Tag Archives: Stem repairs

Doing a Clean up and Restoration of a Stanwell Revival 105 Bent Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that a fellow just dropped by. He had written to me earlier this week about a Stanwell that he had that needed some work. Here is his first email.

Your name was passed to me by the folks at City Cigar. I was lamenting to them how my decade old Stanwell was not doing well, and they suggested I check in with you. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. — Mike

I replied to him as follows:

Thank you. Can you send me a photo of the pipe on your phone?

He did not waste anytime and sent me an email with the first three pictures below and also a description of what he knew was wrong with the pipe. He wrote as follows:

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! In the photos you can see that there are stem problems, but also a little crack in the bowl. If I could save this piece, I would so grateful. I just love the shape, as well as the elegant mouthpiece. I haven’t really seen anything else like it. — Thanks, Mike

The pipe appeared to be very dirty in the photos that were included. He also circled the crack that was on the top of the shank at the bowl shank joint. The rim top was dirty and worn with some knock out marks on the top edge. The finish was grimy and tired looking. The inner edge of the bowl showed some damage and darkening around the bowl. The stem was wrapped with scotch tape around the end that fit in the shank. I speaking with Mike he stated that it was loose in the shank extension so he had wrapped it to give the stem more of a fit in shank. It was worn out and sticky but it had done the job keeping the stem from falling out of the bowl. After viewing the photos and talking with Mike about the pipe I asked him to drop it by the house so I could work on it. I took photos of the pipe once it was dropped off before I worked on it. My evaluation of the pipe confirmed all of the things that I noted above in my communication with Mike about his pipe. There was one other issue that became visible when it was here. The shank extension was loose in the shank. The glue that had held it in place had broken loose and it turned freely in the shank. It is a uniquely shaped pipe that I really like the looks of and I think that once it is cleaned up it will be a real beauty. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. The rim top shows the thick lava coat on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. It is heavier on the back side than the front. You can also see the tape around the stem diameter to attempt to tighten the fit in the shank extension. You can see the oxidation around the stem sides and the deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above. It is clear and readable. The pipe is quite nice with the stem removed. You can see the flow of the design and the look of the parts.I turned to Pipedia and the section on the Stanwell Shape Numbers and Designers to see what I could find (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers). I found the following information that I quote below:

  1. ‘Elegance’; Bent apple with an acrylic mount and a long tapered stem. A reinterpretation of Sixten Ivarsson’s shape 08(b), by Sixten Ivarsson (1980s, see catalogue).

From that I can see that the pipe (105 shape) was a bent apple and was originally designed as a reinterpretation of the Sixten Ivarrson Shape 08b. I have included two pages from the 1980s catalogue below. The first show the 08 and the second page shows the 105. It is called an Elegance on that page rather than a Revival but it is a beauty. I started my work on this pipe by reaming the bowl. I started with a PipNet reamer to clean out the cake in the bowl. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished by sanding the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the interior of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl, shank extension and the airway in the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they were clean. I unwrapped the tape from the stem in order to clean and restore it. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on the bowl and rim top as well as the inner and outer edges of the bowl. It cleaned up really well. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the soap and the grime from the briar. I dried it off with a cotton towel. I took photos of the bowl at this point in the process. With the pipe cleaned up it was time to re-glue the shank extension to the end of the shank. I used some Weld Bond white all-purpose glue to reattach the extension to the shank end. I spread the glue around the tenon on the extension and pushed it in place. I adjusted the fit around the shank until it all aligned. I set it aside to cure. At this point in the process it was time to deal with the crack in the shank at the shank/bowl union. I used a small pinpoint to mark the ends of the crack on both sides of the shank. I drilled a hole in the small mark on each side of the crack end using a microdrill bit.I filled in the crack and the two drill holes in the shank sides with clear CA glue. I spread it into the crack and the holes with a dental spatula. Once it had cured I sanded the repairs smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and followed it up with micromesh as seen in the next photos.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down after each sanding pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. The bowl began to take on a rich glow. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shines through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.  I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. It was in rough condition with the gummy tape on the end fitting into the shank and deep tooth marks. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to try and lift them. I lifted them but they were still distinctly present. I filled in the marks with Black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened the repair with a file and then followed that up with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked much better. I built up the end of the stem with clear acrylic fingernail polish. I spread it around the stem with a dental spatula and set it aside to cure. Once it hardened I polished it with micromesh.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The oval vulcanite taper stem works well with the pipe. The Stanwell Revival 105 Bent Apple feels great in my hand. It is a well-balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/38 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be giving back to Mike who dropped it off for restoration. I am sure he will enjoy it and it will give many more years of service to him.

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

New Life for a BBB 100 Years – Made in England 560 Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a nice looking smooth Bent Bulldog with a vulcanite saddle stem. We picked it up on 11/10/2022 from a seller in Copenhagen, Denmark. The stamping on the left side of the shank is readable. It read BBB in a diamond [over] 100 Years. On the right side the stamping reads Made  In England [over] the shape number 560. The black vulcanite saddle stem stamped with a faint BBB in a diamond logo the left side. The pipe has a medium reddish brown stained finish that shows the grain on the bowl sides and shank. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it. This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The smooth finish had grime ground into briar and hand oils around the sides. The stain is dull and the grain patterns though visible under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank.
  2. The rim top was very dirty with a heavy lava coat on it. It is heavier on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl and top show potential damage, though it is hard to see the extent through the thick build up of cake that has overflown the rim top.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem was filthy, oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the button surface.
  5. There is a BBB in a diamond logo on the left side of the stem. It is white and I am uncertain if it is a stamp or if it is a decal of some sort. The common BBB brass inset is not present on this pipe.

To summarize what I saw – this BBB 100 Year Bent Bulldog is a well-made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was once again someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat overflowing and covering the inner edge. It is heavier toward the back of the bowl. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge in this condition. There appeared to be some damage on the top and inner edge toward the back but I would not know for sure until it was reamed. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work.The vulcanite taper stem is dirty, oxidized and calcified. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button and on the button surface itself. Once again instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are there cracks or scratches in smooth finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the left and right side of the shank. It is stamped as noted above. The vulcanite stem shows a BBB diamond logo stamp on the top left side of the diamond shank. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? Before I started my work on the pipe I turned to a blog I posted on the history of the BBB brand (https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2204&action=edit). It is a translated piece on the history that I have found quite helpful. It gives a good survey or overview of the brand from its inception to the end as an independent brand.

I also remembered that a few years ago Briar Books Press reprinted a small booklet entitled 100 Years in the Service of Smokers. The subtitle on the bottom of the cover read Adolph Frankau of London Celebrate their Centenary. At the top is the classic BBB in a Diamond logo with a banner below it with the dates 1847 on the left of the Diamond and 1947 on the right of the Diamond. I took it out and gave it a read to get a sense of the 100 years of history. I did a screen capture of the cover and have included it below.
Quoting from page 5 of the book in a section entitled: Through Five Reigns to the Present Day

And so throughout the five reigns the house of Aldoph Frankau ministered faithfully and famously to the needs of smokers in every land and clime right up until the outbreak of World War II. Through the vicissitudes  of this period, and absence of staff on war service, the Company was ably steered by Mr. Fryd a Director and the Company’s Secretary, Mr. Howles, now also a director.

On the last page of the booklet there is a poster for the BBB 1847-1947 Centenary Pipe. The pipe in the poster has a similar stamping to the one I am working on and the logo on the side of the stem is the same white decal style logo – BBB in a Diamond.

Armed with that information it appears that the pipe I am working on is one that could have been issued in 1947 as a Centenary Pipe or perhaps it is a later copy of that period pipe. My guess is the former. It has the look of an older BBB rather than a Cadogan era pipe. Now it was time to work on it.

