Tag Archives: super glue

Refurbishing an Inherited c.1908 BBB Own Make Lovat

Leave a reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

I absolutely love my classic BBB pipes that I have inherited and one such pipe is now on my worktable. This classic Lovat has some beautiful cross grains on the front, back and shank surface with beautiful bird’s eye grains on the sides that can be made out under the grime and dust covering the stummel surface. It is stamped on the left side of the shank as “BBB” in a rhombus with “OWN” and “MAKE” on either side of the rhombus. The Sterling silver ferrule at the shank end is stamped as “AF & Co.” in a rectangle followed by three cartouche bearing hallmarks. Starting from the left, the first cartouche bears the stamp of an “Anchor” for the Birmingham Assay Office followed by the “Lion Passant” certifying the silver quality and the last cartouche bears the Date letter “i” which is quite worn out and the outline of the letter can be made out only under close scrutiny under a magnifying glass. The vulcanite saddle stem is devoid of any stem logo. The stampings are clear and easily discernible except the date code letter. BBB – Pipedia has detailed information on the origins of the brand, it’s transition to the Cadogan group making this article a good read for those interested. I would like to highlight that, quote “At the beginning, BBB produces two qualities. One, BBB Own Make, became finally BBB Best Make, other pipes being simply estampillées BBB. There are reasons to believe that Own Make in fact were produced in London (Reject pipes cuts year R stamped one them.), whereas the simple BBB were imported, and this, to the paddle of the 20th century. However, if all that is not very clear, it is probable that the lines low-of-range were an import of Saint-Claude” un-quote.

Now coming on to the most interesting and satisfying part of the research on this piece of briar and that is establishing the probable date of manufacture of this pipe. I prefer to follow English silver marks: the guide to hallmarks of London sterling silver (silvercollection.it)  while establishing the dates on the basis of the date letter in the hallmarks. The Anchor points to the Birmingham Assaying Office. Thereafter, I followed the link to the dating guide of the Birmingham Assay Office to date this pipe. I have included a hallmark chart for dating the pipe and have put a red mark around the letter for 1908. It is the same style of “i” and the cartouche that holds the letter stamp.Thus it is with certainty I say that this BBB was made in 1908, give or take a year as the ferrules were assayed in bulk and used as required. The stamp of Own Make designates this as the finest quality pipe that was made in London for the local market in limited quantities.

