Tag Archives: Stem repairs

Cleaning up the final pipe of the Rob’s 12 – A Royal Danish 981R Saddle Stem Billiard

by Steve Laug

This is the last of the pipes I received from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. So it is the only one to choose to work on this Royal Danish 981R Large Billiard with a vulcanite saddle stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the sandblast finish and the two smooth panels on each side. There were also some worn spots. The bowl had a thick cake and an overflow of lava in the sandblast of the rim top. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Royal Danish [followed by] Made in Denmark [followed by] 981R. There was a Crown logo on the left side of the saddle stem. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. The stem was a push stem. It was oxidized and had notches on each side ahead of the button. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The button edges were also worn quite thin. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat filling in the sandblast on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I tried to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear, though faint, still readable and reads as noted above. I removed the stem to give a sense of what the pipe looked like with two parts shown side by side. It is a large Billiard shape with a saddle stem.Before I started working on it I did a bit of research on the brand to get a feel for where it fit in the Stanwell line. I was sure that it was a second but wanted confirmation. I turned to Pipephil’s site to see if I could get a feel for it (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r6.html). I did a screen capture of the information on the site. I found that the brand was indeed made by Stanwell and was one of many second lines that they made. I did a screen capture of the pertinent information and have included it below.I then turned to Pipedia and found that it was also listed as a second or a sub-brand made by Stanwell (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell#Sub-brands_.2F_Seconds). I have included the list of seconds from the site below. I have highlighted the Royal Danish in blue in the text.

Sub-brands / Seconds – Bijou (discontinued), Danish Quaint, Danish Sovereign, Danske Club, Henley (discontinued), Kong Christian (discontinued), Majestic, Reddish (discontinued), Royal Danish, Royal Guard, Royal Sovereign, Sailor (discontinued), Scandia, Sorn (discontinued), Svendson.

Now it was time to clean up this pipe and get it restored. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe Reamer using the 2^nd and 3^rd cutting heads to trim back the cake to bare walls. A lot of carbon powder came out of the bowl. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and sanded the walls of the bowl with a dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. Once finished the bowl look quite good. I worked over the sandblast on the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the lava coat that was in the blast. The rim began to look much better and you can see the texture of the blast. I scrubbed the internals and externals of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I rinsed off the soap and grime with warm water. I repeated the process several times until the water came off clear. It is a great looking pipe. There is definitely some wear on the outer edge of the rim top but it still should look fine. I touched up the raw briar and faded areas on the rim edges using a Walnut stain pen. It took a short amount of time but the dividend it great. The rim top looks better with the new stain and it matches the rest of the bowl very well.I cleaned out the internals of the shank, mortise and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners – both regular and bristle. It was a dirty pipe but it cleaned up very well.I polished the smooth patches on the left and right side of the bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the areas down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. The panels took on a rich shine.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. This stem was in rough shape. There were tooth marks on the button top on both sides and also on the stem surface. There were notches carved on each side of the stem ahead of the button. I am not sure of the purpose but they were oddly present. I wiped down the stem end and filled in the damaged areas with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I recut the button with a small file. I smoothed out the repairs on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I scrubbed the stem surface down with Soft Scrub to address the oxidation that remained. I finished and wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth. I continued to sand the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Royal Danish 981R Saddle Stem Billiard back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. There were some spots of oxidation around the logo on the stem that I left so as not to damage the stamping. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the smooth bowl patches, the sandblast finish and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. There are still some nicks for the pipe’s journey that I left as it is part of the story of the pipe. This is truly a beautiful Royal Danish 981R Large Billiard. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.69 ounces/48 grams. This final pipe will be put in the box and will be mailed back to him early next week. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

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

Cleaning up another of the 12 – A Wire Rusticated Dr. Grabow Belvedere Slim Dublin

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by Steve Laug

This is another of the pipes I received from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I have just two left now so I chose to work on this Dr. Grabow Belvedere Yachtsman with a vulcanite taper stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the smooth finish. There were also some worn spots. The wire rusticated bowl had been reamed recently so the bowl was almost free of cake other than a light ridge of carbon mid bowl. There was a light overflow of lava on the rim top. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read Belvedere [over] Dr. Grabow. There was a Grabow logo on the left side of the stem. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. The shank end had an aluminum fitting that provided a mortise of the threaded metal stinger/tenon on the pipe. The stem overclocked to the right leaving I crooked in the shank. It was oxidized and had what looked like pliers’ marks on the stem side. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the relatively clean bowl with no cake and the thick lava coat on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I tried to capture the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear, though faint, still readable and reads as noted above. I also unscrewed the stem to give a sense of what the pipe looked like with two parts shown side by side. It is a Dublin shape with a taper stem.I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-drgrabow.html) to see if I could find any information on the line and background on the brand. I have included that in the paragraph below. There was nothing listed on the Belvedere line.

