Tag Archives: Stem repairs

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

Blog by Steve Laug

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

A Desirable REJECT London Made

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Blog by Dal Stanton

When I came across this classic half bent billiard while I was trolling through 100s of offerings on eBay’s auction block, I paused. The first thing that claimed my attention was its size. If there was ever a ‘meat lovers sized’ pipe, to use the American burger sound bite, this would be it. The UK seller simply described it as a ‘superb large bowl’. When the pipe arrived, I measured it and it is: length 6 5/16 inches, height 2 3/8 inches, chamber diameter 7/8 inches, chamber depth 1 13/16 inches, and the full stummel width is 1 3/4 inches – 68 grams for those who weigh pipes. A fist-full of stummel! Here is the eBay picture of the Billiard.The other interesting thing about the eBay offering was its marking. The left shank side reads “REJECT” over “LONDONMADE”. The only lead I found for this “REJECT” stamping was in ‘Who Made That Pipe?’ by Herb Wilzak and Tom Colwell, which provided only one reference to “Reject” as belonging to the W. H. Carrington Co. started in 1891 by William Henry Carrington in Manchester, England. This came from the brief Pipedia article which also states that after a century of operation it went out of business. I found more information in a Pipes Magazine Forum thread but the source of the information was not cited.

WH Carrington as an entity dates back at least to the late 1880s. It continued to exist for about a century, with liquidation notices appearing in the London Gazette in 1987. Whether or not the business remained in the family that whole time is another matter; I doubt it, but have no evidence one way or the other.

Most threads I read commenting on WHC pipes were about earlier turn of the century pipes with hallmarks – a much earlier vintage. I came up empty finding information that would confirm that the Reject before me is indeed a WHC pipe except for Wilczak and Colwell’s reference. With a very nice looking Reject on my work table now, I take additional pictures to fill in the gaps. The question that begs asking is what is ‘Reject’ about this pipe? Overall, it’s in good shape. The chamber has very mild cake build up, and the stummel surface shows some small fills and usual dents of wear. The stem has been cleaned, it seems, very little chatter or oxidation. I only detect two issues as I look at the Reject London Made. First, the finish on the stummel is shiny and acrylic-like, which, to me, hides the natural briar. It is cloudy and I’ll remove it and work on the broad landscape of this stummel real estate to bring out the briar. I like this challenge! The other issue is the stem – it is under-clocked and a bit catawampus. I will heat the vulcanite and restore a good bend in alignment with the pipe. The reason this pipe was stamped ‘Reject’ coming out of the factory is a mystery to me unless it was destined to be a higher end pipe and the briar had too many imperfections…. Only conjecture and I would appreciate anyone’s input on this.

I begin by plopping the stem in an Oxy-Clean bath even though the oxidation seems very light. While the stem is in the bath, I use the Savinelli pipe knife to clean up the chamber walls which takes little time. I follow by sanding the chamber wall with 240 grit paper wrapped around a Sharpie Pen. To clean the carbon dust residue, I wipe the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%. The pictures show the progress. I like working on a clean pipe so I work on the internals using cotton swabs and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. With very little effort the mortise and draft are clean.Moving to the external stummel surface, I use Murphy’s Soap undiluted with cotton pads and a bristled tooth brush to clean the grime off. The Murphy’s Soap does a good job removing the old shiny finish.Looking closely at the surface, the dent I saw earlier I want to remove using the iron approach, that I have yet to try, but this dent looks like a good candidate. I’ve read several other restorations where this method was used. Using a heated clothes iron, I use a wet wash cloth and lay it over the dent area and then I apply the iron to that point. The concept is based upon the water content of wood being heated and absorbing the water and expanding the dented area – wood is a sponge-like material when wet. I apply the iron several times and gradually I see the severity of the dent lessening with each heat application. I can still see the dent but it should be more easily removed using a sanding sponge. Using a medium and light grade sanding sponge I work on the stummel to remove the minor wear nicks and dents on the surface. I like a softer edge on the inner rim lip so I introduce a gentle bevel both to give it a softer look and to remove some scorched areas. I think an inner bevel adds a bit of class as well. I first use a coarser 120 grit paper to cut the bevel then I follow with 240 grit and 600 grit paper to smooth and blend the bevel. The pictures show the progress. I now turn to the micromesh pad cycles. Using pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stummel followed by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and then 6000 to 12000. Throughout the sanding, I’m careful to avoid the Reject markings. The grain is looking good. The pictures show the progress. I put the stummel aside and fish the stem out of the Oxy-Clean bath. Very little oxidation has surfaced. I use 600 grit paper and wet sand the stem followed by sand buffing the stem with 0000 steel wool. The pictures show the progress.Before I proceed further with the internal cleaning of the stem and the external polishing, I want to correct the bend of the stem. With great difficulty, I am able finally to pass a smooth pipe cleaner through the stem. The pipe cleaner helps to maintain the airway integrity while I heat and re-bend the stem. Using the heat gun to heat the stem, I turn the stem to apply the heat evenly over the stem to soften the vulcanite making it pliable. I then straighten both the stem clock-wise to correct the under-clocking. While still pliable I re-establish the bend over a block of wood and set the new shape under cool tap water. The first time around, the button was still not ‘clocked’ to my satisfaction. I reheated and made the additional adjustment and again, set the shape under cool tap water. I reattach stem and stummel to eyeball things and the newly aligned stem bend and clocked button look good. I take pictures to chronicle the progress with the stem. I now clean the internals of the stem using pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. The stem is clean but I find that even though I’ve re-bent the stem the pipe cleaners will not move through the bend of the stem. I decide to open the slot area with a round pointed needle file moving it back and forth in the slot. After this, I take a drill bit, smaller than the slot opening, and insert it into the airway rotating it against the edges of the airway hoping to expand the internal airway area as it enters the slot. This seems to help yet the bend is still tight on the pipe cleaners, but they are passing through. The stem is clean. The pictures show the progress. Time to bring out the micromesh pads to finish the stem. With pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stem. I follow by dry sanding with pads 3200 to 4000 and then 6000 to 12000. With each set of 3 I apply Obsidian Oil to the stem to revitalize the vulcanite, and I love to see the pop of the vulcanite as it moves through the micromesh cycles! I put the stem aside to dry. The pictures show the progress. Turning back to the stummel, I decide to apply Fiebing’s Dark Brown Leather Dye to the Reject London Made to emulate the darker hues of the original finish. Since it is an aniline dye, I can lighten the finish to taste by wiping the stained stummel with cotton pads wetted with isopropyl. The large stummel has a lot of briar real estate to show off with a smattering of different grains – pleasing to the eye and a handful of stummel to boot! I just acquired Fiebing’s Black Leather Dye and I decide to experiment. I will add a touch of it to the dark brown to create the blend. The first snag I run into is that this is the largest stummel I’ve worked on and my usual corks that I use to prop the stummel on the candle stick during the staining process were too small. I rummaged through our cork supply and found only one large enough. I warm the stummel to expand the briar enabling the dye to absorb better into the grain. I apply the dye liberally over the surface with a pipe cleaner folded over. Then I fire the wet dye and the alcohol content burns off setting the stain. I repeat the process again to assure total coverage and set the stummel aside to rest. After several hours, I ‘unwrap’ the fired stummel using the Dremel mounted with a felt buffing wheel. With the Dremel at its slowest speed, I move methodically over the stummel applying Tripoli compound to remove the crusted fired surface. I don’t apply too much downward pressure on the briar but I allow the RPMs and the compound to do the work for me. After completed, I use cotton pads wetted with alcohol to wipe down the stummel to lighten the stained finish and to blend the dye. After this, I mount a cotton cloth wheel on the Dremel and apply Blue Diamond compound and methodically work the wheel over the entire surface. After completed, I again wipe the stummel with cotton pads wetted with isopropyl 95%. I follow this by doing another quick tour over the stummel with the Blue Diamond. The use of black dye with the dark brown has the effect of darkening the grain which I’m liking as I see the grain surfacing through the compound cycles. The pictures show the progress.To remove the compound dust, I hand buff the stummel with a flannel cloth. After mounting the Dremel with a cotton cloth wheel and increasing the speed to 2, one notch over the slowest, I apply several coats of carnauba wax to the stummel and reattached stem. I follow this with a rigorous hand buffing with a micromesh cloth. When I experimented by adding black dye to the dark brown I didn’t anticipate the unique hue that would result. The briar grain veins seem to have latched on to the black and the lighter grains came out with a golden/copper kettle blend that is striking – very interesting and attractive. If this REJECT – LONDON MADE is a product of the W. H. Carrington Co., I cannot say why it received this factory stamp. For those who like huge pipes that fill the hand, this big boy, bent billiard fits the bill and needs a new steward! All the profits of pipes I sell help the Daughters of Bulgaria, an organization we work with that helps women and children who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. If you’re interested in this REJECT, hop over to my blog site, The Pipe Steward. Thanks for joining me!

Comoy’s Royal Falcon Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Dal Stanton

The eBay seller from UK gave a decent, though brief, accounting of the origins of Comoy from Saint-Claude, France, and started in the 1820s by Francois Comoy. His son, Henri, started the London extension of the Comoy name in 1879 with not much more than the tools of his trade – making pipes. He is cited by Pipedia as being the author of the appellation, “London Made”. In 1929 the company merged with the macro-concern, Oppenheimer Pipes. With this, albeit brief history, Pipedia’s describes the present summation:

Comoy’s remained a family owned company until it was finally taken over by Cadogan Investments during the early 1980’s. Cadogan have continued to manufacture Comoy pipes to the present day and, under Michael Adler, the Comoy brand is their flagship and efforts are being made to once more re-instate the well known quality of the brand.

The half-bent Bulldog I rescued from my “Help Me!” basket is marked on the left shank, “Royal” over “Falcon” (curved). The right shank is marked, “Made In London” (circled) over “England”. The eBay seller’s listing indicated there was a shape number “13” which I cannot see. The stem is stamped with the image of a falcon perched on a branch. Here are the pictures of the Royal Falcon on my worktable: A quick trip to the Pipe Phil site confirms that Royal Falcon appears to be a prominent second of Comoy’s showing an example of the interesting stem stamping of a falcon perched on a branch – much busier than most stamps.

