Tag Archives: shaping a stem

Cleaning up a Royal Guard 585 Bent Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased quite a while ago on 01/16/2017 from an eBay auction in Covington, Ohio, USA. This was another dirty pipe but underneath it had a great mix of sandblast and smooth finishes. It was obviously someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank that reads Royal Guard [over] Made in Denmark. On the right of the shank next to the stem/shank junction it is stamped the shape number 373. The pipe was a bent billiard. The dirty finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a thick cake that flowed over the top of the rim in a heavy lava coat. The condition of the inner edge was hard to assess under the cake and the lava coat. The stem was a black vulcanite saddle stem with a stamped white RG logo on the left side. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim is caked and hard to assess in terms of its condition. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show contrast between the sandblast portions and the smooth areas in the finish. It is a beautiful combination. The brown stain on the briar adds depth to the finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out. It shows a lot of promise. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. You can see that they are clear and read as noted above. On Pipephil’s site(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r6.html) there is a section on the royal Guard that says it is a Stanwell Second. There is also some interesting information on the section so I did a screen capture of it and have included it below.Stanwell seconds :Christian, Danish Natural, Danish Sovereign, Danske Club, Henley, Majestic, Royal Danish, Royal Guard, Scandia

Royal Guard is listed on Pipedia’s site (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) as a Stanwell second line. The site also has a great short review of Stanwell history and links to several articles on the site that interesting.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl looked very good – just some darkening. The stem looked better and the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of this pipe. I started my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening and prepare it for deeper polishing.I polished the rim top and the smooth portions of the briar with sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. 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 turned my attention to the stem. I started by addressing the tooth marks on the surface of the stem on both sides. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift them. I was able to lift them significantly. I scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the oxidation in the tooth marks. I used a rubberized black super glue to fill in the remaining marks. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten the repair and recut the button edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs.  I touched up the RG stamp on the left side of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. I scraped off the excess and buffed it lightly with a 1000 grit sanding pad. It is clear and readable.I started working on polishing the stem with my 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It looked much better at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. This beautiful Stanwell Second Danish Made Royal Guard 585 Bent Billiard with a saddle vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains on the smooth and sandblast portions highlights the great grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. 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 Royal Guard Bent Billiard is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Fresh Life for a Vallo Made in Denmark 373 Bent Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased quite a while ago on 10/20/2016 from an antique shop in Astoria, Oregon, USA. This was another dirty pipe but underneath it had some nice grain and a nice shape and no fills that were visible. It was obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank that reads Vallo [over] Made in Denmark. On the underside of the shank next to the stem/shank junction it is stamped the shape number 373. The pipe was and egg light shape made to be a sitter. It was well balanced and stood. The dirty finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a thick cake that flowed over the top of the rim in a heavy lava coat. The condition of the inner edge was hard to assess under the cake and the lava coat. The stem was a black vulcanite saddle stem with a stamped white V on the left side. There were many tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim is caked and hard to assess in terms of its condition. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. You can see the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show some beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The brown stain on the briar adds depth to the finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out. It shows a lot of promise. He also took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. They are clear and it reads as noted above. He also took a photo of the Vallo “V” stamp on the left side of the stem. I looked on Pipedia and on Pipephil and found nothing on the Vallo brand. I turned to my copy of the book Who made That Pipe. It identifies Vallo pipe as having been made by Jarl, Denmark.

Armed with that information I went back to Pipedia and looked up information on the Jarl pipe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jarl). I quote the information on that below.

In December of 2010 Ellen Jarl wrote that Jarl pipes were made by her grandfather, Niels Mogens Jørgensen in a little factory in the town of Bramdrupdam, just outside Kolding, Denmark. We have no reason to doubt that Niels Mogens Jørgensen is the maker of these pipes.

