Tag Archives: restemming a pipe

New Life to an Aarhus?? Unique

I have no idea what the final letters of the name on this pipe are supposed to be. The shank had been poorly cut off and there were two cracks, one on each side. It is stamped Aarhus over Made in France on the left side of the shank and the number 6 on the right side. The walls of the shank were quite thin. The bowl top was caked and dirt. The bowl was caked and needing cleaning. There was no stem on the bowl. The finish on the pipe was worn and dirty. There were two small sandpits that had been patched with white putty that had fallen out and left two white spots on the bowl. The shape of the pipe is what interested me. It has a pencil shank and the bowl tapers to a ridge on the front and the back. The bowl is also canted toward the front similar to a cutty and from the top is almond shaped. It is a uniquely interesting shape. The grain on this one is quite nice – birdseye front and back and cross grain on the sides. It does not quite align with the cut of the bowl but is very close. The pipe was a part of the lot that I have been working on lately – a purchase from EBay of 12+ pipe bowls that needed to be stemmed. The first series of four photos below show the state of the bowl when I began. The final photo of the four gives a closer look at the mortise and the thinness of the walls of the shank. Note the notches out of the end that give evidence of the shortening of the shank. In the photo I also included the stem that I took out of my can of stems and turned the tenon on.

The next three photos show the stamping on the shank and the angle of the cut of portion. It actually cut off the last letter or letters of Aarhus (pipe brand) and the E of France. The third photo shows the crack on the left side of the shank. There was a matching crack on the right side as well.

I reamed the pipe and then topped the bowl to remove the damage to the rim and smooth out the surface. I was intending to refinish the pipe anyway so I started with fine grit emery paper to clean off the thick tars on the surface (Photos 1 &2). I then used a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the surface from the scratches of the emery paper (Photo 3).

I worked on the tenon in order to get a good smooth fit in the mortise. In Photo 1 below you can see how I used the stem to open the crack so I could repair it. I dripped in some superglue and squeezed it back together. You can see in Photos 1 and 2 the fit of the stem against the shank. The gap between stem and shank shows the angular cut that had been done on the shank. There were also small pieces of briar missing on the bottom edge of the shank. The end was rough and with the cracks left no choice but to band it. (In the photos there are some chunks of briar. These were inside of a band that I was cleaning up to reuse on the tenon of this pipe.)

I set up my heat gun and placed the band on the end of the shank. It was a tight band and I was able to just insert the edge in the band so that I could heat the band for pressure fitting it on the shank. The next four photos show the heating of the band and the metal plate that I use to press it into place on the shank. I heated it and pressed it on in three different increments as the band cooled before it would go all the way into place.

The next two photos show the newly banded shank. In the second photo you can also see the white putty fill about half way down the side of the bowl.

I finished fitting the stem on the pipe and sanded down the slag from the edges and end of the stem. I also wiped down the bowl with acetone. It had a coating of varnish on it that was crackling and also did not allow me to rework the fills properly. Once I had it wiped down I picked out the white putty in the two fills that were present with a dental pick and wiped down the bowl again with the acetone. The fills were on the right side mid bowl and on the left side at the bottom of the shank bowl junction.

I sanded the bowl and shank with 320 grit sandpaper and then a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish completely. The next three photos show the sanded bowl and shank. The grain was quite nice on the pipe. The dark stain had hidden it pretty well. I was beginning to think about not restaining the bowl but leaving it with the remaining colour and polishing and buffing it. Time would tell.

I packed briar dust into the clean sandpit areas on the pipe and then dripped superglue on top of the briar dust. The next two close up photos of the bowl show the patches before I sanded away the excess and cleaned them up to match the surface of the briar.

I used 320 grit sandpaper to remove the excess that was shown in the above photos and smooth out the surface. I followed that by sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge. The next four photos show the replaced fills. There were also some dark stains on the bowl that I wanted to work on. I continued to sand the bowl as a whole with the sanding sponge to minimize the dark stain marks on the briar. The colour of the briar is really starting to look great.

I then sanded the bowl and the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wanted to remove the scratches and begin to develop a shine. I wet sanded with the 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then went on to dry sand with the 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. The next 9 photos show the developing shine on the bowl and the stem. I also sanded the nickel band with the micromesh pads.

By the time I finished sanding with the 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pad the bowl looked really good. I decided against restaining it and instead reinserted the stem and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed the entirety lightly with White Diamond to remove any remaining light scratches and to brighten up the shine on both bowl and stem. I then wiped down the stem with Obsidian Oil, and buffed the pipe with carnauba and a soft flannel buff. The final five photos show the finished pipe. It is ready to use. The only remaining question is, “What is the brand? What letters follow Aarhus???” Can any of you help me with that information? It is an unfamiliar brand to me and I can find nothing on the Pipephil Logos and Stampings website or in Who Made that Pipe. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

Restoring a GFB Bent Billiard – Another Reclamation Project

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Blog by Steve Laug

This project was another pipe bowl that was in the lot from EBay. It is a billiard stamped French Briar in script on the left side of the shank and it too was in very rough shape at first glance. It is an old timer. The band on this one was also as badly oxidized as the CPF billiard I wrote of before. It was to the point of being crusty with oxidation and a greenish hue. They were also rough to the touch which led me to believe that they were pitted underneath all of the oxidation. It came stemless but I found a stem of the proper age in my can of stems. The finish was rough, a reddish hue in terms of stain, but there were no deep dings or dents. There was one spot on the right side of the shank near the shank cap where there was a sandpit that had darkened from some bleed off the oxidized shank cap. This one did not have any darkening around the bowl or shank other than the one spot near the sandpit. The shank cap on this one was also loose and when I touched it, it came off (I am glad they stayed on the pipe long enough to arrive here. One of the lot is missing the end cap so that will prove a later challenge. Again after the initial examination I came to see that underneath the grime there was a pretty nice piece of briar. The first series of two photos shows the state of the pipe when I took it to my work bench to begin working on it early this morning.

I cleaned the shank cap the same time I worked on the CPF billiard. I applied the Hagerty Tarnish Remover and scrubbed the cap with a cotton pad. I was able to remove some of the heavy oxidation and darkening but not a significant amount. The next two photos show the process of cleaning the shank cap with the Hagertys.

I dropped the bowl in the alcohol bath with the CPF billiard and let it soak while I work on the CPF pipe. Once it had been sitting in the bath for about an hour I removed it and dried it off.

The next series of four pictures show the pipe after it had been sitting overnight and dried from the alcohol bath. Most of the grime is gone from the outside of the bowl of the pipe and the oxidation on the stem was not fairly smooth – just black and needed to be cleaned. The shank cap also had quite a few dents that would make it a challenge to remove the oxidation.

