Tag Archives: sanding a stem

Carey Magic Inch Freehand Briar Pipe

Blog by Steve Laug

In the batch of pipes my brother purchased from an antique shop in Montana for me to clean up was the pipe pictured in the photo below – on its side on the pipe rack on the left of the photo bearing a $19 price tag. Turns out it is a Carey Magic Inch Freehand Pipe. It is stamped on the left side of the shank: Free Hand over Carey over Magic Inch. Underneath that is stamped a PAT. No. 3267941. On the right side it is stamped: Mediterranean over Briar Israel. The stem has three horizontal vents on the top and on the underside of the stem. There is a logo – a C in a box on the top of the stem behind the vents. I did some research on the “Magic Inch” System and found out that it has been a Carey’s tradition for over 50 years. On their website they say that they have sold over 1,000,000 pipes. They describe the “Magic Inch” as: “an air chamber inserted between the imported briar bowl and the vented mouthpiece which allows cool outside air to enter and mix with the warm tobacco smoke inside the “Magic Inch” chamber. Tobacco tars, oils and moisture, are squeezed out of the smoke. The residue drops to the bottom of the chamber and is absorbed by the Papyrate sleeve.” http://www.eacarey.com/magicinchinfo.html

They provide the following diagram on their website and I have included it here to show the unique system. I found a second diagram on the English Carey website. http://www.eacarey.co.uk/2010/10/the-carey-magic-inch/

I quote from their site as it gives some interesting history on the system: “A Carey pipe looks better and feels better than any ordinary pipe. It also smokes like no other pipe you’ve ever known, and that’s mostly thanks to the patented ‘Magic Inch’, an invention that revolutionised pipe smoking. Designed and patented by EA Carey in 1948 it was the result of a dedicated pipe smoker seeking a cooler, drier smoke whilst not detracting from the fulsome flavour of choice tobaccos. After years of research and the discarding of many ‘good ideas’ Carey settled on the basic design of the system and set about refining that design into the simple but highly effective device that is the basis of Carey Magic Inch pipes over 60 years later. Even today, more than 30 years after it was first introduced into Europe and particularly the UK, we have many seasoned pipesmokers who are still discovering the amazing difference and improvement in smoking pleasure they obtain from the Magic Inch system. It is not a trap or filter or other such sludge forming gadget. In fact, like all great discoveries and inventions, the secret is simple. By cooling, condensing and evaporating moisture with every puff, it prevents the tar, sludge, bite and bitterness that you may find in other pipes, ever reaching your mouth.”

They go on to describe the system in a classically English way: “The system has been designed to allow a precise amount of outside air into each puff of smoke. Unique moisture ports then dissipate wetness, tar and nicotine into the 2 ply Papyrate sleeve, protecting the smoker from unwanted materials. The Papyrate itself provides excellent absorbency for dryer smoking and increased durability. Subsequently the Magic Inch chamber releases moisture through evaporation during resting periods between smokes. Neither a filter nor a standard ‘push bit’, a true innovation.” All Carey Magic Inch pipes are made from top quality Mediterranean briar designed, crafted and inspected by experts who take pride in their craft.

With this background information I started to work Carey Magic Inch Freehand that my brother had picked up for me. The bowl was quite clean on the inside – a light cake had formed. The rim had some darkening but was also very clean. The carved patterns on the pipe were very similar to some of the Alpha pipes that also had similar Frankenstein-like stitches on the worm trails carved into the sides and bottom of the bowl and shank. I would not be surprised if it was actually carved in the old Alpha Pipe Factory in Israel. The finish on the pipe was in very good shape and did not need to have anything done to it but clean it. The shank bears the stamping of Israel on the right side. The shape is a block/poker shape that never really was my cup of tea. I always look at them and feel like the carver stopped somewhere along the way and never finished carving the pipe. The rustication on the rim matched that on the shank end. The stem was typical Carey plastic and would be hard to work on. It had tooth chatter on the top and the bottom sides of the stem and some tooth marks that also went onto the button itself.

The next close up photos show the rim and the cake in the bowl as well as the stamping on the sides of the shank.

I took the stem off the pipe to get a picture of the Carey Magic Inch system. The stem sits over a mortise insert with a one inch long perforated tube that extends into the stem when it is in place on the shank. The stem was dirty on the inside and the tooth chatter and dents marred the top and bottom sides near the button.

I scrubbed down the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap and rinsed it with lukewarm water. I dried off the bowl exterior with a soft cloth.

I scrubbed out the stem and the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol until the pipe cleaners and swabs came out clean. I find the plastic material used on these stems to be a challenge to clean up and remove the damaged areas. Once it is sanded all of the polishing has to be done by hand. The heat of the buffer pads can seriously damage the stem by melting it. I sanded the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage. There was one spot on the top of the stem near the button that needed to be patched with clear super glue. It was a deep tooth mark that no amount of sanding would remove.

When the patch cured I sanded it with the 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out with the surface of the stem. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches. Normally I wet sand the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads but with this material it only gets muddy and makes a mess. I used some Obsidian Oil to rub down the stem between each pad and sanded it until the scratches began to disappear. I continue the process with 3200-4000 grit pads with the oil between each pad giving me some bite on the plastic stem. I forgot to take a picture of this step (I had already spent over 1 ½ hours on the stem at this point). I finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads and the oil. When I had finished I rubbed it down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I hand waxed the bowl and the stem with Conservators wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. I finished by buffing it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is cleaned, restored and ready for whoever wishes to purchase it from me. It is not my style of pipe but I am sure it will make some pipe man very happy. Just email me if you are interested and make me an offer at slaug@uniserve.com Thanks for looking.

An Interesting Welsh Pipe Find: A C.A. Sander Sandhurst Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

I came across this beautiful sandblast bent bulldog on Ebay and put a bid in for it. I was the sole bidder and won it for a decent price plus reasonable shipping from Great Britain. The pipe is stamped on a smooth spot on the bottom left side of the shank. It reads SANDHURST #16 and next to that it is stamped C.A. SANDER over SWANSEA. The seller stated that the pipe was in a good used condition, and had some wear. He also said that the measurements of the pipe are 135mm or 5.5 inches long, bowl size 35mm or 1.4 inches x 28mm or 1.10 inches. From the photos he included in the sale the finish on the bowl looked to be in excellent shape. The rim was very clean. I could not see the inside of the bowl but the way the rim looked I was guessing that it was very clean. The sandblast was nicely done with some deep craggy ring grain. There was no ring around the cap on the bowl. The stamping on the shank was clear but was weak in spots. The stem was lightly oxidized but had no tooth chatter or bite marks.

