Tag Archives: Stanwell Pipes

Back to Bob Kerr’s Estate – Changing Up and Working on a Danish Made Stanwell de Luxe 812 Billiard Regd. No. 969-48

Blog by Steve Laug

I am changing up my work on Bob Kerr’s estate a bit by taking on this Stanwell de Luxe 812 sandblast billiard. This is the first of his Stanwell pipes that I am working on. I am cleaning them for the family and moving them out into the hands of pipemen and women who will carry on the trust that began with Bob and in some pipes was carried on by Bob. In the collection there were 19 Peterson’s pipes along with a bevy of Dunhills, some Comoy’s and Barlings as well as a lot of other pipes – a total of 125 pipes along with a box of parts. This is the largest estate that I have had the opportunity to work on. I put together a spread sheet of the pipes and stampings to create an invoice. I was taking on what would take me a fair amount of time to clean up. I could not pass up the opportunity to work on these pipes though. They were just too tempting. This beautiful Stanwell is a great break. It is a shape that is interesting and unique. It will go on the rebornpipes store.

I really like the sandblasts that the Danish Stanwell Company did. This one also has a rugged, swirling sandblast finish with lots of nooks and crannies in the briar. It is a beauty! The pipe is stamped Stanwell over Regd. No. 969-48. That is followed by the line which is de Luxe and the shape number 812. The valleys and ridges of the sandblasted grain showing through the grime and dirt are a mixture that leaves a rich texture. It had a rich dark and medium contrasting brown stain that does not look too bad. There was a thick cake in the bowl with remnants of tobacco stuck on the walls. There was a fair lava overflow filling in the blast on the rim. The edges of the rim and top are dirty but look pretty pristine under the grime. It was a beautiful pipe that was dirty and tired looking. The stem was oxidized and calcified toward the end. Again, surprisingly did not have the tooth marks that I have come to expect from Bob’s pipes. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup work on it. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the edges of the bowl. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. The edges look pretty good.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish. You can see the beautiful swirls of the sandblast. There is a lot of dust and grime filling in the valleys. Jeff took photos of the stamping on the smooth panel on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping was readable as you can see from the photos. It read Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48. That is followed by de Luxe and the shape number 812. Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the tooth chatter, scratching and oxidation on the stem surface and wear on the edges of the button. The “S” on the stem was in very good condition. Interestingly it did not have the crown over the “S”. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to get a quick idea of when this pipe was made by reference to the Regd. No. on the underside of the shank (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html). I quote what I found there. Logo without crown. The “Regd. No.” stamping discontinued in late 1960s to very early 1970s.

I also turned to Pipedia’s article on Stanwell but it did not add any further information. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell).

Talking with Chris van Hilst on Facebook Tobacco Pipe Restorers Group he helped me understand that the crown was introduced mid- to late 50’s. Before that they didn’t have a stem logo.

With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information from Pipephil that the Regd. No. stamping was discontinued in the late 60s to very early in the 70s. I learned from Chris that the crown was added late in the 1950s so this one is most probably an early 1950s pipe. Most of Bob’s pipes were purchased between the 50s and late 60s so my guess is that this pipe fits that time frame. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

With over 125 pipes to clean from Bob’s estate I took a batch of them to the states with me on a recent visit and left them with Jeff so he could help me out. Jeff cleaned the pipe with his usual penchant for thoroughness that I really appreciate. This one was a real mess and I did not know what to expect when I unwrapped it from his box. He reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the lava on the rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff soaked the stem in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the rubber. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show what an amazing job Jeff did in the cleanup of the rim top. The rim top looks very good. The sandblast finish is very nice. The bowl looked very good. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the lack of tooth marks and the remaining oxidation on the stem surface.Since this is another pipe Bob’s estate I am sure that some of you have read at least some of the other restoration work that has been done on the previous pipes. You have also read what I have included about Bob Kerr, the pipeman who held these pipes in trust before I came to work on them (see photo to the left). Also, if you have followed the blog for long you will already know that I like to include background information on the pipeman whose pipes I am restoring. For me, when I am working on an estate I really like to have a sense of the person who held the pipes in trust before I worked on them. It gives me another dimension of the restoration work. I asked Brian if he or his wife would like to write a brief biographical tribute to her father, Bob. His daughter worked on it and I received the following short write up on him and some pictures to go along with the words including one of Bob’s carvings. Once again I thank you Brian and tell your wife thank you as well.

I am delighted to pass on these beloved pipes of my father’s. I hope each user gets many hours of contemplative pleasure as he did. I remember the aroma of tobacco in the rec room, as he put up his feet on his lazy boy. He’d be first at the paper then, no one could touch it before him. Maybe there would be a movie on with an actor smoking a pipe. He would have very definite opinions on whether the performer was a ‘real’ smoker or not, a distinction which I could never see but it would be very clear to him. He worked by day as a sales manager of a paper products company, a job he hated. What he longed for was the life of an artist, so on the weekends and sometimes mid-week evenings he would journey to his workshop and come out with wood sculptures, all of which he declared as crap but every one of them treasured by my sister and myself. Enjoy the pipes, and maybe a little of his creative spirit will enter you!

Now on to the rest of the restoration on this Stanwell de Luxe 812 Billiard. Since Jeff had done such an amazing clean up job on the bowl it was very easy for me. I only had to rub the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth and shoe brush to raise the shine. Mark Hoover’s Balm is a product that I have come to appreciate and one I use on every pipe I have been working on. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to remove the scratching. It is starting to look good. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish. I have a few tins of this laying around so I am trying to use them up. It does a pretty good job polishing the stem. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet 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. Once I had finished the polishing I gave it final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to be on the homestretch with this pipe and I look forward to the final look when it is put back together, polished and waxed. I put the bowl and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The valleys and ridges of the sandblast looked good with the polished black vulcanite. This Stanwell de Luxe 812 billiard was another fun pipe to work on thanks to Jeff’s cleanup work. It really has that classic Stanwell sandblast finish that catches the eye. The combination of various brown stains really makes the pipe look attractive. It is a comfortable pipe to hold in the hand. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. If you are interested in carrying on Bob’s legacy with this pipe send me a message or an email. I have a lot more to work on of various brands. Perhaps one of those will catch your attention. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. This is an interesting estate to bring back to life.

Fresh Life for a Stanwell Brazilia 87 Apple

Restoring a STANWELL # 89

1 Reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

This pipe, because of its interesting Dublin shape with a round rim, beautiful grain and it being a STANWELL, had been attracting my attention for some time now. However, I was always relegating its restoration since the condition was far worse and would require a ton of work as well as time to complete it.