At this point in the process I decided to bend the stem. It was pretty clean and did not have any oxidation on it. It merely needed to be polished and shined. So I set up my heat gun and the old rolling pin to bend the stem over and went to work on it. The next three photos show the bending process and the finished bend in the stem.

At this point in the process I took the pipe back to the work table and took two more pictures before taking the end cap off the shank and working on the pipe bowl and end cap.

I scrubbed down the shank cap with the Hagertys Tarnish Remover while I had it off of the shank. I also sanded it with my fine grit sanding sponge to remove the heavy buildup of oxidation. It took a lot of elbow grease to clean it off and to avoid damage to the stamping that became apparent in the cleaning of the cap. Once I had it relatively clean I sanded the bowl with the sanding sponge, wiped it down with an acetone wet cotton pad and prepared to reglue the shank cap. I used white glue to reglue the cap. I applied the glue to the shank of the pipe quite heavily as I wanted to close the gap between the cap and the shank. I pushed the cap into place and wipe away the excess glue. The next three photos show that process.

While the glue was drying I picked out the grit from the sandpit on the right side of the shank and repaired it with briar dust and superglue. The photo below shows the filled and repaired sandpit just next to the shank cap. The second photo below shows the newly place end cap and the work that still remained on the nickel/silver (?) shank cap.

I worked on the shank cap once it was dry with micromesh sanding pads. I used 1500 – 2400 to wet sand the cap. It took much elbow grease to get it to the point is at in the four photos shown below.

The GFB stamp on the cap shows up clearly in the photo above and the ones below. There were many small dents in the cap that I was not able to remove. However, I continued to polish the cap with some Neverdull Wool – a cotton product that is impregnated with a tarnish remover. It is soft enough to get into the dents on the cap. I then went on to sand the bowl with the fine grit sanding sponge to clean up the finish. The next six photos show the sanding progress. Once it was finished I wiped the bowl down with some Everclear on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and prepare the surface of the wood for restaining.

I decided to restain the pipe bowl with an oxblood stain to maximize the stain that remained in the briar. I believe the original stain was oxblood coloured so the look would approximate the original finish of the pipe. I applied the stain, flamed it, reapplied it and flamed it a second time. The first two photos below show the pipe after the application of the stain. The next four photos show the pipe after it has been hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth to remove excess stain on the briar. The filled area near the shank cap on the right side is visible and the darkening of the area is also clear.

At this point in the process I set the bowl aside and worked on polishing the stem. I quickly gave it a once over with the fine grit sanding sponge and then worked my way through the micromesh sanding pads from 1500 – 12,000 grit. The next series of eight photos shows the shine that comes to the surface of the vulcanite with each successive grit of micromesh.

I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil and then hand waxed it with some carnauba paste wax that I have in the shop. It is the wax available from Walker Briar Works and I will often hand apply it to the stems at this point in the process and hand buff a shine. I then reassembled the pipe, polished the bowl with a little of the carnauba as well. I hand buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth I use for that purpose. The next four photos show the pipe after this process. I purposely did this on this pipe to see if the wax would cause the area on the right side of the shank that is darker to blend in a bit and be less visible. It seemed to work very well.

Once I was finished with the hand buff and had checked out the dark spot I took the pipe to my buffer. I lightly buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax and a final buff with a soft, clean flannel buffing pad. The next four photos show the finished pipe. It has been brought back to life and should well serve a new generation of pipe smokers. I do believe it will live longer than I do!

As I finished this piece on the GFB pipe I thought I would take some photos of the CPF and the GFB old timers posed together. The next two photos show the pair in their newly found glory. I can’t help but think that this is how they looked when they were purchased by the original owner. I believe that both came from the same pipe smoker so now they are returned to the look that must have caught his eye when he purchased them. The pair look enough alike I wanted you to see them in this pose! A noble pair of old pipes, don’t you agree?

Restored CPF Bent Billiard – A Reclamation Project

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This is the second CPF pipe bowl that was in the lot from EBay. It is a billiard and it was in very rough shape at first glance. It is an old timer. The rim cover and the band were badly oxidized to the point of being crusty with oxidation and a greenish hue. They were also rough to the touch which led me to believe that they were pitted underneath all of the oxidation. It came stemless but I found a stem of the proper age in my can of stems. The finish was rough but there were no deep dings or dents. There was a deep, almost black darkening around the bowl just under the rim cap. The darkening was such that made me think that the oxidation had oozed into the briar and would be interesting to remove from the finish. The same was true of the area around the shank cap. The rim cap originally had a hinged lid on it but that was gone. The shank cap was also loose and when I touched it, it came off. The briar underneath was thick with a reddish coloured glue but was also free of cracks or fissures. It was intact. After the initial examination I came to see that underneath the grime there was a pretty nice piece of briar. The first series of three photos shows the state of the pipe when I took it to my work bench to begin working late yesterday afternoon.

I decided to work on the oxidation on the shank cap and the rim cap. I wanted to see if either one was redeemable. I used a jeweler’s tarnish remover called Hagerty to work on the finish of both. I applied it with a cotton swab and scrubbed it with that until it was dry. Then I wiped it off with a cotton pad. In doing this I saw that the rim cap and the shank cap were both brass. The rim cap had two tears or cracks in it around the hinge that showed up once it was clean. The next two photos show the tarnish remover on the rim and shank caps.

After the initial cleaning of the two I decided to remove the cracked rim cap. This was not as easy as it appears in the photos as it was nailed to the rim and also was pretty tightly bonded with the tars and oils of the tobacco. I used a pair of needle nose pliers and a flat blade screw driver to lift the edge of the cap. I began at the hinge and lifted it from there. It came off with a bit of work and broke at the two nails that held it to the rim mid bowl on each side. The back half of the cap came off in one piece. I was able to lift the front edge carefully using the flat blade of the screw driver to pry the edge and work my way to the front. The nail on the right side came out with the cap while the one on the left side was stuck. I used the flat blade of the screwdriver to lift it from the surface of the rim without scarring the rim and pulled it out with the pliers. Underneath the rim surface was actually smooth and had a slight caking of oils that would come off easily. The two nail holes would need to be filled. The one on the right side of the bowl had been put in at an angle and would take a little more work to repair. The first picture below shows the torn rim cap on the work table next to the pipe bowl. The holes and the state of the rim are also clearly visible. The second picture shows the darkening that seeped down the edges of the bowl from underneath the rim cap.

I used briar dust and superglue to fill the two nail holes. It took several applications to get a smooth and even surface. I packed some briar dust into the nail hole with my dental pick and my finger. I wanted the briar dust to fill the holes so I tamped them down with the dental pick. Then I dripped in the superglue to bind the briar dust to the surrounding area. The first photo below shows the top of the rim after briar dust superglue patch has been done.