What drew me to bid on this Bulldog was the stem. Within the Bulldog classification, is seems that most Bulldogs sport straight saddle stems, where the diamond shaped shank culminates in the saddle and the stem is then flat from the saddle to the button. Rarer still, it seems are the bent Bulldogs which most often are fitted with a saddle stem as above. Most rare, it seems is what I see now with this Comoy’s Royal Falcon – a half-bent stem that carries the characteristic diamond shaped shank into the stem and then gradually tapers out along the stem – giving the impression that the stem is much longer than perhaps it is with the bow of the diamond shaped shank/stem. The tapered diamond stem is very nice and will look nice restored with the Falcon perched on his branch! The chamber as a lite cake residue which I will remove down to the briar for a fresh start. The rim has hardened crusted lava needing attention. The front upper dome of the stummel has a nice dent along with several dents and cuts marking both sides of curved part of the stummel transitioning into the diamond shaped shank – an obvious result of the natural placement of the Bulldog on the table or counter. There are several fills that have lightened and are showing through the old clouded finish. The stem is heavily oxidized with moderate teeth chatter on the upper and lower bit. The first thing I do to restore and recommission the Royal Falcon Bulldog is to place the stem in an Oxi-Clean bath after putting petroleum jelly over the falcon stamp.With the paper towel, down to catch the carbon dust and fragments, I use the Pipnet Reaming Kit to ream the chamber. I use only the smallest blade in the Bulldog chamber and remove the lion-share of carbon. I follow the reaming blade using the Savinelli Pipe Knife to scrape the chamber wall and remove more carbon. Using a piece of 240 grit paper I fold it over a Sharpie Pen and sand the chamber wall and finish by wiping the chamber with a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%. The chamber looks good. The pictures show the progress. Turning directly to the internals of the stummel, using cotton swabs and pipe cleaners wetted with isopropyl 95%, I work on cleaning the stummel. I also utilize a spade dental tool to scrape the mortise walls to stir up the old tars and oils. There was a good bit of gunk, but the swabs and pipe cleaners started coming clean. Later I’ll use a salt and alcohol soak to clean further.Now, I clean the external surface of the stummel using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a cotton pad and bristled tooth brush I work on the crusted rim as well as the grime on the stummel surface. Using a tooth pick I scape the grooves circling the stummel. The crust on the rim is not moving so I use a brass bristled brush which removes most of the hard lava crust, but not all. Using my pin knife, I carefully scrape the rim removing the last crusted carbon holdouts. After cleaning, I then rinse the stummel in warm tap water to rinse off the grime. The Murphy’s Soap well removed the thin finish and I’m looking a bare briar for the most part. Doing a quick inspection of the surface, there are several cuts and some fills in the briar surface. The pictures show the progress and the inspection. I use a medium grade sanding sponge to sand out the nicks and cuts. I focus especially on the ‘keel’ of the Bulldog where most thumps and bumps occurred. On some deeper cuts, I strategically use a rolled piece of 240 grit paper where more abrasion was needed. I also give the rim a ‘semi-topping’ with the firmer coarser sponge. I follow by sanding with a lite grade sanding sponge to smooth more. The inner ring of the rim has a bevel and it is darkened. Using a piece of 120 grit paper I clear out the damaged briar and reestablish a crisp inner bevel. I follow this with 240 grit paper and finish with sanding sponges. The pictures show the progress.I put the stummel aside and pluck the stem out of the Oxi-Clean bath. I start by wet sanding with 600 grit paper to work on the raised oxidation but soon switch to 240 grit paper. The oxidation is stiff. I’m careful to avoid abrasion on the Falcon stem stamping. I’m hopeful that there is enough definition left in the stamping to restore it later with white acrylic paint. After using 240 grit paper, I then wet sand 600 grit paper then 0000 steel wool. The oxidation is left over the falcon stamping and I hope that Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser will help remove the oxidation without damage to the stem stamp. I think it helped, but there is still discoloration over the area but the stamping is still intact. The pictures show the progress dealing with the oxidation. Before I forget it, I now turn to the stem internals cleaning it with pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. Without too much resistance, the pipe cleaner come through clean without too much effort.Moving ahead straight away with the stem, I use micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 and wet sand the stem. Following this I dry sand using pads 3200 to 4000 then 6000 to 12000. Following each set of 3 I apply Obsidian Oil to the stem to revitalize the vulcanite. With the last cycle, I set the stem aside to dry. The pictures show the progress. With the stem completed except for the final polishing phase and repainting the Falcon stem marking, I turn to the stummel using micromesh pads 1500 to 12000. With the first set of three, 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stummel, then with the following sets, 3200 to 4000 and 6000 to 12000 I dry sand. Throughout, I avoided the markings on the shank panels. The pictures show the progress. With the original color leaning toward the darker brown side, I will use Fiebing’s Dark Brown Leather Dye and then lighten as I see need using a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95%. To prepare the stummel, I use a sharp dental probe to trace the twin grooves to remove any leftover briar dust from the sanding. Then I wipe the stummel with a cotton pad and isopropyl to clean away any dust. Placing my ‘stain board’ down on my work station I put a cork in the shank to act as a handle and then heat up the stummel with a heat gun. This expands the briar and allows for a better absorption of the dye. I use a folded over pipe cleaner to apply the dye liberally over the surface. I fire the aniline dye and the alcohol burns off immediately, setting the hue in the briar. To make sure the coverage is complete, I repeat the process above including the firing of the dye. I then set the stummel aside to rest. The pictures show the fire crusted stummel. With the stummel on the sidelines a while, I look at the falcon stem marking. Pipe Phil’s example shows a lot of lines and contours shaping the bird and his perch. I’m not sure my falcon has that much detail left after wear and sanding over the years. After a closer look, it appears that the imprinted falcons are slightly different – my falcon appears that he’s looking up more than the other. For comparison, I’ve placed the two together below. I’ll see what I can do with white acrylic paint. The first approach was to apply paint and then, before drying, to carefully wipe it away, leaving paint in the grooves. This did not work – seems like there was not enough groove to hold the paint. Next, I applied more paint and let it dry. That did not work either. I’m not sure if this is usually done in pipe restorations, but the problem is that the lines of the falcon stamping are too thin and will not hold the acrylic paint. I decide to take the point of my pocket knife and attempt to sculpt the lines that are there to deepen them. It took several iterations of sculpting, then applying paint, drying and scraping off with a toothpick, before I arrive at the best I can do at this point! The pictures show some of the process. With the falcon stem marking completed, it’s time to ‘unwrap’ the fire crusted stummel. I use Tripoli compound with a felt buffing wheel mounted on the Dremel and use the slowest speed available and rotate the wheel over the surface, without too much down pressure on the briar, but allowing the RPMs of the Dremel and the compound to do the work. I take a picture into this process. When completed with the Tripoli, I use a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% to wipe down the stummel to lighten the dark brown dye as well as to blend the dye. When satisfied (forgot to take a picture!) with the shade, next I mount a cotton cloth wheel and turn the speed up half a notch, to 1.5 and apply Blue Diamond compound in the same manner as with Tripoli. After the Blue Diamond I give the stummel a good buffing with a flannel cloth to remove the compound dust from the stummel before application of the wax. After joining stem and stummel, I then mount a cotton cloth wheel on the Dremel and apply carnauba wax to the stummel. I give the stummel 3 coats of carnauba and then finish by giving the stummel and stem a hand-buff with a micromesh cloth.I’m very pleased with the results. The Comoy’s Royal Falcon is an attractive Bent Bulldog. I like the lines of the diamond shank flowing into the tapered stem. The Royal Falcon looks good re-perched on his branch. The briar grain is rich and deep. I sell my restorations with the profits helping the work we do with the Daughters of Bulgaria – those sexually exploited and trafficked. This Bulldog is ready to serve a new steward. If you’re interested in adopting him and helping the Daughters, check out The Pipe Steward Store. Thanks for joining me!

Challenges of a Bakelite Stem Rebuild – A Meerschaum Carved Vineyard

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Blog by Dal Stanton

When I first saw the Meer before me on the eBay auction block, I was first attracted by the patina showing on the combination smooth and sculpted surfaces. The base of the billiard bowl showcases two opposing sculpted frescoes, one with the vineyard in expectation of fruit, and the other with the fulfillment – a rack of grapes appearing from behind the grapevine leaves. Hope and fulfillment are always pleasing themes for reflection as one smokes a bowl of his (or her!) favorite blend. The patina of the aging meerschaum is concentrated at the base of the stummel, encompassing the frescoes and then gradually thinning and lightening toward the rim and toward the shank. The other characteristic that drew my attention was the color and taper of the Bakelite stem completing the bent billiard flow. It just looked good to me. I have no idea of a carver as there are no markings on the Meer, and the only information from the seller was that its origins were in Europe – it was a gift to the original owner by his sister who lived in Belgium in the 1970s. Taking it from the ‘Help Me!’ basket, I place it on my work table here in Sofia, Bulgaria, and record the Meer’s condition when it came to me. The characteristics and make-up of meerschaum are not widely understood – I know because I was among those who looked at the white coral-like material and wondered what exactly it was! The word ‘meerschaum’ has German origins, literally meaning ‘sea foam’. This brief description from Meerschaum.com is helpful:

Meerschaum is a very rare mineral, a kind of hard white clay. Light and porous structure of the pipe keeps the smoke cool and soft. The pipe itself is a natural filter which absorbs the nicotine. Because of this peculiarity, meerschaum pipes slowly change their colors to different tones of gold and dark brown. This adds an esthetic enjoyment to its great smoking pleasure. The longer a pipe is smoked the more valuable it becomes due to the color change. Today many old and rare meerschaums have found a permanent place in museums and private collections.

Meers are popular because they require no breaking in, no cake, and no resting between smokes. Many consider Meers to be a cooler and dryer smoking experience. The one main issue with Meers is that they don’t like to be dropped on hard floors – that is never a good thing! Most Meerschaum is mined in Turkey and for the curious who want to know what exactly the material is, one last excerpt from Altinok Meerschaum’s facts page:

The geologist knows the light, porous Meerschaum as hydrous magnesium silicate. The pipe smoker knows it as the perfect material for providing a cool, dry, flavorful smoke. The mineral itself is the fossilized shells of tiny sea creatures that fell to the ocean floor over 50 million years ago, there to be covered and compressed over the ages by layer upon layer of silt. Profound movements in the earth’s crust raised the creamy white stone of Meerschaum above sea level. There men eventually discovered it and created an incomparable pipe from it. The first record of Meerschaum as a pipe dates from around 1723.

The stummel on the Meer before me has a lot of grime and dirt with nicks showing his age and that he has been well used. The challenge with Meer is always how to clean and restore but not to remove the patina, which for a Meerschaum, is the honorific equivalent of the respect owed to those blessed with gray hair and long life in the Bible. The rim has thick lava and the bowl has moderate cake which will need to be removed with care – cake is not needed on a Meer! The more daunting questions focus on the stem. The obvious challenge is the large chip on the end of the stem which also has removed almost half of the button. I could prepare for this repair by ordering and having someone bring from the US to Bulgaria Behlen’s Medium Yellow Furniture Powders to form a putty patch. I will attempt to repair the stem with the help of others – we’ll see! The other challenge that I was not able to discern from the eBay pictures, was the push tenon. The mortise was threaded for a screw in tenon but the tenon I see connected to the stem has no threads and only engages the mortise as the mortise narrows after the threads. You can see how much of the tenon is engaged by the coloration (last picture above) – only about half. When I test the engaged tenon, there is a bit of a wiggle to the stem and it isn’t solidly seated as one would expect. While the stem, when connected to the shank is usable, it isn’t ideal. I’ll give some thought to this challenge and perhaps seek counsel.

Leaving the question about the approach for the tenon, I decide to start on the clean-up of the stummel. I first clean the rim by using cotton pads wetted with isopropyl 95% – I just want to see how much of the lava and stain will come off. Not much did. I then decide to use a medium grade sanding sponge and lightly top the rim – not aiming to take off the meerschaum but to break through the crusty stuff and remove the burnt areas. That did the trick. Pictures show the progress. I can now see the inner edge of the chamber wall and using both a pin knife and the Savinelli Pipe Knife carefully I ream the bowl and remove the cake. I follow this by using 240 grit paper and sand the walls to remove more of the carbon. I wasn’t satisfied with the 240 grit so I rolled up some coarser 120 grit wrapped around a Sharpie Pen and that did the trick. Much nicer. I complete the reaming with cleaning the bowl with a cotton wipe wetted with isopropyl 95%. The fire chamber looks good. To remove the blackening on the inner ring of the rim, I give it a very gentle bevel with 240 grit sanding paper rolled. The pictures show the progress. With the bowl reamed I clean the mortise internals. Using pipe cleaners and Q-tips, dipped in isopropyl 95%, I discover quickly that I’m not able to get a pipe cleaner through the mortise through the draught hole. I twist, turn and angle – it feels like there’s an obstruction. I blow through the mortise and find that air is moving through without pressure build up. Finally, the pipe cleaner moved through. Looking more closely in the mortise with a directed light I see in the throat of the mortise just beyond the end of the threading appears to be a plastic tubing. I manage to take a picture of it. I’m not sure if this is part of the internal system or something broken off and lodged. Yet, this plastic tube is what the tenon is engaging. With great difficulty, I can probe the area what appears to be beyond the tubing and find the airway which seems to be a sharp turn up from the angle of the mortise’s drilling as the pipe cleaner emerges from the plastic tubing. This doesn’t seem right. I’ll research more to see what the tubing is. The mortise is clean, so I move to the cleaning the externals of the bowl.To clean the external surface of the stummel, I use undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap with a cotton pad as well as scrubbing the sculpted lines of the vineyard frescoes. The amount of grime on the surface becomes apparent as from the before and after pictures. The pictures show the progress. I then sanded the bowl with micromesh pads not to remove every scratch, which is a sign of character and age, but to restore the shine of a vital meerschaum surface. I wet sanded the surface using pads 1500 to 2400 then dry sanded using micromesh pads 3200 to 4000. I was not aggressive but careful not to damage the patina. I like the result.Regarding the stem and tenon questions I referenced above, I sent a note off to Steve and about the push-pull tenon system and what to do with this Meer. In the end, I decide to order a new replacement system. I sent a note and measurements off to Tim at http://www.jhlowe.com/ and am waiting for his recommendations. Since I live in Bulgaria, ordering parts from the States is no small thing as I have it sent to someone coming and they carry it for me. Saves a bit on postage. With the tenon situation on hold and on order, I turn to the technical part of this restoration that I’ve been anticipating for some time. Repairing the Bakelite stem or per Steve, possibly a similar material called Amberoid, has been a subject of my research. The stems most often associated with Meerschaums are the attractive, rich honey yellow color. The challenge in a repair is matching the yellow color and glass-like texture of the Bakelite or Amberoid. When I researched this question, I came across Reborn Pipes contributor, Joyal Taylor’s (aka holymolar) 3-part series on patching amber colored stems in 2014. Starting at the first essay, Stem Patch Using Amber Super Glue, Part 1, I benefited from Joyal demonstrating not only what did work well, but what didn’t. Also of benefit were the comments many others contributed at the end of the blogs. So, thanks to Joyal’s trial and error approach, I’m able to jump to a solution in Essay 3 that worked best for him. I hope I can emulate his success! Before beginning on the repair, I want the stem internals to be clean. Taking pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl, I go to work on the stem. The resistance was a bit more than I expected. The cavity behind the screw-in tenon was gummed up good and I expended several Q-tips and a sharp and spade dental tools helped scrape the cavity walls to break up the gunk. There is some dark staining on the internal airway but the pipe cleaners are now coming out clean.In essay 3, Joyal employed the use of Medium Yellow Behlen Furniture Powder (pictured below) which I found on eBay at this LINK. Previously, he had employed amber colored superglue which came out too clear – lacking the opaque quality needed for a good match. In the second essay, he tried to employ a mixture of Fiebing’s yellow and orange leather dyes and thick superglue. He found that the chemistry of the dyes caused the superglue to setup instantly. Also in essay 2 he mixed StewMac 2-part clear epoxy with Fiebing’s yellow and orange dyes, which mixed well, but the results were less than satisfactory – for both the hue and the texture. The final essay he tried the powder approach using Behlen Medium Yellow with extra thick superglue and the results were the best. Below I picture the match-up between the colors of the powder and the stem. Not bad. Joyal’s final assessment was helpful for the stem I’m looking at now:

This time I tried Behlen’s yellow powder w/ StewMac’s thick clear superglue. This is the best so far. Good color and opaque. Some of the powder didn’t mix in but it all polished smoothly. I had to leave the patch thick at the edge because every time I tried to sand it – smooth it [next] to the acrylic, I would remove more of the original color from the acrylic and have to add more patch material. Oh well, this may be as good as I can do, for now.