I knew next to nothing about the maker of the pipe. I could ascertain from the stamping that the pipe was made by a C.A. Sander in Swansea. I remembered that Swansea is in Wales so I had something to start with. I looked in Who Made that Pipe and also in Lopes book and could find nothing listed for that maker. I used Google to see if I could find any information on the company and looking a company of that name in Swansea, Wales. I actually found out that the company started in 1977 and closed in 1998. It appears from the information that I found to have been a family owned and operated company with broad interests. There was no mention of pipes in any of the company documents that I could find. I wonder if the brand was not just one of many avenues for the company to expand its horizons. I found two pipes online with the CA Sander stamping these included the Oxford and the Sandhurst. Both the Oxford and the Sandhurst are sandblast finish pipes with a dark stain. There was no other information available that I could find listed online. Does anyone have any information on the brand? (I have included a photo of the stamping on a stemless Oxford Bulldog that I just purchased on eBay for comparison.) When the pipe arrived it was in far better shape than the seller intimated. The bowl was lightly smoked if at all. There was no cake and the darkening did not extend to the bottom of the bowl. I ran a pipe cleaner through the shank and the stem and it came out clean. There was dust in the shank that came out but no tobacco oils or tars. The stem was actually less oxidized than I expected and would clean up very easily. There were some tiny tooth chatter next to the button on the top and the bottom side of the stem. There were some small nicks in the vulcanite on the top right side midstem.

I took a close up photo of the rim and bowl to show the excellent condition of the rim and bowl. The second photo below shows the nicks in the stem that I spoke of above. This should be an easy clean up.

The slot in the button was very thin and I was unable to get a pipe cleaner into the airway from that end. I used three different needle files to open it wide enough to take a thick pipe cleaner easily. Once it was open I sanded the inside of the slot to make it smooth. The draw on the pipe is much better after opening the slot. The narrowness of the slot makes me wonder if that is why the pipe was not smoked more.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation, smooth out the tooth chatter and the two nicks on the right side. Once they were gone and the stem was smooth I used a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to begin to minimize the scratching. I put a plastic washer between the stem and the shank to keep the shoulders sharp and protect the shank while I was sanding.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and then rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. The oxidation is disappearing and the dark black of the rubber is beginning to stand out. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads, gave it another coat of oil and finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and then set it aside to dry.

I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the wheel and then gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax. I polished the pipe with a clean flannel buff and then gave it a final buff by hand with a microfibre cloth. The stem cleaned up amazingly well. The pipe is ready for a inaugural smoke. The draw is wide open and easy! Thanks for looking.

Addendum: 06/06/18 I received an email from Andrew in answer to a question I asked in my two blogs on CA Sander pipes. I quote in full his email because of the information that it includes.

Comment: You asked about C A Sander

C A Sander were tobacconists based in Wind Street Swansea. I don’t know exactly when the business started but it it passed to my Grandfather from his father (both were C A Sander) and by the 1920 was a successful and well established retail business with shops all over south wales. They were importers and blenders (if that is the term) of tobacco and the shops sold smoking paraphernalia. At my grandfathers retirement late 60’s to business went to my uncle again C A Sander but known generally as Jim. He developed a business supplying cigarette machines around South Wales and moved out of retail he eventually sold the business to Rothermans and went into other business ventures, I expect that was when the limited company you found was formed. Uncle Jim has now retired but still lives in the area.

Hope this helps with your research.

Andrew I received this followup email from someone who would like to get in touch with you. Here is her email

Hi there – I stumbled upon your website when looking for anything to do with C.A. Sander tobacco shop and I saw the pipe you restored – which is amazing! and then saw the comment below left by Andrew. Since that shop was owned by my grandfather, and Andrew’s grandfather – it would seem that we are cousins – but we have never met. I would love to get into contact with Andrew. Would you be able to assist in that? If possible, could you ask him to contact me at my email address pianokey88@hotmail.com?
Many thanks for your help! Georgina

Reworking a Lucite stem on a Sasieni Litewate Deluxe 71F Long Shank Dublin

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe caught my eye as I was browsing through the for sale section of the Dr.Grabow Collectors Forum. It was in very clean condition. The finish on the bowl and rim were like new. The pipe was stamped Made in England in a circle on top of the shank next to the stem and in the center of the shank it was stamped Litewate over De Luxe. On the underside of shank near the stem was the shape number 71F. The pipe was barely smoked and was very clean. The stem was obviously a replacement Lucite stem in a bright yellow swirl pattern. In the photos it looks more green than it truly is. In reality it is very yellow.

I looked up the brand on the pipedia site and found that the Litewate was produced by Parker and also sold by R.M. Littaur & Co. Ltd. It was also made by Sasieni. The circular com stamp on the shank and the shape number identified this particular pipe as a Sasieni made pipe. http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Litewate I copied the next photos from the PipePhil stamping and logos site. The stamping on the pipe I have is exactly like that on these photos. He also noted there that brand was solely distributed in the US Market. When the pipe arrived I was surprised by the sheer size of it – I knew it was small but I had no idea that it would be this small. It was very light weight and reminded me in both the size and the weight of the Stanwell Featherweight series. I unpack it and looked over the stem. It was chunky and thick. The descent of the slope to the button was not even and had a slight flat spot about ½ inch from the stem/shank joint. The button was sloppily cut and the stem was very thick in front of the button. The button itself was thick both in terms of height and in terms of width from the outer edge to what should have been a sharp angle to the slope of the stem. It did not have that angle but was rather another slope to the top of the button. Where there should have been a slot in the stem there was merely an airway – a single hole in the end. This is the way that stem blanks arrive before they have been shaped and fit to the pipe. Overall it looked like a quickly done stem to make the pipe useable. I took some photos of the pipe when it arrived. The next photos show the stamping on the top of the shank and the rim. Whoever did the restem did a great job fitting the stem against the shank. It is a great snug fit that shows no light. The bowl is clean and lightly smoked. I took a few photos of the stem that shows the chunkiness of the button and the thickness of the angle from shank to button. The third photo below shows the single hole airway in the end of the button. I used three different needle files to cut a slot in the end of the button and shape it and the Y in the airway. I used a round, a slight oval and a flat oval file to cut and shape the slot. I straightened the edge on the button and thinned out the button with a flat needle file. I wanted a 90 degree angle rather than the slope that was there originally. I sanded out the newly cut slot with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I reworked the taper on the stem and thinned it out with 220 grit sandpaper. In the photo above you can see the overall thickness of the stem and the short taper from the hip of the stem to the button. This needed to be thinned and the taper increased. I sanded and shaped the button and cleaned up the straight edge against the stem body. I sanded the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and finish the initial reshaping with 400 grit sandpaper. I sanded out the inside of the slot with a folded piece of 400 grit wet dry paper.

