Tag Archives: Stem repairs

Refurbishing and Restemming an Unsmoked Small Paneled Rhodesian

I am scraping the bottom of the box for pipes to refurbish. It is clear that I am going to have to go on the hunt again soon. At the bottom of the box I have a few small/tiny pipe bowls that have come to me from a variety of sources. I believe this little one came from Mark Domingues as well. It is unsmoked and stemless. The bowl was in pretty fair shape though the finish coat was varnish of some sort. The stain was spotty under the varnish coat. There was one dominant fill on the left side of the bowl on one of the panels. The drilling is a bit of centre in the bottom of the bowl – slightly to the left of centre. The drilling was wide open and the draught on the bowl was very good. The bowl did not have a ring around the top before the bevel to the rim. It was a smooth transition. I have had several of these older Rhodesian and Bulldogs in the past and they generally had horn stems. This one did not have any stamping on it so I have no idea as to the maker. There was also no stem present. I had a smaller nylon stem in my box of stems that took very little work on the tenon to make for a snug fit in the shank.

Once the stem fit well in the shank I sanded the shank and stem to get a good smooth transition between stem and shank. I used 220 grit sandpaper to do the rough work and then used a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the shank and stem. The stem had casting marks on both sides of the stem and also heavy tobacco stains around the button and in the slot. The airway was virtually clogged and I could barely get a straightened paper clip through before I worked on it with Everclear and bristle pipe cleaners.

I decided to sand the stain off the shank and rework the taper on the pipe from button to bowl. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the excess briar and nylon and smooth out the taper. What I wanted was a clean smooth line from button to bowl. The next four photos show the shank and the stem after sanding with the 220 grit sandpaper. The flow is smooth and even and the lines are very graceful. The casting marks are gone from both sides of the stem and the button is cleaned of the majority of the stains.

I wiped the bowl and shank down with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the varnish finish and some of the stain on the bowl in order to make it easier to match the stain on the newly sanded shank and the bowl. I also sanded the bowl, shank and stem with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove scratches left behind by the sandpaper and to prepare the stem for sanding with micromesh sanding pads.

I sanded the entire pipe and stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem and the bowl with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded the bowl alone with 3200-12,000 grit pads. I did not want to make the briar to smooth to take a good coat of the stain.

I stained the bowl with a medium brown aniline stain mixed 2 parts stain with 1 part isopropyl alcohol to get the colour I wanted. I was going for more of a wash than a deep coat. I wanted the grain on the shank and bowl to come through the colour. I used a black permanent mark to draw grain marks on the two fills and to make it easier for the stain coat to blend in and hide the putty marks.

Once the stain was dry I buffed the bowl with White Diamond to give it a shine and then reinserted the stem and lightly buffed the stem with White Diamond as well. The nylon stems take a very soft touch or they are easily damaged. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax to protect them and then lightly buffed the pipe a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe is pictured below. It is not a big pipe in any sense but should be a great flake pipe. The second photo below gives an idea of proportion by the inclusion of my hand with the pipe. The yellow nylon stem approximates the unique colour and look of the horn stem that must have originally graced this little bowl. The stem is thin and the new taper gives a very delicate look to the new pipe.

Repairing a Burned Through Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

There are many times I take on the challenge of repairing a pipe totally for the learning experience. When I begin working on it there is nothing of redeeming value in the pipe itself. It is not beautiful or worthy of keeping. Rather it provides a unique learning opportunity for me to work on a skill in my refurbishing hobby. The pipe below is exactly that kind of pipe. Mark Domigues sent it to me along with other bowls when I was working on the shank repair on his old Peterson pipe. It is a no name pipe with a rustication pattern that I did find particularly attractive. In fact I put off working on it as it just did not appeal to me. I can’t tell you how many times I picked the bowl up and carried it to the recycle bin (a bin I used for briar parts) and then carried it back to the “to be refurbished” box.

Finally, Monday the challenge called me. I took the bowl out of my box and looked it over. As I looked at it, the shape kind of grew on me. It is a brandy glass shape and the shank actually has a flare to it as well. The rustication is a bit striated but as I cleaned up the exterior it is a lot like tree bark. The stain is a contrast stain – a black undercoat in the grooves and a brown top coat. It was worn but could be salvaged. The shank stem junction was also worn but a band would clean up that part of the pipe. The interior bowl sides were clean and solid. The rim was in good shape. But the glaring problem is visible in the photo below – a large, ½ inch diameter burnout on the flat bottom of the pipe. The surrounding briar was solid. The burnout was very focused. The burn did not extend into the rest of the bottom of the pipe. In fact the wood around the edges of the hole was clean and solid. There was none of the darkening around edges of the burnout or on the bottom of the bowl. It looked like it might be a great candidate for practicing a repair. I have done one other repair on a burn out which involved inserting a briar plug and this looked like it was another candidate for that repair. The difference in this one was the solidness of the briar around the hole.

As I worked up the chutzpah to tackle this repair I decided to work on the shank. I sanded the shank smooth in preparation for the band. I like to have a smooth surface under the band rather than a rusticated pattern. I find it gives a good smooth fit to the band. I sanded out the rustication to the width of a nickel band. Once it was sanded smooth, I heated a band over a heat gun and then pressed it into place. I liked the finished look of the band.

