Tag Archives: vulcanite

Restoring a Stanwell Regd. No. 969-48 Hand Made Military Mount Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking smooth brown bent Billiard with a silver ferrule and a vulcanite military mount stem that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on the left side of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Regd. No. 969-48 [over] Hand Made [over] In Denmark. On the right side it was stamped with the shape number 27. The silver ferrule is stamped Stanwell on the left side. The saddle military saddle stem has a stamped with a white Crown S Stanwell logo on the left side. The pipe is a nice looking pipe with some nice cross grain on the sides of the bowl and shank. It has a medium brown finish. It is light weight and comfortable pipe to hold. I removed the pipe from the Stanwell pipe sock and turned it over in my hands. It was in good condition.This is what I saw when I over the pipe.

  1. The finish was very good with only some hand oils on the sides of the bowl and light dust and grime ground into the finish around the bowl sides. The brown stain is dull but the it really highlights the grain around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The smooth rim top looked very good and the inner and outer edges look very good. There was no lava build on the top and the edges. There was some grime on the rim top but the rest looked clean and undamaged.
  3. There was a light cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it – fortunately not aromatic. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I removed the light cake I could confirm that.
  4. The silver Stanwell ferrule on the shank end is undamaged and clean. There is some tarnish on the silver and it is dull but still looks good overall.
  5. The thin, fancy saddle stem has a white Crown S logo stamped on the left side that identifies it as a Stanwell pipe. It is in excellent condition with just some light tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside ahead of the button.

To summarize what I saw – this Stanwell Hand Made Regd. No. military mount Billiard is a well made pipe. It is a dirty but otherwise in good condition. The stem is lightly tooth marked but otherwise undamaged. There does not appear to be any calcification or oxidation on the stem surface. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up.   The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The rim top is clean but there is some darkening on the top back of the rim. There does not seem to be any damage to the smooth finish. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I see no warning signs in the rim top or the edges of the bowl. I took photos of the stem to show the condition. Though hard to see there is light tooth chatter on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with polishing. The next photos capture the stamping on the shank and the saddle stem. It read as I have noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of it to give a sense of proportion. As is my practice when working on pipes I researched the provenance of the pipe. I turned first to Pipephil (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-stanwell.html) to see what I could find. I found a side bar note on the stamping on the pipe. I found there that the company had begun in 1942 and that the “Regd. No.” stamping was discontinued in late 1960s to very early 1970s. So now I knew that the pipe was made after 1942 and before the late 1960s or early 1970s. I wanted to see if I could pin down the date a bit more.

I then turned to Pipedia to learn more about the pipe (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Stanwell). I read through the article by Smoking Pipes.com there and would recommend it as being a good read. In the material there I found no additional information. I scrolled through the photos and the included catalogue pages and there I found something helpful. There was a late 1950s catalogue shown there that had the description of the pipe I have and also the shape 27 shown in the pages. I have included a screen capture of the page below. I have circled the shape in the photo below. With that information I had learned that this pipe was available in the late 1950s in the shape that I had in hand. The Regd. No. stamping on Stanwell pipes ended in the late 1960s or early 1970s. My guess would place this pipe in the period between 1958-1965. It is a real beauty.

Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning the internals. The cake was quite thin but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I also cleaned the adapter that had come with the pipe. I worked them over until they were clean. I scrubbed the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils in the sides of the bowl. I used a tooth brush to work it into the briar. I rinsed it off with warm running water to remove the soap and the grime. It looked much better once I dried it off.  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 worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. The light sandblast finish looks very good and has a real touch of beauty.    I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I dry sanded both sides of the stem with 1500-12000 grit pads to polish it further. I wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I find that it still adds depth to the final shine on the stem which grew deeper with each sanding pad.  I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil afterwards and buffed it with a soft microfiber cloth.    I took the Stanwell Hand Made Military Mount 27 Billiard to wax and polish. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond polish on the wheel to polish out the scratches in the vulcanite. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax on the wheel and then buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The stains used on the briar bring out the grain and the bowl looks excellent with the shine of the polished silver ferrule and the vulcanite Military mount saddle stem. The rich finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible look. The Stanwell Hand Made 27 Billiard is a beautiful pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 34 grams/1.20 ounces. This is a great looking Hand Made Billiard. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section. If you want to add it to your rack let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Restoring a Black Falcon Base with a Meerschaum Bowl and a Dental Bit

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking Meerschaum Bowl Black Falcon with a a vulcanite dental bit stem that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on a heel of the bowl reads Falcon [over] Made in [over] England. The vulcanite dental taper stem has a stamped Falcon logo on the topside. The pipe is a nice looking Meerschaum. It is light weight and comfortable to hold. I brought pipe to the work desk and turned it over in my hands. It was in good condition.