Dr. Grabow pipes began with Louis B. Linkman († 1957), of the M. Linkman and Co. of Chicago in 1932 (Pat # 1 896 800). Linkman and Co. ceased producing the Dr. Grabow pipes around 1953. After this date the brand was owned by Henry Leonard and Thomas (HLT), Inc. of Queens, New York and produced by Sparta Pipes Inc. In 1969, US Tobacco acquired Sparta Pipes and rights to Dr. Grabow. Lane Ltd. acquired the Dr. Grabow property from US Tobacco. Lane Ltd. came under ownership of RJ Reynolds and British American Tobacco in about 2000. Dr. Paul E. Grabow died in 1965 at age 97. Production (2006): ~250,000 pipes/year.

I then turned to Pipedia to an article on the Grabow Models. I have included the link below. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Grabow_Models_(Series,Line)_Names_Through_the_Years). I quote from the information listed on the Belvedere below:

BELVEDERE (c1955?) – One of the early RJR pipes. Some, perhaps the earlier ones, have #76 cleaner (“Rook” shape). Others use the #72b cleaner (“spoon” shape on end). Eventually, this pipe was dropped from the offers.

From that information I knew That I was dealing with an early RJR (RJ Reynolds) pipes as it had the “Rook” shaped stinger/tenon apparatus. That is known as a #76 cleaner. I also learned that it had been a coupon pipe and was dropped from the offers. It appears to have come out in or around 1955. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I decided to begin by addressing the fit of the stem to the shank. The stem fit against the shank perfectly but was over clocked by about ¼ turn. I would need to deal with that. I used an old trick I learned from one of the old timers on ASP. I heated the metal stinger tenon with the flame of a lighter to soften the glue in the stem. I screwed it into the stem and tried to turn it. I repeated the process until the glue softened. I then was able to align the stem properly on the shank. I set it aside to let the glue reharden before I took the stem off. It looked very good at this point in terms of alignment. I used a brass bristle wire brush to clean up the lava on the rim top and the tars on the aluminum Rook style stinger.I scrubbed the exterior of the with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on edges of the rim top along with the rest of the bowl and the shank. I rinsed it off with warm running water and dried it off with a cotton towel. It is definitely looking better. I used a walnut stain pen to touch up the finish on the rim top, bowl edges and the shank end. I worked it into the wire brush rusticated finish on the bowl.I cleaned out the airway in the stem and shank, the mortise and the entry of the airway into the bowl. I used alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was dirty but cleaned up well.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the oxidation on the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I wiped it down with an Obsidian Oil cloth.I continued to sand the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Dr. Grabow Belvedere Slim Dublin and the stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. There are still some nicks for the pipe’s journey that I left as it is part of the story of the pipe. This is truly a beautiful Dr. Grabow Belvedere Dublin. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.16 ounces/35 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s remaining pipe in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Cleaning a stubbornly Frozen Quiet Companion Metal pipe from the lot of 12 pipes

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I chose to work on second metal pipe next. It is a nice looking straight pipe with an apple style bowl and a metal base. It was a smooth bowl with no rustication. The rim top and the base of the bowl were both very dirty. The bowl had been reamed at some time so there was no cake in it. The rim top had an overflow of lava on it and some darkening around the inner edge. The underside of the bowl was dirty and it was coated with a varnish coat. The stem and bowl were stuck on the base and could not be removed at this point. The underside of the metal base was stamped Quiet Companion. The stem was dirty and had a lot of tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. To capture the condition of the bowl and rim top along with the stem I took the following photos. You can see the tar in the bottom of the bowl and the entrance to the shank is quite large. The bowl is not removable at the moment so once I am able to remove it I can do a better assessment of the condition. The rim top has a thick lava coat that is heavier on the back side. The stem is well chewed but none of the marks are too deep. The stem is also not removable at this point. I will need to see what I can find out about the internals so that I can take it apart.I tried to capture the stamping on the heel of the base. It read The [over] Quiet [over] Companion. It was clear and readable.This is a brand I had not seen before, let alone worked on. I had no idea how it came apart and it was solidly stuck. I could not remove the stem from the shank or the bowl from the base. Before I started to work on it I decided to see if I could find out how the parts were held together. Here is the link (http://www.smokingmetal.co.uk/pipe.php?page=83). I quote the information that was included along with the photos.

QUIET COMRADE

Department : METAL STEM & Plug in bowls

QUIET COMRADE stamped under cup and on the base of the bowl. The filter holder is designed such that smoke has to travel three time the length of the shank, the last run is enabled to take an absorbtion filter.

