Tag Archives: stem work

Breathing New Life into a Dr. Grabow Riviera

Blog by Steve Laug

When I am refurbishing pipes I take the same care on older factory made pipes as I do on the more collectible ones. To me this is part of the stewardship of refurbishing. It does not matter what the original price of the pipe was – it is worth redeeming and bringing back to life. The refurbishing of the next pipe is one of those. It is an older Dr. Grabow Riviera. It was given to me by a good friend in Ponoka, Alberta. He gave it to me as a gift when I visited him recently. It is stamped Riviera over Dr. Grabow on the left side of the shank and Imported Briar over Adjustomatic over a patent number – PAT. 2461905 on the right side of the shank. The stinger apparatus in this one is an insert into the metal tenon. It is tube with a scooped portion on top that has a hole in the bottom of the scoop. The air/smoke circulates in the shank and is drawn into the stem by the smoker. The surface area of the apparatus acts as a condenser and filter. The beauty of this design is that it can be removed. The stem was badly oxidized and also had tooth dents on the top and bottom near the button. The finish was shot and the varnish was peeling from the bowl and shank. The rim was darkened and dirty and had a small crack on the top left side. The four photos below show the state of the pipe when I brought it home.

I love doing research on old patents and with US made pipes it is very simple. The following website is a simple way to find data and diagrams. http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm In the search parameters you enter the patent number from the pipe and click on the search button. Generally, these older patents have been made into PDF files that can be downloaded. Here is a copy of the information I found there. It is a patent for the Adjustomatic connector. I always find reading through these patent application documents gives me a feel for why the designer came up with invention. This proved true of this application as well.

After reading through the patent information I was ready to restore this old pipe. It appeared to be made somewhere around the time of the Patent as it had the patent number stamped on it. That dated it somewhere around 1949 after the patent was given. I began by reaming the bowl with the PipNet reaming set to clear up the uneven and broken cake. I decided to work on the externals first. I wiped down the bowl and shank with acetone on a cotton makeup pad to remove the finish. There was some very nice grain poking through the mottled finish and very few tiny fills that made it even more attractive to me. The acetone removed the varnish very well and also took away the dirt and filth on the exterior. The first two photos below show the process of wiping down the bowl. The old finish is visible on the cotton pad.

Once the finish was removed from the bowl as much as possible with the acetone, I sanded it down with 340 grit sandpaper and a fine grit sanding sponge to further remove the finish. The next series of four photos show the bowl after the acetone wash and the sanding. The grain on this one is very nice. The inner rim would need to have some attention to smooth out the rough edges and the darkening.

I sanded the metal shank band as it had some deep scratches and gouges in it. I could not remove the damage but I minimized its look. I worked on the tooth marks in the topside and the underside of the stem surface. I heated the stem with a Bic lighter – passing the flame over the tooth marks to lift them to the surface. I then sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the remaining marks that were present (Photos 1 – 4 below). I followed that by sanding with a fine grit sanding sponge to remove the scratches left behind by the 220 grit sandpaper (Photos 5 – 6 below).

I sanded the entire stem with the sanding sponge to remove the oxidation from the vulcanite. I took the pipe apart and cleaned the stinger apparatus with a cotton swab and alcohol. The next two photos show that design of the stinger. It is a two part piece and the extended tube can be removed from the screw in metal tenon. I cleaned the inside of the stem and also the inside of the stinger to remove the buildup of tars and oils inside.

I sanded the bowl with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads, being careful around the stamping on the shank. Once the scratches were removed and the bowl was smooth I restained it with a dark brown aniline stain thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. Doing this makes the stain less opaque and also several shades lighter. I wanted to highlight the grain not hide it so this was the perfect mix to do that. I applied the stain with a cotton swab, flamed it with a lighter to set the stain and then repeated the process a second time. The next three photos show that process. You will note that I also cleaned up the inner edge of the rim with the sanding process noted above. Most of the roughness is removed. A small crack remains on the top of the left side of the bowl rim.

I set the bowl aside and worked on finishing the stem. I sanded it with 1500 – 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads until it was smooth and finished. I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil to protect and remove the oxidation. I reattached it to the bowl and buffed the stem and bowl with White Diamond on the buffer. I gave the entirety several coats of carnauba wax to bring out the shine and protect it. The final four photos show the finished pipe – cleaned, restored and ready to smoke. The photos show tinges of brown/oxidation still remaining in the stem under the flash of the camera. To deal with that I polished the stem some more and gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil and let it soak in. Upon finishing I buffed it again with carnauba.

Crafting a Briar Calabash Sitter

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Blog by Steve Laug

After reading Sid Stavros’ blog, http://pipe-smoke.blogspot.ca/ describing his process of converting older briars into meerschaum calabash pipes I decided on this rainy Saturday it was time for me to work on one. I had an old briar pipe bowl here that was a strangely shaped briar pot shaped sitter with a bit of a Rhodesian like top. It was in rough shape and was stemless so I restemmed it a while back. It has a pretty rough band on it so I am still undecided what to do with that. I also had a meerschaum bowl from an EBay group I picked up. It was without a gourd bowl so I just cleaned up the bowl and decided to set it aside until such a time I knew what I wanted to do with it. So on this rainy Vancouver Saturday afternoon I took the pipe bowl out and the meerschaum bowl out and put them side by side. I did some measurements in terms of the depth of both and the diameter of the inside of the briar and the outside of the meer cup to see if it would even be feasible. The measurements said it would work. So taking a deep breath I got out my Dremel and set up the parts for the “new” re-envisioned pipe.

The first two photos show the meerschaum cup when I received it and after I had finished cleaning and polishing it. The third and fourth photos show the briar pipe that I chose to be the calabash for this cup. For the fourth photo I placed the cup on top of the bowl to give an idea of what I was aiming for.

