Tag Archives: Stem repairs

New Life for a Patent Era Brigham Select Billiard Sitter

Another Black Sea Coast Treasure – An Altinay Lattice Tear Drop Meerschaum

Blog by Dal Stanton

I love pipe picking especially in ‘hole in the wall’ treasure hunts on the Black Sea. My wife and I were on summer holiday enjoying Bulgaria’s Black Sea venues. I discovered this ‘hole in the wall’ antique shop on previous trips to the city of Burgas and on this return, I was not disappointed. I purchased 7 pipes waiting to be adopted after negotiating with Kaloyan, the shop owner. His mother was also there watching over things and she called Kaloyan on her cell phone when I asked about the pipes that I had found displayed. He must have been down the street perhaps at a café taking a break and a smoke because his arrival in a matter of seconds commenced the negotiations for the 7 and a friendship emerged as a byproduct! After taking my phone number he assured me if more treasures came his way that he would call. As my wife and I were leaving, shaking hands with Kaloyan and grandmotherly mom, a look of shocked wonder came over Kaloyan’s face – he told us to wait and he ran back into the shop returning with two other pipes that were not in view that he had almost forgotten. He reemerged with treasures in hand, a Vauen 6294 EX Billiard Saddle Stem (still available to be commissioned in For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! Basket 3) and the Altinay now on my worktable. I was immediately drawn to the exquisite detailed carving of the Altinay, a name I’m very familiar with among Meerschaum pipe carvers in Turkey. The Altinay was petite but the detail amazingly complex and tight. It also had developed some of the valued patina at the shank/bowl junction – the normal area. Added as frosting on the Altinay cake was the original case – each carrier box is hand crafted for each pipe because each pipe is uniquely different being hand-carved. The negotiations commenced for a second time adding the Vauen and Altinay to my growing Black Sea treasure trove.The entire Burgas Black Sea lot made it back to Sofia with us and eventually became available to be commissioned online in virtual “Help Me!” baskets in my For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! collection benefiting the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and girls who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. This is where Jason found the Altinay and a French Leather Clad Longchamp which he commissioned. The Longchamp came out great and now the Altinay awaits attention.I took these pictures of the Altinay Meerschaum on my worktable to get a closer look. The stem has the inlaid Altinay roundel marking its provenance. The carrier box gives additional information: Altinay – Handcarved Block Meerschaum – Turkey. Altinay’s website (https://www.altinaypipes.com/) is a quality presentation of their craftsmanship. The ‘About’ tab on their site gives this information:

ALTINAY TURKISH COMPANY PRODUCING BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED AND HANDMADE MEERSCHAUM PIPES AT OUR OWN MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN ESKISEHIR, TURKEY.

TIME BEGAN FOR ALTINAY IN 1964, WHEN WE EMBARKED ON A JOURNEY TO MAKE BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED PIPES OF EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY. INSPIRED BY A LOVE OF CARVING MASTERPIECE PIPES WE ACHIEVED TO HAVE DISTRIBUTORS IN EACH EUROPEAN COUNTRY, USA, RUSSIA AND CHINA.

AND NOW, OUR PIPES ARE THE MOST POPULAR AND MOST WANTED MEERSCHAUM PIPES WORLDWIDE. WE DESIGN AND HAND CARVE TOP QUALITY PIPES BY USING FINEST QUALITY BLOCK MEERSCHAUM.

EACH PIPE IS DESIGNED TO APPEAL TO THOSE WHO SHARE OUR PASSION FOR – AND APPRECIATION OF – MASTERY BEHIND A BEAUTIFUL MEERSCHAUM PIPE. WE HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SAME SATISFACTION WHEN YOU TRY AN ALTINAY PIPE, AS WE DO IN CREATING ONE.

Another tab offers testimonials which I could add to. I added an Altinay Meerschaum to my personal collection on a trip to Istanbul only last summer. I found my Altinay Dimpled Billiard at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. After looking at literally 100s of Meerschaums in the various shops in the bazaar maze, and all the carvings that characterize the Meerschaum genre, I settled on this classic shaped Altinay. It now reveals the growing patina as the honey brown color expands on what started as a snow-white Meer surface.The Altinay on my worktable is in good shape regarding the condition of the Meerschaum lattice tear drop bowl. It needs cleaning and the rim has lava darkening especially on the aft quadrant. As you would expect with a healthy Meerschaum, there is very little cake build up in the chamber. A Meer pipe needs/wants no cake build up to protect the chamber as with briar bowls. Another unique feature of Meerschaum pipes is that they do not need to rest. They can be reloaded immediately and another bowl of one’s favorite blend can be enjoyed.The acrylic stem shows tooth chatter on the upper and lower bit which should sand out easily.Structurally, the only challenge is the lose 9mm filter tenon pictured below. When I first unlinked the stem and the bowl and the plastic tenon was loose, I wasn’t sure which direction the threaded part of the plastic tenon was supposed to go – was it screwed into the mortise or into the stem? I tested both directions and the only configuration that allowed the stem to seat with the shank was with the threaded part inserted into the mortise. Yet, the threads would not grip anything revealing that the threads had been stripped. For now, I put this issue aside and start on the cleaning of the Altinay Meerschaum. I first clean the acrylic stem airway using pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%. The filter cavity is cleaned using cotton buds.Turning now to the Meer chamber, the carbon build-up is light, but I address it first by carefully scraping the chamber walls with the Savinelli Fitsall tool. Using a reaming kit with blade heads is not a good idea with Meerschaum as the torque required could possibly crack the Meerschaum and that would not be a good thing. The Savinelli tool works well to scrape evenly as well as to reach into the lower contour’s angles with the end of the tool being gently curved. I scrape a little with a Winchester pocketknife and transition to sanding the walls with 240 grade paper wrapped around the Sharpie Pen. After wiping the bowl out with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to remove carbon dust, the following picture shows that the lower chamber remains darkened, but it is clean by the touch and looks good. I move on.The pictures above and below show well the blackened state of the rim resulting from lighting. The condition of the Meerschaum will never again be the snow white that Meerschaums start with emerging from the factory or carver. My desire is to remove as much of the charring from the rim without damaging the ornate carving on the rim. My hope is to soften the contrasting coloring and then later, after applying a bee’s wax treatment, which helps color the Meerschaum toward the sought for patina which increases the value of the pipe. The bee’s wax will help blend the hues in the Meerschaum.I use a cotton pad wetted with alcohol and work on the rim – working to break up the charring.I do a very gentle topping on a sanding sponge to encourage the charring to break up. The medium sanding sponge is a very mild abrasive.The results are good. The charring is removed in large measure.The plastic filter sheath is placed in alcohol to soak to see if it will help clean up the plastic – to lighten it or to lessen the stain. To clean the external Meer lattice surface, I mix a small portion of Murphy’s Oil soap in hot water. It is a very diluted mixture. I want the benefits that the agents that the soap has but I don’t want to saturate the surface with soap. I use a bristled toothbrush to apply the soap water to the bowl and scrub the tear drop windows of the lattice work. The mild soap removes the dirt and grime but does not remove the growing patina on the shank.I damp rinse with a dry cotton pad that draws out the moisture. I set the stummel aside to allow it to fully dry.Shifting to the internals, using pipe cleaners and cotton buds wetted with isopropyl 95%, the internal cavity is clean in short order.The plastic filter sheath was soaking in alcohol and after fishing it out, I clean the internal cavity with cotton buds to remove the leftover gunk as well as to lighten the stained surface. I used needle files on the end of the sheath to smooth it on the external threaded side as well as to open the air hole. The brass bristled brush was also helpful to clean the caked crud in the threads and on the end.Switching now to the stem, the tooth chatter on the upper and lower bit is addressed with 240 sanding paper to erase the chatter. Following the 240 paper, the entire stem is wet sanded with 600 grade paper followed by applying 000 steel wool,Going directly to the micromesh regimen, using pads 1500 to 2400 the stem is wet sanded. Following this, dry sanding continues the process using pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. I like the way the micromesh pads have brought out the glassy pop of the acrylic stem. I’m at the point now, before moving to applying bees wax to the bowl, I want to fix the filter sheath – to reattach it. Several months ago I reached out to the general email address I found on the Altinay website (altinaypipes.com). I wanted to find out more information and I was hopeful that I might get a response. I wrote with this question:

Greetings, I have one of your pipes. The problem is that in the mortise insert that the filter tenon screws into is missing. So, now the tenon does not screw in to hold the stem firmly in place. Do you have replacement tenon systems? It is a 9mm filter tenon. This is a beautiful pipe and I’m hoping to put it back into action. Thank you.

I was surprised to see this response from Said whose last name is ‘Altinay’ arrive so quickly.

Dear Stanton

Of course we have replacement systems but even if you replace it with a new one, it will not be what you want.

While removing the mouthpiece if the pipe still hot, tenon can become stripped. It’s related to shank not tenon.

The method to be applied at this stage is fixing tenon with epoxy or etc.. Can you send me the photos of the pipe?and tenon?

Kind Regards

Said Altınay

I responded with pictures and this note and Said’s helpful reply:

Said,

Thank you so much for your response. Yes, I understand what you are saying. The internal shank insert is stripped – all that remains that I can see is the ‘skin’. I’ve included pictures. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards,

Dal Stanton

Dear Stanton

As I guess, there is no problem at tenon screw. Internal shank is stripped. As I said it needs to be fixed with epoxy or adhesive etc. If you want we can make the maintenance of this pipe….

