Tag Archives: shaping a stem

My Process for Cutting off and Reshaping Broken Stems

Blog by Steve Laug

It seems like lately I have had a few of these pipes with broken stems. I have gotten several emails through the blog asking for more information about how I go about cutting back a stem and reshaping it. Since I just finished working on the Yves St. Claude pipe where I did cut back the stem and reshape the button I thought I would use it as an example of the process. I figured that this provided the perfect opportunity to spell out more of the details that I hinted at in the full blog on the restoration of the pipe. The pictures below will show the progress from broken stem to a short saddle stem. It is only one of the methods for addressing a broken stem. Stem splicing and stem replacement are also possible solution. Soon I hope to have another blog on stem splicing but until then have a look at the piece by Jacek Rochacki where he demonstrates his method. https://rebornpipes.com/2014/02/28/some-remarks-on-dealing-with-damaged-stems-of-smoking-pipes-by-jacek-a-rochacki/

1. Before I cut off anything on a stem I spend quite a bit of time examining the broken stem. For me that means checking out the thickness of the stem material above and below the airway in the stem. There needs to be enough thickness that I can shape a button on the cut off portion. I check out the stability of the vulcanite to see if it crumbling or if the break is clean. Sometimes you need to cut quite a ways back into the stem to get either the correct thickness or stability to reform a button. I always try to imagine what the pipe will look like with a shorter stem. To help me see it I have devised a simple method. I clasp it between my thumb and finger making a straight line across the stem. Using my finger and thumb I can slide the stem as far as I want between the fingers and get a good picture of what the pipe will look like with a shorter stem. If all of these steps are passed then I get ready to cut off the broken portion.

This stem passed all the tests. The break not straight across the stem but actually was slightly diagonal. It was a very clean break with no crumbling material. The airway appears to be close to the surface on the top side of the stem but because of the angle of the break there was sufficient material there for me to cut and shape a button. I was ready to cut of this stem.

2. I marked the stem with a pencil to delineate how far I planned on cutting the stem. I use a Dremel with a sanding drum to cut off the broken portion of the stem to the point of my line. Others use coping saws or hacksaws to remove the material. Choose whatever tool you are comfortable with to do the work. For me I hold the Dremel in my right hand and the stem in my left. I keep the stem stationary while cutting but frequently rotate it in my hand to keep the edges straight. I am always conservative in the first cut only taking off what looks to be necessary. I want a solid surface to work on with the button. Once I have the cut finished I use the drum to slightly round the corners of the line. In the end I wanted to have a slight crown on the finished button so I plan for that at this point. In the two photos below you can see the slightly bow in the cut off. The cut off edge is vertical to the surface of the stem forming a 90 degree angle.

3. When the cut off is finished I take time to look at the profile of the stem. In this case the stem was quite thick. I was going to need to shave off the surface and thin the stem down but I would not do that until I had cut the button and roughed in the shape. Looking at it I could also see that I would need to flatten the stem near the new button as it had a definite rounding that would make it uncomfortable in the mouth.

4. The first tools that I use are a knife shaped needle file that has a thin edge like a blade and squared edge for the initial cuts and a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the newly cut edge. 5. I cut the edge with the straight edge of the file. I eyeball the line to make sure it aligns on both sides of the stem. This is a bit tricky at first but I rotate the stem to and angle where I can see both sides at once and begin the second cut. At this point in the process I am not finishing the cut but only drawing the line with the file. With the line cut and the button edge defined there is a lot of finishing work that needs to be done but you can get a clear picture of what the button will look like.

6. I use the knife edge of the file to shave the surface of the stem on the top and bottom sides. Be careful not to gouge the surface but smoothly shave it. I hold the blade at slight angle against the surface of the stem and carve toward the button. I have the stem on the table and work the blade away from myself sometimes and other times I have it in hand with the new button against the heel of my palm and work the blade toward the button. I work the blade until I have defined the line of the button and flattened the crown on the surface of the stem. Remember this is all initial carving. It will be cleaned up and smoothed out with the sandpaper and other files.

7. When I have the material in front of the button cut away and thinned down I sand it with the folded 220 grit sandpaper to get an idea of how it looks and of how much more I will need to remove from the crown on both sides of the stem. In the case of this stem I have enough material removed. I still need to shape the button and clean up the edges of the sharp edge. The top and bottom surface of the button still need to be shaped and sanded but the overall look is good to go.

8. With the rough shape finished I cut the slot in the end of the button and flare the airway. The first photo below shows the way the airway looked once I cut of the stem. You can see that there is plenty of material above and below the airway. I started the process by sanding the face of the button on my topping board and sandpaper. It is important to make sure that stem is absolutely vertical and does not tilt either way when doing this. You want to make a smooth face to work on the slot. 9. I use several different needle files to open the slot. The first file I use is a flattened oval file shown in the photo below. I work it against the right and left edges of the airway to open the slot. I don’t worry about the finished look at this point but am concerned to rough it in with the file. The flattened oval does the initial shaping work. I like a slot that is oval and tapers to a point on each side. I also work the file into the airway to taper the internals into a Y shaped funnel ending at the airway. 10. I work the top and bottom edges with the second file – an oval blade that is not flattened and almost round. I use it to work the internals into more of a smooth Y and then open the top and bottom of the slot. I follow this with a round needle file that has a thin point to clean up the opening and shape it. The photo below shows the slot after I have used all three files. 11. I fold a piece of sandpaper into a rectangle that I can fit into the slot. I work it in the slot to sand the internals and remove the file marks. I sand the face of the button to remove file marks and also sand the slot to refine the shape of oval. 12. The next photo shows the slot after I have worked it with the sandpaper. The internals are clean and smooth. I then use a pipe cleaner and isopropyl alcohol to remove any dust from the inside of the airway. The face of the stem still shows some light scratching that will be taken care of with wet sanding using micromesh sanding pads. However, you can see the new shape of the slot and how it sits on the button. That portion of the reshaping of the new button is finished and all that remains is to sand and polish the stem with the micromesh and the buffer. 13. I sanded the stem – all surfaces including the button face with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper. I worked on giving the surface of the button a slight bevel downward toward the slot. I personally like a gentle slope so I don’t overdo it with the sanding.

14. With the scratches removed the stem is ready for polishing. I used micromesh sanding pads to do this work. Others use high grit wet dry sandpapers or micromesh papers. I like the way the pads fit in my fingers and how I can push the edge up against the slot to work that angle. I wet sand with 1500-2400 grit pads – wetting the surface of the stem and then sanding with the pads. I wipe it off regularly to remove the grime and check on the smoothness of the surface. I sand with each of the three grits until the particular grit no longer takes off any of the vulcanite. Once I finish with the three pads I rub the stem down with Obsidian Oil as I find it highlights the remaining scratches and also helps the micromesh to bite into the surface of the stem. I have used olive oil to do the same thing, applying it sparingly with a fold piece of cloth or paper towel. At times I have applied the oil between each of these three grits – essentially replacing the water with the oil. It works very well. 15. I dry sand (no oil or water) with the remaining grits of micromesh. I sand with 3200-4000 grit pads and then rub the stem down with oil again for the same reasons as above. I then either go back to the 1500-2400 grit pads to rework areas of concern or move on to sanding with the 6000-12,000 grit pads.

16. I buff the stem with White Diamond at this point in my process. If you do not have a buffer you can buff with a plastic polish on a cotton pad or cloth. The idea is to remove any of the remaining scratches (micro scratches really at this point) and give the vulcanite a high sheen. When I finish buffing I give the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. When I did not have my buffer I used Kiwi neutral shoe wax which has carnauba in it and hand buffed the stem with a shoe brush. Sometimes I revert to using the shoe brush even now. Especially when buffing areas around stamping and logos.

17. The finished stem is shown below. The button looks like it has always been there. I like giving it a look that fits the age of the pipe. I don’t want it looking like a brand new button that has been tacked onto an old pipe. Rather I want it to look as if it has been there for the life of the pipe and has seen some smoothing from use. You can be the judge if I have achieved that but at least that is the aim. You can also decide how you want the buttons that you shape to look. Don’t be afraid to experiment and add your own steps or modify these so that they work for you. The end result is really all we are interested in anyway and the methods for getting there are many.

