Tag Archives: stem repairs

Using Charcoal & Cyanoacrylate glue to do a Stem Repair on a Dr. Grabow Starfire Churchwarden

4 Replies

Blog by Joe Mansueto -“JoeMan” (Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum)

Joe sent me the following email and an attached link for the article that follows. He has done some excellent work and I have followed it on Pipe Smokers Forums and also on the Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum. It is a pleasure to be able to post his work here on rebornpipes. Welcome and thank you Joe.

“Steve – I’ve looked in on your blog a number of times. Thanks for posting some really good information, and featuring the work of other guys in the field. One of the things I learned here which I had not done before was the use of Plaster of Paris to mend cracked / broken meer-lined bowls. That was helpful…and I think that was one of your own posts. I’d been looking for a better solution…thanks.”

“I’m not looking to get published so much as I’m happy to help other guys with refurb processes. I learned a LOT of things from others who’ve been at it for many years more than I, and have also developed a few of my own techniques…as I’m sure most of us have! Cleaning out gunk…refitting a stem…rusticating….topping a bowl…staining…refinishing…de-oxidizing stems…repairing chips…etc…these are all things I do on a regular basis. Recently, I took my hand to making pipes, and made 2 of them during a stay-home vacation…came out pretty good! But, I see myself primarily as a refurb guy…I really enjoy making an old broken-down relic of a pipe gleam again. If I were to count, I suppose I’ve refurbished most of a thousand pipes over the last 4 years. No…I don’t have 1,000 pipes…most have gone to others by way of sale, trade or gift. I suppose I do have 200 pipes in my collection however.”

“One of the things that most refurb guys seem to struggle with most is chewed / eaten stems. Those nasty tooth indentations…or worse yet…missing chunks from the button. I’ve heard of guys using super-glue, heat, JB Weld, vulcanite dust & glue, and other mad-scientist approaches. There are many good approaches to repairing a stem. The most effective approach I’ve personally found is Cyanoacrylate and activated charcoal. Ed James (AKA Ozark Southpaw online) is just about the best talent I’ve seen in all-things pipes. He too learned from others over many years, but what an innovator this gentleman is. I visited his shop when I was on the road over 2 years ago, and I’ve learned a lot from him. One of his own experiments a few years ago was mixing CA with activated charcoal and comparing the result with other repairs. It was a great discovery, and at the time he did it and shared it on the forum, I’d not seen anyone else doing it that way. I’m not saying it’s the ‘best method’…because you know how some pipe guys can get into struggles over their method being best…but I’ve personally not seen anything more successful. Ed James has not done too many of these CA/charcoal repairs himself…but once he discovered, tested and shared it, I took it and ran with it. Do with this info as you please or nothing at all…but here is one example of the process…”

“At the time of that Starfire churchwarden refurb, I had done a couple hundred stem repairs. Since the time of that refurb, I’ve surely done a couple hundred more, and have tweaked my own process here and there. I’ve done some of these repairs on pipes for myself, but more for pipes which I’ve then sold, as well as others who bring them to me. This one served as a good example, since it was one of the worst cases that I documented. Most of those I’ve done, I’ve not documented at all.” – Joe Mansueto “JoeMan” (Dr. Grabow Collectors Forum)

Here is Joe’s blog:

Just recently got this pipe from Sam (DG forum name SamCoffeeMan – hasn’t been here in a while) along with the Grabow Unique. When I expressed interest in it…Sam said that he’d “cut off 1/2” of the stem, and file out a new button. I said…nnnooooo…leave it original and I’ll fix it.

I am sure the stem is original to the pipe. The stem is identical to the stem on my Linkman Grabow 6033, it is perfectly registered, and the wire carving is that of an ‘early’ Starfire, as you’ll see below. That said, this was surely among the last of the churchwardens to leave the Grabow factory.
Joe1 The previous owner should have had a sandwich instead of smoking this pipe…Joe2

Joe3 This can be fixed!

Bleach soak first, then an isopropyl alcohol scrub of the surgery site to assure the CA will stick best.

The form I used is 2 thicknesses of cereal box cardboard, cut to the shape of the tapered slot opening, wrapped in shiny packing tape. Since both sides of the button were nearly identically eaten, there was nothing to keep the form properly seated. So, I taped the form to a pipe cleaner and pulled it into place as tight as I could, then centered it top to bottom…if that makes sense.Joe4 CA mixed with activated charcoal, applied in multiple layers…Joe6

Joe7 Using a needle file to shape between layers…Joe7 Just about done shaping, ready for multiple-stage wet sanding…Joe8 Buffing…done.Joe9

Joe10 Some of you will know which shape number this medium billiard would be. Bowl height is nearly 1 3/4″, ID is 3/4. Overall length is 11 3/4″.Joe11 This is an older Starfire for sure. It’s got the very deep wire carving which is continuous over the entire pipe as I believe Tom pointed out about Belvedere.Joe12

Joe13 This was originally posted on The Dr. Grabows Collectors Forum. Here is the link: http://drgrabows.myfreeforum.org/sutra87253.php#87253

Saving a Pipe – Restoring a Royal Danish 33 Bulldog that had seen better days.

