need some more colour and contrast to make it look right. I was not sure what I would use for a top coat so I set it aside and worked on the stem.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation that remained after cleaning and then sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. Once I had finished this I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit pads. Several times mid stream I went back and sanded with the sanding sponges and started over with the pads to clean up places where the scratching still showed or where the oxidation was stubborn. When I finished with the first three pads I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and screwed it back on the bowl.

Now most of you probably would have just finished sanding the stem with the remaining micromesh pads but not me. I got distracted with the stem back on the bowl and decided to give it the second coat of stain. I took it to the buffer and buffed the bowl and the stem with Tripoli and White Diamond before going back to the work table to give it a second coat of stain. For the second coat of stain I decided to use an aniline based oxblood stain. The rich read colour would go well with the mottled grain of the bowl. I applied the stain, flamed it, applied it again and flamed it again as often as necessary to get an even finish. Once it was dry I wiped it down with an alcohol wet pad to remove the excess stain and make it more transparent. I buffed it with White Diamond. This stain coat had the desired effect and I liked the finished look of the bowl.

I took the photo below to show the threads that were cut into the vulcanite tenon to give an idea of what the finished tenon looked like after all was said and done. The fit in the mortise is snug and the stem screws into the mortise easily.

I went back to sanding the stem with the remaining grits of micromesh pads. I dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads and once again had to go back and sand with the sanding sponges near the button to deal with the stubborn oxidation. This involved having to start over with wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads but once I had finished the oxidation was gone. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil again and when it was absorbed into the vulcanite I buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond.

I polished the nickel band with silver polish and gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. When finished I buffed it with a soft flannel buffing pad and brought it back to the work table for the final photos. The old Smoke-Control Deluxe is back in action. The bowl looks great; the stem works even though it is not original. The band gives just the pipe an air of elegance that I had not expected. I look forward to breaking it in and enjoying a smoke in what for all intents and purposes is a new old stock bowl.

Restemming and Refurbishing a Planter Opera Pipe

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This is the fourth bowl that I chose to work on from the antique mall lot. It had some great potential to clean up well as it was by far one of the least damaged of the bowls. It is stamped Planter over Made in France on the left side of the shank. There is no other stamping on the bowl or shank. There is no shape size or numbering on the shank. The right side is unmarked. I looked it up online and did not find any maker for the pipe. Pipephil did not have in on his logos and stampings pages nor did any of the other sites I frequent when searching for info online. I turned to my books and found out from “Who Made That Pipe” that the brand was made by Comoy’s in France. I checked Lopes book and it was not listed. The bowl itself was pretty clean on the inside and the interior of the shank was also clean. It barely looked to have been smoked. There were a few remnants of unsmoked tobacco on the walls of the bowl. On the exterior, one side of the bowl was clean and the other was covered with a greasy, dirty buildup. There was some nice looking grain under the grit and grime – both birdseye and cross grain. It looked like it would clean up nicely. There was one small fill on the right side of the bowl. The metal band was tarnished and yellow. The bowl did not come with a stem when I bought it at the antique mall.

I went through my can of stems and found one that would fit with very minimal adjustments. I sanded the tenon with a folded piece of sandpaper and it fit well against the shank. There were some issues on the diameter of the stem. It appeared that it was slightly out of round on the right side. It would need to be sanded on the right side, top and bottom for a perfect fit.

The band was not totally in place on the shank. It had slid toward the end of the shank over the years so I needed to heat it and press it into place. The benefit to this was that it heated up the yellow buildup on the band and it came off quite easily with some silver polish/metal cleaner. I scrubbed the band with some Hagerty Tarnish Preventative Silver Polish that I bought years ago at a jewelry shop. It removed the tarnish and oxidation and with repeated scrubbing it cleaned out the tarnish in the hallmarks.

I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the greasy buildup on the right side of the bowl and shank. I followed that up with a wipe down of isopropyl alcohol to finish removing the grime. I sanded the stem on the right side to remove the excess vulcanite and make it line up with the band. I always look at the end view of the pipe and see if the diameter of the stem matches the edge of the band that it will sit against. I strive to make it the same all the way around as I think it looks better when done that way. I used 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to get the fit right. In the photos below the pipe is shown after all the scrubbing and fitting of the stem.

You can see from the few steps taken with the pipe that it was a very simple clean up. It took more time to fit the stem that it did to clean up the bowl and band. I gave it a quick buff with White Diamond before working on the stem. I took it back to the work table and sanded the stem with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge (the pink square pictured above is one of those sponges). I then sanded the bowl and stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads.

I finished by rubbing down the stem with Obsidian Oil and when it had been absorbed into the stem I buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. I finish with a soft flannel buffing pad on the buffer. The finished pipe is pictured below. Sometime today I will load a bowl and give it a smoke.

Weber Scoop Junior Restemmed and Renewed

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is pictured below. The stamping is faint on the left side of the shank but it reads Weber in and oval over Scoop Junior. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Imported Briar. I decided to do a bit of reading on Weber pipes. I looked on Pipedia and found the following information.

Carl B. Weber was a German from Bavaria. Aged 21 he immigrated to the USA in 1911. In 1938 he established Weber Briars Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey – later renamed the Weber Pipe Co. The firm grew to be one of the giants of American pipe industry focusing itself in the middle price and quality zone. Trademark: “Weber” in an oval. Beside that Weber – especially in the years after 1950 – was a most important supplier for private label pipes that went to an immense number of pipe shops. In New York alone for example, exactly the same pipes were found at Wilke’s, Barclay Rex, Trinity East, Joe Strano’s Northampton Tobacconist in Ridgewood, Queens, Don-Lou in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Nearly all pipes for Wilke were unstained and many models, for example the “Wilke Danish Bent”, could hardly deny originating of Weber. Among others well reputed pipemaker Anthony Passante worked for Weber.