This is what I saw when I examined it.

  1. The finish on the smooth meerschaum was very good with a light patina developing around the rim top of the bowl. The fit and finish on the bowl and stem is very good.
  2. The smooth rim top looked very good with some light patina developing. There was no lava build on the top and the edges were clean and undamaged.
  3. There was no cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it – fortunately not aromatic. My guess is that when I remove the bowl from the base that will be solved. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I removed the light cake I could confirm that.
  4. The bowl sits snug in the base with no gaps or signs of leakage around the joint.
  5. The vulcanite dental bit has a Falcon stamped on top that identifies it as a Falcon pipe. It is in excellent condition with no tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside ahead of the button.

To summarize what I saw – the Black Falcon Meerschaum Bowled pipe is in excellent condition. It is a little dusty but otherwise looks good. The vulcanite dental bit is clean and no marks are on the ridges of the bit. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up. The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The rim top is clean does not seem to have any damage to the smooth finish. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I took photos of the stem to show the condition of each one. Though hard to see there was light tooth chatter on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with micromesh pads.The next photo captures the stamping a smooth patch on the underside of the base. It read as I have noted above. I took a photo of the logo on the topside of the stem as well.I removed the bowl from the base and took some photos. There was a pipe cleaner ring in the bottom of the base that was used as a Falcon filter ring. It absorbed the tars and oils from the smoke. It was stiff and dirty. The base underneath is also dirty.I took photos of the bowl to show the condition. The top looked very good in the photos and it has some developing patina. There were no nicks or scratches in the meerschaum bowl – top, sides or base. The base is quite unique and not one I had seen before. There was a nylon threaded ring around the meerschaum end. Around the top of the nylon base there was a rubber “O-ring”. I took photos of the base. The painted black base and shank is clean and undamaged. Like other Falcons I have worked on the stem is pressed into place and is not easily removable. It looks to be in good condition.I used a dental pick to remove the pipe cleaner ring from the bottom of the base. Once it was out of the bowl you can see the oils and debris in the base. I cleaned it out with alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I used pipe cleaners to clean out the shank and the stem. I polished the meerschaum rim top and bowl sides with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the meer down after each sanding pad using a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. It took on a rich shine. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was new so it only needed to be polished. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 finished 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 from oxidizing quickly.   I took the Black Falcon with a Meerschaum bowl to wax and polish. I buffed the bowl and stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I gave the bowl and stem several coats of carnauba wax on the wheel. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the natural colour of the meerschaum bowl with the shine of the polished black base and stem is stunning. The smooth finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe a beautiful look. The Falcon Meerschaum is a nice looking pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 1 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¾ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 35 grams/1.23 ounces. It is an interesting Freehand that I wish I could learn more about but as it is it should be a fun smoke. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the British Pipe Makers Section. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restemming and Restoring an Unsmoked 1951 Linz Handcarved Freehand Sitter Bowl

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Blog by Steve Laug

I still remember the day that Jeff called me from an antique shop on the Oregon coast and showed me the next pipe on the table. It was such a unique pipe, a carved bowl with oak leaves around the sides and bark like carving around those. He showed me the pipe. It was different and it was missing a stem. There was a brass semi circle ring on the back of the shank for holding a cord. The bowl was quite small, about the diameter of my little finger. The mortise and the airway into the shank is tapered like a Peterson’s System pipe. It is stamped on the foot of the shank and reads LINZ and above that 1951. I don’t know if Linz is the name of the carver but I assume so. The date 1951 is the year it was made. I was intrigued enough that I told him to grab it and bring home. When Irene and I went to visit Jeff and his wife Sherry in Oregon I picked up the pipes and brought it home with me. Here is what I saw when I looked at it.

    1. It is definitely hand carved and is hard wood. I wonder if it is briar. The bowl sides, top and bottom are rusticated and on the sides of the bowl and the shield shield of the bowl there are some oak leaves.
    2. The rim top and shank end are also carved. The rim top is smooth and the shank end is carved with geometric lines and marks.
    3. The bowl was unsmoked for sure but it was quite small. The diameter is about ½ inch. The shank was drilled conically similar to a Petersons System Pipe.
    4. The left corner of the shank end sitter was chipped and missing a chunk that will need to be cleaned up and smoothed out and recurved to match the rest.
    5. There is a brass ring on the back side of the shank that I think probably held a decorative cord that was attached to the stem.