Initial Visual Inspection
This 115 year old pipe flaunts it’s age with great dignity and élan. There is a decent layer of cake in the chamber that is even throughout. The rim top surface is covered in a layer of lava overflow. Underneath this crud and grime, the inner rim edge damage is apparent. The outer rim edge has a number of dents and dings. The stummel surface, though covered in dirt, dust and grime, has developed a nice patina. The stem has a chunk of vulcanite missing from the button and rounded orifice. The following pictures will give the readers a general idea as to the condition of the pipe as it sits on my worktable. Detailed Visual Inspection
As brought out earlier, the chamber has an even layer of hard and brittle cake. It appears that the cake was being regularly reamed to maintain the correct bare minimum thickness. The condition of the chamber walls will be ascertained after the cake has been taken down to bare briar. The rim top surface is uneven and covered in a layer of overflowing oils and tars. Also the condition of the rim inner edge is indicative of it being subjected to an amateurish use of a sharp knife to remove charred surface from the edge. The end result is an uneven and an out of round chamber. The outer rim edge too has a number of dents and dings, most likely caused due to striking against a hard surface to remove the dottle. I intend to address the issue of uneven rim top surface by topping the rim surface. It will also help to address the damage to the inner and outer rim edges to an extent and what damage remains; will be masked by creating a bevel.The stummel is covered in a layer of dirt and grime from years of uncared for storage. The sides and front of the bowl appears considerably darker due to accumulation of grime over the hand oils from over a period of 115 years. However, beautiful cross grains on the front, back and shank surface with beautiful bird’s eye grains on the sides can be made out under the grime and dust covering the stummel surface. There are no scratches/dings or dents over the stummel surface. The briar has developed a beautiful dark patina over the years and it will be my endeavor to maintain it through the restoration process. The mortise is clogged with old oils, tars and ash; however, the shank face is sans any crack or deformation. This also confirms that the band is not a repair band but is original to the pipe. There is no reason to sand the stummel surface to address any dents / dings as there are none. I shall dry sand the bowl with micromesh pads to bring out the grains and impart a shine to the surface while preserving the patina. The period correct vulcanite saddle stem with a round orifice has a quality feel to it. It is oxidized and is missing a chunk of vulcanite from the bite zone including the button and the round slot. The area around the damaged portion has deep tooth indentations. The step tenon is covered in accumulation of old oils, tars and grime. I will rebuild the damaged portion of the stem using activated charcoal and CA superglue and thereafter match the repaired portion with the stem profile and the rest of the stem surface. After the cleaning and polishing regimen, the repairs should blend in well with the stem surface. The Process
I began the repair and refurbishing process with cleaning of the stem internals. Using thin shank brushes and anti-oil dish washing soap, I cleaned the stem airway. I have modified this process of cleaning the stem airway by doing away with pipe cleaners and alcohol as it saves me a ton of pipe cleaners, which is a precious commodity for me here in India. I continued this cleaning till only white clean foam came out of the stem airway, indicating that the airway was nice and clean. I ran a couple of pipe cleaners dipped in alcohol through the airway to dry it out and make sure that there are no traces of soap and gunk hidden in the airway.With the stem internals now clean, I moved to external cleaning of the stem surface by dunking the stem into “Before and After Deoxidizer” solution developed by Mark Hoover. The solution helps to draw out heavy oxidation to the surface making it’s further removal a breeze, while the minor oxidation is eliminated to a very great extent. I usually dunk stems of few pipes that are in-line for restoration and this BARLING’S MAKE is marked in yellow arrow. I generally allow the stems to soak in this solution overnight for the solution to do its work.While the stem was soaking in the De-oxidizer solution, I reamed the chamber with size 2 head of the PipNet pipe reamer. I removed the carbon from the areas where the reamer head could not reach with my fabricated knife. To completely remove the residual carbon from the walls of the chamber and smooth out the walls, I sanded the chamber walls with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper followed by cleaning the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with isopropyl alcohol. The chamber walls are in pristine condition. I gently scrapped off the lava build up over the rim top using a sharp knife to avoid damage to the surface.I cleaned the mortise and shank airway using a dental pick and hard / soft bristled pipe cleaners dipped in isopropyl alcohol. I shall continue with further cleaning of the shank internals once I clean the external stummel surface.Next, I decided to subject the chamber and mortise to cotton and alcohol bath. I packed the chamber with cotton and drew out a wick from the cotton and along with a folded regular pipe cleaner, inserted it into the mortise and through the draught hole into the chamber. I tightly packed cotton balls into the remaining portion of the mortise. Thereafter, I soaked the cotton balls with isopropyl alcohol up to the brim. About half an hour later, the level of alcohol had gone down, having being absorbed by the cotton. I topped it up once again and set it aside overnight. By next afternoon, the cotton and alcohol had drawn out all the remaining oils and tars from the chamber and mortise. I removed the cotton balls and the dirt can be gauged by the appearance and coloration of the cotton balls and the pipe cleaner. With my fabricated knife and dental tools, I spent the next hour scrapping out the entire loosened gunk from the mortise. I ran pipe cleaners through the mortise and draught hole to clean out all the loosened tars and gunk that was lodged in the draught hole and mortise. The chamber and mortise now smelled clean, fresh and looked it too. I set the stummel to dry out naturally. Once the internals of the chamber and shank were cleaned, I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil soap and cotton swabs followed by scrubbing the surface with a toothbrush and dish washing soap. This rid the stummel surface of all the accumulated dust, dirt and grime. Using a piece of Scotch Brite scrub, I deliberately cleaned the rim top and removed the crud from the surface. The damage to the rim edges is, thankfully, not as severe as I had anticipated. I also cleaned the shank internals with dish washing soap and a shank brush. I set the stummel aside to dry out naturally while I worked the stem.By the time I was done with internal and external cleaning of the stummel, the stem had been in the deoxidizer solution for nearly 24 hours. I cleaned the stem and the stem airway under running warm water and scrubbed the raised oxidation from the surface using a Scotch Brite pad and the airway with a thin shank brush. I further removed the oxidation by scrubbing the stem with 0000 grade steel wool. Once the stem was dried with paper towels, I applied a little olive oil to rehydrate the stem.I wiped the stem surface, particularly the damaged button end, with a cotton pad and alcohol to remove any traces of dirt and grime. To begin the stem repairs, I first wound a scotch tape around the tapered portion of a pipe cleaner and inserted it into the stem airway. I prepared a mix of CA superglue and activated charcoal and generously applied it over and extending beyond the broken surface and set it aside for curing over night. The tape will help prevent the mix from clogging the stem airway.While the stem fills were curing, I addressed the damage to the rim top surface by topping the rim to reduce the charred surface and bringing the bowl back to round. I always use a square piece of 220 grit sand paper and firmly hold it with my hand on my work table. I work the rim top on the sand paper in circular motion, frequently checking the progress as I want to keep the briar loss to a bare minimum necessary. The inner rim edge damage has not been addressed entirely with a few dings and uneven surface visible on the sides (encircled in red) and charred surface to the front of the bowl (encircled in green). Also a few minor dents and chipped surfaces are visible along the outer rim edge. These issues were addressed next. In order to mask the still visible damage to the inner rim edge, I created an inner edge bevel by pinching a folded piece of 180 grit sand paper between my thumb and forefinger and moving along the inner edge with a constant pressure, to minimize the charring on the inner edge of the rim. Similarly, I created a slight bevel on the outer edge of the rim to address the minor dents and chipped areas.Next, I subjected the stummel to a complete cycle of micromesh polish, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stummel with a moist cloth after every grit pad to remove the sanding dust left behind by the pads. This also helps in monitoring the progress being made and ensures early corrective action. I am happy with the progress being made until now. I massaged a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” into the briar surface with my finger tips and worked it deep into the surface and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works it’s magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful bird’s eyes and cross grain patterns on full display. It was at this stage that I polished the sterling silver with a jeweller’s cloth to a nice shine. By the time I was through with the stummel polishing, the stem fills had completely cured.  I moved ahead with the process of filing and shaping the button end with a flat head needle file. With a round needle file, I reshaped the round orifice at the slot end. For a better blending, I further sanded the entire stem with a folded piece of 320 grit sandpaper. I continued to dry sand the entire stem with a folded piece of 400 followed by 600 and 800 grit sandpaper and further progressed to wet sanding with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. I rubbed a small quantity of EVO into the stem surface and set it aside for the vulcanite to absorb and hydrate. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding with 1500 to 12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem with moist cloth after working each pad and rubbed it down with Extra Virgin Olive oil to rejuvenate the vulcanite.To complete the restoration, I mounted a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and polished the stummel and stem with Blue Diamond compound. This compound helps to remove the minor scratch marks that remain from the sanding. Next, I mounted another cotton buffing wheel that I have earmarked for carnauba wax and applied several coats of the wax. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to raise the shine further. The finished pipe looks amazingly beautiful and is ready to join my collection. I only wish it could share with me it’s story of the past years while I enjoy smoking my favorite Virginia blend in it or maybe an English blend or maybe just keep admiring it!! The finished pipe is as shown below:- A note of thanks to all the readers who have joined me in this journey that has been such a pleasure! You and your loved ones are always in our prayers…

Restoring a French Made Loewe & Co. 015 Dublin with a Saddle stem

2 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the work table is one that a fellow sent me from England (I have since found out that he is in Scotland not England). He had written to me earlier this week about an old pipe that he had that needed some work. Here is his first email.

Hello. I have an old pipe I would like restored. Its not something I feel I could do myself. I was wondering if you provide a restoration service, and if so how I would go about sending you the pipe to work on. –  Leo

I replied to him as follows:

Hello Leo, I do restoration but I am located on the west coast of Canada. Send photos of the pipe so I can have a look and we will go from there. Thanks. – Steve

He did not waste anytime and sent me an email with the first three pictures below. It is an interesting looking long, oval shank, sandblast Dublin with a vulcanite saddle stem. After viewing the photos and emailing back and forth with Leo about the pipe I asked him to mail it to me so I could work on it. It is an interesting sandblast, long oval shank Dublin. The bowl had a thick cake inside and a lot of lava overflow on the rim top. The finish is quite dirty with a lot of grime in the sandblast valleys. It was worn on the left side of the bowl and dark finish was light there. The photo of the underside of the shank shows scratches and marks on the surface that had all but eliminated the stamping. There is a shape number at the stem/shank junction that reads 015. Below that it is stamped Made in France. The stem is dirty with oxidation, calcification and deep scratches and marks on both sides. There are tooth marks ahead of the button on both sides that are quite deep.  There is a brass square on the top of the saddle that has an L in it. There are no other identifying marks on the pipe. It will be fun identifying it and the brass L square will tell me a lot. It is a uniquely shaped pipe that I really like the looks of and I think that once it is cleaned up it will be a real beauty.

