Tag Archives: vulcanite

Restoring a Millennium of Tynwald Black, Faceted Meerschaum Bent Billiard

Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is an interesting faceted Black coloured Meerschaum Bent Billiard. It is a pipe that we found somewhere along the journey but have no record of when or where we picked it up. It is a classic Manx style African Meerschaum pipe. It was stamped on the ferrule on the shank end had had the Manx running legs logo and read Millennium [arched over] Of Tynwald in a circle around the . It was in great condition when I brought it to the table. There was a heavy cake in the bowl and some lava on the rim top and edges of the bowl. The brass coloured ferrule was in good shape but had scratches that would need to be polished. The stem had the same running legs logo on the top of the saddle. There was some oxidation and calcification on the stem surfaces as well as light chatter and tooth marks near the button on both sides. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The stem is oxidized, calcified and has tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left side of the brass ferrule. It reads as noted above. I also captured the stamping on the stem to show the running legs logo there as well. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. I did a quick search on Google to see what I could learn about the Millennium Of Tynwald brand. The first link I found was for one that was on Worthpoint that had a fascinating description of the brand (https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/meerschaum-pipe-manx-millennium-1979-464084331). I include a portion of that quote below.

Manx Tynwald Millennium Meerschaums Pipe. The pipe will probably date from 1979 the year of the Millennium. Made in the Isle of Man by J Laxey & Co. Meerschaum production ceased in 2002. From the 1960’s they produced bowls for Barlings and Petersons among others.

I am not sure how the year 1979 is linked to the Millennium but somehow the write above associates that and dates his pipe. I am not clear about the dates of the pipe. I know that it was made prior to 2002 when the Laxey Factory closed.

I turned then to Pipephil and did a quick search there for information linking the Millennium brand stamp with Manx (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/nonbriar/meer.html). Sure enough the link was there. I have included a screen capture of a pipe with the same ferrule and stem stamp as the one that I am working on. I also included a note from the sidebar.Laxey Pipe Factory (closed in 2002). Other brands from the factory: “Manxpipe”, “Manxman”, “Manxland”. See also: Man Pipes

I turned to Pipedia to have a read about the history of the Laxey Pipe Company on the Isle of Man (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Laxey_Pipes_Ltd.). There was a short history of the brand that I included below.

Laxey Pipes Ltd. resided in a historical 19th century four-storey Man stone building at The Quay, Old Laxey, Isle of Man, which thankfully has been preserved.

The company specialised in the production of meerschaum pipes using the Meerschaum mined by the Tanganyika Meerschaum Corporation in the Amboseli basin in Tanganyika (since 1964 part of the United Republic of Tanzania).

Please note: you may often find names like “Manx Pipes Ltd.”, “Man Pipe Co.” and others more, but there is no indication of another Isle of Man pipe producer other than Laxey Pipe Ltd. at any time!

Laxey Pipes Ltd. marketed own brands like “Manxpipe”, “Manxman”, “Manxland” e.c. Names like “John Bull”, “White Knight” (unwaxed), “Domino” (black, or lined) indicated some shapes / colours of Laxey’s own series. The stems either showed the astronomical sign for “male” or “man” (circle + arrow), or the crest of the Isle of Man, the 3-legged X in a circle. Manxpipes and Laxey’s other brands were available through pipe retailers in general, but also were sold (mainly) to tourists through their own shop in Laxey.

Furthermore Laxey Pipes Ltd. manufactured the meer bowls for Peterson, Barling, Nørding and others from the later 1960’s until 2001. Man Pipe e.g. was a brand distributed by Comoy’s. The bowls usually showed no nomenclature indicating the orderer. “Genuine Block Meerschaum” was engraved frequently. Often, just the stems were different, while bowls were the same.

Supply of meerschaum from East Africa ran out (Kenya / Tanzania exhausted, Somalia inaccessible), and thus the last Laxey meers were supplied to trade in May, 2001. Laxey Pipes Ltd. tried to survive continuing with briar pipes – mainly in the Danish style -, but to no success. It closed down business in July, 2002.

ADDENDUM
After publishing this blog I received a response on Facebook about the stamp on the ferrule and more information about the brand and logo. I quote from Adrian Sacco

The millennium referred to is the 1000th anniversary of Tynwald, the Isle of Man parliament. It’s the oldest/longest continuous government in the western world. The Isle of Man is a self-governing British crown dependency located between Great Britain and Ireland. It is not part of the UK… Just to add, the famous “three legs” is the symbol of the Isle of Man. It’s called a triskelion. The Manx motto is “quocumque jeceris stabit “ which translates “whichever way you throw me I stand”. This reflects the resilience often found in small island nations.

Thanks Adrian for the added information on the pipe. Very helpful.

Armed with that information, I started my clean up of the pipe by reaming it with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bowl walls. I further cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the cleaning of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. I smoothed out the bowl walls and checked for cracks and flaws. All looked very good. I cleaned off the build up in the rim top with the edge of the Savinelli Fitsall knife and scrubbed it with cotton pads to remove the residual grime. I looked better but there was more work to do. I scrubbed the interior of the bowl, shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. It was full of tars and oils that with a bit of work came clean. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the bowl with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the finish. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. You can see the interesting carved lines on each of the facets of the bowl. It adds an almost primitive touch to the bowl. I polished the nickel ferrule with micromesh sanding pads with a jewelers cloth to remove the oxidation and give it a shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I scrubbed it with Soft Scrub cleanser to remove the oxidation and light calcification. It took a lot of oxidation off the stem as can be seen in the photos. I sanded the light tooth marks and chatter out of the surface and removed the remaining oxidation with 220 grit sandpaper. I started the polishing of the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I touched up the running legs logo with white acrylic fingernail polish. Once it cured I scraped it off and polished it with a worn 1500 grit micromesh pad. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I am excited to finish this Laxey Pipes Millennium Of Tynwald Black Faceted Meerschaum. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to deepen the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to further raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with etched facets all around it. Added to that the brass coloured ferrule and the polished black vulcanite stem and you have a beautiful pipe. This Millenium Of Tynwald Meerschaum is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. 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 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 51 grams/1.80 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be adding the British Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store. I you are interested in adding it to your collection please let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe and for reading this blog.