After patching the nail holes I worked on the stain line around the bowl. I removed the finish from the bowl with a cotton pad soaked with acetone. I continued to wipe it down until the finish was gone. After that I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge. The next six photos show the sanding process with the sponge. I also sanded the end cap with the sponge being careful around the CPF stamping that I had found under the oxidation.

The dark lines were better after the sanding but still very present. I was able to remove the indentation in the briar from the metal cap to a large degree but the black was stubborn. I decided to soak the bowl in an alcohol bath to see what would come out. I took the shank cap off to work on it while I left the bowl in the bath for about an hour. I was able to remove much of the oxidation on the shank cap. I scrubbed it with the tarnish remover and then sanded it with the micromesh sanding pads using 1500-2400 grit pads.

Once I remove it from the bath I dried it off and the lines were lighter than before. I sanded the bowl some more with the sanding sponge and glued the shank cap on with white glue. I wait to glue it on until I am done with the alcohol and acetone as I found out the hard way the glue is dissolved and has to be redone. After that I reinserted the stem and set up my heat gun to bend the stem to the correct angles. The next four photos show the bending of the stem from its beginning to the final look after bending.

I took it back to the work table and did some more sanding on the bowl especially working on the surface around the top sides near the rim. The black line was stubborn. I wiped it down with white vinegar to see if it would lift any of the stain as I remembered reading about that in an old book on furniture repair on how to remove dark rings from the wood. I also wet a cotton pad with bleach and wiped down the area as well. The result of all that work is evident in the two photos below. It was not going to come out so I sanded it with 1800-3600 grit micromesh sanding pads and then wiped it down with an alcohol dampened cotton pad to remove the surface dust and prepared to stain it. The two photos below show the bowl ready to stain. (Incidentally note the shine on the shank cap. It cleaned up amazingly well.)

I applied an oxblood thick aniline stain for the first coat. I flamed it and reapplied it and flamed it a second time (the first two photos below show the staining of the bowl with the oxblood stain). I then buffed it off to see what I had to work with. The black lines still showed so I restained the bowl around the top edge to see if I could darken that area and mask the black (photos three and four show this process).

I buffed it a second time to see where I was at with the staining. You can see from the next two photos the effect of that restaining around the top of the bowl. It did indeed darken the edge but the line was still visible and I did not like the look of the dark edge. So I buffed it yet again to see if I could smooth out that look a bit more.

I was not happy with the finished look after buffing. The darkening around the edge still showed both in the top edge of the bowl and around the end cap. I decided to restain the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain. So I applied the stain, flamed it and restained and flamed it a second time. The next two photos show the pipe after the stain had been flamed and had dried.

I buffed it to see how the second stain had covered the darkening around the top edge and near the shank cap. I was pleased by the overall look now. It was still there for sure but it certainly was less visible and blended in well with the finish. The next four photos show the pipe after restaining and buffing.

I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads 1500 – 12,000 grit to polish the stem. I put the stem back in the bowl and then took the pipe to the buffer and gave the entire pipe a buff with White Diamond and then gave both the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba. The finished pipe is picture below. It came out very well and the black line around the top edge seems to be less visible. The pipe is restored to a bit of its former glory!

CPF French Briar Bulldog Restemmed and Refurbished

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This morning I decided to start working on one of the pipes that came in the lot of bowls I picked up off of EBay. I chose one of the CPF Bulldogs. It looks to be an old timer. It also looked like it had quite a different look in times past as there were signs of a band on the shank and something around the rim as well. It could well have been the gold/brass filigree that is often seen on these old timers but there is no way of telling for sure. The bowl rim was clean as if once the decoration was removed the briar underneath was raw stain. The bowl itself was also absolutely clean on the inside – taken back to bare briar. Around the inside of the rim there were several small nail holes that looked like they held the rim cap in place. These holes were also on the outside as well though they had all been patched. The shank was cracked and repaired. The repair looks to be old and may well have been under the band that had disappeared. The mortise was originally threaded but that had been drilled almost smooth. I had a stem in my box of stem that would fit with a little work. It was the right size and the angles on the diamond matched those on the stem – a rare feat to be sure. I would not have to do much sanding to bring it fit well. The finish was clean but there were lines on the bowl and the shank from the cap and band. The stamping was clear – CPF in an oval with French above and Briar below. It had a gold paint that had been applied to the stamping and it was very clean. The series of three photos below show the condition of the pipe and the new stem when I began this morning.

I asked Robert Boughton about the CPF brand stamp as he is currently refurbishing an old CPF Meerschaum and had done work on the brand. He sent me the following information:
“Chuck (Richards) assigned to me the challenge of finding out what CPF stood for and anything else I could learn… I found conclusive evidence that despite several other names associated with CPF, it indeed stands for Colossus Pipe Factory…Below are the links I sent to Chuck at the time and a few more. But again, it’s nothing Chuck didn’t already know. He also knew it would be good experience for me and that I would enjoy the task! Indeed, I was proud of my findings!”

http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=C…s_Pipe_Factory Bottom of center row of newspaper clip
http://www.google.com/search?q=colos…w=1600&bih=658
http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c1.html See CPF — includes briars
http://pipesmokersforum.com/communit…ing-one.10858/
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedi…pipe-287735110
http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/es…oduct_id=74274

With that information in hand, thanks to Robert, I went to work on this older American bulldog to bring it back to life. I had an old nickel band that fit pretty well to the shank. It was shorter than the original band but it covered the repair in the shank. I heated it and pressure fit it to the shank. It was a bit dented and would need to be straightened once it was in place. I then worked on the stem to get it fit the shank and band connection. I used medium grit emery paper to remove some of the vulcanite to get the sides and angles of the stem to match the shank. This had to be done carefully so as not to change the angles. Each side had to have the same amount of material removed to keep the diamond angles even. The next series of four photos show the stem after it has been shaped and sanded to match the shank and the band.

I cleaned out the inside of the stem as it was very dirty. I had sanded down most of the oxidation and the calcification on the stem earlier but needed to work on that some more. I also used a dental pick to clean out the slot as it was packed tightly on both sides of a small centre hole what was left. I finished sanding with medium grit emery cloth and move on to 320 grit sandpaper to begin to work on the scratches in the stem. The next three photos show the stem after sanding with the emery paper (photo 1) and then the 320 grit sandpaper (photo 2-3).