I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow you with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils and grime in the finish shows the beautiful grain around the sides. The medium brown stain highlights the grain.
  2. The rim top was clean and amazingly there was no edge damage. There was only some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl.
  3. The cake in the bowl has been removed and the bowl is very clean. The walls of the bowl are smooth and appear to be undamaged and show no checking or burn damage.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem looks better and there is only light tooth chatter on both sides visible.
  5. The white painted/decal BBB logo on the top left side of the diamond stem is gone leaving only a faint ghost of the original decal that is readable in bright light.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the inner edge had some darkening all the way around. I also went over the stem carefully. The fit of the stem is snug and the transitions are smooth. There was light tooth chatter on the surface of the stem on both sides. The vulcanite stem surface was clean and looked better. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. As is my habit check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. They are in excellent condition and are very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I took the pipe apart to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape. You can see the faint ghost of the BBB Diamond logo on the left side of the saddle stem. I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. I chose to deal with the damage on the inner edge and top of the rim. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inner edge and the damage on the top. I gave the rim a slight bevel to minimize the damage. It took a little work but I was able to remove the damage. It looks much better after I worked it over.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and into the twin rings with a shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shines through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.   I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. It was in great condition and the majority of the tooth marks and chatter were shallow enough that most would disappear by polishing with micromesh and buffing. There was one deep mark against the button edge on the top of the stem. I filled it in with clear CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened the repair with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked much better.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it gives the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.  The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The oval vulcanite taper stem works well with the pipe. The BBB 100 Year Bent Bulldog 560 feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.34 ounces/38 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

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

A Challenging Restoration of a c.1921 No Name Meerschaum Billiard

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During the summer of last year while browsing on Pinterest, I came across pictures of some beautiful pipes and following the links led me to an old gentleman from the UK who was willing to sell these pipes either single or as a lot. There were around 60 odd pipes. I went through the pictures that were sent along with the rates and selected 10 pipes. After a prolonged and interesting interaction, we managed to arrive at a price point. Soon these pipes landed on the shores of India and went in to Customs hold for nearly a month. Finally, it was released and I laid my hands on these pipes after a wait of nearly 3 months! Here is a picture of the lot that I had taken moments after opening the parcel.Since then, I have refurbished, repaired a family era Barling’s Make Bulldog (yellow arrow), a c.1901 Samuel McLardy (green arrow) and added them to my personal collection while the c. 1960 Dunhill Shell (blue arrow) has made it’s way to my dear friend to enjoy. This estate lot had a beautiful block Meerschaum billiard with a Redmanol stem (red arrow) that called out to my wife. She liked the size, heft and simple classic straight lines of billiards and the way the red of the stem complimented the overall appearance of the pipe. The following picture will identify the pipes that have been restored and the meer that is now on my work table.This solid meerschaum is sans any stampings on the stummel or stem and lack of any housing case makes establishing the provenance of this pipe a tad impossible. The only pointer to this pipe being English is the stampings on the Sterling Silver ferrule at the shank end and should help in dating this pipe and identify the silversmith who mounted it on this pipe. It is stamped “H.T” in an oval over three sterling silver hallmarks. From left to right the first cartouche is with a LION PASSANT certifying silver quality followed by a cartouche with symbol for Chester Assay Office and the last cartouche contains the date code letter “V”.In order to link the maker’s mark on the silver band to a silversmith registered with Chester Assay office. I visited https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Chester-HP-HZ.html#HT  and I have reproduced the findings below that most closely matched the probable silversmith (highlighted in red).The cause for doubt in my mind with respect to the findings above is the fact that the “H.T” stamping on the silver band is enclosed in an oval whereas that shown above is in a square cartouche. However, the comment of Henry Tongue being a Pipe mounter and the period are perfectly matched. Thus the circumstantial evidence makes me want to believe that the pipe mounter of this Meerschaum pipe is Henry Tongue.  Any esteemed Reader is most welcome to shed more definitive information for the benefit of other members.

The next step was to ascertain the dating on this silver band. I frequent www.silvercollection.it for exact dating of letter code. The font style and the enclosing cartouche of the letter “V” on the shank band matches to the date year 1921. I have reproduced a screenshot of the relevant section of the date charts and the date year is indicated in red.

Now it was time to get working on the pipe.

Initial Inspection
To begin with, the stummel is dirty and covered in dust, dirt and grime of over a century gone by. The age on this pipe is manifested in the number of all the handling related scratches and marks that it has been subjected to. There is a decent layer of cake in the chamber with lava overflow over the rim top surface. Under all the crud, the rim top is deeply scratched all around. The stem seats loose in the shank. The stem has a couple of tooth indentations in the bite zone and other than that the Redmanol stem is in pretty good condition. Here are a few pictures of the pipe as it sits on my worktable. Detailed Inspection
There is a thick layer of cake in the chamber. The rim top surface has lava overflow and has darkened considerably over the entire surface. The rim top is peppered with deep scratches, probably caused when someone, somewhere through the century, tried to remove the crud from the rim top using a sharp knife or it could have been caused as damage due to uncared for storage when the rim top and rest of the stummel was being rubbed against some hard objects. This uncared for storage could be the most likely reason since the stummel too has a number of scratches and marks. The inner and outer rim edges both show a few nicks and dents. The exact extent of damage to the inner rim edge will be ascertained after the chamber and rim surface is rid of all the cake and crud. The chamber walls are thick and feel solid to the touch.The stummel has a number of scratches and marks over the surface. There is a lot of dirt and grime ground in to the stummel surface giving it a dull and patchy appearance. However under all the grime and scratches, the stummel has taken on a beautiful color/ patina through the years of smoking and it is my intent to preserve it through the process. The threads in the mortise are slightly worn out and the mortise itself shows accumulation of oils and grime. Other than these minor issues, the stummel surface is sans any major damage and feels solid to the touch. The opaque cloudy Redmanol stem looks amazing as it is and should add a new dimension to the beauty of the pipe once it is repaired and all polished up. There are a couple of deep tooth indentations in the bite zone (encircled in yellow) that would need to be addressed. The stem airway leading to the round orifice shows remnants of old oils and gunk. The threaded bone tenon is covered in very fine jute threads to increase the diameter of the tenon for improved seating of the tenon in to the mortise. Yet even after this adhoc improvisation, the seating of the stem is pretty loose. I would need to figure out a more accurate, reliable and permanent way to address this issue.The Process
I started work on this pipe by firstly getting rid of the jute threads from the tenon end and followed it with cleaning the airway using thin shank brushes and anti oil dish cleaning soap. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners to clean and dry out the airway. Using a soft brass wired brush; I cleaned out the entire gunk from the threads of the bone tenon.I filled the tooth indentations with clear superglue and set it aside for the glue to cure. Once the glue had cured, using a flat needle I sand the fill to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stem surface. Once I was through with this step, I dry sand the entire stem with 400, 600 and 800 grit sand papers followed by wet sanding using 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to, firstly, reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive ones, secondly, completely eliminate the oxidation and imparting a clean shine to the stem surface. Thirdly, this also helps to even out the minor tooth chatter from the bite zone. To complete the stem polish, I went through the entire set of nine micromesh pads, wet sanding through 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads.At this stage of refurbishing this pipe, little did I know that I would be carrying out further tedious and unplanned for repairs to the stem towards the end and till then, for all purposes, I have completed the stem restoration.

Next, I worked on the stummel. I began the stummel restoration by reaming the chamber with blade size 2 followed by size 3 of PipNet reamer. With my smaller fabricated knife, I scraped out all the carbon from difficult to reach areas. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber of the pipe. Once I had reached the bare walls, I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also rid the chamber of all ghost smells. The walls of the chamber are nice and solid with no signs of cracks. Using a sharp knife, I gently scraped out the overflow of lava from the rim top. The scratches on the rim surface are now clearly visible and so is the extent of damage to the outer edge of the rim. With the stummel internals cleaned up, using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire dried gunk from the mortise. I further cleaned the shank internals with a shank brush dipped in alcohol followed by running pipe cleaners through the shank till clean.All the while that I was cleaning the chamber and the shank, the sterling silver band came loose. I was extremely relieved to note that beneath the band, the shank was in pristine condition.To address the damages to the rim surface, I topped the rim top over a piece of 220 grit sandpaper, frequently checking for the progress made as I wanted to restrict the loss of meer material to not more than absolutely necessary. Close inspection of the rim top at this stage revealed that even though few minor scratches are still visible, they are too minor with the surface smooth to the touch. This will further even and smooth out during polishing with micromesh pads.I wiped the stummel surface with a cotton swab and Murphy’s Oil soap. The stummel surface is now free of all the dust and grime. I also cleaned out the last traces of lava from the rim top surface. The stummel and rim top surface now looks dark and dull, but it is clean. The scratches/ lacerations over the stummel surface are now more prominently visible. I shall bring back the rich shine when I polish it further using micromesh pads. This step will also help further reducing a few of the minor scratches and lacerations from the surface. At this point I was caught in a conflict; should I sand the stummel with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the scratches to make it look pristine and loose the patina that has developed over the years or preserve the coloration and patina. I decided on the later, after all it is the coloration taken on by the meer over the years which is more important and the existing scratches are a part of its journey through the years, is how I convinced myself!! I polished the stummel surface by dry sanding it with 1500 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. Some minor scratches were also addressed while imparting a nice deep shine to the stummel. The patina was also preserved. All in all, I am pleased with the appearance of the stummel at this stage. Next I gave a beeswax polish to the meerschaum bowl. I assembled the equipment and materials that would be needed during the process — a heat gun, paper towels, q-tips and a container for the wax and of course, beeswax. I stuffed the chamber with cork to prevent inadvertent seepage of the melted beeswax into either. Next, I melted a sufficient quantity of beeswax in the container using my heat gun and thereafter heated the stummel. Using the a folded pipe cleaner, I completely coated the stummel with the wax and continued the application till the surface was saturated and set the stummel aside to absorb the wax. I reheated the stummel with the heat gun about 20 minutes later and let the excess wax either be absorbed or drip off from the stummel surface. I rubbed off the excess wax with a soft cotton cloth and brought a deep shine to the surface with a microfiber cloth. The stummel now sports it’s true dark color which was drawn out by wax treatment, absolutely gorgeous I say. Next, I reattach the sterling silver band to the shank end using CA superglue after polishing the band with a silver polishing cloth.The issue that now needed to be addressed was that of the loose seating of the stem in to the shank. I had an option of either coating the tenon with clear nail polish, which is a temporary solution most suitable for briar pipes or using CA superglue to coat the tenon. This is a more permanent solution, but one needs to be careful and work fast as the tenon may get stuck in to the shank as the glue hardens rapidly. I decided to go with using the superglue.

