Tag Archives: Stem repairs

Back To Working On My Inheritance; A Stanwell # 62 Freehand

4 Replies

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

Being on leave that has been compulsorily extended by 40 days due to the virus pandemic being rampant and the country under a lock down was a blessing in disguise. I have enough time to spend with my daughters, catch up on some reading and most importantly, get working on some pipes!! The only downside to the last activity was that I have left behind at my place of work, most of my tools and paraphernalia that I use for restoring pipes. This greatly restricts the types of repairs that I can undertake at the moment. With these limitations, I rummaged through the pile and chose this inherited Stanwell as my next project on the premise that it would be a simple ‘refurbishing only’ task.

This large sandblasted freehand pipe with plateau rim top is stamped on the smooth underside of the shank from the foot towards the shank end as “HAND MADE” over “MADE IN DENMARK” in block capital letters followed by “STANWELL” in an inverted arch. Towards the shank end is the shape code/ model number “62”. The silver “Crowned S” adorns the left side of the vulcanite stem. The stampings on the stummel have worn off in the first half from the foot towards the shank end and can be seen in bright light and under magnification.There is adequately detailed and informative material available on both pipedia.org and pipephil.eu on the brand; however, I was keener to know the exact dating and correlate the pipe details with the shape code. Basil Stevens is considered an authority on all things Stanwell and on surfing the net, I came across this site which gives out pointers to dating a Stanwell pipe; here is the link https://www.scribd.com/document/45022903/Stanwell-Dating-Pricing-Information-by-Basil-D-Stevens.

I reproduce the relevant pointers which help in dating the Stanwell on my work table:-

Dating Information:

  1. Block letter stamp “Silver S” used until late 1960s and then changed to script.
  2. Up until the early 1960s only the top pipes, e.g. “Hand Cut” had the stem/mouth pieces stamped with the Stanwell logo of a crown over “S”.

The last bit of curiosity in my mind was to link the model number on my Stanwell to the description of the shape and designer, if possible. Again pipedia.org has a section on “Stanwell Shape Numbers and Designers” and sure enough, 62 finds a mention, here is the link

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell_Shape_Numbers_and_Designers).

I quote and reproduce the relevant information:-

  • Two versions of this shape number
  1. a) Liverpool, medium size.
  2. b) Freehand, Plateau top, saddle mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson.

Thus from the above, it is amply evident that the pipe now on my work table is a Freehand pipe from the late 1960s designed by Sixten Ivarsson!!

Now on to restoring this Stanwell Freehand pipe with a delicate vulcanite saddle stem……..