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I am in the midst of a particularly labour intensive restoration of a Royal Danish 33 Bulldog. It was in very rough shape but having met the old timer who it originally belonged to I decided to make the extra effort to bring it back to life. It was obviously a favourite pipe of his and he as much as said so. I think it was the only one of the lot that he felt bad about letting go of when he sold me the lot. Often I will take time to read some of my favourite blogs during lunch break at work or even when I come home to help me unwind from a long day. I read before I pick up a pipe to work on or restore and find that it helps focus my attention. Yesterday at lunch I came across an article by Alan Chestnutt on his blog on his website Reborn Briar Estate Pipes that really resonated with what I was feeling as I worked on the particular pipe. He called the work he does as a pipe restorer – “saving the pipes”. I think that is a particularly poignant description of the work on this Royal Danish 33 Bulldog that I picked up in the lot from craigslist. It is shown in the first photo below at the bottom middle of the photo. In the second photo it is in the right hand column at the bottom of the photo.craig5

craig6 The old timer was a well loved pipe and obviously a good smoking pipe. It was in rough shape. In fact it was in the roughest shape of the lot. The photos below show the state of the pipe when I brought it to the work table. The finish was rough and dirty with lots of scratches and dents in it. The rim was shot. The front side was worn down from beating out dottle when the smoke was finished. The drop from the height at the back of the bowl to the height at the front was over ¼ inch and the surface was chewed up. The outer edge of the bowl on the front was obliterated. The rim surface was beat up as well. There were thick marks of tar or oil on the sides of the bowl and rim that were sticky. The bowl was heavily caked. The double ring around the bowl was damaged. Over ½ of the briar between the rings was broken and missing. The stem was oxidized and chewed. The topside of the stem had deep dents near the button that went up almost a half an inch. On the underside the tooth marks were even deeper and there was a hole in the stem where it had been gnawed through. Around the stem was calcification that is common pipes that have had a softie bit on the stem. I think the old timer who had this pipe slipped the softie bit over the damage so he could keep smoking his favourite pipe.Dan1

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Dan4 The next series of photos show the thickness of the cake, the extent of the damage to the rim and the missing pieces of the briar between the double rings around the cap of the bowl.Dan5

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Dan8 I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and working up to a head that was almost the same diameter as the bowl. I took the cake back to a very thin layer on the bowl.Dan9

Dan10 I decided to sacrifice some of the height of the bowl to give back some dignity to the tired bowl. I topped the bowl in stages on a topping board. The back side of the rim was significantly higher than the front of the bowl so I started by leveling out the bowl height all the way around the bowl. I brought the back side down to the same height as the damaged portion.Dan11

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Dan13 Once the height was even all the way around the bowl it was time to work on the front edge damage. At this point in the topping process I pressed the bowl down on the topping board with even pressure front and back and moved it on the sand paper in a circular motion.Dan14 I continued sanding until the damage on the front top of the rim was minimized. There was still damage on the front of the bowl that would need to be addressed to smooth out the damage to the bowl. I wiped the bowl down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the sticky oils and tars spots on the bowl sides. I also cleaned up the damaged area on the front of the bowl so that I could repair it.Dan15

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Dan17 I dripped some super glue into the damaged surface and then pressed briar dust into the glue. I then gave it a top coat of super glue as well. In the photo below you can see the repaired edge and the repair to the gouges and damage on the bowl front. Dan18 I sanded the repaired area with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to blend the repair into the surface of the briar. The next photo shows the same spot on the bowl after sanding the repair. The second photo below shows the top view of the rim repair. The dark/shiny edge at the bottom of the photo is the super glue repair.Dan19

Dan20 I tried to fill in the damaged briar between the double rings around the bowl. I filled in the areas with briar dust and super glue but when I tried to re-score the two lines the fills fell out of the ring. After several failed attempts to build up the centre I finally decided to remove the centre from between the two rings. I used a sharp knife to lift out the centre portion all the way around the bowl. With that gone I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand the surface smooth in the groove. I also sanded it with the sanding sponges to remove the scratching.Dan21

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Dan24 I decided to stain the groove to highlight it rather than hide it. I used a black aniline stain and applied it, flamed it and repeated the process until I had the coverage in the groove that I wanted.Dan25

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Dan27 I sanded the bowl sides around the groove to remove the spillage of the stain. I worked on the bowl until the black was confined to the groove and the top and bottom edges. The more I sanded the bowl the more I liked the grain that I was seeing come through. There was some great flame grain, birdseye and mixed grain on the bowl and shank.Dan28

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Dan31 I decided to do a contrast stain on the rest of the bowl to highlight the grain and contrast with the black stain in the groove. I heated the briar and stained it with a black aniline stain. I applied it and flamed it, and repeated it a second time. Once it was dry to touch I wiped the bowl down with alcohol and then with acetone on cotton pads to remove the black stain from the surface of the briar and leave it in the grain.Dan32

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Dan35 I set the bowl aside to dry for awhile so I could work on the damage to the stem. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the oxidation and to clean up the calcification around the damaged areas of the top and underside of the stem.Dan36

Dan37 I wiped the stem down with alcohol to clean the surface of the stem so I could apply the superglue patch. I used a dental pick to remove debris and damage vulcanite. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it in the button underneath the hole in the stem. I built up the area around the hole with black super glue. I sprayed it with an accelerator to allow me to add a second and third coat to the repair to the hole. I then flipped the stem and repaired the deep tooth marks on the top of the stem. I filled them and also sprayed them with the accelerator.Dan38

Dan39 Once the stem patch was dry to touch I put the stem back in place on the bowl and sanded the bowl with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponge to remove more of the black stain. I also used a fine grit sanding block. The next four photos show the bowl with the black removed and the grain patterns highlighted.Dan40

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Dan43 I set the pipe aside for the night and let the stem repairs cure over night. In the morning I sanded the patched areas with 220 grit sandpaper and with a medium and fine grit sanding sponge. I rubbed the bowl down with a light coat of olive oil to see what contrast would look like. I really liked the overall look of the bowl with the contrast. Seeing this I knew what contrast stain colour I would use on the next stain coat.Dan44