As decided, I applied a layer of superglue over the tenon surface and quickly turned it in to the shank till I had achieved a perfect alignment. I was equally quick to unscrew the tenon out from the shank to avoid having it stuck inside the shank. After a wait of few minutes to let the glue harden, I applied a second layer and followed the same process explained above. After repeating the process thrice, I decided to apply the glue one last time over the tenon to achieve a perfect thickness. Unfortunately this layer turned out to be one too many and as I was turning the tenon in to the shank, the tenon snapped at the stem end leaving it embedded within the shank. This created an altogether unexpected challenge, not to mention additional work and the need to put in extra man hours.The superglue around the broken tenon would first need to be loosened and thereafter the embedded tenon removed. I used pure acetone to loosen the glue around the broken tenon and pried it out using nose pliers, round needle files and dental tools.Next on the agenda was to fix a tenon on to the stem. From my can of spare parts, I shortlisted one Teflon Delrin screw tenon that was nearest match to the shank diameter. The shoulders of the threaded tenon perfectly seated and sealed the shank opening. The smooth end of the Delrin tenon would need some work to seat perfectly in to the stem. Following pictures will give you the general idea.I evened out the stem airway to accept the Delrin tenon using a round needle file. I was careful while working on this Redmanol stem as I did not want chipped edges on this century old stem. I, thereafter, worked the smooth end of the Delrin tenon by sanding it using a flat head needle file. I fine tuned the seating of the tenon in to the stem by sanding using a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I checked the seating of the stem in to the mortise and alignment of the stem airway, the mortise and the draught hole. Everything was perfectly aligned. Once I was satisfied, I fixed the tenon in to the stem using CA superglue and set it aside for the glue to harden.To give the finishing touches to this gorgeous century old pipe, I reattached the stem with the stummel. I then mounted a cotton cloth wheel on to the hand held rotary tool and applied several coats of carnauba wax over the stummel and the stem. I finished the restoration by giving the pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe, with the shining dark golden hued meerschaum stummel and complimenting red of the Redmanol stem looks lovely, fresh and vibrant; the photographs speak for themselves. I shall be adding it to my ever growing pipe collection. Thanks for the read…Cheers!!!

Resurrecting a Filthy Karl Erik Hand Made in Denmark 5 Freehand to a Pipe of Beauty

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking Freehand with a fancy, turned vulcanite stem. We picked it up on 05/01/2022 from an Antique Mall in Bozeman, Montana, USA. The stamping on the underside of the shank read Karl Erik [over] Handmade in Denmark [over] 5. The black vulcanite fancy, turned stem does not have the usual logo on the topside of the stem. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with medium brown finish that highlights the grain around the bowl sides and shank. The plateau rim top is a mix of smooth brown stain and black plateau. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The finish on the bowl and shank has some oils darkening the side from the smoker’s hands. There is also some grime ground into finish around the bowl and shank. The stain is dull and the grain patterns though visible under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The plateau rim top was very dirty with a heavy lava coat on it. It is heavier on the front right and backside. The inner edge of the bowl is hard to see under the thick build up of cake that has overflown the bowl top.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The fancy turned vulcanite stem was filthy, oxidized, calcified and had deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.
  5. There is no logo stamped on the topside of the stem.

To summarize what I saw – this Karl Erik Freehand is a well made and uniquely shaped pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that once again this pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat overflowing and covering the inner edge. It is heavier on the right front and toward the back of the bowl. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge in this condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work.Jeff took a photo of the plateau shank end and the fit of the stem in the shank. You can see the build up of dust and debris in the plateau and in the curves and grooves of the stem. It is a mess but still beauty lies beneath the grime.The vulcanite fancy, turned stem is dirty, oxidized and calcified. There are some deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see some scrape marks across both the top and underside of the stem. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are there cracks or scratches in nooks and crannies of the sandblast finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is stamped as noted above. The vulcanite stem has no identifying stamping. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar?I reread the blog that Robert M. Boughton did for us on his “Grade O” Karl Erik to refresh my memory on the brand and the grading system (https://rebornpipes.com/2018/07/28/a-three-card-draw-for-an-inside-straight-with-an-old-karl-erik-hand-made-grade-o-freehand/). It was enlightening and from there I went on and looked up the brand on both Pipephil’s site and Pipedia to add some details to my knowledge.

Photo courtesy of Pipedia

From the Pipephil site I got a quick overview of the history of the brand. I quote: Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely handmade).  http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html

From Pipedia here is a bit more detailed history of the brand.

Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004) was born in Aalborg (Jutland), just a few miles from the very northernmost tip of Denmark. He began smoking a pipe when he was 14 and upon leaving school he started an apprenticeship…as a lithographer at the age of 16.

While working as an apprentice he began hand carving pipes as a hobby. Many were given as gifts to his more senior colleagues. Upon completion of his apprenticeship he moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work as a lithographer during the 1962 war. While in that war torn country, he was unable to procure pipes for himself. In the face of such a predicament, he chose to continue to make pipes for his own use rather than go without.

Returning to Denmark after three years he couldn’t find a well paid… job, and so he began making a few pipes on the side to boost his income choosing his prenames “Karl Erik” – logo “KE” – for his label. When he managed to find some major Copenhagen pipe stores willing to sell his pieces his reputation grew little by little and he was finally able to purchase more and better machinery and began working full time as a pipe maker. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik

Pipedia also included a short description of the grading system that was used. From what I can discern the numbers ascended (6-1) and the letters ascended as well.

KE’s new grading used numbers ascending from D to A. The unique “Ekstravagant” pipes C, B, A, AA to AAA. These superb pieces of remarkable quality were, almost certainly, the least expensive high- quality hand made pipes coming from Denmark today! https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik

Jeff did a major clean up job on this one and the pipe I received when it arrived in Vancouver looked far better than the one pictured above. Here is what I saw when I brought the pipe to the table.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils and grime are gone from the bowl. The finish shows the beautiful contrast in the stains between the bowl side and the plateau on the rim top and shank end.
  2. The plateau rim top and shank end were clean and the top and the inner edge of the bowl look very good. There was no damage to the outer edges as well.
  3. There cake in the bowl has been removed and the bowl is very clean. The walls of the bowl are smooth and appear to be undamaged and show no checking or burn damage.
  4. The vulcanite fancy, turned stem looks better though the tooth marks and chatter on both sides are visible.
  5. There was no stamping or identifying marks on the stem.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver.  I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the rim top looked better. The inner edge had some significant darkening around the front and back overflowing onto the top in place. I would need to do some sanding to clean it up and remove the burn damage on the front top. I also went over the stem carefully. The fit to the shank is snug and the plateau on the shank is clean. There were some deep tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem and some scratching or file marks on the entire flat surface. The vulcanite stem surface was clean and looked better. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of Karl Erik made pipes and the creative way he follows the briar in flow and shape.I started my work on this pipe by dealing with the burn damage on the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to go over the high spots on the plateau and all of the smooth parts. I also sanded out the burn damage on the inner edge and gave it a slight bevel all the way around the bowl. I touched up the dark valleys of the plateau with the characteristic black stain that was originally used. I did both the plateau on the rim and the shank end at the same time. I would polish the top and shank end more when using the micromesh on the rest of the bowl. It certainly looked better at this point.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the sandblast showed depth. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them some. While they were better they were still there. I filled in what remained with black rubberized CA glue. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and start to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I finished my work on the repairs by sanding them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The contrast plateau portions also look good. The vulcanite fancy, turned stem works well with the pipe. The Karl Erik Handmade in Denmark 5 Freehand is a beauty. It feels great in my hand and is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.98 ounces/56 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

