Tag Archives: shaping a stem

New Life for a Comoy’s Second – A Town Hall Made in England 136 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am getting to the bottom of the current box of pipes for restoration. I think there were probably 40+ pipes in the box when I started. I am down to the last two. I took out an interesting older billiard that Jeff and I had picked up on our Oregon Coast Pipe Hunt. It was a well-shaped billiard that was absolutely filthy but there was something about it that ticked the boxes for me. The exterior of the bowl was coated with sticky oils and grime around the walls. The rim top was beat up pretty badly and there was a thick coat of lava and burn marks on the rim top and inner edge. There was a thick cake in the bowl. Between the lava and the cake overflowing the bowl it was hard to know what the inner edges looked like. The exterior edge was nicked and chipped with quite a bit of damage. The stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. There was also a large hole in the underside of the stem – a large bite through that covered about half of the area ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took some photos of the rim top from various angles to show the condition. You can see the thick lava on the top and the dust and debris as well as some damage on the rim. There is a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the inner edge. The next photos show the bowl sides and heel. The finish around the bowl was very worn and tired looking. There were spots of paint on the briar as well as quite a few fills on the heel and the front of the bowl. There was some amazing grain showing through the thick grime on the finish. The next photos capture the stamping around the shank and band. Jeff did not get a good photo of the shape number and worn stamp on the right side of the shank so I have not included that. The stamping read as noted above and they are faint but readable with a light and lens. The silver band is also stamped Sterling London.The stem was oxidized and calcified and the photos below show the tooth marks and chatter on the surface. The second photo shows the large bite through on the stem surface ahead of the button. This stem will need to be replaced.  I turned to Pipephil to try and figure out any information regarding the Town Hall brand. I was not familiar with and was hoping I would get some info (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-t7.html). I did indeed find out that it was a Comoy’s Second. The photo of the stamping looks like what I have. The stamp on the right side of the shank in the photo below is very faint on the pipe I am working on. I have included the screen capture of the section on the brand below. I then turned to the Pipedia article on Comoy’s pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s). I read through the article until I came to the section entitles “Seconds made by Comoy’s”. I scrolled through the list of brands and the Town Hall was listed. (There is a typo in the name in the list as it runs the two words together.) I have emboldened and underlined the name in the list below.

Ace of spades, Ancestor, Astor, Ayres, Britannia, Carlyle, Charles Cross, Claridge, Coronet?, Cromwell, Dorchester, Dunbar, Drury Lane, Emerson, Everyman, Festival of Britain, Golden Arrow, Grand Master, Gresham, Guildhall, Hamilton (according to Who Made That Pipe), Kingsway, Lion’s Head, Lord Clive, Lumberman, Hyde Park, Lloyds, Mc Gahey, Moorgate, Newcastle, Oxford, O’Gorman, Rosebery Extra, Royal Falcon, Royal Guard, Royal Lane, Scotland Yard, St James, Sunrise, Super Sports, Sussex, The Academy Award, The Golden Arrow, The Mansion House, The Exmoor Pipe, Throgmorton, Tinder Box Royal Coachman, Townhall, Trident, Trocadero, Westminster, Wilshire

I knew that I was working on a Comoy’s Made pipe and once I read that I could see the classic Comoy’s Billiard shape and the shape number confirmed that. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush but it was in rough condition. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it.  I took a photo of the rim top showing the damage to the rim top and the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. It was in rough condition. There was some darkening and nicks around the outer edge of the bowl and some burn areas on the inner edge. The stem was also in rough condition with a large bite through on the underside.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The stamping is clean and still readable.I decided to start with finding a new stem for the pipe. I took the stem off and looked for a replacement. I have so many pipes to work on that I am not bothering with filling in bite throughs at this point. I am leaving this to the master Paresh Deshpande to do! I found a suitable estate stem that was the right diameter and right tenon size. It is slightly shorter and a bit less tapered than the one that was on the bowl but it would work. I cleaned the airway in it with alcohol and pipe cleaners to get a good start on it then put it in place on the shank and took some pictures of the new stem. I decided to address the damage to the rim and the edges of the bowl – both outer and inner. I topped the bowl with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the inner and outer edges with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove them and to remove the damages. Once it was finished it looked a lot better. There were a lot of fills around the sides and heel of the bowl. I checked them for soundness and filled in some of the more damaged ones with clear super glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth them and blend them into the surrounding briar.I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad. The fills were very obvious on this pipe and to me they were just ugly enough to bother me. I could have stained just the rim top to match but figured I would try to mask the fills a bit with a darker stain. I used what is labeled as a Light Brown stain to cover the bowl and rim. I applied the stain and then flamed it to set it in the grain of the bowl. It was dark but I think it will look good once I am finished. I let it sit for several hours then buffed it off with Red Tripoli on the buffing wheel to get a feel for what it looked like at this point. I wiped the bowl down with isopropyl alcohol to make the stain coat a little more transparent and show the grain on the bowl. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turn to address the issues with the stem. The stem was in decent condition with no bite marks. It was dirty and oxidized as could be seen in the photos above. I sanded out the oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil to preserve the stem and to give some bite to the sanding. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I rubbed the stem down with the polishes and buffed it with a cotton pad. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This Comoy’s made Town Hall 136 Billiard was one I was looking forward to seeing come together. The new light brown stain hides the fills nicely while still highlighting the grain around the bowl – sides, top and heel. The polished black vulcanite taper stem that I fit to the shank works very well with the look of the pipe. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I polished the silver band with a jeweller’s cloth. The finished Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Second Linkman’s Dr. Grabow 9771 De Luxe Bruyere Acorn