I am sure that you can tell at this point that I am procrastinating in addressing the main issue of the bowl with all of the other random work on the pipe but that went on a little longer. I found a stem in my stem box that fit the shank quite well. The mortise had originally had a screw in fitment so it was threaded. The threads were well worn so I decided to use a regular style push stem. I sanded the tenon to get a good tight fit on the stem and then sanded the stem to get a good fit against the shank and band. The slight bend in the stem looked good but it was a bit crooked so I would address that issue later. The finished look of the stem and band with the bowl was quite nice…maybe there was something redeemable about the bowl after all.

I have a few pieces of scrap briar that I have scavenged from pipe maker friends that I had put away for this kind of repair. So I found one that had enough briar left that I could carve it into a plug for the bottom of the bowl. I trimmed it with a hack saw to reduce the size of the plug.

In the first photo below you can see what the hole looked like after I had cleaned it up with a pick and Everclear. I had also reamed the inside of the bowl to remove all of the cake from the sides and the bottom of the bowl. The second photo shows the hole after I had drilled it out. I used a cordless drill with a ½ inch drill bit to round out the damage area and remove any further damage around the burnout. I chose the ½ inch bit as that was the diameter of the hole at the widest part of the hole.

I shaped the briar plug with a Dremel and sanding drum. The next series of photos show the progress of the shaping. I took the rough briar from a wedge to a circular plug and then shortened it to a round plug. I shaped a cap on the plug to the inner diameter of the bowl. Also originally I envisioned pushing the plug through from the inside of the bowl and then cutting off the portion that extended beyond the bottom of the bowl. I would then redrill the airway to finish the repair.

I continued to reduce the diameter of the plug until it was the same size as the hole in the bowl. The inside bowl bottom was hard to match with the cap of the plug. I continued to shape it until it was cup shaped. It seemed no matter how I shaped it however, it would not fit in the bowl bottom as the burnout was not centered in the bowl bottom. It was toward the front of the bowl bottom. I finally decided to use a different tact. I would forgo inserting it from the inside and go the other direction. I would insert it from the outside in. I measured the thickness of the bowl bottom (which was actually in good shape other than the burned portion). I then shortened the plug until it was relatively flush with the bottom of the airway. I coated the plug with superglue gel which gives me a bit more time before it sets and pushed it into the drilled hole. I pressed it against the table top to get the plug in place solidly.

Once the glue set I sanded away the excess briar with a Dremel to match the surface of the bowl. I was not worried about the rustication as I would duplicate that after I finished working the plug into place. The next two photos show the plug and the bowl surface are smooth and the plug is tightly in place.

The next photo shows the interior of the bowl. The plug is even with the entrance of the airway. There is difference in bowl depth around the left edge. I plan to give the bottom of the bowl a thick coating of pipe mud to both protect the new plug and to even out the slight trough on the left front edge of the plug.

I rusticated the bottom of the bowl with the Dremel to match the tree bark look of the rustication on the bowl (Photo 1 below). I stained it with a dark brown aniline stain and then also gave the bottom of the bowl a second coat with black stain to emulate the effect of the stain coat on the rest of the bowl (Photos 2 and 3 below).

I stained the rest of the bowl with the dark brown stain to freshen it up and blend in the stain on the bottom of the bowl. I buffed it with red Tripoli and White Diamond to raise a shine and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax on the buffer. The finished exterior is visible in the first close up below and the following four photos of the pipe.

With the repair finished on the exterior of the pipe I worked on the stem. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper and then with a medium grit sanding sponge to clean up the oxidation and scratches on the vulcanite. I heated the stem with a heat gun to straighten it and then rebent it over a rolling-pin to give it a slight bend. I set the bend under cool water and then gave the stem a quick buff with Tripoli before taking it back to the work table to further sand the stem.

I continued to sand the stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to bring a shine to the vulcanite. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. When I finished sanding with the pads I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and let it dry then buffed it with White Diamond and gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax.

With the externals repaired and finished it was time to make up some pipe mud to coat the bottom of the bowl and give a protective coat over the bowl plug. I sacrificed a nice little Cohiba Cuban cigar for the purpose of making the mud of the ash. When the cigar was finished I had a nice bowl of clean ash.

I mixed the ash with a small amount of water to make a paste. I inserted a pipe cleaner into the airway and then applied it to the bottom of the bowl, tamping it into the crevices around the plug and building up the bowl bottom. As the pipe mud dried I added additional layers of mud to the bottom of the bowl and around the lower sides of the bowl. The next series of three photos show the progressive build up of the mud in the bottom of the bowl.

When the mud had dried to touch I buffed the pipe a final time with White Diamond and then gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax to protect and give it a shine. I then used a clean flannel buff for the final buffing. The restored pipe is pictured below. I will let the pipe mud cure and harden for a few days before loading up the pipe and smoking the inaugural bowl.

Restemmed Dr. Grabow Royal Duke Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

I am getting close to the bottom of the box of pipes to refurbish so I pulled out this Dr. Grabow bowl to restem and to refinish. It is stamped Royal Duke over Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar on the right side. I like taking the sealer coat of varnish off of these old Grabows and seeing what they look like refinished. I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer and cutting heads. I found a stem blank in my box and turned the tenon with a Pimo Tenon Turning Tool until it was close and then finnished the fit by hand. I ran a Dremel with a sanding drum on it down the sides where the overflow from the casting of the stem blanks left the sides and end rough. The next six photos show the fit of the new stem and the look of the pipe with its new stem.

I wiped the bowl down with acetone to remove the finish (photos 1-3 below). I then sanded the smooth surface of the bowl with a medium grit sanding sponge to break up the varnish finish on the rim and sides. I then wiped it down with acetone a second time and was more successful removing the varnish coat (photos 4-9 below). As can be seen from the progress of the photos the finish came off nicely and the rim darkening and bubbled varnish was also removed.