I used the Dremel with a sanding drum on it to open the bowl of the briar. I had to open the bowl quite a bit in order for the meer cup to fit in the bowl. I also had to top the bowl considerably to allow the bowl to sit properly. I sanded the inside of the bowl until the cup fit snuggly. I also had to reshape the bowl in order for a proper seat for the cup. Once I had the bowl opening fit to size with the Dremel I sanded it with 340 grit sandpaper to smooth out the inside walls of the bowl. I had sanded carefully with the sanding drum to maintain the roundness of the bowl. I did not want the cup to sit to one side or toward the front or back. I wanted it centered in the bowl. This took some careful and slow sanding with the sanding drum.

I sanded the bottom of the cup to flatten it rather than leave it in a point. This would also buy me some depth in the bowl and allow me to shorten the height of the bowl. I used the sanding drum to remove ¼ inch of the height of the bowl. I proceeded slowly to keep the top as flat as possible. Once I had removed the amount I wanted I topped it on with my normal topping procedure – sandpaper anchored on a flat board. I used the Dremel to remove a bit more of the height and then topped it a second time.

With the topping I also had to open the bowl a bit wider. I used the Dremel to open the bowl and resanded the inside. I measured the height of the cup and the depth of the bowl and determined I could take it down until there was a ¼ inch of briar between the top ring and the rim. I sanded it to meet that measurement with the Dremel and then topped it again to even out the rim surface. I sanded it with a fine grit sanding sponge. The cup fit nicely in the bowl. The angled crown of the Rhodesian style top actually looks good with the flat edge of the bottom of the cup.

I still had room at the bottom of the bowl so I took some more of the briar off of the top of the bowl to bring the flat bottom edge of the meer bowl closer to the rings on the briar. I used the Dremel to remove the briar and then topped it on the board. I also opened the bowl a bit more as each time I remove from the top of the briar I had to open the diameter of the bowl to accommodate the change. The next series of photos show the pipe as it stands at the moment.

Once the bowl of the briar was clean and smooth I pressed the meerschaum cup into the briar. It was a perfect pressure fit. In talking with Sid via email, he suggested that I add rubber gasket between the meerschaum and the briar to separate the two materials. I removed it from the bowl and cut a rubber gasket from a piece of large/thick rubber band that I bought for the purpose. I glued it to the meerschaum bowl and set it aside to dry.

I measured the new diameter of the meerschaum bowl with the gasket and used my Dremel with a sanding drum to sand the briar bowl to match that new diameter. I sanded with the Dremel, checked the fit, sanded some more and check until I had removed enough of the diameter of the briar to make a good snug fit.

Once the bowl fit well, I took the pipe back to my work table and sanded the inside of the bowl to smooth out the ridges left by the sanding drum. I wiped down the inside of the bowl with Everclear to remove the sanding dust from and make sure the fit of the gasket against the briar was smooth and unimpaired.

A part of the gasket came loose from the work so I reglued it and once it was dry pressed it into the briar bowl. The next five photos show the fitted meerschaum bowl in place in the briar cup. The pipe is now ready to smoke. The draught is good and open. The newly fit stem works well with the combination. I polished the briar and the meerschaum bowl and loaded a bowl and fired it up. It is a great smoking machine delivering a cool and dry smoke with a clean tobacco taste.

Still a little work to do polish the meerschaum bowl but the idea is clear in the photos. I will polish it with micromesh sanding pads and then use beeswax to wax the bowl for enhancing the colouration of the bowl.

ADDENDUM:
The look of this one still bugged me and I was not happy with the bowl fit. I also did not like the rubber gasket I formed as it did not really give a snug fit. A friend gave me a sheet of thin cork so I cut a piece of cork to use as a gasket. To accommodate the cork and still give the bowl a fit I needed to remove more of the briar in the bowl of the pipe. I used a Dremel with the sanding drum and took the bowl down enough to accommodate the cork and the pressed in meerschaum bowl. I glued the band of cork around the inner edge of the briar bowl and when it had dried I pressed the bowl into place. Here are a few photos of the renovation.

The cork gasket glued into the bowl with carpenters white glue

The gasket in place with the glue drying

The gasket it dry and the bowl is ready to press in place

The bowl is in place and the pipe is much more fit looking to me!

An Amphora Extra Saddle Billiard Reborn

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This one is the third of the three I bought at an antique mall in Edmonton, Alberta on a recent trip. It is stamped on the bottom of the shank as follows:
AMPHORA
X-tra 726-649
GENUINE BRIAR
Made in Holland

It has a deep craggy blast that attracted me to the pipe in the first place. The briar was dirty and the finish was gone. The remaining stain was very spotty and dirty. The grime of many dirty hands had ground into the blast leaving dark spots all around the bowl and shank. The state of the finish can be seen in the photo below. The bowl was dirty and had a slight cake with dottle still in the bowl. The rim had some darkening from the lighter and there was lava on the surface hiding most of the blast. The beauty was that the bowl did not have any damage from tapping it out or burning on the edges. It would clean up very nicely. The stem was slightly oxidized and had a calcified buildup in several spots. It also had a few faint tooth marks about a ¼ inch back from the button. The button itself had several dents in it as well. The slot in the button was too tight to even take a thin pipe cleaner. The inside of the shank was thick with a tarry buildup and the stem was clogged with buildup as well. I am pretty sure the stem had never been cleaned out as a pipe cleaner would not pass through the slot.

I removed the stem from the bowl and dipped the bowl in an alcohol bath and scrubbed it with a brass tire brush to remove the grit and grime in the blast. I then dropped it into the bath to soak overnight. In the morning I removed it from the bath and gave it another quick scrub with the tire brush. I flamed the alcohol in the bowl to dry it before I cleaned it. This is a simple process of lighting the alcohol on fire with a lighter. It burns blue and burns fast. No harm is done to the briar. I then cleaned the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners to remove as much of the tars and oils as I could before I used the retort to give it a final cleaning.

I decided to open up the button with needle files before I used the retort on the pipe. I was unable to run a pipe cleaner through the stem so I wanted to be able to remove some of the grit before I hooked up the retort. I used three different needle files to open the slot. The next four photos show the opening of the slot from start to finish. When I was done a pipe cleaner went through very easily and I was able to remove much of the tars and oils from the stem.