Pipe Resurrection – from a Broken Shank to another Frankenpipe

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Blog by Steve Laug

In my recent gift box was a broken shanked pipe that looked like an interesting challenge to me. It is the one pictured below in the lower right corner. It was stamped on the shank Dunbar over Filter Pipe. On the other side of the shank it was stamped 36B or 368 it was hard to read. Next to that was the circular com stamp with Made in London England. Researching the brand on the web I found that it was a Comoy’s Made pipe and was their filter pipe line. This one seems to have been snapped when someone tried to remove the stem from the shank. It was absolutely frozen solid and unmovable. I put the stem and shank in the freezer over night which usually works to break loose a tight stem. It had no effect. I also tried heating the shank and stem with hot water – also to no avail. It appeared that the stem was literally glued in the shank. To top it off it seemed that there was a broken piece of plastic – possibly a tenon insert that blocked the end of the metal tenon in the stem. I could not get air to move through the stem at all.

Finally I used a heat gun on the stem and shank and was able to remove the stem from the tenon. PROGRESS! I soaked the junction of the tenon and mortise with alcohol and even WD40 to see if I could get the tenon to pop free. Nothing worked. The metal tenon was a permanent feature of the shank piece of this pipe. I would need to go with another plan – PLAN B. I set aside the broken shank and tenon and decided to use piece from several other pipes and a chunk of briar to reconstruct a Frankenpipe from the nice apple bowl. In doing so I would lose the stamping altogether but I was not overly concerned with that as there was no way I could reconstruct the shank and bowl into a repaired Dunbar Filter Pipe. I cut back the broken shank on the bowl with a Dremel and a sanding drum. I squared off the shank so that I could attach something else to it. I finished by squaring it with my topping board and sandpaper. I had a chunk of briar in my repair box that would work nicely. It was the right thickness to match the shank. I drilled it out with a drill bit that left a hole the size of the metal tube that I would use to join the bowl and the briar. I drilled the airway all the way through the briar and used a slightly larger bit on the mortise end of the block. I had a taper stem in my can of stem that was close to the diameter of the shank so I thought I would use it on this pipe. I put the pieces together for the photo below to get an idea of the work I would need to do. I marred the surface of the metal tube with files and then mixed a two part epoxy and set the metal tube in the briar block. I did not glue it into the bowl at this point as I thought it might be helpful to have the block free of the bowl to be able to use the Dremel and sanding drum to remove the excess briar. While I was at it I also took out an interesting old metal sleeve that had come with a box of parts I bought on eBay. It was cross hatched with a smooth band on the mortise end. It had a saddle stem in it that was also stuck. Now I had a couple of options to work with on this old bowl. I could either have a briar shank and a taper stem and then rusticate the shank and at least the union of the bowl and briar or I could have a metal sleeve that would slide over a briar tube and have the saddle stem inserted. I did not need to decide at that moment so I set both stems aside and worked on removing the excess briar. I sanded the block with a Dremel and sanding drum until I had removed much of the excess and was left with a rectangular wedge that I would need to fit and shape to match the diameter of the shank. More sanding with the Dremel and sanding drum brought the block closer and closer to the diameter of the shank on the bowl.

There was still more sanding that needed to be done. The next four photos show the block getting very close to the size and shape of the shank. I put the stem in place and looked long and hard at it and still had not decided what to do. I sanded with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper to further shape the shank.

I looked long and hard at the pipe with the stem in place and decided I really did not like the look of the pipe. I put the metal sleeve next to the pipe and shank to have a look at it and made up my mind. I would continue to sand the briar until it could be pressed into the metal sleeve. I would need to shorten the briar so that it would leave room for the stem in the shank. I went back to the Dremel and sanding drum and continued to sand the shank. It would need to be quite a bit thinner in diameter to be able to press the metal sleeve over the briar.

I also decided to reverse the direction of the sleeve and have the black band against the shank and bowl junction. I figured that once I glued the tube into the airway in the bowl I would reduce the collar of the shank at that point and the slide the metal sleeve over the joint and it would not only hide the connection but strengthen the joint. I used the Dremel with the sanding drum and wood files to cut the collar down on the shank on the bowl until it matched the diameter of the briar that I would press into the metal sleeve. I shortened the briar tube enough to accommodate the stem when it was inserted in the sleeve. I wanted the airway in the briar to hold the tenon on the stem and also step the stem down so that it would sit in the metal sleeve like a faux military mount stem. I finally was ready to attach the briar tube to the bowl so I put epoxy on the piece of metal tube that I used to join the briar shank and the bowl. I pressed it into the airway on the bowl and let it dry. Once it had set I was ready to press the metal sleeve onto the briar tube. This was the moment I was waiting for to see if my vision of the pipe in my head matched the reality of the one on the table. The photo below shows the briar tube is ready to slide into the outer cross hatched metal sleeve. I drilled out the inside of the metal sleeve to remove the step ridges and make the inside the same diameter from the bowl end to the stem end. I used a metal grinding bit on the Dremel to polish the inside. I heated the metal sleeve with a heat gun to expand it and then pressed onto the briar tube and up on the collar of the bowl. I worked quite well. I would need to do a bit of fine tuning on the fit of the bowl and the sleeve but I liked what I saw and it was a match to my vision of the pipe when I started.

I sanded the briar at the union of the metal sleeve and the bowl with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wanted the joint to be smooth and even all the way around. I did not want a ridge to show at that point. I filled slight gap between the two with clear superglue and briar dust.

Once the transition was smooth I turned my attention to the stem. I would need to go back and do more work on the bowl but that was good for the moment. I wanted to fit the stem and get a feel for what the finished pipe would look like. Because I reversed the metal sleeve I needed to adjust the diameter of the saddle stem to have it seat properly inside the sleeve. I used a Dremel with sanding drum and files to cut the step down. In the photo below you can see the rough fit stem. I would need to clean up the step with files and sandpaper to smooth out the newly cut portion of the saddle that would sit in the sleeve. My plan was that the tenon would sit inside the briar and the step down saddle would sit inside the sleeve. With a little sanding my plan worked. The tenon sat perfectly in the airway in the briar and the stepped down saddle sat snuggly in the sleeve. Now all I needed to do was clean up the stem and polish it for a final fit. The first photo below shows the position of the briar insert in the sleeve. You can see the depth of the section of the sleeve for the saddle part of the stem that I modified in this photo. You can also see the airway where the tenon inserts in the briar. The three photos that follow show the progress of the Frankenpipe at this point in the process.

I sanded the bowl and shank with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove the finish on the bowl, rim and smooth out the sanding scratches on the shank. The bowl was covered with quite a few fills on the sides and I wondered how they would look once I had sanded the finish off. Fortunately the fills were not pink putty but brown putty that actually blended in quite well once I had removed the finish. When I had sanded it I wiped it down with acetone on cotton pads. The first picture below shows the options I went through on this stem and the original broken shank.

The pipe was beginning to look like I had hoped. There was still more sanding to do on the bowl and the stem but it was coming along nicely. I used a file to clean up the edge of the step on the saddle so that I could get a good fit of the vulcanite against the metal edge of the sleeve. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to remove oxidation and scratches. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three sanding pads. I gave the stem a final rub down with oil after sanding with the 12,000 grit pad.

There was still some stubborn oxidation on the saddle and next to the button. I buffed it with red Tripoli and then with White Diamond. I had a pretty heavy hand with this stem. I did it without the shank and really pressed it into the pads. I wanted to strip away the remaining oxidation. Once it was gone I gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the stem by buffing it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The finished stem, both top and bottom sides, is shown in the next two photos below.

I decided to not use a stain on the bowl but to oil with a light coat of olive oil. The fills had blended in well and the grain was quite nice. The olive oil brought out a red tint to the briar. I rubbed it down and let it soak into the briar. I buffed the bowl with White Diamond and gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it to a shine with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below.

Now all that remains is to take it on its maiden voyage. The broken shank pipe has been reborn to another Frankenpipe. It has all the parts that pretty much make it certain that it will be a good smoking pipe.

Cutting off a broken stem and reshaping the stem on an Yves Saint-Claude #75 Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

In the gift box of pipes I received (shown below) there was one pipe that kept calling out to me to have a look and see what I could do with it. It is shown in the photo below – it is the bulldog in the bottom right corner. It is stamped Yves St.Claude GOLD TOUCH on the left side of the shank and on the right side it has the shape stamp 75 and Made in France in a circle similar to the Comoy’s Made in England Stamp. “Made” and “France” make up the outside of the circle and “in” is in the centre. On the stem it bore a script stamp of YSC and also a light golden coloured wooden stem adornment. I think this is the “Gold Touch”. I have done a bit of research on the net and have found several other examples of the Gold Touch and all have had this wooden stem adornment. The stem was broken off at an angle from the button forward about one inch. In searching the web I found several references to Yves Grenard, trained in Comoy’s England purchasing the Chacom plant in St. Claude. He managed the factory and it passed on to his son afterward. I am pretty certain that this Yves St. Claude pipes was made by Chacom in France with the stamping bearing Yves name.