I decided to stain the pipe with a medium walnut stain in a linseed oil mixture. I rubbed it on the bowl and rubbed it off until the colour was solid and even over the bowl. The next series of three photos show the freshly stained bowl of the pipe. I was able to get into the grooves of the rustication with the cotton pads dipped in stain so that all surfaces were covered.

I rubbed off the stain and took the pipe to the buffer. I buffed it with White Diamond to polish the surface of the bowl and rim. The fibres from the pad also polished the grooves of the rustication as well. I put the stem back on the bowl and sanded it down with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the Dremel. I particularly worked on the shank stem union to make sure it was a smooth transition. I sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit sanding pads. The progress of the sanding with micromesh pads is visible in the next series of three photos below. When I finished sanding the stem I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil and let it dry. I rubbed it down and buffed it with White Diamond on the buffing wheel.

The finished pipe is pictured below. I buffed the pipe with multiple coats of carnauba wax and then polished it with a clean flannel buff. This old timer is ready to go back into service and will be a nice addition to someone’s pipe rack.

Restoring an Older GFB Three Star Horn Stem Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The pipe below is one I bought off EBay because it looked like a challenge, that and the fact that it was another GFB pipe. This is the third GFB that I have in my collection. I love the way they feel in the hand and the elegant look of the curves and angles they have. I went back and reread my previous two posts on the GFB pipes I had refurbished to remind myself of their history. There I described the process of hunting down information on the brand. I summarize that here for those may not have read the other two posts. (https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/restemming-and-reclaiming-an-older-unsmoked-gfb-briar-calabash/ , https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/restoring-a-gfb-bent-billiard-another-reclamation-project/)

The first thing I found was information that the GFB brand was an older French Trademark and that it came from Saint Claude, France. A more focused search for GFB French Briar Pipes led to information that the stamping GFB stood for Great French Briar – something about that did not seem right to me so I continued to look and finally came across the following advertisement from a Sears Catalogue. It shows a full page of GFB pipes and the header says GENUINE FRENCH BRIAR. That made much more sense to me, and all three of my GFB pipes match the pipes in the catalogue. It was good to be reminded of the old brand. I am pretty sure that all three of my GFB pipes come from either the late 1890’s or the early 1900’s.

This third pipe was a charmer to me. When I saw the photos I decided I would bid to win it. The elegance of the old pipe caught me. The bowl appeared to be in good shape and it had a horn stem. The striations and colour of the stem was beautiful even in its oxidized state. The three photos below were included in the EBay sale. The third photo shows the underside of the stem and the damage to the underside near the button. It looked to be more than tooth marks or chewing. It actually looked like “worm” damage. From the photos it appeared to be localized to that part of the stem and was worth a chance. Worst case scenario, I would sacrifice the stem and restem the old pipe with a vulcanite stem.

I find that photographing stem damage is difficult and my photos can be out of focus. But I now have a tripod to help with the clarity of the photos (did not get it until after I had started the repairs on this stem. Ah well sorry about the clarity of some of these). When the pipe arrived I took it apart and examined the holes on the end of the stem. Under the lens it was clear that it was not a worm hole at all. Rather it had been bitten and the stem had crumbled in that area. It did not go through into the airway so I think that the previous owner had scraped out the crumbled area of the horn stem for cleanliness and just kept smoking it. That was encouraging to me as it meant that I could repair and not worry about an old “worm” somewhere in the horn stem chewing his way out later! The next two photos show the extent of the damage to the area

I cleaned out the open area with cotton swabs and Everclear, careful to not use too much of the alcohol on the horn stem. Once it was clean of debris and dust I decided to fill the area with a superglue gel rather than the usual liquid superglue I generally use (Photo 1). My thinking was that the gel would sit better in the large area without running all over the stem. There were also nicks on the sharp edges near the shank that I also repaired with the superglue gel (Photo 2). I layered the glue into the hole to build it up gradually (Photo 3) as each previous layer dried.

Once the glued cured over night I sanded the area with medium grit emery paper to remove the high spots and smooth out the surface (Photo 1). I refilled the low areas on the fill to further level out the area. There was also a deep nick on the sharp edge of the shank. I cleaned that out and used the superglue to fill that as well. It would dry black but with the staining of the bowl that could be minimized and I wanted it smooth to the touch rather than the sharp cut of the nick that was previously present (Photo 2).

With everything glued I set the bowl and stem aside and went to work for the day. I would work on the patched areas when I returned home in the evening.

When I returned in the evening, the patches were dry and the pipe was ready to be worked on. I reamed the bowl with the PipNet reamer. On this particular pipe the bowl was conical so it took three different cutting heads on the T handle to ream the bowl to the bottom. With down I cleaned the bowl, shank and stem with Everclear, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I wanted the pipe cleaned out before I worked on the exterior.

The next two photos show the stem after the patches had hardened. Though the photos are a bit blurry, the shininess of the spots where the superglue patches were applied is very clearly visible. Those areas would need to be sanded smooth to match the surface of the surrounding horn.

I sanded the patch on the shank of the pipe with 220 grit sandpaper and also medium grit sanding sponge to remove the excess glue from the patch. Then I wiped the bowl down with Everclear on a cotton pad. I decided not to use acetone as the stamping on the shank was filled with a gold paint and was still visible. I did not want to damage that stamping. I carefully worked the Everclear around the stamping so as not to get any in the grooves of the stars and GFB stamp.

I sanded the patch on the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then a medium grit sanding sponge to smooth out the patch. I continued to sand it with the micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit and dry sanded with the remaining grits up to 12,000.