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am getting to the bottom of the current box of pipes for restoration. I think there were probably 40+ pipes in the box when I started. I am down to the last four. Two of them are Linkman’s Dr. Grabow pipes. The first Linkman’s I took out of the box and restored was a billiard. It is stamped Linkman’s Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and 9708 De Luxe on the right side of the shank (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/05/20/113190/). It was time to work on the second Linkman’s pipe – an Acorn shaped pipe. It was stamped the same way as the first on both sides of the shank – Linkman’s Dr. Grabow on the left and with a different shape number 9771 De Luxe Bruyere on the left side.  On the underside it bears a Patent Number 1896800. The pipe was dirty and there was some lava and burn marks on the inwardly beveled rim top and inner edge. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The exterior of the pipe was varnished and was scratched and wearing off. The stem was lightly oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his work on it. Jeff took some photos of the rim top from various angles to show the condition. You can see the thick lava on the top and the dust and debris. The varnish coat is crackling and will need to be removed. There is a thick cake in the bowl and lava on the inner edge. The varnish coat was crackling and scratched on the exterior of the bowl but there was great grain shining through. This would be a beautiful pipe once the varnish coat and grime was removed. The next photos capture the stamping around the sides of the shank. They read as noted above and they are clear and very readable. I forgot to note above that there was a worn silver chevron on the top side of the shank at the end. The topside of the stem had the propeller logo that was always associated with the Linkman brand. Jeff removed the stem from the shank and took a picture of the stinger apparatus. This time it is not missing and it is not removable but is an integral part of the tenon. Is it and earlier or a later edition of the pipe? Who knows! The stem was oxidized and calcified and the photos below show the tooth marks and chatter on the surface. They do not look deep but there a lot of them.   I have included the same information that I included in the previous restoration of the first Linkman’s Dr. Grabow for ease of reference.

I turned to Pipephil to pin down the dates of the pipe (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l4.html). I have included the screen capture of the section on the brand below.The M. Linkman and Co. was established by Louis B. Linkman and August Fisher in 1898. The company closed down in the 1950s and the Dr Grabow branch was sold to Henry Leonard and Thomas Inc. Early Linkman’s pipes were stamped MLC in an oval.

I then did a patent search on the US Government Patent site using the patent number on the underside of the shank. I found the following Patent information. It specifically refers to the stinger apparatus that is attached to the tenon. It was filed in April 11, 1932 by L.B. Linkman. I am including the full patent information below. I knew that I was working on a pipe made after Feb. 7, 1933 when the patent was granted and prior to the early 1950s when the company was closed. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it.  I took a photo of the rim top showing the damage to the inward bevel on the rim and the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. There was some darkening and nicks around the out edge of the bowl and some burn areas on the inner edge. The stem looks very good – light tooth marks near the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the shank. The stamping is clean and still readable.I took the stem off and took a photo of the appearance of the pipe. It is missing the stinger. It is not cut off but it is a removable one. It is missing but the draught is much better without it.I decided to address the damage to the beveled rim and the edges of the bowl – both outer and inner. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove them and to remove the damages. Once it was finished it looked a lot better.I polished the rim top and bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turn to address the issues with the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on each side of the stem just ahead of the button with clear super glue. Once the repairs cured I sanded them out with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down after each pad with some Obsidian Oil to preserve the stem and to give some bite to the sanding. I finished the polishing with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I rubbed the stem down with the polishes and buffed it with a cotton pad. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil. This older Linkman’s Dr. Grabow 9771 De Luxe Bruyere straight Acorn is another interesting piece of pipe history. The mix of brown stains highlights the mix of nice grain around the bowl – sides, top and heel. With the varnish removed the finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Linkman’s Dr. Grabow De Luxe Bruyere Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

A Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 608 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. It is an interestingly rusticated Bent Billiard with darkening around the rim edge and top. It is stamped with Sherwood over Rock Briar on the heel of the bowl followed by the Savinelli “S” shield and the shape number 608 over Italy on the shank. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a combination of brown stains and the worm trail rustication is not only tactile but also a purposeful pattern to the finish. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top toward the back of the bowl. There was darkening on the briar around the inner edge and the top of the rim. The saddle stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. There is no stamping on the stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the inner edge of the beveled rim.  Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the “worm trail” rustication around the bowl and the great looking grain as well. It is actually a nice looking pipe.  The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable.The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  I am including the section from the previous blog I did o the Sherwood Rock Briar pipe that I restored. I quote:

I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html) to read about the Sherwood Rock Briar. It is a smooth pipe with the worm trail carving around the bowl. Sometimes I wonder if it was not Savinelli’s answer to the Custombilt Craze or what Lorenzo was selling that was similar. This is definitely tamer! I have included the screen capture from the site below. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge and the top on the right front the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.    I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. There was a crimped aluminum tube in the tenon once the stem was off and it inhibited airflow and was really unnecessary.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the edge and the rim top at the front of the bowl to remove the darkening. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better.I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris.   Because the bowl and rim top looked so good I decided to move on to rubbing the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to pull the crimped tube in the tenon so I heated it with a lighter and twisted it free. Behind and under the aluminum tube there was a lot of tars and oils so I recleaned the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol.   I worked over the oxidation on the stem and the button with 220 grit sandpaper and sanded it until I had removed it. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. At this point it is starting to look much better.   I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 608 Bent Billiard is another interesting looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the smooth briar between the rusticated patterns around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Sherwood Rock Briar 608 Bent Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Kriswill “Golden Clipper” Freehand Chimney