Weber Pipe Co. owned and manufactured Jobey pipes – when mainly sold in the USA by The Tinderbox from 1970’s – 80’s. In addition Jobey / Weber bought Danish freehands from Karl Erik (Ottendahl). These pipes were offered as Jobey Dansk. Ottendahl discontinued exports to the United States in 1987 and in the very same year – obviously only as a ghost brand – Jobey was transferred to Saint-Claude, France to be manufactured by Butz-Choquin. Carl B. Weber is the author of the famous book “Weber’s Guide to Pipes and Pipe Smoking”.

This particular Weber was a shape that he made famous. I have had several different version of this pipe – mostly straight or ¼ bent and all were rusticated with Weber’s recognizable rustication. This one was different – it was smooth, with no fills and very interesting grain. The bottom of the bowl and shank was beautiful cross grain; the sides were a mix of grain and some stunning birdseye. The finish was shot and the briar was weathered and dry. There were two fine cracks on the rim at 7 and 11 but they did not extend into the bowl – more like hairline cracks. The flat rim and the crowned portion above the parallel lines encircling the bowl was almost tiger striped. The parallel lines were filled with dust and grime. It had a broken cake in the bowl and had been repaired at some point in its history with pipe mud to build up the bottom of the bowl at the airway. The end of the shank had some small nicks on both sides and the bottom edge that would make lining up a stem for a tight fit difficult but not impossible. The bowl did not come with a stem so a stem would have to be fit and shaped.

The only stem I had in my box of stems was a chunky saddle bit that would work but would need to have major adjustments in terms of diameter. I turned the tenon on a PIMO tenon turning tool until the stem fit snuggly in the shank of the pipe.

You can see from the next series of photos that the stem was far too wide in diameter and would need to be trimmed to size for a good fit against the shank.

Before I worked on the stem I decided to do a bit of clean up on the bowl. I quickly reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer. I used the largest cutting head to ream the bowl.

I lightly topped the bowl on a piece of sandpaper to remove the damage and the hard buildup on the surface of the rim.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the damaged finish. I sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the rough spots on the bowl and to further remove the finish.

I trimmed the diameter of the stem with a sanding drum on a Dremel. A steady hand is essential in doing this to get close to the shank of the pipe but not nick it with the fast moving drum. I generally do this in several stages to get it even and the alignment with the sides and top of the shank correct. I also take as much off as possible with the Dremel so that the hand sanding is really fine tuning the shape of the stem.

When the majority of the excess material has been removed with the Dremel I continue shaping the stem with 220 grit sandpaper squares. I sand until the marks from the Dremel are gone and the sides of the stem align with the line of the shank on each side. I want a good flow between the shank and the stem. I also sand the junction of the shank and stem until the flow is also correct. It takes a lot of sanding to get it to the place where the transitions are smooth and the old round chunky stem is a thing of the past.

Once I had the stem fitted there was still fine tuning to do to it. There were still scratches and marks on the saddle and the sides of the stem. The sides of the stem were too thick and needed to be thinned and shaped. However, I decided to change my pace a little and stain the bowl with a black aniline stain undercoat. I applied it and flamed it several times until the coverage was even.

When the stain was dry I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove some of the top black stain, while leaving it deep in the softer parts of the briar – the grain. I repeated the process until much of the black top coat was gone and the grain began to stand out on the bowl. It still would require some sanding and buffing to remove all that I wanted to remove before I applied a second coat of stain – an oxblood colour that would really set off the grain in this pipe.

Before calling it a night I decided to bend the stem so I set up a heat gun and heated the stem until the vulcanite was pliable. Once it was soft I bent it over a wooden rolling pin that I use to keep the bend even. In this particular case because the stem was quite thick it took several reheatings until I got the bend the way I wanted it.

In the morning when I got up I went down to the work table and gave the bowl its top coat of stain. I used an oxblood stain for the top coat as I thought the contrast between the black undercoat and the red would look good with this particular pipe.

I set the bowl aside and went to work, letting it dry for 8 or more hours. When I returned home in the evening I worked on the shaping of the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to thin it down and shape the edges on the blade. I also worked on the fit of the saddle to the shank to make sure the transition was smooth and as seamless as possible. Once I had the fit correct I sanded it with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then my usual array of micromesh pads. I wet sanded with 1500-3200 grit pads and dry sanded with 3600-12000 grit pads.

Once the stem was polished with the pads I buffed it with White Diamond on the wheel to further polish it and then gave it a final sanding with the last three grits of micromesh pads – 6000-12000 grit pads. I was not happy with the finish on the stem as it still showed scratches in the first batch of finished photos so I resanded it with the medium and fine grit pads to remove the scratches and then went through the micromesh pads again. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when dry buffed the pipe with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe is picture below. The finish came out quite nice. The contrast stain highlights the great grain on the pipe and makes the finish interesting to look at while smoking it.

A Pair of Barling Canadians – The Trust Continues

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Quite a few years ago I received a pair of Barlings Canadian bowls from the late Mike Leverette. We had exchanged quite a few pipes and tobaccos over the years and one day I received an email from him saying that he had sent me a pair of Canadians that needed stems but were otherwise in great shape. They were clean and ready except for a lack of stems. When they arrived they were beautiful the top on had a stunning sandblast – deep and rugged. The other had a good sandblast but not nearly as rugged. The two were oval shank pipes but one was slightly smaller and shorter than the other. The stamping on them was also different. The top pipe (below) is stamped in a line across the underside of the shank, Barling in script over London England, EXEL 5574 T.V.F. The bottom pipe is stamped slightly different. It begins with Barling in script over London England. That is followed by EXEL over 5579 and then it is followed by T.V.F.