I buffed the stem with White Diamond on the buffer and the finished stem is shown below. The patch still shows some small holes that need to be repaired with superglue. The sanding and polishing made them very apparent in the first photo below. The patch at the sharp edge near the shank came out very well and is invisible. The horn of the rest of the stem has a deep sheen to it after all the sanding and polishing.

I unscrewed the stem and set it aside while I stained the bowl. I used a medium walnut stain mixed with linseed oil to stain this pipe. The colour is a rich brown with a slight red in certain lights. It matches the colour of the other GFB pipes that are in my collection. I buffed the bowl with White Diamond on the buffing wheel. Then I gave it a coat of carnauba wax and set it aside to work some more on the stem.

I was not completely satisfied with the stem patch so I sanded it next to the button some more and cleaned it out. I put some more of the superglue in the low spots and set it aside to cure while I went to work for the day.

When I returned the glue was hard and the patch a solid bubble on the surface of the stem. I sanded it with the medium grit emery paper and then 220 grit sandpaper to remove the over fill. I always over fill the spots as the glue shrinks as it dries. I have learned that it is easier to remove the excess than to continue to fill and sand repeatedly. I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge and then went through the grits of micromesh sanding pads again from 1500-12,000 grit. When I had finished I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to absorb. Once done I buffed it on the wheel with multiple coats of carnauba wax.

After buffing and polishing the horn stem I buffed the entire pipe with White Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish it then gave it multiple coats of carnauba wax to restore and preserve the shine on the horn and the briar. The finished pipe is back to usable with the stem patch taking care of the deep holes that were previously in the stem. The striated horn stem looks like new and the colouration of the horn goes amazingly well with the medium brown walnut stain. Other than the slightly visible patch the pipe looks like new. I intend to enjoy a bowl of some aged tobacco in a pipe that is far older than I am. I look forward to the day when I pass it on in trust to the next pipeman who will care for and cherish it. Sentimental? I don’t think so, just a realist who knows that this pipe has lived and will live longer than I.

A Dr. Grabow Special Rhodesian/Bulldog – A Makeover

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The last of the pipes from the Ebay lot below was the one in the bottom left corner of the photo. It was stamped Dr. Grabow over Special over Imported Bruyere on the left side of the shank. The finish was a varnish or polyurethane coat over the briar. It was bubbling and crackling. There was water damage on the edges of the rim. The briar itself was in good shape with no dents or roughening on the rim. The rim was slightly darkened but no dents or dings. The bowl was slightly out of round from poor reaming but very workable. The stem was a mess with chew marks on the top and the bottom for about an inch up the stem from the button. The stem was made of nylon and not vulcanite. The tenon was a push style and not a screw in stem. There was a shovel like stinger in the end of the tenon. The stem was loose in the shank and there was significant debris and buildup in the shank and in the stem. The second photo below shows the pipe as it was in the pictures from the seller.

I took it to my worktable this evening and went to work on it. I took the stem out and began to sand on the bite marks on the top and bottom of it. The next series of five photos show the progress of smoothing out the stem by sanding. I began with 220 grit sandpaper and worked up to a medium grit sanding sponge. By the fourth and fifth photo the bite marks are gone and some sanding scratches remain that will need to be worked out with micromesh sanding pads. I recut the edge of the button on the top and bottom with a needle file to clean up the angles. That is also visible in the last two photos. I also removed the stinger and cleaned it with 0000 steel wool and then polished it with micromesh sanding pads.

While I worked on the stem the bowl had been soaking in an alcohol bath to help loosen the varnish or urethane finish. My plan was to remove the finish totally and sand and restain the pipe once it was cleaned and sanded.

The alcohol bath softened the finish so when I dried it off the finish was cloudy. I have found that with this kind of finish I can use acetone on a cotton pad afterward to further remove the softened finish. The next two photos show the bowl with the finish removed. There is some nice looking birdseye grain coming through. Once the briar was clean I reglued the metal decorative band back on the shank and let it dry.

I sanded the bowl with the medium grit sanding sponge and then with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads. The next series of four photos are a little out of focus but the cleaned surface of the briar is visible and the grain that was underneath the finish is quite nice. I was also able to remove the water marks/damage that was along the outer edge of the rim and down the side of the bowl in the process of the sanding. I also cleaned out the shank with cotton swabs and Everclear. I did the stem as well and cleaned until the cleaners and swabs came out clean and white.

While the glue dried I worked on the nylon stem. I was able to remove all of the tooth damage. I wet sanded it with 1500-2400 micromesh sanding pads and removed the majority of the scratches left behind by the sanding sponge. I continued to rework the stem with these sanding pads until all of the scratches were gone and the stem began to take on a shine. (Photos 1-2 below show a top and bottom view of the stem).

I dry sanded with the remaining grits of micromesh sanding pads from 3200-12,000 grit. The stem took on its original shine. The next series of four photos show the stem as it moves through each level of polishing.

I wiped the bowl down a final time with acetone on a cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and grit. I dried it carefully and then it was ready to stain. I decided to use a linseed oil and medium walnut stain on this pipe. I felt it would make the grain show well and give the bowl a good protective coat. I applied the stain and wiped it off, reapplied and wiped it until I got the coverage I wanted on the bowl. The next series of four photos show the stained bowl.