The pipe arrived this week while I was travelling. I took photos of the pipe once I brought it to the work table. I always include the pre-clean up photos to confirm what I saw in the photos that were sent to me. In this case the condition matched what I saw in the photos. The pipe was a real mess and would take some work to clean up and restore. I took photos of the bowl and rim top as well as the stem. The rim top shows the thick lava coat on the top and the inner edge of the bowl. It is heavier on the back side than the front. You can also the lava fill on the rim top almost completely hiding the rustication. You can see the oxidation around the stem sides, the scratches on the surface and the deep tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button.I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It reads as noted above. The hash marks and scratching on the smooth surface have obliterated the stamping and it is unreadable. The shape number 015 and the Made in France stamping is still readable at the shank/stem junction. The pipe is quite nice with the stem removed. You can see the flow of the design and the look of the parts.Before I started my cleanup work on the pipe I decide to do a bit of digging on the brass square L logo on the stem. I scrolled through all of the pipe brands that started with an”L” on Pipephil until I came across the listing for Loewe pipes (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l5.html). The third pipe down in the screen capture below has the same logo on the stem as the one I am working on. Now I knew that the pipe was a Loewe and that it was a French Made one at that. I have included the screen capture of the section below.I then turned to the article on Loewe pipes on Pipedia for more information and to see if I could find anything on the French made Loewe pipes (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Loewe_%26_Co.). There was a passing note in the article in the fourth paragraph that I have marked in red. It states that French Loewes appeared in the early 1980s and are a sign that the pipes were made in more than one location before the Cadogan Era.

Loewe is one of the haunting old names of British pipe-making, characteristic of an almost vanished “upper middle class” of the trade, which also incorporated makes such as BBB, Orlik, Comoy’s and GBD. Along with these brands, Loewe has long dwindled into pseudo-existence, becoming little more than a logo occasionally used by the Cadogan factory in Southend-on-Sea. But owners of older Loewes treasure them as superb, featherweight smokers, excellently crafted and with grain characteristics superior to those of many contemporary Dunhills.

The Frenchman Emil Loewe founded the company, both shop and workshop, in 1856 at the Haymarket 62, London. He is said to have been the first to make briar pipes in England. Richard Hacker maintains that theatre people from the West End were among the shop’s heyday aficionados. Loewe’s spigots are especially well regarded by lovers of elegance today – they were originally introduced for practical reasons, to facilitate the production of replacement stems for customers abroad.

The firm and its facilities were later taken over by Civic, well before becoming a fully integrated part of the Cadogan group sometime in the final quarter of the twentieth century. As with other brands belonging to this group, it is not easy to pinpoint a date marking the end of Loewe’s independence and singularity. This is partly due to Cadogan’s own development from a cooperative to a monolithic entity.

In 1979, a German paperback said that the Loewe brand had been discontinued two years previously, but that the pipes themselves were due to reappear as high-end GBDs. Interestingly, the year of publication coincided with the year in which the Loewe trademark became Cadogan’s, who by this time already owned GBD. From today’s point of view, the author appears to have been working on confused, but partly true information. If there were ever really plans to fully amalgamate the two lines, they were dropped. Also, a two-year break at this time seems impossible, since we have hallmark evidence of Loewes made in 1978 and 1979. However, there are firm indications that Loewe shapes were later marketed as Comoy’s (another Cadogan brand). There may also have been a phase of dissolution regarding location. The reported appearance of French Loewes in the early 1980s is a sign that Loewes were being produced in more than one place at some stage before the Cadogan-era proper.

From what I can gather, Cadogan’s various brands continued to be made in separate facilities throughout the1970s. It was the purchase of Orlik in 1980 that enabled the Cadogan group to consolidate all manufacturing in that company’s new factory in Southend-on-Sea. Whether or not this transferral was a gradual process and when it affected Loewe is unclear. We hear that, as a company, Loewe was not formally wound up by Cadogan (the successor to Civic) until the late 1980s. Of course, today’s ‘Loewes’ are definitely made in Southend – though, according to Cadogan, the trademark is no longer used very much.

Now I knew for certain that I was working on a French made Loewe & Company pipe and that it was made in the early 1980s. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

I started my work on this pipe by reaming the bowl. I started with a PipNet reamer to clean out the cake in the bowl. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished by sanding the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the interior of the bowl. I cleaned out the internals of the bowl, shank and the airway in the stem. I started the clean up by scraping the shank with a pen knife to remove the tars that lined the shank. I cleaned out the mortise and airways with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners until they were clean. I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked on the bowl and rim top as well as the inner and outer edges of the bowl. The exterior of the bowl and shank cleaned up really well. I rinsed it with warm water to remove the soap and the grime from the briar. I dried it off with a cotton towel. I took photos of the bowl at this point in the process. The rim top still showed a lot of build up filling in the blast valleys. I would need to used other tools to clean that up. I used a dental pick to scrape out the lava deep in the sand blast. It took some detailed picked to remove it. I followed up on that with a brass bristle wire brush to further clean up the surface of the rim top. I worked over the bevelled inner edge with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage on the inner edge. It certainly looks much better at this point. I used a walnut and a black stain pen to touch up the worn spots on the bowl side and the rim top sanded areas. It looked much better at this point.I sanded out the scratches in the flat bottom of the shank. They were several and they were quite deep. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth the majority of them out. When finished the pipe looked better.I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine and the grain shines through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned to the stem. It was in rough condition with the gummy tape on the end fitting into the shank and deep tooth marks. I painted the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic lighter to try and lift them. I lifted them but they were still distinctly present. I filled in the marks with Black CA glue and set it aside to cure. Once cured I flattened the repair with a file and then followed that up with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. It looked much better. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It turned out to be a nice pipe. The sandblast finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great. The oval vulcanite saddle stem works well with the pipe. The Loewe & Co. French Made 015 Oval Shank Dublin feels great in my hand. It is a well-balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.59 ounces/44 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be going back to Leo who sent it to me for restoration. I am sure he will enjoy it and it will give many more years of service to him.