A Decorated Veteran

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Blog by Kenneth Lieblich

Next on the chopping block is this superb Ropp Six. It comes from a group of pipes I purchased from France. I love this pipe. I have a particular interest in French pipes and pipeworks, and I grabbed this one to restore for my collection. This is an old, old pipe with a few wounds (i.e. a veteran pipe with decorations) and needs just a little help to come back to life. This pipe was made by the venerable French pipe company, Ropp. Ropp has been around for a long time and their early pipes are really quite wonderful (the less said about their modern pipes, the better). The markings on the left-hand side of the shank read Ropp [over] Six. The right-hand side of the shank reads 886, presumably the shape number. Also, on the stem, there is the Ropp logo: Ropp, encircled in an oval.This pipe shape is a Rhodesian – a variation of the classic Bulldog. A Rhodesian will have a cylindrical shaped shank, not a diamond shank like the Bulldog. This is a really pretty pipe and feels very comfortable in the hand.

From Pipedia, here is a very brief history of the Ropp company:

Eugène-Léon Ropp (1830–1907) acquired a patent for the cherrywood pipe in 1869. In 1870, he established a workshop to manufacture such pipes in Bussang, in the Vosges mountains. Around 1893, his business moved into the former mill of Sicard (part of the community of Baume-les-Dames in Upper Burgundy. The pipes were a big success in export as well. Shortly before 1914, Ropp designated A. Frankau & Co. (BBB) to be the exclusive distributor in the UK and its colonies. Probably in 1917, a workshop in Saint-Claude in the rue du Plan du Moulin was acquired to start the fabrication of briar pipes. In 1923, another small building in Saint-Claude, serving as a workshop for polishing, was added. Cherrywood pipes were the mainstay of Ropp until the company finally closed down in September 1991. The company was taken over by Cuty-Fort Entreprises in 1994. On to the pipe: it was in decent shape, but it had a few issues. The stem had a bit of oxidation and calcification, but – mostly notably – it had substantial bite marks, top and bottom. The stummel also had a few issues. The outside of the bowl had some scratches and a couple of fills that needed to be addressed. These are the “decorations” I referred to in the title of this article. There was lava and debris on the rim, and a few burn marks too. The inside was pretty dirty too – it would need a thorough cleaning. The stem was first on my list. This stem has a stinger in it – and it was being quite stubborn about coming out of the tenon! I opted to warm the stem and stinger with my heat gun and this provided just enough softening of the internal goo to allow me to pull it out. The stinger then went for a soak in some lemon-infused isopropyl alcohol. I let it set for several hours and then cleaned it off and it looked much improved. I then finished it with some metal polish and moved on. I wiped down the outside of the stem with Murphy’s Oil Soap on some cotton pads. I also took a BIC lighter and ‘painted’ the stem with its flame in order to lift the bite marks and dents. This was not successful at all in raising the damage. More work would need to be done. Then, I cleaned out the insides with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. Even the bore was clogged with debris! It took an awful lot of work to get this clean! Once this process was done, the stem went for an overnight soak in the Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover. The following day, I cleaned all of the de-oxidizing mess off with alcohol, pipe cleaners, et cetera. The oxidation had migrated to the surface and would be fairly straightforward to remove. I scrubbed with SoftScrub on some cotton pads to remove the leftover oxidation. After this, I used some nail polish to restore the Ropp logo on the stem. I painted the area carefully and let it fully set before proceeding. I built up the dents on the stem with cyanoacrylate adhesive and let them fully cure. On this occasion, I actually built up several layers of the glue over a few days. I must admit, it was an annoying and frustrating process because, at this stage, it never looked quite right. I then sanded the adhesive down – first with a small file – then with 220-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpapers to meld seamlessly into the stem. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) to bring out the lovely black lustre on the stem. I also used Obsidian Pipe Stem Oil in between each pad scrubbing. On to the stummel, and the usual cleaning procedures were in order for this pipe. This stummel was a bit of a mess inside, so I first decided to ream out the bowl. I used both the PipNet Reamer and the KleenReem to remove the built-up cake and followed that with 220-grit sandpaper to eliminate as much as I could. I took the bowl down to bare briar, as I wanted to ensure there were no hidden flaws in the walls of the bowl. There were some very thin craze lines inside the bowl, but they were small enough that I elected to leave them as they were. I then proceeded to clean out the insides of the shank with Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and isopropyl alcohol. There was considerable filth inside this stummel and it took a lot of cotton to get it clean. I followed that up by cleaning the insides with some dish soap and tube brushes.

I used a small butter knife to gently chip away at the lava on the rim. I then used more Murphy’s with a scrub brush to remove any remainder. This actually worked quite well. I then moved on to cleaning the outside of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap and some cotton pads. That removed any latent dirt that blighted the wood.

In order to remove the remaining burns and nicks on the rim, I “topped” the pipe – that is to say, I gently and evenly sanded down the rim on a piece of 220-grit sandpaper. This effectively removed the damage, without altering the look of the pipe.Having completed that, I was able to address the small nicks on the stummel. I dug out my iron and a damp cloth to try and raise the nicks. The hot and moist steam can often cause the wood to swell slightly and return to shape. There was some movement – not a lot, but it was better than doing nothing. The repair was not perfect, but the remaining scratches would be improved by sanding.I lined the fills with cyanoacrylate adhesive and briar dust. After letting them cure, I sanded the fill repairs down with 200-, 400-, and 600-grit sandpaper. I then used all nine Micromesh pads (1,500 through 12,000 grit) on the stummel to finish it off. After that, a light application of Before & After Restoration Balm brought out the best in the stummel’s grain. There is some beautiful wood after all. It is a very handsome, decorated veteran. In order to accentuate the external beauty of this pipe, I opted for aniline dye. I applied some of Fiebing’s Medium Brown Leather Dye. As usual, I applied flame from a BIC lighter in order to set the colour. I then added a second coat – just to make sure. What a difference that made! It looked so much better with a fresh coat of stain. I applied some more Before & After Restoration Balm and then it was off for a trip to the buffer. A dose of White Diamond and a few coats of carnauba wax were just what this pipe needed. The lovely shine made the wood very attractive. This is a very handsome pipe and will provide many years of smoking pleasure. This is a wonderfully crafted pipe and has a very elegant feel to it. It took some work, but I am proud of it and the final product suits me to a T. It retains some wounds from battle, but, as Steve would say, they are part of this pipe’s story. This is one pipe that I am keeping for myself and adding to my collection. I am sure that I will be enjoying this one for many years to come. I hope you enjoyed reading the story of this pipe as much I as I did restoring it. If you are interested in more of my work, please follow me here on Steve’s website or email me directly at kenneth@knightsofthepipe.com. Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I welcome and encourage your comments.