The bowl is retained by the filter holder locking into the bowl, this has to be pulled out before the bowl is released. Attempting to unscrew the bowl can have disastrous effects

Variety of bowls , smooth and carved.

Overall length is 5 3/8 inches (137 m/m)

19 Feb 1974 – US patent # 3,792,705 Inventor Robert J Frederick , Ashtabula, Ohio and manufactured by Mech.Tech.Inc., PO box 487 – 3128 State Road – Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 – USA I also found a link on another site selling the pipe that showed the way the pipe fit together (https://eliesfreehandpipes.com/Elie%27s_Comrade.html).Now I knew how to take it apart… I thought. Now the hard work began. I tried all the tricks up my sleeve from years of working on pipes. I tried the freezer trick – letting it sit in the freezer for repeated periods of time and having absolutely no success. I tried heating the shank with boiling water to try to loosen the internals from the metal base – I repeated the process of heating it several times to loosen it. Again – I had no success. I heated it with a heat gun repeatedly to remove the internals – no success. The only thing that worked at this point was that I was able to remove the stem. I soaked the shank in a bath of alcohol for several days hoping to break things loose. It did not work. I heated it again to combine the alcohol and heat. It did not work. I tried plugging the shank end and soaking the internals with acetone. It still did not work. I am stumped at this point. I decided to clean up the pipe as best as I could without taking it apart. So that is what I did today after work.

I wiped off the debris from the soaking that bowl had received and reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took the cake back to bare briar and it looked much better. I cleaned out the airway in the shank and the inside of the bowl and the entrance of the airway at the bottom of the bowl with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I also cleaned the airway in the stem at the same time. It was beginning to look very good.With the internals clean I turned my attention to the briar bowl. It had started the heating/cooling process I described above with a thick varnish coat. One of the benefits of the long process was that the varnish had bubble and peeled off. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remnants of shiny varnish on the sides and top of the bowl. It actually had some nice grain underneath the coat. I continued to sand the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the debris from sanding. By the last pad the bowl had begun to shine. I polished the briar bowl with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad to remove the debris. By the end the grain just popped. It is a pretty bowl. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I turned my attention to the other end of the pipe. I sanded out the oxidation and scratches in the surface with 320-3500 sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil saturated cloth. Once finished it revealed deep marks and gouges in the surface.I filled in the marks and nicks on the surface of the stem with black, rubberized CA glue. I pressed it into the marks on the surface with a tooth pick. Once the repairs cured I sanded them smooth with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. The frustratingly frozen pipe looked better. Even though I could not break down the internals I worked over the internals with alcohol and pipe cleaners. I put the Quiet Comrade Metal Pipe and stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. There are still some nicks for the pipe’s journey that I left as it is part of the story of the pipe. This is truly a beautiful Quiet Comrade Apple on a metal base. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.45 ounces/41 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s remaining pipes in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Cleaning up another of the 12 – An Imported Briar Lovat Style Pot

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by Steve Laug

This is another of the pipes I received from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I have just a few left now so I chose to work on this Kaywoodie like Lovat Style Pot with a short saddle stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the smooth finish. The bowl had been reamed recently so the bowl was free of cake. There was an overflow of thick lava on the rim top. The lava was thick and there as darkening on the inner edge. The pipe was faintly stamped on the left side of the shank and read Imported Briar. There was no other stamping on the shank sides though there may well have been some originally. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. The shank end had an aluminum fitting that provided a mortise of the threaded metal stinger/tenon on the pipe. The stem did not fit tightly against the shank for some reason that clean up would reveal. It was oxidized and calcified on the button end. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The surface of the button is also tooth marked. There were no logos on the stem sides. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the relatively clean bowl with no cake and the thick lava coat on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I tried to capture the faint stamping on the left side of the shank but it is not clear. I also took a photo of the right side to look for stamping. There was nothing visible in the photos. The left side had a faint stamp that read as noted above. I also unscrewed the stem to give a sense of what the pipe looked like with two parts shown side by side. It definitely is a pot but the long shank and the saddle stem give it the look of a Lovat. Since there was no stamping on the pipe there was really nothing to be learned about its history. It is kind of a mystery pipe. It could be a Kaywoodie I suppose but again there is no proof of that. I decided to begin my work by addressing the fit of the stem to the shank. There was a thick rubberized glue around the stem end of the threaded tenon. It filled in the last thread and also on the top of the stem face. This accounted for the fit to the shank at this point. I used a small pen knife to cut away the rubberized glue and cleaned up the tenon a bit. I turned it into the stem and found the answer to my question of why the rubber! The stem fit against the shank perfectly but was over clocked by about ¼ turn. I would need to deal with that.I used an old trick I learned from one of the old timers on ASP. I heated the metal stinger tenon with the flame of a lighter to soften the glue in the stem. I screwed it into the stem and tried to turn it. I repeated the process until the glue softened. I then was able to align the stem properly on the shank. I set it aside to let the glue reharden before I took the stem off. It looked very good at this point in terms of alignment.Once the stem cooled and the alignment was set I removed it from the shank and cleaned out the airway in the stem and shank, the mortise and the entry of the airway into the bowl. I used alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. It was dirty but cleaned up well.I scraped the lava off the rim top with the edge of the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. It is better but there is still a lot of work to do on the inner edge and top. I sanded the inner edge of the bowl and rim top with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean it up. I wiped the briar down with some acetone on cotton pads to remove the shiny varnish coat and allow me to work on the rest of the bowl. It is finally beginning to look better. I scrubbed the exterior of the with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on edges of the rim top along with the rest of the bowl and the shank. I rinsed it off with warm running water and dried it off with a cotton towel. It is definitely looking better. I worked on the bowl, rim top, edges and shank with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further remove the darkening on the briar. I also worked over the aluminum shank/mortis piece at the same time. It is improving with each pad. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The pipe looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I “painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to try and lift the bite marks. It worked very well. There were two small marks left on the surface – one on each side. I filled them in with some black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured I sanded out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the stem surface. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Imported Briar Lovat Style Pot and the stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. There are still some nicks for the pipe’s journey that I left as it is part of the story of the pipe. This is truly a beautiful Imported Briar Pot. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 3/8 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/44 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s remaining pipes in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Restoring a GEFAPIP Giant 4–SM Panel Billiard – another of the 12 Pipes