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

Rebuilding The Vulcanite Stem Of A c.1960 Dunhill Shell 56 F/T For A Friend

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During the summer of last year while browsing on Pinterest, I came across pictures of some beautiful pipes and following the links led me to an old gentleman from the UK who was willing to sell these pipes either single or as a lot. There were around 60 odd pipes. I went through the pictures that were sent along with the rates and selected 10 pipes. After a prolonged and interesting interaction, we managed to arrive at a price point. Soon these pipes landed on the shores of India and went in to Customs hold for nearly a month. Finally, it was released and I laid my hands on these pipes after a wait of nearly 3 months! Here is a picture of the lot that I had taken moments after opening the parcel.Since then, I have refurbished, repaired a family era Barling’s Make Bulldog (yellow arrow) and a c.1901 Samuel McLardy (green arrow) and added them to my personal collection. This estate lot had a Dunhill Shell (blue arrow) that called out to my fellow Pipe Club member and a dear friend who desired this pipe as his first Dunhill! The following picture will identify the pipes that have been restored and the Dunhill that is now on my work table.This is a beautiful bent billiard pipe with a deep craggy sandblast which pre 1960s Dunhill were well known for. It is stamped on the foot and the underside of the shank with the shape number “56” followed by “F/T” followed by “DUNHILL” over “SHELL BRIAR” followed by the COM stamp “Made in England” where the letter D is followed by a numeral “0” that is smaller than the letter D and is underscored. This is followed by Group size number “4” in a circle and letter “S” for Shell towards the shank end. Dunhill White Dot adorns the top of the vulcanite stem. The stampings are clear and readable.   I have worked on a few Dunhill pipes and had extensively researched the brand. There is so much to know and study about this single British brand that has survived to till this day that each day there is some new piece of information. However, pipedia.org has adequate information on the history, lines offered and dating guide for Dunhill pipe. I strongly recommend that all Pipers should make it a point to read through the information given there.

Based on the stamping seen on this pipe, with the numeral “0” being smaller than the letter D and underscored, conclusively dates this pipe to be from 1960.

Initial Inspection
The first thing I noticed, in fact anyone would, is that the stem is severely damaged with nearly ¾ of the bite zone conspicuous by its absence! What remains of the bite zone is peppered with tooth chatter. The stem is oxidized with the white dot intact. There is a decent amount of cake in the chamber with lava overflow on the rim top surface. The stummel boasts of nice deep craggy sandblast. The dirt, dust and grime embedded in the nooks and crannies of the sandblast give a dull and lackluster appearance to the stummel. The shank is dirty with traces of old oils and gunk. The following pictures will give you a general idea about the condition of the pipe. Detailed Inspection
The chamber shows a layer of medium thick cake with small traces of lava overflow on the rim top surface. From what I can see, the chamber walls appear to be without any damage. The chamber has faint sweet smell which should reduce with the internal cleaning of the stummel. The inner and outer rim edges are in good condition which will be further ascertained once the lava overflow and cake is removed. The mortise is clean and so is the shank airway.The stummel boasts of some beautiful sandblast pattern typical of lots of bird’s eye and ring grain all around. It is dirty with grime and tar filling in much of the craggy finish. The stummel fells solid to the touch and shows no signs of hot spots. The briar looks lifeless and dull which is nothing serious to address. The round shank of the bent billiards flows into a tapered vulcanite stem which flares, like a fish tail, at the button end and hence the stamp F/T. The vulcanite stem shows significant damage to the button end, in fact, there is no button at all, similar to a Dunhill Bruyere that I had worked upon a couple of years ago!! The slot end at the right side is missing about an inch of vulcanite. This pipe would have been a favorite of the previous owner and he had continued to enjoy bowls of his favorite tobacco long after the button end had been chewed off. This is evident from the significant tooth chatter on both the surfaces of the stem. I intend to reconstruct/ rebuild this portion of the stem, including the slot, while maintaining the stem and general profile of the pipe. This will require major repairs. The quality of vulcanite is top notch.In this project, stem rebuild will be a major challenge as achieving the fish tailed profile of the stem will be crucial for overall aesthetic appeal of this piece of briar. Having previously worked on a stem rebuild/ restoration of the Dunhill Bruyere, I am aware of the challenges this restoration will present en-route.

THE PROCESS
I started this project by cleaning the internals of the stem airway. Using thin shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap, I cleaned the stem airway. I have modified this process of cleaning the stem airway by doing away with pipe cleaners and alcohol as it saves me a ton of pipe cleaners, which is a precious commodity for me here in India. To say that the airway was filthy would be an understatement. A lot of perseverance and tons of elbow grease later, the stem internals are finally clean.With the stem internals now clean, I moved to external cleaning of the stem surface by dunking the stem into “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making it’s further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. Unfortunately, I missed out on taking pictures of this process.

While the stem was soaking in the deoxidizer solution, I reamed the chamber with a PipNet reamer tool, using cutting blade size 2 followed by size 3 heads. I used my fabricated knife to remove cake from areas inaccessible to the reamer blades and completed the process of removing the cake by sanding the walls smooth with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with alcohol to clean the residual carbon dust. The chamber walls are solid with no signs of hot spots, heat fissures or webs.Continuing with the internal cleaning of the chamber, I subjected it to a salt and alcohol bath. I used cotton balls which is an at par substitute as I have realized over the years. I drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole and further into the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim inner edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils/ tars from the chamber and mortise and loosened out any residual cake and tar build up, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire loosed gunk from the mortise and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and a hard bristled toothbrush. I cleaned the smooth rim top surface with the soap and Scotch Brite pad. I thoroughly cleaned the mortise with shank brush and anti-oil dish washing soap. The mortise is now thoroughly cleaned and fresh.Next, I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful contrasting hues colors that are unique to this sandblast pipe, on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. Now that the stummel work is nearly completed, I fish out the stem from the deoxidizer. I cleaned the stem under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad and cleaned the airway with a thin shank brush. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little EVO to rehydrate the stem. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the stem airway to clean the airway of the deoxidizer solution and water. To address the tooth indentations/ bite marks, I warmed up the bite zone with the flame of a lighter. The heat helps to expand the vulcanite and retain its original shape. This method may not always completely raise the depressions to the surface, but most of the times, to a great extent. In this case the tooth indentations were raised to a great extent, but the damage to the button edge would require a rebuild. I followed up the heating of the stem surface with sanding the bite zone with a worn out piece of 180 grit sandpaper to even out the surface.Next step was to start the process of rebuilding the slot end. I appropriately folded an index card and covered it with a transparent scotch tape which prevents the superglue and charcoal mix from sticking to the card. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and generously applied it over and extending beyond the broken surface using the remnants of the bite zone as guiding yardstick. I set the stem aside for curing over night. I have not researched and measured the exact length that I had to reconstruct, but eyeballed the length using the longer right side of the stem where a portion of the button was still intact. Before moving ahead, I would like to mention here that I had applied this mix in layers, over the week, to achieve sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding while shaping the button and achieving the correct stem profile.Once the fill had completely hardened, I moved ahead and began the process of filing and shaping the button end with a flat head needle file. This time around it was more  challenging as I had set for my self the aim of creating a fish tail shape (or rather as close a match to fish tail as possible), a straight thin slot and a concave shape to the button end as seen on original stems. This is how the stem repairs look at this point in restoration. There are many airpockets that are clearly visible and would need quite a few more rebuilds with the charcoal mix. It is not without a reason we say that Rome was not built in one day!!I marked a straight line for the slot orientation and using only the tip of the pointed needle file, I carved out the slot. I followed it up by enlarging this carved slot further using the slot carving file. I resorted to sanding with folded pieces of 180 grit sand papers to laboriously shape and widen the slot, always taking care to maintain a straight line. Once I was satisfied with the profile of the slot, I went ahead and shaped the button by first achieving a rough shape with a flat head needle file and there after fine tuning it by sanding it down with a 220 grit sand paper. A close look at the repairs confirmed the presence of some serious air pockets (seen as white spots) in the bite zone and at the slot end. Here are a couple of pictures which will point out these air pockets.I applied a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal over the air pockets ensuring that the mix is thoroughly filled up in to these air pockets. I set the stem aside for the repairs to cure. Once the fills had cured, I sand them with a flat needle file to achieve a rough match with the rest of the stem surface followed by further sanding using a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper. Thankfully, the issue of air pockets has now been addressed. I continued to dry sand the entire stem with a folded piece of 600 and 800 grit sandpapers and further progressed to wet sanding with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This helps to reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive 220 grit paper. I rubbed a small amount of EVO to hydrate the stem.To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with alcohol after each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite. The repairs have blended in very well and the stem now looks shiny black and beautiful. The internals of the stem was once again cleaned out using alcohol and pipe cleaners to clear the airway of all the debris resulting due to the sanding. The finished stem is shown below.To finish, I re-attach the stem with the stummel. I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel to my hand held rotary machine and applied White Diamond compound to the entire pipe. I wiped/ buffed the pipe with a soft cotton cloth to clear it of any leftover compound dust. I then mounted another cotton cloth wheel on to the polishing machine and applied several coats of carnauba wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The completed pipe looks lovely, fresh and vibrant. This restored pipe is now ready to be shipped out to my friend and fellow pipe club member to enjoy for decades ahead.