After I had finished the pair of KRISWILLS, I could not think of working on any other pipe but this STANWELL!!!!!! And so, here I am with this pipe, admiring the shape, feel of the pipe in my hand and the beautiful grain that could be seen through all the dirt, oils, tars and grime.

A medium sized fancy Dublin with an oval shank, this pipe has beautiful densely packed birdseye grain on either side of the bowl with lovely cross grain extending from the front of the bowl right down the bottom to the shank end. Similarly, the grain extends from the back of the bowl up to the shank end!!!!! The flattish surface of the shank further accentuates the dense grain. No wonder then that this Stanwell is stamped as “SELECTED BRIAR”!!!!!!!! This beauty is stamped “STANWELL” in an inverted arch over “REGD No. 969- 48” over “HANDMADE” on top of the shank while on the bottom of the shank it is stamped “SELECTED BRIAR” over “89” over “MADE IN DENMARK”. The stem is stamped on the top of the saddle with a crown over “S” and on the bottom of the saddle with “HANDCUT”.All the stampings are crisp and easily readable.

I searched the net for information on this brand in general and this pipe in particular. The first site I always visit is Pipedia. I gathered a lot of information about the brand and some important snippets of information are reproduced below:

Stanwell Article from smokingpipes.com

When pipe smokers talk about pipes that are consistently great smokers, exhibit the creative and beautiful designs that exemplify Danish pipemaking and offer the best value in factory produced pipes, they are talking about Stanwell. We hear time and time again, from customers and top pipe makers from around the world, that Stanwell is the best factory produced pipe in the world. Stanwell maintains the most modern pipe making facility in the world and for many years has enjoyed some unique relationships with many legendary Danish pipe makers. In fact, Stanwell occupies a pivotal place in the history of the world-wide popularity of Danish-made pipes.

At the end of the war, briar became available again, so Nielsen began importing his own briar and started making briar pipes to compete with the English manufacturers. It must be remembered that in 1948, England was the single great center for pipe making. Therefore, Nielsen changed the name of his pipes to “Stanwell”, which sounded much more like a proper English name than “Nielsen”. He also created the horse drawn carriage logo for its English connotations. He later changed his own last name from Nielsen to Stanwell, a testament to his devotion to the pipes he made. Stanwell’s relationships with Danish pipe makers goes back to Sixten Ivarsson, who is considered the originator of modern Danish pipe making. Ivarsson was commissioned to design Stanwell shapes. In 1969, the factory was moved a town called Borup, just outside of Copenhagen to be closer to Ivarsson.

Essentially the goal of Stanwell is, and always has been, to produce high quality pipes at a price that is truly within the reach of the common man. In this they have succeeded admirably, offering perhaps more pipe for the money than any other pipe manufacturer in their price range. Stanwell pipe offers exceptional quality at a remarkably affordable price. Today it often seems that there are few options in between low cost, very low quality pipes and the handmade pipes that fetch hundreds of dollars. Stanwell manages to fill this void commendably by offering pipes close to the quality of the handmade with prices that are only slightly higher than drug store pipes.

Stanwell pipes are a must for any pipe collection. The Stanwell name is a cornerstone of Danish pipe making. In owning a Stanwell, you will not only enjoy beautifully styled, great smoking pipe at a great price, you will own a piece of pipe making history.

Now that I have some historical information about the brand, I went ahead with my attempt at dating this pipe. I had read that Mr. Basil Stevens is generally considered an authority on Stanwell pipes and so that was logical start point for me. I gathered some information from a site, https://www.scribd.com/document/45022903/Stanwell-Dating-Pricing-Information-by-Basil-D-Stevens, which I have reproduced from the above site:-

Dating Information:

1) Regd. No. stamping discontinued in late 1960s to very early 1970s. This is the Stanwell trade mark registration. The “48” indicates that the registration was made in 1948. (info rec’d from Jorgen Grundtvig, Managing Director, Stanwell A/S)

3) Up until the early 1960s only the top pipes, e.g. “Hand Cut” had the stem/mouth pieces stamped with the Stanwell logo of a crown over “S”.

6) “Handcut” stamped on black vulcanite stems have not been done since at least the 1970s and possibly earlier. (info from J.G.).

STANWELL SHAPES
Shape “89”
Two versions of this shape number
a) Freehand, oval stem, short oval saddle mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson.
b) Large pot, thin, long saddle mouthpiece.

From the above information that I have gathered and highlighted in blue, I feel that this particular pipe was from the 1960s and is a freehand made by Sixten Ivarsson. Any variation or additional information or any incorrect assessment on my part may please be conveyed through your comments on rebornpipes.com

Armed with this information, I carried out my detailed initial visual inspection of the entire pipe. This assessment helps me in identifying the issues that are seen as well as understand likely issues that may present themselves subsequently while making a mental map of the entire restoration process.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
The stummel is covered in oils, tars and grime to such an extent that the bowl is very dull to look at with all the grains hidden and sticky to the touch. This will need thorough cleaning. Whether to sand the bowl with micromesh pads to bring to fore the lovely grain will be decided later. The bowl is heavily caked and has large amounts of lava overflow on top of the rim. The internal condition of the bowl and rim will be ascertained only after the cake has been completely reamed out. There is always the fear of possibility of charred rim edges or burn fissures or charred briar inside the chamber of pipes in this condition. However, the entire stummel appears solid to touch from the outside reducing the probability of any of the above possibilities being present.The short oval saddle stem is heavily oxidized with a number of light tooth chatter on both surfaces. The lips on both sides have been chewed off. I had masked both the stampings on the stem with a whitener pen, you could of course use acrylic paint or any other stuff, but I found the whitener pen to be the best option as it helps to fill the letters at a later stage. As expected, the airway is clogged and a test draw was rewarded with debris and carbon dust. This will have to be cleaned.THE PROCESS
The first step that I usually follow is the reaming of the bowl. Using a Kleen Reem pipe tool and my trusty and effective fabricated knife, Abha, my wife, cleaned out the cake from the chamber. To smooth out the inner surface of the chamber and completely remove the last traces of remaining cake, she sanded the inner surface with a 220 grit sand paper. With a sharp knife, very gently scraped the surface of the rim top and removed the accumulated tars, oils and grime.She cleaned the bowl and rim using undiluted Murphy’s Oil soap and a toothbrush. Thereafter, the bowl was washed under running tap water and immediately dried out using paper towels and a soft cotton cloth.