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I chose to work on the large Panel Billiard with a saddle stem. The bowl and shank were very dirty with oils and tars on the surface of the smooth finish. The bowl had a thick cake in it that overflowed in lava onto the rim top. The lava was thick and there as darkening on the inner edge. The pipe was stamped on the underside of the shank and read GEFAPIP [over] Giant [over] France. On the shank end running horizontally it is stamped with the shape number 4-SM. This one came with the original stem in place on the shank. It was oxidized and calcified on the button end. There were light tooth marks on the top and underside of the stem near the button. The surface of the button is also tooth marked. It had the Gefapip logo the left side of the saddle stem. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. I took some closer photos of the bowl and rim top to show its condition before I started my work on the pipe. You can see the heavy cake in the bowl and the thick lava coat on the rim top. The stem photos also show the general condition of the stem as noted above. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It was stamped on a smooth panel and was faint but readable. It reads as noted above. I also captured the Gefapip logo on the left side of the saddle stem. I removed the stem and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to show the look of the pipe. Pipedia gives some general information about the French origin of the GEFAPIP that is brief but helpful. I quote:

Gefapip was a French brand from the St Claude region. Their products appeared in the 1979 Tinderbox catalog, with prices ranging from $17.50 to $62.50.

The following catalog page (1979 Catalog page, courtesy Doug Valitchka) was included with the text and it added helpful information that the GEFAPIP name was started by a group of master carvers in the St. Claude region. The production line pictured in the catalog page are examples of shapes smoked in the Saint Claude region in the 1890s according to the caption.Pipephil.eu did not produce new information but gave some additional examples of GEFAPIP pipes. The stem stamping on the pipes shown in the photos on site are identical to the stamping on the pipe I am working on.I love finding this old information and reading about the pipes I work on. It lends some colour to the work of my refurbishing to be able to read about the design ideas and the inventors themselves as I work on the pipes. Armed with new information it was time to work on the pipe.

I decided to start on the bowl itself. I reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer to clean out the heavy cake. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. I scraped off the lava build up on the rim top with the edge of the Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I took it back to bare briar. It looked quite good. The beveled inner edge also had build up and darkening.I scrubbed the exterior of the with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on the rustication and the smooth rim top. I rinsed it off with warm running water and dried it off with a cotton towel. It is definitely looking better. I worked over the rim darkening with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The smooth rim top was flat so it was an easy process to clean it up at the same time as the edge.I worked on the rim top and edges with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further remove the darkening on the briar. It is improving with each pad. I wiped the top down with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I polished it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. The rim top looked very good. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips to make sure that it covered every square inch of the pipe. I set it aside for 10 minutes to let it do its work. I buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. I cleaned out the shank, mortise and the airway in both the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. The shank was very dirty. The airflow is great.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the stem surface with Soft Scrub to remove the oxidation and the calcification. It looked much better. I “painted’ the surface of the stem with the flame of a lighter to try and lift the bite marks. It worked very well. I was able to remove the majority of the marks. I rebuilt the button edge and filled in some of the remaining tooth marks with black rubberized CA glue. I set the stem aside to let the glue cure. Once it cured I reshaped the button with a small flat file and sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to blend in the repairs. I touched up the faint stamp on the stem with Antique Gold Rub’n Buff. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick and buffed it off with a soft cloth.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with an Obsidian Oil impregnated cloth to remove the sanding debris. It began to take on a shine.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with some Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and then wiped it down another time with the oil. I put the Gefapip Giant 4-SM Panel Billiard and the stem back together. I polished the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The original brown stains gave depth to the beautiful grain around the bowl and worked amazingly well with the polished vulcanite saddle stem. The grain around the bowl and shank and looks quite remarkable. I left a small bit of oxidation on the left side of the saddle as I did not want to damage the faint stamp that remained there. This is truly a beautiful Gefapip Giant Panel Billiard. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.94 ounces/56 grams. This pipe will be put in the box while I work on Rob’s other pipes in the 12 pipe lot. Once I finish them I will be mailing the lot back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Cleaning and Restoring the sixth of a lot of 12 pipes – A Ropp 804 Bent Octagonal Billiard