I polished the Lucite with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads.

I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the pipe several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then by hand with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The newly shaped stem is far more comfortable in the mouth now that the taper is more flattened and the thickness reduced. Thanks for looking.

Repairing Cracks in a Large WDC Wellington Bent

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Blog by Steve Laug

Through Facebook I connected with a new friend Warren. He wrote me about how to repair a crack in a pipe that he was reworking for a friend of his. As I described the process he asked if he could send it to me to work on. At that point my refurbishing box was getting low as I had repaired and moved out a lot of the pipes that had been there. So I agreed. Last week it arrived here. A funny side note is that I have a stem for the same pipe and have been looking for a bowl for the stem for a while now. Now I get the opportunity to work on a pipe with the same stem. It is stamped WDC in a triangle on the stem with Wellington arced below the triangle. It is also stamped on the left side of the shank with the WDC triangle and Wellington in script to the right of the triangle. Underneath the script it reads Imported Briar. There is no other stamping on the pipe. It is a large pipe with a length of over 10 inches and a bowl height of 2 inches. The diameter of the bowl is 7/8 inches. The third picture below shows a comparison of a 5 ½ inch long pipe and average bowl so you can see how big this pipe truly is.

The briar had some attractive grain in it but there were some issues as well. It had a lot of fills on the front left, front right and bowl front. There was some damage to the surface of the rim that looked as if the pipe had been dropped on concrete. The outer edge of the rim on the front had some damage and was rounded over and the inner back edge of the rim had burn damage that made that portion out of round. Fortunately it was not a deep burn and would be relatively easy to address. There was also a ¾ inch crack on the underside of the shank that had one ¼ inch branch going toward the left side of the shank.

I took a series of close up photos to show the damaged areas of the pipe. The first shows the damage to the rim surface and edges. The second shows the crack in the shank. The third photo shows the missing fills and divots in the bowl sides.

I decided to address the crack in the bottom of the shank first. I used a micro drill bit on my Dremel to drill some small holes at the end of the crack and the branches of the crack to stop the damage from spreading further. The bit is very tiny as can be seen from the holes that are left behind after drilling. I drill two holes on each end because after the first hole I examined it with a lens and could see that extended slightly beyond my first hole. I picked out the damaged putty fills with a dental pick and wiped the bowl down so that I could repair the crack and the fills. I used a clear super glue and fine briar dust to replace the fills and to fill in the drill holes on the shank bottom. In each case I over filled the holes so that as the glue and dust were sanded I would not need to repeat the process due to shrinkage.

My intention was to restain the entire bowl so I sanded the bowl and the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs. I followed that by sanding the bowl and repairs with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer starting with the head that would fit and working up a head that took the cake back to bare briar. In looking at the back side of the bowl I could see a small hairline crack and I wanted to know if it went all the way through.

I topped the bowl with the topping board and took off all of the damage to the inside and outside rim as well as the rim surface. I sanded it with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge as well to smooth out the scratches.

After sanding and topping the bowl I could see that indeed there was a hairline crack that went across the rim at 5 o’clock and went down the back side of the bowl about ¾ of an inch. It was small and did not separate. It looked like it went all the way through to the inside of the bowl but upon examination appeared to only extend about 1/16th of an inch into the bowl. I topped it a little bit more to take care of the internal crack. I drilled the back side of the bowl at the bottom of the crack to stop it from going further down the bowl. I wiped down the bowl side and then picked out the crack with a dental pick. I filled it with super glue and briar dust and sanded it down with 220 grit sandpaper and the medium and fine grit sanding sponges until it blended into the surface of the bowl. I picked out the rim crack as well and filled it with the same mix. I sanded it with the topping board once again and then with the medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the remaining finish on the briar and to clean up the dust from all of the sanding of the fills. There was some beautiful grain that was showing through. The patches and fills actually looked much better.

I cleaned out the shank, bowl and airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge being careful not to damage the stamping. I went over that area with a 1500 grit micromesh pad. I then use an antique gold oil based product called Rub and Buff to fill in the stamping. The next photo shows the finished rework of the gold in the stem stamp. I put the stem in place on the bowl to get an idea of the improvement that the repairs, fills and stem work had done. I wanted to see what the pipe would look like as I finished.

I wiped the bowl down with a final wash of isopropyl alcohol and then heated it so that I could give it a stain coat. I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain thinned by 50% with isopropyl alcohol. I applied it and flamed it. I reapplied the stain and flamed it again and then set it aside to dry.

When it had dried I gave it a light buff with a microfibre cloth to see what the colour looked like. It was still a bit dark to my liking but the coverage was good. The repairs and fills while visible looked far better than when I started.

I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to make it a bit more transparent and make the grain shine through. It did not take much to coax the grain to the surface and highlight the beauty of the pipe.

I worked on the long stem. To clean it thoroughly I had to wrap pipe cleaners together to extend the length of the stem. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to clean up the oxidation and scratches in the stem. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil afterwards and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of the wax and set aside to dry.

At this point I laid the pipe on top of the current issue of the Pipe Collector and took a series of photos to show it before I buffed it.

I polished the nickel ferrule with a silver polishing cloth and gave it and the bowl several coats of carnauba wax. A light touch is imperative on the nickel as it will darken the buffing pad and then transfer to the bowl. I hand buffed the bowl and ferrule with a microfibre cloth. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel and then gave it several coats of carnauba as well. I buffed the stem with a clean flannel buff and then with the cloth as well. The finished pipe is shown below. It is repaired and serviceable for many years to come. Thanks for looking. Thanks for the challenge Warren.