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Dan47 There were still small pits in the patches on the top and bottom repairs. I find that when I use an accelerator the spray causes these bubbles that once dry pop and leave pits in the surface of the finish. I sanded the stem surface some more with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out and then added another coat of black super glue. When it dried I sanded it again to bring it smooth. In the next two photos you can still see some small pits in the finish.Dan48

Dan49 I repeated the process of filling in the pits and then finished by using some clear super glue which dries more quickly and brushing it over the pitted areas on the stem. Once I had that done I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads. The surface was significantly smoother but the patches still showed through the finish.Dan50

Dan51 I dry sanded with 3200-4000 grit micromesh pads and rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil. Once it dried I repeated the sanding with the same pads. The patches are still visible but are gradually blending into the surface of the vulcanite.Dan52

Dan53 I buffed the stem with red Tripoli to remove the scratches in the rubber and to further blend the patches. I then took it back to the work table and dry sanded it with 6000, 8000 and 12,000 grit micromesh pads. I rubbed it down with another coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside until it was absorbed.Dan54 I rubbed the stem down with Scratch X2.0 to polish the scratches. It is a plastic polish and blemish remover that is used on acrylic/plastic headlamps. It worked wonders in removing the remaining scratches in rubber stem material. I then buffed the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave it several coats of carnauba wax. I buffed it with a clean flannel buff to raise the shine shown in the next two photos.Dan55

Dan56 After finishing the stem it was time to give the bowl its contrast coat of stain. I used an oxblood aniline stain. I applied it with a folded pipe cleaner to keep it out of the groove around the bowl. I flamed it, reapplied it to the briar and flamed it again.Dan57

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Dan60 I buffed the stem and bowl with Blue Diamond and then gave the entire pipe several more coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean flannel buff. The finished pipe is shown below. I think that Alan Chestnutt’s definition of the restoration process as Saving the Pipe accurately describes the work that went into restoring this beauty. The finished pipe ready to fire up and be enjoyed for many more years to come.Dan61

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Another Pre-War Yello Bole

3 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

In my quest to corner the market on pre-war Yello Bole pipes, I snagged this nice little oval shank Dublin. It’s between a group one and group two size, my smallest reamer head only fits about half way into the bowl. The best part is the pipe had not suffered serious abuse. It had some tar on the rim, along with a few nicks and a small tooth mark on the back of the stem. Here is what it looked like when I got it.Andrew1 You will notice the varnish, in a lot of cases a finish like that is to cover up imperfections in the briar. So it was with a little trepidation that I dropped the bowl into the alcohol bath.Andrew2 While the bowl marinated, I soaked the stem in Oxyclean. Next I reamed the bowl. As I mentioned earlier the reamer head didn’t fit all the way down, so I carefully removed the remaining cake with a small pen knife (which you can see in the corner of the picture) and a dental pick.Andrew3 Next up the retort. Judging from the stinger I didn’t expect a dirty pipe.Andrew4

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Andrew6 The stem was a little dirtier, but a second retort cleared it up nicely.Andrew7

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Andrew9 With the internals sorted, I could now see what lurked under the varnish. I used 0000 grit steel wool and acetone to remove the tar on the rim and the varnish.Andrew10 I was pleased to only find a single fill.Andrew11 It was the pink putty though, and I hate pink putty, so it had to go.Andrew12 I’ve tried as many different techniques for fixing fills as I can think of. My current technique is to use a push pin to spread a small amount of CA glue into the hole, next I pack it full of briar dust, followed by a drop of CA, followed by a drop of accelerator. The nice thing about using accelerator is you can work the repair right after drying off any remaining accelerator. Here is what the repair looked like before sanding.Andrew13 Next I tackled the oxidation on the stem. I used 400 grit wet/dry with water followed by 1500, 1800, and 2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. I always hold a washer over the tenon to prevent rounding the shoulders of the stem. Here is the stem after removing oxidation.Andrew14 I still had the tooth mark on the bottom of the stem to fix, so I mixed up some clear CA and finely ground charcoal dust and applied it with my push pin. You may notice the yogurt container, I use that to mix the glue and charcoal. When it gets too dirty I throw it away and get a new one.Andrew15 I used 400 grit sand paper to shape the fill, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh. I usually don’t use water when sanding down fills. I removed the top coat of finish on the bowl with a progression of 1500 to 2400 grit micro mesh pads. Next I used 3200 to 12,000 grit micro mesh pads to polish the entire pipe. You will again notice the washer on the stem. Here is the pipe ready for final polish.Andrew16 I used my rotary tool with white diamond and carnauba wax on the stem.Andrew17 I took the bowl to the buffer and used white diamond and carnauba wax on it as well. Just a word of caution when using a buffer, hold onto whatever you’re buffing with both hands.

Here is the final result. Thanks for looking.Andrew18

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Repaired a couple of Brighams for a friend

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Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe at the top of the photo is a Brigham Algonquin shape 265. It is a newer Brigham and has the nylon tenon and system. The second pipe is a Brigham 384 volcano. The stem of that one is shown in the photo below. A friend and reader of the blog, Joe Iacobellis sent me a note to see if I could help him out on these two. He had restored the bowls on both pipes but the stems were giving him fits. The Algonquin was completely restored and he put the stem on the finished pipe to have a look. When he took the stem off the tenon and system apparatus remained in the bowl. It was stuck and would not come out. The two brass dots or pins had come loose from the tenon and though the stem fit well the tenon would not come out of the shank or stay in the stem. The stem on the Volcano was a mess. There seemed to have been a coating of varnish or something on the stem and when he worked on it the surface came off pitted and scarred. He wanted me to help on these two issues so I had him send them to me.Brig1 When I came home from a recent trip for work the pipes were waiting for me. The issues that Joe had mentioned in his email were right on. The tenon on the Algonquin was torn where the pins had come free from the nylon. The tenon was stuck in the shank and would not move. I put the bowl in the freezer over night and let it sit. When I took it out in the morning I used a pair of needle nose pliers to carefully twist the tenon out of the shank. I cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners and cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to make sure that shank was not the issue. I put the tenon back in place on the stem and it was fairly tight. I twisted it back into the shank and it fit well. When I removed the stem the tenon was once again stuck in the shank. I used the needle nose to twist it out again. I used an ice pick to push the pins further out of the inside of the stem so that the surface was smooth. I used some clear super glue and coated the end of the tenon and pressed it into place in the stem.