Kind Regards

Said

I like to record interchanges like this and my appreciation for Said Altinay’s response to my questions. With his information, I was able to confirm that the problem is with the shank and that the threads are stripped. What was especially helpful was what would be his approach to repair – he would use an epoxy glue to reattach the filter holder. I was unclear on this because gluing back into place create a more permanent repair – not like a screw in attachment. So, if the expert whose name is Altinay says he would repair it this way, well… I first start with a test fitting and run a pipe cleaner through to make sure that the path from the insert to the draft hole was in alignment. I had no problem finding the draft hole with the pipe cleaner.After the test fitting, I then apply BSI Maxi-Cure Extra Thick CA glue around the perimeter of the lower plastic filter sheath or tenon. I then carefully insert the tenon and seat it well in the mortise.After the CA glue sets, I rejoin the stem and Meer stummel to look. I like what I see. The stem’s alignment is perfect.Applying bees wax helps to protect the Meerschaum as well as to help cultivate the coloring or the patina. The bees wax is readily available in the outdoor markets here in Bulgaria where honey is sold. I have a mason jar of wax that has already been heated and melted. I use a paint brush, not with synthetic hair which will melt in the heat, to apply the liquefied wax to the stummel.I warm the congealed wax with the hot air gun until it liquefies.After heating the Meer stummel as well with the hot air gun, I use the brush to paint the liquefied bees wax onto the Meer surface. I’m not able to take a picture of the process because I don’t have enough hands! I keep the hot air gun on while on my lap (not burning me) and keep it aimed at the Mason jar on the stool in front of me between my legs. I do the painting over the top of the Mason jar so that I’m not traveling too far with the brush and the hot air continues to keep the wax liquefied and the stummel warm. This helps the wax to absorb into the porous Meerschaum surface and not to congeal in clumps on the surface.After I apply the wax with the brush thoroughly over the surface, including in the tear drop lattice windows, I allow the Meer stummel to cool down and after cooled, I first wipe the surface with a paper towel. I do this to remove the thick areas of the wax sitting on the surface that wasn’t absorbed. I then follow this by buffing the stummel with a microfiber cloth – not pictured. You never know quite how the Meerschaum will receive the bees wax treatment. This Altinay block of Meerschaum darkened a great deal as it soaked in the wax. Nice!After rejoining stem and stummel, I mount the Dremel with a cotton cloth buffing wheel and with the speed set at about 40% full power, Blue Diamond compound is applied to the acrylic stem. After this, after changing to another cotton cloth buffing wheel, a few coats of carnauba wax is applied to the stem at the same Dremel speed. I finish this restoration by giving the pipe a rigorous hand buffing to raise the shine.

The patina that the bees wax treatment teased out of the Meerschaum is an added value to the collectability of this pipe. Altinay is known for the quality of its Meerschaum block. This petite bent Latticed Tear Drop Meerschaum is no exception. The tightly carved intricacy of this classic Meerschaum genre is a great one to add to the collection and the addition of the custom made Altinay case completes the ensemble. Jason has the first opportunity to add this commissioned pipe from The Pipe Steward Store to his Longchamp which benefit the Daughters of Bulgaria. Thanks for joining me!

Refurbishing An Inherited Pete Donegal Rocky # 999 Rhodesian Pipe.

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Having just completed the refurbishing of S & R Rhodesian pipe with a chubby shank, I decided to work on another classic iconic shaped pipe from Peterson’s; a Donegal Rocky # 999. This pipe came to me from a huge lot of inherited pipes that were once loved by my beloved Grandfather. I selected to line up this pipe for restoration as this time around I wanted to add Rhodesian shaped pipes to my rotation and preferably with a small chamber as I am slightly low on my stock of tobacco what with the government banning import of all forms of tobacco!!

The stummel of this pipe has beautiful scraggy rustications and it sure does feel good to run your fingers over the surface of the stummel. There is a patch of smooth briar surface starting at the foot of the bowl and ending half way off the shank end and bears the stampings on this pipe. It is stamped towards the foot end as “DONEGAL” over “ROCKY” over “A PETERSON’S PRODUCT” over “MADE IN THE REPUBLIC” over “OF IRELAND” and finally in the right hand top corner towards the shank end is the shape code “999”. The shank end is adorned with a sterling silver band. The silver band bears a group of three hallmarks marks, each in an escutcheon; the first is a seated Hibernia denoting Dublin Ireland, the second is a harp denoting the silver fineness, and the third is a fancy letter “S” denoting the year. The hallmarks are slightly worn out but discernible under high magnification under bright white light. Further to the left of these hallmarks are three cartouche each bearing, from left to right, letters “K” “&” and “P” over “STERLING” over “SILVER”. Having had the good fortune of researching and working on a few early Peterson’s pipes, I had read that the Donegal Rocky is Peterson’s classic range, primarily the basic entry level pipes from the brand. However, what interested me was the letter denoting the year of production. I forwarded a picture of the hallmarks to my friend and mentor, Steve Laug who promptly confirmed that the letter denotes the year 1960!!

Knowing the fact that the K & P factory sends hundreds of such sterling silver bands to the Dublin essay office for hallmarking that are to be used over a period, still dates this pipe to early 1960s.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
The pipe, as it sits on my work table, is dirty with a thick layer of cake in the chamber while the stummel is covered in dust and grime with a heavily oxidized stem. Here are a few pictures of the pipe before I proceed with a detailed visual inspection of each part of the pipe. The rusticated stummel on this pipe is covered in a thick layer of dust and grime of nearly 58 years of use and uncared storage. The stummel appears dull and lackluster. The rusticated rim top surface is also covered in dust, lava overflow and will need to be cleaned and polished. The rich brown hues of the raised portions of the rustications contrast beautifully with the darker hues of the stummel. The stummel has a very subtle, yet discernible outward flaring rim cap which lends it its classical shape. There is a very strong smell to the cake which, perhaps, may reduce appreciably after the chamber has been cleaned. The chamber has a thick cake, which I have come to expect from all my inherited pipes, with lava overflow on the rusticated rim top surface. The cake is thick enough to prevent my little finger from going in to the chamber. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber will be ascertained once the existing cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The rusticated rim top surface has thick, dried and crumbling overflow of lava. The inner and outer rim edges appear to be in good condition, however, the same will be ascertained once the cake and lava overflow from the chamber and rim top is removed. The mortise is filled with oils and tars and specks of dried ash and tobacco is seen on the walls of the mortise. The sump is filled with dried oils, tars and gunk. Though the draught hole is open, the draw is restricted and should improve further once the shank internals and the mortise is thoroughly cleaned out. The shank face shows some nicks and chips. I shall subsequently take a call on its repairs since this damage does not, in anyway, affect the aesthetics and functionality of the pipe.The sterling silver band at the shank end is, characteristically blackened due to heavy oxidation. The saving grace is that it is intact and undamaged.The fishtailed smooth vulcanite stem is heavily oxidized with hardened calcification in the bite zone. Surprisingly, there are only a few tooth indentations on the button edge and chatter on either surfaces of the stem. The horizontal slot end of the stem is heavily oxidized to a dark brown coloration while the tenon end is covered in dried oils and tars. The tenon end also shows a number of mysterious nicks which do not affect the seating of the tenon in to the mortise and as such will be left as it is. This should be a relatively simple cleaning up job of the stem. THE PROCESS
I began the process of refurbishing this pipe by reaming the chamber with a Castleford reamer tool, using the first, second and third head. Using my fabricated knife; I further took the cake down to the bare briar. With a 150 grit sand paper, the walls of the chamber were rid of all the remnants of the cake, revealing smooth chamber walls. I further wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol to completely remove the residual carbon dust. The inner rim edge is in good condition. I scraped the shank internals with a fabricated tool to remove all the crud that had accumulated along the shank walls and further cleaned it with bristled and regular pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. The sump was cleaned using q-tips wetted with isopropyl alcohol. I also cleaned the sump with rolled paper napkins. A few hours later and after a lot of patience, elbow grease and q-tips, the sump is finally cleaned to a great extent. I shall further draw out all the residual oils, tars and gunk by subjecting the chamber and the shank to a salt and alcohol bath.I continued the cleaning of the chamber and shank internals with a salt and alcohol bath. I use cotton balls which is an at par substitute as I have realized over the years. I draw out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; insert it in to the mortise and through the draught hole in to the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim inner edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire loosed gunk from the sump and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel to dry out naturally. While the chamber was soaking in the salt and alcohol bath, I worked the stem, starting with cleaning the internals of the stem using pipe cleaners with isopropyl alcohol (99.9% pure) and dunking the stem in to “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making its subsequent removal a breeze, while minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I usually dunk stems of 5-7 pipes that are in-line for restoration and this Donegal Rocky #999 is marked in red arrow. I generally allow the stems to soak in this solution overnight for the solution to do its work.Now that the internals of the stummel were cleaned, I scrubbed the external surface of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and hard bristled tooth brush. I deliberately cleaned the rim top surface with a soft bristled brass wire brush to remove the entire lava overflow and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. The light brown hues of the raised rustications contrast beautifully with the rest of the dark stummel. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to briar. I rubbed this balm deep in to the sandblasts with my fingers and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the light brown hues of the raised rustications contrasting with the dark stummel surface. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. As mentioned in the write up on refurbishing S & R, I had worked on the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. I fished out all the stems and cleaned them under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using Scotch Brite pad. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stems with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stems and set them aside for the oil to be absorbed. Unfortunately, I did not click any pictures of these stems at this stage.