The stummel is now clean and fresh. Inspection of the rim and chamber revealed an intact inner edge and a perfect condition of the inner walls of the chamber. What a relief this was!!!!! The only issue was that the rim top is still blackened and an eye sore. I addressed this issue by sanding the rim and the entire stummel with micromesh pads. I very lightly and briefly wet sanded with 1500 to 2400 pads, gently wiping with a moist soft cloth to remove the dust left behind due to sanding.I dry sanded the rim and stummel using 3200 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. At the end of the dry sanding, I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” with my fingers into the briar. The immediate and incredible transformation that takes place is a worthy reward for all the efforts!!! The bowl now looks fresh and attractive with the grains popping out any which way you look at the briar; it feels somewhat like DIWALI, festival of lights celebrated here in India. I polished off the balm with a soft cloth to a lovely shine. I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH THIS PIPE!!!!!Turning my attention to the stem, I started by sanding the stem with a 220 grit sand paper. I was especially careful around the edges and the stampings. Using the crisp edge of the folded sand paper, I reshaped the buttons and sanded it to even out the surface. Thereafter, I sanded the stem with 320 and 440 grit sand paper. To finish the stem I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with moist cloth after each pad and rubbed olive oil into the stem after every three pads. I carefully removed excess whitener from the stampings. The stem is now looking nice and shiny with crisp stampings. Having addressed the “appearance” aspects of this beauty, I turned my attention to the “performance” aspect to ensure that this beauty smokes as well as it looks. I thoroughly cleaned the shank internals using shank brush, pipe cleaners, cue tips and isopropyl alcohol. The stem airway was cleaned using regular pipe cleaners and also bristled ones dipped in alcohol. The airway is now clean and the draw is full and open.

To complete the restoration, I rubbed a minute quantity of PARAGON WAX on the stummel and the stem. After a few seconds, using muscle power and a microfiber cloth, I polished the entire pipe to a lovely shine. Can’t wait to load and fire up this stunning piece of briar!!!! The finished pipe is shown below and yes… for the curious reader, the prop is not Beer filled mug, but a Beer mug filled with GREEN TEA!!!!! Thank you for your valuable time spent in reading my amateurish chronicle.

Restoring a Beautiful Brass S Stanwell Rhodesian

Refreshing a Beautiful, Danish Made Stanwell Majestic 64 Freehand

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Blog by Steve Laug

Today was a good day in the shop. I brought the third pipe to the work table today. It is a Stanwell Majestic shape 64 with a nice plateau top. The briar itself was in good shape. There were a lot of small nicks and dents in the sides of the briar. Other than being faded, the finish was in great shape. The plateau on the rim was faded and you could see remnants of tars and oils in the nooks and crannies of the rim top. The inner and outer edges of the bowl were undamaged. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the stem with the words Stanwell Made in Denmark over Majestic. On the right side it was stamped with the shape number 64. There was no other stamping on the pipe. The stem was oxidized and there was tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. Jeff sent me these photos of the pipe before he started his cleanup process.The late Bas Stevens was the master at identifying Stanwell shapes tying the shape number to the designer. The shape 64 came in two variations – a Freehand with a saddle stem and a bent billiard with a full taper stem. This one is clearly the Freehand variation having a plateau top and a saddle mouthpiece. It was designed by Sixten Ivarsson (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/shape-numbers-and-designers-of-stanwell-pipes/).The stamping on the pipe is very readable. The left side of the shank is stamped Stanwell over Made in Denmark over Majestic. The Stanwell Crown S is stamped on the left side of the saddle stem. The right side of the shank bears the 64 shape number stamp.The rim top looked to be in good shape – dirty but sound.The lightly oxidized stem had tooth chatter on the top and underside. It did not appear to be deep in the vulcanite and should clean up easily.Jeff cleaned up this beautiful pipe with his usual methodical thoroughness. He reamed the bowl clean with a PipNet reamer and touched it up with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife. He scrubbed internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs leaving the airways in the shank, mortise and stem very clean. He scrubbed the externals with Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime and the old waxes on the bowl and rim. He soaked the stem in OxyClean to bring the oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. When the pipe arrived in Vancouver I took the following photos. The rim was very clean and faded. They were generally black or at least dark with the high spots on the plateau showing through with the same brown as the rest of the stummel. The nooks and crannies were black and the high spots brown. The inner and outer edge of the bowl were in perfect condition.The stem was lightly oxidized and surface of the vulcanite on the topside was pitted with small holes and nicks. It was hard to capture that issue with the photos but it was there and would need to be addressed if I was to polish the stem to a rich shine. I put the stem in the Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and left it to soak overnight. I keep the mixture in a flat plastic tray with a cover. I dropped the stem into the mixture and made sure that it was completely covered with the mixture. I put the lid on the tray and set it aside to soak. I have referred to the latest use of this product in the past three blogs because I am putting it through its paces to see how the product delivers. I was skeptical when I first started using it but I have to admit that I am becoming less skeptical the more I use it. If you are interested in trying the product, I purchased the Deoxidizer from a guy on Facebook. His name is Mark Hoover and he is on the Gentlemen’s Pipe Smoking Society Group on Facebook. He has a pen making site where you can email and order the deoxidizer and the polishes (http://www.lbepen.com/). While the stem soaked I began my work on the bowl. I restained the plateau top on the bowl with a black aniline stain that I applied with a cotton swab making sure to get the stain deep in the grooves. I use a cotton swab because it enables me to keep the stain off of the sides of the bowl. I let the stain dry for a few moments and sipped a hot coffee.Once it had basically dried I polished the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with damp cotton pads after each sanding pad. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I wiped the bowl down with olive oil on a paper towel to enliven the briar and highlight the colour. The next morning I removed the stem from the Deoxidizer and dried it off with a paper towel. I let the excess deoxidizer drip off into the tray before wiping it down. The oxidation came off and stained the paper a dark brown. The top surface of the stem was pitted near the button. I filled in the pits with clear super glue. Once it had dried I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the repair to the surface of the stem. Once I had smoothed out the repairs it was time to polish the stem. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. After sanding with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I worked over the bowl sides and the stem to polish out the last of the scratches in the surface of both. I gave the bowl and stem with multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect the briar and the vulcanite. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine on the pipe. I used a microfiber cloth to hand buff it and give it a deeper shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautiful example of the Stanwell Freehand shape 64. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outer diameter: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inches. I will be posting this on the rebornpipes store so if you would like to add it to your collection you can wait until I add it or you can email me at slaug@uniserve.com or message me on Facebook. Thanks for walking with me through this restoration.