Restemming & Restoring -Antique Egg & Claw Meerschaum

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Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff picked up a beautiful old Meerschaum pipe when he was in Austin, Texas. There was something about the old pipe that caught his eye and he wanted it. The patina of age was forming around the claws and the egg. The feathers on the bottom of the foot that held the claws was also colouring nicely. The browns of a well smoked meerschaum were changing the shadows around the bowl of the pipe. The shank also showed some signs of the colourng. It was almost a meerschaum collar out of which the feather foot extended. The cross hatched look of skin extended beyond the collar on the sides of the shank and the small claw held the bowl at the back. The bowl blackened but the cake was scraped clean other than a slight buildup around the top portion of the bowl. The rim was blackened with tars and there was some road rash on the top right side of the bowl toward the front. The tip of one of the feathers holding the claw on the front of the bowl also had a small chip but it had coloured like the rest of the feathers so it was blended in. The pipe itself was an old timer that was clear. The anomaly for me is that it should have had an amber stem. There is no way a pipe this age would have had a Lucite stem. The yellow Lucite stem looked that it had been adapted from a free hand pipe. The end had been drilled out to hold a replacement push tenon. It was set deep in the stem. The stem also had been counter sunk to cover the replacement threaded mortise in the shank. Instead of trimming it off to be flush with the end of the shank it stuck out about 1/8 of an inch or more. The stem maker had drilled the end of the stem so that with the tenon threaded in and the stem pushed into the mortise it would hide the mortise extension. The airway in the stem was pretty clogged and had blackened with tars. The stem had served the previous owner well. To my eye it just did not go with the either the age or the look of the pipe. It looked like two centuries had collided and joined to very different generations together with this stem and bowl. The shank itself was clean though the tars had stained the tenon. The airway in the shank was open and clean. It was as if someone had cleaned out the inside of the shank and bowl before putting the pipe up for sale at the antique shop. There were signs also that the bowl itself had been wiped down on the outside as the colouration bore signs of scratching from scrubbing the exterior with something like ScotchBrite pads. There were a lot of scratches and scrapes around the rim edges. Fortunately whoever had cleaned it had not removed too much of the patina. This pipe deserved some tender loving care to bring it back to life and restore the appearance to more of its stately form. The stem would definitely have to go and in its place an amberoid or amber coloured Lucite stem would have to be shaped to take its place.

I called Tim West at JH Lowe to talk with him about ordering a stem and what would look best with this old timer. Tim suggested a tortoise shell amber Lucite stem. He said the chocolate swirls in the material would look good with the patina of the old meer and as the bowl darkened more would continue to look good. I gave him the dimensions that I was hunting for and ordered a tapered stem. As usual Tim was quick in getting the materials I ordered shipped to me. It did not take long for it to arrive. I knew that it would be longer than I wanted and would need to be cut down and shaped but the colour would be perfect.

I got home from work on Monday to find Tim’s package had arrived. I opened it and took a picture of the new stem blank, the stem that I was retiring and the old bowl. You can see from the photo below that it is about an inch longer than the previous stem. The taper shape should work well with the pipe. Lots of drilling and shaping will need to be done before it fits the shank well. I am pretty limited in terms of a shop – no saws or power tools to make things simpler so I am left to resort to doing things by hand. I measured the length of the stem that I wanted and use a small hacksaw to cut off the excess stem material. Once it was removed I faced the newly cut end on my topping board to smooth it out and square it off. This is the hard way to do things I know but with careful attention to the verticality of the stem it is possible to get a smooth surface that is square to the shank end.

The push tenon and mortise was smaller than any that I had in my stash so I removed the push tenon from the old stem. It was not difficult to do as it was threaded and could be unscrewed. The mortise was threaded into the shank but extended beyond the end of the shank. I would need to sand that smooth and bevel it inward to give a good fit to the new stem. I took the next two photos below to show the two stems side by side and give an idea of the length.

With the length cut and the surface faced it was now time to start the drilling. I needed to drill the airway in the new stem to accommodate the diameter of the push tenon. Once it was drilled I would be able to thread it with a tap. The airway would also need to be drilled a second time to receive the collar on the tenon and give a flush fit with the stem end. I set up my cordless drill with a small drill bit to begin with and then worked up to the one that was the correct size for the tenon. I used a larger bit to countersink the end of the stem to take the collar on the tenon. The photo below shows the roughed in drilling of the stem. I would still need to clean up the edges of the countersink and also the roughness of the area that I would be using the tap on. I used needle files to bring the countersink into round, smooth out the edges and the airway. When I had finished with the airway I screwed the tenon into place and used a Dremel and sanding drum to begin smoothing out the mortise insert. I sanded the end of the mortise insert by hand to bring it to the same height as the rest of the shank end. I cleaned up the area around the tenon so that when I put the two pieces together I would have a pretty flush fit. I took the next photo to show the initial fit of the tenon in the stem. More sanding would need to be done to make the inner edges clean on the countersink. I pushed the stem into the mortise and took the photos below to have a look at the new stem and its fit on the pipe. There was still a gap in between the stem and the shank – it showed light so more work would need to be done to bring it flush against the shank. The overall look of the new stem worked for me. I like the tortoise shell look of the stem with the patina of the meer.

I carefully scraped the bowl with a pen knife to remove the small cake that was present in the bowl. It was more of a ridge than a full cake so I wanted to smooth out the sides of the bowl. I used the knife to begin the bevel on the mortise insert at this time as well. I would need to give it more of a slope to accommodate the tenon but it was getting there. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the stem and set up my heat gun. (I set it up on top of the dryer in our laundry room so forgive the socks and dishtowels in the background. I held the stem about 5 inches above the heat so that Lucite would not bubble (it did even at this height). When it was flexible I bent it to the same angle as the previous stem using an old rolling pin that I saved for this purpose. It took several time of heating it to get the angles correct so that the bend of the stem would match the curves of the bowl.

I put the newly bent stem on the pipe and took some photos so I could see if I got the angles correct. I find that the distance of a photo gives me clearer perspective than just holding it in hand.

With the fit of the stem and the bend roughed in it was time to work on the stem itself. The sharp edges of the taper and the thick button would need to be sanded and shaped. I would also need to get rid of the bubbles that happened when I heated and bent the stem. I started with emery cloth to quickly shape the button and take down the sharp edges. I also thinned the stem with the emery cloth and worked on the sides of the taper. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out and further shape it and then followed up with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge.

I cleaned up the mess left behind by the stem sanding and worked on the scratches in the meer bowl and the heavy build up on the rim. I used 1500-2400 grit micromesh to sand the rim and the area of road rash on the top of the bowl at the right side. I also sanded the scratches along the claws to clean up the mess that had been left behind. I was careful to no sand too much so as to keep the patina intact.

I scrubbed the bowl and rim with a cotton pad and saliva to remove some of the grime and dirt left behind on the bowl. I used a sharp Buck Knife to clean up the bevel of the mortise insert so that the stem would fit snugly against the shank. I sanded and polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads- wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and then dry sanding with 3200-4000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a little Obsidian Oil to give the final 6000-12000 grit micromesh pads traction in the final polishing.