I took the pipe to my worktable and took the following photos. They are a little dark but give a pretty clear picture of the condition of the pipe. The finish was clean but had a lot of damage. There were dings and scratches that cut deeply into the sides of bowl on both sides. On the right side there were vertical scratches on the bowl. The centre of the two rings had several places where it was chipped and damaged. The outer edge of the rim had dents on it from tapping the pipe out on hard surfaces. The top of the beveled rim had a build up of tars and oils. The inner edge was clean and undamaged. The bowl was quite clean and did not need reaming. The stem had light oxidation but the major problem with the stem was that it was broken. The bottom edge of the diamond stem had several cuts and dents in the vulcanite that would be a challenge. I would need to decide what to do with it – should I cut it back and reshape it or replace it with another saddle stem. The problem with replacing it would be that I would lose the stamping on the saddle and the nice wood stem adornment. Shortening it would not be hard to do but I was not sure what it would look like. So I was faced with a decision.

The next two photos are close up shots of the stem to show the damage. The first photo is the underside of the broken stem and the second is the top side.

I scrubbed the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the finish and grime from the surface of the bowl. I wanted to have a clean surface to work with when I repaired the deep scratches on the sides of the bowl and also the damaged ring around the bowl.

I scrubbed it until the bowl and rim were clean. I filled the deep scratches and sharp edged dents with clear super glue and then sanded them until they blended into the surface of the bowl. Once I had sanded them down they virtually disappeared into the grain. This was one of those times that the patches literally disappeared into the briar. The next photos show the bowl stripped of its finish and cleaned and repaired.

I decided to cut back the stem and reshape it. I figured that if it did not look right I could make a new stem. I used my Dremel with a sanding drum to cut away the damaged portion of the stem. I took it back until the remaining stem was solid and the damage was gone. Fortunately the airway was absolutely centered in the stem. Once I had it cut off I kind of liked the look of the shorter stem and I thought that I could reshape it so that it would look natural. It reminded me of some of my older WDC bulldogs that had an elongated shank with a short stem. I think that it works because of the wooden stem adornment which gives the shank a longer look.

Below I have included a photo of the entire pipe with the shorter stem to show the new look. I like it! I decided to stain the pipe bowl and set it aside to dry while I worked on the stem. I use an old candle stand with a wine cork that fits into the bowl of the pipe as a drying stand for the bowl. It works very well to keep all surfaces exposed to the air. I used a walnut aniline based stain to bring out the grain on the bowl.

While the bowl was drying I turned my attention to cutting a new button on the stem. I use several needle files in the process followed by a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work the new sharp edge. I start with a knife blade needle file and use the straight edge to define the line of the button. Once that is done I use the curved edge to carve away the surface of the stem ahead of the new button line. I continually refine the sharp edge in the process with a flat rectangular blade needle file that has a straight edge. It does not have the teeth to cut the edge at the beginning like the first file.

Once I have the general button cut I sand the stem surface with the 220 grit sandpaper folded. I use the folded edge to get right up against the new button. I work the sandpaper to get rid of the file marks. The next two photos show the newly shaped button and the smoothed out stem surface.

I then worked on the slot in the button. For this I use three different needle files – a flat oval, an oval and a round file. I work them interchangeably as I open and flair the airway. I start with the flat oval to spread out the opening and the other two to widen the gap.

Once the slot was opened I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to shape the edges and to smooth out the opening of the oval slot. Once the slot is opened and smooth I sand the stem with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to further shape the stem and also to remove the scratches.

I then used my usual array of micromesh to sand and polish the stem. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. After the 12,000 grit pad I rubbed it down a final time and let the oil soak into the vulcanite.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and then gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine.

The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I like the shortened stem and how it looks on the pipe. The overall look of the pipe with the newly shaped stem has both a Danish flair and a look of days gone by. I think I will be enjoying some good smokes in this one.

I have also included a few close up photos of the rim and the stampings on the shank and stem. It is truly a beautiful pipe.

Repairing a Bite Through on a Vulcanite Stem with Black Super Glue

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Blog by Steve Laug

I recently posted about an old BBB 701 Rhodesian that I restored. It was quite a mess and needed a lot of attention to both the bowl and the stem. In the process I took some photos of the stem repair I did and thought I would write a blog on the process. The first three photos below show the state of the stem when I started. The top and bottom sides of the stem at the button had significant tooth chatter. The top of the stem had the bite through at the button and a much worn edge on the button. The underside of the stem had deep bit marks next to the button and small chatter up the stem about 1 inch. There was oxidation on the stem as well. In the photo there appears to be a crack from the bite through hole into the button and to the edge. That mark is more tooth marks but the stem material is not cracked in that way. The red arrow in the first two photos highlights the apparent crack. In the third photo the arrow points to the tooth marks on the surface of the stem.

The first step in preparing to patch the hole in the stem is to clean up the surface and remove any loose or damaged portions of the stem. I use a dental pick to pick at the edges of the hole and the cracks and broken spots on the stem. I also probe other potential thin spots on the top and the bottom of the stem. I particularly probed the tooth marks on the underside to see how thin the vulcanite was in those areas. Once I had picked away the damage I wiped down the areas with a cotton pad and alcohol. The surface needs to be free of wax or dirt before the patch is applied because these will cause the patch to not bind to the surface of the stem.

I have a nail file that I “stole” from my daughters that is a perfect fit in the slot of most pipe stems that I work on. It is tapered and pointed so that it fits deep into the airway underneath the hole in the stem. I want a hard surface under the patch for the glue to puddle against. In order to not glue the file into the stem permanently I apply a thick coat of Vaseline petroleum jelly to the end of the file before I insert it. I only put enough of the jelly on the file that it does not squeeze out of the hole and soil the repair area. This took time to get the hang of. Too much jelly makes a mess of the repair area and too little makes the super glued file the next problem you will need to address in repairing the stem. It takes practice to get it just right – don’t get frustrated and remember too much jelly is better than too little!

With the file inserted in the airway it is time to start the patch. I drip black super glue around the edges of the hole first to solidify the broken edges and provide a live edge to build on when I fill the hole. I let that first coat of glue dry hard to touch before adding the next layer of glue. I have used an accelerator in the past to quick dry the patch. This time I decided to do it the long way and let the patch cure between coats. In the photo below you can see the ring around the bubble of the patch that is that first layer of the repair. The arrow in the picture points to the cured edge of the repair that surrounds the bubble in the centre. I apply several more coats to the edge to build it out toward the middle. The final coat I purposely overfill because as the glue cures it shrinks. It is a bit more work to sand out the excess material but in the end it makes for a thicker and stronger patch. I also filled the tooth marks on the underside of the stem next to the button with the superglue. These took two coats to build it up enough to reshape the button with files and sandpaper. I set the stem aside overnight to give the glue patch time to cure and harden. The next morning, when the glue had hardened I sanded the patch with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper followed by more sanding with 220 grit sandpaper. I work to blend the edges of the repair into the surface of the stem and feather out the surface of the repair to match the surface of the surrounding stem material. In the photo below the arrow points to the patch. It is a slightly different colour of black to the rest of the stem at this point in the process. More sanding and working on the patch will change that. On the underside of the stem I sanded the patches until they were smooth as well. On this particular repair there were two small air bubbles that showed up when I sanded the patch. They are shown by the arrows. I refilled these small holes with a drop of black super glue and let it cure until hard then resanded the patched areas. When repairing the surface of the stem I always check the profile of the stem to make sure that I am not creating bulges in the surface of the stem. I want to maintain the flow and lines of the stem and not change the profile. When I sand the repairs I repeatedly look at the profile and often take pictures to make sure the flow and lines are smooth. The photo below shows the smooth profile of the stem after the repairs and initial sanding. I sanded the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper with a spot of water on the stem. I sanded to remove the oxidation and to blend the patch into the surface of the stem on both the top and the bottom sides. As can be seen in the photos below the patch on the top side is smooth and blended into the stem. It is still a slightly different black colour but more sanding will remedy that. The patch on the underside is well blended. More work needed to be done with the two air bubble repairs to blend them further.