Restoring a March 17, 2000 St. Patrick’s Day 80S Bent Bulldog

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe has been sitting here since we picked it up on Ebay on December 6, 2016. It came to us from Aurora, Colorado, USA and I am finally getting around to working on it. It is a nice Republic Era St. Patrick’s Day Bulldog. It is stamped on the left underside of the diamond shank and reads St. Patrick’s Day. On the right side it reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (three lines) over the shape number 80S. The nickel band was in great condition and was stamped and had a Shamrock with the words Peterson’s March 17, 2000 in a circle around it. The bowl was heavily caked with a thick lava overflow on the rim top and edges. It flowed down the sides of the cap. I was hoping that the lava coat had protected the rim top and cap from significant damage but only cleaning it up would tell the full story. The finish was dirty but had some nice grain around the sides. The stem had a Peterson’s “P” logo stamped on the top of the left side of the saddle. It was lightly oxidized and had a lot of tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before he cleaned it up. Jeff took a photo of the rim top and bowl to show its condition. The cake is the bowl is thick and the lava on the rim and down the cap is also quite thick. The stem had tooth marks and chatter ahead of the button and quite a way up the stem surface. It was also lightly oxidized. Jeff captured some of the beautiful grain around the pipe with the next photo of the left side and heel of the bowl. It is really quite nice.He took photos of the stamping on the nickel band and the sides of the shank. It is clear and readable as noted above. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

Mark Irwin has a great visual history of the St. Patrick’s Day Pipes from Peterson on his rich Peterson’s Pipenotes site (https://petersonpipenotes.org/tag/st-patricks-day-pipe-2000/). He states there regarding the year 2000 issue as follows:

In 2000, the SPD series settled into a familiar and long-running guise: some variant of brown-hued smooth bowl and a nickel band with Peterson’s over a shamrock over March 17 and the year. The 2000 SPDs also featured the beloved P-Lip vulcanite mouthpiece…

Armed with that it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had cleaned up the pipe as he normally does. He reamed it with a Pipnet Reamer and cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipeknife. He scrubbed out the inside of the airway in the shank and stem with alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the grime that was ground into the briar on the cap, rim and bowl. It came out looking very good. He scrubbed the stem with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He rinsed it off and recleaned it. I took the following pictures when it arrived. It is a beautiful pipe that will come alive with buffing and polishing. I took photos of the rim top and the stem to show the condition of them both. The rim top is very clean and there is some darkening on the rim top on the back and left side. The rim edges looked very good. The stem is free of oxidation and other than the tooth marks and chatter it is in good condition. I took photos of the stamping on the band and the shank sides. It is clear and readable as noted above. The “P” logo is faded and will need to be touched up.I took a photo of the bowl and stem separated to give a sense of the shape and form of this lovely 80S Bent Bulldog.Because the pipe was in such clean condition I could start with my work without doing all the cleanup I have been doing lately. To start on this one I worked on the darkening of the rim top to match the rest of the briar. I used the 1500-2400 grit micromesh to accomplish this.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I used it to clean off the rim top at the same time. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the nickel band with a jewelers cloth give it a shine and to remove the oxidation. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I sanded out the tooth marks on the button and ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil once I finished. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I repainted the “P” stamp on the left side with some white acrylic nail polish. I brushed it on and scraped off the excess with a fingernail. I lightly sanded it with a 1500 micromesh sanding pad and wiped it down with Obsidian Oil.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads and wiping it down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Fine and Extra Fine polish. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. This Late Republic Era Peterson’s St. Patrick’s Day March 17, 2000 shape 80S Bent Bulldog is a great looking pipe now that it has been restored. The grain around the bowl is quite beautiful and the stain makes it really stand out. The finish works well with the polished vulcanite saddle P-Lip stem. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel using a light touch on the briar. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished St. Patrick’s Day 2000 Bent Bulldog sits nicely in the hand and feels great. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ¾ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ inch. The weight of the pipe is 48 grams/1.69 ounces. I will be putting it in the Irish Pipe Makers section of the rebornpipes store shortly. If you are interested in adding this pipe to your collection send me a message or an email. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it! I appreciate your support.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s System Standard Bent 307 Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is another smooth finished Peterson’s System – this time a System Standard shape 307. It was the fourth of four pipes that came to me from a friend for work. This one also had very loose stem that did not seem to hold on in the shank that he wanted me to have a look at as well as cleaning and freshening it up. The stem had also straightened out a bit over time and needed to be rebent. The finish was smooth with some nice grain around the sides and shank. There was one noticeable fill on the left side near the rim top. The pipe was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [arched over] System [over] Standard. On the right side it was stamped Made in the Republic of Ireland in three lines over the shape number 307. It was in good condition when I brought it to the table. There was a heavy cake in the bowl and some light lava and darkening on the rim top. The nickel ferrule was in good shape but had some scratches that would need to be polished. It is stamped as well and reads K & P [over] Peterson on the left. The vulcanite stem was unstamped and in good condition. There was some oxidation, calcification and light chatter near the button that would polish out. It also was in need of being bent again. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The stem looks good but it has tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left shank side. It reads as noted above. I also tried to capture the stamping on the ferrule and it is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look.I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I started my clean up by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. I cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the cleaning of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. I smoothed out the bowl walls and checked for cracks and flaws. All looked very good. I scrubbed the interior of the bowl, shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. It was full of tars and oils that with a bit of work came clean. I cleaned up the rim top and the beveled inner edge with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. I removed the burn damage and darkening on both and it looked better. I stained the pink putty fill with a Brown and Black Sharpie Pen. It blended in much better than the pink had before.I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I used it to clean off the rim top at the same time. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the nickel ferrule with a jewelers cloth give it a shine and to remove the oxidation. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to bend it to the correct angle so I heated it with a heat gun to soften it and then bent it so that it sit correctly in the shank. It looked much better. I sanded out the tooth marks on the button and ahead of the button with 220 grit sandpaper and adjusted the fit of the tenon end to the taper of the shank. I started the polishing with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry before buffing. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s System Standard 302 Bent Apple. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to deepen the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to further raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black acrylic stem was beautiful. This System Standard 302 Bent Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. 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: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 63 grams/2.26 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and the fourth of the four I am working on for my friend. Now that they are all finished they will be sent back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Peterson’s System Standard Bent 302 Apple