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The next pipe selected for refurbishing is a uniquely shaped Danish pipe. I say unique because it has a tall chamber, rounded shank with a rim cap, a slight bent to the stem and is a sitter! It’s a shape that I had never come across and was unable to classify its shape. I shared pictures of the pipe with my Guru, Steve and he opined that it could be called a Rhodesian, stack, sitter or Bulldog as it has characteristics of all these shapes but looks like neither. Thus, we concurred that it’s most appropriate to call this pipe a freehand!!!! The bowl shape reminds me of the chimney of early steam locomotive engines with their bellowing huge plumes of smoke as they rush forward.This pipe has shallow sandblast and a natural finish (I guess) that has darkened over a period of time. For a pipe with a length of 5 ½ inches and bowl height of 2 inches and chamber depth of 1 ¾ inches, it’s pretty much ultra light weight, making it a perfect smoker to clench. The vulcanite saddle stem is thin and delicate. The shallow sandblast form the asymmetric patterns look interesting. The foot of the stummel is flat and elongated, making it a perfect sitter. A smooth briar band at the shank end breaks the monotony of the blasted surface and also provides a surface for stamping the model number. The pipe is stamped on the bottom smooth surface of the shank as “Kriswill” in script hand over “GOLDEN CLIPPER”. Further to the right towards the shank end on the smooth briar band is stamped the shape (?) code “1894”. Truth be told, the shape code stamping of the numeral 8 appears smudged. Having worked earlier on Kriswill pipes, I realized that the stamp “HAND MADE IN DENMARK” is conspicuous by its absence. The thin delicate vulcanite saddle stem is devoid of any stampings.A couple of years back I had worked on a Kriswill Golden Clipper and on a Chief. Here is the link for the Kriswill Chief write up…

https://rebornpipes.com/2018/08/04/breathing-new-life-into-a-kriswill-chief-20/. I am sure you will find it an interesting read.

I had researched the brand at that time and all that was now needed was to refresh the memory. I went through the above write up and also through the material that was available on pipedia.org and pipephil.eu. There are two facts which I wish to highlight, firstly, “Prior to 1970 the stampings are in script letters on the shank and on the mouthpiece. The star on the stem and block letters on the shank were introduced from that date on”

Second, is deciphering the four digit model coding system adopted by Kriswill. The last two numerals are the model numbers for smooth finish and all sandblasted have numeral 18 preceding the model number. Thus the pipe currently on my table is a model #94 and since it is a sandblast variant, the number is 1894.

Thus from the above, the pipe that I am now working on dates to pre 1970s since the stamping is in script and the stem is sans the star.

With the provenance of the pipe satisfactorily established, I proceeded to carry out a visual inspection of the condition of the pipe in my hand. This helps me map the road to restoring the pipe by identifying the issues involved and identify methods/ options to address the same beforehand.