Fresh Life for a Sandblast Charatan of London Grosvenor 30120 Canadian with a Double Comfort Stem

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking sandblast oval shank Canadian with an oval Double Comfort saddle stem. We picked it up on 07/27/2020 from a seller in Australia. The stamping on the left side of the shank read Charatan [over] of London. That is followed by the stamping Grosvenor [over] the shape number 30120. The black vulcanite oval saddle stem is a Charatan’s Lane Era Double Comfort Stem with a CP stamped on the topside of the saddle. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with medium and dark brown finish that gives depth to the blast on the bowl sides and shank. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The finish is shiny on the bowl and shank and there was some thick grime ground into sandblast nooks and crannies around the bowl and shank. The stain is dull and the grain patterns though visible under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The rim top was very dirty with a heavy lava coat on it. It is heavier on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl is hard to see under the thick build up of cake that has overflown the bowl top.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite stem was filthy, oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides.
  5. There is a Charatan CP logo stamped on the topside of the shank. It is thin and a slightly different shape but still readable. The stamping on the underside of the stem is a Regd. No. 203573 is also readable.

To summarize what I saw – this sandblast Charatan of London Grosvenor Canadian is a well made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat overflowing and covering the inner edge. It is heavier toward the back of the bowl. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge in this condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work.The Double Comfort vulcanite saddle stem is dirty, oxidized and calcified. There are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are there cracks or scratches in smooth finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is stamped as noted above on the right and the left sides. The vulcanite stem shows a CP stamp on the topside of the saddle. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html) to look up information on the Grosvenor. I have included the screen capture below that includes the information below the photo.It reads, “This is typically a pipe carved in France. Note the slightly different C and P linking, the “of London” instead of “London, England” and France stamping under the stem.

The one I am working on is not stamped France on the stem. Instead it is stamped and reads REGD. NO [over] 203573. I am not sure what that means but it is the only difference in the pipe above and the pipe I am working on.

Jeff did a major clean up job on this one and the pipe I received when it arrived in Vancouver looked far better than the one pictured above. Here is what I saw when I brought the pipe to the table.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils and grime are gone from the bowl. The finish shows the beautiful contrast in the stains in the sandblast finish around the bowl and shank.
  2. The rim top was clean and the top and the inner edge of the bowl look very good. There was no damage to the outer edges as well.
  3. There cake in the bowl has been removed and the bowl is very clean. The walls of the bowl are smooth and appear to be undamaged and show no checking or burn damage.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem looks better though the tooth marks and chatter on both sides are visible.
  5. The Charatan CP logo stamped on the topside of the stem looks very clean and readable.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the rim top looked better. The inner edge was in good condition and looked good with the rusticated plateau style rim top. I also went over the stem carefully. The fit of the replacement to the shank is snug and the transitions are smooth. There were some tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem and the button on the underside. The acrylic stem surface was clean and looked better. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them.I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I took the pipe apart to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape.I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the sandblast showed depth. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.  I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them all. I sanded the remainder smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. It looked much better.I touched up the faint CP stamping and the Regd. No. stamping on the top and underside of the stem with White Acrylic Fingernail Polish. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the acrylic. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite. I don’t buff a sandblast bowl with Blue Diamond as it can easily clog the valley and crannies in the blast. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The vulcanite saddle DC stem works well with the pipe. The sandblast  Charatan of London 3010 Canadian feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.41 ounces/40 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

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

Restoring a Charatan’s Make Special 4 Made By Hand City of London Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking straight grain Billiard with the front heel flattened making it a sitter. It has a smooth rim top and a double comfort saddle stem. We picked it up on 04/09/2022 from a seller in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The stamping on the left side of the shank read Charatan’s Make [over] London, England [over] Special. On the right side it is stamped Made By Hand [over] in [over] City of London. That is followed by the number 4 stamped next to the bowl shank junction. On the topside of the shank at the shank/stem junction is a cursive L in a circle identifying it as a Lane Pipe. The black vulcanite saddle stem is a Charatan’s Lane Era Double Comfort Stem with a CP stamped on the left side of the saddle. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with a reddish brown finish that highlights the grain on the bowl sides and shank. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The finish is dull with hand oils on the sides and some thick grime ground into finish around the bowl sides. The stain is dull and the grain patterns though visible under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The rim top was very dirty with darkening and a heavy lava coat on it. It is heavier on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl is hard to see under the thick build up of cake that has overflown the bowl top.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite stem was filthy, oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside ahead of the button.
  5. There is a Charatan CP logo stamped on the left side of the shank. It is faint but still readable.

To summarize what I saw – this Charatan’s Make London, England Special Sitter, Made by Hand in City of London is a well made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat overflowing and covering the inner edge. It is heavier toward the back of the bowl. It is hard to know the condition of the inner edge in this condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work.The Double Comfort vulcanite saddle stem is dirty, oxidized and calcified. There are tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. The marks on the underside are deeper than on the topside. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are there cracks or scratches in smooth finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. It is stamped as noted above on the right and the left sides. The vulcanite stem shows a CP stamp on the left side of the saddle. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html) to look up information on the Special line. There was a listing there but there was no photo in the listing. I have included the screen capture below.I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow your with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils and grime in the finish shows the beautiful straight grain around the sides. The medium brown stain highlights the grain.
  2. The rim top was clean but there were still damage on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. It is clean and with a little work will look very good.
  3. There cake in the bowl has been removed and the bowl is very clean. The walls of the bowl are smooth and appear to be undamaged and show no checking or burn damage.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem looks better though the tooth marks and chatter on both sides are visible. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside ahead of the button.
  5. The Charatan CP logo stamped on the left side of the stem looks very clean but is faint and readable.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the rim top looked better. The inner edge was in good condition and looked good with the rusticated plateau style rim top. I also went over the stem carefully. The fit of the replacement to the shank is snug and the transitions are smooth. There were some tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem and the button on the underside. The acrylic stem surface was clean and looked better. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I took the pipe apart to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape. I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. I chose to deal with the darkening on the inner edge and top of the rim. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inner edge and the damage on the top. It took a little work but I was able to remove most of the damage. It looks much better after I worked it over.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step. I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the rustication showed depth. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them some. While they were better they were still there. I filled in what remained with black rubberized CA glue. I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and start to blend them into the surface of the vulcanite. I finished my work on the repairs by sanding them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. It looked much better. I touched up the faint CP stamping on the left side of the stem. The logo is readable though the P is missing the curve of the right side of the P.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the acrylic. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The vulcanite saddle DC stem works well with the pipe. The Charatan’s Make Special Made by Hand in City of London Billiard Sitter feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 1 inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.01 ounces/57 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

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

Restoring A Beautiful Family Era “Barling’s Make” Bulldog To Its Former Glory

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Blog by Paresh Deshpande

During the summer of last year while browsing on Pinterest, I came across pictures of some beautiful pipes and following the links led me to an old gentleman from the UK who was willing to sell these pipes either single or as a lot. There were around 60 odd pipes. I went through the pictures that were sent along with the rates and selected 10 pipes. After a prolonged and interesting interaction, we managed to arrive at a price point. Soon these pipes landed on the shores of India and went in to Customs hold for nearly a month. Finally, it was released and I laid my hands on these pipes after a wait of nearly 3 months! Here is a picture that I had taken moments after opening the parcel.Save for four pipes, remaining pipes came with Amber stems that were in fairly decent condition. The next pipe that I decided to work on is from this lot. It has that classic English bulldog shape and size that I like the most. That it’s a Barling’s Make meant that it will be added to my Barling collection. This pipe is indicated by a yellow arrow in the picture below.From the above picture it is amply evident that this pipe is small when compared to the group 4 sized Dunhill that is seen in the picture, but the bowl is medium sized and holds a decent quantity of tobacco. The stummel boasts of some beautiful mix of bird’s eye and cross grains along the entire surface. It is stamped as “BARLING’S MAKE” on the left shank surface in small simple capital letters while the right shank face bears the stampings “JAMES & Co.” over “BIRMINGHAM”. These stampings are a bit different than the ones I have come across in that there is no model number and neither is there any size stampings e.g. SS, S-M, L, EL etc.I have worked on quite a few Barling’s pipes and have read up as much material as I could lay my hands on anything related to Barling’s pipe. A simple look at the stampings on the left shank surface indicates that this pipe is from the Family Era. There are certain pointers like, the small font size, simple capital letter, lack of stamp denoting the size of the pipe and the minimalistic stamping, which place this pipe between 1930s and Pre-WW II period, 1941 to be precise.