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

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

3 Replies

Blog by Steve Laug

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

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

I replied to him as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Replies

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leave a reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Refurbishing a beautiful classic billiard from Peterson’s – a Kapet # 150, London Made, England

Leave a reply

Blog by Paresh Deshpande

The next pipe that I selected to work on is a beautiful classic billiard shaped Peterson’s pipe with a P-lip tapered stem. The very appearance of this pipe shouted “ol’ timer” to me even before I saw the stampings. The size also indicated that this pipe was from an era when large bowl were not in vogue, specifically the English made.

The pipe boasts of some beautiful mixed grains of bird’s eye and cross grains hidden beneath the layer of dirt and grime. That this pipe is from a quality pipe maker is evident from the quality of fit, finish and the briar used. There are only a couple of small fills that I could identify. The tapered P-lip vulcanite stem also oozes quality and points it to be a Peterson’s pipe. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank as “PETERSON’S” with a forked P over “KAPET”, all in capital letters. The left side of the shank is stamped as “LONDON MADE” over “ENGLAND” and followed by shape code “150” towards the shank end. The stem has the trademark letter P in cursive hand over the left side.I have worked on quite a few Peterson’s from pre-1960s and from those researches; I know that this pipe is from the classic range of pipes from Peterson’s and belongs to the period when Peterson’s had an office in London up to late 1950s when the shop was closed. I referred to pipedia.org just to refresh my knowledge about the history of Peterson’s pipes. It always does make for an interesting read and is highly recommended. Given below is the link to this detailed history of the brand Peterson’s.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson

Given below is the link to the Dating Guide for Peterson’s pipes at the end of the article on pipedia.org.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/A_Peterson_Dating_Guide;_A_Rule_of_Thumb

To summarize, this pipe is from the classic range of Peterson’s, an entry level Pete pipe. This is evidenced from the KAPET stampings and a couple of fills in the briar surface. The COM stamp points to a period between 1895, when Peterson’s opened a shop in London, and late 1950s when this shop was closed. Thus this pipe definitely dates to pre-1960s.

INITIAL VISUAL INSPECTION
The chamber of this classic billiard shaped pipe has a thick coat of even cake with small traces of lava flow over the rim top surface. The rim top itself has a few dents and dings along its surface. The stummel surface is dull, dry and covered in grime giving it a lackluster appearance. The shank shows accumulation of old oils, tars and gunk. The vulcanite stem does not sit flush with the shank face. The stem bite zone has signs of deep tooth indentations over the button edges and around the round slot end. Here is how the pipe appears as it sits on my work table. Detailed Inspection
The chamber has a decent layer of even cake that lightly overflows over the rim top surface. The condition of the chamber walls can be commented upon once the cake has been completely taken down to the bare briar. The inner rim edge is charred in 6 o’clock and 11 o’clock directions (encircled in yellow). The rim top itself is dotted with dents and dings. The outer rim edge too has a few minor chipped areas, but nothing serious.The stummel is covered in dust and grime of all the years of use. There are a couple of fills (marked by green). The shank is filthy with the accumulated old oils, ash and grime. This clogging could be the reason for the seating of the stem not being flush with the shank face.  Other than these issues, the stummel is in a decent condition. The P-Lip straight vulcanite stem is oxidized with severe tooth indentations on the button edge on either surfaces of the stem in the bite zone to the extent that the round slot at the top is completely deformed. The step tenon end shows heavy traces of dried oils and tars and remnants of ash and the heavy draw through the stem airway convinces me that there is heavy accumulation of gunk throughout the airway.The Process
I started the process of restoration by first cleaning the stem internals with anti-oil dish cleaning soap and thin shank brushes. The stem air way was filthy to say the least. I further cleaned the stem internals with hard bristled and regular pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. A lot of elbow grease and a pile of pipe cleaners later, the pipe cleaners emerged white and I knew that the stem internals were now clean and fresh. I dunked the stem into the deoxidizer solution have overnight for the oxidation to be pulled out to the surface. I usually have around 4-5 pipes lined for restoration and this Pete is indicated by a green arrow.The next afternoon, Abha fished out the stem from the deoxidizer solution and scrubbed it with a Scotch Brite pad to get rid of the loosened oxidation from the surface. She followed this scrub with a second scrub using 0000 grade steel wool and this helped in further removal of raised oxidation from the surface and even out the minor scratches resulting from using the Scotch Brit pad. She rinsed the stem under warm running water to completely remove the solution from the airway and slot end. She ran a couple of pipe cleaners to remove the last traces of residual deoxidizer solution from the airway and dry out the airway.With the external and internal cleaning of the stem completed, Abha handed over the stem to me to complete the repairs. Continuing with the stem refurbishing, I heated the bite zone with the flame of a lighter to raise the tooth indentations to the surface. Though the results were not what were expected, the vulcanite was raised a little leaving behind deep tooth compressions over the button edge on either surfaces. These surfaces of the stem were filled with a mix of CA Gorilla superglue and activated charcoal powder and set aside for the fill to cure. I really hope that this time around I get better results with using this new CA glue. With the stem repairs set aside to harden, I started with the stummel repairs by reaming the chamber with the smallest of the PipNet reamer blade. I used my fabricated knife to remove cake from areas inaccessible to the reamer blade and completed the process by sanding the walls smooth with a folded piece of 180 grit sandpaper. I wiped the chamber with a cotton swab wetted with alcohol to clean the residual carbon dust. The chamber walls are solid with decades of residual service life. However, the rim has slightly deformed due to charring at 6 and 12 o’clock directions and encircled in green. I cleaned the external surface of the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s oil soap and a hard bristled toothbrush. I cleaned the smooth rim top surface with the soap and Scotch Brite pad. The darkened inner rims edge in the 6 o’clock direction is now clearly visible (marked in red) and confirms a charred rim edge. Simultaneously, I thoroughly cleaned the mortise with shank brush and anti-oil dish washing soap. This ensured that the stummel now smells clean and fresh. I dried the stummel internals and externals with paper towels and soft absorbent cotton cloth and set it aside overnight to completely dry out before I worked on it any further.By next afternoon, the stummel had dried out and I decided to address the issue of fills over the surface. With a sharp dental tool, I extracted the old and loosened fills and cleaned the area with a cotton swab and alcohol. Using clear CA superglue, I filled up the pits over the stummel surface and set it aside to cure. Once the fill had hardened, I first sand the fills with a needle file to roughly match the fill with the rest of the surface followed by sanding with a folded piece of 220 grit sand paper to further blend in the fills with the rest of the briar surface.Next, I moved on to address the charred edges over the rim top surface. I topped the rim over a piece of 220 grit sand paper by slowly rotating the rim over the sand paper. I hate to lose briar any more than absolutely necessary and so frequently checked the progress I was making. I was quite pleased with the appearance of the stummel at this stage in restoration.With a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper pinched between my forefinger and thumb, I imparted a nice bevel to the inner rim edge. This eliminated the minor charring that had remained over the inner rim edges.Now that the stummel repairs were complete, Abha took over the bowl to work her magic and bring alive the grains over the briar surface. She went through the complete set of micromesh pads, wet sanding through 1500 to 12000 grit pads. Next, she rubbed a small quantity of “Before and After Restoration Balm” deep in to the briar with my finger tips and let it rest for a few minutes. The balm almost immediately works its magic and the briar now has a nice vibrant appearance with the beautiful grain patterns displayed in their complete splendor. I really like the looks of the stummel at this point in restoration. The grains and the clean lines of this piece of briar is really appreciable. While Abha was polishing the stummel, I worked on the stem repairs. The fill had cured and with a flat head needle file, I worked on the filling till I had achieved a rough match with the surrounding surface and had sufficiently sharpened the button edges. For a better blending, I further sand the entire stem with 320.Next, to impart a nice shine, I dry sanded the entire stem with 320, 600 and 800 grit sand papers followed by wet sanding using 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit sand papers. This progressive use of higher grit sandpapers helps to, firstly,  reduce the sanding marks left behind by the more abrasive ones, secondly, completely eliminates the oxidation while imparting a clean shine to the stem surface. Thirdly, this also helped to even out the minor imperfections from the bite zone. I applied a little EVO and set the stem aside for a few minutes for the oil to be absorbed in the stem surface. To bring a deep shine to the vulcanite stem, I went through the dry sanding with 3200 to 12000 grit micromesh pads, and wiped the stem with Extra Virgin Olive oil to rehydrate the vulcanite. The repairs have blended in very well and the stem now looks shiny black and beautiful. The finished stem is shown below.To refresh the stem logo, I coat the stem logo with white correction ink and let it dry out completely. Once the ink had dried out, with a toothpick, I gently removed the excess ink from the surrounding surface. Though the logo is not very crisp, this is the best that was possible given how worn out the stamping was to start with.This is that part in pipe refurbishing that I love and enjoy the most. I began the final polishing cycle by mounting a cotton cloth buffing wheel on to my hand held rotary tool and applying a coat of Blue Diamond to the entire pipe to polish out the minor scratches. With a cotton buffing wheel that I use for carnauba wax, I apply a coat of carnauba wax to the stummel and stem and continued to work on it till the complete coat of wax had been polished out. I mount a clean cotton cloth buffing wheel and gave the entire pipe a once over buff. I finished the restoration by giving the entire pipe a rigorous hand buffing using a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine further. This classic Billiards shape pipe from Peterson’s oozes a solidity and beauty that draws you to it. Here are a couple of pictures of the pipe at the end of the restoration process. P.S. I shared the pictures of this pipe on our club’s WhatsApp group and was immediately snatched up by one of the members. As I completed the write up, I have received a fantastic feedback on the smoking qualities and aesthetics of this pipe…..and this is truly the most satisfying experience of the entire process!!