I now knew a bit about the pipe. It was now time to go to work on the pipe itself.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl looked very good – just some darkening. The stem looked better and the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stamping was clear and readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of this pipe. I started my work on the pipe by polishing the briar with micromesh because it was in such good condition. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. 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 turned my attention to the stem. I started by addressing the tooth marks on the surface of the stem on both sides. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to lift them. I was able to lift them significantly. I scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the oxidation in the tooth marks. I used a rubberized black super glue to fill in the remaining marks. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten the repair and recut the button edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs. I touched up the V stamp on the left side of the stem with some white acrylic fingernail polish. I scraped off the excess and buffed it lightly with a 100 grit sanding pad. It is clear and readable.I started working on polishing the stem with my 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It looked much better at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.This beautifully grained Danish Made by Jarl, Vallo Bent Apple 373 Sitter with a saddle vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the great grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The brass banded top edge and rim top and brass band give the pipe a touch of class. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. 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 Vallo Bent Apple Sitter is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 59 grams/2.08 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Giving new life to a lovely Danish Made Gilt Edge Stanwell 98 Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased a year ago on 01/26/2023 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was another dirty pipe but underneath it had some nice grain. It was obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] Made in Denmark [over] Gilt Edge. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with a 98 which is the shape for a Lovat. There was a gold band around the shank end and at the rim top and edge that were a very nice touch and what gave it the name Gilt Edge. The dirty finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a thick cake that flowed over the top of the rim in a heavy lava coat. The condition of the inner edge was hard to assess under the cake and the lava coat. The stem was a black vulcanite saddle stem with an inlaid brass crown S on the left side. There were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The bite mark on the underside was deep and almost through the vulcanite. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim is caked and hard to assess in terms of its condition. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. You can see the small deep tooth mark on the underside. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show some beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The brown stain on the briar adds depth to the finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out. The gold rim cap and shank band are a beautiful addition. It shows a lot of promise. He also took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. It is faint but reads as noted above. He also took a photo of the Crown S stamp on the left side of the stem. From what I can find on the web the Rondo line was an older line of Stanwell pipes that is similar to the Brass Band line but has yellow acrylic between the bands. It is a nice looking pipe but one about which I could find little information.

I turned to the article on Pipedia that gave background information the shape numbers and the designers of the shapes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). From what I can see there the shape number 98 was made in two versions. The first is a Pot shaped pipe with a saddle stem. The second shape is a Lovat. The pipe on the table is clearly the second shape listed – a Lovat.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top and the inner edge of the bowl showed some darkening on the top and some damage on the left inner edge with a burn mark. The stem looked better and the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It is hard to see the pinhole in the stem surface on the underside but it is present and small.The stamping was hard to capture it with the camera but it is readable on the underside of the shank near the shank/stem junction. The stamping on the right side of the shank shows the shape number 98 mid shank. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of this Lovat.I started my work on the pipe by cleaning up the darkening around the inner edge of the rim and the top. I started by addressing the chip out of the top inner edge and top of the bowl. I worked on the inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the rim top at the same time. It began to look very good at this point. The grain and colour began to shine through.I polished the briar with micromesh because it was in such good condition. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth. 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 turned my attention to the stem. I started by addressing the deep tooth marks on the surface of the stem on both sides. The marks on the underside were significantly deeper and had created a pin hole in the surface. I used a rubberized black super glue to fill in the deep marks and repair the pin hole. I set the stem aside to let the repairs cure. Once it cured I used a small file to flatten the repair. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs. I started working on polishing the stem with my 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It looked much better at this point in the process.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil.I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.This beautifully grained Danish Made Stanwell Gilt Edge 98 Lovat with a saddle vulcanite stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the great grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The brass banded top edge and rim top and brass band give the pipe a touch of class. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. 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 Stanwell Gilt Edge Lovat is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 37 grams/1.31 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Can this Danmore 3090 Be Brought Back to Life?