According to Tad Gage, Pre-1946 stampings are minimal. Pre WW2 pipes rarely have size, shape or grading. Thus, I can confidently date this pipe to the Family era and to have been roughly made during the period 1930 to 1941.

You may consider visiting the under mentioned link for a detailed read about the Barling company and dating guide.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Barling#The_Company

The stampings on the left side shank surface has provided all the clues to establish the provenance of this beautiful classic British pipe, but what about the JAMES & Co over BIRMINGHAM stampings?

An internet search threw a number of businesses and Business houses with the name James & Co, including variations of the searched name, from Birmingham and nearby areas. However, nothing concrete came up that strongly connected the Barling’s pipe to any business house.

However, when I searched for James & Co. after including 1930s, my screen was flooded with images and information about JAMES CYCLE & Co.!!!! The connection between this Barling pipe and the company somehow felt logical. Here is what I found out about JAMES MOTORCYCLES……

The James Cycle Co Ltd., Greet, Birmingham, England, was one of many British cycle and motorcycle makers based in the English Midlands, particularly Birmingham. Most of their light motorcycles, often with the characteristic maroon finish, used Villiers and, later, AMC two-stroke engines.

James were prolific bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers from 1897 to 1966. The company was taken over by Associated Motor Cycles in 1951 and combined with Francis-Barnett in 1957. In 1966 the company became one of the many British motorcycle companies forced out of business by Japanese competition.

In early twentieth century, it was a popular promotional practice amongst business houses to give away quality pipes that were commissioned from reputed pipe makers like Comoy’s, Charatan, GBD, Barling’s etc, as gifts to their clients with the firm name duly stamped on the pipe.

In this instance, the time period of making this pipe matches with the period of the existence of James Cycle & Co and also pipes and motorcycles are supplementary to masculinity. Is it possible that this Barling pipe was commissioned by James & Co of Birmingham as complimentary gift to their client? Please comment and let me know.

With the vintage of the pipe established with certainty and speculations about the connection of this particular pipe with motorcycle manufacturer, James & Co. Birmingham, it’s time to move ahead with the process of restoration.

Initial Visual Inspection
This pipe has the classic straight Bulldog shape with a diamond shank and a medium sized bowl. The stummel boasts of some beautiful bird’s eye and cross grains all over the bowl and shank. The stummel surface is covered in dirt and grime of the overflowed lava. There is not a single fill in the briar which speaks of high quality of the briar. The chamber appears out of round and has a thick layer of cake. The saddle vulcanite stem is heavily oxidized with tooth chatter and very light tooth indentations on button edges on either surface in the bite zone. Detailed Inspection And Observations
The overall proportion of this pipe is small with a decent sized chamber. The draught hole is at the bottom dead center of the chamber. The chamber has an even layer of very thick hard cake with remnants of un-burnt tobacco seen at the heel of the chamber. The rim top surface is covered with thick lava overflow and is pretty banged up along the right side (encircled in pastel blue). The inner rim edge is charred and damaged between 10 o’clock and 12 o’clock directions (encircled in yellow) which make the chamber appear out of round. The outer rim edge has dents and dings all around but is most severely damaged towards the front and back of the bowl (encircled in green), a damage that can result only due to repeated strikes against a hard edged surface. The condition of the inner walls of the chamber can be commented upon after the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. The strong ghost smell in the chamber is all pervading. The stummel appears solid to the touch all around and hence I do not foresee any serious damage to the walls in the form of burnout/ deep heat fissures/ lines or pits. The dark inner rim edges may be charred further than anticipated and the same will be confirmed after the surface has been thoroughly cleaned. I need to resort to topping the rim top in order to address the damage to the surface. The ghost smells should reduce once the cake from the chamber is removed and the shank has been cleaned. There are a few scratches that can be seen on the sides and on the shank surface of the stummel. Both the stummel and the shank are covered in grime and dust from years of use and subsequent storage, giving it a dull and a lackluster appearance. The surface has taken on a nice patina which I intend to preserve. Through all the dirt and grime, beautiful mixed grains peek out from the stummel surface. A nice clean and polish will further accentuate this play of grains over the stummel surface. Given the condition that the chamber was in, it was no surprise that the mortise was chock-a-block with accumulated oils, tars and residual gunk. This is also the major cause of the strong ghost smells from the pipe. This would need a very thorough and deliberate cleaning.The diamond saddle vulcanite stem is oxidized with calcification observed in the bite zone. The entire stem surface is covered in patches of sticky substance/ grime. The button edges on either surface has minor tooth indentations which should raise to the surface once heated. The minor bite marks in the bite zone, likewise, should be completely addressed by heating the surface and sanding thereafter. Traces of dried accumulated gunk can be seen at the round slot end and the step tenon opening.The Restoration Process
I decided to tackle the damaged stem at the start. Before I could proceed with actual repairs, I cleaned the stem internals first. Using a thin shank brush and anti-oil dish washing soap, I cleaned the stem airway. The airway was filthier than I had imagined as can be judged from the following pictures. I took me a considerably long time, but eventually the airway was clean. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the stem to confirm that the airway was clean and also to dry it out. With the stem internals now clean, I moved to external cleaning of the stem surface by dunking the stem into “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by my friend Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making its further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I let the stem soak in the solution overnight.

Progressing ahead, I reamed the chamber with head size 1 and 2 of my PipNet reamer blade. I used my fabricated knife to remove cake from areas inaccessible to the reamer blades and completed the process of removing the cake by sanding the walls smooth with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with alcohol to clean the residual carbon dust. The chamber walls are solid and the minor thin veins that are visible over the walls are not heat fissures but an ultra thin layer of carbon which will be addressed once the cake is loosened up after a salt and alcohol bath, or at least that is what I hope for.I cleaned the internals of the mortise by scrapping the mortise walls using dental tools. The amount of dried oils and crud that was scrapped out, on one hand is indicative of uncared and rough use of this beauty by the previous Piper while on the other, a testimony of this pipe being one of his/ her favorite and one that he/ she reached out for quite often. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners through the airway to clear away the loose debris that would have lodged itself in the draught hole. I shall continue the internal cleaning by subjecting the stummel to a salt and alcohol soak.Now that the internal cleaning of the stummel was nearly done and also the stem had now been soaking for more than 24 hours, I removed the stem from the solution. I first scrubbed the stem surface with a Scotch Brite pad, always being mindful of the stem logo on the left side. I followed this scrubbing with a nice cleaning of the surface using a 0000 grade steel wool. I rinsed the stem under running water to rid the stem of the thick deoxidizer solution. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners to remove any residual deoxidizer solution from the airway.I followed it up by wet sanding the entire stem surface using 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and finally with a piece of 2000 grit sand paper. This serves to reduce the sanding marks of the more abrasive sand papers. I also sharpened the button edges while sanding. I wiped the stem with a moist cotton swab to remove all the oxidation and sanding dust from the surface. I applied a little Extra Virgin Olive oil over the stem and set it aside to be absorbed by the vulcanite.I went through the 3200 to 12000 grit micromesh pads to dry sand the stem. The stem now has a nice deep shine with no traces of oxidation around the entire stem surface. The stem appears a tad dull at this stage; however, after a good polish using Blue diamond and carnauba wax, the shine will deepen further.With the stem nearly completed, it was time to work the stummel again. Continuing with the internal cleaning of the chamber and shank, I subjected it to a salt and alcohol bath. I used cotton balls which is an at par substitute of Kosher salt as I have realized over the years. I drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole and further into the chamber. Thereafter, I packed the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim inner edge and soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils/ tars from the chamber and mortise and loosened out any residual cake and tar build up, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton balls and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. Using my fabricated tool, I scraped out the entire loosed gunk from the mortise and further cleaned it with alcohol and q-tips. I also scraped the moist cake from the chamber using my knife and sanding it smooth with 180 grit sandpaper. The chamber now smelled clean and fresh and the tiny veins observed in the chamber were eliminated. I set the stummel to dry out naturally. I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and a hard bristled toothbrush. I cleaned the smooth rim top surface with the soap and Scotch Brite pad. I thoroughly cleaned the mortise with shank brush and anti-oil dish washing soap. The few scratches (indicated by yellow arrows) and minor dings over the stummel surface are now plainly visible while the damage to the rim top, rim inner edge (encircled in red) and outer edge (encircled in blue) is clearly defined. These issues need to be addressed.  I followed up the external cleaning of the stummel with internal cleaning of the mortise and shank using anti oil soap and shank brushes.Using a folded piece of 320 grit sandpaper, I diligently sand the entire stummel surface and thus addressed the issues of scratches and minor dings. To address the damage to the rim inner and outer edge, I topped the rim surface on a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I limited my topping to the extent that the damage was just adequately addressed. With a folded strip of 220 grit sandpaper pinched between my thumb and index finger, I created a smart thin bevel over the inner and outer rim edges to mask the damage that remained after topping. I am quite pleased with the progress this far.   Next, I polished the stummel with micromesh pads, wet sanding through 1500 to 12000 pads. I polished the freshly topped rim surface to a nice luster, wiping the surface with a soft cloth at the end of the micromesh cycle. The stummel looks amazing with a deep shine and beautiful grains popping over the stummel surface. I am surprised that the rim top surface has the same deep brown coloration as the rest of the stummel surface and that the use of a stain pen was not required. I massaged a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” with my fingers into the briar. The immediate and incredible transformation that takes place is a worthy reward for all the efforts!!! I let the balm sit on the surface to be absorbed in to the briar for about 20 minutes. The bowl now looks fresh and attractive with the grains popping out any which way you look at the briar. I polished off the balm with a soft cloth to a lovely shine. To apply the finishing touches, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applied a coat of Blue Diamond to the stummel and the stem to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I applied a coat of carnauba wax and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mounted a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks beautiful and is ready to be added to my collection of inherited pipes. There was only one more issue that needed to be addressed and one that could not be ignored, being a functional issue. After I had reamed and sanded the chamber walls, I had observed very minor and superficial web of thin heat fissures/ pits all along the chamber walls. I addressed this by mixing activated charcoal and plain yogurt to a thicker consistency, just enough that it would spread easily and applied it evenly all along the chamber walls after inserting a folded pipe cleaner through the draught hole to keep it open. Once dry and set, this will not only protect the walls but also aid in faster build up of cake.Thanks to all readers of rebornpipes who have spared a moment of their invaluable time in reading through this write up and as is always, your suggestions and advice are always welcome.