Burn through Repair – Salvage of a Worthy Stanwell Rouge 109 Sand Blasted Ball

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Blog by Dal Stanton

Stephen, a friend visiting Bulgaria from Rainbow City, Alabama, and I were walking through the Antique Market in the shadow of Nevski Cathedral in center city Sofia, when I my roving ‘pipe eyes’ spied an unbelievably nice looking, hefty, handful of a sand blasted Ball or Apple shaped pipe waiting on a table gratuitously mixed with WWII paraphernalia, old Communist memorabilia, skeleton keys and an assortment of cork screws, lighters and want-a-be Rolex watches. This pipe, though, was the real deal. With Stephen by my side, I did my best not to lock my eyes on the prize. Finally, after I gave serious non-interested examination of the seller’s other offerings, I picked up the pipe and gave it a cursory, equally, non-interested look over. As I looked down into the chamber, I saw my opportunity. There was daylight at the bottom of the chamber – a hole, my leverage for the negotiation. A quintessential burn through. With my index finger at the chamber floor, it was sharply wedged downwardly so that the wearing, digging and burning finally was more than the briar could handle. Turning the pipe over in my hand I read the nomenclature stamped on the underside of the shank – STANWELL (barely visible in the blasted briar) [over] ROUGE 109 [over] MADE IN DENMARK. The hefty sand blasted stummel received my initial attention, and then the vulcanite shank extension I had not seen too often. I laughed after the seller gave me his opening volley. At the end of the day, both Stephen and I were happy. The deal struck for the Stanwell Rouge was very satisfactory given that the hole in the bottom of the pipe just would not go away no matter what the seller said. As we headed to the Metro Subway, Stephen proposed that he become the next steward of the Stanwell after I tackled the burn through. So, some time later, Stephen emailed me from Alabama, saying he was still interested in the Stanwell. Now on my worktable here in Sofia, Bulgaria, the time has come to recommission him. Here are the pictures from my worktable. I recalled that Steve had posted a blog by Bas Stevens, who, according to Steve, was one of the foremost authorities on Stanwell pipes (See: LINK HERE). Bas Steven’s extensive list of Stanwell shape numbers and designers also included this Rouge’s shape 109, which is described as: 109. Flat, ball-shaped bowl, slightly bent, full mouthpiece.

I did searches on Rouge and I could not find a Stanwell listing for only ‘Rouge’ but ‘Royal Rouge’ was evident. This BollitoPipe.it listing has for sale, a ‘Royal Rouge’ 109 which is a smooth version described with information that matches the ‘Rouge’ in dimension with the difference of the briar shank compared to the vulcanite extension on my Rouge. Pipedia’s site links to Stanwell catalogues shows this 2008 9mm catalogue listing the 109 shape (2^nd down on left) with others. Rouge simply means ‘Red’ in French which is a good description of what the Rouge’s sand blasted stummel formerly revealed, as the ‘Royal Rouge’ exemplifies above. The Danish pipe company, Stanwell, according to Pipedia’s article closed its doors in 2009 ending an interesting chapter of pipe history as the only remaining pipe manufacturer in Scandinavia. The ‘Stanwell’ name moved to Italy where pipes were produced bearing the name since 2010. The ‘Made in Denmark’ on the Rouge indicates that it was produce pre-2010 before the closing. With a better appreciation for the Stanwell Rouge 109 before me, the first thing I do in his recommissioning is to put the stem in an OxiClean bath after putting petroleum jelly on the Stanwell Crown stamping to protect it. Before I tackle the repair of the burn-through the stummel’s heel, I like working on clean pipes because it helps with the assessment of needs. I start by carefully reaming the bowl to remove the light carbon build up. I say, “careful” because the floor of the fire chamber is dangerously thin. The last thing I want is the floor to drop through! For the gentle approach, I use the Savinelli Pipe Knife and work the sides of the chamber without reaching too deeply. Next, I take 240 grit paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen and sand the chamber ridding it of more carbon and exposing fresh briar. Finally, I wipe the chamber out with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol. Using undiluted Murphy’s Oil soap, a cotton pad and a bristled tooth brush, I scrub the exterior of the sand blasted bowl working the brush well into the surface as well as the rim (pictured below) before starting the cleaning. The surface had a good bit of grime. The good news is the rim is in good shape – it still shows the blasted sculpting over it, though it is darkened. Now to the internals of the stummel – using pipe cleaners and cotton swabs and isopropyl 95%, I clean the internals. Oh my. This old boy I believe was like the old proverbial horse saying, ‘he’s been road hard and put up wet’! There was no end to the gunk in the mortise. I scraped it with straight edge files and small screw drivers, and with scads of cotton swabs – the effort was immense to clean the internals. After some time, things would start to look up, I would scrape a bit more and it was like I was starting over. Yet thankfully, eventually the tide turned. The picture shows the aftermath.The stem has been soaking in the OxiClean bath and I take it out to reveal the raised oxidation on the stem. The petroleum jelly is still intact covering the Stanwell stem Crown stamping, protecting it from the OxiClean process. I start by putting a disk between the stem and the shank to protect the stem from shouldering as I wet sand with 600 grade sanding paper to remove the raised oxidation. Then, I had one of those ‘Duh!’ moments – the shank extension on the stummel is also vulcanite with a white acrylic divider. Removing the disk, I treat the two together. First, with the shank extension, I lightly use 240 grit sanding paper around the extension because it did not have the benefit of the OxiClean bath. I do this to loosen the oxidation. Then, with the shank and stem united I wet sand using the 600 grade paper, careful to protect the stem Crown stamping. With this completed, I look to the bit area with minor tooth chatter. Using 240 grit paper I sand the chatter out, following with 600 grit again, then finish off this phase of the stem’s polishing using 0000 grade steel wool over the entire shank and stem. To try to remove any oxidation in the Stanwell Crown stem stamp, I use a MagicEraser sponge to apply a non-abrasive cleaner. The pictures show the progress with the stem. With the stem completed up to the micromesh phase, I put it aside to focus on the stummel repairs. I have been developing the plan since I first saw this incredibly desirable and redeemable Stanwell Rouge beckoning on the table in the Antique Market. There are two main steps in the burn through repair. The first is to patch the external presentation of the stummel using a putty created from CA glue and briar dust. This patch will fill the hole leaving an external mound for eventual sanding and shaping aiming at blending with the sand blasted finish. When the Briar Dust Putty is applied from the external side, there also will form an internal mounding as the putty presses through the hole. This is good and desired. This internal mound will form the primary internal encasing of the burn through area, which is extremely thin and therefore weakened. This internal covering of Briar Putty will form the hole fill as well as the initial reinforcement of the chamber floor. The second step is to augment this initial reinforcement internally by using JB Weld. I first saw the use of this from Charles Lemon on Dad’s Pipes. I will mix a batch of JB Weld and apply it on top of the patch area and rebuild and level the floor of the fire chamber, bringing the new floor almost up to the draft hole. That is the theoretical plan – of course, the best laid plans are often…. You know the story 😊!