After the glue set I used the ice pick and a small furniture hammer to tap the pins back into the tenon. I tapped lightly so as not to damage the tenon or the stem. I pushed the stem into the shank and twisted it out several times to make sure that the fit was good and the tenon would remain in the stem instead of the shank. It worked! I then cleaned up the tenon and the stem with micromesh sanding pads to polish it. I buffed it on the buffer with Blue Diamond and then carnauba wax. I gave the rim of the bowl a light coat of cherry stain to bring it closer to a match on the bowl. I buffed the rim and gave it a coat of carnauba. The finished pipe is shown below.Brig2

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Brig8 The stem on the volcano took some work. The surface of the vulcanite was rough and somewhat ridged from the varnish or clear coat on it. I used some 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the surface of the stem and remove the oxidation around the shank/stem junction. I sanded it with a medium and a fine grit sanding sponges. I then wet sanded it with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. I buffed it with Tripoli before dry sanding it with 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads to finish polishing the stem. Once completed I gave it a light buff with Blue Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax.Brig9

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Brig12 Joe, the pipes are finished. I will get them wrapped up and in the mail as soon as possible. I think they came out great and hope you will get a lot of use out of them. Enjoy! Thanks for sending them to me to work on, I enjoyed it.

For the Love of an Amadeus Half-Bent Brandy

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Guest Blog by Robert M. Boughton
Member, North American Society of Pipe Collectors
http://www.naspc.org
http://www.roadrunnerpipes.com
http://about.me/boughtonrobert
Photos © the Author

“According to Diotima, Love is not a god at all, but is rather a spirit that mediates between people and the objects of their desire. Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but is rather the desire for wisdom and beauty.”
― Plato (429?–347 BCE), Athenian philosopher, in “Symposium,” 360 BCE

INTRODUCTION
Amadeus may be known best as the 1984 feature film that won eight Academy Awards and was titled after the fourth given (or in this case, chosen) name of the latter 18th century Austrian composer, more often shortened to Mozart. Christened Johannes Chrystosomus Wolfgangus Theophilis Mozart, the often inebriated genius preferred the Latin translation of Theophilis – Greek for “lover of God” – which is Amadeus, derived from amare, to love, and Deus, God. The name also happens to be a Greek pipe brand founded in 1975 by eight artisans.

The half-bent brandy I obtained as part of a multi-pipe estate lot last year is a mid-level example of an Achaki-Amadeus S.A. briar. The company’s products range in price new from $50 on sale to $320 at the regular rate. They are all made of high quality Mediterranean briar, and the Greek company is among the primary suppliers of that variety of wood to other makers including Stanwell, Vauen, Tsuge and the late Bjarne Nielsen of Denmark.

This Amadeus arrived in much better than usual shape except for the chamber and rim and some minor wear of the stem.AM1

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AM7 THE RESTORATION
I was eager to start a OxiClean bath on the stem. Knowing the stem hole as well as the outer area would benefit from a good soak for about a half-hour, I suspected that some of the chatter I could see in line with the lower lip would require more than that and even some sanding before micro-meshing.Am8

Am9 In the meantime, I had no trouble removing the little bit of blackening of the rim with easy rubbing using super fine steel wool, and the mild buildup of carbon in the chamber with a 19mm reamer followed by 150-grit paper and finished to silky smoothness with 320-grit.

Although the top of the stem was good after the soak, rinse and a wet micromesh work-over – building a grade at a time from 1500-4000 – the bottom, after the same treatment, indeed needed more work.AM10

Am11 And so I removed a little more of the chatter with 200-grit paper and applied some Black Super Glue.Am12

Am13 My work so far was easy, but being the glass-half-empty sort I was prepared to discover serious accreted grime when I commended the stage of clearing the mortise and shank with a wire-handled cleaner dipped in Everclear. But my luck continued. After a few passes that met no resistance and resulted in minor darkness of the cleaner, I decided with a rare sense of admiration that the previous owner had enjoyed the Amadeus brandy for some time and taken appropriate care of it. Reattaching the stem, I retorted the pipe with a mere two Pyrex test tubes of boiled alcohol.

As has been the case in many of my restorations so far, I was curious with the shade of the stain that I considered to be over-dark. To my way of thinking, as long as a careful visual analysis reveals no hidden reason for the extra obscuring, the clearer the grain, the better. And so, again with the utmost gentleness, I used a small piece of steel wool to lighten the briar and worked my way up the micromesh scale.Am14

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AM19 For those of you with more discerning eyes, the pieces of crud visible with enlargement of the last photo, showing the shank opening, resulted from a final impulsive sanding of the chamber. Rest assured none of it remained after I noticed and gave it a good blow.

The two pieces of the pipe were ready for buffing. I used red and white Tripoli and White Diamond on the stem (big surprise) and white Tripoli, White Diamond and three coats of carnauba on the wood.Am20

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Am26 CONCLUSION
There were no big problems with this restoration; no special problems to report or whine about; no particular distinction of the Amadeus itself, except for its very fine craftsmanship and, to me, less common country of manufacture. Still, it is a real beauty, an opinion I expressed in an email to Achaki-Amadeus to date the crafting of the pipe. Excepting the general pleasure of the simple but effective restoration, in fact, the most exciting aspect of the process came after the fact, when I received a response from one of the brand’s owners:

This is a line we used to make some good ten years ago. If you are in the USA it was imported in the country four years ago.