I cleaned them and gave them a polish and sent them to Dave Wolf at Walker Briar Works for restemming. I wanted replacement stems that had the Barling cross stamp on them and new that Dave had the stamps to do that. Once I sent them to him the wait was not very long and they came back polished and stemmed. The photo below shows the pipes as they looked when they arrived and I took them out of the package.

I took them out of the pipe cupboard the other evening to polish them and remind myself of the story behind them. For me, part of the joy of being a pipe man is to remember/know the stories attached to my pipes. Some of them the stories begin with me as I can find no information on them. Others come to me with a long history that makes them very interesting. This pair comes with that history. Mike bought them in a lot on EBay and figured I would enjoy them. He took the time to ream and clean them before he sent them my way. My story with the pipes is at least 12 years old if not more. Add to that Mike’s history with them and I can trace their story back 15 or more years. I enjoy that kind of thing. The only thing that would make it even better is to be able to know a bit more of the back story. Ah well, as I smoke them I raise a bowl in memory of Mike. I took the next three photos this evening to show the pair as they look now. Both have a few more years and smokes on them but they remain in great shape and have many more years left in them.

I also decided to take a few pictures of each of the pipes separately to give you a better picture of their individual characteristics. The next series of four photos show the 5579, the bottom pipe in the photos above. It has a lighter blast and the stain took to the briar in a different way than it did on the deeper blasted 5574. Interestingly it is the same colour stain on both pipes – the variation is caused by the briar.

There is gracefulness to this Canadian shape. Barling makes the shape like no one else does and I think it epitomizes the English version of the shape. The blast is well done showing both the ring grain and the vertical lines on both the shank and the bowl. The taper from bowl to button on the stems is very graceful as well. Dave was able to capture the look of the original stem very well.

The blast carries on to the rim as well and ends as the inner edge of the rim bevels inward toward the bowl. The bevel is smooth as is the strip on the bottom of the shank where the stamping is located. There is also a smooth band at the stem shank union.

The stamping is clear but faint on the Barling portion. The T.V.F. stamp is tight against the end of the shank.

The second pipe, the 5574 is a different pipe. The look of the shape is not nearly as refined as the first pipe. The craggy blast and the shape of the bowl make the look more rugged and not nearly as elegant looking. The tactile nature of the blast though is amazing as bowl heats up during a smoke. The stain is also variegated on the pipe. It gives the pipe a mottled look that is even clearer in person. I like the look of the mottled appearance as combined with the texture it makes a very interesting pipe to look at and observe while I am smoking it. There are times when I am holding this pipe that I find myself drawn to just sit and examine it, turning it from side to side to look at the texture and finish.

The craggy texture of the blast is carried through on both sides of the bowl while the shank is much more reserved and smoother. I am not sure whether it came this way originally or is that way from wear. I tend to think it was originally not as blasted as the bowl as the stamping in quite sharp on the bottom of the shank. I have found that a blast does not take as well on hard portions of the briar.

The blast carries through to the top of the bowl and to the inner bevel on the rim. The bevel is smooth like the previous pipe as is the bottom of the shank and a small band at the stem shank union. I find that the taper on the shank to the stem is more dramatic than the previous pipe. If the blast was not unharmed I would attribute that to the restemming. It appears to have been like this when it left the Barling factory unless somewhere in its history it was previously restemmed and then repaired to look original.

The stamping on this is very sharp from mid shank back toward the stem. The Barling script and London England stamping is not as sharp, though still very readable.

I am pleased to have these two old pipes in my collection. Perhaps one of you who read this article can explain the difference in the shape numbers – 5574 and 5579 as I am unable to find any information online. It would be great to add that to the story. I will maintain the trust with them until the day comes that they pass into the hands of the next pipeman. They will then pass from my companioning to another’s and my story will be added to that of Mike’s. That is the thing I love about this hobby – the adding to the story of a pipe that occurs with each successive pipeman’s receipt of the trust. Until that day I will continue to fire them up and enjoy the great smoke that they deliver.

Crafting a Bamboo Shank Briar Mini Churchwarden

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Blog by Steve Laug

I had all the parts to do a bit of an experiment. I had a broken shank briar pipe, a long piece of black bamboo and an assortment of stems to choose from to see if I could connect all the pieces and make a workable smoking pipe. Putting together the pieces is reminds me of playing with my old Erector Set when I was a kid. The only limit to what can be put together is your imagination. The bowl came to me with two large gashes in the shank. They were both quite deep and both had been repaired by fills. There was a metal threaded mortise in the shank for a threaded tenon. While I was cleaning up the bowl the shank fell off in my hands. I put it in the cupboard as I expected I could scavenge some briar for repairing burn outs in the future. It sat there for more than a week before I began to wonder if I couldn’t do something with it. I went through my parts drawer and found the piece of black bamboo that had been sitting for quite a few years waiting for the right moment. I brought the bowl out and put the two pieces side by side and kind of liked what I saw. The end product would be a four knuckle bamboo mini Churchwarden pipe. It would be extremely lightweight and might actually end up looking quite nice. Now it was time to start working.

I drilled out the inside of the bamboo with an 11/64 inch drill bit. I then drilled out the end that would meet the bowl with a ¼ inch and then a 3/8 inch bit so that I could use a metal tenon I had saved from a previous pipe. Once the drilling was done the tenon fit the newly drilled bamboo mortise very well. I faced the end of the broken shank so that the bamboo would fit against it smoothly.

The metal tenon also fit in the shank of the bowl well. The length was perfect as it fit against the airway in the end of the shank next to the bowl bottom. There was no gap between the two so the smoked would flow smoothly down the shank of the pipe. I cleaned out the bamboo airway with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol and then put the pipe together and checked the draw. It was open and was an effortless draw.