To finish the reformed slot I used some folded medium grit emery paper and then 340 grit sandpaper to smooth out the new edges and give it a finished look. I also sanded the surface of the button to remove the scratches from the files. Once that was done put the stem back on the pipe and ran a few more pipe cleaners dipped in Everclear through to clean out the airway. The next two photos show the pipe at this stage in the cleanup.

With the slot opened and the interior surface cleaned it was time to set up the retort. I placed a cotton boll in the bowl to keep the boiling alcohol from coming out the top of the bowl. I slid the rubber surgical tubing over the end of the stem and slid it on about ½ an inch. I want a good tight seal at this point because as the alcohol boils it can bubble out the sides of the stem and give a good burn while you are holding the stem. I put about 1 inch of 99% isopropyl in the test tube and put the rubber stopper in place in the mouth of the tube. I lit a small tea light and held the bottom of the test tube over the flame. The alcohol has a low boiling point so it does not take long for it to boil and the gaseous alcohol migrates up the surgical tubing and into the stem, shank and bowl. It is great to feel the shank warm up as the alcohol moves into the shank. I remove it from the flame after several minutes and let it cool off. As the alcohol cools it runs back into the test tube and cools. The next series of three photos show the heating and boiling process.

As it cools the alcohol migrates back into the tube. It is generally a very dark amber colour – like nice amber ale! In the first photo below show the tube removed from the flame and the alcohol beginning to refill the tube. The flame is actually behind the stopper not under it – lest anyone wonder about that. I blew out the candle at this point and continued to let the alcohol cool and drain. I then poured out the dirty alcohol, rinsed the tube with warm water, dried it out and refilled it. I reattached the apparatus and used the retort a second and third time until the alcohol came out as clean as when I started using it.

Once the insides were clean I used a soft bristle tooth brush and some isopropyl to scrub down the exterior of the bowl to prepare it for restaining. The next four photos show the scrubbed and prepared bowl.

I chose to restain the bowl with a dark brown aniline stain that I thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I applied the stain heavily to the pipe with a folded pipe cleaner to make sure I got it into the nooks and crannies of the sandblasted surface. Once it was covered I flamed it with a lighter to set the stain. I gave it a second coat of stain and flamed it a second time. Once it was dry I buffed it with a shoe brush to get a soft shine on it. The next series of four photos show the restained bowl after the buffing with the show brush. I find that the bristles on the shoe brush work really well to buff sand blasted and rusticated pipes. I used to use my buffer and keep a light touch on the wheel because I did not want to soften the ridges of the blast. I have since resorted to using the shoe shine brush instead.

I hand applied some Halcyon II wax to the bowl and shank and buffed it a second time with the shoe brush to give it a shine. The next series of six photos show the bowl and shank during and after the shine with Halcyon II and the shoe brush buffing.

After finishing the bowl it was time to work on the stem. I sanded the blade area where the tooth marks were to cause them to stand out a bit more clearly. I used a fine grit sanding sponge first. I then heated the slight tooth dents with a Bic lighter to lift them. I find that this works very well for light dents in vulcanite. I do not leave the flame in one place but move it quickly across the surface of the dent and it literally lifts with the heat. I then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads and followed that by dry sanding with 3200 and 3600 grit micromesh pads. The next series of eight photos gives you a look at the progress of the sanding.

At this point in the process I wiped down the stem with Obsidian Oil and rubbed it into the vulcanite. I wanted to see where the remaining oxidation was so that I could do some more work on those areas.

I continued sanding the stem with 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12,000 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next three photos show the progress of the shine on the stem. There was still some deep seated oxidation on the stem. I used a Bic lighter and went over the surface of the stem to burn off the oxidation. I wiped it down with a soft cloth and repeat the process until the stem was a shiny black and the oxidation was gone.

The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. I gave the stem a final rub down with Obsidian Oil and I buffed the stem on my buffing wheel (attached to the bowl) using White Diamond. I did not buff the bowl. I gave the stem several coats of carnauba wax and then buffed it with soft flannel buffs. I also rebuffed the bowl by hand with the shoe brush. The pipe smells fresh and clean. It is ready to smoke.

Comoy’s The Guildhall London Pipe Liverpool Renewed

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Blog by Steve Laug

The Comoy’s pipe pictured below was one of the pipes I picked up at an Antique Mall in Edmonton, Alberta. It was by far in the best condition of the three pipes I purchased that day. It also had the highest price tag – $30 of the three. It is stamped on the left side of the shank The Guildhall over London Pipe and on the right side it is stamped Made in London in a circle over England. The shape is stamped as 30. The grain on it is very nice with a few bald spots on the sides and front on the lower portions of the bowl. The contrast stain that is on these older Comoy’s pipes is extremely well done and it is what always draws me to them. The top of the bowl rim was covered with a little tar. The bowl itself was partially caked and a few tobacco remnants sat in the bottom of the bowl. The stem had tooth chatter and slight oxidation. When I picked it up the stem was on upside down so the three metal lines that were stem logos on these pipes was not visible. I was able to rotate the stem but it was tightly stuck in the shank. I did not want to damage the shank so I left it until I got home.

When I returned home from my trip and things settled down I took the pipe to the work table to refurbish it. I decided to take it apart to begin the process of cleaning it. The stem was tight in the shank and I needed to use the freezer technique to loosen it easily. The tenon is often easily snapped if you try to turn it when it is stuck. I put it in the freezer for 15 minutes and then it came out very easily. When I pulled it out of the shank it brought a lot of chunks of tar and oily buildup with it. The cloth on my worktable was littered with the black pieces that fell out of the shank. Once I had it out of the shank there was a stinger contraption that I have found is common in the older Everyman and Guildhall pipes. This one was covered thickly with tar and oil. It was pressure fit into the tenon but was tightly bonded to the vulcanite. I used a pipe cleaner with alcohol to scrub the inside of the stem and to also work around the exterior of the stinger. I scraped at the gunk that held it to the tenon and was able to remove much of the grit with a dental pick. I grabbed it with a piece of cloth and twisted and pulled at the same time. I kept the stem level during this process as I did not want to damage the tenon by pulling up as I tried to remove it. It finally broke free of the tenon and I laid it aside on the table top. I do not put the stinger back into a pipe that I intend to use. I tag the stingers and save them should I decide to sell the pipe in the future.