At this point in the process I decided to bend the stem to get the flow of the pipe correct. In retrospect I could have waited until I had polished the stem to do the bend. But I was curious to see the look of the bent stem on the pipe bowl so I set up my heat gun and carried the stem to the gun. I have been using a hardwood rolling pin that my wife discarded as the curves to bend the stem over. I find that using this keeps the bend straight and also gives me the degree of curve I wanted. I adjust the curve by where I put the stem on the pin to bend it. I use low heat on my heat gun and move the stem quickly over the heat about 3 inches above the tip. It does not take long to heat it to the point it is ready to bend and then I lay it over the pin and bend it. I hold it in place until it cools enough to set the bend. The next series of three photos show my set up for bending the stem.

I then decided to work on the bowl of the pipe. I wiped it down with acetone on a cotton pad being careful to avoid the gold stamping in the shank. I also sanded the line around the rim and the shank with 320 grit sandpaper and then with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to try to minimize the line around both points. I used a flat tip screw driver blade as a smooth surface to hammer out the dents and rough spots on the band. I also laid the shank flat on a board and used the screw driver tip to smooth the inside edge of the band and square up the corners of the diamond. The next series of six photos show that process. I finished by inserting the stem and continuing to smooth out the band.

I wiped the bowl down with another acetone wetted cotton pad to remove the sanding dust from the bowl and the rings around the bowl. I used a dental pick and retraced the rings to clean them out as well of previous wax and dirt that catches in those spots. The photo below shows the pipe bowl ready to restain.

Before staining I worked on the stem some more to smooth out the remaining scratches and bring it to a shine. I used micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to bring the stem to a glossy finish. The next twelve photos show the progress shine developing after each successive grit of micromesh sanding pad was used.

Once the stem was done I was ready to stain the pipe. I used an oxblood aniline stain to restain the pipe. I applied it with a cotton swab, flamed it, restained and flamed it a second time. The next two photos show the bowl with the oxblood stain applied just before I flamed it. Once I had flamed it I took it to the buffer and buffed it with White Diamond.

After I buffed it with White Diamond I gave it repeated buffing with carnauba wax to protect the stem and the bowl. The next four photos show the finished pipe.

Repairing a Stem on a Dr. Grabow Grand Duke with Black Superglue

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I took on this project to demonstrate how I use black superglue to repair deep bit marks/bite throughs on vulcanite stems. I had this old Grabow stummel in my box and I found a stem that looked good on the bowl. The bowl had a small hairline crack in the shank so I pressure fit a band on it for a repair. The bowl needed to be topped so I did that after banding. I restained the top to match the bowl colour. I used a dark brown aniline stain that I mixed with isopropyl alcohol until I got the match I was looking for. I stained and flamed the rim to set the stain. The stem was in pretty rough shape but I decided to use it anyway and take it on as a project. The button was almost gone from the deep bite marks. There were three bite marks on the underside of the stem near the button and on bite mark on the top of the stem. I decided to use the boiling water trick to try to raise the dents as much as possible. These were deep bite marks and the edges were rough so my guess was that they would not come up to the surface with the heat. I then sanded the surface of the stem with medium grit emery paper to remove the surface marks and dents and then smooth out the area of the deep bite marks. I work to have a semi rough surface for the superglue to bond with so I am not sanding it smooth as much as working it over to make it clean. The next three photos show the state of the stem after I had sanded it and readied for patching.

Once I had sanded the surface smooth I used my needle files to recut the sharp edge of the button and rework the flow and angles of the button. I also used the needle files to carve the surface of the stem and provide a gentle slope to the new button area. I have found that often when recutting the button and defining its shape it is easy to cut a trough and make a hump in front of the newly shaped button so I always start about half way up the stem and use the file to change the taper to flow to the edge of the button. This served the dual purpose of removing high spots on the bite marks and to help identify the actual holes that would need to be patched. The next two photos show the file work on the stem.

Once I had the slope correct and the button shaped I put the stem in the ebony block I had drilled with a mortise to allow me to sand the rest of the stem without rounding the shoulders of the stem. I wanted the stem shank junction to be smooth and well fit. I also wanted the oxidation removed from the stem before I patched it with the superglue. I did not want the oxidation to remain in the holes that I would patch or on the surface of the stem. I sanded it down and removed the oxidation. I spent extra time around the bite marks. I also picked out any loose debris in the marks with a dental pick and then wiped it down with alcohol to remove the dust and provide a clean surface for my patch work.

The next series of three photos show the patch in place. I use black superglue that I pick up from Stewart-Macdonald http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Glues,_adhesives/Stewart-MacDonald_Super_Glues.html I have found that it really works well. I drip it on the cleaned hole and make a bubble of superglue. This particular glue dries slowly so I do one side of the stem at a time. I let it dry for over an hour before turning it over and doing the same thing on the other side of the stem. Once I have made the patch I set the stem aside to dry overnight. I do not want to touch it or sand it until it has had that time to cure and become hard. I have tried sanding sooner but always end up patching the holes a second time because of my impatience.

Once the glue has cured and is hard it forms a small bubble of black on the surface of the stem. I sand the bubble flat to the surface and taper of the stem. I use a 320 grit sandpaper to accomplish this sanding. At this point in the process I am not looking for shininess or polish I am only trying to blend the patch into the surface of the stem. The next five photos show the process of sanding down the bubble and the look of the resulting patch on the stem. The tooth marks are gone and in their place is a black patch that with a bit more polishing and sanding with micromesh will blend into the stem well and give a new polished look and comfortable feel to the stem.

The underside of the stem. Notice the patch near the button after sanding with 320 grit sandpaper. The patch on the underside is larger than the one on top but it not as deep.

The bubble of black superglue on the top of the stem. The white dust on the stem is not a problem as the bubble is dry at this point and ready to sand.

The top side of the stem after the initial sanding of the bubble. It is almost smooth and needs to be wet sanded with the micromesh sanding pads.

Top side of the stem after the patch has been wet sanded with 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads.

The top side of the stem after the patch has been wet sanded with 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads. There are still scratches that remain in the stem on both the top and the bottom that more sanding will remove. The patch will also blend in better as the stem itself begins to shine.

The next series of photos show the stem as I sand it with the various grits of micromesh sanding pads. Between the 2400 and the 3200 grit sanding pad I scrubbed the stem with Maguiar’s Scratch X2.0 to polish out some of the remaining scratches.

The top side of the stem after wet sanding with 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads.

The underside of the stem after wet sanding with 1800 grit micromesh pads.

The top side of the stem after wet sanding with 2400 grit micromesh pads. The patch is beginning to be harder to see on the surface of the stem.

The underside of the stem after wet sanding with 2400 grit micromesh pads.

The top side of the stem after I polished it with the Maguiar’s Scratch x2.0. The patch is blending in very well on the top side. If you did not know where it was it would be hard to see.

The underside of the stem after polishing with the Maguiar’s. The patch is also beginning to blend in very well on this side of the stem as well.