I begin by taking another close picture of the external hole area as well as the floor of the chamber, with a pipe cleaner inserted to mark the gap the new floor will need to fill. This marks the starting point. The second picture below does not reveal the depth, but I estimate a good, 3 to 4 mm between the hole and the draft hole level. I clean the stummel external surface with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol. The pictures show the prep. Using an index card, I mix briar dust and Hot Stuff Special ‘T’ CA Instant Glue (thicker) with a toothpick to form a putty. I’m shooting for the thickness of molasses so that the putty will not run and spread but stay where I apply it. When the putty reaches the viscosity I desire, I apply the putty to the hole pressing it through until I achieve sufficient mounding on the inside. As I press the putty through with the toothpick, the putty spreads out a bit more than I desire. I use an accelerator on the inside and outside to cure the putty more rapidly. I take pictures to mark the completion of step one. It will be tricky filing and sanding on the sand blasted surface, but not impossible with patience. As I reflect further, a different approach that may have lessened the mounding on the external side would have been to apply the putty internally and pushed it through…. The approaches for smooth briar and blasted briar may not be the same! Next time. I’m back to the worktable after a day’s work and unfortunately, in the back of my mind the application of briar dust putty to the external surface as I did yesterday, has blossomed in my mind into a colossal blunder! In my mind, I picture the way I should have done it and it was perfect – in my mind! But, I have a salvage plan coming together, also in my mind and my hope is that my blunder might spare others from the same fate 😊.

Before I work on the salvage plan coming together in my mind, I will complete the floor build-up using JB Weld. One of the difficulties that I’ve thought about is a delivery system – how to get the JB Weld mixture to the chamber floor where it’s needed and not smeared on chamber walls trying to place it. I’ve come up with plan of using a plastic bottle nozzle as the delivery system – load the mixture in the nozzle and force it down with a dowel rod and cotton swab. It looks like it should work. I also insert a pipe cleaner into the airway to protect the draft hole from being clogged by the JB Weld. It also helps me know where the floor should be. The mixture sets up in about 4 minutes after the Hardener and Steel are combined. Thankfully, everything works as hoped. I take pictures through the process. Regarding the external surface patch mound, I realize that with a sandblasted surface it will be very difficult to remove the entire patch mound by filing and sanding as is the method with smooth briar. This will damage the blasted briar surface. After doing research on the internet, I discover that acetone dissolves CA glue. Acetone is the primary active ingredient in nail polish removers. What I’m hoping is a salvage plan; I begin by filing the patch mound down as far as possible without impacting the surface briar terrain. I then apply acetone to the remaining patch mound with a cotton swab to dissolve the surface overflow of the patch. I work the briar dust patch with the cotton swab and gradually the surface patch begins to loosen and dissolve. I’m encouraged. I continue patiently, allowing the acetone to set its own pace. The putty patch dissolves toward the center and leaves ridges which I scrape with my fingernail. At the end of the process, I am relieved – it works. Not only did it work, but the blending is incredible! I cannot see where the hole was without very close scrutiny. The blunder becomes a teachable moment and a bit more experience for future restorations! The pictures tell the story and I’m thankful a disaster was averted with this Stanwell. The next day, after several hours of curing for the JB Weld, I look at the new rebuilt floor of the chamber. I rub my finger over it and it, as expected, is flat. I want to introduce a slightly bowled chamber bottom. To do this I employ the round grinding stone attachment which I mount on the Dremel. I will remove just enough of the JB Weld floor to create this bowl. With the speed at 40%, I start in the center with a circular motion creating the initial rounding. I gradually expand it outwardly by moving it in circular motions. This works well. Afterwards, I use 240 grit paper to sand it more and wipe the bowl out with a cotton pad and alcohol to clean the chamber. Done. Later, near the end of the project, I will coat the chamber with a mixture of activated charcoal dust and sour cream that will form a hard base for forming a new cake for the bowl. Bowl repair officially complete. Yes! Before I address the Rouge’s stummel finish, I continue the sanding and finishing of the vulcanite shank extension so it doesn’t get in the way. I reattach the stem and beginning with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400, I wet sand the extension and stem and then apply Obsidian Oil to the vulcanite. At this point I realize that I have forgotten to clean the internals of the stem (again!). Before moving on, I clean the airway and the 9mm filter bay – which really needed some cleaning. With a ‘proof of cleaning’ picture taken, I follow by dry sanding the extension and stem with pads 3200 to 4000, then 6000 to 12000. After each set of three, I apply Obsidian Oil to the stem and extension to revitalize the vulcanite. While sanding, I notice that the stem is a bit loose in the mortise extension. I will look at this later. The stem and extension look good! Turning now to the Stanwell Rouge’s stummel, and it is evident that the historic color of this stout, blasted ball shape was in keeping with its namesake – red. My sense is a deeper burgundy tone would fit well. My plan is to use 2 parts Fiebing’s Oxblood Leather Dye with 1 part of Fiebing’s Black Leather Dye. I want it on the darker side. Let’s see what happens! Taking a close look at the stummel, I probe around with the sharp dental tool and see that there’s bits of dust and residues in the crevices of the blasted texture of the briar. I use a cotton pad and alcohol to clean the stummel, and I use a bristled brush as well to dislodge debris. I then tightly wrap masking tape around the vulcanite extension so that the dye does not possibly impact it – in a note from Steve, he said that some vulcanite will absorb the stains, others not…. Better to be on the safe side. I mix the dyes in a shot glass using a large dropper at 2 to 1, insert a cork in the shank as my handle – and then realize later that the shank extension works just fine as a handle. I take a picture of the set-up. I then warm the stummel with a hot air gun and then apply the 2 to 1 dye mixture to the stummel with a folded pipe cleaner. I work the dye into the crevices – I want good coverage. I then ‘fire’ the aniline dye and the alcohol immediately burns off and sets the dye pigment in the briar. After a few minutes, I repeat the process and set the stummel aside to rest. With the stummel now resting, I want to freshen the Stanwell Crown stamp on the stem. Using white acrylic paint, I dab a bit of paint over the Crown with a tooth pick. After the paint sets well, I scrape the excess off gently with the flat edge of a toothpick which goes over the stamp patterns leaving color in the stamp. It looks good. I had noted that the stem was a bit loose when seated in the mortise. As I slowly insert the stem into the mortise extension, it is properly snug until the very end – at home station. The tightness is generated by the white acrylic divider garnishing the end of the extension. This lets me know that the tenon has thinned only at the base – where it ties in to the stem. I use Special ‘T’ CA glue and a manicure brush and paint a line around the circumference of the tenon base. We’ll see if this tightens the stem a bit after the CA glue cures. After several hours, I’m anxious to unwrap the fire crusted stummel. With the surface being sand blasted, I use a softer cotton cloth buffing wheel on the Dremel instead of the felt wheel, that I use with smooth briar pipes. The softer cotton wheel better navigates the textured blasted surface. With the speed at 20%, I utilize Tripoli compound to remove the crusting and to begin the buffing process. After a short time, I decide to up the speed to 40% and this works better with the cotton wheel. I take a picture to show the unwrapping. After completing with the Tripoli, I wipe the bowl down with a cotton pad and alcohol to blend the dye better. Then, loading another cotton cloth wheel, I apply Blue Diamond compound to the stummel. I am liking the very, very subtle oxblood reds tucked away in the contours of the 3-D grain of the sand blasted surface. This was exactly the classic, smoking jacket effect I was aiming for. I press on and after changing to another cotton cloth wheel, I apply carnauba wax to the stummel, shank extension and stem. One last project. I use a mixture of sour cream (or plain yogurt may be used) and activated charcoal powder to apply to the fire chamber wall. When this mixture hardens, it provides a good foundation for a new carbon cake to grow – but the new steward needs to be gentle with this after the first few bowls, not scraping the chamber but simply using a folded over bristled pipe cleaner to rub the sides. This will remove the needed leftovers but protect the walls. Over time, a cake grows and life as usual! After mixing the sour cream and charcoal powder to a non-running thickness (like mayonnaise), and inserting a pipe cleaner through the draft hole, using a pipe nail tool, I scoop the mixture into the bowl and spread it over the surface. After spreading, I see that there is too much here and there as the mix thickened. I would scoop a little out and spread again. After it starts to dry, it is thicker. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for it to set totally. I let it set for at least 24 hours before smoking the pipe. The pictures show the progress.After the sour cream/charcoal powder mixture dries, I check the fit of the stem and shank extension after applying CA glue to tighten the fit. The patch is too thick so I sand it down using 600 grade sanding paper until the stem slides into the mortise. I fine tune the cleaning of the tenon and apply some Obsidian Oil to it. I complete the restoration with a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to bring out the striking shine of this Stanwell Rouge.