I then cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners and Everclear. It took a lot of pipe cleaners to remove the oils and tar from the stem and the shank. I cleaned it until they came out only stained but not covered in grime. I intended to use a retort on this pipe so my purpose was only to remove the heavy buildup on the surface in the stem and shank.

Once I had the interior relatively clean I took out my retort and hooked it up to the pipe. The retort is made up of a test tube and stopper with a permanently inserted brass tube to which a piece of surgical tubing is fitted on the end of the brass tube. The tubing fits over the stem. I put about ¾ of an inch to 1 inch of isopropyl alcohol in the test tube. I stuffed the bowl of the pipe with a cotton boll to stop the alcohol from coming out of the top of the pipe when I heated the alcohol. I lit a candle to heat the alcohol and boil it into the stem and shank. I began with a large candle to do the heating. The next series of seven photos show the first boil of the alcohol through the pipe. I let it boil for several minutes and then removed the test tube from the heat. As it cooled the alcohol was drawn back into the test tube. It was dark amber in colour and smelled strongly of old burned tobacco.

I removed the tube from the flame, and once it had cooled I emptied the alcohol from the test tube, rinsed and refilled it. This time I chose to use a small tea light to heat the tube. It gave a better angle on the test tube and pipe. I boiled it again and when it cooled let the alcohol return to the tube. The series of five photos below shows the second boil and the amber fluid that filled the tube. I ran the retort a third and fourth time until the alcohol came out clear and then I knew the shank and stem were clean. I continue to boil the alcohol through the pipe until it is clean. The retort leaves a pipe smelling brand new once the alcohol smell has dissipated and the pipe dried out.

I removed the retort from the stem and the cotton boll from the bowl of the pipe. Once it was removed I ran pipe cleaners through the shank and stem to remove any of moisture that may have been left behind and the pipe quickly dried out. It was time to clean the top of the rim of the pipe. Early on in the process I had examined it and found that the tars on the top were on the surface and that a good scrub with saliva on a cotton pad would remove the buildup quite easily. The next two photos show the cleaning of the rim with the cotton pads.

Once the rim was clean I buffed the pipe with White Diamond and gave the bowl and shank a first coat of carnauba wax. It was then time to work on the stem. I sanded the stem with 340 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth chatter and small dents in the surface of the vulcanite. I then wet sanded the stem with 1500-2400 grit micromesh sanding pads. The next two photos show the stem after the initial sanding with the 340 grit sandpaper.

The next two photos are randomly taken after I had sanded with the micromesh sanding pads 3200-12,000 grit. I dry sanded with these grits and the stem developed a shine and a depth to the blackness of the vulcanite. When I had finished sanding the stem I rubbed it down with Obsidian Oil to preserve the finish and then buffed it with White Diamond and finally multiple coats of carnauba wax.

The final four photos in this essay show the finished pipe. There is a bit of ghosting around the three bars in the photo that appear to be oxidation. The oxidation is gone. Rather what is happening is a reflection off the metal bars. In natural light the stem is a deep and rich black.

A Piece of Tobacciana History – a Bakelite Bowl on a Bakelite Base

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This is a new one to me. I have never seen this combination of parts. I have refurbished quite a few of the screw on bowls on Bakelite bases with either metal or vulcanite stems. I even recently completed a Bakelite base with a Bakelite stem on it. But never have I seen a Bakelite bowl. This one is solid Bakelite with no lining whatsoever. The bowl is like a cup. This one was another Chuck Richards gift. I think he takes delight in these surprises. And a surprise it truly is. There is not a single identifying stamp on the pipe so it is a mystery as to its manufacture. It is very unique. The brass ring between the bowl and base was loose and slide around as the pipe was moved. The bowl was lightly coated with tar. The rim had some dings in it and the base/stem unit was not even at the button. Each side of the angle coming down to the button was off and there were tooth marks in the stem. The inside cup of the base was dirty and the inside of the shank and stem unit was also dirty with tars. The end of the button and orific “o” opening was very clean and unstained which is a bonus. Once I get it cleaned up I intend to load a bowl and see what it is like to smoke. The first series of four photos show the pipe as it was when it arrived to my worktable.

I took it to the work table this morning and took it apart. I cleaned all the parts of the pipe with Everclear and a soft pipe cleaner. I scrubbed out the cup in the Bakelite base with Everclear on a cotton pad. There was darkening to the Bakelite that I could not remove but the slight build up disappeared. I cleaned up the brass ring and then reglued it to the base. I used a white glue to anchor this to the base. The next series of three photos shows that process.

I sanded out the interior of the bowl with 320 grit sandpaper, wiped it down with Everclear on a cotton pad and then sanded it again with a fine grit sanding sponge. I sanded down the rim of the bowl with the sanding sponge to remove the slight nicks in the edge of the bowl and clean up the rough edges. I followed up with a 1500 grit micromesh sanding pad. The picture below shows the cleaned bowl.

I reshaped the stem and button area with needle files to repair the angles and remove the tooth marks. I sanded the newly shaped area with 240 and 320 grit sandpaper to remove the file scratches. I followed up with micromesh sanding pads 1500-12,000 grit to progressively polish and shine the stem and base. I sanded the entire base with the micromesh sanding pads. There were many small surface scratches in the surface that the micromesh took care of. The next series of eight photos show the reshaping of the button area from the use of the files through the sanding with 1500 grit micromesh sanding pads.

The bowl did not seat well on the base. It seemed to sit at a bit of an angle and did not fit into the bottom of the cup. I sanded down the bottom of the bowl insert to remove a small portion of the material to reduce the depth of the threaded portion of the bowl. I also sanded the thread carefully to remove the nicks and chips to the surface. I used micromesh to sand the threads as I wanted to merely clean them up not damage or reduce them. Once this was completed the bowl threaded on more easily and also was seated well on the base. The next series of three photos show the reseating of the bowl.