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes I look at a pipe we purchased and wonder what we were thinking when we went for it. That was the case with this Danmore 3090 freehand. We purchased it from an online auction in Los Fresnos, Texas, USA on 01/10/2018. You can see from the fact that it has been sitting here in a bag since 2018. When Jeff received it, the pipe was in pieces and he put it together for these photos. The bowl was intact with no cracks or serious nicks. The horn shank extension had come unglued and looked like it might have some delaminating happening on the long portion that held the stem. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank with the shape number 3090 followed by Danmore [over] Handmade Denmark. The stem had a rubber tube fit on the end that had originally been in the shank extension but was now stuck on the stem. The stem itself had been chewed or broken off and was probably missing at least ½ inch of its length. It still had the Danmore Logo on the top of the taper but that was all it had going for it. The bowl was thickly cake and there was a thick lava coat on the rim top obscuring the edges of the bowl. It had obviously been someone’s favourite pipe and had been smoked to death. The finish was filthy with grime and hand oils ground into the smooth panels and the sandblast making it all almost smooth to touch. It was impossible to know if the rim top was smooth or sandblast as there was so much tar on it. The inside of the shank that held the extension was filled with tars and oils and the inside of the horn shank extension was the same. Jeff got some good photos of the pipe before he did his clean up work and I have to hand it to him it looked pretty interesting. The question in my mind really was whether it was redeemable. The bones were nice but what was underneath once it was cleaned remained a haunting question. He took photos of the rim top and bowl and you can see what I mean by the thickness of the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. It is so thick that it is flaking off in chunks only to reveal another layer! You can also see the broken off/chewed off condition of the stem in the photos he included. He included photos of the sides of the bowl and the contrasting patches on the bowl sides along with an interesting sandblast. The only thing that can be said is that the stamping on the underside of the shank is clear and readable as noted above and the Danmore D logo is very readable on the chewed off stem. You can also see the separation of the horn shank extension for the shank end in these photos. Lots of work to be done in the resurrection.The horn shank extension was originally lined with a Delrin or rubber liner to stabilize the horn from the inside. It would have been glued in place in the horn and not moved when the stem was removed. In the photo above and those that follow you can see that the liner piece has crept up the stem to where there is very little that is actually in the horn itself. I am hoping that once it is here I can work it off the stem and reinsert it in the horn again. We shall see.Jeff let the pipe fall back into its parts and took photos of it. You can see the bowl and its filthiness, the stem with the creeping rubber insert from the horn and the tired looking horn extension. In the second photo you can see the filth in the inside of the horn and into the shank itself… lots of work in cleaning it and not making things worse.I knew that the pipe was a Danish Made pipe but it has been awhile since I worked on a Danmore pipe. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-d2.html). There was a very short clip there with one photo of a pipe very different from the one I am working on. It simply states that the factory is closed and that the pipes are made by third parties. Not too much helpful information there that is for sure.I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Danmore) and was much more successful. The article is short and succinct but very helpful. I have included it below for ease of reference.

Danmore was founded by Hans Sørensen in the early 1970s, and produced pipes from that time until the early 1980s, at one point having up to 30 employees. The pipes were sold in the first Dan Pipe catalog. In the early 1980’s, however, production ceased in Denmark due to labor costs, and the company’s production was outsourced to Italy and Spain, and they began to also make pipecleaners and smokers articles.

Sørensen focused on the pipecleaner side of the concern, and eventually bought a share in the factory in the Far East making them. Today the company, owned by Hans’ sons Jesper and Lars Sørensen, no longer makes pipes, and instead makes only pipe cleaners under the name Danmore Hobby Aps, selling only to hobby and craftshops in Denmark and Scandinavia.

Hans Sørensen passed away in 2012. The Sørensen family continues to own the trademarks for the use of the Danmore name in relation to pipes, matches, and tobacco.

Now I knew that the pipe was made by Hans Sorensen and was made between the early 1970s and early 1980s when production ceased in Denmark due to labor costs. From that point on the pipes were outsourced to Italy and Spain. So, I guess the pipe was made during the 10 year or so window when the pipes were handmade in Denmark. All of that info makes me a bit more interested in resurrecting this pipe.

When it arrived here it was in a plastic sandwich bag and I promptly put it aside in a drawer of pipes to work on. Periodically I would take the bag out and dump out the parts and look it over. Everytime other than today I have just put it back in the drawer, shaking my head. I think it could be fixed but did I want to was the serious question that haunted me each time I looked at it. From 2018-2024 my answer was categorically, NOT INTERESTED! So, what changed today? Got me! Last evening, I took it out of the baggie and looked it over, put the pieces together and took some photos. Something about it caught my eye this time around and I wanted to see if I could bring it back to life. I sent Jeff a note and he sent me the photos above.

