Tag Archives: stem work

A Refurb and a Replacement Stem for a Lorenzetti Galatea Apple

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Not long ago I received a phone call from an interesting woman who had been given my phone number by a local pipe and cigar shop. She had a couple of pipes that needed some stem repair. In our conversation it turned out that they belonged to her husband and he had a total of two pipes. Both of them needed work and she was determined to get them repaired for him. In our talking we spoke of the options – either repairing the stem or making a new stem. She spoke with him and they decided to repair them. A few days later her husband stopped by the house to show me the two pipes. We talked and he decided to work on one pipe at a time so that he would have one to smoke while I repaired the other one. I finished the repair on the stem of his Big Ben Nautic 252 bent apple kind of quasi brandy shaped pipe. Here is the link to the stem repair on that pipe. https://rebornpipes.com/2017/12/22/restoring-repairing-a-damaged-stem-on-a-big-ben-nautic-252/ I returned it to him and he dropped off his second pipe for a repair as well. Two days later he called and said he had already chomped through the repair on the one he took with him. Even with a rubber softee bit he had demolished the repair. So we decided on this one to replace the stem.

The second pipe is a Lorenzetti Galatea Bent apple shape. It is stamped on the left side of the shank Lorenzetti over Italy. On the right side it is stamped Galatea. There is no shape number on the bowl or shank. The end of the shank has a decorative ferrule that is silver with two silver rings and a Lucite ring. The original stem also had a silver band between the shank and the rest of the stem. Lots of bling on this Italian beauty. The stem was black acrylic. From the side view photos below the pipe looked pretty good. The finish was dirty but the pipe appeared to be in decent condition. The top view photos show what the bowl and stem looked like from the top and underside views. Like the other pipe the bowl on this one had never been reamed and there was a thick cake that was composed of aromatic tobacco. It was soft and sticky. The lava overflow on the rim top was also sticky to touch. The smell of the pipe was a sickly sweet and sour smell of a pipe that had never seen a pipe cleaner and never had been cleaned. Once again he had gnawed the stem and had broken the top edge and a bit of the stem in front of the button. It was a mess. The underside had deep tooth marks and was also damaged. The poor pipe was a mess but he obviously smoked it as much as he did the first one. Now I had a task – clean and replace the stem on this one so that I could put a new stem on the first one. I had a mission. I took photos of the pipe before I cleaned it up. I took a close up photo of the bowl and rim to show the thickness and composition of the cake and the thick overflow of lava on the rim top. It looked to me that there was some damage to the inner edge and bevel of the rim on the right side of the bowl toward the back. I would know more once I reamed the cake back and could see what was underneath. It was not in nearly the condition of the Big Ben that finished for him early. I also took some photos of the stem damage so that you could see what I was up against. The sad thing to me was that this second pipe had exactly the same damage to the stem and the bowl looked identical as well.I reamed the bowl back to bare briar with a PipNet pipe reamer. I started reaming it with the smallest cutting head and worked my way up to the second cutting head which matched the diameter of the bowl. I touched up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife.The rim was in rough condition. There was gouging around the inner edge of the bowl cause by a knife and there was some charring in that area as well. The rest of the rim was in rough condition and appeared to have been knocked about a bit. It would need to be topped and reworked.I topped the bowl on a hard board with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove much of the surface damage to the rim top. The second photo below shows the top of the rim after the topping. You can see the charred area in that photo as well.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to re-bevel the inner edge of the rim and smooth out the damaged areas on the right inner edge. I blended that area into the rest of the beveled rim. Once it was shaped correctly I wiped it down and polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-6000 grit pads. I restained the top and inner edge of the rim with a dark brown stain pen. The colour blended well with the rest of the bowl.I had enough of the smell of the pipe permeating the workspace so I decided to rid it of the smell filled my work area. I used pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to clean out the interior of mortise and the airway in the shank. I used a dental spatula to scrape the walls of the mortise area. It took a lot of pipe cleaners to remove all of the buildup but once it was clean the pipe smelled better and it would be more pleasant for me to work on.With internals clean I turned my attention to the outside of the briar. I rubbed the bowl and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a soft cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a rich shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. With the bowl finished I set it aside and went through my can of stems to find one that would work well with the pipe. I had two that could work – one was a vulcanite stem that had promise and looked good on the shank. It was the same length but slightly smaller in diameter than the original stem. The other stem was Lucite/acrylic. It was the same diameter as the previous stem and about 1/8 inch shorter. It also looked good with the pipe. Neither stem had the metal adornment on the end. I had nothing like that in my available stems. I chose the acrylic stem as it as harder than the vulcanite and I believe it will outlast the vulcanite stem with this particular pipe man. The tenon was slightly shorter but the shank was wide open with a deep mortise that was designed for a filter. I figured the length of the tenon did not matter in this case. I bent the stem over a heat gun to match the original stem. I sanded out the nicks and marks on the stem surface. The second and third photos below show the stem after the bend. I continued to sand out the nicks and scratches with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the stem surface. There were a lot of rough places on the stem and the tenon that needed to be smoothed out and blended into the surface.I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the acrylic on both sides of the stem and the button surface itself with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped down the stem after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding dust. I used a series of needle files to open the stem and funnel the airflow. After that I buffed the stem on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond to polish out the final scratches in the acrylic. I put the stem on the bowl and worked the pipe bowl over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to polish the bowl and stem. I hand buffed the stem to raise the gloss on the stem and polished the metal stem adornment with a silver polishing cloth. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The medium brown stains on the smooth finish of the apple shaped bowl works well with the rich black of the Lucite stem. The new stem and the polishing revealed a beautiful piece of briar and a well-shaped pipe. Thanks for looking.

Restoring a Jobey Gourd Calabash with a Briar Shank Extension

4 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

My brother Jeff has really gotten good at finding Gourd Calabash pipes on his recent “treasure” hunts. He picked up this batch recently. I posted about the large calabash in the middle of the right hand column recently and it is available on the rebornpipes store. It is by far the largest of the five calabash pipes that he found. The one I have chosen to work on it the one on the left side at the bottom circled in red. It is a unique looking Calabash to me in that it is a well bent and shaped gourd with a briar shank extension on the end of the gourd. It bears the Jobey brass oval logo on the side of the briar extension. When I first looked at it I wondered if it had the Jobey system tenon that I have come to expect on the Jobeys that I have in my own collection and the ones that I have worked on. However, this was not the case on this or the other two Jobey Gourd Calabashes in the bunch. All of them have the mortise drilled in the briar extension and is made for a push stem. I have never seen Jobey Gourd Calabashes before and frankly had no idea that the company even made them.Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he did his cleanup work on it. The photos below show it in the condition he found it in on one of his hunts. The gourd was dull looking and generally dirty. It had spots of sticky label material on the sides of the bowl. The briar shank extension was also dull and lifeless looking and there was a gummy substance in the brass logo on the shank extension. The meerschaum bowl was quite unique it is light weight and appeared to be block meerschaum but I am not certain as it had flecks of colour shot throughout the entirety of the bowl. There was a thick cake in the bowl and the rim had a coat of lava that went almost all the way around the inner edge of the chamber onto the rim top. The stem was oxidized and dirty. There were tooth marks and tooth chatter on both sides of the stem at the button.  The next two photos give a clear picture of the sticky label glue on the gourd and the dirty condition of the gourd. It also shows the flecks of colour throughout the meerschaum cup. The colour in the meerschaum matches the colour of the gourd. The next photo shows the condition of the meerschaum cup. The rim top of the meer had scratches in the surface and a heavy overflow of tars on the top of the rim. There is also darkening around the inner edge of the bowl and a thick cake in the bowl itself. It was hard to know if there was damage to the rim but once it was clean that would be clear. The two pictures following that show the condition of the inside of the bowl and the tars and oils on the walls of the gourd. The underside of the meerschaum cup is in good condition. There is some darkening on the underside of the bowl. There were some tars and oils spotted on the underside of the bowl. The cork gasket on the inside edges of the gourd was in good condition but dried out. It needed some grease to liven it up. The briar shank extension is dried out and has water spots. The next photo shows the brass Jobey oval insert inset in the left side of the briar shank extension. There is grime and a gummy substance in the lettering and around the edges of the insert. The briar was dirty and in need of a deep cleaning.The stem had light oxidation and tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It also had the same price tag glue on the top and underside of the stem.I did some digging to see if I could find out about the connection between the calabash maker and Jobey. I found a bit of history of the brand on the Pipedia website at the following link. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Jobey . The section I am quoting is entitled Possible Jobey Origin. I quote it in its entirety.

Possible Jobey Origin

…the origins of this company seem to be shrouded in mystery, and most people claim that the origins were in England, followed by American production, and then a later move to St. Claude. There is another possible origin for the company, however, and it would suggest that Jobey was in Brooklyn, New York long before the 1969 patent of the Jobey “link”.

There’s not a lot of chatter about it, but if you can lay your hands on a copy of “The Tobacco World”, Volume 61, from 1941, there is a brief mention that reads “Norwalk Pipe Expands” and in the body states that Norwalk Pipe Corporation, “manufacturers of Jobey and Shellmoor pipes”, is moving to larger offices at 218 East Twenty-Sixth Street, NYC, as announced by Louis Jobey, president of that company. Norwalk is listed as one of the alternate distributors for Jobey on this page but apparently Louis Jobey was also actually working there at the time.