The top side of the stem after I had dry sanded it with the 3200 grit micromesh pads.

The underside of the stem after dry sanding with the 3200 grit micromesh pads.

Topside of the stem after sanding with 3600 and 4000 grit micromesh pads. The patch is virtually hidden to the camera at this point as the stem begins to shine.

Underside of the stem after sanding with 3600, 4000 grit micromesh pads.

Top side of the stem after sanding with 6000, 8000 and 12,000 grit micromesh pads.

The underside of the stem after sanding with 6000, 8000 and 12,000 grit micromesh.

The next series of four photos show the finished pipe after buffing with carnauba wax and a soft flannel buff to give it a shine. The pipe is restemmed, repaired and ready for it next smoke.

A Little Czech System Pipe Reborn

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I had this little Czechoslovakian rusticated bowl in my box. I decided it was the day to work on it so I took it from the box and gave it the once over to see what needed to be done. The finish was a bit spotty, and the shiny varnish on it was peeling so I dropped it in an alcohol bath to try to break down the finish. The next three photos show the bowl after I had taken it out of the bath. While it was still wet I used a wire brush and some Everclear to scrub the surface of the bowl to remove the flaking finish and the varnish coat. I also topped the bowl to remove the damage that had been done to it from tapping it out. The fourth picture below shows the topped bowl

I went through my can of stems to find one that would fit. I had a nice p-lip style stem stamped WDC Wellington that came from a pipe of similar size and shape. I was able to sand it a little to make a good fit tight fit to the shank. I cleaned up the stem with micromesh sanding pads 1500-12,000 and then gave the stem a polish with Maguiar’s. I sanded it a final time with the 12,000 grit micromesh before wiping it down with Obsidian Oil. The two photos below show the finished stem.

I restained the bowl with dark brown aniline stain, flamed it, restained and flamed it a second time. The restained pipe is shown in the next two photos. Once it was dry I took it to the buffer and buffed the stem and the bowl with White Diamond.

I brought the pipe back to the work table and gave it multiple coats of the Halcyon II wax as I find it does a great job giving rusticated pipes a nice sheen. I also coated the stem with carnauba wax and hand buffed the entire pipe with a shoe shine brush. The hand buffing brought out a nice shine on the pipe.

WDC Waldorf Given a New Look and a New Stem

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Today I decided to pick one of the stummels in my box of pipes that needed to be restemmed. I had cut the tenon a while back when I was restemming a bunch of old pipes I had. This one was in rough shape but I like the general shape of it. It is stamped WDC in a Triangle (William Demuth Pipe Company) and next to that is stamped WALDORF over Imported Briar. There is no other stamping on the pipe. According to Phil’s Pipe Logos and Markings website, http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-w1.html the Waldorf is a second’s line of the WDC brand. Not sure but that is interesting to note. This one was in rough shape. The bowl was badly caked and the rim was tarry and charred with a notch out of the briar near the front of the bowl. The finish was rough, blackened and the varnish coat was peeling. The bowl also had a large number of fills on the front and both sides. These were the ugly pink putty fills. I cut a tenon and roughed a stem to fit the bowl. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when I began to work on it today.

I decided to work on the fit of the stem first and trim it down to size. I took it to my work table where I keep my Dremel. I have the larger sanding drum on the Dremel and I have found that run at a medium speed it works well to trim down the stems to fit the shanks. I work carefully so that I do not damage the shank or cut too deeply into the stem. The next seven photos show the work on the stem and the progress from the pictures above to the last photo in the seven. I always work to get the stem as close to the diameter of the shank as I can so that I have less work to do with the sandpaper. Note also the visible fills in the bowl. They would make it a natural candidate for rustication when I got to that point.

The next five photos show the sanding progress on the stem. I kept in on the shank to reduce the risk of rounding the edges/shoulders on the stem. I worked with a medium grit emery paper and 240 and 340 grit sandpaper. When I get to this point in the shaping of the stem I work to remove the excess vulcanite more slowly and work at removing the scratches left by the Dremel. The fills are very visible in these photos as is the shiny varnish finish on the pipe.

I am working on a block to hold the stem while I do the shaping sanding on them. I drilled out a small block of ebony that I have here to the size of the tenon and inserted the stem in the block. Then I can work the edge of the stem and not risk rounding the shoulders. This is still in the experimental stages and I have already decided on some significant improvements. I hold the stem tight against the block and work the folded sandpaper against the block to smooth out that part of the stem. The next three photos give the idea that is in its infancy stage. There will be more to come on this process in the days ahead.

Once the stem was round and even – there were no bulges or dips in the line of the stem – I moved to the bowl. I decided to top it to get rid of the gouged out spot and to clean up the tars and burn to the rim. I set up my sandpaper (medium grit emery paper in this case to start with) on my flat board and began to twist the bowl against the paper in a clockwise direction. The next seven photos show the progress of the topping. I clean off the sandpaper regularly throughout the sanding and collect it in the wooden box that is pictured in these photos. It is this briar dust that I use for replacing the putty fills in the pipes that I work on. The final photo in the set shows a sanding sponge (medium grit) that I use to finish topping the bowl and to remove the scratches left by the emery cloth.

After topping the bowl I wiped the outside of the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad. I wanted to break up the crackled finish that is visible above and also remove the darkening and grime on the top edges of the bowl. The next five photos show the progress in removing the finish on the pipe. Once it is gone you can clearly see the fills and also understand why I have chosen to rusticate this pipe.

With the finish removed (maybe unnecessary for some, but I wanted a clean surface to rusticate) I brought out the tools that I use for rusticating a pipe. I will often use a small hack saw or coping saw to scar the surface of the bowl before using the modified Philips screwdriver that is my main rusticator. The first picture below shows the pipe and the tools ready to use. I used the saw for a few strokes and decided to skip that step and go with the screwdriver alone. The eleven photos following show the process and progress of the rustication. I generally work on one side at a time. I push the rim against the table top and rusticate the side from the rim edge to the bottom of the bowl. I work my way around the pipe, from the side to the back, to the opposite side to the front of the bowl. On this pipe I decided to leave the shank and the rim smooth as they had no fills and I liked the look of the partial rustication.

Once the rustication was done the first time I went over it a second time with the rusticator and removed more briar and made the cuts deeper. The next series of five photos show the finished rustication. At this point I was ready to work on the shank stem junction and smooth it out.

I sanded the rim, the shank and the stem with 240 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining finish on the bowl and to begin to even out the transition between the shank and the stem. I find it is easier when I am reworking a whole pipe to treat it as if it is a new pipe that I am working on fitting a stem. That way I can sand the entirety as a unit instead of in parts. You have to be careful during this process as the hardness of the briar and the hardness of the vulcanite are different and you can easily remove too much from the shank. The next four photos show the clean and unfinished pipe. The briar is clean and sanded. I used the 240 and 320 grit sandpaper and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish and the scratches. I wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone dampened cotton pad to clean off the dust and ready the pipe for a new stain coat.