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 horn shank extension and the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the Deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took a photo of the bowl and rim top to show how good it looked. The sandblast rim top was clean and the inner edges aw also in good condition. The stain had faded some but it would not be too much to bring it back. The shank extension was very loose with nothing holding it in place in the shank. The stem was another story. The end had been either gnawed off or broken off and still smoked that way. It cleaned up well for sure – looked much better. It would need to be replaced.Though the photo below is a bit blurry the stamping is very clear on the underside of the shank. I removed the stem from the shank end and took a photo of the pipe and extension with the stem below to get a sense of what was there now.Now it was time to put the pieces back together again. For me this is the challenge that I enjoy. Will I be able to reconstruct the pipe back to functionality without changing the plan that crafted it originally? I love that challenge. In this case I decided to start with regluing and rebuilding the shank extension. I am very thankful that it was not delaminating. The horn was dry but still very stable which took away a very time-consuming part of the work. I worked on removing the old glue from the shank end and the tenon of the extension. I used a dental spatula and small blade to scrape the surfaces and then scrubbed them with 99% isopropyl alcohol and cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I also worked on the airway in the mortise of the briar so that the extension would have a very clean surface to bond with.Once the mortise was dried out I used some all-purpose white glue and painted the inside of the mortise and the tenon on the extension with it. I pressed the parts together and held them with pressure until the glue cured. Once it had hardened sufficiently to take the pressure off and wiped off the excess glue that had squeezed out with a damp cotton pad. I took photos of the pipe at this point. I cleaned up the Delrin/rubber ring that fit in the shank end and gave it a thin coat of all-purpose glue. I pressed it into the shank extension end and set it aside to cure. Once the glue hardened I polished the joint of the horn extension and the briar with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the horn down after each sanding pad with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil. The horn began to take on a shine. I polished the smooth panels on the bowl sides and the horn shank extension with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the horn down after each sanding pads with Obsidian Oil. It began to take on a shine as I worked through the pads. I used a Walnut Stain Pen to touch up the spotty finish around the bowl and shank and on the faded rim top. It looked significantly better once the stain cured. The colour looked much better. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair 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 really comes alive with the balm. I went through my collection of stems to find one that would work on the pipe. The one I found is identical to the broken one. It has the same shape as the broken one with the fishtail button. It was about ½ inch longer that accommodated the broken portion of the stem. It would need to be cleaned up and polished but it was a good match.I cleaned out the internals of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. It smelled and looked much better.I started working on polishing the stem with my 320-2500 grit sanding pads. I was able to remove the scratches and light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. It looked much better at this point in the process.  I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. This beautiful sandblast Danmore 3090 Freehand with a horn shank extension and a military mount stem turned out very nice. It came together amazingly well – far better than when I began. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain around the bowl sides and bottom. The rim top and edges look very good. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. 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 Danmore 3090 Freehand is very nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the Danish Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Someone Must Have Loved Smoking This Stanwell POY 1997 Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 12/13/2022 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was another dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe has an identifying plate on the left side of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] 1997. There was no other stamping on the shank and the silver plate confirmed for me that it was a Stanwell Pipe of the Year. The dirty sandblast finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a very thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a heavy lava coat. The inner edge was so heavily coated that it to assess its condition. The stem was a black vulcanite taper stem with a silver Crown S on the left side. It had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was oxidation and calcification on both sides but it had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the heavy cake and heavy lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim was so thickly caked that it was not possible to know what the condition was. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show a deep blast and some beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the smooth parts. It shows some promise. He also took a photo of the stamped silver plate on the left side of the shank. It reads as noted above.I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains..…Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980. 

The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.

Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the lightly crowned rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there seemed to be light damage and darkening to the top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the silver plate on the left side of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I started my work on the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It took some work but I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. It looked much better.I started polishing the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The smooth rim top began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I polished the silver plaque on the left side of the shank with a jewellers cloth to remove the slight remaining oxidation and to protect and preserve it.I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I sanded out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1997 Danish Style Billiard and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 1997 – the vulcanite taper stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black, vulcanite stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inch, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.27 ounces/36 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us. 