At this point in the process I sanded the entire pipe with micromesh sanding pads. I used all the grits from 1500-12,000 to polish the Bakelite and give it back its luster. This took quite a bit of time as I was trying to remove all of the minute scratches in the base and on roughness on the outer edges of the bowl. The seven photos below show the progress shine developing through the sanding with the micromesh sanding pads.

When I had finished with the sanding and the bowl and base had a shine to them I hand buffed it with carnauba wax, applying several coats and buffing it with a soft cotton cloth. My only frustration with the finished pipe is that the area around the button that I changed and sanded is a bit lighter than the yellow/amberlike colour of the rest of the base. It shined up nicely but is lighter. Ah well, it is better than it was and it is certainly more comfortable than when I began. The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. Now it is time to load it and fire it up. The experience is about to begin.

Rebirth of a No Name Bakelite Pipe with Bakelite Stem

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This pipe came to me from Chuck Richards (Desertpipe) in a box he sent me. It is the first of three old timers that he sent for me to work with. It is a common interest that we share – this love of the old timers and restoring them to some of their former glory. The first four photos below show the pipe as it was when it arrived to my work table. There is no stamping on the pipe at all. The gold band is stamped 14K Gold Filled. The stem has no logos or stampings. The underside of the bowl and the Bakelite base has no information stamped on it either. It is much like some of the WDC or William Demuth pipes that I have from the same era. The pipe itself was in pretty decent shape. The bowl was very clean. The rim was undamaged and the finish on the bowl was quite nice. The double grooves around the bowl were filled with grit and the surface had a few pits in it. The Bakelite bowl base and shank were in good shape. There seems to have been a metal decorative rim that went around the base between the bowl and base that was missing. The 14K gold filled band was in place but was on backwards so that the stamping of the gold was upside down. The stem was very oxidized and had been filed to give a steeper angle on the taper to the button. The filing had gone too deep and the airway next to the button was exposed. At first examination it appeared that the stem was too hard a material to be vulcanite and the filing marks did not look like they were on vulcanite. My initial guess was that the stem was also Bakelite.

I removed the bowl from the base and reamed and cleaned it. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer back to a very thin cake. I cleaned out the airway at the bottom of the bowl. I used a dental pick to clean out the dual lines around the bowl top. I cleaned out the reservoir in the bottom of the base with cotton swabs and Everclear. I cleaned out the shank with bristle and fluffy pipe cleaners and Everclear as well. I removed the band from the shank by heating it gently. The glue softened and I was able to remove it and turn it around. I tapped the band with a small furniture hammer to flatten out the edges and squared the edges. I reglued it with wood glue. When this work was done I set the bowl and shank aside and went to work on the stem.
The stem took significant work. Somehow my camera failed (maybe the photographer did) and I was unable to get any good photos of the stem work. I built up the filed area against the button with clear superglue (Photos 1 -2). I layered on lightly, let it dry, relayered it and repeated until the thickness was sufficient enough for the airway to be protected. I also built up the button. It looked to me that a previous repair had been done and a new button had been cut in the stem. I repaired the shape and the thickness of the button. It was an old style bone tenon that was mounted in the shank so I cleaned that up and cleaned the inside the stem. The hole in the button was the old style orific or “o” opening. The rebuilding of the button and stem took the majority of time in working on this old stem. Once it was dry and had cured overnight I worked on the oxidation. I did not want to use anything that could possible harm the Bakelite so I kept the alcohol to a minimum and only on the inside the airway and was careful not let it touch the outside. For the outside I used 240 grit sandpaper to smooth out the newly repaired slope on the stem and to sand out the file marks that remained from the previous repair. I also sanded the corners on the stem to give it a more rounded look in keeping with the era it was made. The 240 grit sandpaper easily removed the oxidation. Photos 3 – 4, though of poor quality, give an idea of how the stem looked after patching with the superglue and sanding with the 240 grit sandpaper. The oxidation was pretty well removed. The button is shaped and the patch on the stem in front of the button is visible. There is still a lot of sanding to do at this point. From the 240 grit I went on to sand with 320 grit and also a fine grit sanding sponge to further blend the patch and to remove the oxidation.

I put the stem back on the pipe and worked on the fit against the band. When I reversed the band the stem was too large on the right side and extended beyond the width of the band. To repair that I had to take of material at the bottom edge of the top right side and the upper edge of the bottom right side of the diamond to reduce the angle of the diamond on that side. By reducing these two points on the stem I was able to bring the sharp edge to the same width as the shank and band. It balanced the look of the stem. I used the 240 and 320 grit sandpaper for doing this part of the stem work. I continued to use the sanding sponge to blend the patches on the top and bottom of the slope to the button. The next series of eight photos show the progress on the stem. The patch is clearly visible in the photos of the top side. The one on the bottom was not as big and it blended in more easily.

After removing the scratches and oxidation with the sandpaper I sanded with the fine grit sanding sponge and then progressed through the various grits of micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 to smooth and polish the stem. As I worked on it my initial conjecture about the material being Bakelite was confirmed. The next four photos are a sample of the work of the micromesh sanding pads on the stem. The pad in the photos is 3600 grit. I also used the micromesh on the bowl and the Bakelite base and shank to remove some of the surface scratches.

I gave the pipe a very light buff on the buffer with White Diamond. I had learned on previous occasions that the speed of the buffing pad can produce heat that can actually damage the Bakelite and cause fibres from the pad to embed in the stem. A very light touch is necessary if you are going to buff these stems. I wanted to give them a quick light buff to remove any remaining scratches and give it a quick sheen. I buffed the base and bowl at the same time as well. The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. I applied a coating of carnauba wax to the pipe by hand. I buffed it lightly with a soft flannel cloth to bring up a shine and finished buffing with a soft shoe brush. The finished pipe speaks for itself. It is a testimony to the life that resides in these old timers. It is a life that will certainly extend beyond mine! As mentioned above, I share a love for these older pipes with Chuck that seems to extend to their restoration and re-entry into the purposes for which they were made. What do you think Chuck? How does the final pipe look to you?