Before that, the first mention of Jobey seems to be back in 1915, when two brothers named Ulysses and Louis Jobey of Brooklyn, New York obtained a patent for an odd sort of cavalierish pipe in 1915, here’s the link: http://www.google.com/patents/USD46998

But less than four years later, in 1918, there’s a notice in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on November 6th to the effect that Louis Jobey declared bankruptcy in the District Court, with final hearing scheduled for December 1918. And in an even sadder turn, that same month sees a funeral notice for Lorraine Jobey, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Jobey, formerly of Brooklyn but now living in Moline Illinois at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Hutchinson. The little girl evidently died in a fall.

There’s little else on Ulysses Jobey except that he evidently had a “junior” after his name or a son by the same name. Because Ulysses Jobey, Jr. was listed as the vice president in New Jersey of Lakewood Pipe Company Inc., a maker of smoker’s articles, in the 1922 New York Co-partnership and Corporation Directory for Brooklyn. Given the timing it’s likely this was the brother.

So while it is speculative, one possible origin story for Jobey is that the company was started by two brothers in Brooklyn in the teens with a new idea for a pipe, and failed amidst terrible tragedy. One brother went to one company and another to the other, but it was Louis who continued making Jobey pipes through the 40s under that name, despite evidently no longer owning the company. It would appear to be the Norwalk Company that was bought out by Wally Frank in the pre-link days. This would suggest that Jobey was always American.

From this I surmise that the Gourd calabash pipes were probably made by the Wally Frank Company or at least for them. I don’t know the dates of the manufacture of the pipes but my guess is that it is in the 60s.

Jeff did a thorough cleanup on the meerschaum bowl, the inside of the gourd and the stem. He carefully scraped the cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the meerschaum cup and the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust ground into the gourd. He was able to remove all of the lava and overflow from the top of the meerschaum bowl and left it looking very clean. Once he had removed the lava on the rim top and inner edge they were cleaner than I expected. The scratches in the meerschaum were quite shallow and would be easy to polish out. He cleaned internals of the stem with alcohol. When it arrived I took some photos of it to show how it looked before I did the restoration. I took the bowl off the gourd to have a look at the inside of the pipe. The gourd was very clean. The cork gasket was dry but that could be remedied easily enough. The mottle appearance of the meerschaum bowl can also be seen in the photos.The stem had cleaned up nicely with relatively little oxidation. The tooth marks on the top and underside along with the chatter were still present.The wooden shank extension (which looks like briar to me) is very clean and ready for polishing. I used some Vaseline petroleum jelly to lubricate the cork gasket and soften it. I have done this for years and I really like the effect of the jelly on the cork. I used 1500 grit micromesh sanded off the spots along the surface of the meerschaum cup where it sat against the cork and the top of the gourd to ensure a smooth fit.I used my fingers to rub the gourd and briar extension down with Before & After Restoration Balm to bring life to both and to remove any residual dust or dirt in the surface of the calabash. I wiped it off with a cotton cloth and buffed it with a shoe brush. The next few photos show the gourd at this point in the process. I polished the rim top, inner edge and underside of the meerschaum bowl with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the surface of the cup down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. When I finished sanding with the last pad I wiped it down again and set it aside. I checked the pliability of the cork gasket, rubbed a little more Vaseline into it and put the bowl back on the gourd. The fit of the cup against the gasket was snug but not hard to insert. It was perfect. The pipe was beginning to look finished. The shine on the gourd and the rim looked good. The briar extension had its own shine as well. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button. I also found as I examined the underside that there was a strange rippling to the vulcanite almost like it had some heat damage. I sanded that area to clean up the ripples and smooth them out.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12000 grit pads. I rubbed the stem down with Obsidian Oil between each sanding pad. After using the 12000 grit pad I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to give a deep and rich shine. Normally at this point I put the stem back on the bowl and take the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. This time I took the parts to the buffing wheel. I gently buffed the meerschaum cup and rim with Blue Diamond to polish the meer. I carefully buffed the gourd base and briar shank extension with Blue Diamond being cautious about the pressure I put on the gourd. I buffed the stem with Blue Diamond to raise the gloss on the vulcanite. I took the pipe back to the work table and gave the gourd multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I gave the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the parts of the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. This one is already spoken for and I think that the pipeman that it is going out to will really enjoy the unique look of his new pipe. Thanks for looking.

 

The Restoration of a Savinelli Alligator 207 Apple

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

If you read the previous blog on the Bari Special Handcut pipe you have also read that for the past month or more I have been carrying on an online conversation with a Colonel in the Indian Military about his own pipe refurbishing and repair work. In the process of talking through a variety of the processes of pipe restoration he asked if I would be willing to work on a few of his pipes that had chipped or broken stems. We decided to look into what it would take to ship them to Canada from India. It seemed like a pretty daunting task but nonetheless he has some pipes in transit to me in Vancouver. In the meantime he wrote and said he had picked up a Bari and a Savinelli Alligator pipe and had the EBay seller send them directly to me in Canada so I could refurbish them for him and add them to the box of other pipes I would be sending back to him. I agreed and this week the pipes arrived.

Once I finished the Bari I worked the Savinelli Alligator apple shaped pipe. I have never been attracted to the alligator finish as it just did not work for me. This one however had some very nice looking grain underneath the rustication and in the smooth portions of the finish. The finish was dirty with dirt, grime and oils in the finish and rim edge. It looks good underneath that grime. The bowl has been reamed but a bit poorly. There is some scraping to the inner edge that has affected the roundness of the bowl on the left side and rear edges of the bowl. It is a filter pipe made for the Savinelli triangular Balsa filter that fits in the stem and extends partially into the shank. These are one of the better filters but should be either flushed out with alcohol or replaced often. The seller put a new filter in place in the stem. The stem fit well in the shank but looking down the shank it is dirty and covered with oils and tar. The stem is oxidized (though not as bad as the Bari was). It had some small tooth marks and chatter on the stem near the button. The stem logo is very faint and may not show up well once the stem is cleaned up. I took photos of the pipe to record the condition it was in when it arrived here in Vancouver. It gives me a benchmark to measure the finished pipe against as well. I took a close up photo of the rim top and bowl. The bowl had a thick cake in it all the way down to the heel. The rim top has some light lava overflow but it is not too bad. There is damage on the left side and back inner edge of the bowl that can be seen in the first photo below. The stamping on the underside of the pipe is quite readable through the grime. It reads Alligator and next to that is the Savinelli S Shield logo followed by the shape number 207 over Italy. Next to that it reads Savinelli Product. There is a brass separator on the stem that adds a touch of class to the shank/stem union.I took photos of the stem condition as well. You can see it is oxidized but not in bad condition. The light tooth marks on both sides are barely visible in the photos below. There is a very faint alligator stamp on the left side of the stem in an oval. It is faint enough that I am concerned that there is not enough depth to recolour it but time will tell.I dropped the badly oxidized stem in a bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to soak away the oxidation. In this case the oxidation was quite thick and the stamping on the left side was so shallow that I did not want to do a lot of sanding. The deoxidizer could do its work. I put the lid on the airtight container and left the stem to soak overnight.I turned my attention to the bowl and the cleanup that was awaiting me there. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the second cutting head to work away the heavy cake. I worked at it very slowly so as to keep the blade from creating further damage to the roundness of the bowl. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife taking it to almost bare briar and smoothing things out. I used a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge and the damage to the top of the rim on the left and back edge of the bowl and down into the bowl about an inch. With the bowl reamed it was time to clean out the internals of the bowl and shank. I used 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the accumulated tars and grime in the shank and airway. I folded the used pipe cleaners and swabbed out the walls of the bowl with them. I scraped out the walls of the mortise using a small pen knife blade to remove the buildup on the walls and give the interior a clean smell and feel.I wiped the exterior of the bowl with a damp cloth and then scrubbed it with the Before & After Restoration Balm. I was sure that it would work well on the alligator pattern and the dirty condition of the finish on this pipe. I worked it into the grooves of the rustication with my fingers, rubbing it deep into the grooves. I used a shoe brush to further work it into the finish. I touched up the repaired rim top and edges with a dark brown stain pen and blended the colour into the rest of the stain on the bowl. I buffed the bowl with a shoe brush to further blend the stain on the rim. At this point the rim was looking far better. I buffed the bowl on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond using a light touch. The photos below show the bowl after the buffing. It is really starting to look good at this point. Once the stem is done I will buff it a bit more and give it several coats of wax but for now it is finished and I am calling it a night. I took the stem out of the bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and wiped it down with a paper towel to remove the excess deoxidizer. I ran pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway to clean out the buildup inside. The stem was very clean and the oxidation was gone. The tooth marks in the surface of the stem on both sides near the button were even less visible.I used some European God Rub’n Buff to touch up the very faint logo on the left side of the stem. It helped a bit but it is pretty shallow so I am not sure it will last too long.I sanded the pipe lightly around the button to remove the tooth marks using 220 grit sandpaper. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. At this point I was not happy with the remaining oxidation that showed up under the flash of the camera so I went back to the drawing board and reworked it with the sanding pads. Once I finished reworking the oxidation, I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I gently buffed the rusticated bowl with Blue Diamond to polish the briar. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the faint stamping on the stem. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am hoping that the fellow I am restoring it for enjoys the second of his “new pipes”. For now he will have to enjoy it by looking at the photos but soon it will wing its way back to India. Thanks for looking.