Initial Visual Inspection
This medium sized sandblasted freehand pipe has a good heft and nicely fills the hand. Like most of the pipes from my inheritance; this too has a thick layer of cake in the chamber with overflow of lava on the plateau rim top. The cake is dry and hard. The inner rim edge appears sans any damage and this would only be confirmed once the chamber has been reamed. The condition of the walls of the chamber can be commented upon once the cake has been taken down to the bare briar. However, the external surface of the stummel feels and looks solid and hence I do not foresee any major issues surprising me later in the course of restoration. The ghost smells are very strong in the chamber. As is commonly seen on sandblasted pipes with some age on them, the crevices are always filled with dust, dirt, oils, tars and grime from all the years of smoking and storage. This one is no exception to this observation. The grooves of the sandblast are filled with dust and grime. The fact that the textured patterns of the rustications are dusty and filled with dirt is accentuated more due to the contrast of dark and medium brown stains on the stummel and the shank. The briar looks lifeless and bone dry and has taken on black dull hues. The mortise is full of oils, tars and gunk and the air flow is restricted. Through all the dirt, dust and grime, beautiful sandblast patterns can be seen and appreciated. The delicate vulcanite saddle stem is beautifully contoured to match the flow of the pipe with a smooth surface at the bottom of the saddle contiguous with that of the shank. The stem is heavily oxidized with a couple of deep tooth indentations on both the upper and lower stem surface in the bite zone. The lip edge on either surface has bite marks. These repairs should be easy. The tenon and horizontal slot is covered in dried oils, tars and gunk. The stem air way too appears to be clogged as the air flow through the stem is laborious to say the least. The stem logo of the letter ‘S’ with a crown on top is crisp and deep.The Process
The process of refurbishing this pipe started with the cleaning of the stem. Abha, my wife, cleaned the stem air way with regular and bristled pipe cleaners dipped in 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. She further cleaned the stem internals with thin shank brushes and dish soap to remove the stubborn and thick gunk from within the airway. The heap of pipe cleaners and their appearance tells a sordid story. With my sharp fabricated knife, she scraped off all the dried tars and gunk from the tenon end.Once the stem internals had been cleaned, I gently sand the stem surface with a used piece of 220 grit sand paper and immersed it in “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. This solution has been developed by Mark Hoover and works to draw out all the deep seated oxidation from the surface making it’s subsequent cleaning and polishing a breeze. I would definitely recommend this product as it saves on to time and efforts. It has been our experience that before immersing the stem in to the stem deoxidizer, light sanding of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grits sand paper loosens the oxidation a bit and helps get fantastic end results. The pipe has been marked with a green arrow for easy identification.Simultaneously, while Abha was working on the stem, I reamed the bowl with a Castleford pipe reamer using the first three head sizes. Using my fabricated knife, I cleaned the cake from areas which could not be reached by the reamer heads. I used a 220 grit sand paper, pinched between my thumb and forefinger, to sand the inner walls of the chamber. Once I had reached the bare walls, I wiped the chamber with a cotton pad dipped in isopropyl alcohol. This removed all the residual carbon dust and also allowed a clear inspection of the walls. The walls of the chamber are nice and solid with no signs of heat fissures or cracks. The inner rim edge shows no charring or chipping. The ghost smells are still strong and all pervading. Hopefully these smells will be exorcised once the shank and mortise are thoroughly cleaned! I cleaned the mortise and shank walls using q-tips, shank brush, regular and hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I scraped the walls with a dental tool and removed the entire accumulated gunk. I shall further clean it with a shank brush and liquid dish soap once I clean the stummel surface. The strong smells still persist though the mortise is nice and clean as can be seen in pictures.With the bowl internals clean, I move to clean the exterior of the stummel. I generously applied “Briar Cleaner”, a product that has been developed by my friend Mark Hoover, to the external surface of the bowl and the plateau rim top surface. It works similar to Murphy’s oil soap and needs to be applied to the stummel surface and set aside for 5- 10 minutes. The product pulls out all the dirt and grime to the surface making further cleaning easy. I am quite happy with this product. I used a hard bristled tooth brush to scrub the stummel and rim top with the solution. After the scrub with Briar cleaner solution, I washed the stummel under running warm water with anti oil dish washing detergent till clean and dried it using paper towels and soft cotton cloth. I deliberately cleaned the plateau rim top with Scotch Brite pad and set the stummel aside to dry out naturally. I simultaneously cleaned the shank internals with the detergent and hard bristled shank brush. The stummel surface has cleaned up nicely with the intricate sandblast patterns on full display. The ghost smells in the chamber were still quite strong and hence I decided to address this issue. To eliminate the ghost smells from the pipe, I decided to treat it with salt and alcohol. I do not use Kosher salt as it is not readily available here and if available, it’s very expensive. I use a cotton ball which is an at par substitute as I have realized over the last year or so. I draw out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner; insert it into the mortise and through the draught hole into the chamber. Thereafter, I pack the chamber with cotton balls to about quarter of an inch below the rim’s inner edge. I soak the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol goes down, having been absorbed by the cotton. I top it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next morning, the cotton and alcohol has drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise, fulfilling its intended task. I removed the cotton ball and ran pipe cleaners through the mortise to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk. The chamber now smells clean and fresh. I set the stummel to dry out naturally.The next morning, Abha removed the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. She cleaned the stem and the stem airway under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad and the airway with thin shank brush. She further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.The deep tooth indentations are now clearly visible. Since I did not have a lighter to heat and raise these indentations to the surface (my preference to use it for this purpose), I used a lit match stick instead. I have experimented with a lit candle also and the results of both these alternatives are equally good; however, one has to be doubly careful as the heat from a candle flame is more intense as compared to a match stick or a lighter. These tooth indentations were raised to the surface to some extent due to the heating; however, it would require a fill to complete the repairs.I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and carefully applied it over the damaged bite zone on both surfaces and lip and set it aside for curing overnight. I had applied this mix in sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding to match the fills with the stem surface.While the stem was set aside for the fills to cure, I decided to polish the raised portions of the plateau rim top surface. The polished lightened and shining raised portion should be a nice contrast to the surrounding rim surface. I dry sand the raised portions with 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers (1500 to 2400 grit pads have worn out) followed by dry polishing with 3200 to 12000 grit micromesh pads. I like the appearance of the rim top at this stage. Next, I rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the briar with my fingertips, working it deep in to the sandblasts and let it rest for a few minutes. I generously rubbed the balm in to the plateau rim top surface. The balm almost immediately works it’s magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful sandblast patterns displayed in their complete splendor. The contrast of the dark browns of the raised sandblast with the dark black of the rest of the stummel added an interesting dimension to the appearance of the stummel. The most interesting aspect was the appearance of the plateau rim top which may be insufficiently described in words and be rather seen in person. I further buffed it with a horse hair brush. I set the stummel aside and worked on the stem. The stem fills had cured nicely and using a flat head needle file, I sanded the fill to achieve a rough match with the surrounding stem surface. I further sanded the stem surface with a folded piece of 220 and 320 grit sand papers to further blend in the repairs and followed it with wet sanding the entire stem with 1500 to 12000 grade micromesh pads. I wiped the stem with a moist cloth to remove the dust and monitored the progress being made after every three grit pads. The stem polished up nicely and had a rich deep black shine to it. I applied a little Extra Virgin Olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite and set the stem aside. I refreshed the stem stamping with a white correction pen. The end result shows a perfectly refreshed stem logo.To complete the restoration, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool 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 and remove any residual wax from in between the sandblasts. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is now ready for its long second innings with me. I only wish it could share with me it’s life story of the past years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it or maybe an English blend or maybe just keep admiring it!! P.S. This and the subsequent restoration that I have lined up are all simple and straight forward projects, however, I would assure the readers that each one is unique and each project is interesting.

In these troubled times when at one point in time the world wide call was for mankind to come closer, it is now necessary to maintain and observe social distancing. I wish that we maintain physical distance to prevent the spread of the virus but let’s bond together mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

I wish to thank each one for sparing their valuable time to read through this write up and praying for the health and safety of entire mankind. Stay home…stay safe!!

A Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Bent Dublin

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. It is a interestingly rusticated saddle stem Bent Dublin with a smooth crowned rim top and darkening around the rim edge. It is stamped with Sherwood over Rock Briar on the heel of the bowl followed by the Savinelli “S” shield and the shape number 316KS over Italy on the shank. The stamping is clear and readable though the shape number is hidden slightly by the nickel repair band. The pipe has a combination of brown stains and the worm trail rustication is not only tactile but also a purposefully pattern to the finish. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the inner edge of the top toward the back of the bowl. There was darkening on the briar around the inner edge and the top of the rim. The stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. there were some hash marks on the left side of the stem about an inch from the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the inner edge of the crowned rim.  Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the “worm trail” rustication around the bowl and the great looking grain as well. It is actually a nice looking pipe.  The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. The shooting star logo on the stem side is clear but faint. I am hoping that it can be repainted once it is clean. It all depends on how deep the stamping on the stem side is.The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.  I turned to Pipephil (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-savinelli3.html) to read about the Sherwood Rock Briar. It is a smooth pipe with the worm trail carving around the bowl. Sometimes I wonder if it was Savinelli’s answer to the Custombilt Craze or what Lorenzo was selling that was similar. This is definitely tamer! I have included the screen capture from the site below.From what I could find there were several things about the pipe on my table that did not add up to what I was seeing in the various photos. I found a picture of the same pipe on Worthpoint (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wow-savinelli-sherwood-rock-briar-143136918). It has a long slender tapered stem on the shank and no band. I was pretty certain before I saw this picture that the pipe I was working on had a replacement stem – it was a saddle stem and was poorly fit to the shank. I was also confident that the band was for a cracked shank repair and was not original. It also covered the stamped KS portion of the shape number. I think both were added at the same time to repair a break that happened which cracked the shank and broke the stem. The photos I was seeing confirmed my suspicions about the pipe in hand.Armed with that information and a clearer picture of the original pipe I turned to work on the pipe on my work table. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge and the top at the back of the bowl. The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos. However one of the issues that I saw in looking at the fit of the shank to the stem was that whoever had done the replacement stem had rounded the edges of the saddle so the fit against the band was not smooth but slightly hipped.  You can see that on the fit of the stem to the shank in the photos below. There are bulges on the sides and underside.     I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above. I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and the inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the edge to remove the darkening. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better. I did not sand the rim top as I figured that polishing it with micromesh pads would take care of the rim top for me. I polished the bowl and rim with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I worked over the rim top and edge of the bowl with the pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad to remove the sanding debris. Because the bowl and rim top looked so good I decided to move on to rubbing the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to address the diameter of the saddle portion of the stem and remove some of the rounding on the edge. I also wanted to get rid of the “hips” on the sides and underside of the stem. I sanded the saddle with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper and repeatedly checked the fit to the shank and band. When I finally had removed the majority of the issues it was time to move on. I polished it with a piece of 440 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. It helped to remove the transition between where the Softee Bit had covered the stem and the rest of the stem surface. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This Savinelli Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Dublin is an interesting looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the smooth briar between the rusticated patterns around the bowl sides, top and bottom. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well with the polished black vulcanite saddle stem. The replacement stem and nickel band look good with the bowl and stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Sherwood Rock Briar 316KS Dublin is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½  inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Hard Work on Restoring a Brigham 3 Dot Prince 3

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is an interesting looking mixed finish Prince that was stained with a rich brown colour on both the smooth upper portion and rusticated lower portion of the bowl and shank. It was stamped on the smooth underside of the shank. The stamping was readable. The shape number 3 and the stamping Brigham over Canada was on the smooth band on the underside of the shank. The age on this one is Post-Patent era, nominally 1960s. The pipe was another pipe that Jeff picked up on his hunts. It was in decent condition when he brought it to the table. The finish was dirty and the rim top had some damage but otherwise looked decent the inner edge of the bowl was in good condition. The bowl had been reamed and smoked a few times after that. Whoever had reamed it, had overdone the reaming and left some deep gouges around the inside base of the bowl. The internals were quite clean. The stem was in rough condition with deep tooth marks on the top and underside on and near the button. The Maple Distillator had been recently replaced. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took a photo of the rim top to show the interior the bowl and the rim top and inner edge. It is clean but damaged.Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show grain that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. He took a photo of the underside of the shank to show the stamping. The stamping is readable in the photos below and is as noted above – it reads Brigham in script over Canada. In the left corner of the smooth panel is the number 3. The stem has three dots in a triangular pattern on the left side. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was lightly oxidized and had deep tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.   Jeff took the stem off the bowl and took a picture of the aluminum tube tenon with the Maple Distillator in place and out of the tenon on top of the tube.Before I get into the restoration part of this pipe I decided to include a poster I picked up that shows the filtration system of the patented Brigham Distillator. Give the poster a read. It also helps to understand the internals of these older Canadian Made pipes.Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. The stamping on the side of the stem was very light and the white that had remained was gone. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top and edges show a lot of damage on the surface. It is rough looking and rough to touch. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the deep tooth marks on the surface and on the button. It was in rough condition. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I took the pipe apart and removed the Distillator from the aluminum tenon. It obviously been replaced by whoever reamed this pipe before we got it. I decided to start my restoration work on this one by dealing with the over reaming of the bowl and the damaged rim top. I sanded the bowl walls to smooth out the reaming damage with a piece of dowel wrapped with sandpaper. I was able to smooth out much of the damage. I cleaned up the inner edge of the bowl and rim top with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the damage. I polished the smooth portions of the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. After each pad I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for a little while and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. With that done the bowl was finished other than the final buffing. I set it aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the tooth damage with clear CA glue and set the stem aside to cure. Once it had cured I used a needle file to recut the button edge and flatten out the repaired spots. I sanded out the repaired tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sand paper to blend them into the rest of the stem surface. I started to polish it with a folded piece of 400 wet dry sandpaper. Once it was finished it had begun to shine.   I polished the stem with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish from a tin of it I have in the drawer here. It is a gritty red paste that I rub on with my finger tips and work into the surface of the stem and button and buff off with a cotton pad. It gives me a bit of a head start on the polishing work.Before I finished the polishing stem I decided to fit it with the Rock Maple Distillator.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I am excited to finish this Brigham Prince. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with the grain popping through on the bowls sides and rim top. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem with the shining brass pins was beautiful. This mixed grain on the smooth finish Brigham 3 Prince is nice looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. When I was going through the pipes in my box of pipes to be done I came across this beautiful 3 Dot Brigham. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. It is a beautiful pipe and one that will be on the rebornpipes store soon. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of the next pipeman or woman.  

Back To Inherited Pipes And Restoring A 1912 W H Gourd Calabash

2 Replies

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

It’s been a while since I have worked on one of my inherited pipes as I have been busy with pipes from the estate pipe lots that have reached me from various sellers. Though these pipes had been fun to work on, I, at times, have a desire to work on inherited pipes.

The next pipe that has caught my attention is a gourd calabash and the only one to date, which was in one of the three very large boxes of pipes that I have inherited. Working on these old pipes is what I love the most because of the intrinsic connection I have with these pipes and the fact that once I pass away, these will be passed on to my kids as remembrance that their father had worked on restoring each of these vintage and priceless collection of pipes.