I buffed the bowl and shank on the buffing wheel lightly with Tripoli and then with White Diamond to give it a shine. I then buffed it with carnauba wax and gave it several coats to protect the wood. I did not buff the stem on the wheel as the nylon heats too quickly on the buffing wheel and melts. I have made a mess out of more than one nylon stem. It does not seem to matter how light a touch I use the wheel and the nylon stems do not work well together. I gave the stem a coating of Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the stem. I then hand applied several coats of carnauba wax and hand buffed the stem with a shoe brush and a soft cotton cloth. The finished pipe is pictured below. All in all it is not a bad looking old Grabow. It is clean and should smoke very well.

A New Stem for a Barling’s Make Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

In talking with a friend a few days ago via email she mentioned that she had come across an old Barling pipe on US Ebay. She described it as a small billiard with nice grain, a few scratches and some over reaming in the bowl. The stem had a faded “W” or a crown on it the top. The stamping is Barling’s arched over Make on the left side and possibly a faint EL and a 3 near the bowl on the right side. She sent me the following two photos for me to have a look at the pipe.

From the photos and her description I was pretty certain the pipe stem was not original. It just did not look right in the photos above – the fit was off on the shank and the length was too short. I was pretty sure she had a replacement stem on the pipe. She packed it up and sent it off to me. I received it yesterday and took it to the work table. My assessment is below.

The pipe is old and very worn. The scratches that she mentioned were deeper than I expected from the photos. The finish was worn on the underside of the shank and in places on the sides of the bowl. There were some dark spots on the top and bottom of the shank that looked like stains from moisture or something sitting against the shank in a box. Several of the scratches had white markings in them. As she noted the bowl was over reamed but that too was worse than I expected. It had been reamed to the point that the walls were very thin all the way around and the inner edge of the bowl was out of round. In examining the tapered stem up close it indeed seems to be proportionally short in comparison to the length of the bowl and shank. The shoulders at the shank/stem union are rounded and the fit is not tight. The crown or “W” stamping she mentioned is very hard to see and I am not sure of the actual stamp. There were deep scratches on the vulcanite of the stem as well. In my opinion the pipe needed to be restemmed. The next three photos below show the pipe on my work table before I started fitting a new stem.

I had a slab cut stem blank in my box of stems that had a Barling like look to it. The tenon needed to be turned slightly and hand sanded to fit the shank well. The diameter of the stem at the joint of the shank and stem was larger and needed to be trimmed to fit well. The slab blank had casting seams along the edges, a tight slot and an unfinished look to the edges. I used a Dremel with a sanding drum to cut back the diameter of the stem at the shank. I also used it to sand away the casting marks and to smooth out the edges of the slab to give it a more finished looked. I took it back to the work table and sanded the saddle and slab with medium grit emery cloth to reduce the scratches left behind by the Dremel and to smooth out the fit to the shank. The next four photos show the state of the pipe after fitting the stem, using the Dremel and the emery cloth. The saddle still shows the marks of the sanding drum and needs more fine tuning to be a good tight fit but it is getting there. To me this stem looks more fitting to the old Barling’s Make billiard.

I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge to fine tune the fit and to remove the scratches. I then sanded the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit pads and used needle files to open up the slot in the button. I used the round, oval and flattened files to open and shape the slot. I sanded it with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the newly shaped slot. I then dry sanded with the remaining grits of micromesh from 3200-12,000 grit. The photos below show the progress of the sanding.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry while I worked on giving the bowl a new coat of stain to bring it back to life. I gave it a coating of Medium Walnut aniline stain and flamed it. I took it to the buffer and gave it a light buff with White Diamond on the buffing pad. I was careful around the faint stampings on the shank and hand buffed the shank.

I reinserted the new stem and gave the stem a buff with White Diamond and then waxed the entire pipe with carnauba wax. I applied several coats of the wax and the buffed it with a clean flannel buff to bring up the shine. The finished pipe is pictured in the four photos below. The new stem gives the pipe a much more dignified new look. I can’t wait to get it back to the owner and see what she thinks of the “new” look her pipe now sports!

Restoring An Interesting Piece of Pipe History – An Art Deco C.B. Weber Streamliner

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Blog by Steve Laug

In a recent EBay purchase I picked up a unique pipe that has a flowing look to it. I was intrigued to figure out the history and any information I could find regarding it so I went on a hunt on the web. One of the first articles I came across is found in the link below. http://streamlinesdeluxe.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/weber-streamliner-pipe-2/ The author of the blog makes a brief reference the pipe I found and even has a picture of it. He speaks of the stem being made of something other than vulcanite. Other references I found in online pipe forums spoke of the fact that the bowl was not made of briar but of some composite material. Others said that the bowls were made of American hardwoods. Interestingly no one spoke of what hardwoods were used. I have hunted high and low on the web and can find nothing definitive on the pipe’s manufacture or composition.

I broadened my search to information on finned pipes. I did not want information on Porsche design pipes or metal finned pipes but was looking for anything on wooden finned pipes. I came across the following information on a patent taken by a carver/designer named Wayne Leser. His diagrams and patent application is included below and it can be seen that it is actually very close to CB Weber’s Streamliner. His patent was applied for through the US Patent Office in January of 1941. I assume the patent was granted as it is on the Patent website. Weber’s design seems to be elongated a bit more than the Leser design but the tear drop shape of the outer bowl and the similarly tear drop shape of the drilling match quite well.

I can find no further information on Wayne Leser so I have no idea if he sold his concept to Weber, or worked for Weber. If anyone has further information on that connection it would be great to learn about it. Please post a response below.

The pipe I picked up is pictured below in photos from the EBay seller. The photos were not very clear so I could not see the condition of the pipe very well but I was intrigued by it nonetheless. It looked like the bowl was in good condition. The stem however, appeared to be a replacement stem and the fit was poorly done. In the second photo below it is evident that the junction of the stem and shank does not meet.