I would need to find a stem that would work. I could probably used a cherry wood piece like that used on Black Forest Tyrolean. I took photos of the bowl and rim top showing the interesting carving on the front of the bowl. The oval rim top and light edge on the front of the bowl look great. The shank end of the bowl is also well carved. It has a hatch pattern and a groove from the bottom up the shank end. It also included a brass ring for connecting a cord between the stem and the bowl. The lower left hand corner of the shank base was chipped and damaged. It will need to be repaired and recurved to set the base even.On the base of the shank/the foot the pipe was stamped LINZ and the year 1951 was above that. It is clear and readable. I am wondering if the name was a personal carver’s name and the year 1951 was certainly the year the pipe was made.I picked out a stem from my can of stems. It is a Peterson’s P-Lip clone that fits the shank very well. The airway comes out on the end of the stem though rather than on the top. It looks very good. I took a photo of the bowl with the newly fitted stem. I started my work on the bowl by rebuilding the chipped portion on the shank base. I rebuilt it with clear CA glue and briar dust. I layered it in place with dental spatula and shaped it at the same time. Once I had enough layers built up I used a wire brush to clean up the surface of the wood. I flattened it out with a filing stick. I sanded it and smoothed out the shape to look good. I like the overall look of the repair. I took a photo of the bowl and the new stem to give a sense of the look of the parts. I think that the stem would work very well.I used  Cherry Stain pen to touch up the repair on the shank end/base. The stain matched quite well and when the bowl was polished it would match even better.I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth rim and the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the wood with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. It was new so it only needed to be polished. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 finished 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 from oxidizing quickly. I took the Linz Hand Carved Freehand bowl to wax and polish. I don’t buff the rusticated bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finish. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the natural colour of the wood with the shine of the polished stem is stunning. The rich rusticated finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Linz Freehand is a nice looking pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 7 inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ x 2 inches, Chamber diameter: 5/8 of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 85 grams/2.96 ounces. It is an interesting Freehand that I wish I could learn more about but as it is it should be a fun smoke. I will be putting it on the rebornpipes store in the American Pipe Makers Section. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restemming and Restoring a Brigham Voyageur 165 Bent Acorn

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another that the Vancouver pipe man dropped off for me to work on for him. It was stamped Brigham Voyageur 165 and had a mixed finish of smooth top and rusticated bowl and shank. It is a Bent Acorn that was finished in a brown stain. It needed restoration on the bowl which was moderately caked and the shank was dirty. It also needed new stem as the current push stem was chewed and broken at the button. It was another pipe that I had previously repaired for him back in 2017. At that point it needed had done a complete restoration and fitted a regular push stem as requested. It had a thick cake at that point as well and was well used. The original stem had nylon Brigham system tenon that was broken as well. Here is the link to that restoration. (https://rebornpipes.com/2017/04/02/restemming-and-reconditioning-a-brigham-voyageur-165/). Here are some photos of the pipe when he picked it up in 2017 to give a bit for context for my work. When I took the pipe out of the bag of pipes he brought for me to work on it last evening this is what I saw. The finish on the briar looked very good. It was dirty but the colour had stayed true. It had a bit of patina on the bowl but it was beautiful. The bowl had a moderate cake and the airway in the shank was dirty. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had a large chunk of vulcanite missing on the underside. I took photos of the rim top and the thick cake in the bowl to show how it looked. There was also tobacco debris on the walls. The rim top had some darkening and there were nicks around the inner edge of the bowl. It will clean up pretty well. The photos of the stem show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks and chatter under the calcification on the stem surface.I took a photo of the stamping on the smooth panel on the left side of the shank. You can see it is clear and readable and reads as noted above. I removed the stem from the shank to give a sense of the flow of the pipe.Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning and reaming the bowl The cake was quite thick but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a PipNet pipe reamer to cut cake back to bare briar. I cleaned up the remnants of the cake with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean. I cleaned out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I worked over the shank and the airway in the stem. It took some work but once finished it was clean and smelled fresh.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It took on a real shine by the time I finished with the last sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth rim and the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. Now it was time to deal with the replacement stem. I went through my can of stems and found an interesting bent taper vulcanite stem that was a perfect fit. It was a 6 dot Brigham stem that someone had cut off to be a push stem. It would not hold a filter so it was relegated to my can. Since the pipeman wanted a replacement push stem I would be able to modify it to work perfectly. Because the modified Brigham stem was made for the Hardrock Maple filter it was a wide open draw. I used a piece of Delrin tubing to make a converter to fit in the tenon and change it to a regular bore. I used a Dremel and sanding drum to reduce the diameter of the Delrin so that it would fit into the tenon. It worked well as can be seen in the second photo below. It is longer than necessary in the photos below but I cut it and shaped the end like other converters that have been used on Savinelli pipes.I build up the damage to the button edge on the top and the marks in the top and underside of the stem with black CA rubberized glue. Once it had cured I used a small file to recut the button edged and flattened the repairs. I smoothed out the repairs and worked on the stem diameter at the shank with 220 grit sandpaper to get a good seat. I started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sand paper. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 finished 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 from oxidizing quickly.I took the Brigham Voyageur 165 Bent Acorn bowl to wax and polish. I don’t buff the rusticated bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finis. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the dark stain on the briar with the shine of the polished acrylic stem is quite stunning. The rich sandblast finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Brigham Voyageur Bent Acorn is a nice looking pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 51 grams/1.80 ounces. It is a beautiful pipe and the fourth of the five pipes left with me for work. Once I am finished with the lot he will get them back to enjoy once more. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Beautiful Stanwell Relief 12 Sandblast Billiard