This is how the stem of this pipe came out after the stem cleaning described above. Some traces of oxidation are still visible at the base of the button edges on both surfaces which needs to be removed using more invasive methods. A few minor tooth indentations are visible on the top button edge and at the base of the button edge on the lower surface. I painted both surfaces of the stem with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth chatter and bite marks to the surface. This also helps in loosening minor oxidation from the stem surface. I sand the entire stem surface with a folded piece of a 220 grit sand paper to remove the loosened oxidation. I wiped the stem with a cotton swab and Murphy’s oil soap to further remove the oxidation. Even though the most of the tooth indentations have been eliminated by heating the damaged stem portion with the flame of a lighter, one deep indention is seen on upper and lower surface in the bite zone. However, I am happy with the way this stem appears at this stage and also with the deoxidizer solution. I filled the tooth indentation in the button edge on lower and upper stem surface with a mix of activated charcoal and CA superglue and set it aside for the fill to cure. Once the fill had cured sufficiently, with a tightly folded piece of 220 grit sand paper, I sanded down the fill to match with rest of the stem surface. With the same piece of sand paper, I sharpened the button edge on the upper surface.I further sand the stem with 600 and 800 grit sand paper. I wiped the stem with cotton pad dipped in alcohol to remove the resultant dust. I rubbed some extra virgin olive oil in to the stem and set it aside to be absorbed in to stem. I polished the stem with micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I rubbed a little extra virgin olive oil in to the stem at the end of all the micromesh pads. I finish the polishing of the stem by rubbing a small quantity of Paragon wax and giving it a final polish with a soft cotton cloth. The stem is now nice, smooth and shiny. I cleaned the Sterling Silver shank band with a local compound that Abha, my wife, uses to polish her silver and gold jewelry and cutlery. This compound is a very fine powder and is least abrasive with fantastic results. The results were appreciated by Steve during his visit to India. The band is now a nice shining piece of silver and provides a nice contrast to the shining black stem and the dark brown stummel. Unfortunately, I missed out on taking pictures as I was keen to finish this pipe and enjoy a bowl!

To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply a coat of Blue Diamond to the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe is shown below. P.S. – Since the completion of this restoration, I have smoked this pipe and included it in my rotation. Believe you me; this pipe smokes perfect with a nice, smooth draw right to the end. No wonder then that this pipe would have been one of my grandfather’s favorite given the thick cake and calcified stem!! I am really privileged to have had an opportunity to carry forward the trust that my grandfather had posed in his pipes. Thanks for your patience and looking forward to inputs about the write up. Cheers…

This Interesting Soren Hand Carved Freehand Turned Out to be More Work than Expected

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Blog by Steve Laug

On a recent trip that Irene and I took with Jeff and his wife to the Oregon Coast we managed to do some pipe hunting. We found a few interesting pipes. I was in the mood today to work on a couple of them as a break from the restorations I am doing for others. The second of these is a pipe marked Soren over Hand Carved over Copenhagen over Denmark on the underside of the shank. It is a Freehand with a mix of sand blast and smooth finish on the bowl and shank. There is also plateau on the rim top and shank end. The pipe has a pair of fins on the underside of the bowl that allows the pipe to stand on its own. The bowl was a mess with a thick cake and tar overflow filling in the plateau rim top. There was a lot of dust and grim in the sandblast and buildup on the smooth portions. There were some chips missing on the ends of the fins but they did not detract from the unique beauty of the pipe. At first glance the stem was okay though it has some tooth marks and chatter near the button. There was some calcification and heavy oxidation in all of the turnings and smooth parts of the stem. When I removed the stem there was an issue – the tenon was ragged looking and probably half of it was missing. I took this one home as I decided I wanted to work on it. I took photos of the pipe before starting my cleanup work. I took close up photos of the rim top and bowl to show how clean it was. There is some nice cross grain on the rim top. I also took photos of the stem to show their condition. You can see the oxidation and tooth chatter on it but otherwise it is a pretty straight forward cleanup.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see it below and it read as noted above. I looked up the brand on Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-s10.html) and found that the brand was carved by Søren Refbjerg Rasmussen. Pipes that he made for the European market were mostly stamped “Refbjerg” while those made for the US market were stamped “Soren”. Thus I knew that one I was working on was imported into the US market.

With that information I was clear on the maker of the pipe and I turned to work on the pipe itself. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamers using the first three cutting heads to take the cake back to bare briar. I like to have a clear idea of the condition of the inside walls of the bowl before I consider a pipe finished. This one looked very good. I cleaned up the remnants of cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the walls with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a dowel. I scrubbed the briar with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap, a tooth brush and a wire brush to clean out the grime and dust in the grain of the sand blast and in the plateau on the rim top and shank end. I rinsed soap off the bowl with warm running water and dried off the briar with a soft cloth. I cleaned the surface further with Mark Hoover’s Before & After Briar Cleaner – the Extra strength version. I rubbed it into the surface of the briar with a tooth brush and rinsed it off to remove the grime that it had trapped. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the fins. Both sides had small chips in the finish on the end of the fins.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for about 10 minutes. I buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see how well the product works to clean and enliven the briar and as a bonus it protects it as well. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. While I was with Jeff in Oregon I picked up some of the Soft Scrub that he has found very useful in removing oxidation and calcification. I rubbed down the stem with it on a cotton pad. You can see the results on the pads in the photo below.I cleaned out the airway in the shank and stem and the inside of the mortise with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol. It was a dirty pipe. The photo of the bowl came out pretty good but the stem photo is out of focus. You get the idea though on how dirty both were.I cleaned off the surface of the stem, painted it with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and filled in the remaining tooth marks with black super glue. I set the stem aside to let the repair cure overnight. While it cured I mulled over what I was going to do about the short, broken tenon on the stem. I had two options – I could cut off the remaining tenon and replace it or I could replace the stem. I like the fancy stem that was on the pipe so I was more prone to replace the tenon… I would let it sit and make a decision in the morning.When the glue cured and the repair hardened I recut the edge of the button on both sides with a needle file. I gave it more definition and flattened out the repaired areas on the top and underside. I smoothed out top and underside with 180 grit sandpaper.I smoothed out the sanding marks and worked on the oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped the stem down afterwards with a damp cloth. Finally I feel like I am making some progress with the stem.I cleaned the stem with cotton swabs, cotton pads and Soft Scrub to remove more of the oxidation on the surface of the rubber. At this point the stem was looking pretty good.I paused at this point and thought about a third option for the tenon – not a replacement and not a new stem. There was another way that I thought might work. I used a needle file to reshape the broken tenon and take away some of the first disk of the turned stem. The photos below show the stem after I had removed some of the material and bought some more length on the tenon. I still need to smooth out the tenon and flatten the end but the fit is much better in the shank and actually looks better. I cleaned up the tenon and the fit is very good now. All that remains is to polish it.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris. I have to tell you I am not sorry to see this restoration come to an end. Generally it is fun to see the part all come together. This time I was glad that I could move on to work on another pipe! I had seen enough of the many issues that came with this pipe. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It was good to see what the polished bowl looked like with the smooth portions, sandblast portions and the plateau on the rim top and shank end. They contrasted well the polished black vulcanite stem. This Soren Hand Carved in Denmark Freehand is nice looking and feels great in my hand. The pipe has the advantage of being a sitter as well as a Freehand. The fins on the front of the bowl act like legs that hold it upright. It is a very light weight and well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This is a well-traveled pipe – Made in Denmark for an American Market, somehow ending up in Astoria, Oregon in the stall of a seller who bought it at an estate sale and now up to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. While the pipe had a lot of challenges they were fun to work on for the most part! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Replacing a Broken Tenon and Restoring a Kriswill Bernadotte Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is another one of the pipes that came to me from a fellow in Kitchener, Ontario that needed some cleaning and in this case a tenon replacement. He had been referred to me by my local pipe and cigar shop. While I am not currently adding more pipes to my queue of repairs I have made a commitment to the shop to work on pipes for their customers. Generally they have one or two pipes that need a bit of work. This fellow sent me the following email:

It turns out he said he had 17 pipes. That was certainly more than I expected but I communicated that there was a large queue ahead of him and I would have to fit them in as I could. He was fine with whatever time it took. He sent me the following photos of his collection that he wanted restored. The first photo shows his eleven Brigham pipes – all very interesting shapes. The second photo shows the six various pipes in the collection – A Republic Era Peterson’s System 1312 (Canadian Import), A Bjarne Hand Carved Freehand, a Comoy’s Everyman London smooth billiard, a GBD Popular Dublin 12, an English made Kaywoodie Rustica 72B, a Kriswill Bernadotte 60 with a broken tenon. When the box arrived there were two additional pipes included for a total of 19 – a Ropp 803 Deluxe Cherrywood Poker and a Comoy’s Sandblast Everyman Canadian 296. It was a lot of pipes! I have been randomly choosing the next pipe to work on and chose the Kriswill that needed a tenon replacement and general over haul. I have drawn a red box around it in the photo below.Unlike the other pipes that I unwrapped this one needed much more work than the Brighams that I had worked on so far. It was a Kriswill Bernadotte Oval Shank Dublin. It was stamped on the top of the shank Kriswill over Bernadotte over Hand Made Denmark. On the underside of the shank next the shank/stem junction it bears the shape number 60. It had great grain that the shape not only followed but captured. The rim top had a lava overflow from the thick cake in the bowl and some darkening and lava on the beveled inner edge of the rim. It was a dirty pipe but appeared to be in okay condition under the grime. There was some shiny substance in the stamping of the portion that read Hand Made Denmark. As I examined it I saw a small hairline crack in the shank area just below the stamping and into that portion noted above. It appeared to have been glued. I would need to clean that up and re-glue it. The tapered stem was oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter near the button on both sides. There was a classic Kriswill snowflake logo on the top of the stem. The tenon was snapped off cleanly in the shank and was stuck there. I took close up photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl and rim as well as the thick cake and lava overflowing onto the rim top. I also took close up photos of the stem to show its condition as mentioned above. I took a photo of the stamping on the top and underside of the shank to show what I was speaking about above. It is very clear and readable. You can see the shiny substance in the Hand Made Denmark portion of the stamp. I have also drawn an oval around the hairline crack in the shank in the photos below. The repair seems to have left glue in the stamping as the crack is not that long. I also have included a photo of the shape number stamp on the underside of the shank. There was also a hairline crack in the underside of the shank to the right of the shape number.I remembered that Pipephil had a great summary of the brand so I turned to that site and reviewed the history (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k3.html). It was much as I expected but there was a part of the history there that I had not noted before. I have included a screen capture of the section on the site regarding Kriswill pipes.I quote the new information (at least for me) regarding the Bernadotte line. Kriswill is a brand of Kriswork Briar Trading, in Kolding (Denmark) established about 1955. Some of Kriswill pipes were designed by Sigvard Bernadotte, Swedish prince and brother to the late Queen Ingrid of Denmark. He collaborated with his Danish partner Acton Bjørn.

There was a small line at the bottom of the section that said Portrait of Sigvard Bernadotte. I clicked on it and was taken to the second screen capture I have included.From the site and the information on Sigvard Bernadotte I learned that the pipe I had in hand was designed for Kriswill by Sigvard Bernadotte, Swedish prince and brother to the late Queen Ingrid of Denmark. That was new information to me. I have worked on a lot of Kriswill pipes before but never made that connection. But now I knew… a pipe designed by royalty! I would never have guessed that prior to reading this.

Armed with that information I was ready to start on the Bernadotte pipe. I decided to start my work by addressing the broken tenon. I put the bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then pulled the broken tenon from the shank with drywall screw. It was an easy pull. I then cleaned up the glue on the stamping with acetone on a cotton pad. I opened the hairline crack on both sides of the shank and put clear superglue in the crack. I pressed it together and clamped it until it cured. With the crack on both sides I am going to recommend to the pipeman that we put an elegant thin band on the shank. I set the bowl aside to let the repairs cure while I waited to hear from the pipeman regarding possible banding of the pipe. I turned my attention to replacing the tenon. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to flatten the face of the stem and remove the broken bits of vulcanite from the broken tenon.I started drilling out the airway with a bit slightly larger than the existing airway in the stem. I complication was that the airway was not centered in either the broken tenon or the stem at this point. I used a sharp pen knife to funnel the airway and straighten it out before I drilled. I was able to center the airway. I worked my way through three different drill bits to get the airway open enough to receive the new tenon. The next photo shows the threaded tenon before I went to work on it with the Dremel. My issue with this replacement was that the stem tapered quickly and did not allow much room. I used the Dremel and sanding drum to remove the hip on the new tenon and reduce the diameter of the portion going into the stem. I glued it into the stem with thick super glue. In the photo it looks like it is tapered a bit. I cleaned that up with a file so that the flow was smooth and the fit was snug in the airway.Once I made the flow of the tenon straight and smooth I slid it into the repaired shank to have a look. Some fine tuning to do for sure but I like the look of the new fit.I set the stem aside to let the tenon cure. I turned back to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer. The bowl was conical so I started with the small reaming head to take care of the bowl and worked my way up to the third head. I cleaned up the transitions with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and trimmed the cake back so I could examine the walls. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a piece of dowel. I scraped off the lava on the inner beveled rim with the Savinelli Fitsall knife. I worked on the inner beveled edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and clean off the darkening.I scrubbed the bowl with a tooth brush and some of Mark Hoover’s new Briar Cleaning product. He sent me some to experiment with so this was the first test. I tried the Extra Strength version. It worked fairly well. The verdict is still out for me whether it is better than Murphy’s Oil Soap. I rinsed it off with warm water and dried the bowl off with a cotton cloth. I cleaned out the mortise area and airway to the bowl and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol.I wet sanded the rim top and the bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl surface down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the sanding dust. Once I finished the bowl looked good. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed it with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. It really makes the grain stand out on this pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. When I was in the US visiting Jeff and his wife I picked up some Soft Scrub. Jeff swears by this stuff as the first tool to use to remove a lot of the oxidation on the stem. I rubbed it on with a cotton pad and sure enough it removed the oxidation and the calcification build up. It looked a lot better.I cleaned out the marks with alcohol and a cotton swab. I filled them in with clear super glue and set the stem aside to cure. While the repairs to the stem surface were curing I made a call to Neil in Eastern Canada to talk with him about banding the shank on this beautiful little pipe. I have some small brass bands that I can reduce to 1/8 of an inch in height that will allow me to band the pipe and still keep the stamping free and readable. He gave the go ahead so I worked on the band. I found a band that was the right diameter in my collection of bands. I tapped it with a small hammer to make it oval and put it on the shank. I tapped around the shank to smooth out the fit. I tapped the end of the shank to smooth out the small dents. I took it off and used the topping board to reduce the depth of the band to just under 1/8 of an inch. I topped the dented top of the band as well.Once I had it smoothed out and the shape correct for the shank I spread some all-purpose glue on the shank and pressed the band in place on the shank. The band looks great to me and should do the job in binding the cracked shank together.I took photos of the newly banded shank to give and idea of the new look to the pipe. What do you think? I set the bowl aside and returned to the stem. I smoothed out the repairs and sanded out the remaining oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed down the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish and a cotton pad to remove the remnants of oxidation and to blend in the sanding. The stem is starting to show promise at this point in the process. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with a cotton pad to remove the sanding debris. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and buffing it to a shine. I always look forward to this part of the restoration when all the pieces are put back together. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the new brass band on the shank end. The combination of grain and the thin band add some elegance to the pipe when combined with the polished black vulcanite stem. This royalty designed Kriswill Bernadotte 60 Dublin is nice looking and feels great in my hand. The pipe is another light weight that could be clenched and smoked while doing other things as it is very well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This is the fifth of the pipes sent to me from Eastern Canada for restoration. Once again I am looking forward to what the pipeman who sent it thinks of this restoration. Lots more to do in this lot! Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.

Breathing Life into a Patent Era Brigham Executive 632 Billiard

A New Lease on Life for Alex’s Kaywoodie Hand Made Rhodesian

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Alex has been an ongoing source of restoration projects for me for a few years now. I actually have a box of pipes that Alex drops by periodically and adds new pipes for work. It has been fun to see him pick up the restoration hobby himself lately. He leaves the harder ones to me to work on – whether harder in terms of issues or harder in terms of cleaning. I have quite a few of his to work on so I spread them among the others that I am working on. This next pipe is an interesting older Kaywoodie Hand Made Rhodesian with an almost Custom Bilt rustication pattern around the bowl. The difference to me is that this beauty has some stunning grain in the smooth portions and the rustication is less random and more methodically chosen to highlight some of the grain features. The pipe is stamped Hand Made over Kaywoodie on a smooth panel on the left side of the shank. On the right side there is a stamp that reads Imported Briar. It has been in the box for quite a while now so this afternoon I took it to the work table. The finish is a combination of reddish browns and dark brown in the rusticated portions. The contrast is quite beautiful though a little dull as it has not been used or cared for in a long time. The rim top had an inward bevel that had some darkening and burn damage to the inner edge on the front right and back of the bowl. The pipe had been reamed before Alex received it and really was quite clean. The push stem was lightly oxidized and had Kaywoodie white logo with a black cloverleaf making it an older pipe. There were hash marks and tooth marks on both sides of the stem ahead of the button. Overall the pipe was in good condition. I took some photos of the pipe as I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim top. It shows some darkening on the right side of the inward beveled top. The outer edges look good. The photos of the stem show hash marks and tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. They are deep scratches/gouges in the vulcanite that have filled in with calcification. The stem is also quite oxidized.I took photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. You can see that it reads as noted above.I have worked on a few of the Kaywoodie Hand Made over the years and have found in the past that they were listed as Oversize Kaywoodie pipes. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see what information I could gather there on the oversize pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-kaywoodie-2.html#oversizekaywoodie). I have included a screen capture of the information on that site for quick reference. The basic information I gather there was that the pipe had in all probability been noted in the 1947 Kaywoodie Catalogue. It also made it clear that all the Oversize models are stamped Hand Made.I then turned to Pipedia and under the general information did not find much helpful that I did not already know. It is a great read regarding the history of the brand and its development from the older KBB and KB&B brand pipes. However it did have follow up information in the end notes on the page and that took me to a series of Catalogues (1937, 1947 and 1955). The Hand Made line shows up first in the 1947 Catalogue that was included. I read through it and that is where I found some additional information to help me in my quest. Here is a link to the 1947 Catalogue for your reading pleasure (https://pipedia.org/images/6/61/Kaywoodie_1947.pdf). I have included a screen capture of the section in the catalogue about the Oversize Kaywoodies. I have included that below. I have also included two of the Catalogue pages that show the oversize Hand Made pipes. The one I am working on while similar to the Hand Carved Colossus and the Hand Carved John Henry is significantly different. This one is carved with the patterns but has a tapered push stem rather than the typical screw mounted Kaywoodie. This is a beautifully styled and positioned Rhodesian shape has a tapered vulcanite push stem that fits proportionally well. The carved areas or “worm trails” around the bowl are separated by smooth well grained portions of briar that highlight the grain. The combination of brown stains on the finish makes it quite stunning. Now it was time to work on Alex’s pipe. I started the work by addressing the issues with the rim top first. I ran some pipe cleaners through the bowl and stem and it was spotless so I decided to deal with rim top damage. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the beveled rim top to remove the darkening. I sanded the rim top and edges of the bowl with the sandpaper to get rid of the damage. Once I was finished the rim and edges were smooth.I polished the bowl and rim top with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The polishing gave the bowl a rich shine. After polishing the rim it was slightly lighter than the other smooth portions of the bowl. I used a Maple Stain Pen to match the colour of the rest of the bowl and blend the new finished rim into the surrounding pipe.I rubbed it down with Before and After Restoration Balm. It is a product developed by Mark Hoover to clean, enliven and protect briar. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for about 10 minutes and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. You can see the results in the photos below. I set the bowl aside and turned to address the light tooth marks, chatter and gouges on the stem surface. I sanded both the top and underside of the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damages to the vulcanite. Fortunately they were not too deep so they came out fairly quickly. I also did a quick sanding to remove the oxidation on the stem.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with a damp cotton pad to remove the dust. I polished it with Before and After Pipe Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping the stem down with some No Oxy Oil that received from Briarville Pipe Repair to try out and get a sense of its value to me and others. Once I finished I put the stem back on the shank and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond polish briar and vulcanite. I gave the stem a vigorous polish being careful around the white spot. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats of carnauba. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad and hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This Kaywoodie Hand Made is a great piece of pipe history and looks better than when I began the process. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outer Bowl Diameter: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber Diameter: ¾ of an inch. The pipe will soon be heading back to Alex so he can continue to enjoy it. I have told him that if he ever wants to part with it I get the right of first refusal. Thanks for walking with me through the restoration.