When the package arrived from the seller I took the pipe to my worktable and photographed the condition of the pipe. The pipe was in fairly decent condition. The left side of the bowl was clean. It is stamped Streamliner in script over C.B. Weber & Co.

There were two small divots in the shank just below the stamping. I thought at first these might be dents but they are actually spots where the wood is missing. The right side of the bowl is also in good shape. The fins are intact all the way around the bowl with no chips or breakage. The rim was tarred and had a small burn spot on the point at the front of the bowl. The stem was definitely a replacement stem. In my reading I had found copies of the logo that was originally on the stem and also the fact that the stem had a stinger apparatus as part of the fitments. This stem had neither and the fit was wrong. The diameter of the stem was bigger; the tenon was off center therefore the fit was out of line with the left side being too large and the right side too small. The length of the stem was also too long and did not match the dimensions that I had found online regarding the overall length of the pipe. The bowl was in pretty decent shape though there was some kind of bowl coating on it that had broken free of the walls. It is a tear drop shaped bowl with a downward angle on the front portion so reaming it would be tricky. The wood on this one was definitely not briar. The bottom of the bowl has a foot that makes it a sitter and there is a rusticated pattern on the bottom of the bowl.

I carefully reamed the bowl to remove the bowl coating and the slight cake that was there. I used two different cutting heads on the PipNet reamer. The first head was the same diameter as the main portion of the bowl. For the angle teardrop end I used the smallest cutting head. Between the two of them I was able to clean up the bowl and remove all of the coating.

Removing the tars from the rim was a bit of a challenge and combined with burn mark on the point I decided to sand off the rim with a medium grit sanding sponge. I would then have to restain the bowl. I sanded it with the medium grit sponge and then with a fine grit sanding block to work on the burn mark and the darkening of the rim.

I finished the sanding by wiping down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad. I was able to even out the finish on the bowl and rim so matching stain would be much easier to do. I was also able to lighten the burn spot with the same process to the point that a good coat of oxblood stain would make it fade into the surface of the rim.

I then set the bowl aside and went to work on fitting a new stem to the bowl and shank. In the first photo below I have the new stem blank fit to the shank. It still needs work to make the diameters match. The stem is about an inch shorter and brings the pipe back to the original length as noted from my online work. I also think that proportionally it works better with the elongated bowl and shank than the one that came with it.

In order to get the fit good and tight I used a sanding block to make sure that the transition between the bowl and shank was smooth. This entailed sanding the shank slightly in the process. In the next series of four photos below the fit is finished. The transition is smooth and the fit is good and tight.

I wiped the pipe down with acetone once again to even out the finish on the shank. The grain in the original wood is quite visible in these photos and it is not briar.

The flow of the taper on the stem was still too chunky in my opinion to match the Streamline concept of the pipe. I used 220 grit sandpaper and files to change the slope of the stem. When I had it the way I envisioned I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper, a medium grit sanding sponge and also a fine grit sanding block. The angle was right and the profile looked much more “streamlined”.

I sanded the stem, bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded them with 1500-2400 grit sanding pads and dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.

I decided to try to match the original stain using a Danish Oil (linseed oil with a cherry stain). I applied the stain with a cotton pad and wiped it down. When it had dried I was not happy with the coverage and appearance so I removed the stain with acetone to try a different stain.

Once I had the finish removed I restained it with an oxblood aniline stain. I had to apply it and flame it several times to the top of the bowl and shank to get the stain to set deeply and match the rest of the bowl. This was a hard one to get a good stain on. I decided to not apply the stain in the grooves of the fins but just on the surface of the bowl. It worked quite well with the original stain in the fins matching the surface colour really well.

I did some further polishing on the stem with the higher grits of micromesh from 3600-12,000. Once I had finished the sanding I polished the stem with Maguiar’s Scratch X2.0 to deepen the shine. I coated the stem with Obsidian Oil and then buffed it with carnauba wax to seal it and protect it. The final buff on the stem was done with a soft flannel pad.

I reinserted the stem and gave the pipe a final buff with carnauba wax and a soft flannel buffing pad. The finished pipe clearly shows some of the grain pattern of the alternative wood on the shank and the top and bottom of the bowl. The stem came out fitting nicely and giving the overall pipe a new “streamlined” appearance more accurately approximating the original stem. The bowl feels great in the hand and is uniquely attractive as a piece of pipe history. Time will tell if I smoke this one or just keep it around for display purposes. Below are photos of the finished pipe.

A National Bent Apple Diamond Shank Restored

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A National Bent Apple Diamond Shank Restored
It is stamped NATIONAL in italics over Washington D.C. on the bottom right side of the diamond shank.

That portion of the shank is smooth. The remainder of the pipe has a deep, craggy sandblast that is quite nice. The stem has no logo or identifying marks other than being stamped PARA on the top right side of the saddle stem.

The two photos above and the series of ten photos below were included in the listing on Ebay. The pipe looked to be in excellent condition. I am uncertain as to the brand of the pipe. The book, Who Made That Pipe identifies the brand as being made by Comoy’s and stamped England. However, this pipe is clearly stamped Washington D.C. The book identifies a brand that is stamped National Mazda as made by LH Stern in the US. The pipe may have been made by LH Stern or possibly it was made for a pipe shop in Washington D.C. and made by Comoy’s. There is also a company called National Briar Pipe Company in Jersey City, New Jersey that could possibly have made the pipe as well. There is something about the stamping that reminds me of the Bertram pipes that also came from Washington D.C. This pipe is a bit of a mystery but I like the diamond shank apple shape and the nice blast on the bowl.