Initial Visual Inspection
The chamber is so filled with cake that I am unable to reach the bottom of the bowl with my little finger. The build-up of the cake is heavier on the bottom half of the bowl, but overall well maintained. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber can be commented upon after the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The rim top is thin and has the same shallow sandblast surface as the rest of the stummel, has darkened and is covered with dust, lava and grime. I don’t think that there is any charring to either of the rim edges and they appear to be in pristine condition. The chamber odors are not very strong and should be completely eliminated once the cake has been removed and the shank has been thoroughly cleaned.The stummel surface appears dull and lackluster due to the accumulated dirt, dust and grime of years of usage and subsequent uncared for storage. There are no fills or chips or nicks over the stummel surface. There are no other stummel issues that I have to deal with on this pipe. The mortise is relatively clean with small amount of oils and tars accumulated on the walls of the mortise. This should be an easy clean up job. The delicate vulcanite saddle stem is heavily oxidized. The lip has some minor bite marks on both surfaces and will need to be rebuilt and reshaped. There is some calcification seen around the lip on both the surfaces. The airway in the stem is blocked and the draw is restricted. I will need to clean it to ensure a full and open draw. The tenon and the horizontal slot show accumulation of dried oils, tars and gunk on the inside as well as on the outside, this will have to be cleaned. The Process
The process of refurbishing this pipe started with the cleaning of the stem. Abha, my wife, cleaned the stem air way with regular and bristled pipe cleaners dipped in 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. She further cleaned the stem internals with thin shank brushes and dish soap to remove the stubborn and thick gunk from within the airway. The heap of pipe cleaners and their appearance tells a sordid story. With a sharp fabricated knife, she scraped off all the dried tars and gunk from the tenon end.The stem surface was sanded down with a worn out piece of 180 grit sand paper. I have realized that following this step prior to immersion into the “Before and After Stem Deoxidizer” solution has two advantages, firstly, the stem surface oxidation gets loosened and the solution works deeper and more efficiently in pulling the deep seated oxidation from the stem surface. Secondly, the minor tooth chatter and calcium depositions are taken care of prior to the immersion. I immersed it in “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. This solution has been developed by Mark Hoover and works to draw out all the deep seated oxidation from the surface making its subsequent cleaning and polishing a breeze. I would definitely recommend this product as it saves on to time and efforts. The pipe has been marked with a red arrow for easy identification.Abha, my wife, dealt with the cake by reaming the chamber with a Castleford pipe tool using size 1 followed by size 2 head of the reamer. Using the fabricated knife, she further scraped the cake from the bottom of the bowl and also the walls of the chamber. She was especially very careful while reaming with the knife so as not to damage the inner edge of the rim. Once the solid briar was exposed, she further smoothed the walls and removed remaining cake by sanding with a 180 followed by 220 grit sand paper. Another advantage of this process is the elimination of traces of ghosting to a great extent. She wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol. The chamber walls are pristine and solid with no heat fissures or pits. Simultaneously I cleaned out the internals of the shank/ mortise and airway using q- tips, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I scraped the walls of the mortise with my fabricated knife till the accumulated gunk was removed. Further cleaning of the shank internals will ensue during the external cleaning of the stummel.Thereafter, I generously rubbed “Briar Cleaner”, a product that has been developed by my friend Mark Hoover, into the external surface of the bowl and the rim top surface. It works similar to Murphy’s oil soap and needs to be applied to the stummel surface and set aside for 5- 10 minutes. The product pulls out all the dirt and grime to the surface making further cleaning easy. I am quite happy with this product. I used a hard bristled tooth brush to scrub the stummel and rim top with the solution. After the scrub with Briar cleaner solution, I washed the stummel under running warm water with anti oil dish washing detergent till clean and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I simultaneously cleaned the shank internals with the detergent and hard bristled shank brush. The stummel surface has cleaned up nicely with the intricate sandblast patterns on full display. The stummel now looks and smells fresh and the old smells are all gone. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. The next morning, Abha removed the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. She cleaned the stem and the stem airway under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad and the airway with thin shank brush. She further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.I further sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 and 320 grit sand papers to further remove the traces of oxidation and reduce the sanding marks and followed it with wet sanding the entire stem with 1500 to 12000 grade micromesh pads (1500 to 2400 grit micromesh pads have completely worn out and unable to order a set due to lock down and so had used 1500 and 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper). I wiped the stem with a moist cloth to remove the dust and monitored the progress being made after every three grit pads. The stem polished up nicely and had a rich deep black shine to it. I applied a little Extra Virgin Olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite and set the stem aside.Next, I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my finger tips, working it deep in to the sandblasts and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful sandblast patterns displayed in their complete splendor. The contrast of the light brown of the raised sandblast portion with the dark brown of the rest of the stummel adds an interesting dimension to the appearance of the stummel. I further buffed it with a horse hair brush. On to the home stretch!! I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further and remove any residual wax from in between the sandblasts. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is now ready for its long second innings with me. P.S. I am not really pleased with the restoration projects that I can choose due to paucity of equipment and materials that are required. Today I realized that I have run out of the medium superglue I use and that the spare one has mysteriously hardened within the tube. With my country under lock down to arrest the spread of the COVID- 19 virus, no delivery can take place. So I am being forced to improvise and that I shall continue to do!!

The next project that I have earmarked is interesting in that it is the very first time that I shall be undertaking repairs of this nature. Be sure to read that write up and help me improve my skill sets.

I wish to thank each one for sparing their valuable time to read through this write up and praying for the health and safety of entire mankind. Stay home…stay safe!!

New Life for a Peterson’s Republic Era “Kildare” 69 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts or auctions. It is a nicely grained and I would say beautiful Peterson’s “Kildare” 69 Bent Billiard. The finish is quite nice with at that classic Peterson’s look. The pipe was dirty, with grime and dust ground into the finish. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and a lava overflow on the inner edge of the rim and spilling onto the rim top in some spots. The pipe is stamped on both sides of the shank and reads Peterson’s “Kildare” on the left side of the shank. It is stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland followed by the shape number 69 on the right side of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable on the pipe. The stem was dirty and oxidized. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides and some on the surface of the button as well. There was a faint partial Peterson’s “P” on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the relatively clean rim top and beveled edge. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles.He took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the interesting grain that was on this bowl. It is a dirty but quite beautifully crafted pipe. The stamping on the underside of the shank read as noted above. The photo shows that they are very clear and readable. The P on the left side of the stem faint and part of it not stamped into the surface of the stem. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.  I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era  – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made during the Republic Era between 1950 and 1989. Pipedia then qualifies the dating as follows: From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland”. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the oxidized silver with Soft Scrub and buffed it off with a soft pad. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. There is some darkening around the inner edge and the rim top is roughened. The stem looks clean of oxidation and there are some tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.The stamping on both sides of the shank was very clear and readable as noted above.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It is a great looking pipe.There was a cluster of sandpits on the mid left side of the bowl. They were in a tight pattern and were quite deep.  I usually fill these in with a drop of clear super glue then sand the repairs smooth. This afternoon the glue came out in a large clump on the area in question. I wiped off some of the excess but the majority of it hardened very quickly. I now officially had a mess of my own making on the side of the bowl that needed to be cleaned up. I sanded the area smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper until it had blended into the surrounding area. I sanded the rim top with a 1500 grit micromesh pad to smooth out the roughened rim top. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the briar down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the deep briar. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The grain came alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem to try to lift the tooth marks in the vulcanite. I was able to lift them quite a bit.There were still some marks on both sides of the stem near the button. Once the repair I flattened them with a needle file to start the process of blending them into the surrounding material. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the stem with Paper Mate Liquid Paper and once it dried I scraped off the excess. The P stamp is far from perfect but it definitely looks better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Republic Era Peterson “Kildare” 69 Smooth Bent Billiard is a nice looking pipe. The combination of brown stain really highlights the grain around the bowl sides and shank. They begin to really stand out with the polishing. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to give some contrast to the pipe. The polished black vulcanite P-lip taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it is really is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the stamping on the shank. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This Peterson’s “Kildare” Bent Billiard 69 will be added to the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