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is another smooth finished Peterson’s System – this time a System Standard shape 302. It was the third of four pipes that came to me from a friend for work. This one had very loose stem that did not seem to hold on in the shank that he wanted me to have a look at as well as cleaning and freshening it up. The stem had also straightened out a bit over time and needed to be rebent. The finish was smooth with some nice grain around the sides and shank. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [arched over] System [over] Standard followed by the shape number 302. It was in great condition when I brought it to the table. There was a heavy cake in the bottom half of the bowl and some light lava on the rim top. The nickel ferrule was in good shape but had some scratches that would need to be polished. It is stamped as well and reads K & P [over] Peterson on the left. The vulcanite stem was unstamped and in good condition. There was some oxidation, calcification and light chatter near the button that would polish out. I took photos of the pipe before I started my work. I took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is heavily caked and the rim top and edges have a thick lava overflow. The stem looks good but it has tooth marks on the top and underside near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the left shank side. It reads as noted above. I also tried to capture the stamping on the ferrule and it is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look.I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to work on the pipe itself. I started my clean up by reaming the bowl with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. I cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the cleaning of the bowl with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. I smoothed out the bowl walls and checked for cracks and flaws. All looked very good. I scrubbed the interior of the bowl, shank and stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. It was full of tars and oils that with a bit of work came clean. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each pad. I used it to clean off the rim top at the same time. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I polished the nickel ferrule with a jewelers cloth give it a shine and to remove the oxidation. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I decided to bend it to the correct angle so I heated it with a heat gun to soften it and then bent it so that it sit correctly in the shank. It looked much better. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished polishing it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final coat of Obsidian Oil and let it dry before buffing. I am excited to finish this Peterson’s System Standard 302 Bent Apple. I put the pipe back together and buffed it lightly with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to deepen the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to further raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with deep sandblast all around it. Added to that the polished black acrylic stem was beautiful. This System Standard 302 Bent Apple is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. 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: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 63 grams/2.26 oz. It is a beautiful pipe and the second of the four I am working on for my friend. Once the other two are finished it will be sent back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

Restoring a Republic Era Peterson’s “Sports” 2 Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen is smooth finished Peterson’s Small Lovat shaped pipe that had a bit of a bland looking finish but had some good looking grain around the bowl sides and shank. It also came to us from eBay on January 1, 2018 from Bellingham, Washington, USA. This Lovat did not have a nickel ferrule on the shank end. It was stamped on the left side of the shank and read Peterson’s [over] “Sports”. It was stamped on the right side and reads Made in the Republic of Ireland (3 lines). Next to the bowl it is stamped 2. The pipe was in filthy condition when he brought it to the table. The finish was dirty with grime ground into the briar sides and rim. There was a thick cake in the bowl and there was some burn damage to the rim top and the inner edge of the rim. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside on and near the button. Jeff took photos of the pipe before his cleanup work. They tell the story and give a glimpse of the promise that we see in this pipe. Jeff took photos of the rim top and stem to show the general condition of the pipe. The bowl is caked and the rim top and edges show quite a bit of damage around the bowl, inner and outer shank. There were no photos of the stem but I have it in hand and it had tooth marks on both sides ahead of the button. You can also see from above photos that the stem was oxidized.Jeff took some photos of the bowl sides and heel to show the amazing grain that was around this bowl. There were also some nicks in the outer edge of the rim and scratches on the briar. It is a nice looking pipe. He took photos of the sides of the shank and stem side to show the stamping. The stamping is worn but is still readable in the photos below and is as noted above. I am including the link to the Pipedia’s article on Peterson pipes. It is a great read in terms of the history of the brand (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Peterson).

I turned to “The Peterson Pipe” by Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg to get some background on the Peterson’s Sports. On page 313-314 it had the following information.

“SPORTS” (1947-) A “Sport” is traditionally a compact pipe made for smokers engaged in athletic pursuits, most notably equestrian riders who do not want the bowl to bounce up and down. Six shapes described in 1947 shape chart. Occasional later catalogs show as many as 11 shapes. Last appeared in shape chart in ’98, but still made in small numbers. Recorded specimens are stamped MADE IN IRELAND (forming a circle) or MADE IN THE over REPUBLIC over OF IRELAND. See Outdoor and Outdoor Sportsman.