Whoever made the pipe, it has a great looking sandblast as can be seen in the photos below.

The bowl was lightly caked with carbon and was quite clean in the shank and stem. It appeared to have been barely broken in.

The stem seemed to have light tooth chatter on the top and the bottom near the button. There appeared to be light oxidation on the vulcanite.

When the pipe arrived, I unpacked it and took it to the worktable. I removed the carefully stem out of the shank because it was very tight and was hard to turn. I was just about ready to put it in the freezer for a few moments to let the contraction and expansion loosen the stem when it turned. I was able to remove it from the shank without damaging either shank or stem. Looking at the tenon I could see a slight buildup of grime that was on the last ¼ inch and looking into the shank the same band of grit was present. Interestingly to me, the shank was dirty but there was not a lot of tar or oils built up inside. There was bare briar clearly visible in the shank other than the band of grit that had held the stem tightly in place. I cleaned out the shank with cotton swabs dipped in Everclear and the inside of the stem with pipe cleaners and the same. It did not take too much work before they both came out clean and white.

I reamed the bowl of the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer to remove the slight cake and the tobacco debris that had built up on the walls. It was quite soft and came easily away from the wall of the pipe.

I buffed the bowl with White Diamond and then gave it a coating of Halcyon II wax to give the surface a shine. The finish was actually in excellent shape and after hand buffing the Halcyon II the pipe bowl looked as good as new. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded the stem with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the surface oxidation and the slight tooth chatter at the button. There was also some calcification around the button that I sanded off as well. After the stem was clean of oxidation and debris I sanded it with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded with 1500-2400 grit micromesh and the dry sanded with 3200-12,000 grit pads.

Just after wet sanding with the 1500-2400 micromesh pads I used a white out/correction pen to whiten the stamping on the stem. I applied the white out with the tip of the pen and when it dried sanded off the excess with the 1500-2400 grit pads.

Once the stem was polished with the final grit of micromesh I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and when it was absorbed I buffed the stem with White Diamond on the wheel. I gave the bowl a light buff with White Diamond as well. I finished by buffing the stem with carnauba wax, giving it several coats and then buffing the entire pipe with a soft flannel buff to raise a shine. The finished pipe is pictured in the last four photos below.

Royal Falcon Full Bent – Comoy’s Shape 17

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I purchased the Royal Falcon along with a Merchant Service pipe from an Ebay lot for a good price. They both looked quite good in the photos provided by the seller below. I was not familiar with the brand so I did some research on it and found that it was a Comoy’s line. The numbering and stamping on the right side of the shank were identical to Comoy’s stamping.

The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank, Royal over Falcon as pictured below. On the right side it is stamped Made in London in a Circle over England. Next to that is stamped shape number 17 which is a Comoy’s number. In checking on Pipephil’s site on logos and stampings it is clear that the pipe is definitely a Comoy’s brand. The stem has the same logo as Phil shows on his site (second photo below). The pipe I picked up is exactly the same pipe that Phil shows in his logo list (third photo below).

When the pipe arrived I took the following four photos to give an idea of the condition of the pipe. The finish on the bowl was in excellent shape. The rim was not as good. The bowl itself was gouged inside and the cake had been gouged away with what looked to be a nail. It would need to be reamed and sanded. The bowl was also out of round slightly. The outer edge of the rim toward the right front had a burn that damaged that part of the bowl. On the left back side the rim was dented and chipped from hitting the bowl against something. I would need to address the rim and the inner bowl damage when I worked on the pipe. The stem was in good shape but the white in the logo was gone. The underside of the stem had a gouge in it that at first glance looked like a breakthrough from a pipe cleaner (apparent as a white spot on the stem in the fourth photo below). Under a lens the gouge did not go all the way through the stem and would be easily repaired. The button and the exterior were in good shape with no bite marks or tooth dents. The tenon while dirty and tarry was nonetheless in good shape as well. It was a step down tenon like that used on Comoy’s pipes.

I reamed the pipe with a PipNet pipe reamer to try to smooth out the gouges that were on the inside of the bowl. I took back the cake to the bare wood to minimize the deep gouges. They still were evident after removing the cake but they were definitely less intrusive. I sanded the inside of the bowl to further smooth out the deep marks and to rework the out of round bowl and inner rim.

There was a burn mark on the outer rim right side toward the front of the bowl that damaged the outer roundness of the rim. It is visible in the poor photo below (first photo). There was also damage and chipping to the outer rim on the left side toward the back (second photo below). I could have ignored these in my restoration of the pipe and left them as marks of age but I decided against that given the relative good condition of the remainder of the bowl. It would need to be carefully topped and restained to match the rest of the bowl.

I set up my sanding board and topped the bowl. The next series of photos show the process of topping and after the first turn on the board the burn and roughening damage are more evident.

After topping the bowl I sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge and then progressively sanded it with 1500-3600 grit micromesh sanding pads to smooth out the scratches from the topping process. After the surface was smooth I restained it with a dark brown aniline stain that I mixed with two parts isopropyl alcohol until it matched the colour of the bowl. I applied the stain, flamed it and repeated the process until the depth of the colour matched the remainder of the bowl. It took 5 or 6 applications of the stain until I was satisfied with the colour match.