The Resurrection of a Bari Special Handcut 848 Pinched Stem

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

For the past month or more I have been carrying on an online conversation with a Colonel in the Indian Military about his own pipe refurbishing and repair work. In the process of talking through a variety of the processes of pipe restoration he asked if I would be willing to work on a few of his pipes that had chipped or broken stems. We decided to look into what it would take to ship them to Canada from India. It seemed like a pretty daunting task but nonetheless he has some pipes in transit to me in Vancouver. In the meantime he wrote and said he had picked up a Bari and a Savinelli Alligator pipe and had the Ebay seller send them directly to me in Canada so I could refurbish them for him and add them to the box of other pipes I would be sending back to him. I agreed and this week the pipes arrived.

The first one that I decided to work on was a Bari Special Handmade, a really delicate and interesting looking pipe. The bowl has a pretty thick cake but otherwise looks sound. The finish and the rim are very dirty with dust and grime from years of use and then sitting unused. The finish is an interesting wire rustication that follows the angles of the bowl and looks good under the grime. The interior of the mortise and shank are very dirty and the stem does not fit the shank well – very tight because of the tars. In fact it will not seat all the way in the mortise at this point. The style of the stem is one I have seen on Bari pipes before – a pinched stem is how it has been described. You can see why when looking at it from the top or bottom view. The stem is very oxidized and also has some deep tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button. It is a very delicate stem. There is something about the pipe that assures me that it will look very good when it is finished. I took photos of the pipe to record the condition it was in when it arrived here in Vancouver. It gives me a benchmark to measure the finished pipe against as well. I took a close up photo of the rim top and bowl. The bowl had a thick cake in it all the way down to the heel. It was thick enough that I could not get my little finger into the bowl. It is a narrow conical bowl anyway but the cake is very thick and hard. The rim top has some lava overflow but it is not too bad. The stamping on the underside of the pipe is quite readable through the grime. It reads Bari over Special over Handcut. Next to the shank/stem junction the shape number 848 is also readable. Both are stamped in a smooth unrusticated band on the underside of the shank.I took photos of the stem condition as well. You can see why it is called a pinched stem from the photos. It is oxidized and very delicate. The tooth marks on both sides are visible in the photos below. You can see the ones on the underside as they are worse. There is a number 10 stamped on the underside of the saddle portion of the stem. My guess is that it is a replacement stem number should one be required by a repairman back when the pipe was made.I dropped the badly oxidized stem in a bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to soak away the oxidation. In this case the oxidation was quite thick and the stem was delicate so I did not want to do a lot of sanding so the deoxidizer could do its work. I put the lid on the airtight container and left the stem to soak overnight.I turned my attention to the bowl and the cleanup that was awaiting me there. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer using the smallest cutting head to work away the heavy cake. I worked at it very slowly so as to keep the blade from ruining the roundness of the bowl and to keep from splitting or damaging the delicate bowl. I finished up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife taking the cake back to bare briar and smoothing things out. I used a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper to work on the inner edge of the rim and smooth out that edge of the bowl and down into the bowl about an inch. With the bowl reamed it was time to clean out the internals of the bowl and shank. I used 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners to remove the accumulated tars and grime in the shank and airway. I folded the used pipe cleaners and swabbed out the walls of the bowl with them. I scraped out the walls of the mortise using a small pen knife blade to remove the buildup on the walls that kept the stem from seating.I wiped the exterior of the bowl with a damp cloth and then scrubbed it with the Before & After Restoration Balm. I wanted to see how well it would work with the wire rustication pattern and the dirty condition of the finish on this pipe. I worked it into the grooves of the rustication with my fingers, rubbing it deep into the grooves. I used a shoe brush to further work it into the finish. I wiped it off with a clean cloth and buffed it on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond using a light touch. The photos below show the bowl after the complete treatment I described. It is looking really good at this point. Once the stem is done I will buff it a bit more and give it several coats of wax but for now it is finished and I am calling it a night. I took the stem out of the bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer and wiped it down with a paper towel to remove the excess deoxidizer. I ran pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway to clean out the buildup inside. The stem was very clean and the oxidation was gone. The tooth marks in the surface of the stem on both sides near the button were visible.I painted the tooth marks with a Bic Lighter flame to lift the vulcanite. One of the beauties of vulcanite is its “memory”. When heated the dents will come back to the surface. In this case the tooth dents on the top of the stem came up almost even. The ones on the underside were greatly reduced but still present (first two photos below). I sanded out the tooth marks and was able to blend the majority into the surface of the stem (third and fourth photo below). Those that remained I filled in with clear super glue (fifth and sixth photo) and after the repairs dried sanded them smooth to blend (seventh and eighth photo). The photos below tell the story. I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I gently buffed the rusticated bowl with Blue Diamond to polish the briar. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working on the delicate stem. It would be very easy to break it at the pinched area. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I am hoping that the fellow I am restoring it for enjoys this beauty. For now he will have to enjoy it by looking at the photos but soon it will wing its way back to India. Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

New Life for a Pioneer Meerschaum Lined Square Shanked Apple 250

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

There seems to be a first time for everything and today I am working on my first meerschaum lined Pioneer pipe. I have had Pioneer Gourd Calabash pipes that have crossed my table with the meerschaum cup and gourd base. They cleaned up nicely and were good smokers. It is a nice sandblasted piece of briar with a well fit block meerschaum bowl insert. The pipe is a square shanked apple. The worst part of the pipe is the poorly fitted saddle stem that does not seem to line up particularly well. The beauty of the deep and rugged sandblast cover that and take the eye off the stem and focus it on the swirling grain highlighted by the sandblast. Jeff took photos of the pipe to show its general condition before he did his cleanup.The stem has some tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. It is oxidized and very dirty. The grooves of the sandblast are filled in with a lot of dust and debris that hide the real beauty of the finish. The bowl has a thick cake with a heavy overflow of lava on the rim top particularly at the back half of the bowl. The meerschaum bowl insert looks to be intact with no breaks or chips but the cleanup will reveal the truth in that area.The close up photo reveals the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top. It is a bit of a mess. Fortunately no one has tried to scrape away the char or the cake and damaged the bowl lining.The next three photos give a clear idea of the beauty of the deep sandblast. The bottom of the bowl and the sides really are quite stunning. The deep lines of the blast reveal the grain on the piece of briar. I am looking forward to seeing what the bowl looks like once it is cleaned and restored. The underside of the bowl is stamped as shown in the photo below – Genuine Block Meerschaum. On the underside of the shank it is stamped Pioneer and the shape number 250. The curled P logo on the stem proved that the stem was an original Pioneer stem. I did a bit of digging to find out more about the Pioneer Pipe Company as my memory of that was a bit foggy. Reading on Pipedia I found that it had been owned by Wally Frank, who trademarked the name Pioneer in 1940. At the time of the application the name was alleged to have been used in commerce in 1925. The company listed its location at 1817 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Pioneer sold Turkish and later African meerschaum through the Wally Frank, Ltd. Catalogs and elsewhere. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer. The link also included a cover page from a Pioneer Catalogue. I have included that here.I also went to one of my favourite sites; Chris Keene’s Pipe Pages and did some looking at the catalogues he has scanned there. I found a few pages that I have included below. The first is the story of Pioneer Meerschaums. I found it an interesting read but it did not give the link to Wally Frank. The index at the bottom of the included page took me to the inside of the back cover of the catalogue. It shows the meerschaum lined pipes that were available through Pioneer. The shape I have is an apple. There is no reference to a sandblast line or to the shape number 250. It leads me to wonder who made this pipe for Wally Franks Pioneer Company. The link that follows shows the full catalogue. http://pipepages.com/1pioneer2.html I did some more hunting on the PipePhil logo site (reference below) and found confirmation of the address linking the brand to the Wally Frank information above. What it added to the information is that they not only manufactured meerlined pipe but also distributed them. I quote in full: “Pioneer Pipes Co., a Meerschaum and Meerschaum lined pipes manufacturer and distributor. Address (about 1960): 1817 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn 27, N.Y. Pioneer also used to import meerschaum pipes from the MANXMAN PIPES Ltd factory (Isle of Man, UK) as shown by the markings of this pipe. (See “Man”) Wilczak & Colwell, Who Made that Pipe, mention pipes with this label from Duncan Briars Ltd, Oppenheimer Pipes or Delacour Brothers.” http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-p3.html. I have also included a screen capture of the stamping on the Pioneer pipe shown in the list. It is a similar shape and sandblast to the one I am working on. The difference is the round shank on this apple rather than the square shank on the one I am restoring. The stamping is the same on both pipes.Jeff did his usual thorough cleanup on the bowl and stem. He carefully reamed the bowl back to clean, smooth meerschaum with a Savinelli Fitsall reamer. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipes with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust in the smooth finish on the briar. He was able to remove all of the lava and grime from the rim top and left it looking very clean. The inner and outer edges of the rim top were in good shape. He soaked the stem in an Oxyclean bath to raise the oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. When the pipe arrived I took some photos to show how it looked before I did the restoration. Jeff was able to remove the lava buildup on the rim top and clean away most of the darkening to meerschaum lining. There was still some darkening on the beveled edge of the rim that would probably come off with some work. The stem was deeply oxidized and had tooth chatter and marks on both sides of the stem near the button.I put the stem to soak in a bath of Before & After Stem Deoxidizer for a while to let it do its work on the oxidation. The stem pictured below is a second stem that was in the bath at the same time.When I took the stem out of the bath it was much cleaner. I wiped it down with a paper towel and pushed pipe cleaners and alcohol through the airway to remove the product from the interior of the stem. The aluminum inner tube was also clean and showed some cracking at different points along its length. It would need to be removed if possible. It was also collapsed on the tapered end of the tube.I sanded the stem surface with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and marks on the surface near the button. I checked out the inner tube and found that the cracks in the aluminum were deep and the tube would need to be removed. As I worked on removing it the tube broke. I was unable to remove it from the tenon as it had been glued in place. I found that there were two deeper tooth marks on the top side that needed to be repaired. I used some small drops of clear super glue to repair the marks. When the glue dried I sanded them smooth to blend into the surface of the stem. I touched up the gold colour in the stamped P on the left side of the saddle stem using Rub’n Buff European Gold. I used a tooth pick to push the product into the stamping. I let it dry for a short time. I wiped down the excess material to show the touched up stem.I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I polished it with Before & After Stem Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the darkened area remaining on the top of the bowl. I sanded the bevel to remove the damage from the rim top. The photos below show the cleaned rim.I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the nooks and crannies of the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers to get it deep into the grooves. I let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth and buffed it with a horsehair shoe brush. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I gently buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond to polish the briar. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the repaired P logo on the left side of the stem top. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 5 1/2 inches, Height: 1 3/4 inches, Outer Diameter of the Bowl: 1 1/2 inches, Diameter of the Chamber: 3/4 inches. I will be adding this one to the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. It is an interesting piece of Pioneer/Wally Frank history and is a comfortable shape in my opinion. It will make a fine meerschaum lined pipe addition to the rack. If you are interested email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