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking sandblast black and brown Billiard with a thin silver band/adornment and an acrylic stem that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on a smooth patch on the underside of the shank reads Stanwell [over] Relief in script. The shape number 12 is on the right side of the stamp toward the top of the smooth panel. The thin silver band on the shank has stamping. The acrylic taper stem has a silver Stanwell Crown S inlaid. The pipe is a nice looking sandblast. It is light weight and comfortable to hold. The pipe came in a pipe sock stamped with a horse and carriage in an oval [over] Stanwell. I took the pipe out of the sock and turned it over in my hands. It was in good condition.This is what I saw when I took it out of the pipe sock.

  1. The finish was very good with only some light dust in the grain around the bowl side. The dark brown/black stain is dull but the it really highlights the grain around the bowl sides and shank
  2. The smooth rim top looked very good with some light darkening but not much. There was no lava build on the top and the edges were clean and undamaged.
  3. There was a light cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it – fortunately not aromatic. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I removed the light cake I could confirm that.
  4. The band is silver and looks to be good condition. It is undamaged and clean. The thin band looks really good with the “Relief” finish and the smooth rim top.
  5. The acrylic taper stem has a silver Crown S logo that identifies it as a Stanwell pipe. It is in excellent condition with just some light tooth chatter and marks on the top and underside ahead of the button.

To summarize what I saw – this Stanwell Relief Sandblast 12 Billiard is a well made pipe. It is a little dusty but otherwise in good condition. The acrylic stem is lightly marked but otherwise undamaged. There does not appear to be any calcification on the stem surface. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up. The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The rim top is clean does not seem to have any damage to the smooth finish. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I see no warning signs in the rim top or the edges of the bowl. I took photos of the stem to show the condition of each one. Though hard to see there are light tooth marks and chatter on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with sandpaper.The next photo captures the stamping a smooth patch on the underside of the shank. It read as I have noted above. I took a photo of the logo on the left side of the stem as well. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of it to give a sense of proportion.Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning the internals. The cake was quite thin but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean. I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I worked them over until they were clean. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank and the rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and rings around bowl cap. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. The light sandblast finish looks very good and has a real touch of beauty.   I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I dry sanded both sides of the stem with 1500-12000 grit pads to polish it further. I wiped it down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. Though I know that it does not do much with the acrylic I find that it still adds depth to the final shine on the stem which grew deeper with each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil afterwards and buffed it with a soft microfiber cloth. I took the Stanwell Relief 12 Sandblast Billiard bowl to wax and polish. I don’t buff the sandblast bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finis. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the dark stain on the briar with the shine of the polished acrylic stem is quite stunning. The rich sandblast finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Stanwell Relief 12 Sandblast Billiard is a beautiful pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 inches, Height: 2 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 46 grams/1.62 ounces. This is a great looking Stanwell Relief 12 Billiard. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the Danish Pipe Makers Section. If you want to add it to your rack let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Restoring a Lightly Smoked Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 150 Straight Bulldog with 2 stems

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking rusticated reddish brown straight Bulldog with a silver band/adornment and a P-lip and a Standard vulcanite stem that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on a smooth patch on the underside of the shank reads Peterson’s [arched over] of Dublin [over] Donegal [over] Rocky [over] the shape number 150. The silver band on the shank is stamped Peterson [arched over] P [over] of Dublin. The pair of vulcanite saddle stems have no stamping or marks. The pipe is a nice looking rusticated one. It is light weight and comfortable to hold. The pipe came in a pipe sock stamped Peterson of Dublin. I took the pipe out of the sock and turned it over in my hands. It was in good condition.This is what I saw when I took it out of the pipe sock.