There are some interesting pipes that I have lined up next…..keep following rebornpipes for the write ups. Stay safe and keep the pipe lit.

A Brigham Canada 141 Rusticated Acorn Reborn

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking rusticated ¼ bent acorn with a black vulcanite stem. We picked it up on 09/12/2021 from an auction in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, USA. The stamping on the underside of the shank has the shape number 141 on the heel of the bowl followed by Brigham in script [over] CANADA. The vulcanite stem has a single brass dot inserted on the left side. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with a medium brown finish that highlights the grain under the rustication. The ¼ bent vulcanite stem works very well with the bowl. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. Jeff sent me the following photos of the pipe to show the condition it was in before he worked on it.

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

  1. The finish shows darkening of hand oils and some thick grime ground into the finish around the bowl sides. The medium brown stain is dull and the grain is obscured around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The rusticated rim top was very dirty with darkening and lava ground into the rustication to point that it was almost smooth. The inner edge of the bowl was unclear but seemed to show some damage under the lava coat.
  3. There was a moderate cake in the bowl. The bowl itself was very dark and dirty. Once the bowl was cleaned up we could confirm the condition of the bowl walls.
  4. The vulcanite taper stem was filthy with oxidation, calcification and tooth marks and chatter on both sides. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside ahead of the button.
  5. There is a brass single dot on the left side that identifies it as a Brigham pipe. It is tarnished and almost invisible in the oxidation of the stem. The tenon is a Hard Rock Distillator system that holds a maple filter and it is tarred and heavily dirty.

To summarize what I saw – this Brigham Canada 141 Acorn is a well made pipe. The bowl and stem are very dirty which says to me that the pipe was someone’s favourite pipe. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It should clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe taken before Jeff started the clean up.  Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick – covering the walls of the bowl. The rim top has thick lava coat and has some darkening on the inner edge and is heavier toward the back of the bowl. The inner edge looks like it might be damaged. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work. The stem is very oxidized with thick calcification on the last half of the stem and there are tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in rusticated finish of the bowl? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? What does the finish look like? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos.  Jeff removed the stem from the shank and took photos of the distillator aluminum tenon. There was no maple filter in the tenon so the tube was filled up with tars and oils. The outside of the tube is also covered with tars as well. He took photos of the stamping on the underside of the shank. On the heel it is stamped with the shape number 141. That is followed by Brigham in script [over] Canada. The vulcanite stem has the brass pin in the left side of the taper. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? I am also including the information from Pipedia’s article on Brigham pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes). Charles Lemon (Dadspipes) is currently working on a book on the history of the brand. Until that is complete this article is a good summary. I have included it below.