Restoring an interesting 1902 LKL Amber Stemmed Cutty

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

If you have followed rebornpipes for long you will know that I am a sucker for older pipes and that if I have restored pipes for you in the past I will definitely be available to you for future restorations. One such example of this is an interesting JW Straight Shank Bulldog that I restored for Ray in Australia in May about a year ago. I have included the link to the write up of the restoration if you are interested: https://rebornpipes.com/2019/05/19/restoring-a-cased-1906-jw-straight-shank-amber-stemmed-bulldog/. Once in a while I get an email from Ray about the old timers that he picks up along the way. Ray seems to pick up some interesting older pipes so I am always glad to hear from him. Not too long ago I received an email from him about an old pipe that he picked up. I have included his email below.

Dear Steve,
I got this pipe and another a few days ago and they both need rescuing. This one is a 1902 Cutty with silver mount by Charles Maxwell Kinnear of Manchester. The issue with this is a humongous chunk of rim is missing on the right, plus 2 “pits” on the right flank. No other issues I can see. The stem fits well.

Best Regards
Ray

He attached some photos of the pipe to his email so I could see what he was speaking about. I have included them below. The photos that he included showed the pipe that he had picked up. It was a cased, amber stemmed Cutty that was marked LKL in an oval on the left side of the shank. The bowl was hardly smoked and the amber stem looked very good. There was some light crazing internally around the airway in the stem. The tenon was perfect. The alignment of the stem on the shank was perfect as well. It was in great shape. The bowl itself was where the issues were. There were some chips out of the bowl on lower, middle and top outer edge as can be seen in the above photos. The lower ones looked like fills that had fallen out of the briar. The one on the rim top and edge was more extensive and actually looked like fills had fallen out of that area as well. The edges were too smooth and the shape too smooth for it to be damage caused by dropping it. Other than these issues it appeared to be a beautiful pipe in a well made case.

Ray put the pipe in the mail and in short order it arrived in Vancouver. I opened the well packed box and was pleased that Ray had carefully packed the pipe for safe shipping. He added and item that I did not expect. He included a folded document that gave me the information that he had found in his research on the brand and silver stamping. I set the papers aside and carefully unwrapped the pipe from the internal box. I was surprised to see a red, leather covered, fitted case for the pipe. There was some light wear on the surface and the edges of the case but it was still in great condition for a pipe of this age. I took photos of the case and pipe before I started my work on it as part of the documentation on the restoration.I opened the case to have a look at the pipe. The inside of the case was in good condition. There was some wear on the lining but it was obvious that the case was designed with this pipe in mind.I took the pipe out of the case and took photos of the pipe from all sides to give an idea of the overall condition of the piece. Ray’s earlier photos had captured the essence of the damage on the rim top and right hand side of the bowl. The briar looks good from the left and underside. The rim top shows a damaged inner edge that is out of round. There is also damage to the surface of the rim on the right side as well. It is almost like a large fill had become dislodged. On the right side of the bowl there were large spots where fills had also come out and left pits on the lower and middle portion of the bowl. The silver looks pretty good. It is worn and tarnished and unreadable as it is. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the missing fill. I also took photos of the stem showing the overall condition of the surfaces on both sides. There appeared to be some crazing around the airway in the stem. There was also some tooth chatter and light tooth marks on the surface near the button that is hard to see in the photos. But overall it looked very good. The stamping on the pipe reads LKL in an oval on the left side of the shank. On the left side of the silver band it reads KLd in an oval with the hallmarks underneath. The KLd and the hallmarks are clearly visible with a lens. They are from left to right – a rampant lion followed by the seal that is used to indicate Chester, England and on the far right is a cursive letter B signifying that the pipe was made in 1902.Ray included the following papers in his package. The first of them is a document entitled Tobacconists Pipe Makers Pipe Mounters Silver Hallmarks. I followed the web address on the bottom of the document to the original page and have included a screen capture. That document has a highlighted portion on the bottom identifying the markings on the silver band on this pipe. It is KLd in an oval which identifies Charles Maxwell Kinnear trading as Kinnear Ltd. – Manchester as the mother company. It further shows that the group worked as Pipe Mounters in Chester starting in 1901. http://www.silvercollection.it/DICTIONARYTOBACCONISTK.html Ray also sent along a paper with the dates for pipes made in Chester that had the hallmarks that this pipe had on the silver. I have included a photo of that below. You can see that he has highlighted the markings for a 1902 pipe.He also cut out that section of the chart, rolled it and inserted it in the bowl.Now I clearly knew when the pipe was made and banded. The KLd stamp on the band was also now a Pipe Mounting Company in Chester. The one thing that was not clear to me yet was who LKL was that had carved the bowl. I checked on Pipedia and Pipephil’s site and neither one had a listing for either the LKL stamp or the KLd stamp on the silver. I took a chance on the stamping that it may well have read KLL since the K was larger than the L’s on either side and did a search for Kinnear pipes. That lead to a link on Pipemagazine’s forums where a fellow quote Jon Guss’ response to a fellow posted a pipe similarly stamped to this one. Here is the link to the full thread (https://pipesmagazine.com/forums/threads/1901-kinnear-restoration.61696/). I have quoted the pertinent part for the pipe I am working on.

…I think a much better candidate is Charles Maxwell Kinnear (b. Edinburgh 1872, d. Liverpool 1939), who’s involvement in the tobacco trade was a) documented, b) encompassing exactly the right time period (all his hallmarks were registered in 1901-1902), and c) at the right place (his hallmarks were registered in Chester). See: http://www.silvercollection.it/DICTIONARYTOBACCONISTK.html.

The Wikipedia entry for Kinnear’s father (a famous architect; see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kinnear) states that his son Charles became a tobacco manufacturer, and this was clearly true for at least 14 years. As a young man in 1891 the census lists him as apprenticed to his maternal uncle, an “american produce merchant”. What exactly that means is unclear. But by 1896 Kinnear pops up in Manchester trading as Leon Marcus & Co, a cigarette and tobacco manufacturer. He bought the business about that time from its founders, Leon Marcus Sogolowitch (1860-1919; a man who was a travelling salesman in the cigar and cigarette business both before and after his brief foray as a manufacturer), and Joseph V Lester. By 1900 Kinnear had relocated to Liverpool and was doing business under his own name as Kinnear Ltd at 49-57 Park Lane West.

About a decade later Kinnear left the tobacco business to enter into partnership in an enterprise called Dorn, Harding & Co, effective January 1, 1911. They were rubber brokers and merchants. This evidently failed since by the end of that same year the partnership was dissolved. What happened to Kinnear over the next 28 years before dying outside Liverpool at the age of 66 in 1939 is unknown to me. – Jon Guss

I think that I have now nailed down the provenance of this pipe as a Kinnear Ltd. made Cutty. Thus linking Kinnear not only to the Chester band but also to the manufacture of the pipe itself. With that done it was time to work on the pipe.