I thought I was facing disaster with the burn through repair when I mounded briar dust putty on the external surface with no way of removing it without damaging the sand blasted briar grain. Yet, I was bailed out by acetone. Now, as I look at this Stanwell Rouge, I can’t believe I could see daylight through it and that most people would pass it by as a loss. I’m glad to have restored it for his new steward. I’m pleased with the subtle red – burgundy tones in the finish. The hefty Ball shape is a distinctive presence in the palm and the sand blasted grain stands out well. This Stanwell Rouge 109, Made in Denmark, is ready to go. All my restorations benefit the work we do here in Bulgaria with the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. Check out my blog, The Pipe Steward for more information about this, why I do what I do and other pipes I have for sale in the store! Thanks for joining me!

Bringing a Stanwell Jubilee Sixten Ivarsson Design 10M back to life

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe in the lot that my brother brought back from the recent estate sale was a beautiful little Stanwell Acorn with a vulcanite shank extension. The pipe had some nice birdseye on the left side of the bowl and shank and a mix of grain around the rest of the bowl. The point at the bottom of the bowl has a ring of grain with a centre at the bottom and turning around the bowl up the front and back of the underside of the shank. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank Stanwell over Regd. No. (an illegible number) over Jubilee. On the right side it is stamped 10M which is the shape number. The shape is a design by Sixten Ivarsson that was done for Stanwell. It has a military mount stem. The Stanwell Crown S in on the shank extension rather than on the stem. The photos that follow are one that Jeff took of the pipe before he cleaned up to send to me.Jeff took close up photos of the rim and the bowl to show the condition. There was a light cake in the bowl with an overflow of lava on the crowned rim top. The next two photos show the grain on the sides of the bowl. The third photo shows the ring at the bottom of the bowl radiating up the bowl sides. It is a beautifully grain piece of briar that the shape fits very well. The next two photos show the stamping on the sides of the shank. The left side shows the Stanwell stamp clearly as well as the Jubilee stamp. It also shows the Crown S on the shank extension. There is a Regd. No. that is very faint and unreadable.The stem had the now familiar tooth chatter and marks the top and underside near the stem. The dents/marks on the underside were worse than those on the top side.My brother cleaned up the pipe as he usually does before he sends it to me. He did an amazing job cleaning up the interior and the exterior. When the pipe arrived in Vancouver it was absolutely clean on the inside. He had cleaned out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until it was spotless. He had scrubbed exterior with Murphy’s Oil Soap and removed all of the grime on the bowl sides and the lava build up on the rim. I took the next four photos to show what the pipe looked like when it arrived here. The finish looked really good. The shank extension and stem were lightly oxidized. I took a close up photo of the rim to show how well it cleaned up. There was some darkening on the rim top. The grain really stood out well on the crowned rim. The inner edge of the rim was in excellent condition.I took some photos of the stem top and underside to show the oxidation and the tooth chatter and marks on the surface near the button.I sanded the shank extension with micromesh sanding pads to remove the oxidation. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12000 grit pads. I buffed the shank extension and the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish the vulcanite. I use an acrylic paint to fill in the Crown S on the left side of the shank extension. Once the paint dried I buffed it off with Blue Diamond to remove the excess paint and leave some in the stamped impression in the vulcanite. There is still some oxidation in the vulcanite of the extension that needed to be polished out but the buffing would take care of that. The photos tell the story.I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation on the surface. I followed that by sanding with 320 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches. I polished the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. I dry sanded it with 3200-12000 grit pads and gave it a rub down with Obsidian Oil after each pad. I buffed it with Blue Diamond between the 2400 and 3200 grit pads and between the 4000 and the 6000 grit pads. I gave it a final buff after the 12000 grit pad and gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to dry. I put the stem back in the shank extension and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. I buffed it until the remaining scratches and oxidation were gone. The grain really began to stand out as I buffed the pipe. I gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect the briar and the vulcanite. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautifully grained pipe that is laid out well with the piece of briar. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside bowl diameter: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inches. It is a pipe that I would normally hang on to for my own collection but I have a similar one already so I am going to put it on the rebornpipes store. It is available to anyone who wants to add it to their collection, their pipe rack. Just let me know if you are interested. Email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a private message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