Restoring a GBD 730 Toreador Volcano

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I picked this old-timer up at an antique mall in Edmonton, Alberta two weeks ago. It was part of the threesome of pipes and tobacco and pipe cleaners that I purchased at the mall that day. In the photo below it is the pipe on the bottom of the picture.

I had never seen the stamping on a GBD nor had I seen the shape number. It is not listed on any of the GBD name or shape charts that I have on my computer. I wrote to a friend who works with a lot of GBDs and he replied as follows: “I have not heard of a “Toreador” line, but nothing surprises me on GBD lines. They had a seemingly endless array of model lines. The 730 shape isn’t listed on my shape charts, but they are full of holes and I constantly see shape new shape numbers pop up. The pre-Cadogan key is the “London, England” stamp coupled with a metal rondel. “Made in London England” in a circle is Cadogan era, even with a metal rondell”. From my research and his I looked at the stampings on this pipe. It is stamped GBD in an oval over Toreador on the top of the shank. On the underside it is stamped London, England over 730. This would seem to put the date of this pipe in the pre-Cadogan era.

The next series of six photos show the pipe as it was when I found it. The first picture was taken at the antique mall with my iPhone. The remaining five photos were taken at my work bench before beginning to work on the pipe. The bowl was thickly caked with a hard buildup of carbon. The rim was coated with tars and buildup as well. The stem was upside down when I picked it up and very tight. I was able to turn it and straighten it out for the picture. It was oxidized and there was a line across the stem that showed where it had a rubber bite guard in place on it. There were two tooth marks on the top of the stem visible below and also two on the underside of the stem near the button. The slot in the end of the button was closed off with tar and the shank and inside of the stem were filthy.

I decided to use my PipNet reaming set on the bowl. I started with the smallest bit and worked it around. Once I dumped out the cuttings I used the next size up to take the cake back to the briar. I like to start over and build my own cake in the bowl. I find that I can develop a hard cake when I work at it slowly.

Once I reamed the bowl out to the way I like it I worked on the rim of the bowl. I used some fine grit emery cloth to start breaking up the hard tars and then a fine grit sanding sponge to remove what remained. I work to keep the sharp inner and outer edge of the rim. I do not like it when it is rounded. This rim was also chamfered in toward the bowl and I wanted to keep the angles on that even when I was finished working it over. The next two photos show the cleaned rim. It has been sanded and the buildup is removed. There is a bit of rim darkening that will come off with a bit more work.

The next four photos show the bowl after I have wiped it down with acetone on a cotton pad. The darkening on the rim is growing fainter with each wipe. The pads are coloured from the dirt and grime as well as the stain from the pipe. I have found that the dark and medium brown wipe off and leave a yellow colour on the pads. I repeated the wipe down several times until the surfaces were clean.

After wiping the bowl down I cleaned out the stem and the shank. I used pipe cleaners and Everclear to scrub out the insides of the stem and shank. I scrubbed until they came out clean. I worked on the area of the button slot to clean out the tar buildup in that area. Then I decided to work on the stem. I sanded out the calcification on the stem from the rubber stem bite protector. It leaves a white sediment buildup that is rock hard so I sand it with medium grit emery paper. Removing this buildup also reveals the depth and nature of the tooth marks in the stem. The first picture below shows the topside of the stem and the tooth marks. The second picture shows the underside of the stem and the two tooth marks next to the button.

I then sanded the stem with 240 grit sandpaper and the medium grit sanding sponge to further remove the scratches and clean up around the tooth marks. Once I had the stem cleaned up of the white buildup and the scratches reduced I wiped down the stem with Everclear. I heated the surface of the stem with a lighter to lift the tooth marks as much as possible and then I picked out the grit and grime in the tooth marks with a dental pick to provide a clean surface for the superglue repair. The first two photos show the sanded stem and cleaned surface. The third and fourth photos below show the superglue patch. On this stem I chose to use clear superglue rather than the black glue. I often use them interchangeably.

I set the stem aside to dry and worked on the bowl again. I wiped it down a final time with acetone on a cotton pad. I chose to stain it with a dark brown aniline stain, thinned 2:1 with isopropyl alcohol. I did not want to darken the colour of the pipe but merely bring it back to its original colour as determined from several other smooth GBD pipes of this era. I gave it a coat of stain and flamed it with a lighter. I reapplied the stain and also flamed it a second time. The next series of four photos show the pipe after it has been stain. I wiped it down with a soft cloth. It had not been buffed at this point.

After the initial staining the colour was a bit dark and opaque to my liking so I use a cotton pad and wiped the bowl down with Everclear to lighten it and make the grain stand out a bit more. The next four photos show the bowl after wiping it down.

With the bowl finished it was time to work on the stem once again. The superglue was dry and it was time to do some sanding. The next two photos below show the stem after sanding on the patches. The topside and the underside tooth marks are repaired and even with the surface of the stem at this point. Now the stem needed to be worked on with further sandpapers and the micromesh sanding pads.

I wet sanded the stem with 1500 and 1800 grit micromesh sanding pads to remove the scratches left by the other sandpapers. I wet the sanding pads and then sanded the stem, wiped off the grime and water and resanded it until the majority of the scratches were removed from the surface of the stem. I worked the pads around the GBD rondel so as not to sand it and remove surface or stain in the metal. The next two photos show the stem after sanding with these two grits.

I had read much about using the Barkeepers Friend cleaner to remove oxidation so I mixed up a paste of the powder and scoured the stem with a tooth-brush. The paste worked very well to remove the oxidation around the rondel and around the sharp edges of the button. It really took care of the remaining oxidation. I applied the paste, wiped it off, rinsed, reapplied and repeated the process until I was satisfied with the results. The next two photos show the stem after polishing with the paste.