I also polished the meerschaum bowl with the micromesh pads to clean up and minimize the scratches. Here is a photo of the bowl with the 3200-4000 grit pads.

I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel and then gave it a light coat of carnauba wax. I hand waxed the bowl with carnauba and buffed it with a microfibre cloth to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I definitely like the look with the new tortoise shell stem. It just seems to fit the age of the bowl better than the free hand stem that came with it. Thanks for looking.

Putting a New Stinger and Tenon on a Kaywoodie Super Grain Apple 33

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Blog by Steve Laug

In a trade with Dave Gossett I acquired this Kaywoodie Super Grain Apple. The bowl was in really great shape other than a few nicks and dents here and there. The finish was clean and the bowl had been cleaned and reamed. There were some small pin pricks on the back left side of the outer edge of the rim that looked to me were made when the pipe was dropped. They had been sanded a little so that the outer edge was no longer even around the bowl but sagged at this spot. The top of the rim was clean and smooth. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank with the words Kaywoodie over Super Grain over Imported Briar. The right side is stamped with the shape number 33. In looking through the various shape charts I found that the 33 was the stamping for a Large Apple (see the first photo below). The aluminum stinger had been broken off in the stem. It was hard to tell if I was dealing with what had originally been a four hole stinger or a three hole stinger. I know that many can tell the age on these KW’s by the stamping but I am not one of them. I knew that the three hole stinger/tenon apparatus was pressure fit in the stem and the four hole was threaded and screwed into the stem. Once I was able to drill out the broken stinger I would have a better idea regarding the type of stinger it had. The stem itself was fairly clean. There were some ripples in the stem on both the top and the bottom of the stem near the button. This told me that there were tooth marks that someone had either tried to buff out or sand out. These would need to be smoothed out. The interior of the stem and the shank were clean of debris and tar. The next three photos show the broken metal tenon in the stem and the state of the stem and bowl when it arrived. The briar has some beautiful straight grain and birdseye.

I had several broken Kaywoodie stems in my can of stems that I cannibalized the stingers from. In the photo below the top stinger is the three hole one with the pressure fit end that fit in the stem. The bottom stinger is the four hole one that is threaded and screwed into the stem. What made it a bit interesting for me is that both stingers came from stems that had the same white clover leaf as the stem I was working on. I used my cordless drill to act as a holder for the drill bit and turned the stem onto the bit to begin to remove the broken tenon/stinger. I started with a bit slightly larger than the airway on the broken part. I worked my way up to a size that finally grabbed a hold of the broken tenon piece in the stem and when I twisted the bit out brought metal piece with it. The second photo below shows the broken tenon piece amongst the bits of aluminum. I had my answer it was the pressure fit three hole stinger/tenon apparatus. (I should have done this with a paper down to catch the bits and bobs of metal but did not so I ended up having to vacuum up my mess.)

I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaner and alcohol and the drilled out end with cotton swabs and alcohol. I cleaned the new stinger/tenon the same way and polished it with 0000 steel wool. I applied twisted the tenon into the mortise and then applied glue to the end that would go into the hole in the stem. I pushed the stem in place on the glued part and let is set. I unscrewed the stem and set it aside to let the glue cure. I used an all purpose white glue to set the tenon in place because I wanted to be able to adjust the fit with heat. I topped up the glue around the end with some clear super glue.

With the tenon in place it was time to clean up the damage to the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the wavy lines and clean up the residual tooth marks. There was also a nick in the side of the stem on the underside so I cleaned up the taper there as well. I then sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to minimize the scratching.

With the stem surface smooth it was time to polish it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil before going on to dry sand with 3200-4000 grit pads. I gave it another coat of oil and then sanded it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I rubbed it down a final time with Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I sanded the bowl with 4000-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the outer rim edge and the sides of the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with some pipe polish. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. Thanks Dave for the opportunity to restem this beauty. It was a fun one to work on. Thanks for looking.

Cleaning up Two Sisters – A pair of Beaver Cut Genuine Briar Pipes

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Blog by Steve Laug

I received this pair of pipes from Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes Blog. He picked them up as part of an estate from London, Ontario, Canada. They are both stamped on the bottom of the shank on a smooth surface with the words Beaver Cut in script over a block script Genuine Briar. He did some hunting on the web and could find nothing that gave any sense of history of the brand. When I got them I did the same and found absolutely nothing. The Genuine Briar stamping tells me it is post WW2 and is made in the USA. I found another Beaver Cut for sale on Worthpoint but it also did not have any information. From what I can find that is the extent of the information available.

The top pipe in the photo is Prince. The rustication was dirty and a lot of dirt and debris had collected in the grooves. It had a rustication pattern that I had not seen before. It is like rows and rows of birdseye cuts in the surface of the briar. There is a smooth patch on both sides and on the bottom of the shank. The bowl had a thick cake and the shank had a lot of debris and oils in it. The rim had an overflow of lava and oils on the top of the bevel. The inner and outer edge of the rim was in great shape and the bowl was still in round. The brass band on the shank appeared to be factory as it was on both pipes and was identical. It was scarred and had tarnished. When it was installed the installer had made a mess of the shank. He had cut the shank back farther than the length of the band so that when it was installed it left a groove between the edge of the band and the rustication on the shank. It looked almost as if the band was an afterthought. I am pretty certain that it was sent out from the factory with that look. The stamping had been cut in two by the chopping of the briar to fit the band. The stem did not fit the shank due to the buildup internally. The stem was also missing a large chunk on the right side near the button and someone had cut a groove in the top of the stem to begin cutting a new button but had not finished the work.

The lower pipe is a Billiard with the exact same grain pattern. It was in a bit better shape than the Prince. The grooves in the unique rustication were actually clean. There was a varnish coat on the smooth parts of the bowl even though there were several sandpits in each smooth spot. The bowl had a thick cake and the rim had an overflow of tars and lava which obscured the bevel. The fit of the band to the shank on this one was better though looking at it from the end of the mortise it was clear that the shank was out of round. The brass was also scratched and marred on this pipe. The stamping on this one was clean and deep. The stem diameter extended further on the right side than on the left though the stem was of equal diameter all the way around. There were some light tooth marks on the top and the bottom of the stem near the button and there was tooth chatter. The stem was oxidized but was faintly stamped with a B in a circle.

I took a close up photo of the rim on each of the pipes. The first photo below shows the rim on the Prince and the second shows the rim on the Billiard. The buildup and the uneven cake are visible in both pipes. It is hard to see the bevel on the rim in the Prince but it matches the one on the rim of the Billiard.