Stanwell POY 1991 Apple/Pot with a Vulcanite Taper Stem

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 12/13/2022 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was another dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe has an identifying plate on the left side of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] 1991. There was no other stamping on the shank and the silver plate confirmed for me that it was a Stanwell Pipe of the Year. The dirty sandblast finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a moderate cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a light lava coat. The inner edge had some damage that left is rough and damaged. The stem was a black vulcanite taper stem with a silver Crown S on the left side. It had some light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. There was oxidation and calcification on both sides but it had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the moderate cake and spotty lava coat covering the rim top. The inner edge of the rim was rough and had some darkening around the bowl. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The sandblast is nicely done and highlights the grain. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the smooth parts. It shows some promise. He also took a photo of the stamped silver plate on the topside of the shank. It reads as noted above.I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains..…Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980. 

The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.

Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration.

I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there seemed to be light damage and darkening to the top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the silver plate on the left side of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I started my work on the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It took some work but I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. It looked much better.I started polishing the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The smooth rim top began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I polished the silver plaque on the left side of the shank with a jewellers cloth to remove the slight remaining oxidation and to protect and preserve it. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I sanded out the chatter and marks on the stem surface with a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button.I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.I put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1991 Danish Style Pot and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 1991 – the vulcanite taper stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black, vulcanite stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/37 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us. 

Restoring a Fascinating Peterson Deluxe 595

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

This is a pipe belonging to the father of a good friend. He told me there was nothing especially wrong with it, but it did need some spiffing up. The gentleman in question is a fine pipe smoker and has been in the “briar brigade” (I just made that up) for many years. I was happy to help him out. He said that the pipe had been given to him by his then-girlfriend (now wife) when they were courting in the 1960s. It was the first pipe he ever owned. The pipe is a Peterson Deluxe 595 bulldog. It’s a really handsome pipe — very classic-looking, well-smoked, and well-cared for. The markings on the pipe read Peterson’s [over] DeLuxe on the left of the shank. On the right side is Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland, and next to that, the shape number 595. On the left side of the stem is the beautiful, stylized P of the Peterson company. That P must have had some colouring in it at some point, but it was long gone. It was hard to find any information about the 595. I was trying to research it and ended up circling around to a blog post that Steve did in 2020 about a 595 he worked on. That pipe and this pipe are very similar, but there are two crucial differences which I’ll mention in a moment. In Steve’s article of May 2020, he quotes from some email correspondence he had with Peterson expert, Mark Irwin, from Peterson Pipe Notes. I quote Irwin here regarding the 595:

Hey Steve, this is from the 500 shape group, although I’ve not documented the 595 before. It’s an upsized-version of the 80s. Peterson would call this shape a Rhodesian, incidentally, saving bulldog for their round shanks. You can see more 500s at https://petersonpipenotes.org/the-peterson-500-shapes-and-new-old-stock/. The POY 2019 for Peterson was taken from this group as well. I make the argument in that blog post that these shapes were made in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they owned their own US distributor, Allied, and were going after the US market. c. 1980-85, so Late Republic Era, 1969-1990.

If you read Steve blog post (found here), you’ll notice the two differences. First, the pipe I’ve got has the three-line version of “Made in the Republic of Ireland,” whereas Steve’s says “Made in Ireland”. Second, the pipe I’ve got has the P on the stem, whereas Steve’s does not.

However, there’s another wrinkle in this story. As I indicated earlier, the gentleman received this pipe in the 1960s in Hong Kong! I have no doubt that he is telling the truth, but I wasn’t able to square it with the information above. Due to my own ignorance, I also emailed Mark Irwin to clarify what was confusing me. He very kindly responded with the clarifying information. Among other things, he wrote

The 595 goes back to at least 1947’s catalog, and perhaps even before. I’ve attached that catalog for you, where you’ll find your pipe on p. 5.