I then sanded the stem with 2400 and 3200 grit micromesh sanding pads to begin to bring out the shine. I also applied a coat of Obsidian Oil to the stem, rubbed it in and let it dry. The first two photos below show the stem after this treatment. Photos three and four show the stem after I had dry sanded it 3600 grit micromesh sanding pads. Photos five and six show the stem after I had finished sanding it with the remaining 4000 – 12,000 grits of micromesh sanding pads. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil before I took the pipe to the buffer and gave it a final buff with White Diamond.

The final series of four photos show the finished pipe. There are some dents remaining in the surface of the rim that show up under the light of the flash. They are not nearly as visible in normal light. The pipe is ready to be put to use. It came a long way from the shelf of the Edmonton Antique Mall to the finished pipe it is now.

Refurbishing a Hilson Giant – Brian Devlin

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Here is another post by Brian Devlin. I enjoy reading about and seeing photos of his refurbishing work. I am again posting this piece for your viewing. I wrote and asked Brian about more of his process in cleaning stems and rims and he answered with a pm on Smokers Forums. I have integrated that into the text of this piece for those who are interested in knowing more. Without further delay here is Brian’s article.

I picked up another eBay buy that needed a bit of work. This one was a dirty Hilson Giant badly charred rim and heavily oxidized stem. What it looked like when it arrived can be seen in the photo below.

Once again I followed my process of cleaning and refurbishing. I begin by always cleaning the oxidation from the stem. I coated the stem spigot (tenon) and the Hilson logo with Vaseline to protect them from damage by the bleach soak.

I then put the stem in the bleach soak. For this I use an old butter box half filled with a mixture of 50% bleach and 50% water and let it soak for 30 minutes. I have found that this amount of time in the wash works well to remove the oxidation.

I rinse of the stem and then reassemble the pipe. I attach it to a retort to clean out the inside of the bowl, shank and stem. I use 99.9% isopropyl with the retort. You can see how I set up the retort in the photo below. For the heat source I use canned heat (editor’s note: in North America Sterno makes a product that works very well for this. Great idea Brian!).

The stem is pitted after soaking in the bleach mixture so I just buff with brown stick (middle cut) followed by white stick (finishing cut). For the rim I use white stick to polish the rim taking off the char build up. I finish by using Carnauba resin on an open mop (buffing pad) to finish the briar and the stem. It seems to stop the stem from oxidizing. I then buff the pipe and you have BRIAR REBORN!

The Restoration of a Bari Wiking – Brian Devlin

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After having read of Brian’s restorations on Smokers Forums I wrote and asked him to do a write up on one of his pieces for the rebornpipes blog. He willingly submitted this piece for me to post for him on the blog. I appreciate his willingness and enjoy the process he spells out in his refurbishing work of the Wiking. It is a pleasure to have Brian write for us. Without further ado here is the article and photos:

This is my first blog article on pipe restoration. The pipe was a dirty Bari Wiking with a badly charred rim and heavily oxidized stem that can be seen on the following photo. The photos and article will spell out my process.

First I always clean oxidation from the stem. Before soaking the stem I coat the stem spigot (tenon) and the Bari logo with Vaseline.

I then use an old butter box half filled with 50% bleach and 50% water and drop the stem in the mixture for 30 minutes.

After removing it from the bleach mixture I rinse the stem with fresh water. I reassemble the pipe and then use a retort with 99.9% isopropyl to clean out the inside of the stem, shank and bowl.

The pipe was then buffed. The result is a BRIAR REBORN!

Can a Cracked Bowl be Repaired? – Taking a Lesson from Gan Barber’s Work

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Blog by Steve Laug

Many of you have read the piece that Gan wrote on “All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men – A Peterson Adventure” https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/all-the-kings-horses-and-all-the-kings-men-a-petersen-adventure-gan-barber/ In it he described the process of reconstructing a Peterson that was in pieces. It arrived with cracks and he put the pieces back together. Since interacting with Gan on that pipe and rereading his article I have wanted to try my hand at repairing a cracked bowl. Finally I picked one up in an EBay lot that I purchased. It was an L. J. Perretti Smooth Bent Billiard. It was in rough shape and needed a stem. I figured I would practice some of the magic Gan used on the Peterson pipe he wrote about on this one.

This Perretti had some deep cracks that ran through the bowl from outside to the inside. Once I had reamed the extremely thick cake out of the bowl I could see that the cracks went all the way through the briar. There were deep gouged areas on the inner walls of the bowl directly behind the cracks. The wood was not charred so it was not a true burnout. I think that a combination of too thick a cake and possible flaws in the briar made these cracks appear. Interestingly the cracks follow the grain all the way through the pipe. I shined a light through the cracks and I could see light on the opposite wall of the pipe bowl. There were two large cracks on the left side and one running with the grain on the front of the bowl. The one on the front was not as open and it did not go all the way through the briar. The ones on the left side were quite open and cavernous.

The first series of seven photos shows the state of the bowl when I began the experiment. I figured I had nothing to lose on this one. If it fell apart or did not work out it was not a great loss at all, but it would fun giving it a try. I wanted to try out some of the methods that Gan used in his reconstruction of the Pete on this one and see what I could do with it.

After reaming thick cake back to the bare wood I sanded the exterior with 240 grit sandpaper to clean off the finish and get a better look at the nature and depth of the cracks. I wanted to be able to more clearly see how far across the bowl they stretched and if the cracks followed the grain. I had already seen the state of the inside bowl walls. The left side interior showed damage from the crack extending into the bowl. The front side was less damaged. It had some very minor cracks on the inside walls. I blew air through the shank into the bowl and plugged the top of the bowl to see where the air came through the walls. The only one that really allowed airflow was the larger crack on the left side toward the front of the bowl. The next three photos show the sanded bowl. I left sanding dust in the cracks to highlight their depth and the extent of damage.