I sanded the stem further with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. 3M makes this product and it is very flexible. I find that it allows me to follow the curves of the stem and the sharp edges of the button with little effort. The top and bottom of the stem are shown after sanding in the next two photos. The patches are now little more than small spots on the stem that will further disappear after sanding with micromesh sanding pads.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh pads to smooth out the repair and further blend the patches. In the photo below you can see that the patch has all but disappeared on the top side of the stem. The one on the underside looks similar at this point in the process. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads. The surface of the stem began to shine and have a rich glow in the surface. Each successive grit of pad deepened the shine and the richness of the black stem.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The final two photos show the top and underside of the stem the shine is rich enough that the flash is shown reflected in the surface of the stem. The hole is solidly repaired and the tooth marks on the underside of the stem no longer show. The edge of the button has been sharpened as well to distinguish between the stem surface and the button. The finished stem looks as if it was never damaged though under a bright light the spots are slightly visible if you know what you are looking for. The stem is now ready to be put into service. The proof of the durability of the patch will be seen over time as the pipe is smoked and used. On other stem repairs like this I have never had a problem with durability and I am hoping for the same with this stem.

A Custombilt Lovat Reborn

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

I found this pipe on a recent pipe hunt in the US. It was sitting in a locked cabinet in an antique mall just waiting to be found. It has a long round shank with a saddle stem so it fits the description of a Lovat. It is a large pipe however – approximately 6 inches long. The combination of rustication and smooth is attractive. It has the standard Custombilt rustication but for some reason on this old pipe it looks more refined and less clunky (good scientific term, LOL!) than the other Custombilts and CustomBilts that have passed through my hands. I have several Custom Bilt or Custom-Bilt pipes stamped with a separation or a capital B on bilt. I remembered reading Bill Unger’s book on CustomBilt pipes and knew that the change of stamping reflected a change in the company. I turned to one of my reference sources – Pipedia, to see what they said. Here is the link to the full article by Rich Essermann http://pipedia.org/wiki/Custom-Bilt I quote from that article below:

“In 1946, the name was changed to Custombilt after Mincer began an association with Eugene J. Rich, Inc. There were some big changes in advertising and distribution. The slogan “AS INDIVIDUAL AS A THUMBPRINT” began at this time as well.”

“In the early 1950’s, Tracy Mincer developed severe financial problems that caused him to stop making the Custombilt, and he lost the name. In 1953, Leonard Rodgers bought the company and emphasized tobacco pouches and butane lighters. (However, it appears Mincer was working on his new pipe, the Doodler.) In 1968, Rodgers sold the Company to Consolidated Cigars. In the early 1970s, Wally Frank Co. bought the Custombilt trademark and began to produce their version of the pipe in 1974 or 1975. Hollco Rohr owned the Weber pipe factory, located in New Jersey, and produced the Custombilt pipes there. In 1987, the pipes were made out of the Butz-Choquin factory (France) and then Mexico until the late 1990s. Currently, the Custombilt name is owned by Tobacalera of Spain.”

From the above information it seems that the pipe I have could have been made between 1946 and 1953 if it is one made by Tracy Mincer. Otherwise it could have been made during the 1970’s. In my opinion the more refined less classic Mince CB look of the pipe, the variations on the rustication pattern from the bowl to the shank, the type and look of the stem all lead me to put it in the later era – the 1970s and attribute its manufacture to Wally Frank and Company. I may be wrong but that is my read on this particular Custombilt Lovat.

The pipe I found was in very good shape. The stem was slightly oxidized and had some roughness like it had never been finished well. There was no bite or tooth marks or tooth chatter on the stem. The interior of the stem and shank were also clean. The briar in the shank was unstained and looked new. The bowl had a very light cake. The finish was virgin/natural and originally had probably been oiled or just waxed. There was no stain coat or lacquer/varnish coat. Whew! The stamping on the pipe is simple. On the left side of the shank it is stamped Custombilt over Imported Briar. On the underside of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 12 running horizontally next to the stem/shank union.

The closeup photo below shows the top of the rim with its unique rustication and the state of the bowl. The rim is in great shape and the bowl is fairly clean. I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to remove the light oils and tars. It took very little effort to clean this pipe. I gave it a light reaming with the PipNet reamer and took it back to bare wood so that whoever ends up with this pipe can break in and build an even cake of their own. I scrubbed the rusticated areas on the bowl and shank with a tooth-brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap. The grooves and crevices had a buildup of dust in them that dulled the finish. After scrubbing I rinsed the pipe under running water to remove the soap. I put my thumb over the bowl to keep the interior dry. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the rinse and dry. The grooves are clean and the pipe is ready for the next step in its cleanup.

I use a plastic washer that I made out of a bread tab between the shank and the stem to allow me to sand up against the shank without damaging the finish and without rounding the shoulders of the stem or shank. It works like a charm and I have several of these that I have punched with a variety of holes to fit different tenon sizes. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the roughness and followed that with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. Once I had smoothed out the roughness of the stem I moved on to sanding with micromesh sanding pads. I followed my usual method of wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads.

I rubbed the bowl down with a paper towel and a dab of olive oil to bring the natural finish of the bowl back to life before I buffed it. I rubbed it down and let the oil dry overnight. In the morning I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and gave the bowl a light buff of carnauba and then rubbed it down with some Halcyon II Wax. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. The finished pipe is shown below.

The final three photos give a close up view of the bowl and stem from various angles. There is something quite attractive about this particular Custombilt. It has a dignity that draws me to it.

Reshaping the airway slot in the stem button

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Blog by Steve Laug

I use this process repeatedly when I am reworking or restemming a pipe. It is a simple procedure for opening up the airway/slot in the end of the button. In the precast stems the slots are often narrow and it is a fight to get a pipe cleaner through them. They also constrict the airflow and make it less than optimal. In some of the older stems the airway in the slot are also constricted. In both cases the simple procedure below will create a smooth smoking pipe. I start with small flat oval needle file (the centre file in the photo below) and work it along the top and bottom edges of the slot to begin to open the airway. The next photo shows the airway when I have finished with this flattened oval needle file. I still need to work the ends of the slot and open it further but this is the first step. I move to the second file in the set (the top file in the photo above). It is a fatter oval file that I work on the top and bottom edges and also on the ends of the slot. The idea is to begin to slope the edge inward and open the ends of the slot. I want to make the slot more of a Y – wide on the edges sloping inward and also sloping the top and bottom of the slot inward. The photo below shows the stem after I have worked it over with the second file. I finished with the third file (the bottom one in the first photo) which is a round needle file. I use this file to clean and open the slot more and work on the tapers on the sides of the slot and the top and bottom. The airway is wide open at this point and only needs to be cleaned up with sandpaper to remove the marks on the face of the button and the inside of the airway. I folded a piece of 220 grit sandpaper into a strip that I worked inside of the slot smoothing out the file marks in the airway and on the surface of the button. I worked it until the slot was smooth inside and the oval airway was open. At this point a pipe cleaner easily slides in and out of the slot making clean up a breeze. If you want a more open slot you can continue to file the opening and make it larger. Always work the top, bottom and sides of the slot to make it as uniform in shape as you can. I like a nice oval slot that gives a smooth delivery of smoke and also a wide open airway to receive the pipe cleaner.

Restoring pleasant lines on a damaged stem – home grown hack job repaired

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Blog by Steve Laug

I have wanted to focus a blog on reshaping a damaged stem for a while now but did not have either the stem or examples I needed to document the process. The Everton pipe I restored recently provided the example and it was a matter of documenting the process in a broad way that was applicable to whatever stem you may have that needed to be reworked. So while the photos may be the same as those used in that blog on the Everton the documentation regarding the stem reshaping and restoration is a newly written blog.

If a stem is too thick to your liking please don’t afflict the kind of horror on it that this older BC pipe experienced at the hands of a previous owner. Obviously the stem felt too thick to his liking and he took matters into his own hands. Hey, what’s to lose? It is just a matter of cutting back the thickness to the degree it meets the expectations right? Wrong! In many, many ways that is just wrong. It is far more than just hacking off material to get the “right” thickness. The taper needs to be adjusted, the flow and lines of the pipe stem need to be considered in the process. Trying to keep the surface smooth and not rippled are just some of the challenges. Well, this individual figured that cosmetics, flow and appearance made no difference whatsoever as long at the thing felt better. In my mind the cosmetics are not mere accoutrements to the functionality they actually facilitate the functionality. A smooth surface in the mouth feels better and is far more sanitary that the rough ridged and hacked surface visible below. The stem “surgeon/hacker” had inflicted far more damage to the underside of the stem that he had to the topside. But both bore marks of his inordinate attention. The top of the stem had a flattened appearance that ruined the crowned look of the old vulcanite stem. It had deep gouges and marks from files and knives but the “hacker” had partially smoothed these out. Against the button there were some deep marks. It was a sheer miracle that the hard rubber was high quality and did not oxidize over time. To address this kind of issue with a stem looking at repair you are left with two options – repair or reshape. To repair would involve filling the surface grooves with black superglue or epoxy and vulcanite dust. To reshape would involve more work in changing the profile of the stem to remove the damage, to retaper the stem and flow to make the transitions smooth. The choice of method really is affected by the thickness of the stem material. Would there be enough meat to the stem to allow for reshaping and reinventing the stem without compromising the strength and integrity of the stem?