The last observation is helpful because it lets me know that the basic solidity of the patch could be ‘softer’ relatively speaking, than the stem material so that he was removing more collateral stem material than he wanted. So, off we go! I begin the patch on the Meer’s Bakelite stem by taking another close-up focusing on the patch areas. The patch has two parts. First, the side of the stem chipped off parallel with the right-side stem edge until it enters the button area. At this point the break encompasses the entire corner – stem and button. It appears to me the break was caused by dropping the Meer on a hard surface and the impact point was the end of the stem. The second part of the patch is to rebuild the button. To do this, I’ll apply a ‘surplus’ amount of the patch putty not only to the damaged, missing part, but over the entire button. This will allow me to shape a new button with adequate edges. To mix with the Behlen powder I have a newly acquired bottle of BSI Extra Thick Maxi-Cure CA glue. I’ll start the mixture aiming at a 50/50 ratio and eyeball things. I want to mix it well so that the powder is fully dissolved. I’m also not sure how much time I have before the new CA glue starts setting. I first take 240 grit sanding paper and rough up the entire patch area to increase the bonding potential between the Bakelite and patch putty. Now, I construct a ‘slot mold’ for the button. The slot area is shaped like a concave canoe that the button edges encompass. I need to keep putty out of this area and form a mold of sorts for the putty. The results of this mold would remind one of the Wolverine in X-Men. As menacing as it appears, the center toothpick anchors the mold in the airhole and the ‘wing-picks’ are wedging the edges. The folded index card forming the mold I cover with smooth tape so it won’t adhere to the putty. Prep done, I pour some Behlen powder in a plastic egg crate to double as a mixing trough. With tools and toothpicks at hand to serve as putty trowels, I add BSI Extra Thick Maxi-Cure CA to the powder and begin mixing. Well, if this were a science experiment it would remind me of my first chemistry set in 5^th grade. Every 10-year-old with a new chemistry set sees the formula included for a ‘skunk bomb’ and tries it as his first experiment. I was no exception. After adding the glue to the powder and mixing, the mixture began to smoke and harden very quickly. After running the smoking egg crate to the bathroom and adding water to the mix, the smoke stopped and I return to the work table and record my science experiment with a picture capturing the toothpick forever encased in the hardened yellow putty. The pictures show the progression. Now fully in step with Jowal’s methodology of ‘Trial and Error’ progress, I ask the question, what happened? I’m not sure, but my guess is that I started with too much powder and adding the glue to it was not sufficient to keep it in liquid form. My guess is that the rapid hardening created the reactions (chemical energy!), which created the smoke, leading to my emergency procedures. This time I will approach the process like I do with a charcoal and super glue mix – put both powder and glue on an index card together and mix more gradually and see what happens. Well, I’ve proven that the methodology is not the culprit. Again, smoke was produced from the mixture on the index card while I started applying the putty to the stem. At this point, I’m thinking that the new glue I’m using might be the problem. I’ll try again with a glue I’ve used in the past. Thankfully, I could remove the hardened putty that did make it to the stem, by carefully scraping with my thumb nail. The bright side of this is that the color match with the stem looks great! Lesson 2 learned – what not to do. Pictures show the progression of lesson 2. While contemplating the next step, an email came in from Tim at J. H. Lowe in Ohio, and as expected, his note is very helpful:

The regular push-pull set is what you need. Are there threads inside the mortise? There are two sizes of these sets but the larger one is only used when the threads are very worn out and the oversize mortise part has to be fitted in the shank to fix this kind of worn out repair sleeve. I sell these by the each for $3 and by the dz. for a discounted price. You’ll need to change out the stem peg and the sleeve in the Meers pipe repair.

I responded by ordering 3 of each size so I’ll have some on hand for future projects. So, in a couple weeks, the new push-pull system order will arrive with a friend coming to visit Bulgaria. By that time, the rest of the Meerschaum Carved Vineyard should be ready and waiting with a quick finish to the restoration.

For the third go – I repeat roughing the patch area with 240 grit sanding paper to remove putty residue from Lesson 2. Then, after replacing Wolverine, I change glues using Hot Stuff Special ‘T’ CA glue and mix the same way that I did in Lesson 2, placing a puddle of glue alongside the Behlen Medium Yellow powder and gradually mix by drawing the powder into the glue until (hopefully) the mixture reaches a molasses like consistency. If it doesn’t ‘smoke’ this time, we’ll know the problem of Lessons 1 & 2. Unfortunately, the ‘smoking’ is repeated and the putty hardened very quickly. My conclusion to the problem, and the pictures below show the progression of my solution. The problem is that I’m adding too much Behlen powder to the mix or not enough glue. I’m estimating that instead of a 50/50 mixture, I need an 80/20 ratio of glue to powder. I’m not sure of the chemistry involved, but the smoke produced happens when the mixture hardens. I had more time gradually to build up the patch with the greater glue ratio. Of course, the question remains, will the lesser powder content change the color match or texture? We’ll see. The pictures show the several cycles of building the patch around the button area. I had only so much time before the hardening would happen and I would make another small batch. The last picture shows the successfully removed Wolverine mold and the success of guarding the slot area from the putty. The proof of this yellow pudding will be in the filing, sanding and shaping of the Behlen powder and superglue putty patch. I use needle files and 240 sanding paper to do the initial shaping. Starting from the slot side – the end of the stem, I like to create a baseline by re-establishing end by removing the excess. After removing excess putty on the end, I find the original button. Since the left side of the button needs to be totally rebuilt, as it was broken off, I use the remaining right side of the button and slot shape to help me form the left side of the slot so it will match. With the baseline established, using the flat edge needle file, I begin to contour the general proportions of the button – lower then upper. The pictures show the gradual progress. With the general contours of the button established, I then score a line with the flat needle file to mark the upper button lip edge. With this edge established, I then file down the score line to establish the lip. I turn the file vertically and use the short edge as a saw and set the edge deeper. I like to have that edge established so that I can then begin to remove methodically the excess patch putty more accurately to the left of the lip on the second picture below. After removing as much of the excess putty as possible with the flat needle file, to avoid collateral filing into the Bakelite, I then use 240 grit paper to smooth the surface and remove the putty. The upper bit looks good so far! The pictures show the progress. I flip the stem over and repeat same process starting with defining the bit and creating a lip to guide the excess putty removal. While I work, I’m keeping an eye on the right side (lower in the picture below) of the stem where the major stem rebuild was. I recall Joyal’s observations of having to keep the patch high because during the smoothing and blending process sanding on the edge of the patch was taking too much of the stem material in the process. He then described having to refill with more patch the ‘border’ between patch and stem. The pictures show the progress on the lower bit area. The next two pictures show the completion of the filing and use of 240 grit sanding paper. I then use 600 grit paper to smooth and blend more and finish with briskly rubbing with 0000 steel wool. At this stage of the stem repair, I look at the patch areas (3^rd picture) and the use of Behlen Furniture Powder Medium Yellow and Special ‘T’ CA glue is strong. Building up the chip area and missing button portion wasn’t easy but it looks good. The color is good though it has a speckled quality to it created by small air pockets in the patch which were exposed during the sanding. This I have found is normal. To fill the pockets, I apply a dab of Hot Stuff CA glue on the stem patch and then ‘paint’ it over the patch using a toothpick. I do the same with the button lips – upper and lower. I repeat sanding with 600 grit and then steel wool (I forgot to take pictures of filling the air pockets!). The pictures show the progress. With the repairs to the stem completed, using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stem. Following this, I dry sand the stem using pads 3200 to 4000 and then, 6000 to 12000. The Bakelite (or Amberoid, I’ll have to figure out how to tell the difference) stem gradually shines up nicely with each successive micromesh cycle. The pictures show the progress.I follow the micromesh cycles with applying Blue Diamond compound to the stem with the cotton cloth Dremel wheel set to the slowest speed. I then mount the carnauba cotton cloth wheel on the Dremel and give the stem 3 coats of carnauba wax. I follow the carnauba with a hand-buff using a microfiber cloth. Wow! I like it. The Bakelite or Amberoid has the appearance of glass – the patch has no textural differences with the original stem. The last two pictures are flipped to show what I’m seeing after the buff. Stem completed for now – the new push-pull tenon system should be in transit. With the stem completed and on hold for the tenon, I look to complete the stummel of this Meer Carved Vineyard. With of the unique characteristics of Meerschaum pipes, they’re like wine – they get better with age! For Meerschaums, their value increases with use as the oils in the tobacco interact with the unique composition of the Meerschaum the bowl will change color gradually, darkening to the golden, honey brown which is its patina. The Carved Vineyard displays this growing patina and to enhance this natural coloring process, treating the stummel with bees’ wax is the long-used practice of choice. This is my first application of bee’s wax to a Meer and Charles Lemon’s, of Dad’s Pipes, descriptive posts have been helpful as I’ve done my research (See: Quick Clean-up of a Tulip Meerschaum Sitter). One thing very much available in Bulgaria is bees’ wax, which I found in a local outdoor market at the honey kiosk. My price was 3BGN for 100gr (Translation: $1.63 for 1/5 pounds). I don’t know if it’s a deal or a steal. After I unwrap the package, I break off some chunks of the bee’s wax and put them in a small mason jar, which I’ll be able to keep unused wax for the next Meer treatment. Using my hot air gun, I melt the wax in the mason jar. After melting the wax, I hold the Meer over the hot gun to warm up to better absorb the wax. Blame it on Bulgarian winters, but when I finish warming the Meer, the wax has already cooled down and congealing! So, a more rapid wax melting follows, and a re-warming of the Meer stummel. I used a Q-tip cotton swab to paint the bowl with the melted bee’s wax. I was careful to paint the sculpted vineyard lines – getting the wax in the nooks and crannies. I put the stummel aside to cool. Since this was my first time to apply the bee’s wax treatment to a Meer, I was a little surprised how thick the congealed wax was on the stummel after it cooled. It could be that the Meer wasn’t hot enough and the wax was cooling too quickly. Either way, the Meer received a treatment! After cooled, I try buffing with a towel to remove the thicker waxy residue, and I discover that it’s not too easy. I’m thinking that the wax is too thick and it congealed to fast (3^rd picture below). I improvise and I think the improvisation benefited this Meer. Using a Q-tip as a brush, I start passing the thick-layered bees’ wax stummel over the air gun – like passing over a lit candle, it liquefies the wax on the portion impacted by the heat. As the wax liquefies, I paint it into the surface – working it in well and removing the excess with the Q-tip. This time applying wax around the Meerschaum seems to absorb the wax instead of being smothered by it. It didn’t take long and the application of bees’ wax is complete (4^th picture below)! Then, before the stummel cooled down, while yet warm, I buff the stummel with a towel and then with a microfiber cloth and WOW. I’m a believer. The shine and deepening of the patina is evident! The pictures tell the story. With the Meerschaum’s stem and stummel complete – almost – I set both aside waiting for the arrival of the push-pull tenon from the US. I’m beginning to wonder whether this Meer Carved Vineyard should go to The Pipe Steward store, or remain in my collection – often I have that problem 🙂 !