 

A Unique Estate Find – A Kaywoodie Matched Grain 7 Day Set

6 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Just a warning up front – this is one of the longest blogs I have posted on rebornpipes. I made a decision to post the work on each pipe in the Matched Grain Seven Day set of Kaywoodies in the same blog. They were brought into this world together, kept together for at least 60+ years and I figured it only right to keep them together in the restoration. If you can’t wade through all the details you can scroll through each section and look at the finished pipes individually. Thanks for your patience. Enjoy the read.

Jeff sent me some links to a Matched Grain 7 Day Set of Kaywoodies he had found listed at an estate auction. He wanted to know what I thought. I was pretty excited to hear that he had found such a set as I had heard of them but never seen one. I had heard of the high quality of the pipes and the idea of a matched set of seven pipes was intriguing to me. This set was available and there were several other bidders on the sale. He ended up winning the auction and got the set at what turns out to be a decent price for the quality of pipes that it contained.

The seven pipes were stamped on the left side of the shank with Matched Grain over Kaywoodie and on the right side of the shank with Imported Briar and below that with the shape number for each pipe. The numbers included were: 80B, 67, 53, 59, 11, 13 and 14. The two digit shape number on each pipe helps to narrow down the dates to the time period between 1939-1953. Looking at Pipedia’s article on Kaywoodies there is a dating list by shape. Here is the link to the article: https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaywoodie_Shape_Numbers

Using that link I was able to match the shape numbers to the shape of each pipe in the seven day case that my brother found.

80B is a medium sized Apple with a long stem. The shape was made between 1938-1970.

67 is a small billiard with a long shank and a short stem. I would call the shape a Lumberman. The shape was made between 1927-1928, and again between 1935-1970.

53 is a medium square bulldog (diamond shank) with a taper stem. This shape was made between 1932-1972.

59 is called a Boswell (Chubb billiard) that was made between 1936-1937. It could also be a 59 and come from a later manufacture date and it is called a Chubb billiard. That rendition was made between 1947-1955.

11 is a large billiard and was made between 1935-1972.

13 is an extra large Dublin and was made between 1927-1972.

14 is a full bent medium billiard with a taper stem and was made between 1927-1972.

Jeff took photos of the set when he brought it home from the auction. His photos enabled me to see the set as he saw it – from the closed floral pattern fabric covered case to the embossed lettering on the satin lining on the inside of the lid on the left side of the case to the photos of the pipes inside in molded positions on the right side of the opened case. The embossed lettering on the cover read: “Matched Grain Kaywoodies”  and under that it read “Kaywoodie Company” over “New York – London”. It was really a beautiful set of pipes. All of them had been smoked but were in good condition. There was lava build up on the obvious favourite shapes but the finish on each and the stems were in excellent condition. They would clean up very well. I have decided to post all of the pipes in the same blog for reference sake. This will be a long blog by necessity of covering all of the pipes. Thanks for your patience. While I waited for the set to arrive in Vancouver I did some more research on the brand. I read the entry on Pipephil’s site and got more information on the composure of the Matched Grain sets that Kaywoodie put together (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/kaywoodie-matchedgrain-7.html). I also looked on Google to see if I could find any magazine advertising or other information on the sets. I did find a vintage advertisement in a Sunday paper from 1937 that included similar pipes to the ones in the set we picked up at the sale. The Google link follows:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=kj8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=Kaywoodie%207%20day%20sets&source=bl&ots=OmZO3t6SuA&sig=Wmi8KP7FfJaxGj5qnPsCYALJXJo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt3Me9-fjXAhUX3mMKHY0uAdM4ChDoAQg5MAQ#v=onepage&q=Kaywoodie%207%20day%20sets&f=false

I also found the same advertisement on a blog. The Google photo was  much clearer so I am including that photo here. The link to the blog is: http://blogonomicon.blogspot.ca/2008/01/sunday-vintage-pipe-ad-1937-kaywoodie-7.html.

The writer of the blog included some interesting comments on the set and I have included them in full below:

The “seven-day matched set” is, I think, the absolute pinnacle of pipe collecting. It is very difficult to create, and therefore much more expensive than simply the cost of all the pipes added together.

The briar must be carefully selected for matching grain, color and texture. As always, in the process of carving a pipe, some flaws will be found that necessitates discarding the burl and starting over again with yet another carefully-selected burl that matches all the other burls.

The “seven-day set” concept came from the idea of having a set of matching pipes, with one for each day of the week, so you could smoke one per day and be able to give it an entire week to rest before smoking it again. In reality, seven-day sets are far too rare and valuable to smoke. Unless you really want to completely destroy any collectible value, of course.

This set sold for $100 in 1937. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than $1,400 today. Of course Kaywoodie was not the only one to create seven-day sets. Other pipe makers who are known for more expensive pipes have created sets that sold for much more than that.

Shapes, from top: acorn, Liverpool, Dublin, apple, bulldog (with a saddle bit), another Dublin, and lastly a simple bent billiard. You may dispute me on the names of the top two. The first one looks more acorn-ish than apple-ish to me. Number two looks to me like it has a round shank, which would make it a Liverpool instead of a Canadian.Jeff took photos of each pipe before he did any cleaning work on them. Pay attention to the grain on each pipe. It is remarkable how closely they matched each other.