I also took some close up photos of the stems on both pipes to show the state of the stem. The first two photos show the stem on the Prince. You can see the damage of the broken area on the side of the button and the cut off button. You can also see the groove or divot that had been cut in the stem to make the pipe useable. The third and fourth photos show the stem on the Billiard and you can see the tooth marks and chatter on the stem surface. It is also clear that it does not fit well against the side of the band.

I decided to restem the Prince so I found a stem in my can of stems that was the same diameter as the shank and slightly longer than the broken stem to account for the missing button. I turned the tenon with a sanding drum on a Dremel to get a close fit and then hand sanded until it push snuggly into the mortise. To deal with the badly fit shank band I cleaned the area with a dental pick and then pressed briar dust into the groove just ahead of the band. I dripped clear super glue into the briar dust and then as it settled add more glue and more briar dust. I wanted the transition between the shank and the band to be smooth. I sanded the repair with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the scratches in the surface. I reamed both bowls back to bare wood with a PipNet reamer. I sanded the beveled rim on the Prince to clean off the oils and lava and to show the bevel. More work would need to be done on both rims.

I worked on the bevel of the rims with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the buildup and also to smooth out the bevel. It took quite a bit of sanding on both rims to get the angle consistent all the way around the bowl and also to remove the burn damage on the inner edge of both. I sanded both with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to finish the cleanup. I stained the newly cleaned surfaces of the rim with a light brown stain pen to approximate the colour on the smooth portions on the bowl sides and bottom of the shank. I sanded them both with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth out the remaining scratches that showed up with the stain. It also lightened the stain enough that the match was perfect.

With the rims finished it was time to scrub the rustication. I used Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to scour the rustication pattern on both bowls. I scrubbed them and then rinsed them under warm running water.

To address the difference in diameter of the stem and the band on the shank on the Billiard I used a Dremel and sanding drum to take down the top, bottom and right side of the saddle stem. I repeatedly checked the fit until I had it very close then I finished adjusting the fit by hand with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem on the Prince with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and the calcification on the end of the stem.

With the fit finished on the stems it was time to clean out the internals of the stems and shanks. I used alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to scrub the insides until they were clean.

I wet sanded the stem and the brass with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad for the first round of sanding on both. It worked to remove many of the scratches and marks in the brass and the vulcanite. I worked on the stem with the micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. When I finished sanding with the 12000 grit pad I let the oil dry on the stem.

In the final sanding I sanded the brass and it carried over onto the top portion of each stem giving it a bit of a brown look in the next photo. This all came off when I buffed the stem with red Tripoli and White Diamond. I heated the stem on the Prince and gave it a slight bend to give it a more finished looked. I buffed the stems and rims with White Diamond and Blue Diamond and then gave them multiple coats of carnauba wax. I also waxed the smooth portions on the bowl sides, shank bottoms and the rims. I buffed these with Blue Diamond as well. I wiped the rustication down with a light coat of olive oil to bring some life back to the briar. The finished sisters are shown below.

Thanks for looking. Does anyone have any information about this brand? It would be great to be able to get a little information. Please post anything you know in the comments below. Thanks.

Gourd Calabash Restoration

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Blog by Aaron Henson

I was at work the other morning and got caught looking at something on the internet that should not have been. It was not as terrible as it sounds. My job requires that take annual training (given online) each year, and after almost ten years of the same information I take some liberties. While the training was running in one window I was browsing the latest estate pipe auctions on eBay in another. At 6:30 am there are not many other people about the office so I didn’t think much about it until a friend happened by and asked about my interest in pipes. We talked for a bit and at the end of the conversation he said that he had his father’s Sherlock Holmes pipe that was collecting dust and would I be interested in it. Of course I said “Yes!”

The very next morning my friend brought over a beautiful calabash gourd pipe. He also sent me home with nice Grabow Savoy bent billiard – his own pipe that he had not smoked in over ten years. The calabash, he said, was a pipe that he had bought as a gift for his father sometime in the late ‘70’s or early ‘80’s. After his father had passed away it had come back him. He had had it on display in his rec-room for a while but in recent years it was pushed to the back of the shelf.

Upon getting home that night, I put my other restoration projects on hold (a 1929 Peterson Irish Free State with a broken shank and an Oom-Paul with a bit through stem) to make room on the work bench. I did not jump right into the restoration that night however. All of my restorations up to this point have been with briar pipes. I have always been interested in meerschaum and calabash pipes but never actively pursued acquiring one. But now, with this amazing gift, I dove into study about the making, care and restoration of calabash gourd pipes.

What I found was that there is not nearly as much information about restoring gourd pipes as there is about restoring briar. I believe this to be in part because gourd pipes just don’t hold up as well over time as briar does.

I began with a thorough inspection of the pipe. The stem had a lot of dried crust of some sort on it but not much oxidation but there was very little tooth chatter around the button. Upon reflection I realized that this was not too surprising considering that a pipe of this size would be very difficult to clench. The stem was also slightly misaligned. Nothing very noticeable and may even have been intentional so as to provide a more comfortable smoke. The stem inserted into a plastic ferrule that was in very good condition but it was only with great difficulty that I remove the stem. I was worried that would break it before it came free. A drop of alcohol at the base of the stem eventually helped it break free.

The gourd was a little dirty but the most noticeable thing was that one side appeared faded compared to the other, probably a symptom of being placed on display. I confirmed with my friend that the meerschaum bowl was a replacement. The outer rim of the bowl sits almost flush with the edge of the gourd, there not being much overhang. I tried to remove the bowl for inspection and cleaning but it seems that the new bowl was glued in place. There we no markings of any kind on the pipe, so the manufacturer will remain a mystery.

I began by cleaning the stem by setting it to soak in an Oxyclean bath. After 10 minutes I removed the stem and scrubbed it with a magic eraser pad. This was a new technique for me and I was so focused on what I was doing I forgot to take pictures. The outside of the stem cleaned up very well the crusties coming off in the soak. The interior of the stem also cleaned up easily; the third alcohol soaked pipe cleaner came out as clean as it went it in. Below is the cleaned stem. My apologies for the background – the green is a little hard on the eyes. Next I addressed the tooth chatter; one large dent on the top of the stem and three smaller on the bottom. I tried to raise the dents with some heat from lighter. While the stem was still warm I realigned the bit with the curve of the stem. The heat helped raise the dents but didn’t remove them completely and the larger one still required a drop of black super glue filler. The other dents were easily removed with 220 grit sandpaper. The pictures below are after the heat was applied and before the sanding. I follow the same regimen that many of the others on this blog do for polishing vulcanite stems: 1500-12000 micro-mesh pads, wet sanding the first six pads and stopping every 3 pads to coat the stem in mineral oil. I found a set of ½-inch wide micro-mesh sticks at my local Wood Works store and these worked very well around the bead detail on the stem.