I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. The underside of the stem had a white spot that is visible midstem in the photo below. This spot was actually a gouge or divot. I was unsure whether it went into the airway on the stem. I have seen this kind of thing on pipes with this kind of bend in the stem. It can be caused by the pipe cleaner rubbing through the vulcanite at the bend on either the top or the bottom side of the stem. In this case it did not go all the way into the airway.

I cleaned it out with Everclear both internally and externally. I picked the white material from the divot and cleaned it a second time with alcohol. I used a small drop of superglue to fill the divot and then sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge until it was smooth and even.

Once the stem was cleaned and only needing polishing, I used a correction/white out pen to refill the stamping on the logo. I have found that this works very well. I apply the white out with the pen tip and then let it dry before sanding with a micromesh sanding pad to remove the excess of the filler. I then sanded the entire stem with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 to polish the vulcanite. When I had finished sanding it I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil and then buffed it with White Diamond.

The final four photos show the finished pipe. I buffed the pipe and stem lightly with White Diamond and then gave it several coats of carnauba wax to polish it. The restain of the top is visible in the third photo. The colour is a pretty good match to the bowl and I was able to redeem the out of round inner rim with the sanding and staining. It is ready to smoke.

When I saw it I thought it was a Sasieni one dot billiard

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I came across this little billiard in an antique shop last weekend and when I saw the blue dot on the stem and saw the classic English shape of the bowl I truly thought I had found an elusive Sasieni one dot pipe. Lots of things about it seemed to signal that is what I had. The stamping was hard to see under the grime but there were i’s and an e. I was hopeful and I guess also wishful in my thinking. The pipe was dirty as can be seen below. The stem had obviously been damaged and cut off by the previous owner and a new button filed into the stem. The bowl was badly caked and the rim was damaged with dents and chips. I took the picture below while I was relaxing in a pub near the shop and looking over the finds of the afternoon.

When I got home I took it to the basement and wiped down the bowl with acetone on a cotton pad to remove some of the grime. Once the outside was wiped down I tried to read the stamping with a magnifying lens. I could not make out the stamping – it was too faint. There was no stamping on the right side of the shank. On the underside it appeared that there had been stamping but it was no longer visible. The next three photos give a good idea of what the pipe looked like before I did a cleanup on the bowl and stem.

I reamed the bowl with a PipNet reamer and took it back to bare wood. I picked at the inside of the bowl to check out the solidity of the walls and to check for potential burns. Everything looked and felt like it was solid so I dropped the bowl in an alcohol bath to soak over night.

The next day I took it out of the bath and dried it off. The bath had removed the old finish for the most part. I finished by once again wiping it down with acetone on a cotton pad. After soaking part of the stamping had become visible. I was disappointed that it appeared that the pipe was not a Sasieni. The stamping that showed up after it was dry read Genuine Briar, which seemed to point to an American made pipe post WW2. I believe it is post war as that is when it became necessary to identify genuine imported briar in contrast to the Manzanita and other alternatives used by American manufacturers during the war years due to a shortage in briar. The briar was a nice piece – birdseye on one side, nice grain on other parts of the pipe and a clean shape to the bowl. I knew it would clean up nicely.

I topped the bowl using my normal method of anchoring a piece of sandpaper on a flat board and twisting the top of the bowl into the sandpaper until the top is smooth. I started with 220 grit sandpaper and then used a medium and fine grit sanding block to smooth out the rim.

When I had finished topping the bowl I wiped it down with acetone and a soft cotton pad to remove the sanding dust and the grime from the topping process.

The stem had a poorly cut button on the end and the button as well as the taper on the stem needed to be reworked. I used a rasp and file to shape the taper on the stem and to take out the pinched look of the angle to the 90 degree cut on the button. The button was also not straight and not squarely cut so I also straightened out the flat edge of the button while I worked with the rasp and files. The next three photos show only the initial work on the stem and not the finished work. I removed quite a bit of the material and smooth out the slope of the taper so that it flowed evenly into the button on both the top and the bottom of the stem.

I sanded the newly shaped stem with 220 grit sandpaper and a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left by the rasp and files. Once I had the basic shape in place I decided to restain the bowl. I warmed the briar and then gave it several coats of a dark brown aniline stain thinned 1:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I flamed it between each coats to set the stain. The rim took extra coats to match the colour of the rest of the bowl.

I buffed the newly stained bowl lightly with White Diamond and then gave it a coat of a light cherry coloured Danish Oil. Once dry I buffed it by hand and then also gave it a light buff with White Diamond to polish it.

I then removed the stem and worked on the slot in the button. When the end of the stem had been cut off some of the flair of the original airway remained leaving the end of the button with a small rectangular opening. I used needle files to open the flair and widen the slot into more of an oval that extended the width and height of the button end.

Once I had the slot opened the way I like it I sanded the inner edges with a folded piece of sandpaper to smooth it out. I also did some more shaping with files to the taper of the stems. I sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper until I had the slope well-defined from the tenon back to the button. I also shaped the externals of the button to clean up the angle at the point the button and stem taper met. I also sanded it with a medium grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind and to also remove the oxidation at the stem shank junction.

When I had the scratches removed as far as possible with the sanding sponge I went on to sand the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I wet sanded the stem with 1500, 1800 and 2400 grit sanding pads and the dry sanded with the remaining grits.

I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the surface of the vulcanite. I took it to the buffer and buffed the stem with White Diamond. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and polished the pipe with a clean flannel buff to bring up the shine. The finished pipe is pictured below. I still wish I knew what the stamping says in full. That blue dot certainly is a symbol of some unknown to me brand of pipe. The mystery remains but in the mean time I have a great little billiard to enjoy.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
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6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

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