This gourd calabash is not very large in size, but big enough to have a great feel in the hand. The gourd has colored beautifully and has taken on a nice deep reddish brown color. The bowl sits flush with the gourd top and is covered in a Sterling Silver cap that is stamped as “W. H.” in a semi-circle followed by three sterling hallmarks, each in a cartouche. There is an anchor, a lion, and the lower case letter “n”. The anchor identifies the city of the manufacture of the silver to be Birmingham, England. The lion is the mark for 0.925 Sterling Silver and the letter “n” is the date stamp. A similar set of stampings are also seen on the sterling silver band at the shank end. The stampings are all crisp and prominent.The hallmarked sterling silver band and cap helps in the dating with great accuracy and the first site that I visit is www.silvercollection.it

I browsed through the alphabetical listing of maker’s mark for W.H. in a semi circle and narrowed it down to William Harrison Active in London: various Harrison’s marks in Chester Assay Office were registered by Imperial Tobacco Co between 1907 and 1916. It is also known a fact that his marks are registered with the Birmingham Assay Office.Next I followed the link to the dating guide of the Birmingham Assay Office to date this pipe. I have included a hallmark chart for dating the pipe. I put a red rectangle around the letter for 1912. It is the same style of “n” and the cartouche that holds the letter stamp, matches the photo as well.Another source of information on William Harrison is reproduced below from the site  https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Chester-WD-WH.html#WH

Thus, from the above, the pipe that I am now dealing with is from the tobacconist/ pipe maker/ pipe mounter William Harrison and dates to 1912!! This pipe is nearly 108 years old. With the provenance of the pipe now established, I move ahead with initial inspection of this old pipe.

Initial Visual Inspection
The pipe, as it sits on my work table, presents itself as a simple and straight forward refurbishing project. The gourd has developed a nice patina and taken on a deep red brown golden color. There is no damage to the gourd. This pipe should polish up nicely. The sterling silver rim cap and shank band have numerous dents and dings. A straight split to the silver shank band is seen on the right side. This split can be welded by my silversmith, but that can happen only after the lockdown and social distancing norms have relaxed somewhat. The vulcanite stem does not seat completely into the shank. This issue should be addressed once the mortise has been thoroughly cleaned. Here is how the pipe appears at this stage. The bowl on this calabash is flush with the gourd rim top. Native South African calabashes imported to the UK had bowl linings of gypsum pressed into the gourd. Since the rims of a gypsum bowls were somewhat inelegant, retailers fit them with sterling rim covers– a practice they continued even after they began to employ meerschaum for the bowl linings. Given the vintage of this pipe, the bowl could either be clay or gypsum or even a meerschaum. There is a decent layer of dried and crusted cake in the chamber. The draught hole is at the bottom, dead center and somewhat constricted by the cake. The bowl is held in place by a Sterling Silver rim cap that is riveted in to the gourd and unmovable without damaging the gourd. The sterling rim cap is tarnished and has numerous dents and dings and a light overflow of lava over the surface. The stampings on the rim cap are crisp and easily readable but with the beginnings of wearing off at the ends. I need to be careful with my polishing of the sterling cap. The gourd surface has beautiful color and it will be my endeavor to preserve the patina that has developed on the surface due to smoking. The surface is covered in old oils, tars, grime and dirt from all these years. There is no damage to the gourd surface and that’s a big relief. This piece of gourd will look stunningly beautiful and rich once it has been cleaned and polished. The bowl is fixed to the gourd with sterling rim cap and is riveted in place. These rivets have a little play but still have many years of careful use ahead. The mortise and the gourd internals are filthy to say the least and no surprises here. Heavy accumulation of oils, tars and grime are seen within the mortise and also within the gourd. This is adversely affecting the seating of the stem in to the mortise. Cleaning the internals of a calabash is always challenging and this one more so, as the bowl is permanently fixed to the gourd.The tapered vulcanite stem is heavily oxidized. Deep tooth indentations are seen in the bite zone on either surfaces of the stem. The round orifice is correct for the vintage of this pipe and shows accumulated oils and tars. The button edges need to be sharpened. The tenon is also covered in oils, tars and grime. The air way is clogged and will need to be cleaned. The Process
The process of refurbishing this pipe started with the cleaning of the stem. Abha, my wife, cleaned the stem air way with regular and bristled pipe cleaners dipped in 99.9% pure isopropyl alcohol. She further cleaned the stem internals with thin shank brushes and dish soap to remove the stubborn and thick gunk from within the airway. The heap of pipe cleaners and their appearance tells a sordid story. With my sharp fabricated knife, she scraped off all the dried tars and gunk from the tenon end.Once the stem internals had been cleaned, I gently sand the stem surface with a used piece of 220 grit sand paper and immersed it in “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution along with the stem of other pipes in line for restoration. It has been our experience that before immersing the stem in to the stem deoxidizer, light sanding of the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper loosens the oxidation a bit and helps get fantastic end results.Simultaneously while Abha was working on the stem, I reamed the bowl with my fabricated knife to clean up the chamber. 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 pad 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 heat fissures or cracks. I ran a couple of hard bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol through the draught hole and thoroughly cleaned it.The next morning, Abha removed the stems that had been soaking in the deoxidizer solution overnight. She cleaned the stem under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the stem surface using a Scotch Brite pad. She further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool and applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.The deep tooth indentations are now clearly visible and I decided to address these issues at this stage. Since I did not have a lighter (I generally prefer to use it for this purpose), I used a lit candle instead. The result is equally good; however, one has to be doubly careful as the heat from a candle flame is more intense as compared to a lighter. These tooth indentations were raised to the surface to some extent due to the heating; however, it would require a fill to complete the repairs.I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and carefully applied it over the damaged bite zone on both surfaces and lip and set it aside for curing over night. I had applied this mix in sufficient thickness which would help during the filing and sanding to match the fills with the stem surface and shaping the button.Using a flat head needle file, I reshaped the button and followed it up by sanding the stem with a folded piece of 220 grit sand papers. I followed it up by further sanding the stem with 320, 600 and 800 grit sand papers. Once I was satisfied that the fills had perfectly matched with the rest of the stem surface, using micromesh pads, I completed the polishing cycle by wet sanding the surface with 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers and further dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit pads. The stem looks great with the fills nicely matched with the rest of the surface. I rub a little quantity of Extra Virgin Olive oil into the stem surface. While I was working on the stem repairs and subsequent polishing, Abha cleaned out the mortise and gourd internals using pipe cleaners, q-tips and alcohol. She scraped out the accumulated dried oils, tars and gunk from the mortise using fabricated tool. The mortise was finally declared clean by Abha after a few hours and lots of elbow grease, the pile of pipe cleaners and the chunks of grime removed from the mortise are a standing testimony to the filth in the pipe. The pipe now smells clean and fresh. At this point in time, the internal cleaning of the stem, mortise and gourd is completed. The stem repairs and polishing is also completed. Next I decided to clean and polish the gourd. I cleaned the external surface of the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap on cotton swabs. I wiped the surface with a moist cloth and set the gourd aside to dry out completely. After the gourd had dried out, I polished the gourd surface with micromesh pads. There was a small twist though! The 1500 to 2400 grit micromesh pads in the set that were left behind at home (remember that my home and work place are at different corners of the country!) have completely worn down. Since most of my material and equipment that I use for pipe restoration is at my work place, I substituted the 1500 to 2400 grit pads with 1500 and 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper. I find that these work just fine. I wanted to preserve the patina and deep coloration that has developed on the gourd surface, I dry sand the stummel surface with 1500 (sand paper) to 12000 grit micromesh pads. This is starting to look really nice. With Colgate tooth powder, I cleaned the sterling silver rim cap and shank band to a nice shine and yes, I avoided rubbing the powder over the stampings and hallmarks to prevent them from wearing down.Next, I rub a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” in to the gourd with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the gourd now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful darkened colors on full display. I further buff it with a horse hair shoe brush. To apply the finishing touches, I mount a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and apply 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 apply a coat of carnauba wax and continue to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and give the entire pipe a once over buff. I finish 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 restored pipe collection. When, or if at all I will, smoke this pipe only time will tell!! Here are the pictures of the refurbished pipe.