Because of the thickness of this stem I decided to reshape it rather than repair it. Even the deepest gouges could be removed and the look and flow of the stem adjusted to look very close to the original. The adjustments would also make the thickness in the mouth better. I started the process with 180 grit sandpaper. Some would think that grit was overkill but the overall damage to the stem surfaces demanded this drastic grit to cut deeply enough to remove the damage. I sanded it enough to remove the surface cuts on the top and bottom sides. In the photos below of the underside and topside of the stem the deep gouges remain and are visible. You can see the angularity and randomness of the cuts that had been made. Add to that the lighter cuts that are gone with the initial sanding and you have some idea of the ugliness of this hack job.

I continued to sand with the 180 grit sandpaper until the majority of the gouges were smoothed out. There were still several that would require more work with a higher grit of sandpaper. I moved on to sanding the stem with 220 grit sandpaper. I moved up this amount because there was still significant damage to remove but also because that incremental step up in grits really minimizes the scratches left behind by the 180 grit paper. The next two photos show the change after sanding with the 220 grit paper. The grooves on the underside have all disappeared save one deep gouge that will soon disappear. The ones on the topside are all gone and the surface is once again curved, tapered and smooth.

I worked on the groove on the underside of the stem with the 220 grit paper until it was gone. I also worked on the tapered edges of the stem to remove the cuts and gouges along the edges and smooth out the taper. The two photos below show the transition from the groove being gone and the edges being rough to a smooth flowing underside of the stem – gouge-less and well tapered.

With the rough shaping done it was time to fine tune the reshaping. In the next step of the process I use a medium and fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the flow and lines of the stem. I cut the sanding sponges into 1 inch squares to allow me to work closely against the button and follow the curve of the stem. These sanding sponges remove the scratching left behind by the 220 grit paper and move the stem a step closer to polishing. While I only show one photo of this step it is probably one that I spent the most time on. It is important to work the surface to remove as much scratching as possible before polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads. The initial reshaping took about 45-60 minutes. This sanding took 60-80 minutes to complete. It is easy to remove damage but hard to not create more damage in the process of its removal. With reshaping completed and the surface scratches minimized with the sanding sponges it was time to move to the polishing phase of the process. For this I use micromesh sanding pads. I wet sand with 1500-2400 grit pads. This involves a small bowl of water near at hand when I am sanding with the pad. I used to dip the pad in the water and then sand with the wet pad. Now I dip the stem itself into the water and sand the wet stem. I shifted the method as I found that with repeated dipping the pads began to fall apart and separate from the foam core centre. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil before moving to the dry sanding step of the polishing. I dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads. Each successive grit of pad really heightens the polish and shine on the vulcanite. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after using the 4000 grit pad. I then sanded it with the final four pads and finished with a final coat of the oil.

Once it had been absorbed and the stem was dry I buffed the stem with White Diamond. In the bright light of the flash several scratches are still visible from the sanding process on the underside of the stem. I buffed this section with red Tripoli and then back to White Diamond to further erase these scratches. The final photos of the stem show a stem whose taper has been reshaped, whose lines and flow restored and whose stem has been given a finished look. It took patient sanding and reshaping to move the stem from its original corrugated shape to this final polished look but in my mind it was definitely worth the effort. It is also clear that the proper choice or reshaping had been made.

If you should decide to reshape a stem why not aim for doing even better work in shaping and polishing the stem. Never leave a stem in the condition this one was in when I received it. While it was terrible I have seen worse and in the back of mind are residual memories of having inflicted terror to a lesser degree on several of my early restemming jobs. Work hard to reshape a stem to a place where it looks like it was made that way at the factory.

Bringing an Everton Big-Boy 1025 Rhodesian back from the brink

8 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I saw the Everton Big-Boy pipe on a website and the shape hooked me. In the photos the bowl seemed squat and wide and the shank was thick. The bend in the stem appeared similar to an earlier Sina pipe that I picked up; in fact the entire shape was similar. I searched and could find nothing on the brand. There was nothing in any of the books that I usually check out and nothing on the various websites that I use when researching a brand. The brand was a mystery to me and that made me want the pipe even more. I could find Everton Tobacco which is a Danish pipe tobacco. I could find the Everton Football Club (Everton is a District of Liverpool) but no Everton tobacco pipes. I figured that when it arrived I might be able to see why the seller had labeled it an English made pipe. When the pipe arrived I checked the stamping and it was stamped Everton over Big-Boy on the left side of the shank. On the right side of the shank it was stamped 1025. The shape in hand is not as wide and squat at the above photo led me to believe it would be. It is actually very close to a GBD 9438 though I had never seen a GBD stamped with this number. This sent me on a hunt for potential English makers that had a similarly shaped Rhodesian. I looked through many of the Comoy’s charts and again could not find any reference to the number. On a lark I just typed in the shape number in a Google search and immediately had a hit for a 1025 shaped pipe made by the French pipe making company, Butz Choquin (BC). I opened the link from Google to find that it was indeed the pipe I was looking for. BC still makes the 1025 shape in several of their lines. The stamping is slightly different in terms of the name on the left side of the shank. All of them have the BC name and the Line underneath. The right side has the 1025 stamp and also a Made in France. I have included the next two photos from Tobacco Pipes.com. The first is the Bistro line 1025 Rhodesian, while it has the thick shank the stem shape is slightly thinner that the one I have. The second one is from the Manoir line. It has the same thick stubby stem as the one I have. From this exploration I can see that the pipe is an older BC pipe. I have no idea what the Everton stamping is – though it may well be a Liverpool tobacconist.

As I examined the pipe upon taking it out of the box I was troubled by the state of the pipe. There were no noted issues with the pipe either on his site or in email exchanges regarding billing and shipping. The trouble was that there were many issues with the pipe. All together they add up to a question mark for me regarding this pipe. The bowl was over reamed and out of round. There appears to be a sandpit in the inner edge of the bowl toward the front. There is a small crack on the underside of the bowl (the heel) directly below the over reaming. The top of the shank near the stem has a large pit that appears to have small spider web cracks that radiate from it. They are not deep but they are present. The stem is a mess. Evidently the previous owner found the stem to thick to his liking and had performed a butcher job trying to remedy that. It had been hacked with a knife blade on the underside from about mid stem to the button leaving the surface corrugated looking with a lot of file and knife marks. The top of the stem had also been hacked and filed in an attempt to thin it down. It is wavy and rippled. I think that most of the damages to the stem can be fixed as the stem is beefy and I should be able to smooth them out. In terms of the over reaming and the crack – time will tell what I can do with it. Needless to say I was disappointed when I opened the package from the seller.

From first appearance the pipe does not appear all that deficient. It seems like it is in pretty good nick. You can see the similarity in shape to the GBD 9438 Rhodesian in the photos below.

It is only when the pipe is viewed more closely that the problems become obvious. The first photo below shows the crack in the bottom of the bowl and the dents and scratches around that crack. The next photo shows the underside of the stem. The underside had been carved with a knife and with files and left maimed and decimated. The gouges were deep and crossed each other leaving a corrugated surface. The next photo shows the topside of the stem. It had much the same issues as the underside but was nearly as drastic. It had grooves, scratches and flattening. There were ripples in the surface of the vulcanite that left it marked. The filing had left grooves and damage and had been done at angles that destroyed the flow of the stem. The bowl was out of round and the rim had damage to the inner front edge of the bowl. There was a pit in the edge that had opened up. There was burn damage to the bowl edge and rim top. I started working on the stem to smooth out the ridges and corrugations on the top and underside. I used 180 grit sandpaper to begin the process and reduce the ridges. The next series of photos show the stem after this initial sanding.

