Tag Archives: Stanwell Freehand Pipes

Restoring a Stanwell Royal Briar Regd. No 689-48 Dublinesque Freehand 189

Blog by Steve Laug

Not long ago I worked a trade with a fellow for these five pipes in exchange for one that I had here. He sent me photos of the pipes and the deal was struck. The pipes he sent are as follows from bottom to top. There is a W.O. Larsen sandblast oval shank Brandy with a hairline crack in the shank and with tooth marks on the button on both sides, a Bertram Cutty that I had traded with him earlier, a Kriswill sandblast Canadian with a cracked shank, a Viby pencil shank Billiard and a Stanwell Royal Briar wide oval shank Dublinesque Freehand with burn damage on the rim edges and top around the bowl and deep tooth marks on the stem.The next of these I chose to work on today is the Stanwell Royal Briar 189 at the top of the photo above. It is a classic Stanwell shape with a some nice grain around the bowl and the shank. The rim top was in good condition and there was some darkening and burn damage on the front inner edge. The outer edge of the rim is in good condition. The bowl had a light cake in the bowl and smells of good Virginia tobacco. There was some grime and grit ground into the surface of the finish. The stamping on the topside of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 689-48 [over] Royal Briar. On the underside it is stamped Made in Denmark [over] the shape number 189. The stain is light/medium brown and goes well with the oval vulcanite saddle stem. Once it is cleaned up and polished the grain around the bowl and shank will shine. The stem is in good condition with some tooth marks on it. The surface just ahead of the button is damaged with some deep bite marks on both sides. The button edge looks good on both sides. I am including several of the photos that were sent to me for viewing. The first shows the front of pipe and the grain around the front. It also gives a look inside the bowl and shows the cake. The second shows the marks on the stem surface that I spoke of above. The third photo shows the pipe from the button forward on the bowl. I took photos of the pipe before I did my clean up work on it to show its condition. The photos confirm what I noted above regarding the condition of the bowl and the stem. It a nice looking pipe that will look better with a bit of work on the stem and bowl. I took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above and show that while there is some darkening and burn damage on the front top and inner edge. The cake in the bowl is quite moderate and smooth. You can also see the condition of the outer and the inner edge. They appear to be in great condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. The bowl is still round and other than being in a used condition it is in great shape. The issues with the stem are visible in the photos on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.I took the stem off the bowl and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of proportion of the pipe. You can also see shape of the pipe and some interesting grain around the bowl and shank.Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on this one by reaming the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I followed that up by sanding the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I cleaned the internals of the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I scrubbed it until the shank was clean and the smell was much cleaner smelling. Before scrubbing the bowl exterior I decided to clean up the darkening and the burn damage on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used some 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the bowl a light inward bevel and remove the darkening and the damage. I finished by cleaning it up a bit further with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looks much better. I scrubbed the external surface of the briar with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed it until the finish was clean and then rinsed it off with warm running water to rinse off the soap and the grime from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and took photos of the pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step. I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm to the briar. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shone through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the issues with the vulcanite stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks in the stem surface on both sides as well as the button edges where the marks were deepest. I was able to lift the marks significantly and filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue. I set the stem aside to allow the repairs to cure. Once the repairs cured, I used a small file to reshape the button edge and flatten them. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem surface and button looked much better. I touched up the Crown S stamping on the top of the saddle portion of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I scraped off the excess with the tooth pick. It was ragged looking but readable. When I started polishing, it would clean up well. I continued polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I put the Stanwell Royal Briar 189 Freehand back together and lightly buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the finish. I polished the vulcanite stem at the same time to polish out the scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich combination of brown stains. The Stanwell Regd. No. 689-48 Royal Danish Freehand feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/45 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that functions as a sitter due to the wide heel on the bowl. I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe. 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.

Replacing a Broken Tenon on a Stanwell RP Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday a fellow pipe smoker called to say he was in front of my house and had a pipe that he had dropped while on a walk and needed a replacement tenon. He put the pipe in my mail box and I picked it up and while he was on the front side walk I chatted with him from the front porch – very much observing social distancing. The pipe was a beautiful Stanwell RP Freehand. Sure enough the tenon was stuck in the shank and snapper off just ahead of the fancy turned ball on the stem. Tenon replacements on these freehand styles are some of the easiest to do. It means that the stem end is flattened and drilled out to accommodate a new tenon. He also pointed out some road rash on the left side of the bowl where the pipe had bounced off the sidewalk. While I am not taking on new work what could I say to a previous customer standing at my gate asking for help. Of course I took the pipe in and today decided to address the broken tenon. I took pictures of the pipe to show its condition before I started. I took some photos of the shank end to show the snapped tenon in the shank and the broken end on the stem. I tried to pull the tenon with some simple tricks and it was stuck in the shank. It would not budge no matter how I tried. I put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes to see if a change in temperature would loosen the tenon.I took the bowl out of the freezer and screwed a drywall screw into the airway in the tenon. It did not take much effort at all to wiggle it and pull out the broken tenon. I kept the piece of tenon so that I could match the replace tenon to the diameter of the broken tenon.Before moving on to make the new tenon I decided to address the road rash on the side of the bowl. I have circled it in red in the first photo below. For this application I used a wet cloth and heated the blade of a butter knife over the flame of my gas stove. I put the wet cloth over the damaged spot and when the knife became hot I touched it to the wet cloth. The heat generated steam from the wet cloth and began to lift the damaged spot. I knew that it would not come up totally as it was a rough area but I knew that I could improve the look. The second photo shows the area on the bowl side after the steam application. I enclosed the repaired damage with a red circle.The damage looked much better after the steaming, not perfect but better! I stained the upper portion of the bowl with an Oak stain pen to blend it into the rest of the surrounding briar. Once it was polished it would blend in very well.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I find that it also helps to blend a newly stained area into the rest of the bowl. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to replacing the tenon. I had a threaded tenon that I had started turning down to size for another pipe that would work perfectly. It is shown in the photo below next to the broken chunk of the original tenon. I would need to use a Dremel and sanding drum to finish turning the tenon portion down to match the diameter of the broken one. I would also need to reduce the diameter of the threaded tenon end because of the size of the end of the stem.I set the tenon aside and flattened the jagged portion of the broken tenon on the stem with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once it was flat I began the process of drilling out the airway to receive the new tenon. I always start with a drill bit slightly larger than the existing airway so that I do not chip of damage the stem. I don’t want create more work! I worked my way up to a ¼ inch drill bit as it was the largest one that I could get away with drilling into the stem end without damaging the external surface.I reduced the diameter of the portion of the tenon that fit in the shank and the portion that would be anchored in the stem using a Dremel and sanding drum to rough fit it. I straightened out the edges of the insert portion with a rasp and squared up the edge so that it would seat in the stem. Once I had a good fit in the stem and the shank I used slow setting super glue to anchor the new tenon in the stem. I coated the edges of the tenon and then set it in place and aligned it so that it was straight.Once the glue had cured I cleaned up the surface of the tenon so that it was not scratched with sandpaper and so that it fit well in the shank. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished the fancy turnings on the stem and area around the new tenon with Before & After Pipe Polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) using a cotton swab to get into the grooves and angles. When I was finished I rubbed the entire stem down with the polish and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. With that the pipe is complete. I buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond Polish and gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel and then hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is now ready to go back to the pipe man who dropped it off Friday afternoon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of his repaired pipe when he picks it up. Thanks for walking with me through this restoration. Cheers.