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I chose to work on the second of the Cherrywood pipes next. It is a nice-looking Cherrywood Bent Octagonal Bowled Billiard. The bowl and shank had bark on the outside. The bowl has peeled striped around the octagon on every other flat side. The rim top and the base of the bowl were both smooth without bark. The bowl had been reamed at some time so there was no cake in it. The rim top had an overflow of lava on it and some darkening around the inner edge. The underside of the bowl was dirty but it was stamped ROPP [over] De Luxe [over] France. Underneath that what the shape number 804. The stem had no logo on it. It had light tooth marks and tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it.The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There was some thick lava on the rim top and some lava build up on the inner edge of the bowl. It looked to be in good condition other than the lava and darkening. The vulcanite taper stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.There was stamping on the heel of the bowl that was clear and readable. It read as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is a classic Ropp Cherrywood.I wanted to refresh my memory on the brand so I turned for a short, quick summary to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-ropp.html). I have included the pertinent information from that site below:

Brand created by Eugène-Léon Ropp (1830 – 1907) and continued throughout 3 generations. “GBA Synergie” run by Bernard Amiel (†2008) bought back Ropp in 1988 and owned it until 1991. The company was taken over by Cuty-Fort Entreprises (Chacom, Vuillard, Jean Lacroix…) in 1994.

I also turned to Pipedia to see if there was any additional information that would be helpful (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ropp). I quote the portion of the article on the Cherrywood pipes.

Eugène-Léon Ropp (1830 – 1907) had acquired a patent for a cherrywood pipe (wild cherry, lat.: Prunus avium) in 1869. In 1870 he established a workshop to manufacture such pipes in Büssingen (Bussang, Vosges mountains). Around 1893 the business moved into the former mill of Sicard (part of the community of Baume-les-Dames – Département Doubs, Upper Burgundy – from 1895 on)… Even though cherrywood pipes were the mainstay of Ropp until the company finally closed down in September 1991. The company was taken over by Cuty-Fort Entreprises (Chacom, Jeantet, Vuillard, Jean Lacroix…) in 1994.

The pipe thus was made in France sometime prior to the closure in 1991. It is made from wild cherry and was a specialty of Ropp. I have worked on quite a few over the years but I had forgotten all the dates and information. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I turned to work on the pipe itself. The shank was loose in the bowl so I reglued it with all purpose white glue. I used a tooth pick to press it into the grooves around the junction and set it aside to cure. I worked over rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and darkening on the smooth rim top and inner edge of the bowl. It looked much better once the debris was removed. I sanded the walls of the bowl smooth with a piece of dowel wrapped with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The walls smoothed out very well.I scrubbed the bowl exterior with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean the debris and oils and tars in the cherry bark finish. I rinsed it with clean warm water and dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. I polished the smooth rim top, four panels on the sides and heel of the bowl with 1500-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads. It smoothed out the finish very well and removed much of the damage on the rim top, smooth panels and the scratching around the stamping on the heel. I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove the grime and oils in the shank and the airway in the stem.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the remnants of the tooth marks and chatter on the stem and to remove the residual light oxidation. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Ropp De Luxe Cherrywood 804 Octagonal Bent Billiard with a vulcanite taper stem has a cherrywood bark finish with a smooth rim top and bowl heel. The bark covered Cherrywood pipe is what makes Ropp pipes stand out. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ropp De Luxe Cherrywood Octagonal Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ¾ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.36 ounces/66 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Robert once I finish the other 6 pipes he sent me to restore. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.