Now it was time to work on the pipe. Jeff had done a great job cleaning up the pipe as usual. He reamed the pipe with a PipNet reamer and cut back the cake back to the bare briar. He cleaned up the walls with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. He scrubbed the interior of the bowl and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. He scrubbed the exterior of the pipe with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush to remove the grime from the finish. He worked on the rim top lava and darkening with the soap and tooth brush. He scrubbed the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior with Soft Scrub and then soaked it in Before & After Deoxidizer. He washed it off with warm water to remove the deoxidizer. The pipe looked far better when it arrived. I took some close up photos of the rim top and also of the stem surface. I wanted to show how well it had cleaned up. The rim top had some looked quite good and the inner and outer edges had some darkening and damage. I also took close up photos of the stem to show the tooth marks on the surface near the button. I took photos of the stamping on the sides of the shank. You can see that it is stamped as noted above. It is clear and readable. I removed the stem and took a photo of the pipe to have a look at the parts and overall look. I decided to address the damage to the edge of the bowl and the rim top first. I topped the bowl on a topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the damage to the rim top. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to give the inner edge of the bowl a slight bevel to accommodate the burned areas and blend them into the surrounding briar. I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let the balm sit for 15 minutes and then buffed with a cotton cloth to raise the shine. The photos show the bowl at this point in the restoration process. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the stem surface with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth marks and chatter on both sides. I was able to lift most of them. I sanded the remaining tooth marks smooth with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I used some white acrylic fingernail polish to touch up the “P” stamp on the left side of the saddle stem. I worked it into the stamp with a tooth pick. Once the acrylic had dried I scraped off the excess leaving the “P” stamp white. It looked quite good. I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil. I polished it with Before & After Pipe Stem Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it a final rub down with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I am excited to finish this Republic of Ireland Made Peterson’s “Sports” 2 Lovat. I put the pipe back together and buffed it with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I hand buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. It is fun to see what the polished bowl looks like with beautiful mixed grain all around it. Added to that the polished black vulcanite stem combined with the bowl and made a stunning pipe. This smooth Classic Older Peterson’s “Sports” 2 Lovat is great looking and the pipe feels great in my hand. It is light and well balanced. Have a look at it with the photos below. The dimensions are Length: 4 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 28 grams/.95 oz. It is a beautiful pipe that I will soon be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers section. If you are interested in adding it to your collection send me an email or a message. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over this pipe. Thanks to each of you who are reading this blog.

A Hardcastle Filter Pipe Well-Smoked

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Blog by Robert M. Boughton
https://www.facebook.com/roadrunnerpipes

After some time he felt for his pipe. It was not broken, and that was something. Then he felt for his pouch, and there was some tobacco in it, and that was something more. Then he felt for matches and he could not find any at all, and that shattered his hopes completely..

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

I had no idea where this pipe came from. It seemed to appear out of thin air on the little stand that serves as a sort of waiting room for my next six appointments needing various degrees of rejuvenation. The diminutive bent billiard – once a black dress pipe, I could tell – bore such wear and accumulated gunk that it looked more like something washed up on shore after a catastrophic oil spill. The thought occurred to me that perhaps I should wear latex gloves for the initial inspection, which suggested the pipe was not broken, and that was something, and there were no apparent cracks or burnouts, and that was something more. The rim of the bowl was wrecked, and that would not have been encouraging were it not for the apparition of the last five letters of an old friend’s name on the left shank. The classy H on the stem confirmed a Hardcastle shrouded by the grime. For a chronology of Hardcastle’s transition from its beginning in 1903 to the final stage of its evolution as a Dunhill second, follow the Pipephil link in Sources.

Only after the first two steps of the restoration did I discern that the billiard was a Filter Pipe model. I was creating a new sub-folder in my restored Hardcastles when a warning appeared on the monitor asking if I wanted to replace the existing Filter Pipe folder with the new one. This very pipe came to me a few years back with clear nomenclature but a rim that was more abused than most. At the time, it was the perfect candidate for my experiments in giving pipes a dress finish. My roommate, a Hardcastle devotee, bought it. That explained the poor thing’s further decline.

First, the before pics of the dress version. I never blogged it because I was not happy with the rim work. I’ve blogged one or two of my failures as cautionary tales, but not this one.Now for the carnage my roommate dumped on me. This may be the most tortured pipe I have ever encountered. CAUTION: The following images may be unsuitable for children or squeamish pipe smokers.In most cases, I soak the stummel in Isopropyl alcohol, but this time I chose Everclear to strip the homemade shellac I made for the dress process and the black leather dye beneath it – although not much of either appeared to remain. I gave the stem a bath in generic stain remover. The stem came out in great shape, but the stummel less so. I used super fine 0000 steel wool to take off the residue from the Everclear soak. This is when I could discern Filter Pipe.A full micro meshing sharpened the nomenclature and revealed the wood’s rich brown, if erratic, grain. I would like to know just how someone would go about inflicting such damage on a rim, but I couldn’t very well ask my roommate. In the past, I have been somewhat successful with reversing mangled rims. In one of the prior cases, for example, I resorted to a rasp. Here are the before, during and after shots of that pipe, a P&K Everyman.I learned the importance of sanding, filing or grinding in the right direction. To narrow a rim, I move whatever tool I use with, or in the same general direction as the rim’s wall; to widen the rim, I move the tool against the rim, from the chamber outward. Try as I did to avoid resorting to extreme measures to make the Hardcastle rim right again, the time came to use my electric grinder. My main concern with making the misshapen rim at least more even and round again by putting it to an electric sanding wheel was the potential for irreversible damage in a heartbeat. Not being one to avoid a challenge, I went for it. I dare anyone reading this not to laugh at the last photo below. Believe it or not, the wheel sander did what I needed: it made the rim almost level. I knew I could fix that problem a little later.