Roy Brigham, after serving an apprenticeship under an Austrian pipesmith, started his own pipe repair shop in Toronto, in 1906. By 1918 the business had grown to include five other craftsmen and had developed a reputation across Canada for the high quality of workmanship. After repairing many different brands of pipes over the years, Roy noted certain recurring complaints by pipe smokers, the most common referred to as “tongue bite”. Tongue bite is a burning sensation on the smoker’s tongue, previously thought to be due to the heat of the smoke (i.e. a “hot smoking pipe”).

He soon began manufacturing his own pipes, which were lightweight, yet featured a more rugged construction, strengthening the weak points observed in other pipes. The problem of tongue bite intrigued him, and he decided to make overcoming it a future goal.

About 1938, Roy’s son Herb joined him to assist in the business. The business barely survived the great depression because pipes were considered to be a luxury, not a necessity, and selling pipes was difficult indeed. In approximately 1937 [1], after some experimentation, Roy and Herb discovered that tongue bite was in fact a form of mild chemical burn to the tongue, caused by tars and acids in the smoke. They found that by filtering the smoke, it was possible to retain the flavour of the tobacco and yet remove these impurities and thereby stop the tongue bite.

Just as Thomas Edison had searched far and wide for the perfect material from which to make the first electric light bulb filaments, Roy & Herb began experimenting with many materials, both common and exotic, in the quest for the perfect pipe filter. Results varied wildly. Most of the materials didn’t work at all and some actually imparted their own flavour into the smoke. They eventually found just two materials that were satisfactory in pipes: bamboo and rock maple. As bamboo was obviously not as readily available, rock maple then became the logical choice.

They were able to manufacture a replaceable hollow wooden tube made from rock maple dowelling, which when inserted into a specially made pipe, caused absolutely no restriction to the draw of the pipe, yet extracted many of the impurities which had caused tongue bite. The result was indeed a truly better smoking pipe…

I then turned to a second article by Charles Lemon called, “A Closer Look at the Dots, Dates, and Markings of Brigham Pipes” to be able to pin down the time frame that the pipe was made in and to help interpret the stampings and shape number on the pipe. Here is the link to his article. (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Pipes_%E2%80%93_A_Closer_Look_at_Dots,_Dates_and_Markings

I have dubbed the decades between 1980 and 2000 the Late Canadian Era, a period that saw several changes at Brigham that are of note to the collector. First, the traditional 8-grade pinning system (the famous Brigham “Dots” which denoted the quality of the pipe) was changed to a 7-grade system to simplify pinning (more on this below), and the Norsemen and Valhalla series were merged to form the President Series, which represented the very finest pipes coming out of the Toronto factory. Early pipes from this era (left, below) are stamped with a shape number and “Brigham” over “Canada”; later pipes (late 1980s+, on right below) are stamped simply with a shape number and the Brigham logo.

I have included the photos and headings on the photos below.

Late Canadian Era Stamps1980-85 1990s

With the information from Charles’ message and the chart above that he included I knew what I was dealing with in terms of the stamping and the age of this pipe. I learned that this Late Canadian Era was made between 1980-1985. The pipe is a Brigham Standard (1-Dot) 141 Acorn. Now it was time to work on the pipe.

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

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

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

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

  1. The finish cleaned up quite well but there was still some darkening of hand oils in the finish around the bowl sides. The medium brown stain is clean and the grain around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The rusticated rim top was clean and the lava was cleaned out of the grooves and hollows of the rustication. The inner edge of the bowl showed some rough areas but was very clean.
  3. The cake was cleaned out of the bowl. The bowl very clean and the bottom of the bowl was raw briar. The bowl walls were smooth and there was no checking or burn damage.
  4. The vulcanite taper stem was very clean and the oxidation and calcification were gone. The tooth marks and chatter on the topside looked better. There were some deeper tooth marks on the underside and on the button.
  5. There is a brass single dot on the left side that identifies it as a Brigham pipe. It looks better and once it is polished with shine. The tenon is a Hard Rock Distillator system that holds a maple filter is very clean.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver. I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the rim top looked better. The inner edge was damaged and was the bowl was slightly out of round. I also went over the stem carefully. The fit to the shank is snug and the transitions are smooth. There were some tooth marks and chatter on the surface of the stem and the button on the underside. The vulcanite stem surface was clean and looked better. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I took the pipe apart to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape.I started my work on the pipe by dealing with the damaged inner edge of the bowl. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the edges and to give the rim edge a slight bevel to hide the damage. It looked much better when I had finished. I rescrubbed the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a brass bristle wire brush. I rinsed it with hot water to remove the remaining grime in the briar. The Tiger Striped stain on the pipe looks amazing.     I rubbed down the bowl and shank with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the rustication showed depth. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe.    I set the bowl aside and turn to work on the stem. I painted the stem surface with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift the tooth marks. I was able to lift the majority of them significantly. The deep marks on the underside of the stem did not completely come up and neither did the deep mark in the button edge on the underside. I filled them in with black CA glue and set the stem aside for the repairs to cure. Once hardened I used a small file to flatten out the repairs and reshape the button edge on the underside. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I fit the aluminum tenon/Distillator holder with a Hard Maple filter tube. It fits in the aluminum tube and fits snug against the tube end.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. I know that many say Obsidian Oil does nothing for acrylic stems, but I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from buildup and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process. After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The rusticated finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the vulcanite stem. The Brigham Canada Acorn 141 feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/37 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Canadian Pipemakers Section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have done. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Stanwell Royal Briar Regd. No 689-48 Dublinesque Freehand 189