I started with the issues at hand with the pipe – the out of round inner edge of the bowl and the missing fills on the side and rim top. I began by taking a couple of photos of the bowl to show the damage that needed to be addressed.I started my work on the bowl with the out of round inner edge of the rim. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the rim edge. To prepare the top of the rim for the work that needed to be done I lightly topped the surface of the rim to make it clean and smooth. The added benefit was that the out of round edge was also much better between the sanding and the topping. The third photo below shows the cleaned up rim top and inner edge of the bowl. There is some progress on reshaping and repairing this pipe. The rim looked much better at this point in the process. The inner edge looked much better and was round again. Now it was time address the issue of the missing fills. I am pretty convinced that the damage to the rim top and bowl side did not come from a drop or damage but rather was the result of an old putty fill falling out along the way. I have found that in many of the old briar pipes from the early 1900s that I have worked on that the fills will dry out and drop out somewhere along the journey. I decided to rebuild the fills but instead of using putty to use Krazy Glue and briar dust. I put a drop of glue in each damaged fill and press briar dust into the glue. I repeated the process until the holes were filled in. I used this method on both the rim top and the right side of the bowl. The pictures below show the process.I sanded the repaired areas with 220 grit sandpaper once the fill had cured. The first step of the repair was complete. The repairs were smooth with the surface of the surrounding briar. I needed to a lot more sanding and blending but it was getting there.I did some more sanding with 220 grit sandpaper and took some progress photos. I continued to sand the repaired areas with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the areas down with a damp cloth and took the photos.I polished the repaired areas and the rest of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I used a Cherry and a Maple stain pen blended together on the side of the bowl and the rim top to match the colour of the rest of the bowl. Once it had dried I buffed it with a soft cotton cloth.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. It also works well to blend the restained areas of the bowl with the rest of the pipe. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. I am very happy with the way the pipe is looking at this point in the process. While I was hand buffing the bowl I noticed that the silver band was loose on the shank and rotated freely. I removed the band and put some all-purpose glue on the shank and pressed the band into place. I turned it to align the stamping on the band with the stamping on the shank. It set quite quickly and I polished the silver band with a jeweler’s cloth.At this point I wrote Ray an email and sent a few pictures of the current state of the pipe. I asked him a few questions about the next steps in the process. I was also curious about whether he had reamed and cleaned the pipe. I did not want to do that if it had already been done and I was also uncertain about whether he wanted me to refresh the gold in the stamp on the shank. I sent the email and called it a night. In the morning I received this response.

Hi Steve,

The gold foil sound great – I have not seen that before, but I usually don’t bother much with the nomenclature. Perhaps I should.

No, I have not done any cleaning of the pipe at all – sent to you, as received.

It came from Jason… he usually cleans up the pipes, but he is more a conservator than a restorer. William (who sold Jason the pipe)… gives them a buffing before sending them out, but not much more.

My feeling is that the pipe has hardly been smoked. I have not tried cleaning the shaft or stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol, so I am just guessing.

The bowl is already looking really good. I’m afraid I was too afraid to take on the repair of the rim and the chips on the side of the bowl. As for matching the stain/colour – I am colour-blind, so goodness knows what shade the pipe will have ended up with…- Ray

Now I had some direction. I decided to finish my work on the bowl before proceeding to the stem. I used some Rub’n Buff Antique Gold to rework the gold stamping on the shank. I apply it with a tooth pick to work it into the grooves of the stamp. It is an oily product so once it is applied the idea is to “rub” it off with a soft cloth. The photos show the process.Now to back step a bit… It is always easier to do the internal cleaning before the repairs and buffing of the externals but it still had to be done – so I carefully worked on the bowl walls without damaging the inner edge of the rim. I examined the inside of the bowl with a light and I could see what looked like checking on the walls. Looking closer It appeared that there was a light cake in the areas that looked checked. The cake was not even on the walls of the bowl so it had to go! I used a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to scrape of the cake on the bowl walls. I then used a piece of dowel with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around it to smooth out the walls. Viola! The checking was gone and the bowl walls looked very good!I still wanted to clean out the internals of the mortise, shank and airway in the shank and stem. I cleaned mortise and shank with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. Because of the pre-existent crazing in the stem I used water to clean out the inside of the stem. The pipe was quite clean as can be seen in the photos of the pipe cleaners and swabs. I agree with Ray it was indeed either lightly smoked or very well cared for.With the bowl finished it was time to address the tooth chatter and marks on the stem. I sanded them out with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and followed that with a piece of 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. It did not take too much sanding for the surface to be smooth.I polished the sanded areas of the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Polish – Fine and Extra Fine. I finished by buffing the stem with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil. I am happy to see this pipe finished. Later today I will pack it up and send it back to Ray in Australia. It was a fun one to work on – I love old pipes. This one has a lot of character and charm that just got my attention as I am sure it did Ray’s. I put it back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the wheel being careful to not let the wheel snatch it away from me. I gave the bowl several coats of carnauba wax and the stem several coats of Conservator’s Wax. The pipe looked really good. I could not wait to hear what Ray thought of the pipe once he saw it. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Diameter of the bowl: 1 1/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. I am happy with the way the repairs to the fills turned out. The pipe is a real beauty and should be a great smoker for Ray. It will soon be on its way back to Australia. Thanks for walking through this restoration with me. It is a great example of the trust we carry on as pipemen and women. This pipe has passed through many hands before coming to Ray. It will have a long useful life ahead of it as Ray carries on the trust… for this season. Cheers.