The pre-retort cleaning of the stummel and stem required more regular cleaners and a brass-handled brush with wire bristles, similar to the one below, both dipped in Everclear. At least my roommate enjoyed the pipe while beating it. The retort needed three test tubes of alcohol to come out clear.Notwithstanding the relative roundness of the rim, I knew I had to fill the preexisting indentation in the upper corner of the inner wall as shown in the post-electric sander pic. I did something similar once, but again, I found the solution in one of Steve’s blogs on correcting an off-round rim. I filed off briar shavings from a hopeless pipe and mixed them with Super Glue, then applied the goop to the problem area inside the chamber. It isn’t pretty, but it worked. Several hours later, I sanded down the remaining hard mess with 60-grit paper followed by a 120/180 pad. Several more hours later, I had reached the point where I knew I could not do better and sanded and micro meshed the stummel in preparation for staining. I used British tan on the rim and moccasin brown on the rest, then micro meshed off the char with 1500, 8000 and 12000 pads. That’s a good combination for a subtle contrast.I buffed the stummel with Red Tripoli and carnauba and was finished. SOURCES
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/hardcastle-filter-pipe-164105369
http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-hardcastle.html
https://rebornpipes.com/2017/07/20/another-piece-pipe-history-a-lovely-cpf-french-briar-bent-billiard/

Replacing a tenon and restoring a House of Robertson Rusticated Dublin

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is a House of Robertson Rusticated Dublin with a tapered, vulcanite Bite Through stem. The rustication on the briar is very tactile and deep. There are grooves around the bowl and shank and those have been deeply rusticated. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the diamond shank and reads House of [over] Robertson. It really is a beautiful pipe and the rustic finish works very well with the diamond twin bore saddle stem. The fellow who sent it to me is a previous customer and in his box were two pipes with a snapped tenon – the Radice (which I have repaired already) and this House of Robertson. This one was quite dirty with a thick cake in the bowl and overflowing onto the rim top. There was some burn damage on the inner edge of the rim around the bowl and the pipe was dull and dusty. The tenon had snapped off cleanly at the shank end with no damage to the briar. The stem had tooth marks on both the top and underside ahead of the button and was also dirty. I took some photos of the pipe before I started my work on it. I took a close up photo of the rim top to show the condition of the bowl and inner edge. You can see the damage on the inner edge of the rim. It will become more evident once the bowl has been reamed and cleaned. The photos of the stem show the tooth marks and chatter on both sides near the button.I took photos of the stamping on the left side of the diamond shank to capture how the classic House of Robertson signature looked.House of Robertson pipes were made by Thayne Robertson in Boise, Idaho. He did some beautiful work and all had the etched stamp on them. I have worked on many of these pipes over the years and done the research on the brand previously. Here is a link to one of the pipes where I have included background information (https://rebornpipes.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=60954&action=edit&classic-editor).

“House of Robertson” was in business for many years, but alas, closed their doors in 1999. They were located in Boise, Idaho. They are noted for making rather large and interesting pipes. Thayne Robertson was a Master Mason, AF & AM, and started the shop about 1947 and his son Jon started working there in 1970 when he finished college, along with Thayne’s daughter. Thayne and his son started making the big pipes at that time, and made them together until 1987 when Thayne passed away. Jon kept the store and his sister moved on to other things. The House of Robertson appears to have closed around 1999. https://pipedia.org/wiki/Robertson

I began my work on this pipe by pulling the broken tenon from the shank. I generally use a dry wall screw and twist it into the airway of the broken tenon and wiggle it free. This one was stuck. I put it in the freezer while I had lunch and afterward it came out quite easily. I went through my replacement tenons and found one that would work on this stem. I sanded the broken end of the tenon remaining on the stem with a sanding drum on my Dremel. I also sanded the diameter of the new tenon at the same time to get a good fit in the shank. I took photos of the tenon in the shank at this point to show the fit. I drilled out the airway on the stem with successively larger drill bits to accommodate the tenon. The last bit was ¼ inch which is perfect for the tenon. I slipped the stem over the tenon and took photos of the pipe at this point. It looks very good. With that done I turned my attention to the bowl. I reamed it with a PipNet reamer and took the cake back to briar. I cleaned up the remnants with a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife. I sanded the bowl walls with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned up the rim top with a brass bristle wire brush to remove the lava in the sandblast and a bit of the burn damage on the inner edge of the bowl.I cleaned out the internals on the stem and shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol until they were clean.I rubbed down the bowl with Before & After Restoration Balm to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the blast with a horsehair shoe brush. I let it sit and do its magic for 10 minutes and then buffed it off with a soft cloth.I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the vulcanite stem. I glued the new tenon in the shank with black super glue. While it cured, I “painted” the surface of the vulcanite stem with the flame of a lighter to lift the tooth chatter and marks. Many of them lifted significantly with the heat. Those that remained I filled in with black super glue and set the stem aside to cure. Once it had cured I flattened out the repairs with a small flat file. I sanded them with 220 grit sandpaper to further flatten them out and blend them into the surrounding area. I started polishing the stem with 400 grit wet dry sandpaper. I polished the vulcanite bite through stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each pad with Obsidian Oil. I finished the polishing with Before & After Stem Polishes – both Fine and Extra Fine. I wiped the stem down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil to protect and give the deep shine to the stem. I was happy to be finished with this beautiful House of Robertson Rusticated Diamond Shank Dublin. The vulcanite stem fit well and looked good with the rich finish of the rusticated bowl and shank. I lightly buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel and gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax. I buffed it with a clean buffing wheel to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The House of Robertson’s Dublin is a great looking pipe that has an amazing looking rustication. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 inches, Outer Diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of and inch. The weight of the pipe is 42 grams/1.48 ounces. I will be packing it up to send back to my friend in Idaho along with the first pipe – the Radice Silk Cut Billiard. Thanks for reading the blog.