Restoring a Beautiful Handmade Pipe by Pierre Morel

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by Kenneth Lieblich

Behold a fantastic old pipe by the French master, Pierre Morel. This is a beautifully made and modern-looking pipe. What would you call this shape? Perhaps a freehand volcano – sort of? The stem is a slightly bent saddle stem, while it is also curiously set apart from the shank of the stummel. I have a particular interest in French pipes, so I am delighted to be able to offer this one to you all for sale. The marks are clear enough. On the underside of the shank, it reads, Morel [over] Fait Main [over] St Claude [over] France. Of course, the phrase ‘fait main’ means ‘handmade’ in English. On the top of the stem is the single word Morel – alas, the top of the ‘M’ is slightly worn.Let’s learn a bit more about Pierre Morel. His article on Pipedia says the following:

Pierre Morel’s Handmade pipes are very high-quality pieces. Pierre Morel is an extraordinarily talented pipe-maker, who chooses highly fine briar to create handmade pipes with a straight wood grain. Buying a Pierre Morel pipe is a guarantee of an exceptional smoking experience. Each of Pierre Morel’s creations is unique and entirely made in Saint-Claude.

Pierre Morel is one of France’s most talented pipe makers. Based in Saint-Claude, the international capital city of pipe making, he is nowadays one of the only craftsmen who can make a pipe from start to finish. Unlike large brands, Pierre Morel makes all his pipes by hand.

Nothing compares to a Pierre Morel pipe: high quality raw materials, an extremely meticulous design and unmatched finishes… As a true passionate of the art, Pierre Morel often gives advice to other “new” French pipe makers such as Bruno Nuttens or Joseph Rimbaud (Rostiak).

Meanwhile, the real information I wanted to see was over at Pipephil:

Pierre Morel (Father and son).

Pierre Morel (1908 – 1979†) crafted pipes also stamped with brands like “PEHEM”, “PM”, “PEHEM MOREL” or “TOTEM”.

Pierre Morel (Son, born 1949) stamped his pipes “P MOREL jr” and “PIERRE MOREL” after his father passed. He also collaborated with Chacom for highgrade lines (“Grand Cru”, “Millenium”…) until he retired in 2009. His personal production continues.

However, best of all, there is an article on a French website which provides a superb interview with Morel (the son). If you have any fluency in French, I highly recommend reading it. Here is the link: https://www.fumeursdepipe.net/artmorel.htm. One day, I will do a proper translation of the article (as the Google translation is so-so), but the original version will have to suffice for now. I don’t know for sure, but I have a feeling that this particular pipe is by the son – not the father.The pipe is in good shape. The stummel is lovely, but dirty. It has plenty of cake in the bowl and some lava and wear on the rim. Meanwhile, the stem has been well chomped. Again, dirty and well used. I used a disposable lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame. The gentle heat of the flame can cause the dents in the vulcanite of the stem to expand back into shape. In this case, it worked fairly well.I used oil soap on a few cotton rounds and wiped the stem down to provide an initial cleaning of filth before moving on to the next steps. The primary cleaning comes next. I cleaned the inside of the stem with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I scrubbed thoroughly to make sure the interior was clean.The goal of the next step is the removal (or minimization) of oxidation. Going to my sink, I used cream cleanser, cotton rounds, and a toothbrush, and scoured the stem to remove as much surface oxidation as possible. As the photos show, the result is a hideous brownish mess – but better off the stem than on it.Once the stem was reasonably clean, I soaked it overnight in some de-oxidation fluid. This solution works to draw oxidation in the stem to the surface. This is a major aid and an important step in ensuring a clean stem. The following day, I drew the stem out from its bath and scrubbed the lingering fluid with a toothbrush.Now that the stem is clean and dry, I set about fixing the marks and dents in the vulcanite. This is done by filling those divots with black cyanoacrylate adhesive, impregnated with carbon and rubber. I left this to cure and moved on.After this, I painted the logo on the stem with some nail polish. I restored the logo carefully and let it fully set before proceeding.The penultimate step for the stem is sanding. First, with my set of needle files, I reduce the bulk of the cyanoacrylate repairs. I want to remove the excess adhesive as near to the surface as possible, without cutting into the vulcanite. Following that, I use all nine of the micromesh sanding pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to sand out flaws, even out the vulcanite, and provide gentle polishing of the finished surface. I also apply pipe-stem oil while using the last five micromesh pads. There was a wonderful, deep black shine to the stem when I was done.Now that the stem is (nearly) complete, I can move on to the stummel. The first step for me is to ream out the bowl – that is to say, remove all the cake inside the bowl. This accomplishes a couple of things. First (and most obviously), it cleans the bowl and provides a refurbished chamber for future smoking. Second, when the old cake is removed, I can inspect the interior walls of the bowl and determine if there is damage or not. I used a reamer and a piece of sandpaper taped to a wooden dowel. Collectively, these ensure that all the debris is removed. Everything looked good inside the bowl.My next step was to remove the lava on the rim. For this, I took a piece of machine steel and gently scraped the lava away. The metal’s edge is sharp enough to remove what I need, but not so sharp that it damages the rim.Similar to the stem, I then cleaned the stummel with both pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. With a pipe this dirty, it took quite a while and much cotton to get clean.I then decided to ‘de-ghost’ the pipe – that is to say, exorcize the remaining filth from the briar. I filled the bowl and the shank with cotton balls, then saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton.To tidy up the briar, I also wiped down the outside with some oil soap on cotton rounds (and a toothbrush). This does a good job of cleaning any latent dirt on the surface of the briar. The last step of the cleaning process is to scour the inside of the stummel with some soap and tube brushes. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work in getting the pipe clean. I used all nine micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the outside of the stummel to finish it off. This sanding minimizes flaws in the briar and provides a beautiful smoothness to the wood. I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and let it sit for 20 minutes or so. The balm moisturizes the wood and gives a beautiful depth to the briar. I then buffed it with a microfibre cloth. For the final step, I took the pipe to my bench buffer and carefully polished it – first with a white diamond compound, then with three coats of carnauba wax. This procedure makes the pipe look its best – the stummel sings and the stem glows.All done! This Pierre Morel handmade freehand volcano looks fantastic again and is ready to be enjoyed by its next owner. I am pleased to announce that this pipe is for sale! If you are interested in acquiring it for your collection, please have a look in the ‘French’ section of the store here on Steve’s website. You can also email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 5⅜ in. (137 mm); height 1⅞ in. (48 mm); bowl diameter 1½ in. (38 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (19 mm). The weight of the pipe is 1½ oz. (45 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe’s restoration as much as I enjoyed restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or send me an email. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Cleaning and Restoring the third of a lot of 12 pipes for a customer – a Ropp Cherrywood 921