I continued to sand with 220 grit sandpaper to reduce the scratches and smooth out the surface. I followed that by sanding with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge. The next two photos show the progress in the shaping of the stem. The top side worked quite well. The underside still had one horizontal groove that would take more work but the overall look was getting better.

I continued to sand the underside with the 220 grit sandpaper to remove the groove and reshape the edges of the stem. Once I had the stem shaped and smoothed out I sanded the bottom of the bowl to clean up the glue and bumps on the bottom of the bowl. I sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the surface. Once I had removed the glue I could see that the damaged area, the crack had been repaired with epoxy mixed with briar dust. I was glad to see that the crack had been repaired and that the repair while rough, nonetheless was solid and had stopped the crack. The round area in the center of the crack made me wonder if there was potential burnout that had been cleaned out and repaired. Examining the bowl interior I could not see evidence of a burnout though it was severely over reamed.

I topped the bowl to remove the sandpit in the surface and smooth out some of the out of round shape of the bowl. The rim was damage so a light topping would take care of the problems. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the inner rim of the bowl. I cleaned the shank with cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol.

On the top of the shank there was a sandpit at the shank/stem junction that had spidering cracks around it. I sanded it smooth and refilled it with super glue and briar dust. I sanded the junction with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the flow of the stem and shank.

I sanded the stem and shank with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge and wiped the bowl and stem down with a cotton pad. I wiped the bowl down with acetone and cotton pads to remove the finish from the bowl and prepare it for staining.

I sanded the bowl and stem with a fine grit sanding sponge to smooth out the finish and remove the wear and tear that had come with the bowl.

I mixed a small batch of plaster of Paris to repair the over reamed bowl. I inserted a pipe cleaner in the shank and then pressed the plaster into the bowl bottom under and around the pipe cleaner. I raised the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the airway.

I sanded the inner edge of the rim some more to bevel it inward and try to work in more into round. I finished that shaping and then prepped the bowl to restain. I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and flamed it. I restained and reflamed it until I had an even coverage on the bowl. I wiped the newly stained bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad to lighten the bowl and make it more transparent. I wanted the grain to show through once the bowl was polished.

I sanded the stem with my usual pattern of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads. Once the final rub had dried I buffed the stem with White Diamond.

The newly shaped stem is shown in the next two photos. The shine and polish came out well and the reshape of the stem took care of the ridges and cuts on the surface. The sanding had taken care of the issues with the stem.

After I put the stem on the pipe I buffed the entirety with White Diamond and then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed with a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is shown below. Once I shed this chest cold I intend to christen this one with a bowl of Black Parrot. I am looking forward to giving this old timer a re-entry into pipedom.

Trash to Treasure – Restoring a KBB Yello-Bole Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Aaron Henson

Last evening I received an email from Aaron to which he attached this writeup on his restemming of an older KBB Yello-Bole. It is great to have the various readers of the blog submit articles to the blog to share with others. The dream of rebornpipes when I started it was just that – to provide a platform where those of us engaged in refurbishing tobacco pipes could share our methods, successes and failures. This community would provide ongoing education for anyone who wanted to try their hand at restoring estate pipes. With that background here is Aaron’s restoration and the explanation of his process. Welcome to rebornpipes Aaron.

By way of introduction, let me begin by saying that I am relatively new to pipe restoration. This write up details my third restoration and I thought I would submit it for two reasons; 1) I have gotten so much help from the regulars posting here at rebornpipes and from forums elsewhere I felt that I would like to share my experience for others to glean from, and 2) although it is not very different from some of the other restorations that Steve has catalog for us here, some of my tools and techniques may be a little different. I also hope to get some feedback on ways to improve my process.

I was at local second-hand shop with my family around Thanksgiving and was looking for pipes when my son found a stemless KBB Yello-Bole stummel. After looking it over for cracks in the bowl and stem I realized that the briar was in relatively good condition. I noted a few chips on the edge of the rim and some blackening of the rim but no fills and not much cake in the bowl. The stem was clearly stamped with the KBB logo in a clover leaf just to the left of:

I did not know much about the Yello-Bole brand but I thought I should be able to find a stem easily enough (aren’t they somewhat universal in size?). Besides, with a $4 price tag I figured I would not be out anything if it didn’t work out.

I jumped on my computer as soon as I got home and found some interesting history on the Yello-Bole brand. I won’t go into it here because Steve has done a nice job summarizing it in one of his posts: Narrowing Down a Date for Kaufman Brothers & Bondy’s KBB and KB&B Pipes. From the data available I had to guess that this pipe was form the late 1950’s or 60’s.

After reading up on the history of the pipe I began looking online for a new stem. I quickly learned that not all pipe stems are created equal, nor are they interchangeable. For a while, I considered sending the stummel to someone to have a stem made but that kind of defeated the whole spirit of restoring the pipe myself.

It took a while to find a stem that I thought would look right on the pipe. I settled on a stem from Vermont Freehand (ebay vt_freehand), a 2½” tapered stem – No. 547. I ordered 3 of them, figuring that I would need at least one for practice.

While I waited for the stems to arrive I began working on the stummel. There was not a lot of cake in the bowl so I started there – low hanging fruit. Now, I don’t own a reamer, but I have found that a ½” dowel wrapped with 60 grit sandpaper answers very well. What cake there was came out cleanly.

Besides the chip there was some charring on the rim. The chip was not very deep so I thought I would take care of both issues by taking the top of the bowl down to clean briar. Using 120 grit sand paper mounted on a flat surface, I carefully worked the bowl in a circular motion trying to keep it level. I didn’t want to take off too much of the top so I gave the outside lip of the bowl a slight chamfer to remove the bottom part of the chip. I then gave the stummel a soak in a 91% isopropyl alcohol bath. This was for the dual purpose of removing the existing finish and loosening the crud in the shank. I removed the stummel after about 24 hours and wiped off the existing stain. I then cleaned the shank with a bristled brush, bristled cleaners and cotton swabs. I wanted to make sure the mortise was thoroughly cleaned before I began to size the tenon on the new stem. When the stems arrived, I realized that I probably could have been a little more attentive to the size I purchased. I was going to have to remove a lot of material to get the tenon to fit the mortise as well as flushing the stem to the shank. The best way to shape a stem is on a lathe, but not having a lathe I turned to my drill press. I found that a bamboo skewer fit very snugly into the air hole of the stem. Leaving about 1 inch of the skewer protruding out of the air hole, I chucked the stem into my drill press. I started out a little timidly, removing material with 120 grit sand paper but the vulcanite is so soft that it gums up the paper very quickly. I switched to 60 grit and still was not seeing much progress. I tried a metal file next and when that did not answer I rummaged around the tool box and found a rasp. A bit aggressive I admit, and I would not recommend it unless you are removing a lot of material, and I was.

The drill press method worked great but was not without its problems. Pressing too hard with the file or rasp would cause the stem to slip on the skewer. The stem would then have to be reseated before I could resume. The other problem happened about half way through the rough shaping; the skewer broke off flush with the end of the tenon. I admit I panicked a little when I could not get a hold of the skewer with my needle nose pliers. But using a small drill bit I was able to carefully drill out the wedged skewer.

Back on track I, stopped often to check the fit. As I neared the correct size I switched back to the file then to the sand paper again. I finished the tenon with 320 grit sand paper. I thought fitting the tenon to the mortise was going to be the hard part but shaping the stem to get that perfect flush fit with the shank turned out to be the big challenge. You can see in the picture above that I have a ways to go to get the taper from the shank to the button. I have also started to get a bit of a wave about a quarter of the way from the tenon.

To fix this I stapled a piece of 240 grit paper to a 3” sanding block and went to town. The sanding block kept the contact surface flat and helped to eliminate the wave. It took about an hour of work stopping often for fit checks. In the end I was rewarded with nice taper. Somehow I had rounded over the shoulder of the stem ever so slightly. This formed a little groove at the stem/shank connection. It was not terrible and I felt could live with it for now.

I finished the stem with 600, 1000, 2000, 4000, 6000 grit sand paper. Then set it aside to buff with the stummel once it was complete. I stained the stummel using one part Fiebing’s light brown diluted with 2 parts isopropyl alcohol. I applied two coats, flaming each coat. Once dry, I wiped it down with a clean cloth and attached with stem. I set my drill press up with an inexpensive Sears buffing system and started with the white buffing compound. I found on previous projects that gearing down the drill speed to 1200 rpms was important to maintain control of the pipe and not overheat the pipe. I finished with two coats of carnauba wax and buff with a soft cloth.