I have included that page below. Thanks to Mark (and the original owner), I can confirm that this pipe dates from the early to mid-1960s.Let’s have a look at the pipe. The stem had several tooth marks, plus some oxidation and calcification. Also, an extra bit of the end of the tenon was broken – I’d have to take a closer look at that. The stummel was in nice condition, no real scratches or damage — except on the rim. That had lots of lava, and what looked like considerable burning, but I’d have to check more closely later. Inside the bowl was a good amount of cake that would need to be cleaned out. On to work – I started with a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the few bite marks and dents. This was not particularly successful in raising the damage, but did help a little.Next, I took a closer look at the broken tenon end. I’m not sure what happened there, but it was badly damaged and the only reasonable option was to remove it, as it could cause further problems. I then sanded down the end of the tenon to make it smooth and flat. Then I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads and the inside with pipe cleaners and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The next day, I wiped down the stem with SoftScrub cleaner and some cotton rounds to remove surface oxidation. After that, I used some gold Rub’n’Buff to fill in the P on the stem. This P would have been gold coloured originally.I also built up the tooth dents (pun intended) on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure.  I then sanded the adhesive down – first with a small file, then with 400-grit sandpaper to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. Moving on to the stummel, I used the PipNet Reamer to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as I could. I took the chamber down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none. Next, I took a dental tool and gently ran it along the grooves of the outside of the bowl to clear out any filth in there. In order to save as much of the rim as possible, I used a piece of machine metal to very delicately scrape away as much burnt material as I could. I do this before automatically jumping to my topping board; this gentle scraping revealed far more burn damage than I had anticipated, so it would need more work later.For now, I proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. That done, I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this.I followed that up by cleaning the outside with Murphy’s and the insides with some Castile soap and tube brushes. After all this cleaning, I took a closer look at the damage to the rim. As the photo shows, the damage was considerable. At this point, I asked the owner if he wanted me to remove all the burn marks, which would entail significant removal of briar, or simply deal with the surface damage and leave the wood intact. He opted for the latter (correctly, in my view). The burns would remain on this pipe, but they are part of its story – and that is just fine.In order to remove some remaining burns on the rim, I did ultimately “top” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the surface damage, without altering the look of the pipe.I also took a wooden sphere, wrapped a piece of 220-grit sandpaper around it, and sanded the inner side of the chamber. This achieved two things: first, it removed some of the burn marks on the inner edge of the rim; and second (and more importantly), the circular shape and motion of the sphere gradually returned the edge to a perfect circle.With all that done, I polished it up with all nine of my Micromesh pads. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. Of course, the final step is buffing with some White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax.This is a beautiful pipe with an interesting history. I was delighted and honoured to be a part of it! I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5¼ in. (134 mm); height 1½ in. (37 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (39 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (18 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1⅛ oz. (34 g). Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1987 Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 12/13/2022 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was a dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe has an identifying plate on the topside of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] 1987. There was no other stamping on the shank and the silver plate confirmed for me that it was a Stanwell Pipe of the Year. The dirty sandblast finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a moderate cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a spotty coat of a lava and it was hard to assess the condition of the inner edge. The stem was a black vulcanite taper stem with a silver Crown S on the topside. It had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I had a lot of oxidation and calcification on both sides of the stem. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the moderate cake and spotty lava coat covering the rim top. There appeared to be a fill in a flaw on the rim top and inner edge at the left rear of the bowl. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The sandblast is nicely done and highlights the grain. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the smooth parts. It shows some promise. He also took a photo of the stamped silver plate on the topside of the shank. It reads as noted above. The silver crown “S” inlay on the top of the stem is tarnished but a beauty.I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains.…Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980. 

The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.

Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there seemed to be light damage and darkening to the top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the silver plate on the topside of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like.I started my work on the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the inner bevel of the rim. It took some work but I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. It looked much better. I started polishing the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The smooth rim top began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. You can also see the fill on the left rear of the rim top. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I polished the silver plaque on the topside of the shank with a jewellers cloth to remove the slight remaining oxidation and to protect and preserve it. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift the majority of them. I filled in one mark on each side of the stem ahead of the button. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem surface and repairs near the button with a new product I am using. I ordered a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads from Amazon. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.I put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1987 Dublin pipe and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 1987 – the vulcanite taper stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black, vulcanite stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.20 ounces/34 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us. 