The first pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 80B. Kaywoodie designated it as a medium sized Apple with a long stem. The shape was made between 1938-1970. The finish was in great condition with dust and some grime on the exterior of the bowl. The bowl had been lightly smoked and there was some darkening around the rim top. There was no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the bottom of the bowl was lightly scratched and dirty. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 80B.The stem shows some oxidation and scratch marks in the vulcanite. There was also some light tooth chatter near the button on both sides.The second pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 67. Kaywoodie designated it as a small billiard with a long shank and a short stem. I would call the shape a Liverpool. The shape was made between 1927-1928, and again between 1935-1970. The finish was in great condition with dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl. The bowl on this one was also lightly smoked and there was some darkening around the rim top. There was a light cake in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. This pipe had the most damage. The metal fitment in the shank end was scarred and damaged with what looked like marks from a pair of pliers. This made me wonder what the stinger looked like. The finish on the underside of the bowl looked good. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 67.The next two photos show the damage to the metal fitment in the shank/mortise of the pipe. There were a lot of scars on the metal from what appeared to be someone trying to remove it from the shank.The stem was scratched and lightly oxidized with tooth chatter on the top and underside near the button.The third pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 53. Kaywoodie designated it as a medium square bulldog though I would say that the shank is a diamond shape as is the stem. The shape was made between 1932-1972. The finish on this one was in excellent condition with a little dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl. The bowl on this one was also lightly smoked and there was some darkening around the rim top. There was a light cake in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the underside of the bowl looked good. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 53.Like the other pipes in the set that I have shown above the Kaywoodie Club logo is black and inset in a white circle. In all the pipes it is in excellent condition. The stem is scratched and lightly oxidized. There is some light tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.The fourth pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 59. Kaywoodie designated it as a Boswell shape or a Chubb Billiard. The shape was made between 1936-1937. There was a later edition of the shape 59 pipe that was called a Chubb billiard that was made between 1947-1955. I am pretty certain that the one I am working on is from the earlier time period. The finish on this one was also in excellent condition with a little dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl. The bowl was lightly smoked as were the previous pipes. There was some darkening around the rim top. There was a light cake and some fragments of tobacco in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the underside of the bowl looked good. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. Like the other pipes in the set that I have shown above the Kaywoodie Club logo is black and inset in a white circle. It was in excellent condition. The stem is scratched and lightly oxidized. There is some light tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.The fifth pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 11. Kaywoodie designated it as a large billiard. The shape was made between 1935-1972. The finish was in excellent condition with the same dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl as the rest of the set. The bowl was lightly smoked as were the previous pipes. There was some darkening around the rim top. There was a light cake and some fragments of tobacco in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the underside of the bowl looked good. The stem was oxidized and had some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 11.Like the rest of the pipes in the set that I have shown so far, the Kaywoodie Club logo is black and inset in a white circle. It was in excellent condition. The stem is scratched and lightly oxidized. There is some light tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.The sixth pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 13. Kaywoodie designated it as an Extra Large Dublin. The shape was made between 1927-1972. The finish was in excellent condition with the same dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl as the rest of the set. The bowl was lightly smoked as were the previous pipes. There was some darkening around the rim top. There was a light cake in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the underside of the bowl looked good. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 13.Like the rest of the pipes in the set that I have shown so far, the Kaywoodie Club logo is black and inset in a white circle. It was in excellent condition. The stem is scratched and lightly oxidized. There is some light tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.The seventh and final pipe in the set was marked with the shape number 14. Kaywoodie designated it as a Full Bent Medium Billiard with a Taper stem. The shape was made between 1927-1972. The finish was in excellent condition with the same dust and grime on the exterior of the bowl as the rest of the set. The bowl was lightly smoked as were the previous pipes. There was less darkening around the rim top than on the other pipes in the set. There was a light cake in the bowl but no thick buildup of tars or carbon on the bowl or rim. The finish on the underside of the bowl was in good condition as well. The stamping on the pipe was very clean and readable. The first photo shows the left side of the shank reading Matched Grain over Kaywoodie. While the second photo shows the stamping on the right side reading Imported Briar and the shape number 14.The stem on the final pipe in the set showed the same Kaywoodie Club logo is black and inset in a white circle. It too was in excellent condition. The stem was scratched and lightly oxidized. There is some light tooth chatter on both sides of the stem near the button.Jeff did a thorough cleanup on each of the bowls and stems in the set. He reamed each bowl back to bare briar with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall reamer. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipes with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust in the smooth finish on the briar. He was able to remove all of the grime from the rim tops and left them looking very clean. The rim tops and outer edges were very clean and the inner and outer edges were in good shape. He soaked each stem in an Oxyclean bath to raise the oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. When the set arrived I took some photos of each pipe to show how each one looked before I did the restoration. I worked through the pipes in the order they were in the case.

The first pipe I worked on was marked with the shape number 80B. It was what Kaywoodie designated as a medium sized Apple with a long stem. Jeff’s work on it had left the finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem. What remained was still lightly oxidized and there was some visible tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. The rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. The topside of the stem was more oxidized than the underside but both had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived. Since the oxidation was quite minimal I decided to work over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I am revisiting the Before & After Pipe Stem polishes on this set of pipes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished first pipe of the matched grain set is shown in the photos below.   The second pipe I worked on was marked with the shape number 67. Kaywoodie designated it as a small billiard with a long shank and a short stem but to me the pipe is a Liverpool. I was anxious to start working on the pipe so I completely forgot to take photos of it before I started my restoration. It was in similar condition to the first pipe and the rim and bowl were very clean. The stem had light oxidation but it was not an issue. Since the damage to the pipe was on the metal fitment in the shank end. It was scarred and damaged with marks from a pair of pliers. When I removed the stem I found that the threaded metal tenon was stuck in the metal fitment. When I unscrewed the stem the fitment came out of the shank. The shank end was marked the same way as the fitment and would take some work. The next two photos show the damage around the edge of the fitment and the fact that the end of the stinger had been clipped off. The stinger and threaded tenon was stuck in the metal fitment. The corrosion had caused it to be welded together. I could not budge it no matter how much heat I applied to it or how much alcohol I scrubbed it with. I decided to put it in an alcohol bath to let it soak. I came back to it after several hours and I was able to hold the tenon with pliers and unscrew the fitment from the tenon. The photo below shows the corrosion and buildup that held the two parts together. I went through my jar of stingers and found a Drinkless stinger that matched all of the other stingers in the Matched Grain set. I cleaned it up with 0000 steel wool to remove all of the tars. I cleaned out the fitment with alcohol and cotton swabs until it was spotless. I smoothed out the scratched surface with 220 grit sandpaper and 1500-4000 grit micromesh sanding pad.I used a cotton swab to apply all purpose glue to the threads on the fitment and turned it into the threaded mortise. I turned it in to the shank as far as it would go and let it dry. I put the same glue on the threads of the stinger and turned it into the airway in the stem. I aligned the stem in the shank and let the glue harden. I carefully turned the stem out of the shank and let it cure. Once it had hardened I put the stem on the shank of the pipe and took photos. I set the stem aside and polished the damaged areas around the end of the shank with micromesh sanding pads. I restained the damaged area with a dark brown stain pen. I polished the repaired area to smooth out the briar. I rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. Since the oxidation was quite minimal I decided to work over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.  The third pipe I worked on was marked with the shape number 53. It was what Kaywoodie designated as a medium square bulldog. With the diamond shank and stem I would call it a classic bulldog. Jeff’s work on it had left the finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem leaving behind a very light oxidation and some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. The rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. Both sides of the stem had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Since the oxidation was quite minimal I decided to work over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem polishes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine. I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.  The fourth pipe on my work table was marked with the shape number 59. It was what Kaywoodie designated as a Boswell Shape or a Chubb Billiard. Jeff did his usual thorough work on the pipe and it had left the finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem leaving behind a very light oxidation and some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. The rim top and bowl looked really good. Once again the finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. Both sides of the stem had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Once again the oxidation was quite minimal so worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem polishes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine. I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. If you have stuck with me this far in the blog then you know that I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.  The fifth pipe on my work table was marked with the shape number 11. It was what Kaywoodie designated as a Large Billiard. Jeff had repeated his usual thorough work on the pipe and it the finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem leaving behind a very light oxidation and some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. The rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. Both sides of the stem had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Like the rest of the set, the oxidation was quite minimal so I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem polishes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine.  I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. On this fifth pipe I used the same process I have used on all the pipes I work on. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below.  The sixth pipe on my work table was marked with the shape number 13. It was what Kaywoodie designated as an Extra Large Dublin. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned the pipe inside and out. The finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem leaving behind a very light oxidation and some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. The rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. Both sides of the stem had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Once again the oxidation was quite minimal so I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem polishes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine. I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. On this sixth pipe I used the same process I have used on all the other pipes. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The seventh and final pipe on my work table was marked with the shape number 14. It was what Kaywoodie designated as a Full Bent Medium Billiard with a Taper Stem. Jeff had thoroughly cleaned the pipe inside and out. The finish very clean and the rim top and bowl were spotless. He had cleaned off much of the oxidation of the vulcanite stem leaving behind a very light oxidation and some tooth chatter and marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of each pipe before I started my work. Just like the rest of the pipes that were in this set, the rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean. The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. Both sides of the stem had a lot of scratches in the vulcanite. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Like the rest of the set the oxidation on the seventh pipe was quite minimal so I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I rubbed the stem down with Before & After Pipe Stem polishes. I polished it with the Fine Polish and wiped it down. I followed that by polishing it with the Extra Fine Polish. I buffed it with a microfiber cloth to raise the shine. I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers, let it sit for a few minutes and then wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. On this final and seventh pipe I used the same process I have used on all the other pipes. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite carefully working around the inset KW Club logo on the stem top. I gave the bowl and stem several coats carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. I wiped down all the pipes in the set with a cloth impregnated with Briar Wipe and put them back in the case. Before I place them in the case I cleaned up the inside of the case and put all of the seven restored pipes in their prospective slots on the right side of the case. The grain on them is quite matched and the combination of the seven pipes looks really good. The case has been reupholstered somewhere along the path of its long life with a furniture fabric that is in very good condition. It appears to have been put over the original case material. On the inside, the green right side of the case is in excellent condition. The slots where the pipes fit have been form cut and are lined with a cream coloured material. The green and the cream coloured fabric is in very good condition. On the right side of the case the lining is a pillowed satin type of material that is cream coloured and has the writing on the left side that came with the original cases set. It is in good condition. The lower portion of the pillowed fabric is stained with water or coffee stains but is otherwise undamaged.