I repaired the fill on the side of the shank as it was not even with the surface of the shank. I used a superglue and briar dust patch on it. Some might wonder why I did not cut back the shank and eliminate the damaged area. I chose not to do that as I wanted the shank to have some length to it in contrast to the long bamboo section. I also planned on rusticating the entire bowl so the damage would be covered. The insert of the metal tenon would stabilize the area as well and the shank repair would be solid.

I took the bamboo shank off the bowl and sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the finish. I repaired several of the gouges on the bowl surface with superglue and briar dust. I wanted a smooth canvas to work on when I rusticated the bowl. I then sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge. The top of the bowl had a slight buildup of tars so I cleaned that with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads. I sanded the knuckles on the bamboo to remove the fibers that were still attached and to smooth out the nodules. More work would need to be done on the shank but at least at this point it would be smooth in my hand while I worked on the bowl.

I set the bowl aside and went through my can of stems to find a nice saddle bit that would look good proportionally with the pipe. I drilled out the stem end of the bamboo with a ¼ inch bit to serve as a mortise for the stem. I turned the tenon on a PIMO tenon turning tool and then hand sanded it. I pushed the stem in place and starting sanding the saddle portion of the stem to get the diameter of the stem and shank to match. I mixed some two part epoxy and glued the metal tenon in place in the bamboo. When it was dry I put the pipe together. I did not epoxy the bowl to the shank at this point as I wanted to be able to remove it work on the rustication. The next three photos show the pipe with all parts in place.

I used a Dremel with a cone shape cutting head to pre-rusticate the shank and then followed that up with the modified Philips screwdriver. I rusticated the briar shank with it attached to the bamboo so that I could rusticate it up to the joint of the two shank materials. Once I had the shank finished I removed the bowl and worked on it with the Philips screwdriver. I find it easier to manipulate the bowl when it is not attached to the shank. When the bowl was completely rusticated I used a brass bristle wire brush to knock of the rough edges and give the bowl the texture that I wanted. I left the rim smooth to contrast with the finish on the bowl.

I put the pipe back together to have a look at the finished rustication and the contrast with the finish on the bamboo. I liked the overall look of the pipe at this stage. I did a bit more rustication on the bowl and shank and wire brushed them until I was happy with the end result.

At this point I was ready to attach the shank to the bowl permanently. I scored the metal shank to give the surface something to bond with in the briar shank. I mixed the two part epoxy and applied it to the metal shank with a dental pick. I pressed the two parts together and used the dental pick to trim off the excess glue and wiped it down with a soft cloth. I clamped the parts together while the epoxy set.

While the glue was drying I worked on the stem to taper it to fit the diameter of the bamboo shank. I sanded it with a Dremel to take off the majority of the excess vulcanite and then hand sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper. Once the epoxy had set, late last evening I inserted the stem and took the photos below.

This morning I got up early and stained the bowl with a black aniline stain. My plan is to use the black stain as an undercoat on the bowl. Once the pipe is dry I will buff it with red Tripoli to remove the black from the high spots on the rustication and then stain the bowl with a brown topcoat to give it depth and contrast.

I buffed the bowl with the Tripoli and then used isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads to dab off the stain on the high spots. The finish is rough so to scrub it with the pads leaves behind a lot of cotton bits. I sanded the surface of the bowl with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove more of the black stain from the high spots and to soften the rustication. I stained the bowl and shank with a coat of walnut stain to give some depth and highlights to the bowl. I had asked online how to finish bamboo and received a step by step response from James of JSEC pipes. He said to stabilize the cracks in the bamboo with superglue and then to sand the bamboo with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper and follow that with 1500 grit sandpaper. I followed that process to the letter. The change in the surface of the bamboo was noticeable. It was smooth and had a developing patina on the surface. I then took the next steps in the process and rubbed the shank down with Danish Oil. James said the he generally gave multiple coats of Danish Oil over several days. The photo below was taken after the bowl had been stained with the walnut and the shank sanded as described above. It also shows the first coat of Danish Oil on the stem. After about one hour the oil had dried to a matte finish on the bamboo.

While the Danish Oil was drying on the bamboo I worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the diameter of the saddle to match the shank diameter. I then used a medium grit sanding sponge and 600 grit sandpaper. I then sanded the stem with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it soak into the vulcanite.

When the bamboo had dried I buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. I buffed bowl and stem as well. I took the next series of four photos before I gave the bamboo a second coat of the Danish Oil. The pipe is beginning to look finished. I like the look of the black bamboo with this treatment – there is a rich patina beginning to show up on the shank now.

I gave it a second and third coat of Danish Oil and then buffed the bamboo with White Diamond. I gave the stem and the bowl a light buff as well. The bamboo is looking really nice. I like the developing patina that is coming from the finishing. I gave the shank and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and then buffed to a shine with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is picture below. This weekend I hope to take it on its inaugural smoke!

An Earl of Essex Apple Reborn

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This Earl of Essex pipe bowl was in bad shape. I had received the bowl without a stem so I would need to restem it if I was going to refurbish it. The bowl rim was angled down toward the front and was worn and rough. It appeared to be thinner in the front than the back of the bowl and had burn marks and rough patches on the front. The finish was shot and the aluminum insert in the shank was oxidized. The bowl had an uneven cake and was crumbling. There were several red spots on the surface of the rustication. What interested me in this old bowl was the rustication. The top of the bowl had almost a wax drip look to it with rustication between the drips of “wax”. The drip pattern is smooth briar as was the rim at one time. The end of the shank and the high spots on the shank were also smooth.

The aluminum inset mortise took a screw in tenon and I did not have any metal screw in tenon stems. I would have to drill it out to fit a new stem. I decided to try my hand at opening up the mortise with a drill. I started with a drill bit slightly larger than the mortise and then moved up with bigger drill bits until the mortise was smooth and open enough to take a new push stem.