A few weeks later the push-pull tenons arrive via a friend who was willing to carry them to Bulgaria. I open the package sent by Tim West at J.H. Lowe in Columbus, Ohio, and have my first look at what a new push-pull system looks like. I unscrew the old tenon and easily screw the new one in place. The mortise sleeve’s threads worked perfectly as well. The problem though, is that it will not screw all the way in. Previously, I identified a tubing of sorts deeper in the mortise which was the only thing the old tenon was locking into – though poorly. My first inclination was to cut the new mortise tenon sleeve so that being shortened it would fit in the limited space. It was then that I started questioning whether what I was looking at was part of the design or that it was in fact, the left-over remains of the bottom end of the old mortise sleeve which had broken off. After looking closely at the inner tubing, I can see fragments of the old break. Ok! Now I understand that I need to exorcise this vagabond mortise sleeve. I first try wedging a small flat head screw driver in the tubing to ‘unscrew’ it by turning it counter-clockwise. I was hoping that it might be loose, but will not budge. So, using appropriately size drill bits and wood screws, gradually I clear out the obstructing portion by shaving off the material of the old sleeve which I think might be acrylic. I am careful to keep the bits and screws straight so they do not nick the Meer threads. This was not an easy or fast process, but eventually I was satisfied to remove most of the old sleeve – leaving only a very thin ‘skin’ over the threaded area deeper in the mortise, which may indeed help in keeping the mortise cleaner. After this, I screw the new insert into the mortise and trim and sand the protruding ‘head’ of the sleeve to improve the fit and alignment of the mortise and stem. I also sand down the tenon diameter to improve its fit into the sleeve. I’m pleased with the results. The pictures show the replacement of the push-pull tenon system. I’m pleased with the stem rebuild that has blended very well with the Bakelite stem and has put this Meerschaum back in service for a new steward. The patina of the Meerschaum Carved Vineyard has a very healthy start and will only season more with good, aromatic tobaccos. I also like the blending of smooth and carved Meerschaum – a very stylish pipe. If you would like to adopt this Meerschaum Carved Vineyard, look at the Pipe Store in my new blog site at ThePipeSteward.com. The profits of my pipe sales go to help women and children who have been sexually exploited and trafficked through the Daughters of Bulgaria, an organization we work with here in Bulgaria. Thanks for joining me!

Who would have guessed that there was a Beauty in this Beast

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Blog by Steve Laug

Sometimes you have to look past the state of a pipe to really see what could be present underneath all of the layers of dirt and grime. You have to have the right perspective as well. You need to be able to see these pipes as well loved rather than abused; as a favourite pipe rather than a neglected one. This the context in which the next pipe that crossed my worktable is to be viewed. Here is the back-story. Not too long ago I received an email from a friend of mine named Jim, whose pipes I have worked on in the past. He had an interesting story to tell me and a request. I thought rather than tell the story for him I would let him tell it himself. Here is his email in full:

Hey Steve,

I have been hunting about 1200 acres of Farm and Woodland Property owned by an area farmer and old friend of mine named Stephen Lehner. Steve knows I am a pipe aficionado, and approached me the other day with a pipe that had belonged to his father. I was able to get a little history of how this pipe came to be in this abysmal condition. Steve’s father was rather hard on his pipes. As the original owner of this pipe, Steve said his dad, in the latter years of his life, was not given to cleaning his pipes. His cleaning routine, if you could call it that, consisted of digging any ash and unburnt tobacco from the bowl with a pocket knife, then grasping the pipe by the stem, toward the mouthpiece/lip area, and banging it violently against any nearby hard object – trees, brick walls, car mirrors. It was hard enough that Steve’s son, Shawn, remarked that the old man actually damaged the mirrors on his trucks! Mr. Lehner’s pipes were so abused, that he routinely broke stems, necessitating that he acquire new stems – some of which were not well fitted.

In any case, Steve handed me this pipe, stating that it is one of a very few connections he has to his late father, and asked if I could do a cursory cleaning so he could display it as a keepsake (He is not a pipe smoker). I thought the pipe was interesting, if in bad condition. I cannot clearly make out any markings. On one side, there is a partially legible stamping, “…vage” with some cursive writing below it which I cannot make out. On the other side, I can read the number “75.” I think it is a bulldog style. The tenon will not enter all the way into the mortise, and I am not sure if that is because there is so much crud inside or because it is not the correct bit. The bowl is heavily caked and cracked. It also looks as though there was some ad hoc rustication on the bowl, as well. The bowl shows a distinct area of impact where it was banged during cleaning as well.

I attached some pix so you could behold this wonder:Once I saw the pictures I was quite taken back by the sheer beastly look of this old pipe. It had quite literally been beaten to death. The bowl was cracked on the outside of the bowl that started at the front of the bowl and extended to almost the back side. There was a second crack below that on the front of the bowl extending from the bottom of the first crack and extending toward the other side of the bowl. The bowl was so badly caked that I could not even get my pinky finger in the bowl. I tried to blow through the end of the shank and I was unable to get any air through the bowl. The finish was dirty and sticky to touch. The worm trail rustication ran over the bowl surface but was filled in with dirt and grit. From the photos it appeared that the shank inside was incredibly dirty. I think that it is fair to say this pipe was a stranger to pipe cleaners. The stem that was in the shank was not a fit. It was of smaller diameter than the shank. The slot in the stem was almost clogged.

After reading his email and looking over the photos I wrote back to my friend. I was pretty certain from the look of the rustication and the shape number he gave me that the pipe was a GBD. The three letters that he could read on the left side of the shank were age. That led me to look in the GBD list I have and concluded that the pipe was a GBD Sauvage. I looked up some information on a chart I have of GBD lines and knew that the pipe was originally sold with a light brown stain, smooth bowl with deep carved lines to hide flaws. It was similar to a Savinelli Sherwood, but much deeper carved lines. The GBD shape number 75 was a Rhodesian with a1/4 Bent Saddle stem. While this old pipe was a mess it was awfully hard to tell if it ever was a Rhodesian. I sent him this information in my reply.

He wrote back and said he wondered if I would be willing to tackle the restoration on this one. If so he would send it to me. I wrote back and said I would do the work. I guess I will find out if my guesses on the brand of this pipe were correct. I would know more once it arrived.

The pipe arrived and it was indeed a mess. On top of the beat up old pipe, the reek of Middleton’s Cherry pipe tobacco filled the room when I opened the box. My daughters immediately commented on how strong the smell was. I examined the pipe with a lens to see if I could identify the pipe. It was stamped on the left side of the shank with the GBD logo in an oval over Sauvage over Collector in script. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England over 75 which is the shape number. The next photos show what the pipe looked like when I received it. I took a close up photo of the rim to show the absolute dreadful condition this pipe was in when it arrived. The bowl had a thick cake that still reeked of the aroma of burnt Middleton’s Cherry pipe tobacco. The rim had been hammered to what looked like the point of no return – though I would not know for sure until I had removed the cake and the buildup on the rim top. The stem was a replacement one and it was obviously a poor fitting one. The diameter of the stem and the shank were not a match and the tenon could not be pushed into the shank because of the grit and tar built up inside. The button had been flattened by biting and there were tooth dents on it and also on the top and bottom sides. I would definitely need to make a new stem for the pipe. I decided to start by reaming the bowl back to bare wood. I wanted to see if the cracks on the outside continued into the bowl. I fully expected the bowl to fall apart once the carbon was removed and ceased to hold everything together. I started reaming with the smallest cutting blade on the PipNet pipe reamer and worked up to the largest cutting head. I finished reaming the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife.I rolled a piece of 80 grit sandpaper on my index finger and sanded the inside of the bowl. I wanted to be able to clearly see if the cracks on the outside continued into the bowl. The second photo below shows the inside of the bowl. The crack on the left side of the bowl did not seem to show through inside. The one on the front of the bowl still needed some more work to be certain but it also looked like it did not show through. Notice the buildup on the rim it probably protected the top of the bowl to a large degree.I scraped the rim with a pen knife to peel off the cake that overflowed on the top. I carefully held the blade against the surface of the rim and scraped it slowly until all of the buildup was gone. Underneath all of the buildup the rim was in rough shape. It had been beaten pretty hard and the damage was quite extensive. The rim top showed signs of being knocked about hard against that truck mirror mentioned above. If this pipe could have talked I would love to hear the stories it could tell.I topped the bowl on the topping board using 220 grit sandpaper. I decided that I would sand it until the top of the rim was smooth and the damage on the outer edge of the rim was minimized.With the rim topped and smooth I wiped the bowl down with acetone on cotton pads to remove the grime and clean up the surface so I could assess the next steps in dealing with the external cracks on the left side and bowl front. I used a microdrill bit on my Dremel to drill pin holes at each end of the cracks in the bowl. The length of the bit ensures that I will not be able to drill too far and go into the bowl itself. There were five distinct ends to the series of cracks in the briar.I used a dental pick to clean out the cracks with surprisingly had closed tighter once the cake was removed from the bowl releasing the pressure. Once they were clean I pressed briar dust into the crack surfaces and the drill holes in the bowl. I dripped clear super glue on the cracks and into the plugs in the drill holes. I gave the repair several more coats of briar dust and super glue until the surface was filled. The pictures tell the story. I sanded the dried repair and the rest of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess briar dust and glue. I wiped the bowl down with alcohol on a cotton pad. I used a Black Sharpie pen to colour in the worm trail rustication around the bowl sides. I had done some research and found that the rustication on the Sauvage line had been darker than the stain on the bowl.I used the drill bit from the KleenReem Pipe reamer to drill out the buildup in the airway from the mortise to the bowl. It was thick and hard so the drill bit took several passes through the airway to clean it out. I used a dental spatula to scrape out the thick, hard tars that lined the walls of the mortise. I scrubbed out the mortise and airway with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until the internals were clean.I stuffed the bowl with cotton balls until they were just below the edge of the rim. I put a pipe cleaner in the airway to wick the alcohol into the shank. I used an ear syringe to fill the bowl and shank with alcohol. I set the bowl upright in an ice cube tray and let it sit over night to draw the oils out of the briar. In the morning I took a photo of the darkened cotton balls. I used a dental pick to pull them out of the bowl. I cleaned out the shank and the bowl with cotton swabs to remove all the excess alcohol. I let the bowl dry.I stained the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 50/50 with alcohol to make it more transparent. I flamed the stain and restained it. I repeated the process of staining and flaming the surface until the briar had even coverage. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then took the following photos to send to Jim to show him the state of the bowl at this point in the process. There were still scratches in the finish that would need to be polished out but the bowl was showing promise and beauty was emerging from the beast. I left the pipe on my work table while I traveled to Idaho for my mom’s 90^th birthday. I stay with my brother Jeff when I am there and as usual he had a batch of pipes for me. There were some amazing pipes there but what caught my eye this time was the stem I needed for this Sauvage. It was slightly bigger in diameter than the shank but it would not take much to fit it to the pipe. When I got home I lightly sanded the tenon with a Dremel and sanding drum until it fit snugly into the mortise. I took the photo below to show the new stem and the one that was with the pipe when it arrived. I took photos of the stem to show the difference in diameters of the shank and the stem. You can also see the deep tooth marks in the top and bottom sides of the stem near the button.I sanded the diameter with a sanding drum on the Dremel. I do this with the stem inserted in the mortise so that I can remove as much of the excess vulcanite as possible without damaging the briar on the shank. I nicked the edged of the briar but fortunately the nick was not deep. I also lightly sanded the top and underside of the stem with the Dremel and minimized the tooth marks. I sanded the areas on the stem where the tooth marks had damaged the vulcanite with 180 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the surface damage. What remained were the deeper tooth marks. I wiped down the surface of the stem with alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the debris and dust from the tooth marks. I filled the remaining tooth marks with black super glue and set the stem aside to dry.When the repairs had cured I sanded them with 180 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the stem. I sanded the saddle portion of the stem to remove the marks left behind by the sanding drum.I put the stem in the shank and sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to make the transition really smooth. I could have done this differently but there was enough damage to the shank that the sanding would smooth out the briar as well. I wet sanded the stem and shank with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches on the briar and the vulcanite. I was able to remove most of the scratches. The rest would come out with more elbow grease. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol until they came out clean. I used a sharp knife to bevel the airway into the stem. I have found that doing this directs the airflow from the bowl to the button. I put the stem in the shank and took the following photos. There is still a lot of polishing to do but the pipe is beginning to look pretty decent. I continued sanding with the 3200-12000 grit micromesh sanding pads to polish the stem. After each set of three pads I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil and sanded some more. After the last pad I gave it a final coat of the oil and let it sit to dry.I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave both the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel to raise the shine and hand buffed it with a microffibre cloth to deepen it. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am repairing and refitting the original stem to send back with the pipe as well. Once it finished I will buff the two stems and finish removing any scratches that can still be seen in the pipe and then send it back for the surprise that Jim has in mind for it. Thanks for looking.