The picture to the left shows the pipes after restoration in their appropriate spots in the case. The second photo shows the case as a whole opened to display the pipes and the case. It is a beautiful and what I can find out a very rare set of pipes. The likelihood of me finding another one in my life time is quite low and to find one that has all of the original pipes in matched grain is even more unlikely. It was a privilege to work on this set of pipes. Thanks for reading the process of this labour intensive and long blog. I wanted to post the entire set as a whole and not break up the parts. If you have made it through the entire blog at this point you have done well and I thank you for your perseverance.   

Restoring an interesting SMS Meerschaum Canadian

1 Reply

Blog by Steve Laug

On a recent trip to Idaho to visit my parents, brothers and families I had the opportunity to go with my brother Jeff on a pipe hunt. We visited some of the shops where he has developed a relationship with the owners and had good luck on pipe purchases in the past. We visited a shop that belongs to the daughter of an old pipe man who I have known through business for quite a few years. I have purchased pipes and tobacco from him in years past and Jeff and I have bought a few estate pipes from him in recent years. On this trip we stopped and visited with his daughter a bit and had a look through her shop. Her dad had a few pipes there and a few sealed tins of Velvet Pipe Tobacco. These sealed tins still had the tax stamp on them and someone had the foresight to wrap a piece of duct tape carefully around the seal to keep the air out of the tin. I had to have one of those. There was one pipe that caught my attention – an oval shanked Meerschaum Canadian with an amber coloured acrylic stem made by SMS in a black vinyl covered case with a tan velour lining. I brought both the tin and the pipe to the counter and the daughter called her dad to let me dicker with him on the price.

We had a great conversation and caught up a bit regarding the past year for both of us. He is in his 80s and I always enjoy the conversation we have on all things pipe. I don’t think I have ever seen him without a pipe in his mouth and a wreath of smoke around his head. I expect that is what he looked like on the other end of the phone. We came to an agreed price for the pipe and tin. He always starts high in terms of price and I low ball him. We go back and forth and both end up feeling like we made a good deal. We said our good byes and I handed the phone back to his daughter. I paid the bill, said our good byes to his daughter and headed out to the next antique shop on the docket for the day.

I took some pictures of the pipe case to show its condition before I started my restoration work on the pipe. The faux leather case is in pretty good condition – just a few scuff marks but the edges are smooth and there is no peeling happening with the covering. The golden/tan velour interior is also in good condition – a little dusty and a few flakes of tobacco left behind in the fabric. It should clean up nicely as well. The pipe inside was in pretty decent condition. There was a cake in the bowl and some rim darkening and lava overflowing over the back of the rim. The bowl and shank had a lot of scratches and nicks in the finish with a bit of “road rash” on the bottom edge of the left side of the bowl. There were also some colour developing on the long shank of the pipe and some odd spotting around the top of the bowl. It was patina developing but it was spotty and strange – I have never seen that kind of colouring on a meer before. The stem was in good condition but had tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button. The stem had a threaded tenon that screwed into and inset in the shank. It aligned perfectly. The SMS brass logo was set in the top of the stem and had been covered with a spot of clear acrylic to make it smooth and even with the surface of the stem. It should clean up well with a few character marks from its journey through the hands of different pipe men. I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim top and sides of the bowl to show the scratching and general condition of the pipe. The nicks and scratches on the left side of the bowl are visible in the second photo. The colouration process on the pipe is also visible through the scratches. The tooth marks and chatter are visible in the photos of the stem. They are predominantly around the button area on both sides. There are also some scratches and nicks on the sides and close to the shank/stem junction.I have to say how spoiled I have become when it comes to cleaning up pipes before I can do the restoration work. Thank you Jeff for the great work that you have been doing behind the scenes at rebornpipes. It is times like this when I have to clean up a pipe before I begin working on it that I am reminded of how much you do before I ever get the pipes. On this one I began with the cleanup work. I reamed the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife and took out all of the cake on the walls.I unscrewed the stem from the shank and wiped down the tenon with a damp cotton pad to remove the tars and oils in the threads on the outer edge of the airway. Afterwards I cleaned out the mortise and the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until it was clean.I sanded out the tooth chatter and marks with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I also sanded out the nicks and marks further up the stem sides and near the shank/stem union.I worked over the stem with micromesh sanding pads. I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the amber acrylic – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads and wiped it down with damp cotton pad after each one. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I wiped it down a final time and dried it off. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the meerschaum bowl. I polished the meerschaum bowl and shank with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads to remove the damage of the scratches and nicks in the bowl. I was able to remove almost all of the surface scratches (leaving behind only those that add character) and most of the heavy damage to the marks on the lower left side of the bowl. I dry sanded the bowl and shank with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the rim down after each pad with a damp cotton pad. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully worked the pipe on the buffing wheel with Blue Diamond to further polish the bowl and the shank. It really brought life to the meerschaum. I also buffed the acrylic stem at the same time and worked it to a shine. I gave it several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine in the meerschaum. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 6 1/4 inches, Height: 2 1/4 inches, Diameter of the bowl: 1 1/2 inch, Diameter of the chamber: 7/8 inches. I will be adding this one to the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. It is an unusual shape in my opinion and it will make a fine meerschaum addition to the rack. If you are interested email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

 

Cleaning up a 1962 Gourd Calabash Pipe

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

Jeff picked up this Calabash at a local estate sale in Idaho. It is a big pipe – large gourd, with the meerschaum insert and stem in place it is 8 ½ inches long and 5 inches tall. The diameter of the meerschaum cup is 2 ¾ inches and the chamber diameter is 1 1/8 inches. It is a bit different from other gourd Calabash pipes that I have worked on in that is has small flowers carved in the surface of the body of the gourd and in the meerschaum cup. The end of the gourd shank is capped with a plastic/hard rubber end cap and extension that are joined by a metal tube. The stem is acrylic and is a bright yellow colour. Jeff took some photos of the pipe before he started cleaning it. The gourd is in good condition and the overall appearance of the pipe is good. Jeff took some close up photos of the gourd to show its overall condition. You can see the carved flower patterns and small straight cuts around the flowers looking like blades of grass.The rim top had some scratching in the surface of the meerschaum as well as some more carved flower and leaf patterns. The bowl had some darkening around the inner edge of the bowl and there was a cake buildup in the bowl itself.Jeff removed the bowl to give a good look at the inside of the gourd. It was in good condition. Both the inside of the gourd and the underside of the meerschaum bowl had the number ’62 written on them in pencil. This makes me think that it is likely a date mark for the pipe – that is why I date it as a 1962 Calabash. The cork gasket around the inner edge of the gourd was in excellent condition. The cork was dry but otherwise undamaged. The black extension on the end of the shank was connected to the shank cap with a metal inner tube that lines the extension and provides a metal mortise for the stem. The stem was in excellent condition with light tooth chatter on the surface on both sides near the button with a little wear on the top and underside of the button itself.Jeff did a thorough cleanup on the meerschaum bowl, the inside of the gourd and the stem. He carefully scraped the cake in the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the meerschaum cup and the gourd with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust in the carved flowers on the gourd and bowl. He was able to remove all of the grime from the top of the meerschaum bowl and left it looking very clean. Once he had removed the lava on the rim top and inner edge they were very clean appeared to be good shape. Some of the scratches in the meerschaum were deeper than others and would take some work to smooth them out. He cleaned internals of the stem with alcohol. When it arrived I took some photos of it to show how it looked before I did the restoration.  I took some close up photos of the bowl, rim and the stem to show how they looked after Jeff’s cleanup work. He was able to remove much of the grime and lave on the rim top. There was a little tar around the inner edge but the bowl itself was clean. The stem was in great condition. The Delrin push mortise was clean. It fit well in the metal tube in the mortise. I removed the meerschaum bowl and rubbed the gourd down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the gourd. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and buffed it with a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the flower patterns on the gourd. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The gourd really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I rubbed Vaseline into the cork gasket to soften and enliven it. I rubbed it in, let it dry and repeated the process until the cork was softer.I took some photos of the pencil marks on the inside of the gourd and the underside of the meerschaum bowl. Both of the photos below show the marks and clearly reads 62.I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the meerschaum with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and wiped it down with the damp cloth after each one. It looked better than before but I still was not satisfied so I buffed it again this time using Blue Diamond. I brought it back to the table and sanded it with the final three 6000-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with the damp cloth after each pad. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final wipe down and set it aside. The final photo showing the underside of the meerschaum cup shows a previous repair that had been done before the pipe came to us. It was a good repair and the chip was smooth and there was no roughness to the outer edge of the cup. I polished out the tooth chatter in the acrylic stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I buffed the stem using a light touch with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I brought it back to the table and did a final polish with the 12000 grit pad, gave it a final wipe down with a damp cloth and set it aside to dry. I worked over the black plastic end cap and extension with micromesh pads to polish them and remove all scratches in the surface. I gave the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax to protect and polish it. I gave the gourd bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed gourd and meerschaum cup with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The polished gourd, the rejuvenated meerschaum cup, black end cap and shank extension work very well with the bright yellow of the bent acrylic stem. The pipe is clean and ready to load and smoke with a favourite tobacco. It feels good in the hand and I would think it be cool, dry smoke. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 8 ½ inches, Height: 5 inches, Diameter of the meerschaum cup: 2 ¾ inches and Chamber diameter: 1 1/8 inches. I will be adding this one to the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. This is a larger pipe and it’s a nice addition to the rack. If you are interested email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.