This Made in Denmark Scandia Volcano 770 was a tired looking pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one that was also at the bottom of the box of pipes I am working on. It is a Stanwell made Scandia sandblast pipe – a 770 Volcano shape with an oval tapered stem. The volcano shaped bowl, oval shank and taper stem made up a nicely shape pipe. The sandblast though dirt and grime showed some interesting colour mixes and the blast was very interesting.  It was stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and read SCANDIA over Made in Denmark and the shape number 770. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the sandblasted bowl and rim top as can be seen in the photos. There dust in all of the deep crevices of the blast. The bowl had a thick cake with a heavy lava overflow on the sandblasted rim top. There was too much lava on the rim top and edge to know what they looked like but more would be revealed once it was cleaned. The stem was oxidized and there were deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show lava build up around the rim, the edges and cake in the bowl. The lava actually had filled in some of the nooks and crannies in the sandblast.   Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the absolutely dirty finish ground into the sandblast. It was a dirty pipe but I think it will be a beautiful one once we are finished.  The stamping on the underside of the shank is shown in the photos below. It is clear and read as noted above.  There was nothing stamped on the top of the stem. The stem was a good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  I had in my memory the thought that the Scandia brand was a Stanwell second so I quickly turned to Pipephil’s website to check it out (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s4.html). I am including the following screen capture.It was my turn to work on the pipe now. I was really looking forward to what the pipe would look like once Jeff had worked his magic. What would the rim top look like? What would the dirty sandblast on the bowl look like? I had no idea. When I took it out of the box I was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He had reamed the pipe with a Pipnet piper reamer and taken the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed the stem off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it.   I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see that there is still some darkening to both the briar rim top and inner edge. The stem is clean and the tooth damage on both sides is very clear in the photos.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is readable as noted above. There is also the expected inset brass bar on the left side of the saddle.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the briar rim top. I wiped down the entire bowl with alcohol and used a brass bristle wire brush to work over the darkened areas on the bowl top.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the crevices of the sandblast. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.     I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the deep dents in the surface. The dents on the top side lifted well. The underside was better than before. The button edge on the top was rough.    I filled in the remaining indentations and built up the top and bottom of the button with clear super glue. Once the repair cured I used a needle file to reshape the button edges and also flatten the repaired areas. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it.   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This interestingly stained sandblast Stanwell Made Scandia 770 Volcano with a taper vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the nooks and crannies of the sandblast around the bowl sides and bottom. The darkening on the rim top does not look too bad and adds a bit of contrast to the light coloured stain and the dark highlights. The finish on the pipe looks much better. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Volcano is very nice and feels great in the hand and can be used as a sitter with the wide base. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interesting in adding it to your collection let me know! Thanks for your time.

This Savinelli de luxe Milano 206 Apple was worn and tired pipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is one I have been avoiding working for this whole box of pipes. I just keep putting under others. Today I am getting to the bottom of the box and decided to take this one on. It is a well-shaped sandblast apple made by Savinelli. That is itself is not an issue as it has a great shape and look. The round bowl, slender shank and saddle stem with a thin blade – what’s not to like?  It was stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and read Savinelli de luxe Milano on the heel and that was followed by the Savinelli S shield and the shape number 206 over Italy. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the bowl and rim top as can be seen in the photos. There were dark spots all around the bowl and a deep nick on the right side of the crowned rim top. The bowl had a thick cake with a heavy lava overflow on the rim top. There was too much lava on the rim top and edge to know what they looked like but more would be revealed once it was cleaned. The stem was oxidized and there were deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show lava build up around the rim, the wear on the edges and cake in the bowl. The lava actually was running down the edges of the crown of the bowl and had filled in some of the nooks and crannies in the sandblast. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the dark spots around the bowl sides mixed in with the nice sandblast. It was a dirty pipe but I think it will be a beautiful one once we are finished.    The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They are clear and read as noted above.  There is a brass bar on the left side of the saddle stem. The stem was a good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  It was my turn to work on the pipe now. I was really looking forward to what the pipe would look like once Jeff had worked his magic. What would the rim top look like? What would the dark spots around the bowl look like? I had no idea. When I took it out of the box I was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He had reamed the pipe with a Pipnet piper reamer and taken the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed the stem off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. While some of the dark marks had faded it became clear that they were dark stains rather than burn marks as I suspected. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see that there is still some darkening to both the briar rim top and inner edge. The stem is clean and the tooth damage on both sides is very clear in the photos. Lots more work to do on this pipe.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The stamping is readable as noted above. There is also the expected inset brass bar on the left side of the saddle.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the briar rim top. I sanded the crowned rim top and inner edge of the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove some of the darkening to the top and smooth out the inner edge of the bowl. I wiped the rim top down with alcohol on a cotton pad.I wiped down the entire bowl with alcohol and used a brass bristle wire brush to work over the darkened areas on the bowl sides and top. Once it was dried off I restained the bowl and shank with a Tan Aniline Stain. I applied it to the briar and flamed it with a Bic lighter. I repeated the process. The alcohol burns off with the flame and the stain is set in the briar. I let the bowl sit and the stain cure overnight. In the morning I buffed it on the buffer with Red Tripoli and Blue Diamond. I took photos of the bowl with its new look. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to get it into the crevices of the sandblast. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the deep dents in the surface.I filled in the remaining indentations and built up the top and bottom of the button with clear super glue. Once the repair cured I used a needle file to reshape the button edges and also flatten the repaired areas. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it.   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.     This nice looking Savinelli deluxe Milano 206 Apple with a saddle stem turned out very nice. The addition of a tan stain to the mix of brown stains highlights the nooks and crannies of the sandblast around the bowl sides and bottom. The finish on the pipe looks much better and they go well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished straight apple is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interesting in adding it to your collection let me know! Thanks for your time.