I needed a tooth pick to remove some of the wax from the sand blasted areas. And that little groove between the stem and shank collected some wax too. Overall I am very happy with the outcome of this restoration. I am looking forward to smoking my first bowl in it.

Looking back, I am glad that I tried shaping my own stem. It was not without its challenges but the result was very rewarding. I now have two spare stems in my tool box, so I will be keeping an eye out for another stemless billiard.

A Student Pays Tuition with a Reborn Suffolk

6 Replies

Blog by Anthony Cook (Piffyr from Reddit’s /r/PipeTobacco forum)

It is a pleasure to put Anthony’s first blog on rebornpipes. His work on this tired old Suffolk pipe is well done. His ability to adjust and flex to deal with the challenges presented by this old pipe is really enjoyable to read about. I did a little digging and found that Suffolk pipes were made by two companies – one in England (Tyler & Co.) and one in the US (Whitehall Products). My guess would be that this is the American made pipe – thus made by Whitehall. It has a look that is very similar to some of the Whitehall pipes that I have restored over the years. Welcome to the blog Anthony. We look forward to reading about more your work in the year ahead. Thanks for being willing to post here. Without further introduction here are Anthony’s own words.

I think when I first spoke with Steve near the end of last year over on Reddit’s /r/PipeTobacco forum that I was actually a bit starstruck. You see, I’m a new guy at the art of pipe restoration, but since discovering Reborn Pipes around mid-2014, I have fallen madly and deeply in love with the site. I have read every post going back to October 2012. Steve, Al, Greg, and the other contributors here have been unwittingly providing me a free education for months and I have great admiration for the excellent work that they do.

So, when Steve invited me to share some of my work on the site I quaked in my Nikes a little. At the time, I had restored a sum total of six pipes to varying degrees of success. None of them had exploded, but I did partially dissolve one (more on that later). Still, when you are invited up to the Country Club, you go even if you’re not dressed for it.

It so happens that another member of that same forum was kind (or possibly foolish) enough to send me a few pipes to practice with around that same time. The pipe in the following picture was part of that group. It was described by him as one of two in the lot that were “as basket pipey as basket pipes get.” It had a few issues that I had not dealt with previously and had rarely seen covered. Since Lady Fortuity seemed to have spoken, I decided to document the restoration of this one and contribute it to the site to pay back some of the tuition that I owe. I’ve had no luck digging up anything on the origin of this pipe, but the stamping reads “SUFFOLK” over “ALGERIAN BRIAR”. The first thing that struck me when I pulled this one out of the packaging was the interesting and varying grain pattern. I thought it would be fun to work with to bring up to its full potential. Two small fills on the side of the bowl that were barely more than scratches and another that peeked out from under the band on the shank were the only factory flaws that I could find. There was clear evidence that it had suffered through an abusive relationship in its past though.

The stummel was dented and well scratched with a worn and uneven stain. The rim, as you can see in the photo below, was tarred, charred, deeply scratched, and there was a large gouge on the front edge from being knocked on a hard surface. Worse yet, the bottom of the bowl chamber had been reamed within five millimeters of its life and it was just begging for a burnout. Clearly, the wood was going to need some intensive therapy. The ABS stem was largely in good shape on the bit end with only light tooth chatter and a small amount of material missing from the upper portion of the button. On the other end though, the edge of the stem face had been roughly chiseled away in what I could only imagine to be an attempt to create a faux military mount fit. There was also an abrasion along the side that was deep enough to take the stem out of round. Once the ailments were cataloged, I went to work cleaning and sanitizing the internals. I started by reaming the bowl to bare wood to prepare it for the necessary repairs. Since I was unsure of the condition of the bottom of the chamber, I used my T-handle reamer only in the top 2/3 of the bowl. Then, I sanded out the remaining cake in the bottom by hand with 400-grit, then 600-grit sandpaper. The bowl, mortise, and airway were scrubbed clean with several cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they came out as white as they were when they went in. Then, I ran a pipe cleaner through the shank into the bowl and filled the chamber with cotton balls and alcohol and set it aside in a container of rice (to keep it upright) and let it leech out any remaining tars. I know that some people prefer to use kosher salt instead of cotton balls for this treatment. I’ve tried both and haven’t seen any difference in the end results. Cleanup is easier with the cotton balls, though. So, that’s the method I choose. In any case, I’ve since figured out that this step is unnecessary for pipes like this, because it’s going into an alcohol bath anyway and that will accomplish pretty much the same thing. Sometimes, it takes me a while, but I get there eventually. I then turned my attention to cleaning the stem. I don’t like working with ABS stem material. Some experience has taught me that some of the cheaper ones will begin to dissolve when exposed to alcohol. You’ll think (or at least I did) that you are removing thick tar build-up, but the sticky sludge on the pipe cleaner is actually disintegrated stem material. I speak with no exaggeration when I tell you that this is a horrifying revelation when you are faced with it. So now, I make sure to always test them first by dipping the pad of a finger in alcohol and pressing firmly against the surface of the stem for 20-30 seconds while it’s lying on the work surface. If the stem sticks to my finger when I lift it away and needs to be “peeled” off, then I know that the material is no good for alcohol cleaning. If that’s the case, like it was here, I use a citrus cleaner instead. It doesn’t work as well for breaking down tar build-up, but it’s non-toxic and doesn’t cause harm to the stem material. It just takes more a bit more elbow grease and I always keep a good supply of that on hand.

Roughly 24 hours later, I removed the tar-stained cotton balls and pipe cleaner from the bowl. Then, I dropped the stummel into a jar of isopropyl alcohol to bathe overnight to remove the old stain and soften the tar around the rim to make removing it easier.

I removed the stummel from the bath the next morning. I was surprised to see that not only had it performed well at removing the stain, but it had done a fantastic job of removing the crud from around the rim too. A lot of what I had taken to char was actually heavily caked soot and tar that had dissolved away in the alcohol. It still looked like it had been through a thresher, but this time at least, the machine hadn’t been on fire. My first step in repairing the damaged rim was to remove the surface scratches. I clamped 220-grit sandpaper to a sheet of glass from and glass-top table (the glass looks dimpled in the photo below, but that’s actually the opposite side) to set up a topping surface. 220 is more course than what I would normally start with, but the scratches were deep and it helps to speed things up when you’re removing that much material. I placed the bowl rim-down on the paper, firmly gripped the bottom of the bowl, and slowly sanded in a circular motion. While sanding, I made sure to check my progress often and to change the position of my hand frequently to avoid putting too much pressure on the same side.Once the worst of the scratches were about half of their original depth, I switched to a 320-grit paper. I continued sanding until the scratches were barely visible. Then, I swapped the paper to 400-grit and sanded until the scratches and majority of the charring were gone.

The top surface of the rim was smooth and scratch-free but there were still several small nicks remaining along the inner and outer edges. Also, the gouge along the front had barely been touched. So, I decided to chamfer the outside edge of the rim at an angle and depth that matched the gouge. The chamfer would have to be deep. So, this decision was going to take the project outside of the realm of pure restoration and into modification, since it was going to change the shape of the pipe. I’m never completely happy with a choice like that, but in my opinion, it was the only way to give the pipe a truly refinished look.

Starting at the front of the rim, I first sanded the rough surface of the gouge smooth, and then worked my way around the rim to create the chamfer. I used the same progression paper that I had when topping the bowl. I roughed in the shape with 220-grit and then refined it as I moved to the higher grits. I also put a narrow chamfer on the inside edge to remove most of the nicks there. You can see the end results in my admittedly poorly lit photo below.The major issues of the rim were taken care of. So, I began to work on the rest of the briar surface using a little steam power. To free up my hands, I secured the stummel in my bench vice using a bit of foam rubber to protect it. I then heated the end of an old, flat-head screwdriver over a tea candle, placed a dampened cotton cloth over the dents, and pressed the hot metal into it. If there’s no material missing inside the dent and the edges aren’t too sharp, this method does a fine job of raising the wood to the surface. There were still scratches when I finished, but I would take care of those in a later step. I gave the stummel a good wipe-down with acetone after working on the dents, and then dropped it into a short alcohol bath to further remove the original stain. I wanted this one as bare as possible to give the grain the chance to do what it so badly wanted to do. I let the stummel completely dry out overnight. Then, I patched a few scratches on the front of the bowl that were too deep to be sanded out. I used an artist’s palette knife as a trowel to pack briar dust into the scratches until they were slightly overfull and dripped CA glue into the dust. Once dry, I sanded back the hardened glue. I began sanding with 320-grit until the “bumps” of glue were about half their original height. Then, I used 400-grit until the glue was just barely a ridge above the surface. Finally, I sanded with 600-grit to sand the patch flush and remove any of the shiny glue that remained on the surface around the patch. At this point, the bowl was looking much better, but it was still heavily scratched and needed more work. However, I also needed to pay some attention to the stem. So, I sat it aside for later.