I hope I helped.

Thank you for your kind words.

Best regards

Makis Minetos

Please visit my blog:

http://www.acutabovebriar4.blogspot.com

Building a Better Button on a 1930’s Yello Bole Oom Paul

9 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

Have you ever found that Holy Grail pipe only to realize that it has a major flaw? For me, this pipe ticked all the boxes, a KB&B pipe made between 1933 and 1936, it was a less common shape and looked to be in decent condition. The only problem I could see was that a previous owner had filed off the button.Andrew1

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Andrew4 I’ve been experimenting with super glue and ground charcoal for stem repair and I had an idea how I might use that to re-create the button. Now just a quick disclaimer. I am not a medical professional and I do not pretend to know any potential health hazards to the use of super glue on something you put in your mouth. On the other hand, I am aware that the state of California has found that pipe smoking is not healthy for pregnant women or their unborn children. As an adult, I accept these risks as the relaxation benefit outweighs the health risks.

Before tackling the button I needed to clean up the pipe. I started the process by giving the bowl an alcohol bath.Andrew5 While the bowl marinated, I dropped the stem into a solution of Oxyclean. After a good long soak, I reamed the bowl.Andrew6 After reaming the bowl, I retorted the stem and bowl. I forgot to take pictures of the bowl during this process.Andrew7 The stem was pretty clean, which I expected based on the minimal amount of chatter and the lack of cake build up in the bowl. A couple of fuzzy sticks dipped in alcohol did the trick.Andrew8 The alcohol bath serves two purposes, it loosens up the internal gunk and it helps remove the old finish. On this particular pipe, I noticed that the bowl was stained a purplish read and had a heavy varnish on it. That’s usually a sign of inferior briar and lots of fills. With great trepidation, I used acetone and 0000 steel wool to see what was under the old finish.Andrew9 I was pleasantly surprised to find beautiful grain and not a single fill.Andrew10

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Andrew13 I was not happy with the purple tint of the wood though, I mean who does that? My guess is, this pipe could have made the cut as a Kaywoodie, maybe they were short on the Yello Bole line so they put a Yello Bole stem on it and that hideous varnish. Interestingly enough, this pipe has the identical shape number as the Kaywoodie medium billiard Oom Paul. Just to give you an idea how many pipes Kaywoodie used to make, they had three models of the Oom Paul shape.Andrew14 I decided the best way to take care of the purple stain was with some judicious sanding. Since the bowl didn’t have any scratches or dents, I didn’t have to go too heavy. I started out with 1500 grit micro mesh and worked my way up to 12,000 grit. You will notice the washer between the stem and shank. I’ve learned that the best way to get a sharp shoulder on the shank and the stem is by using the washer to prevent the sanding medium from rounding it off.Andrew15 This is what the bowl looked like after the micro mesh pads.Andrew16

Andrew17 I decided to keep the stain light, so I diluted some Pimo Pipe Supply mahogany and used a single coat. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of that process, I was kind of excited about fixing the stem.

I removed the oxidation on the stem with a progression of 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. I didn’t have the bowl attached, so I just held the washer over the tenon to prevent rounding.Andrew18 With the oxidation addressed, it was time to start building the new button. I’m not the best when it comes to carving the bottom side of the button so I decided to use clear tape to create definition.Andrew19

Andrew20 I built up layers of tape until it was the thickness that I wanted for the underside of the button. Next, I mixed some ground charcoal and super glue and started applying it. After each application I put a drop of accelerator on the end and applied another layer. It was not looking the way I wanted it to look.Andrew21 I remember Steve said that when he used activated charcoal it was very fine. So I sanded off the mess and started over. To get a finer charcoal I used our coffee grinder, which did a pretty good job, but still left some larger chunks.Andrew22 To solve that problem, I used a tea strainer. The result was very finely ground charcoal.Andrew23 I mixed the super glue and charcoal and applied it as before.Andrew24 I sanded between applications and filled in any remaining divots.Andrew25 Once I had the button shaped to my liking, I used a progression of micro mesh pads from 3200-12,000. Then I used my rotary tool with white diamond and carnauba wax to bring out the shine.Andrew26 I gave the bowl a quick spin on the buffing wheel with white diamond and carnauba wax. Here is the result.Andrew27

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Andrew37 I am happy to say that this pipe smokes as well as it looks. It is a system pipe. I couldn’t be happier with the button. The thing I like about using the charcoal and super glue is, it polishes and shines just like the vulcanite. This pipe is a keeper. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Wally Frank Natural Sun Cured Algerian Made Pot

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

This older Wally Frank Pot shaped pipe came in the same gift box as the little no named prince that I restored recently. In fact it was the second pipe in the photos included with the prince. It was a fairly decent piece of briar with one large fill on the top of the shank in the middle. The putty used was brown rather than pink coloured putty so it would blend fairly well. The briar was darkened from use with oils and dirt. There was a thick build up of tar and oil on the rim that was rock hard. The cake in the bowl was thick and hard. The stem was good quality vulcanite and did not have much oxidation. There were deep scratches around the stem near the stem shank junction. There were also flecks of metal in the vulcanite that makes me think that the pipe is a war years pipe as often the rubber stems were made from recycled tires. There was a slight buildup of calcium on the stem just ahead of the button. The tenon had an aluminum inner tube that sat ran the length of the shank and ended with a diagonal cut end in the bottom of the bowl.Frank1