A Very Tired, Very Dirty Stanwell Bent Volcano with a cracked bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes when I take in pipes for repair and restoration I am pretty stunned by the condition. This one obviously was an old favourite of the pipesmoker who brought it to me with 8 others in need of some TLC. I sat with him in my living room and went over the repair list of what needed to be done to bring it back to life. It had been restemmed before and the stem was good and heavy so it did not need to be replaced. There were tooth marks near the button on both sides of the stem. It had some deep oxidation that needed attention. Sometime in its life it had been buffed to the point that the stamping was all but gone on the underside of the shank. With a lens I could read Stanwell over Made in Denmark but all but one number of the shape number (1) was buffed away. The finish was sticky to touch from all the waxes and oils on the bowl. The sand blast was pretty worn away and now was shallow. The angled, tapered bowl had a thick cake and it had been reamed into almost an hour-glass shape. The rim top had an overflow of the tars on it and the blast was smooth. There was some damage on the front of the bowl from knocking the pipe out on something hard. There was a small crack on the left side of the bowl from the rim down about a 1/8 of an inch that would need to be repaired. From memory I knew that the bowl was drilled to follow the angle of the exterior of the bowl.When I turned the bowl over the bottom side was covered with cracks. There were four cracks of various sizes that did not go into the interior but rather sat on the surface of heel. They were all different in terms of depth and tended to follow the blast and cut across the ring grain. They were filled with grime and wax. The bottom of the bowl was a real mess.I took a close up photo of the rim to show the damage that had been done to it by reaming it with a knife rather than with a reamer. The cake was sticky and soft and what appeared to be an hourglass shape actually was not it followed the angled bowl walls. I was concerned that the inside of the bowl would also have cracks once the cake was removed. I recommended that we remove entire cake to assess the interior of the bowl. I also took a close up photo of the heel of the bowl to show the cracks.The stem was a replacement that was thick and well made. The fit against the shank was not too bad and there was little gap between the two parts. The stem was oxidized and there was come calcium build up on the first inch on both sides. There were tooth marks and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.The shank end shows how thick the buildup was inside of the shank. The tars and oils overflow the shank and show up on the end and walls. There were also two small holes drilled to the left and right of the mortise.I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer using the largest cutting head. Notice the angle of the cutting head as it shows the angle of the drilling of the bowl. I cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall reaming knife. I sanded the bowl with 180 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The third photo below shows the bowl after it has been sanded. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and the finish. The grime and oils came off the walls of the bowl and bowl sides and bottom to prepare the bowl for the repairs to the cracks. I drilled each end of all of the cracks with a microdrill bit on a Dremel. There were about 9 holes in the bottom of the bowl and two on the left side at the end of the shank.I put clear super glue into the cracks and pressed it down with a dental pick. I pressed briar dust into the glue and then put more dust in the glue and then more glue on top of the repair to seal it.I used a dental burr on the Dremel to rusticated the repaired areas on the bottom of the bowl and side to match them to the sand blast finish. I knocked off the rough areas of the rustication with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it into the surrounding finish. The photos show the progress of this process. With the exterior cracks repaired and sealed I turned to work on the internals. The airway in the shank and the mortise was absolutely a mess. I used the drill bit from the KleenReem pipe reamer to clean out the airway into the bowl from the mortise. It was almost closed off with the tars and oils. I turned the bit into the airway until it was smooth. I used a dental spatula to scrape out the inside of the mortise. The scraped tars and oils can be seen in the photos below.There were two small drilled holes in the end of the shank on both sides of the mortise. I filled them in with super glue and briar dust. I cleaned out the inside the mortise and shank with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until they came out clean.The bowl smelled strongly of old tobacco and there were oils in the briar walls. I wanted to remove that smell as much as possible. I stuffed two cotton balls into the bowl, set it in the ice cube tray and used an ear syringe to fill it with alcohol. I left it standing overnight while it pulled the oils out of the briar bowl. In the morning the cotton was stained a yellow brown.I recleaned the mortise and airways after it had soaked using alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners.I stained the repaired areas on the bowl with a dark brown stain. I used a black Sharpie Pen to fill in some of the grooves in the briar and then restained it. I flamed it with a lighter to set the stain.I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to raise a shine on the bowl. The photos below show the repaired areas and the blending into the surrounding briar. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I cleaned out the slot with a dental pick and pulled a lot of built up tars from there. I used a sharp knife to bevel the end of the tenon to open the air flow to the slot. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to break up the oxidation and to also remove the tooth chatter and some of the tooth marks. Some of them were too deep and they would need to be repaired later. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with alcohol and cotton swabs to remove the buildup in the airway. The slot was very narrow and it was hard to push pipe cleaners through the airway. I decided to open up the slot with needle files to facilitate easier cleaning with pipe cleaners. I did not want to change the shape of the slot, but merely wanted to make it wider and tapered smoothly into the airway. I used both large and small round, oval and flattened oval files to shape the slot. Once I had it large enough for a pipe cleaner to pass through easily I folded a piece of sandpaper and sanded the inside of the slot. I sanded the stem around the button with 220 grit sandpaper and filled in the remaining tooth marks with black super glue. I set the stem aside to dry overnight. In the morning I sanded the stem with more 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the repairs and blend them into the surface of the stem. I also reshaped the button and smoothed out the repairs I had made there. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil on a cloth to have a better look at where things were at. I noticed a small bubble in the patch on the underside of the stem once I had cleaned it so I put another drop of black superglue on it to fill it in. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the final set of pads I set the stem aside and let the oil dry. I mixed up a batch of pipe mud – water and cigar ash – and applied it to the inside of the bowl to provide protection to the bare walls while a new cake is formed. When it dried I put the stem on the bowl and buffed it with Blue Diamond polish on the buffing wheel. Blue Diamond is a plastic polish that comes in a block. I load the buffing pad with it and polish the stem and the bowl. I use a light touch on the bowl so that I don’t load up the grooves and crevices with the polish. I gave the stem and bowl multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine to the finish. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The repairs on the bottom of the bowl blended in very well and those on the stem did also. This is the first of nine pipes that I am repairing for a guy who dropped them off at the house. It is ready for more years of service. Thanks for looking.