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. I chose to work on one of the Cherrywood pipes next. It is a nice looking Cherrywood Bent Poker. The bowl and shank had bark on the outside. The rim top and the base of the bowl were both smooth without bark. The bowl had been reamed at some time so there was no cake in it. The rim top had an overflow of lava on it and some darkening around the inner edge. The underside of the bowl was dirty but it was stamped ROPP [over] De Luxe [over] France. Underneath that what the shape number 921. The stem had tooth marks and tooth chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There was some thick lava on the rim top and some lava build up on the inner edge of the bowl. It looked to be in good condition other than the lava and darkening. The vulcanite taper stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.There was stamping on the heel of the bowl that was clear and readable. It read as noted above. I also took a photo of the inlaid silver logo on the left side of the taper stem. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is a classic Ropp Cherrywood. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I worked over rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage and darkening on the smooth rim top and inner edge of the bowl. It looked much better once the debris was removed. I sanded the walls of the bowl smooth with a piece of dowel wrapped with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The walls smoothed out very well. I scrubbed the bowl exterior with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean the debris and oils and tars in the cherry bark finish. I rinsed it with clean warm water and dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. I sanded the smooth rim top and heel of the bowl with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It smoothed out the finish very well and removed much of the damage on the rim top and the scratching around the stamping on the shank.I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove the grime and oils in the shank and the airway in the stem.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl and shank with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with cotton pads and Soft Scrub. I was able to remove the debris on the stem and the oxidation on the surface. It looked much better.I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all considerably. I filled in the two deep marks – one on each side of the stem just ahead of the button – with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured, I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It looked significantly better at this point. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the remnants of the tooth marks and chatter on the stem and to remove the residual light oxidation. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Ropp De Luxe Cherrywood 921 Bent Poker with a vulcanite taper stem has a cherrywood bark finish with a smooth rim top and bowl heel. The bark covered Cherrywood pipe is what makes Ropp pipes stand out. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Ropp De Luxe Cherrywood Poker is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of a inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.66 ounces/46 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Robert once I finish the other 9 pipes he sent me to restore. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.

Cleaning up the second of a lot of 12 pipes for a customer – a No Name Freehand Sitter