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Frank5 The next three photos show the stamping on the pipe. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank Natural over Sun Cured and on the right side Wally Frank Ltd. On the underside of the shank it was stamped Second and Made in Algeria. I have seen plenty of pipes that were stamped Algerian Briar but this is the first stamped Made in Algeria that I have seen.Frank6

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Frank8 The next photo is a close-up of the rim and bowl. It shows the cake and the build-up on the rim as well as the inner tube sitting in the bottom of the bowl.Frank9 I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer starting with the smallest cutting head and working up to the head that was the same diameter as the bowl. I reamed the bowl back to bare wood and wiped down the inside of the bowl with cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the dust that remained in the bowl.Frank10 I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl and rim with acetone on cotton pads. I scrubbed until the oils and dirt were gone from the bowl and the rim was clean. There was some nice grain showing on the bowl – cross cut on the side and birdseye on the front and back.Frank11

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Frank14 I sanded the stem and shank with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches around the stem at the junction. I sanded both the shank and stem with medium and fine grit sanding sponges. I sanded the bowl and rim with a fine grit sanding sponge. I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they came out clean. The shank was remarkably clean considering how caked the bowl was. I wonder if the inner tube was not responsible for that.Frank15 The next two photos show the pipe along with the no name prince that I recently restored. Both had a natural finish that probably was oiled originally.Gen13

Gen14 I decided to rub this pipe down with olive oil as I did the prince. I rubbed on the oil with a paper towel and let the wood absorb it. I wiped off the excess and hand rubbed it until the wood had a rich glow.Frank16

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Frank19 I buffed the bowl with White Diamond to give it a shine and then gave it a coat of carnauba wax. I then worked on the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil between each set of three pads.Frank20

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Frank22 I buffed the pipe and stem with White Diamond and worked it over the stem and bowl until the feel was smooth. I also buffed it with Blue Diamond. I gave it several coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a soft flannel buff to raise the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.Frank23

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Stem Reconstruction on an Ehrlich Billiard

4 Replies

Blog by Andrew Selking

“He’s not dead, just mostly dead.” Miracle Max The Princes Bride

I like the way the pipe looked in the auction pictures, but when I first examined it I thought the stem was beyond help. This is not a little pipe, but the previous owner was obviously a clencher. The top and bottom of the stem had a hole, as you can see by these pictures.Andrew1

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Andrew4 Before getting into the stem repair, I soaked the bowl in alcohol.Andrew5 Although I have done simple repairs on tooth marks, I had never tackled anything this complicated. The holes were far enough down that it wouldn’t be practical to cut a new button. The stem is fat enough that finding a replacement was also out of the question. The one thing the stem had going for it was the edges were still in good shape. I decided to do a complete reconstruction of the stem.

I don’t claim to be an expert on these things, so I turned to one of the how-to articles on Pipe Smoker’s Unlimited. The one gentleman used activated charcoal with super glue, so I decided to try it. I found a large container of activated carbon, which is the same thing, in the pet department of my local Walmart. It came in small pellets, which needed to be ground into a fine powder.Andrew6 This is what it looked like after grinding.Andrew7 I took some wax paper and folded it to fit inside the stem. Once I got the fit I wanted, I sprayed the wax paper with cooking spray and put it back inside the stem.Andrew8 I used a couple drops of clear super glue on the bottom of a plastic cup, mixed in some charcoal dust, and applied it to the hole. I added a couple of drops of glue accelerator and set it aside to cure.Andrew9 I did the same thing with the other side. I’ve found that even with accelerator, it’s a good idea to let the glue cure for at least 24 hours. You can work it sooner than that, but it has a tendency to come out when you’re sanding it.Andrew10 I used several applications of the glue and charcoal paste.Andrew11

Andrew12 Once the hole was filled in I sanded it down.Andrew13

Andrew14 As you can see the charcoal left a few pits. To fill them in I applied a thin layer of super glue over the pits and sprinkled charcoal dust directly on top of it.Andrew15

Andrew16 This is what it looked like after sanding.Andrew17 The stem was still far from finished, but it was good enough to start cleaning the insides.Andrew18 I went ahead and retorted the bowl first.Andrew19 The brush came out fairly clean.Andrew20 I learned a hard lesson while cleaning this shank. In spite of the large diameter, the inner hole was smaller than the q-tip I tried to stick inside it. The end came off and it took a lot of effort to get it out. The moral of the story is, if it doesn’t fit don’t try to make it fit.

In spite of the minor set-back, the shank was pretty clean.Andrew21 Next I retorted the stem.Andrew22 It had a lot of tar inside it, so repeated the process an additional two times. It was easy to clean after that.Andrew23 With the inside cleaned, it was time to finish smoothing out the stem. I used 400 grit wet/dry with water, followed by 1500-2400 grit micro mesh pads with water. To prevent rounding the edges of the stem I held a rubber washer over the end of the tenon.Andrew24 While the stem dried I turned to repairing the rim damage.Andrew25 I used 150 grit sand paper on a piece of glass to remove the worst of the damage.Andrew26 Once I had the edge almost where I wanted it, I switched to 400 grit sand paper. This is what it looked like after sanding.Andrew27 I have become a big fan of natural finished pipes, especially when they have nice grain like this one does, so I used acetone and 0000 grit steel wool to clean the bowl.Andrew28 After cleaning the finish, I noticed a couple of dents on the front of the bowl.Andrew29 I used my wife’s iron and a wet cloth to steam out the dents.Andrew30 After allowing the wood to dry out overnight, I polished the bowl and stem with a progression of 3200-12,000 grit micro mesh pads.Andrew31 I know Steve uses Obsidian oil on his stems during this step and also uses olive oil to bring out the grain of the bowl. I’ve been experimenting with mineral oil for the same purpose. It doesn’t take much, just a little bit on the tip of your finger. I used one coat after the first three pads on both the bowl and the stem. After the final pad, I repeated the process. I really worked the bowl in my hand to bring out a beautiful reddish brown color.Andrew32 I used a soft cloth to buff the pipe and remove any excess oil before the final buffing stage. I buffed the bowl on my buffing wheel with white diamond and carnauba wax. I used my rotatory tool with white diamond and carnauba wax on the stem. I gave the whole pipe a final coat of Halcyon II wax and filled the E on the stem with a white out pen. This is the result.Andrew33