Restoring an older French Briar Redmanol Diamond Shank Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

If you have read the blog for long you know that I am a sucker for older C.P.F. pipes whether they are stamped French Briar or Redmanol or other things there is just something about them that grabs my eye. The next pipe on the table is a cased pipe that is a Bent Billiard with a brass band and rim cap and a Redmanol stem. The shank is stamped on the left side Redmanol in a rectangle. It is a well-shaped Bent Billiard with a diamond shank that had some nice grain poking through the grime. The briar that showed has a combination of brown stains that highlights the grain. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the bowl and rim cap as can be seen in the photos. The bowl had a thick cake with a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top around the bowl. The Redmanol stem was dull and oxidized and there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. The first photos show the condition of the red leather covered case and the opened case with a bright golden velvet lining. The top of the case had two embossed logos. The first was gold stamping on the velvet and read Warranted French Briar – a typical C.P.F. brand stamp. The second was a black label on the lining. It read Carl Stehr Manufacturer 347 Broome St. N.Y. Jeff took the pipe out of the case and took photos. You can see the grime and buildupon the sides of the bowl and rim cap. Both the band and the cap were tarnished. The stamp on the left side of the shank was stamped Redmanol and was readable though worn in the middle of the stamping. The Redmanol stem is nicely done – it is a saddle stem, well shaped and in great condition.  Jeff took photos of the rim cap to show lava build up around the rim and cake in the bowl. The brass cap was dented and damaged with wear to the inner edge of the cap.   Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that showed beneath the grime. I think that this will be a beautiful pipe once we are finished.      The stamping on the left side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They are clear and read as noted above.  The junction of the stem and band was clean.   The stem was a good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the Redmanol. It also shows the light tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.I decided to google the Carl Stehr Manufacturer and was taken to an article on the New Yorker Magazine site (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1930/02/15/pipemaker).

The New Yorker, February 15, 1930 P. 11

Talk story about pipes. Carl Stehr, maker of hand-carved pipes whose shop is in Broome Street just off the Bowery. His father opened the business in 1867. All types of large pipes were popular in those days. Pipe that lies in the window is almost two feet long. His father made it for the Philadelphia Expostion in 1876, where it won a prize. Tells about the various pipes that were carved. The meerschaum pipe of which the original clay only found in Turkey. There has been decline in pipe-making since cigarettes came in.

I continued to look through the listings on google and came across this advertisement on Google books Puck’s Library, Issue 42. Here is the link: (https://books.google.ca/books?id=TVznAAAAMAAJ&pg=PT2&lpg=PT2&dq=Carl+Stehr+Manufacturers+New+York&source=bl&ots=nBfkzkDrra&sig=ACfU3U2_SHFWnz8l917H-MpxD2U9fVV0Sg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgyPbO-bbpAhWHqp4KHZ4CC-4Q6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Carl%20Stehr%20Manufacturers%20New%20York&f=false)

The advertisement read Carl Stehr, Manufacturer of Meerschaum Pipes, Cigar Holders, Amber Goods, and French Briar wood Pipes of every description… It had the same store address as that on the inside of the case – Store, 347 Broome St., N.Y. and pinned it down to the Occidental Hotel.

I already knew that the pipe was connected to C.P.F. pipes – Consolidated Pipe Factory. I have worked on a lot of them over the years. I written blog on the historical background of the brand (https://rebornpipes.com/2013/04/14/some-reflection-on-the-historical-background-on-cpf-pipes/). I have also worked on several that were stamped with both the French Briar stamp and the C.P.F. stamp. I had also found a link between the Redmanol stamp and C.P.F. as well.

Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. When I took the case out of the box it was in great condition. I opened the case and was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He carefully reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer set and followed that up by removing the remnants of cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub. He washed it off with warm water to remove the poliah. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took the pipe out of the case and took the following photos.   I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see that there are a lot of dings and dents in the brass rim top. It was in rough condition. The stem is clean and the tooth damage on both sides near the button.    I took a photo of the stamping on the side of the shank. The stamping reads REDMANOL in a rectangle. There is no other stamping on the shank.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, threaded bone tenon and profile of the pipe. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the dents in the top of the rim cap. I loosened the cap from the rim top and used a knife to scrape away the dried glue from the pipe and from the metal cap. I used a flat blade screwdriver to try and flatten out the dents in the cap. Once I had removed as many as possible I used an all-purpose glue to reattach it to the rim top.   I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris.   I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.   I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This French Briar Redmanol pipe by C.P.F. with a Redmanol saddle stem is really quite nice. Even the dented rim cap and band give the pipe a sense of class. The mix of brown stains highlights the beautiful mixed grain around the bowl sides and heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished Redmanol saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished diamond shank bent Billiard is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a petite pipe whose dimensions are Length: 4 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be going into my personal collection of American made C.P.F. pipes. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Fleur de Lis Squat Meerschaum Lined Bulldog 9240 made by GBD

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a squat Bulldog with a meerschaum lining. The pipe has a short saddle and long stem that is different. The bowl shape was very similar to GBD pipes that I have worked on. The meerschaum lining was more like a sleeve than a full bowl as it ends above the airway entry into the bottom of the bowl. At first I thought it was missing but the more I studied it the more I realized that it was made this way combining the best of briar and meerschaum in a unique way. It is a well-shaped straight Bulldog that had some nice grain poking through the grime. It was stamped on the top left side of the diamond shank and read Fleur de Lis over Meerschaum-lined. The stamping on the right side of the shank reads France over the shape number is 9240. The briar that showed has a combination of brown stains that highlights the grain. There were a few fills that stood out on the right side of the bowl below the twin rings under the cap. The finish was very dirty with a heavy coat of grime ground into the bowl and rim top as can be seen in the photos. The bowl had a thick cake with a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top around the bowl. There was too much lava on the rim top and edge to know what they looked like but more would be revealed once it was cleaned. The stem was oxidized and there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up so you could see what we saw. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show lava build up around the rim and cake in the bowl. The lava actually was running down the edges of the cap of the bowl and had filled in over half of the beveled meerschaum lining. In the third photo you can see where the meerschaum lining ends. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the grain that showed beneath the grime as well as the fills in the briar. I think that this will be a beautiful pipe once we are finished.    The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They are clear and read as noted above.  There is a Fleur de Lis on the left side of the saddle stem. The stem was a good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the light tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.    I turned to Pipephil (www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-f3.html) to read about the Fleur de Lis Pipes. The screen capture matches the pipe I am working on. The one in hand is also a meerschaum lined pipe with a four digit shape number that reminded me of GBD pipes and a country of origin in France. There was no further information on the brand to be found there.I turned to Pipedia to check out information on the Fleur de Lis pipe brand and to see if there was a GBD connection (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Fleur_de_Lis). The article was very brief and linked the brand to the French GBD Factory. I quote:

Fleur de Lis pipes were made in the French GBD factory. It appears all the Fleur de Lis pipes had a meerschaum lining.

There was also a series of photos of a Fleur de Lis pipe with the box it came in that definitively linked the brand to GBD. I have included one of those photos below.

Example and details, courtesy Doug Valitchka

Now I knew that there was a connection so I did further checking on the idea that the number stamped on the shank side was a GBD shape number. I checked out the GBD shape numbers on to check my guess about the number 9240 (https://pipedia.org/wiki/GBD_Shapes/Numbers). I have a screen capture below of the shape number and description. It perfectly fit the pipe that I am working on. The 9240 GBD was the number of a squat Bulldog with a straight diamond shank and that is what I had in hand. Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. I was really looking forward to what the pipe would look like once Jeff had worked his magic. What would the rim top look like? What would the meerschaum insert/sleeve look like? I had no idea. When I took it out of the box I was struck great job cleaning up the pipe Jeff had done. It was impressive! He carefully reamed the pipe with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see that there is still some darkening to both the briar rim top and the beveled meerschaum edge. The stem is clean and the tooth damage on both sides is very clear in the photos. Lots more work to do on this pipe.I took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is readable as noted above. The Fleur de Lis stamp on the left side of the stem is very clear and deep enough to fill in with some colour.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It really is a beautifully shaped pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the meerschaum and the briar rim top. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. I was able to remove the darkening to the top of both materials. I would polish the rim top with micromesh when I polished the bowl.  I repaired the putty fills on the right side of the bowl with clear super glue. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth with 220 grit sandpaper.  I touched up the stain on the rim top using a Maple stain pen to blend in the briar rim top and repaired areas on the right side of the bowl with the rest of the bowl colour.   I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris.   I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to finish the shaping and to remove the remaining oxidation. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil before further polishing it.   I used some Antique Gold Rub’n Buff to touch up the stamp on the stem. It looked better.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This French Made GBD Meerlined Fleur de Lis 9240 Squat Bulldog with a saddle stem is really quite nice. The meerlining is a sleeve that ends just above the entrance of the airway into the bowl. The mix of brown stains highlights the beautiful mixed grain around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished straight squat Bulldog is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a petite pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interesting in adding it to your collection let me know! Thanks for your time.

Is New Life Possible for this Rough Old Custom-Bilt Billiard?