I started to top the bowl but stopped mid stream and reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer to clean out the cake. I wanted the bowl clean so that as I topped it I would be able to see how deep the damage to the bowl went.

Once reamed, I took it back to the topping board and sandpaper. I used 220 grit sandpaper and twisted the bowl top into the sandpaper in a clockwise pattern. With the bowl topped and the shank opened the bowl was ready to clean up.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish from the bowl and clean up the grime that was built up in the grooves of the rustication. There was a bright red pigment in the grooves on two sides of the bowl. I scraped at it with a dental pick to clean it up. At first I thought it might be putty but as I scraped it, it came off like a red pigment. I am not sure what the red material was. I wiped it down after scraping it.

I decided to stain the bowl with a contrast to set off the rusticated portion from the smooth portion of the bowl. I used a cotton swab and black aniline stain to stain the rusticated portions of the bowl. I wanted the black to highlight the areas between the smooth drip portions of the bowl. I stained and flamed it and repeated the process until it was a good even colour around the bowl. I sanded the smooth areas of the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding block and sponge to remove scratches and clean them up for the next coat of stain that would be used on the smooth areas.

I had several stems in my stem can that would fit the shank of the drilled out mortise. I tried a BBB stem first. It fit very well in the shank. The look was exactly what I wanted but I did not want to waste a BBB stem with the logo intact on an experiment.

So I used the second stem I had from the can. It was a saddle stem with a bite through on the top of the stem. I decided to cut it back and then reshape the button until it was a new stem.

I cut it back with a Dremel and a sanding drum until it was smooth, solid and straight across.

Before working on cutting the new button in the stem I stained the top portion of the bowl with a light walnut stain on the smooth parts of the bowl. I buffed the bowl with White Diamond to give it a shine.

I worked on the button with needle files cutting in the straight line of the inner edge of the button and then smoothed out the button itself with the files. I carved away the surface of the stem tapering it from the saddle to the button. Once it was cut with the files I sanded the new taper with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches on the vulcanite.

I sanded the stem with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and buffed it with White Diamond.

I buffed the bowl lightly with White Diamond and buffed the stem with it as well. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The bowl top is clean and new, the finish is redone and the wax drip look is highlighted with the stains. The new stem and the newly cut button fit the pipe well. The experiment of drilling out the aluminum shank insert to take a push stem was a success. The metal polished well and looks like a shank band. Overall the final product is nice looking pipe that will make a good addition to someone’s rack in the future.

Cutting Back a Broken Shank and Reworking a No Name Dublin

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In keeping with the theme of my last few posts about my recent pipe restorations the pipe I took on in this repair/restoration was in fairly bad shape. The rim was damaged on the top and the outer edge had been beaten badly and was rough to the touch. The inner edge had been reamed out of round somewhere in the distant past of its life. The bowl finish was “finished”. It was in rough shape. The left side had many fills and divots on the surface. It looked as if it had been dropped on concrete or rocks. The shank was much the same but worse in that the end on the top right side had a large chunk of briar missing. It did not have a stem but that was the least of the concerns at the moment.

I went through my can of stems and found one that would work. The diameter and length were correct for this size pipe. However I had to decide what to do with the missing chunk of briar. I could band it and cosmeticly hide the missing piece under the band or I could cut back the shank, shorten it and then band and restem the pipe.

I removed the band – this is slightly harder than the simple words sound. It really involved cutting the metal and peeling it off the shank. I was not happy with the look so I decided to cut off the damaged end of the shank. What made this a happy solution to me was that the shank itself was not cracked. There were no cracks radiating from the area of the missing piece of briar.

When cutting back a shank I use a small hack saw with a fine toothed blade to do the work. I am limited to hand tools as I do not have a shop. The problem with this method is that it is very difficult to get a good, clean, straight cut with a hand saw. I followed the scoring left behind by the band as I sawed around the shank.

Even in being careful and working slowly the shank end was not perfectly square. That would have to be dealt with later.

I needed to deepen the mortise area as I had removed a major piece of it by shortening the shank. I started with a drill bit that fit well in the existing mortise and turned it in by hand. I worked up to the correct size bit – each time anchoring the bit in my hand drill and turning the bowl onto the bit by hand. I did not want to risk using the power and having the bit go right through the bowl. I have a pin vise but it was not large enough to hold a bit this size so I improvised.

Once I had the airway drilled in the shank I set up a topping board to sand down both the end of the shank and the rim. I started with the shank end hold the bowl against the sand paper and making sure that it was straight up and down vertically and sanded the end of the shank to face it. I also topped the damaged rim to remove the damage to the surface and the edges of the bowl. I sanded the bowl down with sandpaper in preparation for the topping. The shank needed to be re-tapered to match the diameter of the stem and to give it more of a flow from the bowl to the stem. I used 220 grit sandpaper to taper the shank and to sand the bowl.

Once I had a good fit on the stem and the shank and the bowl was topped and the finish cleaned up I decided to put a band on the shank. I thought that the shiny bling of the band would be a nice contrast to the stain I intended to use. I heated the band and pressed it onto the shank.

With the band in place and the stem fitting well it was time to address the finish of the briar. The left side damage needed to be cleaned up and repaired. I picked out the loose fill material with a dental pick. I washed down the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove dust and clean up any loose pieces of fill material. I roughened the edges of the divots and crevices on the briar and then filled them with briar dust and superglue.

I sanded the repaired area with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess material and smooth out the surface of the bowl.