  1. The finish was dusty in the grooves and valleys of the rustication. Otherwise it looked very good.
  2. The rusticated rim top looked very good other than the grime in the sandblast. There was no lava build on the top and the edges were clean and undamaged.
  3. There was a light cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it – fortunately not aromatic. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I removed the light cake I could confirm that.
  4. The band is silver coloured and the stamping is very clear. I don’t think that it is silver more probably nickel. It is undamaged and clean.
  5. The two vulcanite saddle stem had no identifying logos or stamping. There was light tooth chatter and marks on both sides of both stems.
  6. The P-lip stem does not fit correctly in the shank. The tenon is too large to fit into the shank of the pipe clearly.

To summarize what I saw – this Peterson’s of Dublin Donegal Rocky 150 Bulldog is a well made pipe. It is dusty but otherwise in good condition. The two stems are lightly marked but otherwise undamaged. There does not appear to be any oxidation or calcification on the stem surface. The look and feel of the pipe in the hand is great. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up. The first four photos show it with the standard fishtail stem. I took a photo of the pipe with the P-Lip style stem and the way it fit in the shank. The tenon was large at the back half of the tenon at the stem junction. I sanded the tenon with so a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to reduce it for a snug fit.I put the stem on the shank and took photos of the pipe with the P-Lip stem. I like the way it looks better with this stem! The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The rusticated rim top is clean does not seem to have any debris in the rustication. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I see no warning signs in the rim top or the edges of the bowl. I took photos of the stems to show the condition of each one. Though hard to see there are light tooth marks and chatter on both pipes on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with sandpaper. The next photo captures the stamping on the left underside of the diamond shank. They read as I have noted above. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of it to give a sense of proportion. Now it was time to work on the pipe itself. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning the internals. The cake was quite thin but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean.I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I worked them over until they were clean. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank and the rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and rings around bowl cap. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. The Donegal Rocky finish looks very good and has a real touch of beauty. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stems. I sanded out the tooth marks and chatter with 220 grit sandpaper. I started polishing it with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. The stems certainly looked much better. I dry sanded both sides of the stems with 1500-12000 grit pads to polish it further. I wiped them down with a cloth impregnated with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. The shine grew deeper with each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with some Obsidian Oil afterwards and buffed it with a soft microfiber cloth. I put the Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 150 Straight Bulldog back together. I don’t buff the rusticated bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the finis. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine.I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the browns and reds of the stain on the briar with the shine of the polished vulcanite stems is quite stunning. The rich rusticated finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the acrylic. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the browns and reds of the stain on the briar with the shine of the polished vulcanite stems is quite stunning. The rich rusticated finish around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The Peterson’s Donegal Rocky 150 Bulldog is a beautiful pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below with each of the stems. The dimensions of the pipe with the P-Lip stem are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 45 grams/1.62 ounces. The dimensions of the pipe with the fishtail stem are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the large pipe is a light and comfortable 47 grams/1.66 ounces. This is a great looking Peterson’s Donnegal Rocky pipe. I will be adding it to the rebornpipes store in the Irish Pipe Makers Section. If you want to add it to your rack let me know. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Restemming a Radford Ravel Rhodesian

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is another that the Vancouver pipe man dropped off for me to work on for him. It was stamped Radford Ravel and had a mixed finish of smooth top and sandblasted shank and bottom part of the bowl. It is a Rhodesian and the cap is smooth and the rest is a light sandblast. It was finished in a brown stain. It needed restoration on the bowl which was heavily caked and the shank was almost clogged. It also needed some work on the fit of the stem to shank. It was a pipe that I had previously repaired for him back in 2017. At that point it needed banding and repair on a cracked shank. It had a thick cake at that point as well and was well used. Here is the link to that restoration (https://rebornpipes.com/2017/03/19/banding-and-restoring-a-radford-ravel-rhodesian/).The stem had a brass washer on the tenon and glued against the shank. When I received the pipe back from him the stem did not fit tightly. There were tooth marks, tooth chatter and a lot of oxidation on the stem. Here are some photos of the pipe when he picked it up in 2017 to give a bit for context for my work. When I took the pipe out of the bag to work on it last evening this is what I saw. The finish on the briar looked very good. It was dirty but the colour had stayed true. It had a bit of patina on the bowl but it was beautiful. The shank band was damaged along the edge where it had been bent and dented. The stem was very loose in the shank and the brass spacer on the stem was very loose. The bowl had a very thick cake and the airway in the shank was almost clogged with tars and oils. I would need to be cleaned up before I worked on tightening the fit in the shank. The stem was oxidized, calcified and had tooth marks and chatter on both sides ahead of the button. I took photos of the rim top and the thick cake in the bowl to show how it looked. There was also tobacco debris on the walls. The rim top had some darkening and there were nicks around the inner edge of the bowl. It will clean up pretty well. The photos of the stem show the condition of the stem. You can see the tooth marks and chatter under the calcification on the stem surface.I took a photo of the band and how much of the stamping it covered on the shank. You can also see the damage to the band between the shank and the stem. You can see the poor fit of the stem to the shank. I took the stem off the shank and photographed the look of the pipe as a whole. It is a nice looking Rhodesian that has a definite Chacom look to it. I went back and reread the previous restoration blog that I written on the restoration the previous time I had worked on the pipe. I also was very interested to read the back story and history on the brand. I quote from the blog below.