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes when we are caught up in the Adrenalin of a pipe hunt often sympathy for an old pipe surpasses logic. That was certainly the case with this tired and damaged old Custom-Bilt Billiard. We just picked it up and said it was going with us. Later in looking at it I wondered what we had done. The thick cake in the bowl and the fact that the pipe was filthy were not huge problems for us so ignore those. Here are just a few of the issues with the pipe. There appeared to be serious burn damage to the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem was an obvious replacement which is not a problem but it appeared to be crooked. Was the issue the stem or the shank? Taking it out of the shank it was clear that the issue was both. The stem was too large and the tenon was off centre. However it was also clear that the shank had been hacked off at an angle and was not straight. There were chips of briar missing on the shank end. Fortunately it appeared that the mortise was straight and still functional. Those were just the issues I saw without spending a lot of time looking. But there was still some charm in the old pipe that made me want to try. Jeff took the pipe home with him to do his work on it. He took the following photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup. Jeff took photos of the damage to the rim top. You can see the damage on the inner edge of the bowl where there is some serious burn damage. There is also damage on the rim top itself. The rustication is filled in with lava and it is hard to see the extent of the damage.He took photo of the rustication around the sides and heel of the bowl to show both the damage and the grime ground into the bowl sides. He took a photo of the stamping on the shank side showing the Custom-Bilt stamp. It is readable but fainter toward the bottom of the stamp. The second photo below shows the fit of the stem to the shank and it is clear how it is both larger and off in terms of the fit.The next photos show the condition of the stem. I am not too concerned with it because it will need to be replaced.I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-c8.html) to get a quick view of the brand once again. I knew that I was working with one of the older pipes and   probably made by Tracy Mincer himself. He stopped making the Custom-Bilt pipes in the early 1950s. The screen capture I included below shows a brief history of the brand.I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:CustomBilt_Stamp1.jpg) for a quick read. The majority of the information there was two book reviews of the Custom-Bilt Story by Bill Unger. The one line I culled was the following: “Tracy Mincer started the original Custom-Bilt pipes it appears in 1934”.

I did a screen capture of the stamping that matched the stamping on the pipe that I am working on.What I learned from that is that the stamp was used by Tracy Mincer in Indianapolis in the US from 1938-1946 and possibly in Chicago before 1938 as well. So now I had a possible date for this pipe. It was an old timer and it was well worth working on.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. Jeff cleaned up this stem even though it would probably be replaced. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. You can see the misfit stem. I took a photo of the rim top to show how well it cleaned up and the damage on the front and rim top. I also took a series of photos to show the angles of the misfit stem. You can see that the fit is at an angle. The shank end is also not straight. I went through my collection of stems and found one that was the right profile and right length. I found a perfect stem that even had a turned tenon that would just need adjustment. I took some pictures of the shank end to show the cut angle of the shank. It is just slightly off not a huge amount but when a stem was against the shank it was obvious. The right side was longer than the left and the top was longer than the bottom.I used the topping board to lightly sand the shank end but it was not to be without removing more of the shank end than I wanted. The chips out of the shank end made it necessary to sand deeper. I decided to use a thin brass band that also capped the end of the shank. I coated the shank end with some all-purpose glue and pressed the band in place. I put the new stem on the shank and adjusted the band to take care of any deviation in the face of the shank. I removed the stem and set the bowl aside to let the glue cure. Once the glue on the band had cured I put the new stem in place in the shank to show the fit to the shank end. There is a lot of material to remove from the diameter of the stem at this point but the fit is perfect. I used my Dremel and sanding drum to carefully remove the excess material. I always start this process with the stem in place on the shank. I get it as close as possible to the shank size as I can without nicking the band. Once I have it close I remove the stem and finish it without the shank. The photo below is one I sent to Jeff to show him the progress. It shows the stem after the rough fitting. Lots of work still to do but you can see that it is coming along well.Now the shaping work began in earnest. I used folded 220 grit sandpaper to sand the stem and remove the scratching left behind by the Dremel and sanding drum. I also adjusted the fit to the shank by repeatedly taking photos of the fit. I have included some of those below so you can see the progress.I continued to sand the stem until all of the sanding marks from the drum were gone and the stem was smooth. I started the polishing of the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. The photos below show the stem at this point.I set the stem aside at this point and rubbed some Before & After  Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar. I worked it into the nooks and crannies of the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar came alive with the balm. When I am doing a restemming job I like to put it on the bowl and get a look at the pipe all along the way. There is something satisfying in watching the new pipe take shape. I was pleased with how the pipe was looking. I liked the flow of the stem and new shank band. It definitely was a step up from where I started. All that remains now is to finish polishing the stem and then buffing the pipe and waxing it. I was definitely getting there! I removed the stem from the bowl and set the bowl aside. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This early Tracy Mincer made Custom-Bilt billiard was an absolute disaster when we found it. I cleaned up the shank, banded it to smooth it out and made a new stem. It is a great looking pipe. The brown stain on the mixed grain shining through the rustication is quite nice. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to give some contrast to the finish of the pipe. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime, debris and burn marks minimized from the finish the bowl it is really is eye-catching. The thin gold coloured band looks really nice on the shank. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the stamping on the shank. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished chunky, rustic Bulldog is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This rustic Mincer Custom-Bilt Billiard will be going on the rebornpipes store shortly. Keep an eye on the American Pipe Makers section of the store. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.