An old Sasieni Sashar London Made 901 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The third pipe I worked on from the pipe man in Eastern Canada who picked up that old lot at an auction is one that is stamped on the left side of shank with the name Sashar over London Made. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with the shape number 901. The rim was worn and whoever cleaned the pipe before I got it removed a lot of the finish. The inner bevel of the rim had a burned area on the right front side. The outer edges of the bowl were worn. The stem was good quality vulcanite and had light oxidation and tome tooth marks on both sides of the stem near the button. The inside of the shank and the stem was very dirty with tars and oils. There was a stinger in the tenon that extended into the bottom of the bowl. There was a light cake in the bowl that would need to be cleaned up as well. I remembered that the Sashar line was made by Sasieni. I could not remember any other information on the brand. I did a Google search and found that there was a write up on rebornpipes – go figure. I looked and it was a blog that Al Jones wrote on a Sashar pipe that he worked on. Here is the link https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/19/sasieni-sashar-restoration/.

I did some more searching and found a short writeup on Wesley’s – a pipe shop in South Africa about the pipe brand. It was under a heading there entitled SASIENI. I quote from that site the following: “Joel Sasieni started as an apprentice with Charatan, moved to Dunhill when it opened in 1910, and started his own company in London in 1918 making high grade pipes largely for the US market. They also manufactured pipes under the brand name Sashar (specifically for South Africa) for pipes a little down the line. The company was sold in 1979 and the pipes are now made by a completely different firm.” http://www.wesleys.co.za/refurb04.html

Now I had a bit of information on the brand. It was a Sasieni made pipe manufactured under the Sashar brand name for South Africa. Armed with that information I turned to working on the pipe. I took close up photos of the rim top and inner edge as well as the tooth marks on the stem. In the photo of the bowl you can see the damage on the inner edge of the bowl. The bowl was slightly out of round and there was a burn mark evident mid rim on the right side of the bowl. In order to clean out the airway in the stem I needed to remove the inner tube from the tenon. I heated it with a lighter until the oils and tars holding it in place warmed up. I wrapped the jaws on a pair of pliers and used it to turn the inner tube out of the tenon. With the tube removed I was able to clean out the airway without impediment.I used a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper to rework a bevel on the inner edge of the bowl. Once I had the bevel cut I worked on it again with 220 grit sandpaper and 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads. I rolled a piece of 220 grit sandpaper into a tube and wrapped it around a dowel and then my finger to sand the inside of the bowl and clean up the remaining cake on the walls. I used a dark brown stain pen to restain the top of the rim and the inner and outer edge of the bowl. I spot coloured it with a black Sharpie pen and blended the two together to get the finish to match the rest of the bowl.I used a wet cloth and a butter knife to steam out the dents in the back side of the bowl. I heated the knife in the flame of the burners on my kitchen stove. When hot, I folded a wet towel against the dents in the briar and laid the hot knife on the wet cloth. It generated a fair amount of steam. I repeated the process until the dents were lifted. I used 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to clean out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem. They were not too dirty so it took very few cleaners to clean it. Once the stem was clean I put the inner tube back in place in the tenon.I sanded the tooth chatter on the stem at the button with 220 grit sandpaper to remove it and the few tooth marks that were also present on both sides of the stem near the button.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads. After the last set of pads I gave it a final coat of oil and let it sit and dry. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish the briar and the vulcanite. I gave them both multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is ready to go back to its owner in Eastern Canada. Thanks for looking.

Refreshing a Comoy’s Golden Grain 110 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

This is yet another from the old pipeman’s collection that came to me from the local pipe shop. It is a beautifully grained Comoy’s Billiard. The stamping on the pipe is very readable and clear. On the left side it reads Comoy’s over Golden Grain with a C on the side of the stem. On the right side of the shank it is stamped with COM (Country of Manufacture) circle Made in London over England and shape number 110. The finish is decent with a medium brown stain with great grain showing through. It is in good enough shape that I hope to not have to refinish it but rather just clean and renew the finish. There is thin cake in the bowl and rim darkening. The stem is oxidized and there is light tooth marks on top and bottom of the stem near the button. There is also some calcification from a Softee bit on the stem and button. The photo to the left shows the condition of the rim. The inner beveled edge of the rim is cake and dirty. There is a light lava overflow on the rim and some darkening as well. I am hoping that I will be able to scrub this off and also clean up the inner rim bevel in such a way that I can leave the original finish unaltered. It will take some slow and patient work to restore it and not just refinish it.

I reamed the bowl back to clean briar using a PipNet pipe reaming tool and a Savinelli Fitsall Reamer. I carefully worked the reamer over the beveled rim to remove the buildup on the edges of the rim.I scraped the rim edge and bevel with a sharp pen knife to remove the carbon buildup that was there and scrubbed the rim and bowl with a small bit of Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the darkening and grime left behind after the scraping. The photo below shows the rim after this work over. It is looking pretty good at this point.I cleaned out the internals of the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs.I “painted” the tooth marks in the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to raise the vulcanite. I am so thankful for the fact that vulcanite has memory and when heated will return to its original state if the tooth marks have not broken the edges. In this case it worked very well and I was able to minimize them with the flame and finish working on them with 220 grit sandpaper. I sanded the stem and removed the oxidation and the calcification on the button end.I polished the cleaned stems with micromesh sanding pads – wetsanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I buffed the stem with White Diamond after the 4000 grit pad and then finished with the remaining three pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each set of three pads and after the final rubdown set it aside to let the oil dry. Once the oil dried I buffed the pipe and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel to raise a shine on the bowl and stem and then hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It is a beautiful grained Comoy’s made pipe that should provide years of good smoking to whoever adds it to their rack next. It will be available for purchase on the rebornpipes store later today if you wish to add it to your collection. Thanks for looking.

Another Wedding Trip Pick: A 1961 DUNHILL EK Shell Briar Made in England 1 4S

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Blog by Dal Stanton

Unbelievably, I found this classic Dunhill EK Shell Briar at Madeline’s Antiques & Uniques during the trip for our daughter’s wedding in the US last November. Madeline’s was one of those picker paradises waiting on the I 24 Exit near Manchester, TN, that thankfully, we did not drive past! I had pleasure restoring and gifting our youngest son on Christmas in Denver, the Aged Imported Briar Poker (Red Dot) pictured below on the bottom (See: Link) and the restored Poker’s picture following. Now, shift two pipes above the Poker in the picture below, and you’ll see the Dunhill EK Shell Briar that now has my attention after rescuing him from my ‘Help Me!’ basket here in Sofia, Bulgaria. At 5 3/4 inches in length, it is a nicely sized square shanked paneled billiard – a very nicely blasted Dunhill Shell pipe. The stampings are worn but legible on the lower panel of the squared shank. On the left quadrant, it reads, “Dunhill” over “EK Shell Briar”. The right reads, “Made In” over “England 1”. Then, to the extreme right on the shank’s edge is 4 ensconced in a circle followed by S. On the top panel of the squared, tapered stem is embedded the well-known Dunhill white dot – a mark of excellence since 1915.

In 1915, the famous white spot was introduced for very practical concerns. With straight pipes, customers had trouble knowing which way to insert the handmade vulcanite mouthpieces. So, Alfred Dunhill ordered white spots to be placed on the upper side of the stem. This very practical solution would become a definitive trademark of Dunhill pipes. The “white spot” soon became known as a symbol of quality. (Link to Pipedia’s history for Dunhill)

This is my first opportunity to research Dunhill to understand better the heritage of the pipe on my work table. There is much information about Dunhill on the internet, which is nice change. My impressions of the founder, Alfred Dunhill, are that he was a talented and creative businessman, who understood well that a quality product would create a financial boon along with understanding the ‘needs’ of a market. Per Pipedia, in 1893, he inherited a harness business at only age 21, but was savvy enough to see the approaching reality of the automobile and he leveraged his company to prepare for it. He started, “Dunhill Motorities” to capitalize on this new industry. His first experiment in pipe making was to accessorize for the ‘new’ and sophisticated needs of those now driving cars which were faster than horse and carriage. To me, this epitomizes Alfred Dunhill’s approach to business and perhaps, to life as well. With wind in the faces of potential customers, he birthed the idea of marketing a pipe with a windshield! We laugh, but this says something about the man who guided his company through the Great Depression when many pipe manufacturers were closing their door. Dunhill expanded. The Pipedia synopsis describes the world-wide growth of Dunhill Pipes and their association with quality – the preferred pipe of the rich and famous and the aristocracy. This ‘market share’ was due in part to Alfred Dunhill’s practice of giving pipes to the English military officers during WW1. Altruism or good marketing? During that time the aristocracy of England was awarded military commissions by birth-right. Dunhill was a smart businessman, there’s little doubt of this. I also read that it was Alfred Dunhill who kept Winston Churchill well-supplied in cigars. Another interesting thing I saw as I did my research was threads and discussions arguing why Dunhill pipes are more expensive than most? Quality or overrating based upon a name? This Pipe Magazine thread is one example.

The largest part of my curiosity regarding Dunhill is to understand better the creation of the ‘Sand Blast’ finish, or as it’s called in Dunhill Land, Shell. In my diminutive time rescuing and restoring pipes, I’ve never had clarity in my mind about the differences between blasted and rustified surfaces – and variations therein. These distinctions are clear to most enthusiasts in pipe collecting and restoration but I’ve been a bit slow on the uptake! I’m looking at the Dunhill Shell Briar – my first thought had been that it must have something to do with shells on a sea shore…. This small article was especially helpful from the same Pipedia page:

Shell

A deep craggy sandblast with a black stain finish. Dunhill patented the sandblast finish in England in 1917 (Patent No. 1484/17) and the U.S. in 1920 (Patent No. 1,341,418). See The Art of Sandblasting, by R.D. Field, for in depth look at Dunhill’s revolutionary new finish. The deepest and craggiest finishes were from Algerian briar, which is softer and yields more to the blasting. These are found in circa 1920’s, 1940’s, and 1960’s Shells. The pipes were double blasted until the 1960’s, and then the double blast technique resumed in the 1980’s calling it the “Deep Shell” finish. During the 1960’s and 70’s Dunhill could not acquire the Algerian briar. Consequently, the company’s sandblast pipes were much shallower and less distinct. Once again Dunhill showed itself to be innovative, inventing the “double blast” technique to bring about a deeper blast even with harder briar. The black shell sandblast finish uses a stain the was developed for the color, not the taste. They have a more bitter taste, even when well smoked.

Now I have it. The knowledge that blasting highlights briar grain by removing softer wood through the process has changed how I now look at the surface of a blasted pipe or with Dunhill, a Shell pipe. ‘Shell’ reportedly came from observations of the earliest experiments with sand blasting briar shapes – they were shriveled and looked like a ‘shell’ – that is, a shadow of their former states. Even with the limited number of restorations I’ve done to date, it is obvious that I thoroughly love and enjoy working on smooth briars, simply for the challenge and delight of witnessing the beauty of briar grain appear. Now, I study the Dunhill EK Shell Briar with a new appreciation for a different perspective on the same beautiful grains but revealed via blasting. So much for my reflections! Here are pictures of the Dunhill I’ve been reflecting upon! Before I begin the restoration work, one last tick on the research list – the nomenclature. The two pictures above show the markings on the lower shank panel. I admit, when I first started trying to make sense of the plethora of information on Dunhill dating, it was daunting and a bit confusing, but as I looked at R.D. Fields’ A Dunhill Pipe Dating Guide published in Pipedia, Pipephil’s unbelievable charts, and tooling through all the examples of Dunhill nomenclature exemplified year-by-year, and also Pipephil’s, Dunhill Dating Key – pieces started coming together. Reborn Pipe’s reposting of Eric Boehm’s Dunhill Shapes Collated was helpful as well. When I first looked at the pictures above, I had missed the ‘E’ of the EK Shell Briar which is barely legible due to the wear next to the heel of the stummel. Boehm’s information about ‘EK’ shape was: “Quaint Shape” Hexagonal panel billiard, square shank, angled tapered bit “Stand-up” 1928. The EK Hexagonal panel is interesting in that a hexagon has 6 sides. Over the years, this shape may have added more angled variety. This EK is either squared if you only count the 4 major panels, but it is possible when including the tapered, smaller panels creating the corners, 8 panels are encircling this stummel. The Pipephil Dunhill Shape Code chart calls the EK a square panel and provides an example of an EK 1958. The markings are:

EK = Square Panel (shape letters)

4 (in circle) = Bowl Size

S – material: Shell or sand blasted

The dating of this pipe is 1961, based upon the suffix number ‘1’ following ‘England 1’. Clear? Starting in 1955, Dunhill stopped including the full patent number in the nomenclature. So, for Dunhills without the patent number, if the number following the ‘England’ is 5-0 (underlined or a subscript) then it would be the year 1950 + X = Year. So, a Dunhill having ‘England ^5’ is from 1955. With the 1960s the system changed to 1960 being the base starting point with suffix numbers added to ‘England’ that were not underlined or subscripted, but the same size as the D in England. Are you confused – I was, but it finally became clear. The dating suffix in the picture above is ‘England 1’ which indicates a dating of 1960 +1 = a 1961 dating! If I had an ‘England 24’ it would be dated 1984. I found another EK Shell Briar on this finished eBay listing which was “London 8” – 1968.