I decided to put the bowl in the alcohol bath. I wanted to soften the remaining cake in the cracks and crevices inside the bowl and also soften the grime within the cracks. I had no idea what would happen to the bowl as it soaked. I almost expected it to come out of the bath in several pieces. I got busy with work and other demands and ended up leaving it in the bath for over 24 hours. When I finally removed it and let it dry for several days I figured that the drying would probably make the cracks worse.

When I removed the bowl from the bath it was not in pieces but the cracks did open a bit wider on the side of the bowl. The finish and grime was gone and I could clearly see what I had to do if I was going to repair this bowl. The end of the shank had also been damage and chipped so I decided to band it to give me a smooth edge for the new stem I was going to turn for it. I used a nickel band, heated it with the heat gun and pressure fit it on the shank of the pipe. The one bonus in the process was that the grain on this pipe was actually quite nice. The next three photos show the dried and banded bowl and shank. There was still a lot of sanding that would need to be done to prepare the bowl for the repairs and even more sanding once those were done.

I selected a stem that had the same diameter as the shank and turned the tenon on the Pimo Tenon Tool. I finished the fit by hand with a little help from the sanding drum on the Dremel. Once I had a good fit I set up the heat gun and heated the stem to bend it to match the bend of the bowl and bring the tip even with the top of the bowl. The next three photos show the heating and bending process as well as the finished look of the pipe with its new stem.

After I restemmed the pipe I did some more sanding on the bowl. I wanted a clean surface to work with when I did the patches on the cracks. I also cleaned out the inside of the bowl with sandpaper and a dental pick. I wanted to clean out the interior cracks in the bowl as well as the exterior ones. Each would use a different kind of patch but each needed a clean surface to work with. The next five photos show the cleaned exterior of the pipe and two photos of the interior. Still more work needed to be done to clean them up before I patched them.

For the exterior cracks I decided to use a patch mix of briar dust and superglue. I cleaned the cracks out with my dental pick and some Everclear. Once they were clean I packed them with briar dust, tamping it into the cracks with both the flat head of a tamper and also the tip of the dental pick. Once they were filled the first time I dripped the superglue into the cracks. The glue binds the dust and the surrounding briar and also compacts the briar dust. I then retamped in some more briar dust and repeated the process until it was filled. The next six photos show the process of filling the cracks around the bowl.

Once all the cracks were filled I sanded the bowl with 240 grit sandpaper to remove the excess material on the surface of the bowl. You will note the scratches in the surface of the briar. These would be removed in the successive sanding that still would be done to the bowl. The cracks are filled and the surface hard. The briar dust and superglue form a good bond with the crack and when dry are dark black in colour. They are hard to the touch even with the dental pick. The next four photos show the bowl after sanding. The surface is smooth to the touch.

The scratches on the bowl have been minimized with the fine grit sanding sponge pictured above. I continued to sand until the marks were gone using 320 grit sandpaper. Once I had the bowl to that point I wiped it down with Everclear on a cotton pad. The three photos below show the bowl after the wash.

I continued to sand the bowl with micromesh sanding pads from 1500-12,000 grit to smooth out the surface of the bowl. The micromesh left the surface ready to be stained. The cracks are still visible in terms of the black lines but the cavernous gaps are filled and repaired.

I decided to stain the bowl with a rich oxblood aniline paste stain. I applied it to the bowl, flamed it and applied it a second time and flamed it. Once it was dry I wiped it off and hand buffed the surface. My purpose was not to hide the flaws but to minimize the glaring nature of the repairs. The next six photos show the staining and rubbed down bowl. I was not happy with the coverage but I buffed it quickly with White Diamond to see what I had to work with. The final photos in the series of six show the buffed and polished look of the bowl.

I decided to give the bowl a second staining of a dark brown aniline colour. This was a mix of dark brown and alcohol 1:1. I applied it and flamed it. I repeated the process to darken the colour of the bowl. The four photos below show the result of the application of the brown stain.

After the stain had dried it was time to address the inside of the bowl. I sanded it out quickly with a Dremel with a sanding drum attachment. I was careful not to change the shape of the bowl but to merely remove any carbon cake that still remained. I wiped the inside down with Everclear and then flamed it to dry out the surface of any moisture. I then mixed a batch of JB Weld. This would be the first step in doing the interior repairs. I packed it into the cracks on the inside of the bowl using the spoon end of the pipe nail. I continue to pack it into the bowl cracks until they were smooth. The four photos below show the mix and the patch in the bowl. It has a drying time of 6 hours to dry to touch and 24 hours to cure.

While the bowl was drying I worked on the new stem. I sanded down the castings on the side of the stem and polished it with micromesh sanding pads. I used 1500-12,000 grit micromesh pads on the stem. I pictured three photos below to show the process.

The next series of eight photos show the patch after it had dried. I also reapplied the JB Weld after the initial 12 hours so that it filled in the places where it had shrunk as it dried. The patch dried a fine grey coloured. I sanded it down until it was only in the cracks themselves and not in the clean briar. I wanted to give the briar as much absorption area as possible as the JB Weld does not absorb moisture at all. It dries to a neutral, hard metallic material that has no taste.

Once the JB Weld was cleaned up and reduced to only filling the cracks it was time for the second step of the bowl interior renewal. I mixed a batch of bowl coating composed of activated charcoal powder and sour cream. I stirred the batch until it was a consistent blue/black grey colour. I applied it to the entire bowl from top to bottom with a folded pipe cleaner. Once it dries it is a solid black colour and neutral in taste. It gives the bowl an additional layer of protection until the cake builds up. The next three photos show the mix and the application in the bowl.

With that done, both the inside and the outside cracks are repaired and the pipe is back in service. I gave the entire pipe a final buff with White Diamond and then applied multiple coats of carnauba wax for protection. The final photos below give you an idea of how the pipe looks today. It is still curing from the bowl coating but I will load it and smoke it once that has cured. The finish of the two stains worked well to blend in the repairs but not hide them. The surface is smooth and the open cracks have been repaired. Now the ongoing test begins. Will the patches hold up or will the new heat from the fired tobacco open them a second time? Time will tell but it is worth the experiment in my opinion.