Since I could not remove the meerschaum bowl, I opted not to use any alcohol based cleaners on the gourd. Instead I scrubbed it down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on a cotton pad. After cleaning, I made several passes with a wet paper towel to wipe off the soap residue. The sun bleached side of the pipe had kind of a rough feel so I lightly sanded the entire gourd with 600 grit paper. This evened out the texture and removed any surface damaged of the gourd. The ferrule was plastic and I had very difficult time removing the stem the first time. Some of the sticky residue I had cleaned from the stem must have gotten into the mortise. I used a pipe cleaner bent in half and dipped in alcohol to swab the mortise clean. Even with my initial troubles, three passes was all that was required to clean the mortise. I wiped the outside of the ferrule down with alcohol and then buffed using the 4000 – 8000 micro mesh pads to remove any light scratches.

I debated with myself a long time about what to do with the discolored gourd. I finally decided to try to blend the discoloration with a light stain. Mixing one part Fiebing’s Light Brown with three parts isopropyl alcohol, I used a cotton swab to apply the stain. Starting at the edge of the discoloration, I worked my way around the pipe, layering the stain to get the variation and depth of color. To my surprise this worked well and I was very pleased with the results. After multiple coats and looking at the pipe under various types of lighting I was finally satisfied with the results. When the stain had dried completely, I applied a light coat of mineral oil wiping off the excess.

Taking the stem to the buffing wheel, I put on three coats of carnauba wax and called the restoration complete. My next project is to build a stand for the pipe. I will start on it as soon as I can settle on a design that I think will complement the shape of the pipe. And maybe someday, I will replace the bowl with one that gives the pipe a more traditional calabash look. But right now, I am looking forward to burning bowl of Burley Virginia.

Thanks for looking.

Replacing a push-tenon and mortise in a Meerschaum pipe

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother, Jeff has been on a roll picking up some nice pipes that he gifted me. The first was the CAO meer that I reworked the stem and wrote about. The second was the Peterson Kildare 999 (one of my favourite shapes). The third one that I worked on was a no name meerschaum. It is a bent barrel shaped pipe with a stag running through the trees carved on the front of the bowl. The meerschaum is very heavy and dense in appearance so I am pretty certain it is a pressed meerschaum pipe. The stem is a bright yellow Lucite that actually shows better craftsmanship than the Lucite stem on the CAO meerschaum. The pipe came in a decent brown leather cover case with smooth fabric in the lid and a soft faux fur in the base. The hinge and the clasp were brass. The pipe fit well in the case. The photo below comes from the auction and gives a clear picture of the pipe as it was advertised. The issue that I had to address with this one was that the mortise insert for the push stem connector was shattered in the shank. When I twisted the stem out of the shank a portion of the insert came with it. I looked into the mortise and I could see the cracks and breaks in the insert. It would need to be pulled. The bowl of the pipe was pretty clean. The inside of the bowl was slightly darkened but looked like it had been smoked only a few times (if that). There was also some rim darkening that probably would clean up easily enough. Under a bright light it appeared that there was either a small crack or a scratch on the outer rim just above the ring on the barrel on the right side of the bowl. I checked the mark with a jeweler’s loupe and it appears to be a small hairline crack. I cannot feel it with my finger when I run it over the surface. There is a scratch below the band on the barrel as well, just below this. That particular line is not a crack but a scratch. That is the bad news and the good news regarding the crack. The shank was clean past the insert.

The stem had some oils and stain in the airway. There were light tooth marks and chatter on the underside of the stem next to the button. The slot was well cut in the end of the button and the interior of the Y was smoothly sanded. The button itself was well shaped. The stem did not align with the shank. Though they were both the same diameter, the airway in the shank was slightly off centre which made the right side of the stem extend past the edge of the shank while the left side was slightly smaller than the shank diameter at that point. I may need to do a bit of work on the right side to make it match the right side.

I removed the stem from the shank and wiggled the broken portion of the mortise insert that was stuck at the top of the push tenon in the stem free from the stem. I used a knife blade inserted in the shank to bite into the broken insert and twisted it free of the shank. It came out in three pieces that fell apart when they hit the table top.

I have a few Delrin push tenons and inserts that I ordered for just such an occasion and took one out of the box where I have them. I cleaned up the edges and casting overage on the top cap. I sanded it to smooth out the Delrin fitting. I aligned the thread in the shank with those on the insert and screwed it into place in the shank. When I replace these I do not glue them in place in case they again disintegrate or crack. It will make a replacement much simpler for whoever has to work on the pipe next.

I unscrewed the push tenon from the stem so that I could clean out the area behind it. It was a cheap clear nylon that was discoloured and had some grooves cut in the surface from the fractured mortise insert pieces. I would replace it with the Delrin tenon counterpart once I cleaned out threads in the end of the shank and the airway in the stem. I used cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove the staining and oils in the airway. The new Delrin tenon had a larger airway and gave a more open draw on the pipe. It will be a significant improvement to the smokability of the pipe. A small bonus was that once I replaced the tenon and put the pipe back together the stem aligned better with the shank. I lined up well enough that the only small overage in diameter of the stem is on the underside. Also a quick draw on the pipe once it was together confirmed the new more open draw. It looked like this quick repair gave some unexpected bonuses that were worth the little effort.

I sanded the tooth chatter on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I wet sanded this area with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads. I was able to remove all of the tooth chatter and polish the stem. The stem is clean and the finish has a shine. I scrubbed the top of the bowl with cotton pads and saliva to remove the tars and oils on the rim. A little elbow grease and the majority of the darkening came off. I left the scratch on the side of the meer as I did not want to chance removing the top coat if the bowl was pressed meer. I rubbed down the surface of the bowl and the rim with some white beeswax to protect the finish and to encourage colouration of the bowl. I let the wax dry and then hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is polished, repaired and ready to be used.