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Restemming & Working on New Staining Techniques on a Mastercraft Pot

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe from the gift box is a Mastercraft Pot. It is stamped Mastercraft in a shield on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Italy on the right side. There are no shape numbers. There are a lot of fills on the bottom of the bowl and the right side of the bowl. The finish is a thick coat of what appears to be urethane – almost plastic looking. Someone had previous started refurbishing it – to bowl had been carefully reamed and the bowl topped. There was a large fill on the rim that was loose that ran from the middle of the right side of the bowl almost all the way across the rim. This pipe would be a great one to experiment with using different stains to blend the fills and highlight the grain. The urethane coat would prove a challenge to remove completely but once gone it would prove a perfect candidate for the new staining techniques I wanted to learn. The band on the shank is aluminum and is oxidized and dull. The stem is a replacement that is poorly fit. It is loose in the shank and does not fit against the shank well. The tenon is very short and almost conical in shape. I will break the work on this pipe into two parts: Part 1: Fitting a Stem and Part 2: The Staining Experiment and a Conclusion called Finishing Touches.Mas1

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Mas4 I took a few close-up photos of the rim and the stem. These will help to give an idea of the state of affairs when I brought the pipe to the work table.Mas5

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Part 1: Fitting a Stem

I removed the stem and found two possible replacements in my stem can. The original replace in the one at the bottom of the photo below. The two options were a longer taper and a saddle stem. Both of them worked well with the length of the shank. They looked better than the one the pipe arrived with.Mas9 I tried the bowl with each of the stems to get an idea of the look of the pipe. I made a decision for the taper once I had seen them both in place in the shank.Mas10

Mas11 The taper stem was slightly larger in diameter than the shank so I would need to adjust the diameter. I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol to remove the tars and oils from the shank. Because someone had already started the process on this pipe it was not a long clean. It took very few cleaners before the shank was clean.Mas12

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Mas15 I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to start and then decided it was taking too much time. I used the Dremel with a sanding drum and quickly removed the excess material.Mas16

Mas17 I brought it back to the work table and sanded it with 180 and 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the marks left by the sanding drum. I needed to fine tune the fit but it was working with the bowl.Mas18

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Part 2: The Staining Experiment

To prepare the bowl for staining I needed to do the repairs and remove the old finish. I decided to re-top the bowl to remove some of the damage and smooth out the area around the fill on the right side top and edge. I wanted to bring the top down to lessen the area that the fill intruded on.Mas20 I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the finish only to find that it did not work to cut through the finish. Before I intruded on the finish with my next measure I decided to repair the fill on the outer edge of the rim on the right side. I used briar dust and super glue to repair the fill on the side and top of the rim. Most of the fill had been smoothed out on the top but there was some of the fill missing on the edge of the rim. I cleaned and sanded the repair to blend it into the finish. When that was smoothed out I sanded the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge to break the gloss of the finish and then dropped it into the alcohol bath.Mas21 When I took it out of the bath the finish was dulled but still not broken. This top coat was a real bear to remove. I needed to do quite a bit more sanding on the coating to remove the finish.Mas22 Once the finish was gone and I was at bare wood I decided I would use a three part staining process to try to hide the fills and blend them into the briar. I wanted to try something new as well with the staining of this pipe. I wiped it down a final time with acetone to clean off the dust and any remnants of finish, scrubbing hard around the stamping on the shank. I stained it with a medium walnut stain, flamed it and buffed it.Mas23

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Mas26 When the stain dried I gave it a light buff with a cloth and a shoe brush and then gave it the second coat of stain. This time I gave it a coat of oxblood coloured stain. I wanted to bring out the grain on the sides and front and back of the bowl and try to blend the fills more. I stained it and flamed the stain.Mas27

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Mas30 When that stain dried I buffed the bowl with White Diamond and wiped it down with isopropyl to even out the stain coat. I hand buffed it afterwards with a soft cloth. The bowl was beginning to take on the colour I wanted from these first two coats of stain.Mas31

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Mas36 Then it was time for the third coat of stain. I stained the pipe with a dark brown aniline stain. I applied it and flamed it and repeated the process until I had good coverage on the pipe. The dark brown looked opaque when first applied.Mas37

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Mas39 I buffed the pipe with White Diamond on the wheel and gradually the grain began to show through the finish. The combination of stains gave the pipe precisely the colour I was wanting – a warm reddish brown with dark highlights in the grain patterns. The fills though still present, did not stick out as badly and seemed to blend into the finish.Mas40

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Conclusion: Finishing Touches

With the finish on the pipe completed I worked on the stem. I sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge and then with micromesh sanding pads. I also sanded the band on the shank with the micromesh pads at the same time. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and sanded the band without the stem present. You have to be careful with the pads when polishing metal as they will leave a dark stain on the briar and the vulcanite.Mas44 I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and dry sanded the stem with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I polished the band with the same and also with a silver polishing cloth. After each set of three pads I rubbed the stem down with the oil. When I had finished the stem I gave it a final coat of the oil and then let it dry.Mas45