A Rusticated Savinelli Oscar 127 Saddle Stem Billiard

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts. It is a nicely rusticated saddle stem Billiard with a smooth rim top with a bevel on the inside edge of the bowl. It is stamped with Oscar over Aged Briar on the heel of the bowl followed by the Savinelli “S” shield and the shape number 127 over Italy. The stamping is clear and readable though the shape number is hidden slightly by the rustication. The pipe has a combination of brown stains and the tight rustication is not only tactile but also lends a sparkle to the finish. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the bowl. The bowl had a thick but even cake in the bowl and a heavy lava overflow on the beveled inner edge of the top and top toward the back of the bowl. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge and the top of the rim. The stem was oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides and on the top and bottom edges of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the beveled inner edge of the rim.  Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the tight rustication pattern that was around this bowl. It is a nice looking pipe. The stamping on each side of the shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. The shooting star logo on the stem side is clear but faint. I am hoping that it can be repainted once it is clean. It all depends on how deep the stamping on the stem side is. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. It also shows the tooth marks on the stem and on the button surface.   I confirmed that the shape number stamping, partially hidden by the rustication is indeed 127 by comparing it to the Savinelli Shape Chart that I have. I have drawn a red box around the shape on the chart below.For some background give the article on Pipedia are as it includes a well written history of the Savinelli brand. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli). I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. The stamping on the side of the stem was very light and the white that had remained was gone. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can some spots on the inner edge and the top where some darkening remains.  The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.   I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above.   I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and beveled inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work edge to remove the darkening. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better.   Because the bowl and rim top looked so good I decided to move on to rubbing the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the crevices. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.    I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. The deep tooth marks and the deep marks on the top and underside of the stem needed to be filled in and reshaped. I filled them in with clear super glue. I purposely overfill the spots so that as they cure and shrink they will still fill in the damage. Once the glue cured I used a needle file to recut the button edge and shape the button surfaces. I flattened the fills on the top and underside of the stem at the same time. I sanded the repaired button and stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface of the button and stem. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sand paper.   I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!   I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.     This Savinelli Oscar Aged Briar 127 Billiard is a nice looking pipe. The mix of brown stains highlights the rustication around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well and almost sparkle on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite taper stem adds to the mix. It was impossible to save the shooting star logo it was just too far gone. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax by hand and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Oscar Aged Briar rusticated Billiard is quite nice and feels great in the hand. It is also a sitter with a flat bottom. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the Italian Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Life for a Comoy’s Christmas 1983 Bent 409 Bulldog

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts not far from where he is located. It is a Comoy’s 409 Bulldog that is in decent condition. It is stamped Comoy’s Christmas 1983 on the top left side of the diamond shank. On the right side it is stamped with the Comoy’s circular COM stamp Made in London in a circle over England. That is followed by the shape number 409. On the right underside it is stamped with the letter E near the stem/shank junction. The stamping is clear and readable. The pipe has a medium brown finish and some amazing grain that the shape follows well. The finish was very dirty with grime ground into the grain around bowl sides. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and some lava overflow on the top and the beveled inner edge of the top. There was darkening on the briar around the inner beveled edge of the rim. The stem was dirty, oxidized and calcified. There was light tooth chatter and marks on the stem near the button on both sides. The stem has the inset C logo of Comoy’s on the top left side of the diamond saddle stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the thick cake in the bowl and the lava overflow on the top and beveled inner edge of the rim. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles. Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the nice grain that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully grained pipe. The stamping on each side of the diamond shank is shown in the photos below. They look very good and readable. You can also see the inset C logo on the top left side of the diamond stem. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface.  I knew that I was dealing with a 1983 Comoy’s 409 Bulldog that was specially made as a Christmas Pipe. I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem to show how clean they were. You can see the darkening on the inner edge of the rim and the top.  The stem looks clean of oxidation and the tooth marks and chatter are very clear in the photos.I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The stamping is clear and readable as noted above.   I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe.I decided to start my work on the pipe by addressing the darkening on the rim top and beveled inner edge. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to work on the finish to remove the darkening on both. It took a bit of work but I was able to remove the majority of it and the end product looked much better.   I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm.  I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. Some of the tooth marks were deep – fortunately small but deep on both sides. I filled in the divots with clear super glue and set the stem aside to dry while I took my dog for a walk. When I got back I used a needle file to sharpen the edge of the button and flatten the repairs. I sanded out the repairs on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I began polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.   This Comoy’s Christmas 1983 Bulldog is a real beauty. The Medium Brown stain highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The polished black vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Bulldog 409 is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¼ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