New Life for a Stanwell Pipe of the Year 1988 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I am working on was purchased on 12/13/2022 as part of a group of pipes from a fellow in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was a dirty pipe with a lot of wear and tear and obviously it had been someone’s favourite smoker. The pipe has an identifying plate on the topside of the shank that reads Stanwell [over] 1988. There was no other stamping on the shank and the silver plate confirmed for me that it was a Stanwell Pipe of the Year. The dirty sandblast finish was not able to hide the beauty in the grime. There were tars and oils ground into the surface of the briar. The bowl had a thick cake that flowed over the top of the smooth rim in a thick coat of a lava and it was hard to assess the condition of the inner edge. The stem was a black vulcanite saddle stem with a silver Crown S on the topside of the saddle. It had some tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I had a lot of oxidation and calcification on both sides of the stem. It had a lot of potential. Jeff took photos of the pipes before he started his clean up work. Jeff took photos of the rim and bowl to show the moderate cake and spotty lava coat covering the rim top. It really was a dirty pipe but still a beauty. He also took photos of the stem surfaces to show its overall condition when it arrived. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowls show beautiful grain around the bowl and shank sides. The sandblast is nicely done and highlights the grain. The brown stain on the briar adds depth finish on the pipe and makes the grain really stand out on the smooth parts. It shows some promise. He also took a photo of the stamped silver plate on the topside of the shank. It reads as noted above. I turned to the internet to find out information about the Stanwell Pipe of the Year. I came across this interesting article and shape chart on the Blue Room Briars site where they listed a collection of the POYs (https://www.blueroombriars.com/blogs/news/the-stanwell-pipe-of-the-year-collection). I have included the shape chart and part of the article below for the information that it contains.……Recently, Blue Room Briars acquired a complete Stanwell Pipe of the Year (POY) collection spanning from 1980 – 2017. Looking at these pipes in detail reveals some interesting insights into Stanwell’s production, although it should be noted that these findings are not the final say on when a particular pipe was made, but we hope you can use it as a guide when trying to determine the era of manufacture for Stanwell pipes made after 1980. 

The first pipe of note is the 1980 POY. This pipe does not come with the engraved silver plaquette. The pipe also sports a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece.

Between 1981 and 1998, the Stanwell pipes from the POY collection have the addition of silver plaquettes denoting the year, a traditional vulcanite mouthpiece, and also have a Teflon lined mortise. This is an interesting feature that creates a very stable connection between the mortise and tenon, as well as allowing the mortise to be swabbed out easily for maintenance. It wouldn’t be unwarranted to believe that other Stanwell pipes with a Teflon sleeved mortise were probably made between the 1980s to late 1990s. This additional, and costly, feature demonstrates Stanwell’s commitment to quality manufacturing even into the last portion of the 20th century.

Jeff cleaned up the pipe for me. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned it up with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to clean off the grime off the finish and the overflow of lava on the rim top. The cleaning had removed the grime on the rim top. He cleaned up the internals of the shank, mortise and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove all of the oils and tars in the pipe. He soaked the stem in Briarvilles Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and was able to remove much of the oxidation, calcification. When it arrived here in Vancouver it was a clean pipe and I knew what I had to work with. I took photos of it before I started my part of the restoration. I took a photo of the rim top and the stem to show their condition once it arrived in Canada. Jeff was able to clean up the cake and the lava overflow that was shown in the rim and bowl photos above. The rim top looked very good but there seemed to be light damage and darkening to the top and inner edge of the bowl. The stem looked better, though there were light tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. I took a photo of the stamping on the silver plate on the left side of the shank to show that it was readable and undamaged by the cleanup work. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the parts to give a sense of what the pipe looks like. I started my work on the inner edge and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the damage and the darkening. It looked much better.I started polishing the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The smooth rim top began to take on a rich shine and grain was beginning to stand out. I sanded with all of the pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a soft cloth. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the finish on the bowl and shank. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it in with my fingers to get it into the briar. I used a horsehair shoe brush to work it into the sand blast. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I wiped it off and buffed it with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a rich shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. It is a beautiful bowl. I polished the silver plaque on the topside of the shank with a jewellers cloth to remove the slight remaining oxidation and to protect and preserve it. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem at this point in the process. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks on both sides. I was able to lift the majority of them. I filled in one mark on each side of the stem ahead of the button. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs. I sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem surface and repairs near the button with a new product I am using. I ordered a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads from Amazon. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. I polished light tooth marks and chatter out of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a coat of Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil. It works to protect the stem from oxidizing. I set it aside to dry.I put the stem back on the Stanwell Pipe of the Year 19888 Apple pipe and took it to the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. Blue Diamond does a great job on the smaller scratches that remain in both. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. I am amazed at how well it turned out. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This is a beautiful Stanwell POY 1988 – the vulcanite saddle stem and smooth rim top and sandblast finish combine to give the pipe a great look. The polished black, vulcanite stem looks really good with the rich browns standing out in the sandblast. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/37 grams. This is another pipe that I will be putting on the rebornpipes online store in the Danish Pipe Pipemaking Companies Section shortly, if you are interested in adding it to your collection. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me on this beauty!