Pipe Pages had this example of an Owl Catalogue of 1962 with a picture of the same EK shape in the center but its dating would look like this: “England 2”. I don’t know if this makes it clearer, but I am thankful for Dunhill dating his pipes!

With a new appreciation for Dunhill, and the EK Shell Briar, Made in England 1, 4S, before me, I hope that I can recommission this pipe for another lifetime and to serve another steward! The stummel generally looks good – it needs to be cleaned thoroughly – the internals and the blasting. The cake in the chamber needs to be removed to the briar to allow a fresh start and to examine the chamber wall. The rim is seriously caked with oils and lava flow and the rim has a small chip on the shank-side panel which will need coloring and blending. The lower shank panel with the Dunhill nomenclature is already worn – I will clean the area but stay clear of any abrasives. I thought I detected a crack in at the 4 o’clock mark looking at the shank, but with a closer look, thankfully it is grain and not a crack! The stem is the challenge. The oxidation is heavy and needs to be removed. The button has a bite-through on the lower side that breaches the lip. The button will need rebuilding and the hole patched. I remove the stem from the shank and put a pipe cleaner through the airway and plop it in an Oxi-Clean bath to start addressing the heavy oxidation.With the stummel, I take the Pipnet Reaming Kit to address the cake build-up in the chamber. I take another picture of the cake to mark the progress. For easier clean-up, I always put down a double layer of paper towel to catch the exorcised carbon. I use the two smallest blades of the 4 available to me to ream the chamber. Starting with the smallest, then the next larger size. After this, to fine tune the reaming, I use the Savinelli Pipe Knife by scraping the walls further. Then, wrapping 240 grit paper around a Sharpie Pen, I sand the walls to remove the smallest traces of carbon and to bring the chamber again to briar. I finish by using a cotton pad wetted with isopropyl 95% and wipe the chamber to remove the carbon dust. After inspection, the chamber walls show no sign of burning through though I do detect heat fissures that are not serious, but need attention in the last stages of the restoration. The pictures show the reaming process and inspection questions. Before moving to the external cleaning, I tackle the internals – using cotton swabs and pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95% I clean the inside airway. The resistance is significant so I take a drill bit, the size of the airway, and ream and scrape it – trying to dislodge the gunk and bring it out. I continue with cotton swabs and pipe for some time – also utilizing sharp and spaded dental probes to reach and scrape into the mortise. After some time, the pipe cleaners started returning less soiled. I’m calling the frontal siege completed, but at the close of the day, I will commence the Trojan Horse attack to further clean the internals with a Salt and Alcohol soak. The pictures show the progress.Now to the externals. Using undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap, I scrub the rim and blast surface using cotton pads and a bristled tooth brush to get into the crags and crevices. I also use a brass wire brush on the rim to loosen the crusting. The brass wire will not harm the briar. Ridding the rim of the lava crust reveals several nicks and bare briar around the rim panels. I also note that there are several places along the shank/stem junction that have lightened because of wear. I use furniture repair markers starting with the lightest hue (Maple) and methodically start touching the rim spots as well as around the shank. When the ‘scarring’ or lightened areas are still evident, I graduate to the next darker brown hue, then a third stick darker still. Looking for the blending to occur. As I go, I have a cotton pad lightly dampened with alcohol to wipe the areas gently to create more blending of the dyed areas along the rim and shank. The first 3 pictures show the problems (forgot to picture the shank!) and the last 3 after using the dye sticks. With the stummel repairs completed, I give the internals more cleaning and freshening. I put the stummel in the egg carton and fill the bowl with Kosher Salt and twist a cotton ball and stuff it down the mortise, to help draw out the left-over gunk. I then fill the bowl slowly with isopropyl 95% until it reaches the level of the salt. I put it stummel aside and let the salt/alcohol soak to do its thing.With the stummel soaking, I fish the stem out of the Oxi-clean bath. The bath did a good job causing the olive greenish oxidation to rise to the surface. Using 600 grit paper, I wet sand the stem taking off the raised oxidation. I follow this with using 0000 steel wool – removing more oxidation and shining and smoothing the vulcanite stem. I’m careful to avoid sanding over the shoulders of the stem to round off the squared shank. The pictures show the progress.I turn now to the internal stem airway using pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl 95%. As hoped, the resistance was little and the pipe cleaners were coming through the airway and emerging clean. With clean internals, what remains is to rebuild the button and patch the bite-through hole from the former stewards clinching. I create a slot insert using an index card cut to fit and then covered with slick scotch tape – the plastic looking kind. This will keep the charcoal-superglue putty from sticking to the insert. The insert serves two purposes. First, it protects the airway from putty dripping down and plugging things which would add significantly to the work load! It also provides the form underneath the hole to shape the fill. I open a capsule of activated charcoal on an index card and I mix it with Hot Stuff Special ‘T’ CA glue – after I place a puddle of it next to the charcoal. Gradually, I pull charcoal into the puddle of CA glue using a toothpick until I reach a viscosity of molasses and then strategically I dollop the putty in to the tooth hole and around the button – more than needed so that during the sanding phase there’s enough material to shape the button adequately. Just as an experiment, I’m putting the putty on a bit wetter than usual and use an accelerator to cure it more rapidly. I want to see if the result might be fewer air pockets in the patch material. The pictures show the progress with the button patch and rebuild. After a fruitful day at work, I’m anxious to return to the worktable. The Kosher Salt and alcohol bath has run the course and as expected, the salt has darkened and the cotton stuffed into the mortise has acted as a ‘wick’ drawing out the oils and tars – thank you Charles Lemon of Dad’s Pipes for the suggestion of using cotton rather than a cork. It worked well. After dumping the salt, I wipe the chamber with a paper towel to remove all the residue salt. I also employ bristle brushes to clean out the mortise to remove all the old used salt. Then I return to using some cotton swabs and pipe cleaners down the mortise and they came out clean. Job done. The pictures show the progress.Many of the pipes I’ve been restoring have had significant stem issues – splicing the L J Peretti, and several button rebuilds have come my way. I like to think I’m getting more practice resulting in better results! So is the hope. I take fresh pictures, top and bottom, of the patched area using activated charcoal dust and Special ‘T’ CA glue to mark the progress. Beginning from the slot-side, I use a sanding drum with the Dremel to remove quickly the large hunk of runover. Then, using a flat needle file, I work toward bringing the new edge of the button to where the original slot is. After this is accomplished, I carefully file inside the slot to shape it. Care is given because the lower slot lip in the center, is 100% patch fill from the tooth hole breaching the slot. The patch material tends to be softer than the vulcanite so the center – lower area of the slot may be soft and give up too much territory as I file. I gently (and patiently!) use the small circular part of a pointed needle file to shape the inner part of the slot. It looks good. Pictures show the progress to establishing the new rough slot. Now I establish the upper edge of the shank-side of the button lip. I do this by eyeballing a logical place to have the lip – maybe giving me a little more lip than needed now – I can always file it down, but can’t file it up! I place a score in the patch bulge with the corner edge of the flat needle then gradually file the score across the button and moving downward toward the original stem surface. As I file with the flat needle file, I keep the left edge of the file off the stem and lean into the patch area. I don’t want to scar up the stem for no reason! Pictures show the gradual, patient shaping process with the file. With the top shape-out completed with the file, I flip the stem and repeat the process on the bottom side. I follow the button line from the top to the bottom by continuing to score the line around the excess on the stem edges, filing and rounding the button on the left and right. I use the stem’s lines on the left and right sides, coming from the shank-side to create the line through the left and right side of the button. At the end, it’s a smooth transition on the sides from the stem’s sides to/though the button’s sides. I picture what I’m attempting to explain in the last picture in this set below. I’m also careful to uncover gradually the tooth hole patched area in the center bottom. I expect the patch area to be softer than the vulcanite and I want the patch to blend. The pictures show the progress on the lower side of the button. The last two pictures show the completion of the button shaping upper then lower, using 240 grit paper followed by 600 grit paper and 0000 grade steel wool to catch the button repair area with the rest of the stem. The button rebuild looks great and the hole patch is blending well. At this point I take a close look at the patch area and I see some air pockets – not many, but some. That cannot stand for the recommissioning of this 1961 Dunhill. What comes to your mind when you reflect on 1961? This is what I see, a ’61 Chevy with this Dunhill along for the ride! Perhaps I need to acquire one of Alfred Dunhill’s Patent Shield Pipe too!This Dunhill might be a good Birth Year Pipe for someone if I can give it up. I take regular superglue and make a small puddle and use a toothpick to hole drop glue and paint some areas to fill the air pockets and I follow by spraying the fills with accelerator. Following this, I sand the fill areas with 600 grit paper and then 0000 grade steel wool. I declare button repair consummatum est! I take the Dremel and finally fabricate a plastic washer to guard against sanding down the shoulders of the stem. Using the washer with the stummel providing the resistance, I wet sand with micromesh pads 1500 to 2400, then dry sand using the next set of 3200 to 4000, then 6000 to 12000. I follow each set of three with an application of Obsidian Oil to revitalize the vulcanite. My, this stem and Dunhill White dot are ready for the ’61 Chevy convertible! I may have created a problem showing the ’61 Chevy paired with a British-born pipe. So, I suppose this British made ’61 MGA Roadster would do OK in a pinch 🙂With the micromesh phase completed, I turn again to the stummel. Previously, I applied dye sticks to lightened wear areas to give a fresher look. I look at the rim a little closer and it still appears crusty and black – lacking the light reddish speckling present in the rest of the stummel. I lightly sand the rim with the 1500 micromesh pad and then use my pen knife and gently scrape the top. I only remove the crust on the sand blasted surface. After scraping, I return to Murphy’s Oil Soap and with a brass brush, scrub the rim again and rinse with tap water. I’m seeing a better contrast of hues now in the blast textured surface. I then take the darker hue stain stick and randomly paint portions of the rim to add more contrast and interplay and then lightly dab and wipe with a slightly wetted cotton pad with isopropyl 95% to blend. I want to keep the original color of the EK Shell Briar and the look of a classic 1961 Dunhill. The pictures show the progress. Using a cotton cloth wheel, I apply Blue Diamond compound to the stummel. I set the Dremel speed to 1, the slowest possible. With the Dremel’s wheel, as small and concise as it is, I can rotate the stummel and guide the wheel so it’s going with grains – maneuvering in the peaks and valley of the Shell moonscape surface. I don’t overload the wheel with compound and press with too much force downward, but allow the RPMs of the Dremel and the compound to do the work. After completing the compound application, I hand-buff the stummel with a flannel cloth to remove the loose compound residue before applying the wax. With the stem and stummel reunited, I give both several coats of carnauba wax. I use a separate cotton cloth Dremel wheel dedicated to carnauba, I set the speed at 2, with 5 being the fastest setting. As I did with the Blue Diamond, I utilize the strategic smallness of the Dremel’s wheel as I maneuver to distribute the carnauba wax without gunking up in the Shell textured surface. Following the wax, I give the Dunhill a brisk hand-buff with a micromesh cloth.