I am not sure I would call this AFG III Freehand pipe anything other than ODD

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up this pipe sometime in 2016 and I have had it in a box of bowls since he sent it to me. I have looked at it several times but it never called my name. It is a strange pipe. The upwardly curved portion of the shank is joined to the bowl and straight shank about mid shank. The grain is quite nice though there is a large pit on the left side of the shank. The pipe is a sitter with a strange notched rim top. The notches have a faux plateau pattern in the groove on the front and back of the bowl. The top of the rim is almost calabash like with a wide flat top. The curve of the shank made the drilling of the bent portion a mystery until you turn the pipe over and see the screw that is inset in the back of the shank where it is parallel with the airway in the straight portion. It was lightly smoked and dirty. The shank is stamped AFG III on the left side of the upper portion. The stem was pirated from a WDC Wellington and made to fit in the shank. The shank end was out of round and the mortise was quite large. The end was not flat so fitting any stem would be a trick. Maybe that is why the Wellington stem was used. The stem had deep tooth marks in the surface and really did not work with the bowl to me. Jeff took the following photos before he did his clean up on the pipe. Jeff took photos of the bowl top to show the condition of the bowl and rim top and edges. The pipe has almost a floral look to it from this angle. It is a dirty pipe and the interior of the bowl has some roughness on the right side. He took a photo of the screw in the underside of the shank. It looks like a brass wood screw that has been inset in the shank.He took photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel to give a clear look at the grain on the briar. It is actually a nice looking piece of briar that some how the shape follows in a strange way all its own. The stamping on the left side of the shank reads AFG III which is not a brand I can find listed anywhere on the net so I have no information on the maker.The stem that had been made to fit is a WDC Wellington P-lip knockoff. It really did not fit in the shank and it was pretty chewed up. I would need to replace it.Today when I was sorting through my box of bowls without stems that I have and pitching out the worst of them I picked this bowl up and was drawn to seeing what I could do with it. I took it to my worktable and looked it over. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as I have come to expect after 4 years of working on pipes. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. Since the stem was not going to be used he did a quick clean up on it and sent it along. I had long since thrown it in the bottom of the box of bowls. The pipe was indeed an odd one. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took a photo of the wood screw in the shank and the flaw in the briar on the topside of the shank. You can also see the joint of the bowl and shank with the upward turned shank extension in the photos below. I drew a red box around then in the photos below. I went through my cans of stems to find one that would work with the diameter of the shank. I would need to turn the tenon to make it fit and also adjust the shank end and face it to make the taper stem fit.I took a photo of the shank end to show its condition. It was not flat and it was not round. The thickness of the shank around the mortise was also different on each side. The second photo below shows that angle of the shank end.I went through my brass bands to find one that would fit the end of the shank. I smoothed out rounded end on a topping board to smooth it. I also used my Dremel and sanding drum to bring the shank end back to round. I heated the band and pressed it onto the end of the shank. It looked good and it provided a straight flat edge on the shank end that would work well with the newly turned stem. I unscrewed the wood screw from the shank and found that it actually cut off the flow of air through the shank. When it was in place it extended into the airway. I used the Dremel and a grinding stone to take the screw down so that it would end at the wall of the airway. I used some all purpose glue to anchor the screw in the shank. It could be removed with a screw driver but it also was air tight.I filled in the flaw on the left side of the shank with briar dust and super glue. When the repair cured I sanded the repair smooth again with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 400 grit sandpaper. I used the PIMO tenon turning tool on my cordless drill to reduce the diameter of the tenon and face the stem surface for a good fit on the shank.Once I had the fit right to the shank I used a heat gun to give the end a bend that matched the flow of the bowl.  I may bend it a bit more but I like it at the moment. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping the bowl down with a damp cloth after each pad. I worked over the repaired spot on the shank to blend it in more. I touched up the stain around the band edge and the repaired pit on the shank using a blend of Oak and Maple stain pens. The colour matched well and once it was buffed would be perfect.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the newly fit stem. I did some fine tuning of the diameter of the stem at the shank/stem junction with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!I polished the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem.  This oddly shaped handmade briar pipe is strange enough to actually be quite interesting. From the shape of the extended shank to the flair of the bowl sides to the different looking top with the smooth top on the sides and the “dips” in the front and rear that are rusticated to look a bit like plateau. The mix of brown stains that the maker used really highlights some great grain around the bowl sides and the heel. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the grain on the pipe. The band and the newly shaped vulcanite stem seem to work well with the pipe. The pipe is a beauty and really eye-catching in its own way. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Freehand is quite nice and feels great in the hand and is a sitter as well. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. This is not a pipe for everyone but someone is bound to love it. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 7/8 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This pipe will be added to the American Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

New Life for a Peterson’s Republic Era “Donegal” Rocky Bent Apple 03

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us from one of Jeff’s pipe hunts or auctions. It is a rusticated Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky 03 Bent Apple. The rusticated finish is quite nice with at that classic Peterson’s rustication pattern. The pipe was very dirty, with grime and dust deep in the grooves of the rustication. The bowl had a thick cake in the bowl and surprisingly only dust on the rusticated rim top. There was darkening on the briar and a little lava on the inner edge of the rim. The pipe is stamped on a smooth panel on the underside of the shank and reads Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky with the shape number 03 ahead of that. It is also stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland. On the oxidized Sterling Silver band it is stamped K&P in shields over Sterling Silver there are three hallmarks below and to the left of that. The hallmarks are: 1. a seated woman (Hibernia) – the city stamp for Dublin, 2. Harp – the mark for the quality of the silver, 3. a slanted uppercase N – the date identification of the pipe. The stamping is clear and readable on the pipe. The stem was dirty and oxidized. There were tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button on both sides and some on the surface of the button as well. There was the Peterson’s “P” on the left side of the taper stem. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took photos of the rim top to show the cake in the bowl and the relatively clean rim top and beveled edge. The photos show the rim top and bowl from various angles.Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the rustication that was on this bowl. It is a quite beautifully crafted pipe. The rustication is quite dirty. The stamping on the underside of the shank read as noted above. The photo shows that they are very clear and readable. The stamping on the silver is also readable. The P on the left side of the stem is in good condition. The stem was a very good fit to the shank. It was oxidized, calcified and had debris stuck to the surface of the vulcanite. There was light tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem and on the button surface.  I am including the information from Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson). I have included a bit of the pertinent history here.