There was something about the brand on the pipe that rang a bell for me. I have a tin of their Sunday’s Fantasy Tobacco in my cellar and I wondered if they might have made pipes as well.

I did a bit of digging and found the picture on the left that showed some of the tobaccos made by the company and also a great figurine with the name Thomas Radford mild premium pipe tobacco on the base. On Pipedia I found that Radford’s Private Label Pipes were crafted by Chacom for the Pöschl Tabak GmbH & Co. in Germany. This information was from “Pipes, Artisans and Trademarks”, by José Manuel Lopes. The pipes were mass produced with ebonite and acrylic stems and were introduced by Butz-Choquin, Chacom, and Nording. On the stem there is generally an embossed logo that was a stylized R. The pipes were made to use 9mm filters and are moderately priced and very attractive. The following three links were the sources I used for this information.

https://pipedia.org/wiki/Radford%27s

http://www.poeschl-tobacco.com/en/products/

http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-r1.html

I also looked on another website (http://cigar.supersmokers.biz/radfords/) and got a little more information on the brand.

The Radford’s pipe appears in 6 models in 3 variations 1x time a year in autumn. The so called Radford’s Depot contains a minimum of 1 dozen pipes of the actual running collection. Connected to the Depot is a listing of the Depot holder in Radford’s News.

This particular brand RADFORD’S SERIE RAVEL was a series of 6 elegant models within Radford’s Collection. They are made from good briar wood, sandblast, black/brown with a polished head’s border in dark-red shade. Very nice rich-in-contrast ring at the shaft’s finish. Mouthpiece from Acrylic for 9 mm filter.

Now I knew the background on the pipe. I knew that the stem was a replacement and that the original 9MM filter stem had long since disappeared. It was time to work on the pipe!

I decided to examine the fit of the stem to the shank first. I removed the stem and could see that it was loose. The brass spacer was also loose and seem to take space on the tenon that could otherwise be used in the shank. Once the brass spacer was gone I could also see that the tenon was no longer straight from the end to the saddle portion. There were dips in the surface of the vulcanite just ahead of where the band had been sitting. The photos below show the condition of the tenon at this point. I tried the stem with the spacer removed and it fit snug in the shank. The thickness of the tenon at the saddle portion was perfect so I would need to build up the rest of it to match that portion.The band was bent at the shank end in various places around the diameter. I used a tool I have here with a sharp end and a rounded end. I worked it around the inner edge of the band to smooth it out as much as possible. I used my topping board with 220 grit sandpaper to top off the damage on the shank end edge. It looked considerably better once I had finished and the stem fit more snug against the shank end. I turned my attention to the internals at this point. I reamed the bowl back to bare briar with a Pipenet Pipe Reamer using the second cutting head. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I finished the bowl clean up with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. The walls were smooth and there was no sign of burning or checking. It looked very good.   I cleaned out the internals with 99% isopropyl alcohol, pipe cleaners and cotton swabs. I worked over the shank and the airway in the stem. It took some work but once finished it was clean and smelled fresh.I polished the rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. It took on a real shine by the time I finished with the last sanding pad. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the smooth rim and the sandblast finish on the bowl and shank. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. Now it was time to address the part of the restoration I leave until last. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I filled in the deep grooves in the tenon to build it up and make it even. Once the repair cured I sanded it smooth to make it round and even once more. Once finished it looked better and the fit in the shank was very good. I also sanded the stem surface to smooth out the tooth marks and chatter. I also sanded it to remove the oxidation and calcification off the surface of the stem. I build up the damage to the button edge on the top and the marks in the underside of the stem with black CA rubberized glue. Once it had cured I recut the button edge and flattened the repairs. I smoothed out the repairs with 220 grit sandpaper and started polishing the stem with 600 grit wet dry sand paper. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 finished 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 from oxidizing quickly. The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I first buff the stem and the briar with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. Blue Diamond is a plastic polish but I find that it works very well to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite and the briar. I work the pipe over on the wheel with my finger or thumb in the bowl to keep it from becoming airborne. It works well and I am able to carefully move forward with the buffing. The briar and stem just shone! I finished with the Blue Diamond and moved on to buffing with carnauba wax. Once I have a good shine in the briar and vulcanite I always give the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I following up the wax buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I follow that up with a 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 vulcanite and acrylic combination stem. It really is a beautiful pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank show the grain shining through the rich brown stains of this Radford Ravel Rhodesian. The finished 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 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 1.90 ounces/53 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and the second of the five pipes for restemming I have ahead of me. Once I am finished with the lot he will get them back to enjoy once more. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Beautiful Rusticated Ferndown Bark 2 Star Lovat