I sanded the bowl with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the scratches and prepare the surface for staining. I wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to pick up any surface dust before staining. I am continuing to experiment with contrast stains so I gave the bowl a heavy coat of black aniline stain. I flamed it and heated it to set the stain deep in the grain of the bowl. This particular bowl had some really stunning birdseye on the sides and great cross grain on the front and back and underside of the shank and bowl. I wanted to highlight that grain and make it pop.

Once the stain was dried I wiped the bowl down with acetone on pads to remove the surface stain and then buffed the pipe with red Tripoli. I wanted to remove as much of the stain on the surface as possible while leaving it in the grain and around the birdseye. I sanded the bowl with medium and fine grit sanding blocks and sponges to get the surface down to the place the grain was highlighted. I then rubbed the bowl down with olive oil and buffed it with White Diamond to make the bowl shine.

I was happy with the contrast on the contrast stain and the look of the bowl at this point but now needed to work on the stem and the band. I sanded the stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the scratches. I sanded the band with a fine grit sanding sponge as well. I then sanded the stem, band and the bowl with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded the bowl with the same grit pads. I dry sanded the bowl and the stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads to finish polishing them both. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then when dry I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond.

The series of four photos below show the bowl and stem after sanding with the micromesh sanding pads. The finish on the bowl is exactly what I was aiming for. The translucency of the finish was perfect. The fills and damage on the left side of the bowl all but disappeared – not just hidden by the finish by smooth to touch as well.

I buffed the pipe one last time with White Diamond and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to polish and protect it. I finished by buffing with a clean flannel buff to lift the shine. The finished pipe is shown below and is ready for its inaugural smoke. The bowl and pipe came out well in my opinion and should last a long time in the hands of the person whose rack it eventually will grace.

I just reworked the inner rim of the bowl. I did a write up on the process and posted it here: https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/repairing-an-out-of-round-bowl/

No Name Pot Brought Back to Life from the Brink

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This bowl came to me with a batch of bowls needing different degrees of work. This old-timer needed cleaning as the buildup of grime and grit that was ground into the bowl was thick. The surface was coated with a greasy black substance all around the top of the bowl and the sides. The bowl/shank junction was incredibly grimy. The inner rim was out of round and the outer rim and the top of the rim were in rough shape. The outer edge had been hammered around the sides and the top had dents and cuts in the surface. The shank looked to be slightly shorter than I have come to expect on this shape of pipe; though the drilling and the mortise were original. The shank had definitely not been shortened. The bowl was caked and the buildup thickest around mid bowl. There were quite a few small pink fills around the bowl sides. There was no stamping or identifying marks on the pipe. There had been some sanding done around he shank and it had left behind some fairly deep scratches.

I went through my can of stems and found one that fit quite well. It did not need work on the tenon diameter as the fit was snug. The stem was bent and would need to be straightened to give it a proper fit to the bowl. Once the stem was in place it was clear that the shank was out of round. The bottom edge of the shank was somewhat thicker than the stem at the same spot. I would need to work on the flow of the shank from the bowl to the stem union to insure that the fit was smooth and the transition seamless.

The stem was badly oxidized so I figured heating it to straighten it would actually soften the oxidation and bring it to the surface. I used a heat gun on the low setting to heat the stem. I generally hold it about 4 or more inches above the heat source and hold so it bends in the correct direction as it softens. In this case it did not take long for the vulcanite to heat and the stem to return to the original straight position. I decided to leave a slight bend in the stem as I like the look of on the pipe.

The next two photos show the stem after heating and straightening. The variation in the diameter of the shank and the stem is also clearly visible in these two photos.

Since the shank had no stamping to preserve I decided to sand the shank and the stem to even things out and to bring the shank into round. I used 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess briar and to shape the taper on the stem. I sanded the stem as well to remove the softened oxidation and make the cleanup simpler.

I set up a topping board and anchored a piece of 220 grit sandpaper on the surface to provide a flat straight surface to sand the top on. I twisted the top into the sandpaper in a clockwise motion to remove the tars and rim damage on the bowl.

I wiped down the surface of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grimy buildup on the finish. The black tarry substance took some elbow grease and hard scrubbing to remove. The inner rim would need some work to bring it back into round but that would wait until after I reamed the pipe.

I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper and medium and fine grit sanding sponges to further remove the finish and the grime. I worked on the inner edge of the rim with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bevel the inner edge into the bowl. This minimizes the appearance of the bowl being out of round. It also removes burn damage and smooths the look of the rim as a whole.

I decided to try something different on this bowl in terms of stain. It had some great cross grain and some nice birdseye grain that I wanted to highlight. It also had some ugly pink fills that I did not want to pick out and refill. This led me to try a black aniline stain. Before I stained it I used a black permanent marker – a sharpie to line through the pink fills. I blended them into the grain of the wood with the pen. I heated the bowl with the heat gun to open the grain and then applied several coats of black aniline stain, flaming the stain between each application. Once the stain was dry I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol on cotton pads and then sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding block. I wanted to remove the black stain from the higher/harder areas of the briar while leaving it in the grain patterns.

I sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge and then wiped it down with isopropyl alcohol to remove the dust. I remarked the fills with the black Sharpie. In the four photos below the marked fills are visible and the finish has about all the black removed that I wanted to take off.

I rubbed the bowl down with Olive oil on a paper towel and rubbed it into the finish. I sanded the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-2400 grit, while the oil was wet as the oil gives the pads a bit more bite. I worked on the marked areas to blend them in with the sanding pads. I also sanded the stem with the micromesh sanding pads and the Olive oil at the same time. The next four photos show the finish after it had dried over night. I then buffed it on my buffer with White Diamond and gave the bowl several coats of carnauba wax. You can see how well the black sharpie blended into the finish. The pink fills have all but disappeared in the finish.

I sanded the stem with my usual array of micromesh – the difference this time was all pads were used to dry sand the stem – 1500-12,000 grit. In between each grit I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the vulcanite before sanding with the next grit pad. Once I had finished with all grits I gave the stem a final rub down with the Obsidian Oil.