The English Calabash That Wanted to Be a Charatan

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Blog by Robert M. Boughton

https://www.facebook.com/roadrunnerpipes

Not even once in a blue moon does a pipe with an uncommon feature – but having no nomenclature other than the county where it was made – find its way into my hands. The two most recent examples show MADE IN over LONDON ENGLAND on the right shank and did not meet their makers’ exacting standards. The previous was a Ben Wade celebrating the poker shape with capacious panache, but other than replacing the stem with a smaller, lighter, inappropriate one, there was no way to counter the off-center of gravity and force the poker sitter to sit. This time it’s a Charatan that looks more akin to a beanpot to me but was called a calabash by the maker. Had not Steve seen my “beanpot” for what it is, I might have concluded that both pipes began their lives as Ben Wades. Although Charatan pipes do not include MADE IN, I concluded that the two words were added when the pipe was rejected, maybe to differentiate the rejected from the approved. Here are two models of Charatan’s Make calabashes from Worthpoint.Based on the seller’s detailed description of the smooth finish calabash, at the first link below, I believe Charatan made these pipes while Dunhill owned the brand (1978-1988). The grain of my pipe is not very good and required a few fills, but I don’t see why it could not have been modified to a sandblasted or relief finish as shown above. Here is mine as I received it. Sanding with 220- and 320-grit paper cleaned it up pretty well. Using 400-, 600- and 1000-grit paper, I was able to give it a first glow. After retorting the pipe, I turned my attention to the stem, which, other than being dirty, looked much better than most. I’ve started giving stems a bath in generic viscous stain remover. So far, I haven’t tried it on a specimen with oxidation, and I doubt it will do more than remove the grime that often goes with estate pipe stems. But I will report back on that.An hour later, I took the stem out of the goop, rinsed it and ran a pipe cleaner through. Micro meshing it made two small teeth marks stand out.What I should have done was flick my Bic on the annoying little marks, but that didn’t come to me until after I reached the point of no return with another method that’s great on real divots. Anyway, mixing Super Glue and vulcanite shavings from an old stem that’s perfect for the task was good practice.This method for removing bite marks makes a mess. Cleaning it up took a couple of days of sanding and buffing before the final shots after one more progression of 60-1000-grit sandpaper and all nine micro mesh pads – but the practice and results were worth it.Time to stain.At this point, I would have had only the final wheel buff left. In fact, that’s what I did. But the pic I took of the nomenclature revealed a hairline crack just below LONDON, ENGLAND.To mitigate the potential for the crack to spread, I used a touch of Super Glue and let it sit overnight. At least the foul spot was not all the way through the shank. A 120/180 sanding pad followed by a full micro meshing took off the excess dried glue. I re-stained the effected area with Moccasin Brown and buffed the char off with 8000-12000 micro mesh. I decided to make the rim lighter with 8000-12000 micro mesh, also.Quick wheel buffing of the stem and stummel with Red Tripoli and carnauba on the buffer wheel completed the Charatan’s Make Calabash reject. The best part of this restoration is how close I came with my sweet reject to the stain of a third Charatan’s Make Perfection Calabash I found online.And I didn’t even know it until I copied and pasted the pic from Pipehub.com. I look forward to finding a loving home for my poor disadvantaged friend here.

SOURCES
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/charatans-make-london-england-special-495600609
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lane-era-charatans-make-relief-grain-412563595
http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-charatan.html
http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-benwade.html

Breathing New Life into the FIRST of a Cased Set of Two English Made Peterson’s Bulldogs – 80S Bent Bulldog London Made

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe is the third of four Peterson’s and the first of a case set of Bulldogs that came to me from a friend of mine for me to work on. The pair (pipes 3 and 4) came in a nice leather cast that was travel/time worn on the top and underside and damaged on the edges. My friend sent me some photos of the case and the pipes that I am including here. It was not a large case but a common style carrying case for pipes of this era. I am hoping to do some work and narrow down the dates on the pair of pipes.The inside of the case was lined with soft golden suede. The case was fitted for the pipes that it contained – a straight and a bent bulldog with similar finishes. The lid of the case had a logo on it that was a gold and burgundy oval that read PETERSON’S over Dublin & London. It was dirty but not in bad condition. The finish on both pipes was dirty and tired looking but the grain peeked through the grime and oils on the finish. I decided to work on the top pipe first – the Bent Bulldog 80S. The rim top was had hash marks on the left side and had a thick lava build up. The inner edges of the rim looked like there was both burn damage and reaming damage. The outer edge looked good. The stamping on the shank sides was clear and readable. It is stamped on the left side and reads Peterson’s [over] London & Dublin [over] an oval with the word SPECIAL stamped inside. On the right side of the shank it is stamped London Made [over] England. There is no “P” logo on the stem. The stem is lightly oxidized and there is a large chip out of end of the P-lip that will need to be repaired if possible. I have included the pictures that my friend sent me before I took on the pipes. The first shows the rim top with the issues described above. The second and third photos show the stamping as noted above.It took nearly a month for the pipes to arrive in Canada for me to work on. I took photos of them to have an idea of what I was dealing with. You can see from the photos what I saw. The finish is was dirty but the pipe had some amazing grain on the shank and bowl sides. Rim top showed cuts or marks on left side and a thick lava build up. The inner edge of the bowl had some lava and it looked like a bit of damage from burn or reaming. The outer edge of the bowl was in surprising good shape. There was tobacco debris in the bowl and a thick cake. The original style stem is present and is oxidized and has the damage on the end of the button as noted above. You will see that damage clearly in the photos below. I took some photos of the rim top, bowl and stem to capture the condition of the pipe. You can see the cake in the bowl. There is a lava coat and some darkening. There was damage all around the inner edge of the bowl. You can see the hash marks/scratches on the rim top. The P-lip stem appears to be in good condition at first glance other than light oxidation. However a close look at the button will reveal the damage on the stem.I took some photos of the chipped stem to give a clearer sense of the damage to that area. Combined with the photos above you can see the extent of the damage. It was going to be slow, tedious work to rebuild that.I took photos of the stamping on the shank sides. They were clear and readable as noted above.I removed the stem from the bowl and took a photo of it to show its appearance. The saddle portion of the stem is slightly deeper than the newer 80S bulldogs that I have worked on. It is a nicely proportioned stem.Before I started the restoration process on the pipe I wanted to see if I could pin down a time period for the London Made England Special.