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe I have chosen to work on is a nice looking rusticated Ferndown Lovat that I picked up in a lot of 10 pipes from a fellow on Vancouver Island who was selling his collection. The stamping on the underside of the shank and reads Ferndown [arched over] 2 *s and Bark. That is followed by Hand Made In [over] England [over] Les Wood. The silver band on the shank is stamped L&JS in a rectangle [over] 925. The vulcanite saddle stem is stamped LJS in gold on the left side of the saddle. The pipe came in a no name pipe sock. I took the pipe out of the sock and turned it over in my hands. It was in pretty good condition. This is what I saw

  1. The finish was dusty and dirty in the grooves and valleys of the shallow, tight rusticated finish. Otherwise the finish looked very good.
  2. The smooth rim top showed some darkening and scratches in the finish. There was some light lava build on the rim top and the inner and outer edges of the bowl were clean and undamaged.
  3. There was a light cake in the bowl. It held the aroma of the tobaccos smoked in it but fortunately they were not aromatic. The walls looked to be undamaged but once I reamed it I would know more about that.
  4. The vulcanite saddle stem had the LJS Logo on the left side in gold. The vulcanite stem is lightly oxidized on the left side but otherwise clean. There are light tooth chatter and marks on both sides but nothing deep.

To summarize what I saw – this Ferndown is a well made pipe as to be expected. It is dusty but otherwise in good condition. The vulcanite stem is lightly marked but otherwise undamaged. The look and feel of the pipe is great in the hand and the rustication is shallow but very beautiful. It is going to clean up very well. Here are photos of the pipe before I started my clean up. What do you see when you examine it? The bowl of the pipe looked very good. The rim top is clean other than a light lava build up and some scratching. The edges of the bowl were undamaged and looked very good. I see no warning signs in the rim top or the edges of the bowl. I took photos of the acrylic stem to show its condition. Though hard to see there are light tooth marks and chatter on the surface of both sides ahead of the button but it should clean up easily with sandpaper. The next photo captures the stamping on the underside of the shank. They read as I have noted above. The second photo shows the stamp on the silver band and on the left side of the saddle stem. It is also clear and readable.  I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo to capture the economy of this nice pipe.It has been awhile since I had cleaned up a Les Wood pipe and in this case a Ferndown rusticated Lovat stamp that left me with some questions that I need to answer before I began to work on the pipe. I turned first to the Pipephil site to help me interpret the stamping on the pipe and gain some background information on the brand and line (http://pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-f1.html). The photo to the left shows Les Wood and the information below came from the side bar. I have also done a screen capture of the information on the site.

Artisan: Leslie (Les) Wood. He was the master silver smith at Alfred Dunhill Ltd. before starting L. & J.S. Briars. Pipes for the European market are stamped “L. Wood” while those for US are stamped “Ferndown”. Production: ~ 2000 pipes/year (Ferndown + L.Wood) See also Elwood.From the information on Pipephil I learned that I was working on a pipe made for the US and that it was a large 2 star pipe in terms of size. I also learned that the Bark finish was a sandblasted or rusticated. The one I had in hand was a tightly rusticated finish with a smooth strip on the underside of the shank for the stamping. All of which helped to understand the pipe I was going to work on.

I turned to Pipedia (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Ferndown) to find a more detailed history and description of the brand and was amazed to find that the majority of it was either quotes or written by Les Wood himself. I am quoting some pertinent parts of the article below. You can turn to the site to read it in full.

Leslie “Les” John Wood worked for Dunhill for 19 years. His last position was as master silversmith. Following his tenure with Dunhill, Les formed his own brand, L. & J.S. Briars together with his wife Dolly in 1978. Les Wood follows Sasieni, the first ex Dunhill worker to start their own enterprise, and he was followed by William John “Ashton”-Taylor.

“I started working at Dunhill’s in March 1963, in the silver mounting department working under Jack Spriggs he left the firm after I had been there for 2 years, and I took over the department, at that time I worked alone it was only when the department was relocated to the top floor that the increase of pipes that needed mounting that we took on trainees. After 19 years I was asked if I would buy the machinery and move out of the factory and set up on my own, so off I went. With me I took the staff that worked with me at that time, Robert Morris was the best, he could mount anything, he now has his own jewellery retail shop and makes some really nice handmade jewellery from his shop at Whitstable in Kent.”