Restoring a Sasieni Buckingham Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard with a Craggy Gold Shank Band

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking sandblast straight billiard with a sandblast rim top and a gold band on the shank. The stem is an original saddle stem. We picked it up on 11/18/2021 from a fellow in Gardenia, California, USA. The stamping on the underside of the shank reads “Buckingham” S on the heel of the bowl followed by three lines reading Sasieni [over] Four Dot [over] “Ruff Root”. Next to that stamping there is a single line reading London Made with the chunky gold band covering a portion of the stamping. The vulcanite saddle stem has the four light blue dots on the left side of the saddle. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with a reddish brown finish that highlights the sandblast on the bowl sides and shank. The bottom of the shank and bowl are flattened so that the pipe sits on the desktop. There is a sandpit on the right side of the bowl mid bowl. On the underside there is a putty fill running diagonal across the heel. The vulcanite stem is set apart from the shank by the gold nugget band. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

This is what I saw when I looked over the pipe.

  1. The finish shows darkening of hand oils and some thick grime ground into the sand blast finish around the bowl sides. The stain is dull and the grain patterns under the grime are obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The sandblast rim top was very dirty with darkening and lava ground into the blast. It is heavier on the back side. The inner edge of the bowl looks quite good under the tars.
  3. There was a thick cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite stem was filthy, oxidized and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside ahead of the button.
  5. There is a standard pattern Sasieni Four Dot logo on the stem that appears to be light blue in colour.

To summarize what I saw – this Sasieni Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard is a well made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat and has some darkening on the inner edge and is heavier toward the back of the bowl. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work. The stem is dirty, oxidized, calcified and has grime all over the surface as noted in the description above. There are toothmarks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in sandblast finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? Note the fills that you see in the heel of the bowl. What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is stamped as noted above on the right and the left sides. The stem shows the Sasieni Four Dots in light blue on the left side of the saddle portion of the saddle. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I decided to do some work on the stamping of this pipe to get an idea of the time period it was carved. I turned first to Pipephil’s site to see what I could learn (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-sasieni.html). I found a pipe that was stamped the same way as the one I am working on. It is stamped on the underside of the shank like the one in the screen capture photo below. Mine is stamped the same way Sasieni in script without the fish tail. Underneath it is stamped FOUR DOT NATURAL [over] London Made. Next to the shank is also the Made In England Stamp like the one below. On the heel of the bowl mine is stamped “Buckingham” S stamp rather than the “Appledore” stamp in the same place. I included the side bar notes below the picture. From that I knew that the pipe was made during Pre-transition Period 1946-1979.Pre-transition, 1946 – 1979. Four dot. Ruff Root is the name for a sandblast finish. “Buckingham” is the shape name (town) that is used on the pipe I have in hand.

I then turned to Pipedia for more detailed information (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Sasieni). I quote a section of that article below. It refers to the Patent Number that is on the pipe I have on the table. The underlined  portion below is particularly pertinent to this pipe.

To begin with, there are three main elements to dating the Sasieni pipe, the patent number, the style of the name “Sasieni” as it appears on the shank, and the Dots themselves. Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules (this hobby would be boring without them), but for the most part these guidelines apply better than 95% of the time. All Sasieni One, Four, and Eight Dot pipes made before W.W.II and destined for the U. S. market carried a patent number on the shank which usually started with the numbers “15″, with 150221/20 and 1513428 being representative of the group. Also, the name “Sasieni” was stamped on the shank in a very florid manner, with the tail of the last “i” sweeping underneath the name forming a shape which has been compared to a fish by more than one collector. This script was discontinued by Alfred almost immediately after he took over the company, so this alone tells you your pipe is pre W.W.II. Underneath in block lettering are the words “London Made”, with the patent number making the third line.

The dots will help you narrow this down further. As we mentioned, the short lived U. S. market One Dot was introduced around 1920, and was replaced by the early to mid 1920’s by the Four Dot. The 1920’s Four Dot is distinguishable by the florid Sasieni script, a patent number, and four blue dots, which are quite small compared to the pipes of post war years. Furthermore, by 1935 Sasieni began stamping pipes, based on the shape, with their own names, which were usually, but not always, English towns. For example, apples were stamped “Hurlingham”, bulldogs were “Grosvenor” or “Danzey”, and panels were “Lincoln”. One rare and interesting variation of this was the large bent, dubbed “Viscount Lascelles”. Even in this soft Sasieni market, these pipes regularly sell for $150 in their rare appearances in mailers.

The pipe I have is one does not have a patent number so it was not made for the US market. The flourished “i” was discontinued by Alfred so that confirms that the pipe was made Pre-transition, 1946 –1979. The third line stamped is London Made in block lettering. With all that information I knew that my pipe was from the period before the transition (Pre Transition) so it was an older one.

I am sure many of you will shake your head and ask maybe even out loud, “Why is he including this again?” However, please remember that the point of these blogs is not to wow your with the work or make you shake your heads but I want you to know the details of the work we do so you can do your own. Back in 2020 Jeff wrote a blog about his cleaning process. I am including a link to that now so you can see what I mean about his process. Do not skip it! Give it a read (https://rebornpipes.com/2020/01/20/got-a-filthy-estate-pipe-that-you-need-to-clean/). Here is the introduction to that blog and it is very true even to this day.

Several have asked about Jeff’s cleaning regimen as I generally summarize it in the blogs that I post rather than give a detailed procedure. I have had the question asked enough that I asked Jeff to put together this blog so that you can get a clear picture of the process he uses. Like everything else in our hobby, people have different methods they swear by. Some may question the method and that is fine. But it works very well for us and has for many years. Some of his steps may surprise you but I know that when I get the pipes from him for my part of the restoration they are impeccably clean and sanitized. I have come to appreciate the thoroughness of the process he has developed because I really like working on clean pipe!

For the benefit of some of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the products he uses I have included photos of three of the items that Jeff mentions in his list. This will make it easier for recognition. These three are definitely North American Products so you will need to find suitable replacements or order these directly on Amazon. The makeup pads are fairly universal as we were able to pick some up in India when we were with Paresh and his family.