Giving New Life and Stem Alignment to a Made in London England Diplomat

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Blog by Dal Stanton

When I put this pipe in the For “Pipe Dreamers” Only! online collection, I identified it as a Squat Apple. It came to me from the lot my son helped me to procure from an antique shop in St. Louis. When Andy chose this as his next pipe after commissioning the probable Preben Holm Danish Freehand which I just finished restoring (See: Recommissioning a Mysterious Freehand, Made in Denmark – Preben Holm?) I fished it out of the ‘Help Me!’ basket and put it on the table and the ‘Squat Apple’ sort of fit, but not quite. Volcano? No, too rounded. Here are the pictures of the ‘Squat Apple’ that got Andy’s attention. The only markings are found on the lower side of the oval shank, MADE IN LONDON [over] ENGLAND. Below the COM is what I assume is a shape number, ‘140’. Not a lot to go on to determine origins.The ‘Squat Apple’ wasn’t sitting well with me so I looked at Bill Burney’s great Pipe Shapes Chart on Pipedia and found the shape classification that worked better – Diplomat. Interestingly, my ‘Squat Apple’ designation was used by Bill Burney to describe the Diplomat. I clipped the panel to show the description of the Diplomat:The English Diplomat now on my worktable is not a bad looking pipe but has a few issues. The Diplomat’s chamber has a thick layer of cake and the lava flow on the rim is thick – it needs some cleaning as well as the stummel.The after section of the rim reveals the darkening of the briar that has been scorched through the lighting practices of the former steward.As the following three pictures show, the stummel is darkened from grime and oils on the surface. You can see some very nice grain lurking beneath. There are also dings and scratches on the stummel from normal wear. The acrylic stem is attractive, but I’m guessing that it’s a replacement stem. My first observation looked like the stem simply didn’t fit with a wobble and gaps showing between the shank and stem facings. When I removed the stem the acrylic tenon was stuck in the mortise and not attached to the tenon. It didn’t take much to dislodge the rogue tenon but after inserting it into the tenon and trying the fit again, the wobble and looseness is evident and if I’m able to reattach the acrylic tenon and keep the stem facing flush with the shank facing before the CA glue sets, it should do well.I then noticed the darkened airway through the translucent acrylic. As I suspected, after inserting a pipe cleaner into the airway from the shank side, I discover that there is blockage in the stem. In the picture below, I’ve placed my fingers roughly where the inserted pipe cleaner stops and the blockage begins. This can be a pain! The following picture with the slot view shows blockage very near to the opening.I decide to try to ‘bull’ through the blockage with a pipe cleaner and to my surprise, the pipe cleaner was able to break through and not a lot of gunk came out. Good to go.Before moving toward re-attaching the tenon to the acrylic stem, I’ll first do the cleaning. I’m trying a ‘Soft-Scrub-like’ product we have here in Bulgaria called Cif brand to try to clean the darkened internal airway. The label describes micro-crystals and a bleach component as the active agents. I’m using Jeff Laug’s recommendations from his blog (Got a filthy estate pipe that you need to clean?).Holding the translucent acrylic stem up to the light provides a good Xray of the airway and how it’s darkened. We’ll see how much the cleaning removes the internal buildup and lightens the airway. I go to work with the Cif product and start by using bristled pipe cleaners dipped in Cif to begin breaking up the tars and oils that have crusted inside the airway. At first there was no noticeable progress except for the darker discoloration of the pipe cleaners which meant something was happening. I add after the pipe cleaners shank brushes. I transferred the shank brushes, Cif and stem to the kitchen sink where using hot water, I continued the cleaning with the Cif and brushes. At this point, progress was evident. A combination of the brushes and cleaner AND the hot water helps break down the crud.Back to the worktable, the follow-up light Xray shows the results. Nice! I move on.I put the stem aside and move to the stummel cleaning before I start on the repairs to the stem and tenon. Not only do I prefer working on cleaned pipes, but often the cleaning process can change the mortise environment because we are working with wood. Cleaning often loosens tenon fittings. So, before moving to more permanent repairs, it’s a good principle to get the cleaning done first. Looking again at the chamber, the cake is moving from moderate to thick cake. Using the Pipnet Reaming Kit I start with the smallest blade head and end up using 3 of the 4 blade heads available in the Kit. The Savinelli Fitsall Tool works well to follow by doing fine-tune scraping of the chamber walls. I complete the cleaning by wrapping 240 grade paper around a Sharpie Pen which provides the leverage as I sand the chamber to remove the final vestiges of carbon cake to expose fresher briar to have a clean start. After wiping the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with alcohol to clean the carbon dust, I take a picture as I examine the chamber walls for heating damage. All looks great. Moving now to the external cleaning of the stummel, I employ undiluted Murphy’s Oil soap on a cotton pad to scrub the surface and rim covered by lava flow. In the immediate picture below, the sharp-edged pocketknife is helpful to remove the caked crusting. You can see the progress being made as the blade is carefully scraping the rim top without cutting into the wood. After the knife edge, the brass bristled brush cleans the rim further without damaging the wood.After working on the rim and stummel surface, I take the stummel to the kitchen sink using hot water and clean the internals using shank brushes and anti-oil dish soap liquid. After thoroughly rinsing the stummel with water, back on the worktable a picture records the present cleaning state.Again, focusing on the internals, now using cotton buds and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%, cleaning continues. Also employed is a dental spoon to scrape the mortise walls – which produces very little. A shank brush wetted with isopropyl 95% is used saving on pipe cleaners. When the pipe cleaners and buds start emerging lighter and cleaner, I call this phase completed to be continued later using a kosher salt and alcohol soak.Now looking again at the tenon repair of the acrylic stem. The tenon that was part of the Diplomat was not attached and since it’s not, fitting it to see how it will work is not easy – it shifts and moves. The first two pictures below show the result when I insert the tenon tightly into the stem cavity to test it out. The first picture is from the top perspective. Notice that the stem is offset to the right (top of the picture) so that the stem is overhanging on the top and the shank is overhanging the bottom of the picture.Now looking at the underside of the fit, the offset is augmented by the gapping that is evident.Not only do the pictures reveal the seating difficulties of the tenon, but the drilling through the tenon for the airway is not centered. This has potential challenges on at least two fronts. First, it potentially creates a hang-up lip as pipe cleaners are pushed through. This is not huge as usually simply twisting the pipe cleaner in the airway solves this hindrance. Secondly, is that if the tenon needs to be expanded, I will not use the heating method to expand it. The reason for this is that the offset drilling has created a very thin wall of acrylic which will probably split if expansion is attempted. The alternative will be to simply paint the exterior of the tenon with acrylic clear polish or CA glue. This builds out the tenon circumference.As I was fiddling with the tenon trying to figure out the best approach, another issue surfaced. On a hunch, the question came to mind, ‘Is the acrylic stem facing flat?’ I took out the chopping board that serves as a topping board and I placed the stem facing flat against it. I discover that there is a dance in it – a microscopic rocking. Just to be on the safe side for comparison, I also place the shank facing down on the board and find that its rock solid. You can see from the second picture the culprit looks to be around the airway – old glue protruding. I decide to address this straight away by placing 240 grade paper on the board and ‘top’ the stem facing to flatten it – carefully! Instead of rotating like I would if it were a stummel being topped, I drag laterally along the paper. After a few ‘drags’ on the topping board, another test on the flat chopping board is much better. The stem facing is now flush with no rocking.I again do a test fitting with the unglued tenon in place, reengage the stem to bring the facings flush. To see if a pipe cleaner would snag on the tenon, I insert one through without problem.If I can glue the tenon and achieve this much, I’ll be satisfied. Sanding can address the overhangs where the shank and stem do not line up.A lot of time has elapsed thinking and testing, now it’s time for action! I use BSI Extra Thick Maxi-Cure CA glue. Using a piece of 240 grade sanding paper, I sand the part of the tenon that will be inserted into the mortise. I want it round and smooth. After cleaning the area with alcohol, I place a small amount of glue around the circumference of the tenon just above where the tenon will be inserted into the mortise. In this way I hope to avoid glue getting into the airway on the end of the tenon. Yet, I don’t put a lot of glue on it to avoid CA glue being forced out the top onto the stem facing. After placing the glue, I insert the glued part of the tenon partially into the stem cavity and then insert the mortise side of the tenon into the mortise and engage the parts. In this way, while the glue is still pliable, the tenon gives way to the flush orientation of the shank and stem facings. After doing this, I leave the pipe for several minutes allowing the CA glue to cure and hopefully hold the tenon in place! I’m hopeful for a solid and snug seating. I decide to move forward with working on the acrylic stems button. The top button lip has been compressed on the left side and the lower lip has also been chewed. The tooth compressions on both upper and lower sides need filling. I use regular CA glue combined with an accelerator. Starting on the topside and apply CA to the problem areas – also on the lip to build it. I do the same for the lower bit and button lip. With each application of CA glue, I use the accelerator to hold the patch in place and cure the glue more rapidly. I next use a flat needle file to file the CA glue patches over the tooth compressions down to the stem surface on both the upper and lower bit. I file and shape the button repair as well.To remove the scratches left by the file, 240 grade paper is used on the bit and button but also on the whole stem.Focusing the sanding on the junction now, I sand out the edges that were hanging over the shank and stem facings. I first cover the nomenclature with masking tape to protect it. The sanding moves around the circumference of the junction and I like the way the stem and shank now are in alignment and the union is flush.Next, I wet sand the entire stem with 600 grade sanding paper and follow with applying 000 steel wool. I’m on a roll with the stem, which I normally like to get out of the way so I can work on the stummel! Next, I apply the full battery of 9 micromesh pads to the acrylic stem. First, I wet sand using pads 1500 to 2400 and follow by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000. Even though I don’t believe it makes a difference but seems to enrich the acrylic surface. I love the pop of the stem – almost luminescent. After reuniting stem and Diplomat stummel, I get a sense of where things are. I’m liking what I see! While the stem was probably not the original, I like the combination and thinking now about how to finish the bowl to take advantage of the striking hues of the acrylic stem. At this point, if the micromesh process brings out the grain well and there is no nuanced lightening of the wood on the shank where the major sanding was, I’ll leave it in the natural briar state. If there is indication that the shank sanding stands out, I’ll apply a stain. The briar patterns are very nice – time to bring it out!Next, to freshen the rim and to remove the darkened old finish, I take the stummel to the topping board.Not much is needed – only a cosmetic topping. With the stummel inverted on 240 grade paper, I give the stummel a few rotations to clean things up.Then switching to 600 grade paper, the stummel is rotated several more times.With the rim refreshed, sanding sponges will address the tired finish on the bowl and the normal nick and dents. I see no major issues to address on the stummel surface – no fills.With the ‘Made in London, England’ covered by masking tape to protect it, I make sure that the sanding sponges address the shank area well. I want to blend the lightened area that was sanded. Using a coarse sanding sponge to do the initial heavy sanding, it removes the minor nicks and old tired finish. After using the coarse sponge, I remove the masking tape covering the nomenclature for the application of the medium and light graded sponges. The sponges are not rough enough to impact the nomenclature which is healthy.To fine tune further, the full set of micromesh pads are applied by first wet sanding with pads 1500 to 2400. Following this, dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000 bring out the grain which is beautiful. On a roll, and very enthused by the richness of the honey brown hue emerging and the detailed grain, I apply Mark Hoover’s product (www.ibepen.com), Before & After Restoration Balm which does a great job teasing out the deeper natural hues of the briar. With some Balm on my fingers, I work it into the briar well and then set it aside for about 20 minutes for the Balm to be absorbed by the wood. I then wipe off the excess with a cotton cloth dedicated to this and then buff the stummel with microfiber cloth.The day is coming to its close and I continue the internal cleaning using a kosher salt and alcohol soak. This further cleans as well as freshens the bowl for the new steward. I first fashion a ‘wick’ by stretching and twisting a cotton ball which is then inserted into the mortise and airway with the help of a stiff wire. This wick helps to draw out the tars and oils from the internal chamber walls.I then fill the chamber with kosher salt which does not leave an aftertaste and place the bowl in an egg carton for stability.Using an eyedropper, isopropyl 95% fills the chamber until it surfaces over the salt. After a few minutes the alcohol is absorbed, and the alcohol is topped off. I let the soak work on the cleaning through the night.The next morning the salt and wick are soiled revealing the added cleaning of the chamber and mortise. After dumping the expended salt and wiping the chamber with paper towel, I blow through the mortise to loosen and remove salt crystals remaining.To make sure all is clean, I follow with some pipe cleaners and cotton buds. This is a good step in the cleaning process because the dirty pipe cleaners revealed that the airway was still in need of more cleaning. After more pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%, the pipe cleaners were emerging cleaner and lighter. I declare after a time, ‘Clean!’ and I move on.After reuniting the stem and stummel and mounting a cotton cloth buffing wheel on the Dremel, setting the speed at about 40%, the fine abrasive Blue Diamond is applied to the entire pipe. After completing this, I use a felt cloth to buff the pipe to remove compound dust in preparation for applying the wax.Finally, after changing to another cotton cloth buffing wheel, carnauba wax is applied to the pipe and I after this, I give the pipe a hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.The grain on this Made in London England Diplomat is superb. I’m extremely pleased with the repair to the acrylic stem. It is now beautifully seated in the mortise, straight balanced and snugly secure. The waves in the acrylic pop and the Diplomat shape, with the broad heal, makes for a very nice feel in the palm. Andy from Maryland commissioned this English Diplomat and will have the first opportunity to acquire him in The Pipe Steward Store. This pipe benefits the Daughters of Bulgaria. Thanks for joining me!