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us. 

Restoring a Chonowitch Designed Stanwell Bordeaux 148 Canadian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table to work on is one that was purchased on 01/26/2023 in a lot of pipes that came to us from Copenhagen, Denmark. This is a oval shank Canadian with a smooth finish and a thin brass band on the shank. It is another Made in Denmark Stanwell. The smooth finish on this pipe, around the bowl and shank has a mix of grain highlighted by the reddish brown stain. The pipe is stamped on the topside of the shank and reads STANWELL [over] Bordeaux. On the underside of the shank the shape number 148 is stamped [over] Made In Denmark. The pipe was a well used pipe when Jeff received it. There was dust and grime ground into the finish on the sides of the bowl. The mixture of brown stains highlights some mixed grain under the dirt. The bowl was moderately caked and there was an overflow of lava on the smooth rim top. The condition of the inner edge was hard to know due to the lava coat. The saddle stem is vulcanite and was dirty, oxidized and had light tooth marks, chatter and scratches on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. There is a brass Crown S logo inlaid on the topside of the saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his clean up work on it. He took photos of the bowl and rim top to show what they looked like before his clean up. You can see the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top and inner edges. It is hard to know what the condition of the inner edge looks like. He also took some of the stem to show the condition of both sides. There are tooth marks on the surface of the stem ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. The photos of the sides and heel of the bowl show the grain around the bowl and shank. The mixture of brown stains adds depth finish on the pipe. Even under the grime it is a real beauty. The stamping on this one was around the bamboo horizontally and is shown in the photo below. It is clear and readable as noted above. The second photo shows the white stamped crown S on the stem side. Before I started my work on the pipe I wanted to see if I could find any information that would help me get a sense of the line. I turned to Pipephil to see if there was any listing on the Bordeaux Line (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). There was nothing listed.

I then turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell) for more information. The article is great and gives a lot of history on the brand. There were also links to a shape article by Bas Stevens that I originally published on rebornpipes. I looked up the 148 shape number to see who had designed that shape (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I quote the information below.

  1. Canadian, short saddle mouthpiece by Jess Chonowitsch.

Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Jeff had thoroughly cleaned up the pipe. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet Pipe Reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a tooth brush. He rinsed it under running warm water to remove the soap and grime. He cleaned out the inside of the shank and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the stem with Soft Scrub to remove the grime and calcification. He soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer and rinsed it off with warm water. The pipe looked very good when it arrived here in Vancouver. I took close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem. You can see the damage and the darkening on rim top and inner edge. The vulcanite saddle stem is in good condition with light tooth marks and some chatter as noted above. There are some deep tooth marks on the button surface as well.I took photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is readable as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to give a sense of the proportions of the pipe. The briar is quite beautiful and the dark and medium stains really make it stand out. I worked on the damage to the inner edge and the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the edge back into round and smooth out the scratches on the top. By the end it looked much better.I polished the bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the grit. The bowl began to take on a rich shine. It is a beauty. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes and the Balm did its magic. It enlivens, cleans and preserves the briar. It certainly brought this bowl back to life. I buffed it off with a clean cloth and took the following photos. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth marks on the surface and in the button edges. I used black CA glue and rebuilt the deep tooth marks on both side and on both top and underside button. I set the stem aside to cure. I used a small file to flatten the repair and to also cut the sharp edge of the button. I started sanding it smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite stem surface and repairs near the button with a new product I am using. I ordered a set of 2 inch sanding pads for 320-3500 grit sanding pads from Amazon. They work amazingly well and are easy to manage and sand close to the sharp edge of the button. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Stanwell Bordeaux 148 Canadian with a vulcanite saddle stem is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The mix of stains once cleaned up really highlights the grain and the polished sandblast finish is stunning. 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 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 Stanwell Bordeaux 148 Canadian fits nicely in the hand and feels great. 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 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 31 grams / 1.09 ounces. I will be adding the pipe to the Danish Pipe Makers Section of the rebornpipes store. If you are interested in purchasing this pipe send me a message or an email.

As always, I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.