I turned to the section on that stamping in the book, The Peterson Pipe by Mark Irwin & Gary Malmberg. I quote from the section on the COM stamp on page 296-297 below:

Peterson maintained a factory in England for about a quarter of a century, from the late 1930s to ’62. Corporate transcripts and London business periodicals suggest that the London operation on White Lion Street was about to get underway in ’37. Only a handful of London hallmarked Petersons are documented, stamped with the date marks 1936 and 1939, and these have no COM stamp. Their output would be limited by the onset of the Battle of Britain in July 1940, but it seems reasonable to suppose pipes were made at the London factory during WWII, inasmuch as the K&P Staff Register lists twelve employees earning wages there in January ’44. London hallmarked Petersons have been identified with dates of 1949-54. Most London-made Petersons in a collector’s inventory were made in these postwar years, from 1949 until the closing of the factory in ’62… the presence of one variation of another on a pipe is not by itself a reliable indicator of its age.

That information narrowed the date of manufacture to the time period between 1949-1962. That is not a long period of time to be sure but now it was time to account for the stamping SPECIAL in an oval. What did that mean? Is there more specifics that can be learned with that stamp?

I turned to page 313 of the above Peterson Pipe book and read the following on the SPECIAL Stamp.

SPECIAL Stamp – used on special order or small batch custom pipes, it will often appear under other stamps, such as PETERSON’S SYSTEM, DE LUXE or DUBLIN & LONDON. Used frequently on pipes cut by master carver Paddy Larrigan.

So it appears that this set of Bulldogs were made in London in a limited time period and perhaps were made by Paddy Larrigan himself. Was he perhaps visiting the London factory in those post war years? I guess we will never know for sure but it kind of a nice thought regarding the pipes.

Armed with this information I started working on the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to remove the cake from the bowl. I cleaned up the remaining cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I sanded the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel to smooth out the inside of the bowl. The walls looked very good with no checking or heat damage. I cleaned out the shank with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% alcohol to remove the oils from the walls. It was filthy and when I was finished it smelled clean and fresh. I cleaned out the inside of the stem with alcohol and pipe cleaners.I scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to clean off the thick oils and grime ground into the surface of the briar. I used a shank brush to clean out the mortise The bowl looked and smelled much better and the grain really began to stand out clearly. I worked over the top and the inner edge of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the burned edge and the damaged rim top. It definitely came out looking much better. I try to steam out the dents a bit more to reduce them more. The trick on these old pipes is not to go overboard on the repairs but to leave a bit of the story behind as it changes the shape and feel of the pipe. I steamed out the dents/hatch marks on the top of the bowl using a hot butter knife and a wet cloth. I heated the knife on my gas stove and then pressed it against the wet cloth. The steam generated caused the dents to lift. I repeated the process until I was unable to lift them any more. While it is not perfect it is certainly better. I polished the briar (carefully avoiding the areas where the pipe is stamped on the shank sides) with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the smooth briar with my finger tips. The product is amazing and works to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I let it sit on the briar for 10 or more minutes and then buff it off with a soft cloth. It really makes the grain sing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. This repair would be a series of new experimental processes that would require many in process adjustments. I am including the total process below. I decided to try something a little different in rebuilding the button end of the P-lip. I cut a chunk of vulcanite off a stem to start with and sawed it into smaller, flatter pieces. I shaved more vulcanite off of a donor stem to add to the mix. The process would take several steps. I flattened out the underside of the button with a file to provide a ledge to build on. I would do that portion first before rebuilding the rounded end of the stem. I greased a pipe cleaner with Vaseline and inserted it pointing upward to be able to rebuild the underside of the button. I coated the underside of the area with black CA glue and then some shavings of vulcanite. When that had cured to touch I mixed a batch of activated charcoal powder and black CA glue to make a putty. I set the stem aside to let the mix of vulcanite/charcoal powder and black CA glue harden. Once it had hardened I used a small file to flatten out the repair and recut the button edge. I started the initial shaping of the flattened underside. The next step will be to reshape the rounded end of the button making sure that the airway opens on the top side of the button as it was originally. I greased a pipe cleaner and inserted it in the airway and bent it upward to be able to rebuild the area around the opening. It is tricky to rebuild the button as the airway is on top of the button rather than in the end. I built up the area around the end of the button with Black rubberized CA glue. I wanted to flatten it as much as possible so that I could connect a piece of another P-lip stem.Once the repaired area had hardened I used a topping board to flatten out the end. I cut off the end of another P-lip with a hacksaw. I cut through the middle of the exit of the airway on the top of the stem as that would match what is left of the damaged stem end.I drilled two small holes in the end of the cut off button and the stem. The holes would allow the CA glue to go deep in the holes and add to bind the cut off tip to the end of the stem.I coated the ends of the piece and the stem with clear super glue and worked it into the drilled holes. I pressed the pieces together while aligning the airway in the stem and in the piece of button. I set it aside to let the repair cure. I filled in the joint spots with black super glue and again let it cure. It would take several layers of black super glue to build it up and make it even. I let it cure between each layer of the repair and flattened it with sandpaper and a file between the layers. I did the small touch ups on the air bubbles and edges with clear super glue and set it aside to cure. The stem was starting to look much better.I reshaped the stem end carefully so as not to damage the stem further. I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the joint of the repair. I filled in the spots in the repair that came up in the shaping process with clear super glue. I let them cure and smoothed out the repair with 220 grit sandpaper. Once I was done with the shaping the button looked very good. I polished the vulcanite stem with 1500-12000 micromesh sanding pads. I wiped down the stem with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I have an oil impregnated piece of cloth that I use after each pad. I polished it further with Before & After Stem Polish both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I gave it a further coat of Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry. I put the pipe back together – the bowl with its rebuilt stem. This smooth finished Peterson’s London & Dublin SPECIAL 80S Bent Bulldog is a real beauty with great grain around the bowl. The P-lip style black vulcanite stem with the rebuilt P-lip button works very well with the medium brown briar. This English made Bent Bulldog is a very collectible part of Peterson’s history. The grain on the bowl is quite beautiful and came alive with the buffing. I used Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel on the bowl and very carefully on the rebuilt stem. I gave both multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel then carefully buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. The English made Peterson’s SPECIAL 80S Bent Bulldog feels great in the hand. It is lightweight and beautiful. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outer diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.73 ounces/49 grams. This the last of the four pipes I have to work on from my friend’s collection and then I will send them all back to him. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.