Cleaning up a Bruyere Garantie Pocket Pipe with a Horn Stem

11 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

This pipe reminds me of the Mokin Pocket Pipe that Anthony restored and wrote about in an earlier blog. When I saw it on eBay I put a bid in and actually won it. The pipe needed a lot of work. From the photo it looked as if it had a thick coat of varnish or some shiny topping. That would need to go. The finish was spotty and appeared to have some flecks of paint on the top and on the skate at the bottom of the bowl. The rim was darkened and hard to tell whether it was burned or just tarry. The bowl was slightly out of round but it also had a cake that would need to be reamed out before addressing the out of round inner wall of the rim.The stamping was clear and distinct and read Bruyere Garantie on the left side of the shank. The stem had a double circle on the left side. The stem also appeared to be horn. There were two deep cuts on the right side of the stem near the button that would need work and with those marks I was sure there were other issues. The first two photos are the ones included in the seller’s description of the pipe on eBay. I had no idea what the other side or bottom of the bowl or stem looked like or if there would be more issues that would need to be addressed.

When the pipe arrived I was both encouraged by what I saw and concerned by several other issues that had not been shown in the photos above. The encouraging thing was that there was no shiny coat of varnish or lacquer on the bowl. All that was present was a very dirty, grimy natural finish that seemed to have a reddish-brown colouring to it. The concerns involved the fills on the underside of the bowl. What had appeared to be paint flecks on the skate at the bottom turned out to be part of the fill on the bottom and a missing piece of briar. The bowl was indeed caked and the cake was crumbling and uneven. Looking at it initially I wondered if there would not be burned spots in the walls of the bowl once the cake was removed. The inner edge of the rim was also more damaged than I had expected from the seller’s photo. The cuts in the stem were dangerously close to the airway but fortunately had not broken through. The fact that the airway was unharmed was a small miracle given the depth of the cuts. The fact that they angled probably save the airway from damage. On the underside of the stem there were also large chips missing from the stem at the shank stem union. It appeared that someone had tried to pry the stem away from the shank rather than twisting it off. There was also tooth chatter on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The button however was clean and sharp as was the slot in the in the end of the button. The stem had some beautiful striations of colour that I had not seen in the photos and I looked forward to seeing if I could bring them out.

I took some close up photos of the damage to the rim and the stem. The first photo below shows the damage to the inner edge of the rim and the crumbling cake in the bowl. Looking closely at the top of the photo and the bottom of the bowl you can see the cause for my concern regarding the potential burn out damage. The second and third photos below show the cuts in the stem and the missing chips. You can see how close the cut closest to the button came to the airway in that photo.

The next photo shows the stamping on the side of the shank and the logo on the stem. It is hard to see but much of the depth of the stamping on the stem is gone so restoring that with new white colouring will not be possible. When I removed the stem the tenon was inset aluminum and there was a stinger apparatus in place. It was a twisted piece that had a slot in the top for the airflow that followed the twist to the airway. It was stuck in the tenon and would need to be loosened before I could properly clean out the airway in the stem. I included some extra photos of the stem to show the cuts and chips from a different angle.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer. I started with the smallest cutting head and cleaned things up with it first. I then used the second cutting head which was pretty close to the diameter of the bowl. I cut the cake back to nothing so that I could examine the interior walls of the bowl. I was pleasantly surprised to find that once the cake was gone the interior walls of the bowl were solid and there was no burning.

I worked on the out of round bowl with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damaged areas and bring it back to as close to round as I could get it. I then topped the bowl on my topping board to smooth out the rim and clean up the damage on the surface. I will often do this just to bring the damage on the inner edge of the rim closer to the top so that I can smooth it out further with sandpaper.

I wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the grime and the remnants of the finish. There appeared to be some damage to the front of the bowl that I wanted to have a closer look at once the bowl was cleaned up. I wiped down the horn stem with cotton pads and some alcohol to clean up the surface so that I could begin the repairs. I debated on whether to use black super glue or clear super glue for the repairs to the chipped areas but decided to go with the clear hoping that once it dried the colour would come through the repair and blend it into the horn better. I layered the repair to the chipped areas on the underside and the cuts on top side of the stem. I wanted each layer to dry before I added another layer of glue.

After many layers of glue I was disappointed that glue did not cure clear but rather had a cloudy white appearance. The fills on the cut areas dried hard but looked like two white slashes. I was hoping that as I polished the stem these would blend in a bit more. The fills in the chips were a mixed bag. The smaller ones dried perfectly and blended in well. The larger divot was also white. I cleaned that area once again and added a drop of black superglue to the top of the repair to see if I could hide it better.

I sanded the bowl and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then medium and fine grit sanding sponges to clean up the repairs and the scratches in the briar. I carefully avoided the area of the stamping and the logo so as not to harm them. I also cleaned up the stinger and was able to remove it from the tenon. It was threaded and after cleaning up the joint I was able to unscrew it and clean it and airway of the stem. I wet sanded the bowl and stem with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. The striations of colour are beginning to show on the stem and the bowl is looking far better than when I started.

I wiped the stem down with a light wipe of alcohol to remove the sanding dust and then continued to wet sand it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and then dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit pads. I rubbed it down again with the oil and then finished sanding it with 6000-12000 grit pads. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry.

I buffed the bowl and stem with White Diamond and Blue Diamond on the wheel. I then cave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the stem and the bowl with a microfibre cloth. The first photos below are of the polished stem. You can see the repairs from the cuts. For some reason the glue dried white – even though it is clear. I did a patch on the chip on the underside with black super glue and it does not quite match… ah the frustrations of repairs. This one is staying with me so I will not mind as the stem is now smooth and polished. The cuts and the chips are repaired and are smooth to the touch. The fit of the stem to the shank is good with no missing stem parts.

The final four photos show the finished pipe. The bowl polished up very nicely with just carnauba wax. The polished stem shows the striations that are one of my favourite parts of horn as a stem material. The deep shine is a bonus.

rebornpipes

reclaiming old and worn estate pipes

Tag Archives: sanding a stem

Carey Magic Inch Freehand Briar Pipe

An Interesting Welsh Pipe Find: A C.A. Sander Sandhurst Bent Bulldog

Reworking a Lucite stem on a Sasieni Litewate Deluxe 71F Long Shank Dublin

Repairing Cracks in a Large WDC Wellington Bent

Restemming & Restoring -Antique Egg & Claw Meerschaum

Putting a New Stinger and Tenon on a Kaywoodie Super Grain Apple 33

Cleaning up Two Sisters – A pair of Beaver Cut Genuine Briar Pipes

Gourd Calabash Restoration

Replacing a push-tenon and mortise in a Meerschaum pipe

Cleaning up a Bruyere Garantie Pocket Pipe with a Horn Stem

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