I decided to use a dark brown aniline stain for the finish on this pipe. I had learned from experience that I liked the way the dark brown settled into the crevices of the rustication and how it would be able to be washed to a lighter colour for contrast on the shank and the rim. I applied the stain with a dauber, as usual I start on the bottom of the bowl and let the stain run upward to the rim and finish with the rim. I flamed it, restained it, and flamed it again. I restain the rim several times to get good coverage and flow down the rusticated outer edges of the rim. The next five photos show the pipe after it has been stained and before I took it to the buffer.

The next series of three photos show the pipe after I buffed it with Tripoli and White Diamond. I also buffed the stem to get an idea of the depth of the scratches and the work that needed to be done. The stain on the rustication came out nicely with a flat finish at this point. I like the depth that it gives the finish. The shank and the rim are a shade lighter after buffing and there is a dark edge at the bowl shank angle. The shank and the rim would need some work to even out the stain and give it a uniform contrasting colour.

I then went to work on the stem with the micromesh sanding pads. The next nine photos show the progress in polishing the stem and the shank and rim using 1500, 1800 and 2400 grit sanding pads. I wet sanded with these grits, wetting the pad and then sanding and wiping the stem and shank down before going on to the next grit. I was able to even out the stain on the shank and the bowl rim and blend them well with the edges and also remove many of the scratches in the stem.

I went on to dry sand the stem with the rest of the micromesh sanding pads from 3200-12,000 grit. Each successive pad gave the stem more of a polish. When I had finished that I applied a coat of Maguiar’s Scratch X2.0 with my finger and scrubbed it off with a cotton pad and polished it to the shine that is shown below. Before finishing I sanded it a final time with the 12,000 grit micromesh pad and then gave it a coat of Obsidian Oil. The next four photos show the pipe just before I took it to the buffer for a final buff.

After buffing the pipe I was pleased that the original red stain came through the dark brown and gave the pipe a real contrast look. The finished pipe is pictured in the four photos below. It has a great feel in the hand and the rustication is tactile with the high spots showing dark and the valleys showing a lighter brown. The rim and the shank came out exactly how I wanted them and provide a contrast to the rustic bowl of the pipe. The stem is smooth and shiny and the pipe is ready for its new life.

Restemmed and Refurbish Savinelli Duca Carlo

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Blog by Steve Laug

I picked up a Duca Carlo in utter ignorance on EBay the other day. I was not familiar with the brand and only later found out it was a Savinelli. The seller’s photograph are worse than mine so I was not sure what I was getting but decided to take a chance on it. I picked it up for very little so I figured I had nothing to lose. The first series of out of focus photos show the pipe as it appeared in the seller’s advert on EBay. The grain looked like it had potential to me and the rest of the pipe appeared to be in workable shape. Once it got here I would have a better idea of what work would need to be done.

The first photo below shows the pipe after I took it out of the box it came in and put it on my work table. It was definitely in need of a ream and clean. The bottom of the bowl was dusty but had no cake on it. The upper portion of the bowl had an uneven cake. The rim was tarred and oily but there were no dents in the rim or on the rest of the bowl for that matter. The shank had a small hairline crack on the right side. It is next to the fill on the shank that is visible in the photo below. Fortunately this was the only fill I found in the bowl. It was not a bad piece of briar. There are a few bald spots on the bottom of the bowl but there is also some nice grain both birdseye and flame on the sides, front and back of the bowl and also on the shank. The shank and the bottom of the bowl had some cobwebs in it like it had been sitting in storage for a while. I blew out the dust bunnies and then pulled out a stem from my box of stems. It did not have a tenon so I screwed in a delrin tenon into the drilled out hole in the stem. The shank of the Duca Carlo was also drilled for a filter but I decided since I was restemming it and putting a new tenon on the stem I would make it fit without a filter.

I needed to remove a lot of the delrin from the diameter of the tenon to get a proper fit. The tenon was too large for my Pimo Tenon Turner so I had to do the shaping by hand with files and my Dremel. The next two photos show the shaping process of the tenon. I used a rasp to take of as much of the material as I thought practical. I then used the sanding drum on the Dremel to smooth out the tooth marks from the rasp. I finally used medium grit Emery paper to take down the remainder of the tenon.

Once I had it sanded to fit I inserted it in the mortise to check the hairline crack. In the photo below I have it partially inserted and the crack is visible next to the fill on the shank. It was not a large or serious crack but in inspecting it I found one on the underside of the shank as well on the opposite edge. This made it necessary for me to band the shank to maintain the integrity of the pipe.

I sorted through my box of bands and found one that would give a good tight fit to the shank. It is a nickel band and once heated and pressure fit on the shank it would give the strength to the shank. The next three photos show the banding process from choosing the band to pressure fitting it on the shank.

After banding the shank I inserted the stem in the shank and it fit well. It was snug and fit against the end of the shank cleanly. It was a bit larger in diameter than the shank so I sanded it with the emery paper to remove the excess material on the stem. The next three photos show the progress of fitting the stem against the shank.

I reamed the bowl with my T handle Pipnet reamer and blade heads. It was an easy ream as the bottom half of the bowl was clear briar. The Pipnet reamer must be carefully inserted and turned so as not to make the bowl out of round or damage the bowl.

After reaming I decided to clean off the tars and oils on the rim. I used a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the grime as seen in the first picture below. I then wiped down the bowl and rim with acetone on a cotton pad as can be seen in the second and third photo below. I found that cleaning off the grime and the dark parts of the bowl revealed some really nice grain on the pipe.

The next three photos show the bowl after the wipe down with acetone and the stem after sanding with the medium grit sanding sponge. The fit is getting very close to being what I was looking for. I am still not sure about the bend in the stem. It fits well in the mouth but I may heat and rebend it. I will see once I am finished with the pipe.

I restained the bowl and rim with dark brown aniline stain. I applied it with the dauber and then flamed it with a match, restained and reflamed it. The next three photos show the freshly stained bowl after I flamed it. Once it was dry I took it to my buffer and buffed the bowl with Tripoli to polish and remove the excess stain.

Even after buffing the stain was too dark for me. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to lighten the stain. The next series of three photos show the bowl after I had wiped it down with the acetone. The colour was what I wanted. It would polish up very well.