A New Beginning for Jennifer’s Dad’s E—-rum Cured Italy Crosby Long Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I decided to change things up a bit and work on another of Jennifer’s Dad’s pipes. For the next pipe from the estate of George Rex Leghorn I have chosen another long shank/stem Billiard (Crosby style) with a sandblast finish. You may not have read about this estate before, so I will retell the story. I received an email from Jennifer who is a little older than my 64+ years about whether I would be interested in her Dad’s pipes. My brother Jeff and I have been picking up a few estates here and there, so I was interested. Here is the catch – she did not want to sell them to me but to give them to me to clean up, restore and resell. The only requirement she had was that we give a portion of the sales of the pipes to a charity serving women and children. We talked about the organization I work for that deals with trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and their children and she decided that would be a great way to carry on the charitable aspect of her Dad’s character. With some great conversation back and forth she sent the pipes to Jeff and he started the cleanup process on them. Once he had finished cleaning them all he sent them to me to do my work on them.

Using a lens and a bright light I could see that the mystery long shank/stem billiard is stamped on a smooth panel on underside of the shank E—–RUM CURED ITALY. The bowl had nice grain on the sides, front, back and rim top that is visible through the sandblast finish. The finish is very dirty making it hard to see beyond that to the nice grain underneath that. There was a thick cake in the bowl and it had overflowed with lava onto the rim top. It was a dirty and tired looking old pipe. The stem was badly oxidized and there were George’s usual tooth marks and chatter on both sides just ahead of the button. The button was also damaged. It had been sitting in boxes for a lot of years and it was time to move ahead with the restoration. Jennifer took photos of the pipes she was sending. I have included the three photos of this pipe below. When the box arrived from Jennifer, Jeff opened it and took photos of each pipe before he started his cleanup work on them. This mystery long stem/shank billiard was a nicely shaped pipe and that caught our attention. This was going to be an interesting restoration. When I work on pipes that I can find little information about the mystery adds a different element to the pleasure of working on them. The shape on the mystery pipe seems to really capture the flow of the grain on the briar. The briar appeared to be in good condition underneath the grime. The finish looked intact under the grime and oils on the bowl sides from George’s hands. The bowl had a thick cake that had hardened with time. The lava overflow on the rim top was very thick but it could very well have protected the rim from damage. We won’t know what is under it until Jeff had cleaned it off. The stem was oxidized and also had some calcification on the surface. There were deep tooth marks on both sides just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he started working on it. I include those below. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the lava build up on the plateau rim top and dust and grime in the shank end as well. It was thick and hard but hopefully it had protected the rim and edges from damage. The lava coat looks horrible but it points to a well-used, favourite smoking pipe. George must have enjoyed this old timer a lot judging from the condition of the pipe.Jeff took photos of the sides and heel of the bowl to show the condition of the finish – the grime and grit all over the sides and bottom of the bowl. It is a dirty pipe but it has a stunning grain around the bowl sides and cross grain on the front and back. Jeff took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. Half of it is blurred and worn. The readable part looks like it reads Rum Cured Italy. There is a capital E on the front of the stamp but the rest is unreadable.Jeff took photos of the top and underside of the stem showing the scratching, oxidation and tooth marks on the stem surface. The tooth marks are quite deep on both sides of the stem.I did as much digging as I could in Pipedia, Pipephil and Who Made That Pipe and came up empty handed. This one was truly a mystery. But even though I had no information I could start my restoration of this beautiful long billiard. But before I get on to restoring the pipe I thought I would once again include the tribute that Jennifer wrote to her Dad for the blog. She also sent some photos and an article that her Dad wrote for Jeff and me to be able to get a feel for him. I have included those below. Note in each of them that he is holding a pipe in his left hand. I asked her to also send me an email with a brief tribute to her Dad. Here is her tribute from an email to me.

Steve, I want to thank you again for accepting my dad’s pipes. They were so much a part of my dad’s life that I could not simply discard them. But as his daughter, I was not about to take up smoking them either. *laughing* I think my dad would like knowing that they will bring pleasure to others. I know that I do.

I’m not sure what to say about his pipes. I always remember Daddy smoking pipes and cigars.

First a bit about my dad. Though my father, George Rex Leghorn, was American (growing up in Alaska), he managed to join the Canadian Army at the beginning of WWII, but in doing so lost his American citizenship. He was fortunate to meet a Canadian recruiting officer who told him the alphabet began with “A” and ended with “Zed” not “Zee”, and also told him to say that he was born in a specific town that had all its records destroyed in a fire. When the US joined the war my dad, and thousands of other Americans who had made the same choice*(see the link below for the article), were given the opportunity to transfer to the US military, and regain their citizenship.

After WWII, my dad, earned his degree at the University of California Berkeley and became a metallurgist. There is even a bit about him on the internet.

He loved taking the family out for a drive, and he smoked his cigars on those trips. (As a child, those were troubling times for my stomach.)

I most remember my father relaxing in his favorite chair with a science fiction book in one hand and a pipe in the other… Sir Walter Raleigh being his favorite tobacco… and the pipes themselves remind me of him in that contented way. If I interrupted his repose, he’d look up, with a smile on his face, to answer me.

It seemed he smoked his Briarwood pipes the most, though he had others. At the time, it was only the Briarwood I knew by name because of its distinctive rough shaped bowl. And it was the Anderson Free Hand Burl Briar, made in Israel, which I chose for his birthday one year, because I thought he might like that particular texture in his hand.

At least two of his pipes, he inherited from his son-in-law, Joe Marino, a retired medical laboratory researcher (my sister Lesley’s late husband)… the long stemmed Jarl (made in Denmark), and the large, white-bowled, Sherlock Holmes style pipe. I believe Joe had others that went to my dad, but Lesley was only sure about those two.

The Buescher, corncob pipe my older sister Lesley bought for Daddy while on one of her travels around the States.

A note on the spelling of my sister’s name…

My dad met my mother, Regina, during WWII and they married in Omagh, Ireland. My mother was English and in the military herself. The English spelling of Lesley is feminine, and Leslie masculine, in the UK… just the opposite of here in the United States. I guess my mom won out when it came to the spelling of the name…

This pipe was a real mess just like the other ones in the collection. I did not know what to expect when I unwrapped it from his box. Jeff 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 looked really good when I got it. The rim top looked much better but had some darkening on the inner and outer edges. There was a small fill on the left side of the bowl high and toward the front. It would need to be dealt with (I circled it in red in the photo below). He had cleaned the internals and scrubbed the exterior of the stem and soaked them in Before & After Deoxidizer bath to remove the oxidation. The stem looked very good other than the deep tooth marks in the surface. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos of the pipe before I started my part of the restoration. I took close up photos of the rim top and bowl to show the condition of the bowl and the darkening on the rim top. You can see the light damage on the front inner edge of the bowl that was covered by the thick lava coat. The stem looks much better but the tooth marks are visible in the vulcanite. The button looks very good.I took a photo of the stamping on the shanks as it looks the same even after Jeff’s cleanup work.I decided to address the damage to the top of the bowl first. I sanded the inner edge of the rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the rim a slight inward bevel. The slight bevel took care of the charring on the front inner edge and cleaned up the rest of the inner edge as well.I picked out the small fill on the bowl with a dental pick. The fill was bright white and it just stuck out too much for me. Once I had cleaned out the pit I filled it in with clear super glue and briar dust. When the fill cured I used a brass bristle wire brush to blend it into the surface of the surrounding briar. The second photo shows the area that is filled. It is virtually invisible.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish of the bowl and the rim top and shank with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect it. I find that the balm really makes the briar come alive again. The contrasts in the layers of stain really made the grain stand out. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The pipe really looks good at this point. It was getting late so I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The sharp edges of the tooth marks made it clear that heat would not lift them so I decided to repair them instead. I filled them in with black super glue and set the stem aside to dry over night. The next morning when the repair had cured, I used a needle file to redefine the sharp edge of the button and begin to flatten out the repaired areas. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and 400 grit wet dry sandpaper to smooth out the repair and blend it into the stem surface. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish and a cotton pad to remove remnants of oxidation and to further blend in the sanding. The stem was showing some promise at this point in the process. At this point in the process I wanted to see how the stem looked on the bowl. I picked up the bowl and lightly buffed it with a cloth. In doing so I noticed what looked like a hairline crack on the topside of the shank. I examined it with a lens and sure enough there was a tiny crack in the groove of a sand blast groove. It was not large and extended about 1/8 of an inch up the shank (I have inserted a red arrow to identify the crack in the shank). I went through my small brass/rose gold coloured bands thinking that if I had one it would be a perfect look on this pipe. I found the perfect band shaped to cover the shank end as well! I cleaned the shank end with a cotton pad and alcohol and put a thin coat of all-purpose glue on the shank and end. I pressed the band in place and wiped off the excess glue with a damp cloth. The photos show the process. I set the bowl aside once again to let the glue set and went back to the stem. I polished it with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both fine and extra fine. I finished by wiping it down with Briarville’s No Oxy Oil and set it aside to dry. I always look forward to this part of the restoration when all the pieces are put back together. I put the pipe back together and buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. 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. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping, the new band on the shank shining and the black vulcanite almost glowing. The long stemmed billiard is beautiful and feels great in my hand. It is one that could be clenched and smoked while doing other things as it is very light weight and well balanced. It must have been a fine smoking pipe judging from the condition it was when we received it from Jennifer. There should be a lot of life left in this old mystery pipe. The band adds a touch of understated elegance to the long shank and stem. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ¾ inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. This is one that will go on the rebornpipes online store shortly. If you want to carry on the pipe trust of George Rex Leghorn let me know. Thank you Jennifer for trusting us with his pipes. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.