In the blog itself he breaks his process down into two parts – cleaning the stem and cleaning the bowl. Each one has a large number of steps that he methodically does every time. I know because I have watched him do the work and I have seen the pipes after his work on them. He followed this process step by step and when the pipe got to me it was spotlessly clean and ready for my work. The inside of the stem, shank and bowl were clean and to me that is an amazing gift as it means that my work on this end is with a clean pipe! I cannot tell you how much difference that makes for my work.

When the pipe arrives here in Vancouver I have a clean pipe and I go over it keeping in mind my assessment shared in the opening paragraph above. Now that I have it in hand I am looking for confirmation of what I saw in the photos as well as any significant structural changes in the bowl and finish as I go over it.

  1. The finish is clean and the oils have been removed from both sides of the bowl. The grime ground into the finish is gone and there is some great grain showing through the sandblast finish around the bowl sides.
  2. The lava coat and darkening on the rim top has been removed and it is very clean. The inner edge also looks very good.
  3. The cake had been totally removed and the walls of the bowl are clean. There is not any checking or burn damage on the interior walls of the bowl.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem is clean and has light tooth chatter and marks on both sides. There is also some oxidation remaining on the stem surface.
  5. The four blue dots (Sasieni logo) on the left side of the saddle look very good.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver.  I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the lava was removed and the top looked good. There was some darkening around the inner edge, heavier toward the front of the bowl. It is clean but will need to be worked on to bring it back to normal. I also go over the stem carefully. There were some light tooth marks and dents on both sides of the stem. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them.I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank in any way. It looks good but is faint in some parts – particularly on the heel of the bowl. The putty fill is visible in the photo below. I always appreciate the handiwork of the carvers at Sasieni who turn a piece raw briar into a beautiful pipe. I love just looking at the beauty of the lay of the pipe with the grain and the proportion of the pipes. I like to remove the stem from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. It is a beauty in flow and shape.I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. I chose to deal with the darkening on the inner edge of the rim. I used a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to remove the darkening on the inner edge. It took a little work but I was able to remove most of the damage. It looks much better after I worked it over.I used a Cherry Stain Pen to stain the putty fill and blend it into the surface of the sandblast billiard. It looked much better once it had cured.For the past few years now I have been using a product developed by Mark Hoover called Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a shoe brush and let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to shine and the grain shone through the blast. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift them and sanded out what remained with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I wiped the stem down with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the remaining oxidation on the stem surface. It looked much better. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the acrylic. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I don’t buff a sandblast finish on the buffer with polish as it can fill in the deep grooves. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservators Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with rusticated plateau style crowned rim. The acrylic stem works well with the pipe. The Sasienin Four Dot Ruff Root Sandblast Billiard with a craggy gold shank adornment feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.62 ounces/46 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the British Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe. Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have done. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Writing Straight with Crooked Lines

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By Kenneth Lieblich

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about a Peterson Standard System 307. That pipe sold quite quickly and a kind gentlemen contacted me to say that if I came across another, he would be interested. As it happened, I did have another 307 in my pile of pipes, so I was only too happy to get working on that one. The 307 is a good-sized pipe and the look of it gives one a feeling of confidence. It is satisfying and comfortable in the hand. This particular pipe had some serious issues, but I was confident that I could still make it beautiful again. I guess I was trying to make virtues out of vices (or something like that) – hence writing straight with crooked lines.Let’s have a closer look. This Peterson 307 pipe has the classic “System” look: bent shape, nickel mount, and tapered, army-style stem. Of course, it also had the traditional Peterson P-lip stem. The markings on the left side of the shank are Peterson’s [over] System [over] Standard. The right side of the shank showed Made in the [over] Republic [over] of Ireland [over] 307. The nickel mount on the shank had K&P [over] Petersons. There were no markings on the stem. The Peterson System pipes are well-storied among Peterson collectors/admirers. I took the opportunity to read the article on Pipedia, specifically about the System pipes, by Jim Lilley. There is lots of good information there and I encourage you to read it: https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_closer_look_at_the_famous_Peterson_Standard_System_Pipe On to the pipe itself: it was in rough shape – very dirty and harshly treated. The stem was thoroughly calcified and oxidized. It also had some major dents: one on the top and one on the bottom. Most notably, however, there was some significant wear to the side of the P-lip. The bowl was very dirty and had quite a bit of lava and plenty of cake. The front edge of the rim had been heavily bashed in – presumably from banging out dottle etc. The outside of the bowl had some small fills and some very deep scratches – much deeper than the photos convey. The nickel mount was in rough shape – stained, corroded, and heavily chipped along the top edge. To work! The stem was first on my list. I wiped the outside down with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame to lift the bite marks. Sadly, however, this did not do much, as the dents were much too deep. Then I cleaned out the inside with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. I used some SoftScrub on the outside of the stem to remove some oxidation. Then, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed again with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. I built up the dents on the stem with black cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them cure. I then sanded the adhesive down with 220- and 400-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to polish it and highlight the black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. What about the worn side of the P-lip? I decided to leave that as it was. I did not have a spare Peterson stem to replace this one and I always like to use original parts whenever possible. The stem shows that wear, but it is part of the history of the pipe and so it shall stay.

Moving on to the stummel, I first decided to ream out the bowl. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper taped to a dowel to eliminate as much as possible. I took the chamber down to bare briar to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the wall. Fortunately, there were none.I proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. There was quite a bit of filth inside this stummel, and it took a fair amount of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.I then used cotton rounds and some Murphy’s Oil Soap to scrub the outside of the stummel and a toothbrush with Murphy’s for the lava on the pipe’s rim. At this point, I opted to remove the nickel mount before moving on. It wasn’t well attached to the stummel anyway. It would need some special work, as there was a crack in the edge of the shank – hidden by the mount. The first step in dealing with this was to ensure that the crack would not continue to creep after I had repaired it. To that end, I took a micro-drill bit, inserted it in my Dremel, and very carefully drilled a hole right through the wall of the shank, into the mortise. I then needed to apply cyanoacrylate adhesive in order to seal and repair it. I carefully applied a tiny bead of adhesive to the hole and the length of the crack. Finally, I clamped it shut and let it cure. This was a great success and the mount would hide the repair going forward. I decided to de-ghost the pipe in order to remove any lingering smells of the past. I thrust cotton balls into the bowl and the shank and saturated them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I let the stummel sit overnight. This caused any remaining oils, tars and smells to leach out into the cotton. The bowl was nice and clean after this. Now I could address the roughness on the rim. I “topped” the pipe – that is, I gently and evenly sanded the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage without altering the look of the pipe.Then I was able to address the small nicks on the rim and the bowl. I dug out my iron and a damp cloth to try to raise the nicks. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. This worked very well and many of the scratches were corrected with this method.Now it was time to address the remaining fills on the bowl. I repaired them with a mixture of briar dust and cyanoacrylate adhesive. This ensures a strong repair and one that looks similar to the surrounding wood. I sanded the repairs down with 200- and 400-grit sandpaper until they were level with the surrounding briar.Then, I used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to finish it off. I opted to turn the bashed-in front edge of the rim into a rounded front edge. This was possibly an odd choice, but I am very pleased how it turned out in the end. However, the deep, parallel scratches on the side of the stummel were not going anywhere. Unfortunately, they were too deep to be sanded out and too narrow to be filled with briar and glue. The scratches were sanded with the Micromesh pads, and looked much improved. The nickel mount also needed serious help. I wanted to keep as much of the metal as possible, but didn’t want to leave a purely jagged edge. I sanded this edge to ensure a proper balance between keeping the maximum amount of metal and taking away a possible hazard. Then, I used some SoftScrub on cotton rounds to clean the metal and remove some corrosion. I used some of my MicroMesh pads (only 3,600-12,000) to eliminate some of the minor scratches on the metal. It also gave a nice shine. I used a jewelry cloth to give the final polish to the nickel. This mount would always retain some small dents etc. from its hard life, but it looks much improved. I used some white glue to reattach it to the stummel. At this point, I rubbed some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar and left it to sit for 15 minutes or so. I brushed it with a microfibre cloth. The B&ARB does wonderful things to the wood, and I really like the natural colour of the briar. Off to the bench polisher to put the final touches on this pipe. I first gave it a thorough going-over with White Diamond compound. Following that, several coats of carnauba wax created a beautiful, glossy seal on the pipe. This Peterson Standard System 307 looks fantastic again and I know that the new owner will enjoy smoking it for many years to come. The approximate dimensions of the pipe are as follows: length 6¼ in. (158 mm); height 2 in. (51 mm); bowl diameter 1⅝ in. (41 mm); chamber diameter ¾ in. (20 mm). The weight of the pipe is 2¼ oz. (66 g). I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.