I set the bowl aside after this and went to work on the stem with the micromesh sanding pads. The next nine photos show the polishing process with the micromesh pads and the Maguiar’s Scratch X 2.0. I began dry sanding the stem with 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads. After that I polished the stem with the Maguiar’s before working through the rest of the micromesh grits 1800-12,000. After the final sanding I polished it a second time with the Maguiar’s and then gave it a buff with White Diamond. I brought it back to the work table and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil and then coated it with some carnauba wax. For much of the final sanding I worked with the stem on the shank so as not to round the shoulders of the stem.

When I had the scratches worked out of the stem I buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond and then several coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe can be seen in the photos below. I decided not to rebend the stem but to leave it for now and see how it feels when smoking it. I can rebend it at any time should I choose. The final four photos show the finished pipe. This was a pretty straightforward refurb, it took me about three hours to restem and refinish the pipe.

Restemming an Old Bruyere Garantie Billiard

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This is yet another of the bowls that was in my box of stummels. It is stamped Bruyere over Garantie on the left side of the shank with no other stamping. The bowl was badly caked with an crumbling, uneven cake. The cake was thicker at the top of the bowl than in the bottom of the bowl. The rim was also caked with oils and hardened tars. It was also dented and had a slight burn mark at about 12 o’clock on the front of the bowl. The shank was misshapen and out of round where it met the stem. It was almost as if someone had sanded the previous shank to meet the stem. There was a large fill on the back side of the bowl near the shank bowl junction. The finish had a coat of lacquer or varnish on it. I fit a tenon to the shank and worked on the stem to be a good tight fit to the bowl. The next series of four photos show the newly turned tenon and the shape of the shank at the shank stem junction.

Once I had the tenon cut and sanded to a good snug fit I inserted it in the shank. The first two photos below show the fit of the stem to the shank. You can also see the taper on the on the shank that shows the misshaped nature of the shank. The stem fit very well but was much larger in diameter than the shank. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to remove the excess diameter of the stem. The next series of six photos show the progress of removing the excess vulcanite with the sanding drum. The final photo of the six shows the newly formed fit of the stem to the shank. The taper on the shank is bothersome so that I wanted to have to address that issue before I finished the final fitting of the stem.

Once I had the stem fitting well I decided to band the shank to even out the flow and roundness of the shank. A wide nickel band would fit the shank well and flatten out the shank taper. I wanted an even flow from the shank bowl junction to the stem. The look of the taper on the shank was something that bothered me and that I decided to minimize with the band. The next five photos show the process and results of banding. I heated the band and then pressure fit it onto the shank. I then used some superglue to fill in the vacant areas in the inner diameter of the band. The final photo in the series shows an end view of the band on the shank.

The next three photos show the fit of the new stem to the shank. The band sets off the stem shank junction well. The taper of the stem works very well in my opinion. More sanding needed to be done in making the fit smooth and the taper correct.

I worked on the stem with medium grit emery cloth to remove the scratches and to even out the taper on the stem and the flow of the sides of the stem from the shank to the button. The next two photos show the stem after sanding the stem.

At this point in the process of fitting the stem I decided to set it aside and work on the bowl of the pipe. I reamed it out using several different bits on the t handle of the Pipnet pipe reamer. I reamed the bowl back to bare wood so that I could rebuild the cake more evenly. The next two photos show the reaming process.

After reaming the bowl I decided to wipe the outside of the bowl down with acetone. I wet a cotton pad with the acetone and scrubbed the outside of the bowl. I also wiped down the rim to soften the tars and build up on the top. The next four photos show the bowl after I had wiped it down multiple times. I wanted to cut through the varnish or topcoat on the bowl so that I could restain it.

The next photo shows the bowl after I had topped it on the board and sandpaper. I was able to remove the damage of the dents and roughness with a minor topping on the sandpaper.

I also decided to remove the putty fill on the back side of the bowl. I picked out the putty with a dental pick. I wiped the bowl down after I had removed the fill to clean out the sandpit. I then picked it clean a second time and wiped it down again as well. Once it was clean I used the dental pick to pack the sandpit with briar dust that I had saved for this purpose. I packed it in and then tamped it down with the end of a pipe nail. I refilled the sandpit until the briar dust bulged slightly above the surface of the bowl. At this point I dripped superglue into the briar dust to anchor it in the hole. I repacked the dust and dripped in glue a second time. The first two photos below show the packed briar dust. The next two photos show the sandpit after the superglue has been dripped into the dust and dried. It blackens nicely with the superglue and instead of a pink fill the fill is now a black briar dust and superglue. I have found that the patch is much easier to blend in with stain than the putty fills.

The photo below shows the newly filled patch after I have sanded it. I sanded off the excess with a folded piece of fine grit emery cloth and then used a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the surface of the new fill to match the surface of the bowl.

At this point in the process I decided to continue working on the stem of the pipe. I sanded it with the sanding sponge. I worked on the fit of the stem to the band. My ideal was to have the stem sit evenly within the band so that the gap was even all the way around the band and the stem was centered in the mortise. The next five photos show the sanding process to this point. Remember the issue at stake was to work on the fit of the stem to the band and to remove the deeper scratches in the surface of the stem. I also used the sanding drum on the Dremel to taper the stem a bit more at the button. I wanted the button end to be narrow and give the pipe and older feel and look. The top view photo below shows the shape of the stem at this point in the process.

I then wet sanded the bowl and the stem with 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads and water. This process removed many of the remaining scratches in the surface of the stem and also removed the remaining finish on the pipe bowl and rim. I wanted the bowl to be cleaned of the varnish finish and as much of the stain colour as possible so that I could more easily blend the rim and the bowl colour. The next three photos show the pipe and the stem after wet sanding. The stem fit is working well at this point and the angles and flow of the taper on the stem is looking more and more finished.

I wiped down the stem with some of the water and then used the Maguiar’s Scratch X2.0 polish on the stem to get a clear view of the remaining areas that needed more work with 320 grit sandpaper before I moved on to the higher grits of micromesh.

I continued to wet sand the bowl and stem with 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next three photos show the progress that was made on the smoothing and polishing of both the stem and the bowl. I continued to wet sand with the 1800 grit until the surface was smooth and matte finished.

I continued wet sanding with 2400 and 3200 grit micromesh pads. The next three photos show the progress of the sanding on the bowl and the stem at this point in the process. I also decided to sand the band with these two grits to polish the nickel.

At this point in the sanding process I switched to dry sanding the bowl and the stem with the 3600 grit micromesh sanding pad. I sanded the bowl, band and stem with this sanding pad to bring out the growing shine in both. I wiped down the bowl and the stem with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust and to prepare the bowl for staining.

For stain on this pipe I ended up using a two step process. I began with an oxblood stain as an undercoat. I applied it with cotton swabs and also a dauber. I rubbed it into the bowl and shank and flamed it and buffed it off. The next three photos show the application of the stain.