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by Steve Laug

Back in January I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. The second of these I chose to work on was a smooth Freehand sitter. The bowl was almost a panel shape with flattened corners on the four sides. The shank was also panelled in the same manner. It was a pretty pipe and it was a big one. The rim top and the shank end were both plateau finish. The heel of the bowl and the shank end had been flattened to make the pipe a sitter. The plateau rim top and shank end were dirty and debris in the plateau. The bowl had been reamed and was smooth on the inside walls of the bowl. There were some tars and oils in the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem. The fancy turned, vulcanite stem was oxidized and dirty with light tooth marks and chatter in the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There was some debris in the plateau rim top and some lava build up on the inner edge and the grooves of the plateau. It looked to be in good condition other than the debris and darkening. The fancy vulcanite saddle stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.There was not any identifying stamping or marks on the shank. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is really a beauty. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I worked over the plateau rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the debris. It removed the debris and it looked much better. I scrubbed the bowl exterior with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean the debris in the rustication and also remove the oils and tars in the finish. I rinsed it with clean warm water and dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damage and darkening on the smooth inner edge of the bowl. It looked much better once the debris was removed.I sanded the walls of the bowl smooth with a piece of dowel wrapped with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. The walls smoothed out very well.I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove the grime and oils in the shank and the airway in the stem.I used a black Sharpie pen to touch up the valleys and deep spots on the plateau rim top and shank end. It looks much better at this point.I polished the bowl and shank along with the high spots on the plateau with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It smoothed out the finish very well and made the contrast between the ridges and valleys of the finish stand out well. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It is looking very good at this point in the process. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with cotton pads and Soft Scrub. I was able to remove the debris on the stem and the oxidation on the surface. It looked much better.I sanded the tooth chatter and marks with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It looked significantly better at this point.I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the remnants of the tooth marks and chatter on the stem and to remove the residual light oxidation. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This No Name Smooth Finish Plateau Freehand with a vulcanite fancy saddle stem has a beautiful, unique finish with great grain on the bowl and shank. The medium brown finish highlights the grain and the polished fancy turned stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished No Name Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 2 inches x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 3.88 ounces/109 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Robert once I finish the other 10 pipes he sent me to restore. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.

Cleaning up the first of a lot of 12 pipes for a customer – a No Name Freehand Sitter

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by Steve Laug

Back in January, I received an email from Robert with a group 12 pipes that needed to be restored in various ways from cleanup to restemming. The first of these I chose to work on was a partially rusticated Freehand sitter. The front and the sides of the bowl were smooth part way back. The back half of the bowl and shank sides were rusticated with a unique looking rustication. The top of the shank and the underside were both smooth. The rim top and the shank end were both plateau finish. The bottom of the foot of the shank is etched with the date 11/17/79. The plateau rim top and shank end were dirty and debris in the plateau. The bowl had been reamed and was smooth on the inside walls of the bowl. There were some tars and oils in the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem. The fancy turned, vulcanite stem was oxidized and dirty with light tooth marks and chatter in the top and underside of the stem ahead of the button. I took some photos of the pipe to show its condition before I started my work on it. The relatively clean bowl looks quite good. There was some debris in the plateau rim top and some lava build up on the inner edge and the grooves of the plateau. It looked to be in good condition other than the debris and darkening. The fancy vulcanite saddle stem was dirty, lightly oxidized and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the stem to show the condition of both.The stamping on the shank are not to be found on the shank. There is however, an etched 11/17/79 on the flat bottom of the foot as shown in the photos below. I tried to capture the detail in the photos below. I also took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the proportion of this pipe. It is really a beauty. I turned to work on the pipe itself. I worked over the plateau rim top and shank end with a brass bristle wire brush to knock off the debris. It removed the debris and it looked much better.I scrubbed the bowl exterior with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean the debris in the rustication and also remove the oils and tars in the finish. I rinsed it with clean warm water and dried it off with a soft cotton cloth. I used a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth out the damage and darkening on the smooth inner edge of the bowl. It looked much better once the debris was removed.I cleaned out the mortise and airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I was able to remove the grime and oils in the shank and the airway in the stem.I used a black Sharpie pen to touch up the valleys and deep spots on the plateau rim top and shank end. It looks much better at this point.I polished the smooth portions of the bowl and shank along with the high spots on the plateau with 320-3500 grit sanding pads. It smoothed out the finish very well and made the contrast between the ridges and valleys of the finish stand out well. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips and a horsehair shoe brush to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed it off with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed the surface of the stem with cotton pads and Soft Scrub. I was able to remove the debris on the stem and the oxidation on the surface. It looked much better.I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all considerably. I filled in the two deep marks – one on each side of the stem just ahead of the button – with black rubberized CA glue. Once it cured, I sanded the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. It looked significantly better at this point. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to further blend in the repairs and remove the residual light oxidation on the stem surface. I am happy with the way that it looked at this point.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This No Name Mixed Finish Plateau Freehand etched 11/17/79 with a vulcanite fancy saddle stem has a beautiful, unique finish with great grain on the smooth portions and rustication on the sides and shank. The medium brown finish highlights some great grain around the bowl and shank. It has a unique finish and the polished fancy turned stem adds to the mix. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel being careful to not buff the stamping. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished No Name Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inch x 2 inches long, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.57 ounces/72 grams. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. I will be sending it back to Robert once I finish the other 11 pipes he sent me to restore. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of this beauty. Thanks for your time.