It seems that even these ABS stems will oxidize over time. Perhaps not at the rate or to the severity of vulcanite, but I’ve noticed a brownish hue on the surface of some of the older stems like this one. So, I applied a bit of Vaseline to the metal tenon and dropped it into a Oxyclean bath for an hour or so (the Oxyclean dulls the finish on polished metal, thus the Vaseline). Once removed, it was ready for a scrub with a Magic Eraser. When I use these, I cut each pad into eight cubes and rotate the cubes as I work to get a clean surface. Lightly oxidized stems might need only one or two cubes before they’re finished. Here’s the stem with a matte black finish after the scrub. Heating a stem is a great method for raising deep tooth dents in most materials. I’ve found that it also works well for leveling out even normal chatter. The more that I accomplish with the application of heat, then the less material I will have to remove and the less work I will have to do in sanding them out. So, it’s become part of my regular routine for stem maintenance. My high-tech stem heating apparatus consists of a paint stripper secured by a large, weathered c-clamp with a jar of cold water by the side. I run a pipe cleaner through the stem to hold it and move it back and forth over the heat source to keep it from burning. As soon as I can smell the hot material I know that I have done all that I can do. I either immediately dip it in the cold water to set it, or re-bend if necessary, and then dip. Most bent stems like this one tend to straighten out at least a little during heating. So, before I begin, I print a photo reference of the stem, trace the inside edge of the bend on paper, and find a hard, smooth, rounded surface that fits well inside the bend. If it’s required, I’ll grasp both ends of the pipe cleaner and bend the warm, pliable stem over the rounded surface and let it cool for a few seconds. Then, I set it with cold water, wipe it dry and compare it to my tracing. If it’s still off a bit, it usually takes only a couple of minutes to reheat the stem enough to give it another try. The following picture shows the stem after heating and re-bending. It was time to address that chiseled chamfer along the stem face. I considered cutting the damage off and reseating the tenon, but decided against it because I didn’t want to shorten the stem. The only other option, aside from replacement (and that wasn’t going to happen – this was for practice after all), was to replace the missing material. I began by applying several layers of black CA glue to create a sort of collar around the edge. I allowed each layer to dry and sanded them back a bit to keep it smooth and prevent bubbles from forming between each layer. I also applied a couple of layers of CA glue to the abrasion that had taken the stem out of round and on the top of the button where a bit had been worn off. The picture below shows the collar once it was completely built-up. To ensure that the stem was without gaps when attached to the shank, I needed a way to evenly sand out a smooth surface on the face of the stem. My solution was to take a piece of scrap wood and drill a hole in it only slightly larger than the tenon. Then, I tightly clamped a strip of sandpaper over the wood and used an X-Acto blade to carefully cut a hole in the paper to match the bore. I inserted the tenon into the hole, then twisted and rotated to sand out any lumps and bumps created by the CA glue. I began sanding with 320-grit paper, and then progressed to 400-grit and 600-grit to finalize. When the stem face was smooth and even, I reattached it to the stummel to do the final work on the stem patches. I put a strip of painter’s tape around the end of the shank to prevent any scratching. It’s much easier to match the shape of this sort of patch with the stem attached. Still, care has to be taken not to remove material from outside of the patch, which would give it a fluted appearance. I used the same progression of grits to sand as I did on the face. It took a long time to get the collar, abrasion, and button patches shaped to my satisfaction. Once they were, I sanded out what tooth chatter remained after the heat treatment with 400 and 600-grit paper. Then I lightly sanded the entire stem with 1200-grit to smooth the dimpled surface. I followed with the full range of micromesh pads from 1500 to 12,000 to polish it. I don’t have a currently working buffer. So, that was going to have to be it for this stem. I gave it a wipe down with Obsidian oil and two shots of Paragon wax to achieve the results you see in the two pictures below. Also, it is obvious from those pictures that I am not working in a lint-free environment.

The stem was complete. So, I could get back to work on the stummel, which is where I have the most fun. There were still all of those scratches to address, but before removing them, I applied a quick layer of dark brown stain thinned with about three times the amount of isopropyl alcohol. I heated the wood to open the grain, and then I used a cotton swab to “paint” the stain along the grain. I didn’t want to cover the whole piece. I just want to add a bit of contrast and variation to the grain. The stain is very uneven and blotchy in the picture below, but that’s fine. Most of it was to be removed in the next step anyway, leaving only what had set in the grain. After letting the stain set, I sanded out the scratches with 600-grit paper. I also took the opportunity to further refine the shape of the rim chamfer and soften the edges a little. You can see in the picture below that the contrast stain has done its thing and the grain is really starting to “pop”. Even the minor grain has some definition now. Once again, I painted the bowl with another contrast stain. This time, I got fancy and used a size 20/0 liner brush. I again heated the wood, and then used a black stain to paint over only the thickest and tightest areas of the grain. The last staining gave the grain definition. I was hoping that this one would give it depth. Next, I sanded the stummel with 1200-grit paper. Then, I used micromesh pads 1500, 1800, and 2400 to arrive at the results you see in the picture below. It’s difficult to tell from the picture, but the lighter grain seems to recede a bit behind the darker stained grain to add some subtle intensity. I then applied a final stain to the wood. I used a medium brown to even everything out and add some warmth. I used micromesh pads 3200-12,000 to give it a polish. The following picture gives you an idea of the final finish. There was still the issue of that over-reamed bowl that needed to be addressed. So, I mixed up a batch of pipe mud to fill the bottom of the bowl. The recipe that I use consists of activated charcoal, powdered pumice and sodium silicate (water glass). I use the spoon on my pipe tool to “measure” out roughly equal parts activated charcoal and powdered pumice. Then, I use a toothpick to stir them together in a glass candle jar top. When they are well mixed, I level out the powdered material, and then use a pipette to drip a few drops of sodium silicate into the mix near the edge. I then begin stir the sodium silicate into the mix with the toothpick and “shovel” in more dry material as needed. Once it reaches a thick, tar-like consistency, it’s ready to be applied.

Once mixed, the patch material begins to set up very quickly. So, it’s important to work with a bit of haste. I use the toothpick to load the spoon of my pipe tool with the gooey “tar”, and then transfer it to the pipe bowl where I have already ran a pipe cleaner through the airway and slightly into the bowl to seal it. When the patch is in the bowl, I use the tamper to press it into place just below the draft hole. After a minute or two, the patch material has set up enough that it is no longer sticky but still pliable. I use this opportunity to refine the shape of the patch with my fingertip. I put the stummel aside for three days to give the bowl patch a chance to fully cure. When I returned to it, the material had become dark gray and very hard to the touch. I’m sorry, but I didn’t get a picture of it after it cured. I was excited to be in the home stretch with this pipe and plunged ahead without thinking about it. So, I probed around the edges of the patch a bit with the spoon of my pipe tool, and then turned the bowl upside-down and gave it a few firm taps into the palm of my hand. I wanted to make sure that the material was fully adhered to the bottom surface of the chamber. Once I was satisfied that it was, I sanded the patch a bit with a piece of 600-grit paper to smooth the edges along the slope of the chamber and the patch was complete. This repair should last a long time and eliminate any chance of a burn-through in the bottom of the bowl.

Then, I prepared a batch of bowl coating. I know that bowl coatings are a controversial subject among pipe smokers, but to me it just makes sense when a chamber has been badly damaged like this one. To me, any extra protection that I can provide is a benefit. Personally, I can’t detect any taste from it, but I won’t argue with those who say that they can. In any case, my simple recipe is a mixture of sour cream and activated charcoal. I don’t measure. I just mix by eye until it becomes a deep charcoal gray. I then apply it to the inside of the bowl with a cotton swab. After six hours, the coating was dry and I smoothed it out with a paper towel wrapped around my finger.

Again, I’m currently working without a buffer. So, instead of carnauba, I gave the bowl several coats of Paragon wax to finish the work. You can see the completed pipe in the pictures below.

Thanks again to Steve and the rest of the contributors at Reborn Pipes for taking the time to teach me the skills to get this done. I still have a lot of learning to do. So, I’ll be around for a good while. Until next time…