I liked the look of the oxblood stain so I wanted to see what it looked like with a light coat of wax on it. I rubbed on some conservator’s wax and then buffed it off by hand. The next series of photos shows the bowl after a light coat of wax. I was not overly happy with the overall coverage of the stain and the fill still was highly visible on the bowl. It did not blend well. I buffed the pipe with White Diamond on my buffer to see if I could even out the coverage a bit. The fourth through seventh photos below show the pipe after buffing. The coverage was not acceptable to me so I decided to go on and give the pipe a second stain coat of dark brown aniline. I wiped the bowl off with a soft cloth pad dampened with alcohol to cut the wax coat and take the bowl back to the briar before staining it with the second colour.

The next series of three photos shows the pipe after the application and flaming of the dark brown aniline stain. It was mixed 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol to get the colour that I wanted to use as the top coat. I applied the stain with the dauber and flamed it with my Bic lighter. I reapplied the stain two other times and reflamed it each time. I wanted a rich brown top coat that would give depth to the finish.

The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. After the stain dried I buffed it with White Diamond and then applied several coats of carnauba wax. I also gave the stem a coat of Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the stem. Once the stem dried I buffed it with White Diamond for a final time and then wax it as well. The finished pipe has a great looking stain now and the shape of the stem lends an air of antique to the pipe.

Reborn London Royal Apple Restemmed with a Saddle Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am down to about 16 pipes in my box to be refurbished and all of them need to be restemmed. Some of them are full of fills or are just pipes that for one reason or another I have avoided dealing with. But I am at the bottom of the box and need something to work on so I am left to choosing from that lot. Last evening I chose this little apple shaped pipe, fit a new stem on it and reworked the finish and the fit of the stem. It is stamped London Royal on the left side of the shank and on the right side Imported Briar. It seems to me that it is thus an American made pipe. I have done no research on it so I have no idea of the manufacturer. The first series of four photos show the pipe after I turned a tenon to fit the shank. I used a new stem blank that is a nice hard vulcanite that seems less prone to oxidize. The dust from sanding is black. You can see the shape of the bowl and the condition it was in when I started in these photos.

The tenon was long for the shank so it would need to be taken down until it fits snugly against the bottom of the mortise. You can see from the photos the small fill on the bottom of the left side of the bowl. The stem blank would also need to be cleaned up to remove the remnants of the casting.

In the photo above you can see that the bowl still has tobacco in it and the cake uneven and rough. The rim is dirty and caked. There is one slight burned area on the rim as well on the front right side of the inner edge of the rim.

I shortened the tenon in order to get the snug fit in the mortise. I was then able to get the stem to fit snugly against the shank. I reamed the bowl to clean up the uneven cake. The next two photos show the stem fit and the reamed bowl. The bottom of the bowl has a groove in it that looks like it was made to fit a stinger apparatus that extended into the bottom of the bowl. I do not have that apparatus as the bowl came to me without a stem. The bottom of the bowl is still fairly thick so it should not be a problem, but it could be remedied with pipe mud should I choose to do so at a later time.

I topped the bowl lightly to remove the tars on the rim and also to try to minimize the burned area that is visible in the photo above on the front right inner edge of the bowl. The next two photos show the topped bowl and the minimized rim char. I planned on removing the finish from the bowl of the pipe so staining the entire pipe should blend in the rim and bowl as well as hide the rim damage a bit.

The next three photos show the stem after I have worked on the diameter of the saddle where it meets the shank and removed the rough edges of the casting of the stem. I run my Dremel at a speed that allows me to control the sanding drum as I use it to remove the excess material on the stem. In this case you can see that the excess is mainly on the top and the left side of the stem. I have found that using the Dremel with the sanding drum carefully can make the fitting of a stem short work. This particular stem blank is very high quality vulcanite as can be seen in the photos below. As I sanded the stem the sanding dust was black and the finished stem retained a very black look and colour as well. The shaping of the stem also had to take into account the changes made in the saddle as material was removed from the top of the stem and the left side. I used the sanding drum to rework the saddle area where is curves into the blade of the stem on both sides. I also had to reshape the blade to make both sides match in terms of the curves of the edges toward the button. The photos show the newly shaped and cleaned up stem. All that remains at this point is a lot of sanding and polishing before the stem is ready.

The next series of three photos below shows the pipe after I have washed the bowl with acetone to remove the finish and then sanded it with 320 grit sandpaper. I was careful around the stamping in order to leave it in tact. I wanted to bring the bowl and the rim to the same state so that the new stain would take well and match. I also sanded the stem with a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth it out as well. I wanted the shank stem transition to be smooth and even with no high or low points in the fit. The pipe revealed some really nice looking grain on the left side of the bowl but had bald spots on other side of the bowl.

I wiped the bowl and shank a final time with acetone and a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and prepare it for staining. The next series of three photos below show the pipe after I stained it. I used a dark brown aniline stain mixed 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I stained the pipe, flamed it with a lighter, restained it, reflamed it. I gave the rim several extra coats to make sure the pipe was evenly stained.

After the stain was dried I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed it with Tripoli and White Diamond to remove excess stain. The stain coat was very even but it was still too dark to my liking so I used some isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to remove some of the heaviness of the stain from the pipe. The next three photos show the pipe after I had removed much stain. The cotton pad is darkened with the brown stain. The grain is becoming more visible as I worked on the finish with the isopropyl alcohol.

I then sanded the stem some more with some fine grit emery cloth to even up the stem shank junction. The next series of four photos show the pipe after the sanding. The bowl and shank are close to the colour I was aiming for. I would need to remove a bit more colouring from them to get it so the grain shows through the finish.

I took the pipe back to the buffer and gave it a buff with Tripoli and White Diamond. I use a light touch around the stamping on the shank and then hand buff that with a shoe shine brush to get it to shine. The next series of two photos show the finished bowl. There is still some work that needs to be done on the fit of the stem to the shank.

The next three photos show the stem after I used the sanding sponge on it to bring the stem even with the shank. The colour of the pipe is also exactly what I wanted in this pipe. The small fill on the left side of the bowl is no longer visible without a close examination. Once the stem was at this point it was ready for sanding with the micromesh pads and polishing with Maguiar’s.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500, 1800 and 2400 grit micromesh sanding pads wiping the stem down between changes in grit. I repeated this sequence of pads until the fine scratches were out of the stem. Where I had recut the saddle had some very fine scratches that were very hard to remove. After this sanding I used Maguiar’s hand applied and rubbed into the stem then wiped off and scrubbed with a cotton pad. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit micromesh following the polish. I also repeated the polish with Maguiar’s. When finished I took the pipe to the buffer and gave the entirety a buff with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to give it a shine. The final series of four photos show the finished pipe.

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rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: restemming a pipe

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