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Not long ago I worked a trade with a fellow for these five pipes in exchange for one that I had here. He sent me photos of the pipes and the deal was struck. The pipes he sent are as follows from bottom to top. There is a W.O. Larsen sandblast oval shank Brandy with a hairline crack in the shank and with tooth marks on the button on both sides, a Bertram Cutty that I had traded with him earlier, a Kriswill sandblast Canadian with a cracked shank, a Viby pencil shank Billiard and a Stanwell Royal Briar wide oval shank Dublinesque Freehand with burn damage on the rim edges and top around the bowl and deep tooth marks on the stem.The next of these I chose to work on today is the Stanwell Royal Briar 189 at the top of the photo above. It is a classic Stanwell shape with a some nice grain around the bowl and the shank. The rim top was in good condition and there was some darkening and burn damage on the front inner edge. The outer edge of the rim is in good condition. The bowl had a light cake in the bowl and smells of good Virginia tobacco. There was some grime and grit ground into the surface of the finish. The stamping on the topside of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 689-48 [over] Royal Briar. On the underside it is stamped Made in Denmark [over] the shape number 189. The stain is light/medium brown and goes well with the oval vulcanite saddle stem. Once it is cleaned up and polished the grain around the bowl and shank will shine. The stem is in good condition with some tooth marks on it. The surface just ahead of the button is damaged with some deep bite marks on both sides. The button edge looks good on both sides. I am including several of the photos that were sent to me for viewing. The first shows the front of pipe and the grain around the front. It also gives a look inside the bowl and shows the cake. The second shows the marks on the stem surface that I spoke of above. The third photo shows the pipe from the button forward on the bowl. I took photos of the pipe before I did my clean up work on it to show its condition. The photos confirm what I noted above regarding the condition of the bowl and the stem. It a nice looking pipe that will look better with a bit of work on the stem and bowl.   I took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above and show that while there is some darkening and burn damage  on the front top and inner edge. The cake in the bowl is quite moderate and smooth. You can also see the condition of the outer and the inner edge. They appear to be in great condition. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. The bowl is still round and other than being in a used condition it is in great shape. The issues with the stem are visible in the photos on both sides ahead of the button and on the button itself. I took a photo of the stamping on the underside of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above.I took the stem off the bowl and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of proportion of the pipe. You can also see shape of the pipe and some interesting grain around the bowl and shank.Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on this one by reaming the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I followed that up by sanding the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel.    I cleaned the internals of the shank and the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I scrubbed it until the shank was clean and the smell was much cleaner smelling.  Before scrubbing the bowl exterior I decided to clean up the darkening and the burn damage on the rim top and inner edge of the bowl. I used some 220 grit sandpaper and a wooden ball to give the bowl a light inward bevel and remove the darkening and the damage. I finished by cleaning it up a bit further with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper. It looks much better. I scrubbed the external surface of the briar with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed it until the finish was clean and then rinsed it off with warm running water to rinse off the soap and the grime from the finish. I dried it off with a soft cloth and took photos of the pipe. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step.     I applied some Before & After Restoration Balm to the briar. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar. The product works to deep clean finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes to do its work. I wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shone through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the issues with the vulcanite stem. I “painted” the surface of the stem with the flame of a Bic Lighter to lift the tooth marks in the stem surface on both sides as well as the button edges where the marks were deepest. I was able to lift the marks significantly and filled in the remaining marks with clear CA glue. I set the stem aside to allow the repairs to cure. Once the repairs cured, I used a small file to reshape the button edge and flatten them. I sanded them smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stem surface and button looked much better. I touched up the Crown S stamping on the top of the saddle portion of the stem with white acrylic fingernail polish. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. I scraped off the excess with the tooth pick. It was ragged looking but readable. When I started polishing, it would clean up well. I continued polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process.    After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the vulcanite. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I put the Stanwell Royal Briar 189 Freehand back together and lightly buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish the finish. I polished the vulcanite stem at the same time to polish out the scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich combination of brown stains. The Stanwell Regd. No. 689-48 Royal Danish Freehand feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 5 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.55 ounces/45 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that functions as a sitter due to the wide heel on the bowl. I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Resurrecting a Karl Erik Pot

Leave a reply

Blog by Steve Laug

Once again I want to take you through my process of working on each pipe that we purchase. Jeff has set up a spread sheet to track where the pipe came from, the date of purchase and what we paid for it so that we know what we have invested in the pipe before we even work on it. This takes a lot of the guess work out of the process. This particular pipe was purchased on 12/27/2021 from a seller in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. I also want you to understand why we take the photos we do. If you have followed for a while then you will see the familiar pattern of the photos we include both in the before and midstream process of working on a pipe. It is not accidental or chance as the photos have been taken to help me make an assessment of the pipe Jeff sees before he starts his clean up work. We do this to record the condition that the pipe was in when received it and to assess what kind of work will need to be done on. When I look at these photos this is what I see.

  1. The first thing I see is a classic Danish take on a Pot shaped pipe that had been well used. It was obviously someone’s favourite pipe if the cake in the bowl is any indication.
  2. The finish is dirty and there is grime and grit ground into the finish. Underneath the grime it looks like the bowl and shank have some amazing grain.
  3. The rim top has a heavy coat of lava that flowed from the cake in the bowl. It was thick and it was impossible to know what the edges of the bowl – both inner and out. I am hoping that the thick lava had protected the top and edges from burn damage.
  4. The bowl has a very thick cake and debris on the walls that hides the walls. The outer edges look good and there does not appear to be any obvious burn damage to outer bowl edges.
  5. The acrylic stem is in excellent condition – dirty, scratched and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of button. There were deeper tooth marks on the underside. There was a worn and partial KE logo on top of the blade portion of the saddle stem.

Overall my impressions of this pipe is that it is a great looking Danish style pot shaped pipe with some beautiful grain hidden under the grime that once cleaned up will be another pretty pipe. The photos below confirm the assessment above. Jeff took close up photos so that I could have a clearer picture of the condition of the bowl, rim edges and top. The rim top photos confirm my assessment above. The cake in the bowl is thick with tobacco debris stuck on the walls. The rim top has heavy lava, grime and debris covering it. The inner and outer edges are so covered it is hard to know what is under them. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. It is unclear if there is any burn damage at this point. I look forward to viewing it in person after the clean up work. The photos of the acrylic stem surface from various angles confirm my assessment of its condition. You can see the grime on the stem in the first photo below. The stem is quite dirty and a bit of a mess. The fit of the stem to the shank is good. There is a partial logo on the top visible in the photo. Instead of telling you what I see in the next photos of the sides of the bowl and the heel I want to hear from you. Tell me what you see? What does the finish look like to you? Are there any visible problems or issues that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches in the valleys of the rustication or the high spots? Are there visible flaws or fissures in the briar? How random does the deep rustication look? Is there a pattern to it? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? These questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. (One note is that there appears to be burn damage on the front outer edge of the bowl shown in the second photo below.)  He took a photo of the stamping on the sides of the shank. The underside reads Karl Erik in an oval (Karl [over] Erik. Following the length of the shank it is stamped Made In Denmark. What stands out for you in the photos of the stamping? What do you look for in the stamping? It is dirty but what do you see underneath the grime on the surface of the briar? If you have been following the blog for any length of time you have come to know that when I am working on interesting old pipes (even sometimes those not so interesting) I like to know a bit about the background of the brand. I like to “meet” the carver to get a feel for their work and style.