1950 – 1989 The Republic Era  – From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland” in a block format generally in three lines but two lines have been used with or without Republic being abbreviated.

During the 1950’s and 60’s the Kapp & Peterson company was still in the ownership of the Kapp family. However 1964 saw the retiral of the company Managing Director Frederick Henry(Harry) Kapp.

I turned then to deal with the Hallmarks. I turned to Pipephil’s site for his quick reference charts on the Peterson’s Hallmarks (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/hallmark-dublin.html). I have included the pertinent charts below. The first chart defines the first two hallmarks on the Sterling Silver Band. The Hibernia/Lady is the Dublin Town Mark. The Harp identifies the fineness of the metal.The second chart pins down the date that this particular pipe was made. The slanted N mark identifies the pipe as being made in 1999. I have drawn a red box around the N on the chart below.With that information in hand I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I knew from the information that the pipe was made during the Republic Era between 1950 and 1989. Pipedia then qualifies the dating as follows: From 1950 to the present time, the stamp for this era is “Made in the Republic of Ireland”. I was wondering how a pipe stamped Republic of Ireland and 1999 fit! I guess the “present time” stamp qualifies that.  Now it was time to work on the pipe.

Armed with that information I turned to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He cleaned the oxidized silver with Soft Scrub and buffed it off with a soft pad. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better. I took photos of the pipe when I received it before I started working on it. I took photos of the bowl and rim top to show how clean it was. The rim top and edges look very good. The stem looks clean of oxidation and there are light tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the stem.I took a photo of the pipe with the stem removed to show the overall look of stem, tenon and profile of the pipe. It is a great looking pipe.I rubbed the briar down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I worked it into the briar with my fingertips and a horse hair shoe brush to get it into the deep crevices of the rustication. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes while I worked on the stem. After the time passed I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The rustication came alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. There were some deep marks on the left side of the stem at the bend. I filled them with clear super glue and set it aside to cure. Once it was cured I sanded the stem to blend the repairs into the rest of the surrounding vulcanite.I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter on both sides of the button surface and stem with 220 grit sandpaper and began the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I rubbed the stem down with Denicare Mouthpiece Polish – a red, gritty Tripoli like substance that is a paste. I rubbed it into the surface of the stem and polished it off with a cotton pad. I have found that is a great intermediary step before polishing with micromesh pads. I am not sure what I will use once the final tin I have is gone!I touched up the P stamp on the left side of the stem with Paper Mate Liquid Paper and once it dried I scraped off the excess. The P stamp definitely looks better at this point.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. This Republic Era Peterson “Donegal” Rocky 03 Bent Apple is a nice looking pipe. The rustication and mixed stain around the bowl sides and shank really stand out with the polishing. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to give some contrast to the rusticated finish of the pipe. The polished black vulcanite P-lip taper stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it is really is eye-catching. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel, carefully avoiding the stamping on the shank and using a light touch on the rusticated bowl and shank. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax by hand and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Bent Apple is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This Peterson’s “Donegal” Rocky will be added to the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

New Life for an HAJ Handmade in Denmark ¼ Bent Brandy

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table came to us in a group of pipes we purchased from a fellow who was getting rid of his collection. It is an interesting looking ¼ bent Brandy. It is stamped on the underside of the shank HAJ over Handmade in Denmark. The shape number is stamped at the shank stem junction and reads 7A. The grain around the bowl is a mix of swirls and cross grain and the stain is a reddish brown with dark brown undertones. The pipe was dirty and there were remnants of cake around the bowl in spots but not covering the entire bowl. It appeared to have been reamed and not completely cleaned. The bowl was dirty and darkened from smoking. You will be able to see what I am referring to about the spotty cake when you look at the photos Jeff took of the bowl and rim. The finish was dirty but looked good underneath. The vulcanite stem was lightly oxidized and there were tooth marks and chatter on both sides just ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the bowl to show what it looked like when we received it. Jeff has gotten very good at capturing the condition of the bowl and rim top with his photos. You can see the work that is ahead of us in terms of the spotty cake on the walls of the bowl. It is kind of odd in that the other portions of the bowl have been sanded smooth. The rim top looks pretty good.The next set of photos show the grain on the sides and heel of the bowl. It is an interesting combination of grain – cross grain and swirls. I look forward to seeing what this one looks like once it is clean and restored. He took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. The HAJ stamp is readable as is the Handmade in Denmark and the shape number stamp.The next photos show the stem surface. It was very dirty and had light tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Before I started to work on the pipe I wanted to learn as much as I could about the brand. I have heard of or worked on a HAJ pipe before so I had no idea who made the pipe. I turned first to Pipephils site to see if there was any information on the Danish Made HAJ pipe and came up empty. I turned to Pipedia and looked for the HAJ brand and found that under the Danish pipe makers there was a listing. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Aage_J%C3%B8rgensen). I quote the totality of the information included on the listing below:

Hans Aage Jørgensen is the pipemaker behind HAJ pipes, stamped HAJ and Handmade in Denmark.