I gave the pipe several more coats of carnauba wax on the buffer and then buffed it with a soft flannel buff to bring out the shine. I was aiming for a stem shape similar to what I had seen on the Castello 55 shape and wanted that slight bend downward in the final look. While the pipe is certainly no Castello, I like the final look of the stem and the bowl. It certainly has come a long way from the bowl that came in the lot I received in the mail. This one should make a good addition to someone’s rack once it leaves here. The next four photos show the finished pipe.

It looked like someone took a saw to the bowl on this one – A Bruyere Garantie Lovat Restored

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This bowl came to me showing a lot of promise but also a lot of damage. It was like someone had sawed at the bowl on the side near the shank. The cuts were more than mere flaws in the briar as they were very jagged and broken inside the cuts. There were what looked like tooth marks in the grooves. I debated on rusticating it but there was something about the challenge that made we work at ways to make it smooth once again. The inside of the bowl was in great shape. There was one damaged spot on the inside edge of the rim on the right side of the bowl. The bowl had tobacco still in it and the top of the rim was tarred and caked. There were multiple nicks in the finish all the way around the bowl but the majority of those were in line with the deep grooves. The bowl came without a stem and the shank had a nick out of the end making a clean fit almost impossible. There were no cracks in the shank so no damage in that way. The stamping on the pipe is Bruyere in a curved banner – unfurled in an arch on the left side of the shank and underneath it is stamped Garantie. The banner also seems to go across a three pointed crown that is visible underneath the banner.

I found a precast stem in my can of stems that was close to the right diameter to the shank and turned the tenon with a PIMO Tenon Turner and then fit it in the shank. I used a Dremel to remove the excess rubber along the edges and end of the cast.

I sanded the stem and the shank to achieve a good smooth transition between the two. In the process I was curious as to what the shank would look like with a band so I slid a band part way on and fit the stem in place to have a look.

I liked the look of the band so I removed it and sanded the stem to fit smoothly against the shank. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper. (I have found that lower grits, courser sandpaper just makes for more scratches and is counterproductive when I am working toward refinishing the bowl.

Once I had the fit right and the transition smooth I cleaned off the shank with isopropyl alcohol and then rubbed on some white glue I heated the band and pressed it in place. With the band in place I took the bowl back to my work table and did a light topping as the outer edges of the bowl were more damaged than I thought. I wanted a good clean rim to go with the pipe once I had stripped and refinished it.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took it back to bare wood all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish. I wanted it clean of debris and grime as well as stain so that I could do the repair. I used the dental pick to clean out the edges of the two large cut marks and the smaller chatter in the briar as well. None of them actually were fills but rather gouges in the briar. I roughened the edges and wiped it down a final time with the acetone and cotton pads.

I packed the cuts and nicks with briar dust and tamped it into place with the curved head or a pipe nail and also with the dental pick. Once they were full I dripped super glue into the grooves. I then packed more briar dust into the grooves, over filling them. I always put far more briar dust in the grooves than necessary to get good tight fills in the holes. I figure I can pack once and sand it back to the surface of the bowl instead of doing the pack two or three times. At this point in the process the photos show the pipe as a serious mess. I always wonder if I will be able to clean it up or if I had just made it a mess for nothing.

I sanded the repairs and the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess material on the surface of the bowl. I followed that by sanding with a medium grit sanding block. The repairs are visible in the photos below as a solid dark brown/black coloured fill.

I sanded the bowl further with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the scratches in the surface of the bowl. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth things out even more. I wanted the surface of the repairs to be smooth with the rest of the briar on the bowl. Once the sanding was finished I wiped the bowl down with some isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to clean off the dust.

I decided to give the bowl several coats of an oxblood stain that was slightly more opaque than my normal aniline stain. It is a stain that is used on kitchen cabinets and surfaces that food comes into contact with so I believe it is safe once it is dry.

I wiped the bowl down with a soft cotton cloth to remove the excess stain and then restained it a second time. I repeated the staining until the coverage was even and clear.

I worked on the stem some more with medium and fine grit sanding sponges and then with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200- 12,000 grit pads.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it soak in. I looked over the bowl again and decided to give it a top coat of a walnut brown stain. I felt that it might add some darker highlights to the repaired areas and make them less noticeable. I applied the stain, flamed it, restain and reflamed it and then buffed the bowl and the stem with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the whole pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax and then a final buff with a soft flannel buff to add a polish. The next four photos show the finished pipe. While the flaws/cuts are still visible they are no longer deep gashes in the wood. Rather they give a sense of character to the pipe and overall it is ready to go and last a long time delivering a quality smoke.

I took the final photo to give a close up view of the repaired gashes on the bowl. Though visible they are now smooth to the touch and solid and unmovable.

Learning something new while repurposing this damaged pipe bowl – adding a shank extension.

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Blog by Steve Laug

One of the pipe bowls I was recently gifted was an unsmoked Mastercraft Drysmoke bowl that had the shank cut back to half of its original length. The cutback was done poorly – crooked cut with a dull saw. It had cut right through the stamping on both sides of the shank and was crooked.

The bowl had a very heavy coat of urethane on it as well. There was some nice grain on part of the bowl but the bottom had some hack marks where it looked like the saw had jumped. I took some time to look it over and try to figure out what I was going to do with it. I was not sure and looked at the end of the cut off. I knew I would have to face the end of the shank to even things up no matter what I did with it. I could easily have just drilled the mortise large and cut a new stem for it. It would have ended up a short shank billiard and that would have been fine. However in the midst of the review I decided that it was time to learn something new. I have always wanted to learn how to do shank extensions so I figured this was a great candidate for my schooling. I flattened the end of the shank squaring it like I do when topping a bowl. I had an old vulcanite shank extension I scavenged somewhere. I had played around with it and sanded away part of the end that faced on the shank of the pipe before I threw it in my parts box. It was a mess as it was but it might just work. I also had some white Delrin tenon material that would work well. I had already turned it almost to the correct size with my Dremel and sanding drum. Maybe these parts would all come together and help me craft something different. What the heck it was worth a try and I would learn a lot in the process.