I turned to Pipephil’s site (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-k1.html) to see what I could find. I did a screen capture of the entry there and have included the side bar information below the photo. Brand created in 1965-66 by Karl Erik Ottendahl (1942 – 2004 †). In the best years he employed up to 15 craftsmen among which Bent Nielsen (see Benner) and Peder Christian Jeppesen. Former grading (ascending): from 4 to 1, and “Ekstravagant” (entirely hand made)

I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Erik) and reread the history of the brand. Give the article a read.

Now it was time to work on the pipe.

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

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

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

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

  1. The first thing I see is a classic Danish take on a Pot shaped pipe that cleaned up pretty well. There was damage that I will note in the numbers below but it was a nicely shaped pipe.
  2. The finish is clean and the grime and grit have been removed from the finish on the bowl. The grain is quite amazing looking.
  3. The lava, grime and dust on the rim top has been removed and it has revealed that there is some burn damage on the front outer, top and inner edge. There was some burn damage around the inner edge of the bowl as well
  4. The walls of the bowl are clean and there are some ridges in the walls of the bowl from someone reaming it with a knife.
  5. The acrylic stem is clean and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. The marks on the underside of the stem are deeper than on the topside. The logo is partially visible but worn. The fit to the shank is well done with no damage.

Hopefully the steps above show you both what I look for when I go over the pipe when I bring it to the work table and also what I see when I look at the pipe in my hands. They also clearly spell out a restoration plan in short form. My work is clear and addressing it will be the next steps. I took photos of the whole pipe to give you a picture of what I see when I have it on the table. This is important to me in that it also shows that there was no damage done during the clean up work or the transit of the pipe from Idaho to here in Vancouver.   I carefully went over the bowl and rim top to get a sense of what is happening there. In this case once the rim top and edges were cleaned the top and edges showed lots of burn damage on the top front right and middle as well as around the inner edge of the bowl. There was also some damage on the front outer edge of the bowl. I also go over the stem carefully. The stem had some issues as noted. There were some deep tooth marks on the underside and lighter on the topside. I took photos of the rim top and stem sides to show as best as I can what I see when I look at them. I always check to make sure that the clean up work did not damage the stamping on the shank sides in any way. It is in excellent condition and is very clear and readable. I love just looking at the lay of the pipe and the proportion of the hand made pipes. I like to remove the stem from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. The photo shows its beauty in flow and shape.  Now it was time to start working on the pipe. To address the darkening on the rim top and edges I started by topping the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper on a topping board. I need to remove the darkening to be able to see the damage. The damage is very evident on the top of the bowl and the inner edge on the right front. To deal with the rim damage on the top and the inner edge I used a wooden ball and a piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge a slight bevel and remove the damage. Now I was getting somewhere. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to fine tune the shape. I topped it once again with 220 grit paper. I am happy with the end result. I wiped the bowl down with some acetone to remove the darkening in the stain around the bowl. I wanted to even out the stain coat and the look of brown on the bowl and rim. I could not remove much more of the damage on the front and sides of the bowl without changing the profile of the pipe. I stained the rim top with a walnut stain pen to match the rest of the bowl and shank colour. It was a little dark but once it was polished and waxed it would be a perfect match.I polished the bowl and rim with a medium and fine sanding sponge to blend the finish together and smooth out the briar. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I choose to dry sand the briar rather than wet sand it. Again it is a matter of personal preference. I prefer to use the pads dry and find they work very well on the briar. I sand with each pad (9 in total) and group them by threes for ease of reference. I wipe the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris and check the briar. I love seeing the developing shine on the briar as I move through the pads which is why I include so many photos of this step.  After polishing it with the micromesh pads I rubbed it down with Before & After Restoration Balm. It is a paste/balm that is rubbed into the surface of the briar and the plateau. The product works to deep clean the finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips. I let it sit for 10 minutes then wiped it off with a soft cloth then buffed it with a cotton cloth. The briar really began to have a deep shine in the briar and the grain shone through. The photos I took of the bowl at this point mark the progress in the restoration. It is a gorgeous pipe. I set the bowl aside and turn to work on the stem. I filled in the deep tooth marks on both sides of the stem with black CA glue. I used a small file to flatten the repaired area. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to blend them into the surface. I started the polishing with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I continued polishing the stem with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pads. But I find it does two things – first it gives some protection to the stem from oxidation and second it give the sanding pads bite in the polishing process.    After finishing with the micromesh pads I rub the stem down with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine stem polish as it seems to really remove the fine scratches in the acrylic. I rub the Fine Polish on the stem and wipe it off with a paper towel and then repeat the process with the Extra Fine polish. I finish the polishing of the stem down with a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set the stem aside to let the oil absorb. This process gives the stem a shine and also a bit of protection.  The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond to polish out the light scratches in the briar and the acrylic. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I follow up the wax buff with a buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I hand buff with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. It is always fun for me to see what the polished bowl looks like with the polished stem. It really is a nice pipe. The polished finish around the bowl sides and shank looks great with the rich brown stains. The Karl Erik Made in Denmark Danish Pot feels great in my hand. It is a well balanced pipe. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 6 inches, Height:  1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inch, Chamber diameter: 7\8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.19 ounces/62 grams. It is a beautiful pipe that functions as a sitter due to the wide heel on the bowl. I will soon be adding to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipemakers section. If you would like to add it to your collection let me know. It should be a great smoking pipe.

Hopefully the style of writing of this blog is helpful to you in some way. In it I wanted to show both what I am looking for and how I move forward in addressing what I see when work on a pipe. Let me know if it is helpful to you. It is probably the most straightforward detailed description of my work process that I have done. As always I encourage your questions and comments as you read the blog. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog. Remember we are not pipe owners; we are pipe men and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.