A Few Firsts on a GBD Garland II Calabash 9552

6 Replies

Blog by Aaron Henson

Before you get into this write up, I need to confess that despite my best efforts, I did a poor job of photo documenting this repair and restoration.  I had good intentions, but the project was spread out over two months, working on it as I had time. Because of this, some of the pictures were taken out of sequence and others were chosen that best show a repair but also show repairs that have not yet been covered in the write up.

I realized a while back, that I had not restored a pipe recently that I was really excited about.  There have been a number pipes that have crossed my work table and some have even posed some new challenges but the pipes themselves were hardly memorable. With the pickings at the second hand store in my area being slim – I turned to eBay to see if I could find a project pipe that would peak my interest.  After a few hours of browsing I, found just what I was after: a stemless, GBD Garland II stummel – shape 9552.  I submitted my bid and picked it up for a price that I thought was reasonable.

I don’t typically like to buy pipes on eBay.  I prefer to be able to see them first hand so I know what I am getting myself into.  But in this case the seller was forthcoming in the auction description, revealing that the pipe had a major crack in the bowl and another in the shank and of course, it lacked a stem.  But what really fascinated me was the shape of the stummel and what promised to be some beautiful grain patterns.

The following pictures were from the seller auction page: Wanting an idea of what kind of stem was originally on the pipe, I headed on-line to see what I could find.  My first stop was here at Reborn Pipes.  In a 2016 article, our host, Steve, restored a GBD Colossus Fantasy 9552.  I found additional examples of the 9552 shape in the GBD’s Prehistoric, Prestige and Virgin lines.  In all cases the 9552 originally came with a bent saddle bit – some fancier than others.

These next two pictures are of a Garland II I found online.  I was not going to try to duplicate the band in the stem, but knew I was going to need a band on the shank and that wouldn’t look too bad. Then I ended up at a Pipedia article for GBD Models where I learned that the Garland is a seconds line from GBD. I found this surprising because the Garland that I have and the ones I have seen online are excellent specimens of briar.  Admittedly, my eye is not that experienced, but just from the quality of the briar and the lack of fills and pitting I would guess that the Garland line is GBD’s higher end seconds consisting more of fabrication errors rather than materials flaws.  Can anyone confirm my guess?

Another interesting fact that I note is that the 9552 shape is often stamped with “Colossus”.  The term Colossus was used by GBD as plus sized pipe designation.  This size designation is used on all the GBD lines of pipes, but is lacking on this particular Garland II stummel. When the stummel arrived, I eagerly open the package and began to inspect the damage up close, fearing that some of the worst damage may not have been disclosed.  But the seller’s pictures and description were accurate and I didn’t find hidden issues.  The pipe was indeed big; the bowl height is 2.4 inches and the outside diameter is 1.75 inches. The chamber is 0.96 of an inch in diameter and 1.9 inches deep.

The left side of the shank is stamped GBD in an oval over Garland II.  The left side has the COM (Country of Manufacture) stamp: MADE IN LONDON in a circle over ENGLAND and the shape number to the right: 9552. There was a heavy amount of the lava on the rim and the bevel at the edge of the chamber was a little distorted.  The chamber too seemed to be drilled a little off center.  Perhaps this was the why it was a second?  The chamber had been reamed but not back to briar. The horizontal crack in the bowl was located on the left side and was a little over an inch long.  I suspected that it went all the way through bowl wall but I could not be certain until I finished reaming the chamber.  The crack in the stem was about half an inch long from the end of the shank right through the COM stamp but missing the shape number. Looking the pipe over closely, I noted quite a few dents in the heel of the stummel and handling scratches on the sides of bowl and the rim.  I guessed that this piece of briar had been rattling around in a drawer for some time.Now that I had the stummel in hand I could measure the shank diameter (.610” at the end) and estimate the length that I wanted the new stem to be; about 3-1/4 inches. I took these measurements to the Vermont Freehand website and selected a stem that best fit.  I chose the vulcanite stem blank number 722, a round saddle bit 21/32” diameter and 3-1/16” inches long.  I always order two in case I ruin the first one.  I also ordered four nickel plated shank rings, two 15.5 mm and two 16 mm not being sure which would be the better fit. With the parts on order, I started cleaning up the interior of the stummel.  I reamed the chamber back to bare wood with my Castleford reamer and Decatur pipe knife. I also cleaned the shank alternating with bristled and soft pipe cleaners dipped in 91% isopropyl alcohol.  The last person who tried reaming the chamber must have also ran a pipe cleaner or two through it because it only took five or six pipe cleaners before they started coming out as clean as they went in. The mortise I cleaned with cotton swabs. In all, the stummel was relatively clean. I wiped down the outside of the stummel with alcohol and acetone to remove the grime.  Underneath the dirt and oils was some beautiful straight grain with a birds-eye heel.  I looked closely and could not find any fills.  Next, I addressed the thin crust of dried tars on the rim.  I wetted down a green pad (mine was actually blue and did not work as well as the original green ones) with a mixture of tap water and granulated Oxy-clean.  Placing the pad in a shallow dish, I pressed the rim of the pipe down on the pad and scrubbed in a circular motion.  A little elbow grease and the moist Oxy-clean solution did its job. I dried the stummel with a paper towel and set it aside to dry for a bit.Next, I wanted to remove the ghosts of the previous tobacco that I could still smell in the chamber with an alcohol soak.  I use the cotton ball method because it seems to do the job and is easier to clean up than the salt method. This chamber needed three cotton balls and I used 98% grain alcohol for the soak. I placed a cap over the top of the bowl for the first couple of hours to keep the alcohol from evaporating too fast then I removed the cap so the evaporative action can draw out the tars from the briar.When I got back to it the next day I was disappointed (though not surprised) that the crack in the bowl was wet where alcohol had been seeping through.  At lease now I knew for sure that the crack went all the way through the bowl wall.  The good news was I could easily see the ends of the hairline crack.  I used a dental pick to mark the ends so I could find them later, then I removed the cotton balls and wiped out the chamber with a dry paper towel. I began the crack repair by using a small drill bit (0.5 mm) and hand drilled the stopper holes at the location I marked with the dental pick. Since the crack went completely trough the chamber wall I also drilled the hole all the way through the wall.  I have not dealt with a crack that was this deep before so I was on unfamiliar ground.  I packed the hole the half full with briar dust using a tooth pick then placed a drop of clear CA glue into the hole – coaxing it in with the tooth pick.  I filled the holes up the rest of the way and dripped more glue.  I used a magnifying glass to locate the end of the shank crack and gave it the same treatment.

I unsuccessfully tried working some CA glue into the bowl crack. The glue just seemed to set too fast and did not penetrate the crack.  The shank crack on the other hand I could work open and get the glue to flow into it.  I put a clamp on the shank while the glue set.  Then when dry, I sanded the glued repairs smooth with 220 grit paper, careful not to over sand and change the shape of the pipe or damage the stamping on the shank. I resolved to repair the bowl crack by applying coat of heat resistant epoxy to the inside of the chamber.  In this case I used the two part JB Weld – not the Quick Weld, which is useful for other pipe repairs.  For pipe chamber repairs, I like the original JB Weld epoxy, it is easy to use and when cured it has a 550 degree (F) heat resistance.  It is also easy to sand smooth.  I apply it with my finger because it is much easier to get an even coat.  I highly recommend wearing a pair of powder free Nitrile blue gloves for this operation! By this time the parts from Vermont Freehand arrived and wanted to band the shank. I have fixed a few banded pipes before but never put a band on an unbanded pipe. I tried dry fitting the two different sized bands I had bought.  The smaller band would only just slip on the first fraction of an inch so I was glad I had ordered the next size up. The bands were a bit wider than I wanted because I did not want it to cover up too much of the stamping.  Not sure what to do about the band width, I kept focusing on the seating of the band.  I used a heat gun to heat up the band and get it to expand.  Then with the band resting on a wood block, I pressed the shank down into the ring. The first attempt didn’t go well. The band was a bit cocked and only seated about a quarter of an inch.  I realized that the shank’s taper was going to prevent the band from going on much farther and that was going to resolve the width issue; I was going to have to trim the band.

I removed the band and heated it up again.  I smeared a little CA glue around the end of the shank and was able to seat the band squarely.  This time about 3/8” onto the shank.  Once cool, I used a skinny wheel on a rotary tool to trim of the excess band material and flush it up to the end of the shank.  Although the band covered up the COM stamp and ‘AND II’ of ‘GARLAND II’ it was necessary and it gives the stummel a touch of class. I was pleased that the replacement stem I had chosen seemed to be a good fit although it was going to need some work.  I started by using a fine tooth file to square up the face of the stem so it sits flush to the shank and removing the casting burrs.The tenon on the blank was way oversized as was the body of the stem.  I don’t have a tenon turning tool, so I use my drill press to turn the stem.  Wedging a bamboo skewer into the air hole at the tenon end, I leave about an inch of skewer exposed that I can secure into the chuck of the drill.  Setting the drill to about 1300 RPM I use small pieces of 60 grit sand paper to slowly reduce the diameter of the tenon and the stem until it the correct size. The drill press method works well in theory.  Once in a while the stem slips loose from its friction fit with the skewer and I have to reseat it.  I work the vulcanite with 60, 120 and 220 grit sand paper, leaving the polishing to be done by hand with micromesh pads.