The photo above shows all the parts laid out for the connection. I faced the end of the shank using a sanding board in the same manner I used to top a bowl rim. It took a bit of work and focus to get it flattened out and perfectly horizontal. (Oh to have a lathe to do this kind of thing.) I used the Dremel with the sanding drum to fine tune the diameter of the Delrin so that it would fit well in both the end of the cut of shank and the vulcanite extension. I wanted the two parts to face smoothly against each other. I put it together to make sure I had the fit right

I put glue on the end of the tenon and pressed it into the shank and then repeated the process and pressed the extension in place. The fit against each other was exactly what I wanted. I ran some superglue in the joint between the two materials and when it dried I would sand it down. I had an old stem that had the right tenon size and inserted it to have a look. I wanted to see what the newly glued shank extension would look like with a stem in place. The joint looked good and a stick bit stem would work well when I got to that point in the process.

I removed the excess material of the extension with the Dremel and sanding drum and a lot of hand sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted to make the extension slightly flared and the transition between the shank and the extension smooth and seamless. I was going for a taper back from the bowl to the end of the shank. I also wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the urethane finish. It was a tough go so I sanded the bowl and shank. I decided to not worry about sanding the partial stamping that was left on the shank as it was no longer a Mastercraft pipe at this point.

In the process of adding the Delrin I noticed that there was a crack in the shank on the right side of the pipe. It was present before I inserted the tenon, but the insert opened it up. I dripped some super glue in the crack before I put the Delrin insert in place. I knew that the insertion of the tube in the shank from the cut end to the end of the airway would give strength to the repair and also remove the pressure on the shank. I also knew that there would no more stress on the crack once the extension and tube was in place. After sanding the shank and extension I did some cosmetic work on the crack and filled it with superglue and briar dust. Once it was dry I sanded that area of the shank until it was smooth.

With the crack and repair being very visible and knowing that it would not disappear in the stain I decided to rusticate the shank and the bowl bottom. I did not worry about the visibility of the repair as the entire pipe is a repair job. I have been reading a lot about John Calich and his use of rustication and smooth finishes in the same pipe and the contrast stains to highlight the transition between finishes so I decided to try that out with this bowl. I wanted a thin band of smooth briar around the joint so I taped off the area and did the rustication with my modified Philips screwdriver. I rusticated the shank and the bottom of the bowl. I used a brass bristle tire brush to go over the rustication and knock off the rough areas. I buffed it with red Tripoli to further smooth out the rustication slightly.

I stained the bowl bottom with black aniline stain and flamed it. I repeated the staining and flaming until I had a good even coverage on the rusticated portion of the bowl. I cleaned up the smooth areas next to the stained rustication with sandpaper to remove the slight bleed from the black stain. I wiped those areas down with acetone on a cotton swab to clean the transition areas.

I found the stem I wanted to use in my can of stems. It was a slender military bit with a slight taper. I liked the look of the stem. I put it in place for the next photos. It is not stuck deeply enough into the mortise because of the taper to the end of the stem. It will need to be turned down slightly to get a good snug fit deep in the mortise.

Before going to bed last evening I rubbed down the bowl and stem with Olive oil. I wanted it to penetrate the vulcanite extension, stem and the bowl (smooth and rusticated portions) to give a bit more life to the rubber and the briar. This morning when I got up I worked on the end of the stem to get a deeper fit into the mortise. I used the PIMO tenon turning tool adjusted as small as possible and turned the first inch of the stem to get a tenon. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to bring it down to the diameter of the inside of the mortise. The next two photos show the stem sanded enough to go half way into the mortise. It would take a lot more sanding before it sat against the end of the mortise.

Ah progress! Got the stem fit right – it is snug and deep in the mortise now. I sanded the tenon until it fit well. I also sanded the transition from the end of the tenon to the taper on the rest of the stem. I wanted the fit against the shank extension to be snug without the edges of the tenon showing when the stem was in place. This pipe has turned out to be a great lesson for me in the school of pipe repair up to this point. I am looking forward to “graduating” from this project at this point.

I sanded the bowl, the smooth band at the union of the extension and the briar and the vulcanite of the stem and extension with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads to remove any scratches in the briar and the shank extension from sanding with the fine grit sanding sponges. The photos below show the bowl and stem after I had sanded them with the early grits of micromesh. I wiped down the bowl and the stem with a cotton cloth and then rubbed Obsidian Oil into the vulcanite extension and stem.

I stained the smooth parts of the bowl and shank with a cherry stain using a cotton swab and wiped it off with a soft cloth. I hand buffed the bowl and shank with a shoe brush to give it a quick polish.

Once that was finished I continued to sand the stem with the micromesh sanding pads. I had already wet sanded the extension and the stem with the earlier grits of pad so now it was time to dry sand them with the remaining pads – 3200-12,000 grit.

When I finished sanding with the micromesh sanding pads I rubbed the vulcanite extension and stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it was dry gave the stem, extension and smooth portions of the pipe a buff with White Diamond. I gave the smooth areas of the pipe and the vulcanite multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed with a soft flannel buff to give it a shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has come a long way from the cut off bowl that I started with in the beginning of this restoration. I think rather than restoring this one I have actually repurposed a bowl – a phoenix rising from the ashes. Now I have another new pipe to fire up and try out later today.