Mas46 The next photos show the finished pipe. It is a rich brown/red colour that has warmth and depth to it. The silver band and the new stem make the pipe look quite rich. I figure it is at least as nice or nicer than when it left the Mastercraft warehouse.Mas47

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An Experimental Tenon Repair – Fixing a Broken Tenon

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

I wrote about the refurbishing and repair of a Savinelli de Luxe Milano 431 recently on the blog. I had to trim back the broken stem and refinish the bowl. One part of that repair that was not planned on came about when I dropped the pipe and the stem snapped off with the tenon stuck in the shank. At that point I had a decision to make – restem the pipe or figure out some way to repair the one in hand. I could have drilled out the broken end of the tenon in the stem and then tapped it and fitted it with a threaded Delrin tenon. I have done a lot of those repairs but wanted to try something different with this one. I wanted to see if I could figure out a way to repair the broken tenon and reuse it. It would be an experiment for sure – would a repair to the tenon hold up to removing and putting the stem back in the shank repeatedly? Would the twist and pull on the stem make a repair unreliable and not durable? What could I do to try to mitigate the lack of integrity in the repaired stem?Sav47 This particular stem came with an aluminum tube in the end of the tenon – an inner tube like Dunhill used for a time. This one was short. When the tenon broke off in the shank I used a dental pick to push the inner tube out of the broken tenon and into the shank so that I could have the room in the airway to thread in a screw. I keep a couple of drywall screws in a cup on my work table so that when I run into a broken tenon in a shank I can use it to pull the tenon. I twist the screw into the tenon by hand and then use a Philips screwdriver to push it in the last couple of turns. I want it to have a good bite in the tenon so that I can use it to pull the broken part. I then use a pair of pliers to wiggle the broken tenon out of the shank. I then tipped the inner tube out of the shank. At this point I had an idea. I had no clue whether it would work long term or not but it was worth trying. The idea was to open the airway in the tenon piece and in the stem so that I could insert the tube. The tube would go into the stem with the sharp end in first. I would press it in and then glue it. I would slide the broken tenon piece over the tube and glue the tube and the broken end of the tenon to the end of the stem.Sav48 I used a round needle file to open up the airway in the tenon and the stem. It did not take too long to open it enough for the tenon to slide over the tube. I still needed to open the airway in the stem in order to fit the tube.Sav49 I used a drill bit slightly larger in diameter as the tube. I set up the drill on my worktable and then hand turned the stem onto the drill bit. I did not want to use power as it could potentially go too far into the stem. I measured the length of the tube so that the length leftover after the broken tenon was slid over the top would extend into the stem.Sav50 I used the round needle file to clean up the airway and smooth out the slight ledge left behind by the drill. Once the tube was in place I did not want it to have a lip that a pipe cleaner would get caught on or cause a whistle when air was sucked through it.Sav51

Sav52 I used a flat needle file to score the surface of the metal tube. I wanted a rough surface for the glue to bind the tube to the vulcanite. I mixed a two part epoxy and coated the end of the tube that was going into the stem portion of the break. I inserted the tube and pressed the epoxy into the airway around the tube with a needle file. I tamped it down and made sure that the tube was straight up and down. To assure that it was I slid the broken tenon over the tube and aligned the broken ends. I set the stem portion aside until the epoxy set. It would still need to cure but the glue sets quite quickly to touch.Sav53 When the glue had set to touch I coated the tube with epoxy and the broken ends on both the stem side and the tenon side of the stem. I slid the tenon onto the tube over the glue and pressed it in place. In retrospect I should have let the glue in the stem cure for several days before sliding the tenon piece over the tube. I would regret that in the days ahead.Sav54 I pressed the tenon in place until the excess glue squeezed out. I let it set so that I could scrape off the excess once it had hardened.Sav55

Sav56 I took the next photo to show how the tube was set in the end of the tenon. I wanted it far enough down into the tenon that I would be able to chamfer the end of the tenon if I needed to do so.Sav57 As the glue hardened I used a dental pick to peel away the excess glue. It took time to do it carefully and slowly so as not to damage the repair and peel glue out of the crack. When I had finished cleaning it up I checked the tenon and low and behold it came out of the stem portion. The glue had not cured. I had not let it sit long enough before working with it. I had to reglue the tenon on the stem.Sav58

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Sav60 This time I let the stem dry and cure for another week. Then I carefully used the sharp blade of a knife to clean up the glue around the crack and to smooth out the surface of the repair. I sanded the surface of the tenon with 220 grit sandpaper to remove what the knife did not take way. I was careful to not change the shape of the tenon.Sav61

Sav62 I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.Sav63 I set aside the stem and let the tenon repair cure for two days and then checked it. The glue in the tenon part was solid. The line around the crack was also solid. I worried about the glue inside the airway of the stem portion. With no air movement around the tube and glue I wondered if it would set properly. I let the repair sit for another seven days to ensure that it cured and dried.Sav64

Sav81 Once it had dried I gingerly inserted it into the shank of the pipe. I pushed it slowly into place, careful not to twist and turn it yet. It fit well. I would need to make some adjustments to the top and bottom sides of the stem but it would work.Sav65 I pushed it in place and finished polishing the stem with micromesh. The repair had been sitting for a week and the glue seemed to be cured. I decided to let it sit for another week before smoking the pipe. It seemed that the repair was working well and the tenon would hold. Time would tell but it looked to me that the tube insert gave the stem and tenon stability that would keep it in action. The stem is easily removed and can even be twisted in and out of the shank without loosening the repair. I will keep you posted on the longevity of this repair but if it works it will save quite a few of the tenon repairs I am doing. In the meantime it would be great if a few of you gave it a try with pipes you are working on and let us know what you think.Sav93

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