One last need on the check-list before recommissioning this 56-year-old Dunhill. After this many years of active service, heat fissures had developed in the chamber. I want to coat the chamber with a mixture that helps protect the briar while at the same time provides a temporary foundation for the cake to develop which will provide the long-term protection of the chamber briar. I have heard, and repeat here, proper cake depth to be maintained is about the thickness of a US dime. It would have been easier to do this before polishing the stummel, but I forgot until now. No problem. In the past, I’ve used a coating mixture of activated charcoal dust and sour cream (here on Reborn Pipes) – which works wonderfully and leaves no taste or smell – it is inert. Since I don’t see any sour cream in the refrigerator, I decide to use the method that Charles Lemon uses which he described here on Dad’s Pipes using maple syrup and activated charcoal as the main ingredients. Since we do not have maple syrup in Bulgaria (bummer!), Charles assured me after an emailed question, that honey, plentiful in Bulgaria, would serve well as a substitute. Charles’ directions are straight forward, which I follow:

Insert a pipe cleaner in the stem of the pipe to keep the airway open.
Wipe maple syrup around the inside surfaces of the bowl. Try for a nice even layer.
Pour activated charcoal powder into the bowl right up to the rim.
Allow the pipe to sit for an hour or more. This gives time for a layer of charcoal powder to be absorbed by the syrup.
Dump out the excess charcoal powder, remove the pipe cleaner from the stem.
Now the hard part. LET THE PIPE SIT FOR 5-7 DAYS. The bowl coating will cure smooth and hard.
After curing, your pipe is ready to go!

These pictures show the progress with the final picture a few hours after clearing the excess charcoal. I will need to let the pipe sit now for 5 to 7 days for the bowl coating to fully cure, which will not be a problem! I’m very pleased with the outcome of the stem/button repair. There is no perceptible indication that there was a hole that breached the lower button lip. The Shell Briar cleaned up well and shines with a rich, deep, brown/burgandyish textured shade. When restoration began, I did not realize how I would grow to appreciate the name, “Dunhill” and the pipes bearing this respected name. The debate will remain regarding Dunhill’s higher pricing – whether one is paying for only a name or for advanced excellence in a pipe. I suspect that both are true. After seeing the beauty of this 1961 Dunhill EK Shell Briar emerge, especially as he responded to the carnauba treatment, coupled with the solid feel of the 4-paneled, square billiard bowl, and the strong bearing of the squared shank transitioning into a squared stem that gracefully tapers to the button – and, all is crowned with Alfred Dunhill’s happenstance white dot mark of excellence – and I agree, I am looking at a quality pipe. I’m conflicted whether to keep this Dunhill, my first, or to put him up for adoption??? Oh well…. I sell my restorations with a special purpose. The profits help the work we do with the Daughters of Bulgaria – women and children sexually exploited and trafficked. This vintage 1961, Dunhill EK Shell Briar, Made in England 1, is ready to serve a new steward. If you’re interested in adopting him and helping the Daughters, go to my blog site at The Pipe Steward Store and check it out. Thanks for joining me!

A Simple Cleanup of a 1977 Dunhill Bruyere ¼ Bent Dublin 21143

7 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

After a month hiatus from pipe refurbishing I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I decided to do some more work on the batch of pipes I picked up from the local tobacco shop. They had come from the estate of an old time pipe man whose widow had given them back to the store to dispose of. The shop owner had given me the task of cleaning up and restoring the lot and putting them up for sale. I had cleaned up four of the old Peterson’s and also an older GBD Marquis before I went away on my work trip. The next pipe that I turned my attention to was a lovely petite Group 2 Dunhill Bruyere ¼ bent Dublin. It is stamped on the left side of the shank with a five digit shape number – 21143 and next to that it reads Dunhill over Bruyere. On the right side of the shank it is stamped Made in England with the number 17 after the D in England which I believe dates the pipe as being made in 1977. The bowl has a cake and there is a lot of overflow of the lava onto the rim top. The finish is in decent shape though dirty. The stem is a fishtail with oxidation and the signs that the previous owner had used a rubber Softee bit. Even so there are still tooth marks on both the top and underside of the stem near the button. I took some close up photos of the stamping on both sides of the shank. You can see the shape number clearly on the left side. It reads 21143. I have learned that reading the numbers gives a lot of information. From past experience with four digit numbers I know that the first number tells me the size of the bowl – a Group 2. The second number tells me the style of the original stem which in this case is 1 referring to a tapered stem. The third and fourth numbers reference the shape number of the pipe which is number 14 and on the Dunhill charts is a Bent Dublin. The only number I am not clear about it the final digit 3. That will take some more work to see if I can narrow down what it refers to. The rest of the stamping is pretty straightforward on the left and right side of the shank.Since I had not seen the five digit shape stamping before I first turned to Pipephil’s site to see if there was help there. I have used his Dunhill information and found it a great help in deciphering the stamping in the past. However in this case his site did not give any information on the last digit of the five digit stamping. It gave me the information that I already knew – which was the interpretation of the stamping on the pipe. It was made in 1977 and was a Group 2 sized pipe with a taper stem in the 14 Shape which was a bent Dublin. It did not give me the information on the final number in the shape group – the 3. He left that number blank in his interpretation of the stamping on the pipe.

For that I had to do some more searching. I decided to go for a straightforward approach to my problem and typed in the following in the Google search box: “What does the fifth digit in a five digit Dunhill shape stamp mean?” The search engine came up with a conversation online on just this topic. It referenced me to the alt.smokers.pipes site on Google groups. That conversation held the clues I was looking for. I have copied the portion by RC Hamlin in answer to a question from another member regarding the five digit stamping on his pipe. Here is the link: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.smokers.pipes/Fk-8EWxZXCs . I quote the response from RC Hamlin in full.

RC Hamlin, PCCA 20/04/2000 http://www.pipesmoke.com & www.pipeguy.com

John, your pipe is a 1977 Vintage – for modern Dunhill’s, dating them is very easy, just start with 1960 and add the dating digit(s). 1967=7, 1977=17, 1987=27, 1997=37. Do not get hung up on underlines, dots, big/small digits etc. for modern Dunhill’s, just use 1960 as a base and add the dating number to it – simple.

That information confirmed what I already knew and gave a simple formula that I thought would be helpful to others seeking to date a Dunhill pipe. He went on in the following paragraphs to give an answer regarding the five digit shape number.

As far as the 5 digit pipe number (48063) you have a group 4 or “medium” Dunhill. I have a whole briefcase full of Dunhill material from the Dunhill archives, factory, Lane, etc. One of these days I’ll retire and write that online book I’ve been trying to do for years. The most interesting item I have is an actual “stamp” guide from the factory that “signed in” each stamp that Dunhill received from 1922 to 1980 (ish) – a LOT of stamps were used, not always as picture perfect as a written “guide” would have to believe. Very few people outside of Dunhill have seen this stamp guide, some authorized, some have seen my copy and used it without fully studying it, either way….Dunhill’s are not “perfect” in their nomenclature.

The 5 digit shape number was introduced around 1975 to “improve” the original 2 & 3 digit (letters and/or numbers) Dunhill shapes. It worked so well that it was discontinued around 1978 in favor of the current 4 digit shape numbers which are really very simple. The modern shape numbers give the size (1st digit), stem type (2nd digit, 1=taper, 2=saddle) and shape number (last 2 digits). Example: a Billiard is shape #03 so a 4103 would be a group 4, taper bit billiard. Change that to 5203 and you have a group 5, saddle bit billiard. ODA’s use their original 8xx shape numbers and you will see things like HT (hand turned) with no shape number but usually a circled group number (5), etc.

While the information was good and let me know that the pipe was from that time period from 1975-1978 when Dunhill used five digit shape numbers it still does not tell me what the fifth digit meant on the pipe on my worktable. I did a bit more searching and the only thing I turned up was that the fifth digit could have been some kind of stock number from Dunhill. That seems odd, but I am not sure we will ever know what the last digit of the five digit stamps means. Do any of you have a further lead on the meaning? Let us know.

Time to get back to the refurbishing of this 1977 Dunhill Bruyere. I took some close up photos of the rim and the stem to show the condition of the pipe when I started my work on it. You can see the extent of the thick cake on the rim and in the bowl and also the wear and tear to the surface of the stem and the button. I started the restoration by reaming the bowl. I decided to work on the crumbling cake with the Savinelli Fitsall Reaming Knife and took the cake back to bare wood. I used a small sharp pen knife to carefully scrape the lava off of the rim top. I scrubbed the rim with saliva on cotton pads until I removed all of the hardened cake. I sanded the rim top with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to take off the residual tars that remained. I finished by sanding the top of the rim with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-4000 grit. I cleaned out the slot in the button with a dental pick to remove the clogged buildup on both sides of the slot narrowing the airway considerably. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the calcification and to minimize the dents. I heated the dents by “painting” them with the flame of a lighter and was able to raise them. I sanded the repaired dents and blended them in with the sandpaper. I reshaped the top edges of the button on both sides. I scrubbed out the mortise and the airways in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until the swabs and cleaners came out white.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down between each set of three pads with Obsidian Oil. I was able to remove all of the scratching and the oxidation on the stem. I reconnected the stem and the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and then gave the entire pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise a shine and by hand with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. It looks far better than when I started cleaning and refurbishing it. It should give the next pipe man who takes on its care a long life of good smokes. Thanks for looking.

‘Gramps’ – A Redonian Deluxe London Made 26 Rescued

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Blog by Dal Stanton

I know exactly where I was when Charles Lemon, of Dad’s Pipes, posted his blog Family Heirloom Comes in from the Cold on December 22. I was dutifully, pushing the shopping cart at the Target in Golden, Colorado, while my wife and I were engaged in last-minute Christmas shopping. Well, my wife was shopping and I was catching up on pipe blog reading with my iPhone 6s. The story Charles told was of a pipe (without a stem) discovered on a stroll in a pasture, how it arrived there was a mystery, which, after some research looking at old photos, was determined to belong to a great-great uncle. The restoration was to be a Christmas gift for the great-great nephew, the pipe finder’s step-father…. It was an excellent restoration on Charles’ part, but the story itself, the condition of the pipe, the fact that it was found after how many years – contributed to one of the core reasons I love restoring pipes. As I read Charles’ heart-warming story, I found myself rooting for the pipe to make it and to again be restored to the lineage of the steward. While I continued faithfully to keep pace with the shopping cart, dodging frantic shoppers and kids on too much sugar and reading Charles’s post, ‘Gramps’ came to mind. The first time I saw the pictures of ‘Gramps’ and read the eBay seller’s comments, I determined to place my bid to rescue the old, worn out, tossed aside, pipe. Why did I immediately name him ‘Gramps’? Here is what the eBay seller said:

Vary rare REDONIAN Pipe. Found at the Estate Auction of a 98-year-old man. (Who said smoking will kill ya?…no way). So the pipe has some ware marks up by the mouth piece, see pictures. Pipe is marked bowl piece is marked 26 on one side and SARDINIAN de Luxe Made in London on the other. It is a used pipe. Ready to be Enjoyed, Gifted or Resold…ENJOY!