I kept a caliper nearby set at the correct tenon diameter to check my progress.  As I got closer to the correct size, I switched to 120 and 220 grit paper.  But I didn’t switch soon enough!  By the time I got some of the deep scratches of the 60 grit out I had overturned the tenon and it was a hair too small.  I finished turning the body of the stem before addressing the tenon issue.I thought at first that a little bee’s wax on the tenon would be enough to tighten the fit but in the end I had enlarge the tenon.  To do this, I heated the tenon and inserted a drill bit into the air hole to enlarge the tenon.  Letting the tenon cool with the bit in it I checked the fit:  A little too big.  I didn’t want to take anymore material off the tenon because if the tenon gets hot during a smoke it will return to its original size, vulcanite has a memory.  I looked around my tool box and found a small punch that had a slightly smaller diameter than the drill bit and repeated the heating process.  This time the fit was much better.

With the stem fitted it was time to bend the stem.  I have jig for holding round stock and I used this to hold the assembled pipe steady with the bit resting on a 1-1/4” round dowel.  Using my heat gun, I heated the bit until it draped over the dowel.  I dipped the bent stem in water to cool the vulcanite and set the shape.  Then I checked the angle of the bend and had to repeat the process a couple of times until I had what I thought was the original stem shape just right.Stem polishing started with 220 grit to remove the remainder of the casting burrs.  Then I wet sand with micromesh pads 1500 – 4000.I removed the plastic guard after the 2400 pad.  I used the 3200 and higher micromesh pads to also polish the band.After the 4000 pad I coated the stem with mineral oil and let it sit for a few hours.  Then I finish polishing with pads 6000 to 12000. I started finishing the stummel by giving it a steam treatment to raise the dents and handling damage.  Holding a wet terry cloth rag on the briar I press a hot iron on to it.  This method works very well but I have two points of caution: 1) don’t burn your fingers in the steam; and 2) do not press the iron near the stamping, it will ruin stamping very quickly.  I only apply the iron around the bowl body and the heel where the dents are the worst anyway.

I sanded the stummel with micromesh pads 1500 through 3200, with special attention paid to the rim to make sure it was smooth.  I selected Fiebing’s dark brown aniline dye to better hide the repairs and applied the stain, without dilution, using a cotton swab straight from the bottle.  I used a flame to heat and set the stain.  I wiped down the stummel with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton pad to remove the excess stain.  I kept wiping it down until the level of color was what I thought it should be. After staining the stummel I like to refresh the briar with a light coat of mineral oil and let the oil soak in overnight.  All of the alcohol in the stain and the wiping down tends to dry out the stummel and I find the mineral oil helps to bring some of the life back to the briar.  It also seems to give the finished pipe a healthy look.After the oil soaked in, I polished the briar with the 3200 – 6000 micromesh pads.  Wiping it down with a clean cloth when finished.I took the assembled pipe back to my drill press/buffing station and ran over the entire pipe with red diamond polishing compound.  Two or three passes of the pipe seems to prepare the pipe well for the final finish.  I wiped the pipe down with a microfiber cloth to remove the buffing compound and then changed the buffing wheel for the waxing wheel.  Three coats of carnauba wax put a nice shine on the pipe.

The last step in this restoration was the bowl coat.  I had earlier sanded the epoxy chamber repair and wiped out the bowl with alcohol so the inside was relatively smooth.  I mixed up a small batch of bowl coat using 2 teaspoons of sour cream and about three activated charcoal capsules.  This made a thick, black, creamy paste that I spooned into the chamber with a wood spatula made from a popsicle stick. Donning the Nitrile gloves again, I used my finger to evenly spread the coating around the inside of the chamber. Wiping the excess coating off the rim with a cotton pad I set the pipe aside to dry for a few days.

Now am I looking forward to the weather warming up so I can break in this pipe.  I think it might become one in my regular rotation. Thank you for sharing in my adventure. If you like the tamper in the picture above, it is one that I made and is for sale.  Please see the Reborn Pipes Store page for it and other tampers.  All proceeds go to charity.

 

 

 

 

 

Renewing a large Calaman Brunette Unique Bent Billiard

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

This large Italian made Calaman pipe was one that Jeff was drawn too but I was not sure about. He picked it up anyway and it turns out to be a very well made pipe. The bowl has a rustication pattern that I have only seen on Lorenzo pipes, so this may well be one of theirs. It is stamped on the underside of the shank Calaman over Brunette and at the end of the shank near the stem junction it reads Italy and underneath Italy it is stamped with the shape number 840. It is stained in a medium brown stain with black in the pits and rustication on the bowl and shank. The stem is good quality vulcanite. The bowl had a thin cake in it that was soft and smelled of aromatic tobacco. The finish was in good condition other than being dirty and dusty. The bowl had indents carved into it at the back side that are perfect for the thumb regardless of whether you hold it with your right or your left hand. The stem was lightly oxidized and the CM stamp on the left side of the saddle was undamaged. There were light tooth marks on both sides of the stem at the button. The marks on the underside were deeper than the ones on the topside. Jeff took a few photos to show the condition of the pipe before he worked on it.The next photos show the bowl from various angles revealing the condition. The first one shows the rim and bowl with the cake lining the bowl. If you try you can almost smell the aromatic, soft cake. The rim is in good condition – a little dirty on the back side of the rim top. The second photo shows the stem indents on the back side of the bowl. It makes the pipe a comfortable one to hold in the hand. The third and fourth photos show the underside of the bowl and shank. The stamping is readable. The CM stamp on the left side of the saddle stem is also in great condition. The oxidized stem shows lots of tooth chatter and some tooth marks on both sides near the button.Jeff did a thorough cleanup on the bowl and stem. He reamed the bowl back to bare briar with a PipNet pipe reamer and cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall reamer. He cleaned the internals with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs – scrubbing out the mortise as it was dirty. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil soap and a tooth brush and was able to remove all of the oils and dust in the rusticated finish on the briar. He was able to remove all of the grime from the rim top and left it looking very clean. The rim top and outer edge were very clean and the inner and outer edges were in good shape. He soaked the stem in an Oxyclean bath to raise the oxidation to the surface of the vulcanite. When it arrived I took some photos of it to show how it looked before I did the restoration.  The rim top and bowl looked really good. The finish was in great shape and the bowl was ready to load and smoke again. It was really clean.The Oxyclean soak had really raised the oxidation to the surface of this stem. The stem was internally very clean but the surface was heavily oxidized when it arrived.Because the stem was so oxidized after the soak in Oxyclean, I put it in a bath of Before & After Pipe Stem Deoxidizer to soak overnight and let the enzymes in the mixture work on the oxidation. In the morning I removed the stem from the deoxidizer and wiped off the excess deoxidizer from the surface of the stem with a paper towel. I cleaned out the airway in the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol to remove any remnants of the bath from that part of the stem. I forgot to take any photos of the stem at this point but it was in much better condition. There was still some oxidation in the angles but otherwise it was cleaner. The tooth marks chatter on the top and underside of the stem were very visible. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and minimize the tooth marks on both sides of the stem. I reshaped the button with the sandpaper and a needle file. I sanded the rest of the stem to break up the remaining oxidation.I polished out the sanding scratches and marks in the vulcanite with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding it with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding it with 3200-4000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. The photo I took of the stem after working it over with the 1500-2400 grit pads showed some oxidation in the light of the flash. I buffed the stem with red Tripoli on the buffing wheel being careful around the CM logo stamp so I would not damage it. I dry sanded it with 3200-4000 grit pads and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each one. It looked better than before but I still was not satisfied so I buffed it again this time using red Tripoli and Blue Diamond. I brought it back to the table and sanded it with the final three 6000-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with oil after each pad. When I finished with the 12000 grit pad I gave it a final coat of oil and set it aside to dry. I set the stem aside and rubbed the bowl down with Before & After Restoration Balm to deep clean the smooth finish, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the rustication on the bowl and shank. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. I put the stem back on the bowl and took the pipe to the buffing wheel to work it over. I carefully buffed it with Blue Diamond using a light touch to keep the polish out of the rustication. I like polishing with Blue Diamond as it raises a good shine without a lot of work. I buffed the stem at the same time to raise the gloss on the vulcanite. I gave the bowl several coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The black stain in the nooks and crannies of the rustication and the medium brown stain on the smooth portions of the bent billiard shaped bowl worked well with the rich black of the polished vulcanite stem. This Calaman Brunette pipe has a unique shape with the thumb dents on the back of the bowl. The finish feels good in the hand and I would think it would heat up nicely when smoked. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Diameter of the bowl: 1 1/2 inches, Diameter of the chamber: 7/8 inches. I will be adding this one to the rebornpipes store shortly if you are interested in adding it to your collection. This is a larger pipe and it’s a nice addition to the rack. If you are interested email me at slaug@uniserve.com or send me a message on Facebook. Thanks for looking.