A Gold Banded Stanwell Copenhagen Calabash

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is a striking Stanwell Calabash pipe with sandblasted body and smooth capped rim. The sandblast has exposed some wonderful ring grain around the bowl. The smooth wide rim typical of the calabash shape is wonderful birds-eye grain. The brass collar ring contrasts nicely with the dark stain of the sandblast shank. The gold crown S logo on the left side of the saddle stem combines with the other parts of the pipe to give this one a classic look. My brother Jeff found this Stanwell in an antique shop in Astoria, Oregon. It was on consignment by a widow who was selling her pipe collector husband’s collection. He bought a few of the pipes from her consignment and this is the second one that I have worked on. The first one was also a Stanwell – it was a shape 180 that was designed by Tom Eltang that I wrote about in an earlier blog (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/14/a-shape-you-gotta-love-a-stanwell-majestic-180/).The finish on the sandblast portion was in great shape – just dirty with grit and grime. The rim cap however was another story. It had the overflow onto the top of the thick cake that was in the bowl. There was also some darkening of the inner edge of the rim. The brass band and the brass crown S logo on the stem were also dull and lifeless due to tarnishing. The stem was oxidized and had a buildup of calcification on both sides near the button. There were tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem and on the button. The slot in the button was nearly closed off with a thick tar.My brother took two close up photos of the rim cap to show the condition of the inside of the bowl and the cap itself. There was a thick coat of tars and oils that is visible flowing over the back side of the cap. There were also several dings and dents in the cape itself though there was some nice birds-eye grain showing through the grime.He also took a photo of the bowl bottom side up. The lovely bell shape of the pipe is visible from this view from the front.The side view of the band and the shank/stem union shows that the connection is tight and clean. There is nothing wrong that a little polishing on the band and some elbow grease to remove the oxidation on the stem won’t take care of. The second photo below shows the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is very sharp and readable. It has the Stanwell stamp over Copenhagen over Calabash in script (it appears to have been double stamped). Beneath that it reads Made in Denmark (it is upside down in orientation to the rest of the stamping).The next photos show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks on the stem itself and the damage marks against the button on both sides. The calcification on the stem may have come for a Softee bit that the original owner had on the stem to protect it from more bite marks.My brother Jeff again did a magnificent job cleaning up the pipe. He was able to get the grim out of the grooves and the majority of the buildup off the rim. He reamed and cleaned the interior of the pipe and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I took the following photos to show the condition of the pipe when I received. It was on its way to being clean. I took a close up photo of the rim to show how much of the tars and oils he removed. It is pretty clean. There was some darkening on the inner edge of the rim on the back side that would need to be dealt with.He also removed much of the calcification on the stem and some of the debris on the surface of both sides. The photos also show the tooth marks and chatter that was on the stem.I sanded the stem to remove the rest of the debris and calcification and then wiped the stem down with alcohol on a cotton pad. I cleaned out the tooth marks with cotton swabs and alcohol and then filled them in with black super glue. I set the stem aside to let the repairs dry.I sanded the inner edge of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening and then worked over the rim with 1500-1800 micromesh sanding pads to clean up the inner edge and begin polishing the rim cap. You can see the grain on the cap begin to pop and reveal the beautiful birds-eye grain.When the glue had cured I sanded the patches smooth, blending them in with the surface of the stem using 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the entire stem to work on more of the oxidation that was present on the surface. The photos below tell the story of the repairs and sanding to this point in the process.I polished the bowl rim with 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads and gave the sandblast bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed it with the shoe brush to raise the shine. The photos below show the bowl at this point. I touched up the stain on the rim with a dark brown stain pen. I buffed it with a microfibre cloth and then polished it with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit pads to polish and raise a shine. I probably should have done this earlier in the process but my brother has been doing such a good job in his cleaning that I honestly forgot. I decided to give the internals of the stem and the mortise and shank a quick cleanup with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-15000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. I gave it the last coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel avoiding the sandblast portions of the bowl. I did not want to get the polishing compound in the grooves of the sandblast. It would be hard to get out of the grooves. I gave the sandblast portion several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush. I gave the stem and rim several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the entire pipe a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It has come a long way from the pipe I started on in the first photos above. It is a classic looking calabash pipe with a great contrast between the smooth briar, the sandblast briar, the gold band and the vulcanite stem. (The brass is so shiny now that it is hard to get the vulcanite not to reflect the brass colour. In person the oxidation is gone and the stem is shiny black.) Thanks for walking through the process with me.

A Shape You Gotta Love – A Stanwell Majestic 180

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Blog by Steve Laug

There are certain shapes that Stanwell just nails – they get them absolutely perfect. There is nothing that could be done to make the shape even more stunning than it is. The shape 180 is one of those shapes for me. It is a Dublinesque freehand with a conical bowl, an oval shank and stem that has a short saddle before flowing into the blade. According to a chart by the late Bas Stevens this shape was designed by Tom Eltang (https://rebornpipes.com/tag/shape-numbers-and-designers-of-stanwell-pipes/). It has the appearance of some of the Eltang’s that I have seen. In a write up for a Stanwell 180 sandblast pipe on smokingpipes.com Adam Davidson says this about the shape: “I would bet that this Stanwell shape was designed by Tom Eltang, who has designed quite a few for the company over the years.” So having known Bas Stevens personally I can confirm that it is definitively an Eltang designed pipe. (https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/estate/denmark/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=101503)

My brother Jeff found this Stanwell in an antique shop in Astoria, Oregon. It was on consignment by a widow who was selling her pipe collector husband’s collection. He bought a few of the pipes from her consignment and this is the first I have worked on. He took the following photos of the pipe to show what it looked like when he found it. It was truly a mess but looking beneath the grime he had found a gem that only needed some TLC. The grain on this pipe is truly stunning and the lay out of the pipe follows the grain amazingly well. He took some close up photos of the rim and the underside of the bowl to show what it looked like up close. The rim was pretty tarred with overflow from the cake in the bowl. The bowl had a cake but obviously it had been trimmed back somewhere along the way. The pipe smelled strongly of aromatic vanilla tobacco and would take some serious cleaning to bring the briar back to neutral.The cross grain on the underside of the bowl is quite stunning. It would only stand out more once the pipe was cleaned and polished.The stamping on the pipe was on the underside of the shank near the stem and was sharp and clear. It reads Stanwell over Made in Denmark over the script of Majestic. Further up the shank toward the bowl it was stamped with the 180 shape number.The stem was oxidized and had tooth chatter on both sides. It seemed to have some calcification around the button. None of the marks looked to deep so it had some promise. The Crown S Stanwell logo on the topside of the small saddle portion of the stem was in excellent condition.My brother reamed the bowl and cleaned the internals of the shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe and stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap and was able to remove the build up on the rim and also on the stem. The finish was in very good shape under the grime on the bowl. There appeared to be a dark spot on the left side of the bowl. The next four photos show the condition of the pipe when I received it from my brother. He was able remove the build up and calcification on the stem. You can see from the photos below that other than oxidation the stem was very clean.I worked on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and reshape the button edges. It did not take too much work to get the oxidation that was on the surface of the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the third set of pads I gave it another coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I used a dental pick to clean out the slot in the end of the button. There was some build up in that area that had hardened. I ran a pipe cleaner through the stem and used cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the inside of the shank and the airway to the bowl. I polished the exterior of the rim, bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads using 1500-12000 grit pads.I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish the vulcanite and the briar. I gave them both several coats of carnauba wax and buffed with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. You can see from the photos of the left side of the bowl that I was able to remove the darkened spot on upper portion of the bowl. The rich finish and the comfortable shape of the pipe give the Majestic stamping on the shank a well-chosen appellation. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.