With a smile on my face while looking at Gramps’ pictures, notwithstanding the ‘mild’ exaggeration of the seller’s sales bravado, “Ready to be Enjoyed, Gifted or Resold…ENJOY!”, this is what I saw: I have no idea if I can bring Gramps to drink of the Fountain of Youth or not, but I’m now looking at him on my worktable here in Sofia, Bulgaria. The markings on the left shank are Redonian Deluxe over London Made. The right side of the shank bears the mark, 26, which I assume is the shape number. Surprisingly, the stem stamping is legible – a red ‘R’ ensconced in a circle. A look at Pipedia and I discover that the Redonian was made by the John Redman Ltd./British Empire Pipe Co. in London, the same company that was a possible manufacturer of the L. J. Perretti I restored not long ago – the Perretti Co. is based in Boston and the second oldest Tobacconist in the United States. According to the Pipedia article, John Redman Co. pipe lines, along with Redonian, include Aristocrat, Buckingham, Buckingham Palace, Canberra, Captain Fortune, Dr John, Golden Square, Richmond (not Sasieni), and Twin Bore. I take some additional pictures of ‘Gramps’ for a fresh look. Like Charles’ patient, this pipe looks to have been left outside or exposed in a barn or something, as half of it seems to be colored differently – laying on its side for some time. The stem has the heaviest oxidation I’ve seen to date – perhaps something else is going on – it appears to be leprous! The surface is so soiled and the cake so thick – there appears to be a spider web in the fire chamber – I really can’t determine the condition of either the stummel or stem, so after taking some pictures from my work table, I plop the stem in Oxi-Clean to start dealing with the stem leprosy and I plop the stummel along with spider web, in an alcohol bath – isopropyl 95% to soften the ages of crud clinging to the stummel – inside and out.About 24 hours later, I retrieve the stem from the Oxi-Clean bath and the oxidation was raised to the vulcanite surface as hoped and expected. I first attack the oxidation by wet standing the stem with 600 grit sanding paper. I’m very careful to stay clear of the Redonian ‘R’ stamping and work around it. I sand for quite some time. After making some progress, I switch to using 0000 steel wool to take off more oxidation and smooth in the process. Again, I’m steering clear of the ‘R’ stamping. I wish I would have taken a picture at this point. The stem is looking much improved except for the circle ‘R’ stamping – still encased in thick oxidation. I know that taking anything abrasive to the stamping will erode it and for me, this is anathema. I try another tack – I think I remember reading somewhere about using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I brought it to Bulgaria from the US and hadn’t used it yet. The sponge that emerges from the box would not be abrasive – I hope. So, I wet the sponge and start working on the area of the stamping. I start very cautiously and gingerly apply pressure with the sponge Magic Eraser. When I discover that it is not eating away at the stamping I apply more pressure. Before long I was working on the area aggressively. Very gradually, and without perceptible damage to the ‘R’, the oxidation disappeared – or at least, in very large measure. The last picture in the set below shows the magic brought by the Magic Eraser! I’m pleased with the progress cleaning up a once, leprous stem! Satisfied with the progress on the stem, I fish the stummel out of the alcohol bath. I use several pipe cleaners attempting to open the airway between the mortise and draft hole – unsuccessfully. I then use about a 6-inch length of hanger wire as a probe and to ream the airway gently. After a while, I finally push through the ancient muck and reconnect the mortise and bowl. After this, I put the stummel back in the alcohol bath to soak further after stirring up and opening the internals. Out of the bath again, I take Q-tip cotton swabs and pipe cleaners and clean the gunk out of the mortise and draft airway while it is still loosened. It’s cleaning up well, but I need to ream the bowl to remove the softened cake and the old residues. I want Gramps to have a new start down to the fresh briar. I use the Pipnet reaming kit using the two smaller blades of the four available. The cake comes easily. I fine tune the reaming more using the Savinelli pipe knife. I then take 240 grit sanding paper, wrapped around a Sharpie Pen and sand the chamber walls to remove the remaining carbon. I finish by cleaning the bowl using cotton pads wetted with isopropyl 95%. The fire chamber looks good – no problems, no burn throughs detected visually. The pictures mark the progress. With the bowl reamed and cleaned, I now turn to the stummel externals. I take another critical look at the stummel surface and lava flow on the rim and take a few pictures to show the condition of the briar before I use Murphy’s Oil Soap. I want to mark the progress moving from the desperate condition in which the Redonian Deluxe started. I use undiluted Murphy’s Soap and scrub the rim and stummel surface with cotton pads. I also use a bristled tooth brush to scrub the surface. After cleaning, I rinse the stummel with warm tap water careful not to allow water into the stummel internals. The rim cleans nicely and it looks good. Looking at the briar surface, not surprising I detect several pits which need to be either sanded or filled. What is emerging from underneath the gunk, grime and grunge is a piece of briar holding much potential to shine with the gradual appearance of some nice-looking grain. With my work day ending, I decide to apply olive oil to the stummel to hydrate the very dry wood – letting it absorb the oil through the night. The pictures show the progress. The next morning, I decide to further clean and purify the stummel using the salt/alcohol soak. I fill the bowl with Kosher Salt and cover the opening with my palm and shake the stummel to distribute the salt. I then place the stummel in an egg carton to give stability, and fill the stummel with isopropyl 95% until it surfaces over the salt. I then cork the mortise and let it sit and do its thing – letting the salt absorb the crud. I then turn to the stem. I clean the stem internals using pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol. Using a sharp dental probe, I dig gunk out of the slot to clean it. It takes a while to work a pipe cleaner all the way through the stem. Once I do accomplish this, I use a bristled pipe cleaner with alcohol to run it back and forth several times to clear and clean the airway – hopefully allowing a pipe cleaner easier passage. After cleaning the internals of the stem, I now look at the condition of the button area. The 98-year-old grandpa that owned the Redonian did not leave teeth marks (is that a clue to his dental condition??) but the upper and lower bits are almost flush with the stem surface. This is not good – the button edges are necessary to hang the pipe properly on the teeth so that one does not bite the stem leaving the teeth chatter and dents one must remove when restoring a pipe! I will use charcoal/superglue putty to build up the button area. I form a wedge made of index card and fit it into the slot of the stem to keep putty from covering the opening. I open a capsule of activated charcoal and pour the powder on an index card. I then put a small puddle of Hot Stuff Special ‘T’ CA glue (extra thick glue) next to the charcoal powder. With a toothpick, I draw charcoal into the glue, mixing it as I go. I continue to add charcoal powder until I reach a thickness like molasses. When I reach this viscosity, I then dollop the putty around the button area – more than is needed to provide excess to sand down to the proper button proportions. I use an accelerator to set the putty. I then remove the wedge from the slot and put the stem aside to cure. The pictures show the process. Several hours have passed since the stummel began its salt/alcohol soak. The salt has darkened some, so I assume it’s done its work! I dump the used salt from the stummel and thump it on my palm to remove lodged salt crystals. I take a paper towel and wipe out the bowl. Using a bristle brush, I clean the mortise to remove any salt lodged in the internals. I want to be sure all the salt is purged. I then return to using Q-tip cotton swabs, pipe cleaners and isopropyl 95% to complete cleaning the internals. With 2 Q-tips, the verdict is in – the Kosher Salt and alcohol soak did a great job drawing out the muck and freshening the mortise. I complete the job by wiping the chamber with a cotton pad with isopropyl 95%. Done. The pictures show the result!With the stummel now clean, I take a close look at the stummel surface to be reminded of the question areas. I take a few pictures to show these. The stummel is in surprisingly good condition for what it looked like when I started. I find some pitting on the surface that I will fill with superglue. I also detect a rim ‘skin’ on the front end of the stummel. There are also other nicks around the rim from normal wear and tear. I start preparing the stummel surface by sanding with a medium grade sanding sponge to remove a layer off the finish – to determine where fills are needed. After using the medium grade sanding sponge, I apply super glue to the 3 places on the stummel I detected earlier to fill the larger pits and a small crevasse and put the stummel aside for the superglue fills to cure. The pictures show the progress. Now to return to the stem’s button rebuild. The charcoal superglue putty has fully cured and ready for shaping. I take pictures of the upper and lower bit to mark the progress.The technique I’ve developed for button shaping is to start at the end of the stem, using a flat needle file I file to establish the vertical – perpendicular slot area – that it’s flat. This establishes a base-line for the end of the button and shaping the rest (I forgot to document this in a picture!). I then start with the upper button area with the flat needle and begin filing from the stummel-side toward the end to establish the straight edge of the button’s ‘lip’. I gradually file this toward the stem’s end until it appears a good depth for the upper button. I then file top of the bit’s lip to shape in further. When I’m satisfied with the upper button shaping, I then flip the stem over doing the same with the lower button seeking to match the upper. When the basic filing is completed, I use a pointed needle file to enlarge the slot. The pictures show the button rebuild process. To remove the roughness of the files, I then use 240 then 600 and finally 0000 steel wool to further perfect the shape and to cover the treads left by the files. Which often is the case, air pockets encased in the charcoal/superglue are exposed during the shaping and sanding process. I apply some CA glue to the button surface and paint it with a toothpick to cover the pin-sized air pocket holes and then spray an accelerator on the glue to cure it more rapidly. After a while, I return with 240, 6000 paper and then 0000 steel wool to remove the excess CA glue on the button and complete the button rebuild. The pictures show the completion of the button rebuild. With stem internals cleaned, and new button completed, I transition to the externals. Using micromesh sanding pads 1500 to 2400, careful to guard the Redonian ‘R’ stamping, I wet sand the stem and follow the set by applying Obsidian Oil. I then use micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 and after, pads 6000 to 12000 following each set with an application of Obsidian Oil. I set Gramps aside to soak in the Obsidian Oil. All I can do is to say, ‘Oh, my!’ Gramps is responding well to the TLC. The pictures tell the story – I can’t but help to throw in a reminder of how far we’ve come! With a reborn stem waiting, I turn to the stummel. The 3 pit-holes that were filled with superglue are cured. Using 240 grit paper I sand the excess glue to the surface and blend the patches. I take a close-up picture of the rim and inspect the rim more closely. Along with nicks, I can see that rim lines are not sharp. There is evidence of a bevel on the inside ring of the rim which is scorched. I decide to mildly top the stummel and reestablish a crisp bevel. The bevel will also remove the scorching I see. I use 240 grit paper on a chopping board and rotate the inverted stummel in an even, circular motion to remove old briar. I stop and check things after every couple of revolutions to make sure I’m staying level. I only take off enough to leave the former bevel more distinct. To recut the inner bevel, I use 120 grit paper rolled very tightly to create a hard-sanding surface. I want the bevel to be straight and uniform. I follow the 120 using 240 grit also tightly rolled to remove the coarser lines. The topping and bevel look good. The bowl is in-round. After completing the rim and bevel, I take a medium grade sanding sponge and then a light grade sanding sponge and sand the stummel to blend the superglue fills – careful to work around the Redonian Deluxe London Made markings on the stummel. Then, using micromesh pads 1500 to 2400 I wet sand the stummel, followed by dry sanding using micromesh pads 3200 to 4000 and then 6000 to 12000. I never tire seeing the grain emerge during this process. After I complete the micromesh cycles, I unite stummel and stem to get a look at where we are. Gramps is looking good. The pictures show the progress – woops, I forgot to take a picture after the first micromesh cycle! I’m liking very much the progress of the Redonian Deluxe London Made – aka, Gramps. I decide to use Fiebing’s Dark Brown Leather Dye with Gramps. I think the rich depth of the leather dye will create the subtle expression of the straight grain hugging the bottom of the stummel as it expands into horizontal patterns and scattered bird’s eye on top. I give the surface a quick wipe with a cotton pad to clean and remove any leftover briar dust. I use my wife’s hair dryer to warm the stummel to expand the wood to help the grain to be more receptive to the dye. I use a cork in the shank as a handle and I then take a folded over pipe cleaner and apply the dark brown dye over the entire surface. After this, I fire the wet dye which immediately burns the alcohol and sets the dye in the grain. In a few minutes, I repeat the process concluding with firing the wet dye. I put the crusted stummel aside to rest. I decide to do the same and call it a day. The pictures show the progress.The next day, after a full day’s work, I’m anxious to look at Gramps, and with the Dremel I begin unwrapping the fired dye crust. After mounting a dedicated felt wheel for applying Tripoli, I set the Dremel’s speed for 1, the slowest possible, and first purge the wheel with the sharp edge of the Dremel’s tightening wrench – to rid it of old compound and to soften the felt wheel. I apply very little pressure on the briar surface, allowing the RPMs and compound to do the work for me. To reach the inside of the bent shank elbow with the Tripoli compound, I switch to a smaller, pointed felt wheel to get in the tight angles. With the Tripoli finished, I rejoin the stem to the stummel and I mount a Blue Diamond dedicated felt wheel and again buff stem and stummel. When completed, I hand buff the pipe with a cotton cloth to remove the compound dust left over. The pictures show the progress. With the abrasive application of the compounds finished, before I apply carnauba wax to the stummel and stem, I want to dress up Gramps’ stem stamping. The original appears to have been red so I take red acrylic paint and apply a dab over the Redonian ‘R’ and circle and let it dry thoroughly – overnight. When dry, I gently rub/scrape off the excess with the flat side of a toothpick which protects the paint in the indentations. After this, I rub it well with a cotton pad to clean the remainder of the excess – gently leaving a rebranded stem – very nice, a refreshed stem stamping. The pictures show the results. With the Redonian stem stamp completed, I reunite stem and stummel and mount the cotton cloth Dremel wheel and apply several coats of carnauba wax to the pipe. I increase the speed of the Dremel to 2. I follow the carnauba wax with a vigorous hand-buff using a micromesh cloth to dissipate wax that was not spread evenly and to deepen the gloss of the shine.

When I think about the 98-year-old steward from whose estate this Redonian Deluxe London Made came, I cannot believe he would have dreamt his pipe would one day start a new lifetime serving another steward. I gave this old, worn pipe the nickname, ‘Gramps.’ Bear with me one more time to put a picture of ‘Gramps’ in front of the younger man he has now become. I’m amazed at the transformation and it is why I love this hobby – the pictures speak for themselves. I sell my restorations with the profits helping the work we do with the Daughters of Bulgaria – those sexually exploited and trafficked. This Redonian Deluxe London Made is ready to serve a new steward. If you’re interested in adopting him and helping the Daughters, check out ‘Gramps’ at The Pipe Steward Store. Thanks for joining me!