From there I decided to search a bit further so I googled the brand under the name Hans Aage Jorgensen HAJ. I found several pipes that were listed. I found a link on worthpoint.com to the brand and when I turned there I found the very pipe that I have in hand. It is exactly The grain, stamping, stem, shape everything is identical to the pipe I am working on. I have included the photos as well as the description from Worthpoint regarding this pipe (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-haj-handmade-hans-aage-419739128). I quote from the site:

…We present to you a Hans Aage Jorgensen HAJ briar estate pipe. It is a bent smooth Brandy style pipe with a beautiful reddish walnut exterior finish. Very light and lightly smoked , it is an incredible pipe with the great eye appeal. Great for gifting, collecting or using yourself! Solid pipe with nice grain. Its about 5″ long , 1.5″ tall , 1.65 ” wide and weighs a mere 40 grams. It is stamped HAJ Handmade in Denmark 7A and there is nothing on the stem. Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. Jeff had once again done a great job in cleaning this pipe. It looked far better than what it was like when we found it. Because of the spotty reaming job previously he took it through the whole gamut we use when reaming a bowl. He reamed the bowl with a PipNet Pipe reamer and took the cake back to bare briar. He cleaned up any stubborn spots on the bowl walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed out the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs until the pipe was clean. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime and grit on the briar and the slight darkening on the inwardly beveled rim top. The finish looks very good with good looking grain around the bowl and shank. Jeff scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer to remove the oxidation on the vulcanite. When the pipe arrived here in Vancouver for the second stop of its restoration tour it looked very good. I took photos before I started my part of the work. I took some photos of the inwardly beveled rim top and stem. Once Jeff removed the spotty cake in the bowl the inside and outer edge looked very good. The close up photos of the stem shows that is it very clean and there is some tooth chatter and marks on the button surface and just ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank to show what it looked like after the cleaning.I took the stem off the bowl and took a picture of the pipe. It really is a pretty little pipe with a classic Danish look to it. I was happy with the way the rim top and edges looked after Jeff had done his cleanup work so I did not need to do anymore except to polish them. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. The grain really began to stand out and the finish took on a shine by the last sanding pad. The photos tell the story! I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set aside the bowl and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with a cloth containing some Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine and buffed it off with a cotton cloth. This oval shank bent Brandy made by HAJ is a real beauty. It is a Hand Made in Denmark pipe. The shaping and carving follows the grain and highlights the mix of grains around the bowl. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition and the contrasting stains work well to highlight the stunning grain on the pipe. The polished black, oval shaped vulcanite saddle stem adds to the mix. With the grime and debris gone from the finish and the bowl it was a beauty and the grain just pops at this point. I put the stem back on the bowl and buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I carefully avoided the stamping on the shank during the process. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing it with a clean buffing pad on the buffer. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished ¼ bent Brandy shape is quite nice and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. I can only tell you that like the other pipes I am working that it is much prettier in person than the photos capture. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another interesting pipe. This pipe will be added to the Danish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store soon. If you want to add it to your collection send me an email or a message! Thanks for your time.

Replacing a Broken Tenon on a Stanwell RP Freehand

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Yesterday a fellow pipe smoker called to say he was in front of my house and had a pipe that he had dropped while on a walk and needed a replacement tenon. He put the pipe in my mail box and I picked it up and while he was on the front side walk I chatted with him from the front porch – very much observing social distancing. The pipe was a beautiful Stanwell RP Freehand. Sure enough the tenon was stuck in the shank and snapper off just ahead of the fancy turned ball on the stem. Tenon replacements on these freehand styles are some of the easiest to do. It means that the stem end is flattened and drilled out to accommodate a new tenon. He also pointed out some road rash on the left side of the bowl where the pipe had bounced off the sidewalk. While I am not taking on new work what could I say to a previous customer standing at my gate asking for help. Of course I took the pipe in and today decided to address the broken tenon. I took pictures of the pipe to show its condition before I started. I took some photos of the shank end to show the snapped tenon in the shank and the broken end on the stem. I tried to pull the tenon with some simple tricks and it was stuck in the shank. It would not budge no matter how I tried. I put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes to see if a change in temperature would loosen the tenon.I took the bowl out of the freezer and screwed a drywall screw into the airway in the tenon. It did not take much effort at all to wiggle it and pull out the broken tenon. I kept the piece of tenon so that I could match the replace tenon to the diameter of the broken tenon.Before moving on to make the new tenon I decided to address the road rash on the side of the bowl. I have circled it in red in the first photo below. For this application I used a wet cloth and heated the blade of a butter knife over the flame of my gas stove. I put the wet cloth over the damaged spot and when the knife became hot I touched it to the wet cloth. The heat generated steam from the wet cloth and began to lift the damaged spot. I knew that it would not come up totally as it was a rough area but I knew that I could improve the look. The second photo shows the area on the bowl side after the steam application. I enclosed the repaired damage with a red circle.The damage looked much better after the steaming, not perfect but better! I stained the upper portion of the bowl with an Oak stain pen to blend it into the rest of the surrounding briar. Once it was polished it would blend in very well.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips. The product works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for about ten minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. I find that it also helps to blend a newly stained area into the rest of the bowl. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to replacing the tenon. I had a threaded tenon that I had started turning down to size for another pipe that would work perfectly. It is shown in the photo below next to the broken chunk of the original tenon. I would need to use a Dremel and sanding drum to finish turning the tenon portion down to match the diameter of the broken one. I would also need to reduce the diameter of the threaded tenon end because of the size of the end of the stem.I set the tenon aside and flattened the jagged portion of the broken tenon on the stem with the Dremel and sanding drum. Once it was flat I began the process of drilling out the airway to receive the new tenon. I always start with a drill bit slightly larger than the existing airway so that I do not chip of damage the stem. I don’t want create more work! I worked my way up to a ¼ inch drill bit as it was the largest one that I could get away with drilling into the stem end without damaging the external surface.I reduced the diameter of the portion of the tenon that fit in the shank and the portion that would be anchored in the stem using a Dremel and sanding drum to rough fit it. I straightened out the edges of the insert portion with a rasp and squared up the edge so that it would seat in the stem. Once I had a good fit in the stem and the shank I used slow setting super glue to anchor the new tenon in the stem. I coated the edges of the tenon and then set it in place and aligned it so that it was straight.Once the glue had cured I cleaned up the surface of the tenon so that it was not scratched with sandpaper and so that it fit well in the shank. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads.  I wiped down the stem after each pad with a damp cloth. I polished the fancy turnings on the stem and area around the new tenon with Before & After Pipe Polish (both Fine and Extra Fine) using a cotton swab to get into the grooves and angles. When I was finished I rubbed the entire stem down with the polish and buffed it with a microfibre cloth. With that the pipe is complete. I buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond Polish and gave the entire pipe several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel and then hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe is now ready to go back to the pipe man who dropped it off Friday afternoon. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of his repaired pipe when he picks it up. Thanks for walking with me through this restoration. Cheers.