“I worked on Dunhill’s pipes from 1980/81 and soon built up a reputation as the firm to send your mounting to. As time went on and Dolly left Dunhill’s we decided to start to turn our own bowls and make our own pipes under the name of my house.” Les Wood. Jan, 2020…”

Due to the vagaries of international trademark law, he sold his earlier pipes as ” L.&J.S Briars”, “Ellwood”, “Les Wood” or “L. Wood”. Until recently, an average of 1500 – 2000 pipes a year were sold as “Ferndown” — named for the mansion he lives in — in the UK and US, but as “L. Wood” pipes in Germany…

To many pipe smokers, Les Wood’s pipes embody the revival of great English pipe making initiated by Ashton in the early 1980s. The high-grade Italian and Spanish plateau he prefers is oil-cured in the tradition of both Dunhill and Ashton. The pipes are renowned for their pleasant, slightly nutty flavor and remarkable smoking characteristics. They feature impeccable craftsmanship extending to very good stem/bit work, though many pipes are often a bit heavier. The hallmark of his work, of course, is the excellent silver work. Almost all of his pipes feature rings or ferules for spigot stems. Grading is by finish: “Bark” (ca. 90%, rusticated, dark brown and black), “Antique Bark” (tan rusticated), “Reo” (brown and red, smooth), “Root” (orange, smooth), and “Tudor Root” (orange and brown smooth) and by size (one to four stars). He also designates straight grains with SG…

“We bought the briar from Italy and Spain, one is mush denser that the other I like the Spanish briar it is lighter and Dolly would make the Roots look like glass with only a natural vanish, all the pipes were finished with the same varnish, the bark finish on the bowl is put on by Dolly by hand, one slip and you have a problem. That’s one job that needs to be seen to see how it’s done.”

There also was a great paragraph on the oil curing process that Les and Dolly developed. I am including that below as the pipe I am working on was definitely oil cured.

“We had our method of Oil-Curing. We applied Oil to the outside and the inside of the bowl, that was because when Dolly was at Dunhill’s factory, she worked in the finishing department and got such a high finish on the pipes they wanted to know how she did it. The bowls had already gone through Dunhills’ oven oil curing system, but to her, it was not enough, because it could not get the shine that she wanted, then, she oiled the bowl on the outside and the inside to get a better finished. She left Dunhill and came to work with me. Because of this process, we found out the smokers liked the taste when light up their pipe – they said there was no aftertaste and it had a sweet taste doesn’t matter what tobacco they used. We have carried it on from there.”

Armed with that information and renewing my knowledge of the brand it was time to work on the pipe. I started my work on the pipe by cleaning the internals. The cake was quite thin but it can hold residual oils from previous tobaccos and I wanted to check the bowl walls for burn damage or checking. I reamed it with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe knife and took the cake back to bare briar. I sanded the walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I worked on them until they were smooth. There was no checking or burn damage to the bowl walls. It was quite clean.I cleaned out the internals of the shank and the airway in the stem with 99% isopropyl alcohol, cotton swabs and pipe cleaners. I worked them over until they were clean. I scrubbed the externals of the bowl and shank with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a tooth brush. I worked the soap into the grooves and valleys in the finish. I rinsed it off with warm running water. I dried it with a soft cotton towel. The bowl looks much better at this point in the process of recovery. I polished the smooth rim top with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit  pads. I wiped the briar down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The rim top began to take on a rich shine.  I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rusticated finish on the bowl and shank and the smooth rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. I polished the silver band with a jewelers cloth. It is impregnated with an anti-tarnishing compound and polish. I rubbed the shank end band down with the cloth to polish and protect the band. It came out with a rich glow and shine. I set the bowl aside and worked on the stem. I sanded out the chatter and tooth marks with 220 grit sandpaper. I was able to remove the marks from the surface very well, leaving behind no sign of the tooth damage. I started polishing the stem surface with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I dry sanded both sides of the stem with 1500-12000 grit pads to polish it further. I wiped it down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad. The shine grew deeper with each sanding pad. I finished polishing the stem with Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine polishes. I wiped the stem down with a damp cotton pad afterwards and buffed it with a soft microfiber cloth. I put the bowl and stem back together. I don’t buff the rusticated bowl on the wheel as it leaves a lot of grit in the deep grooves of the rustication. I gave the bowl and shank multiple coats of Conservator’s Wax and buffed it with a shoe brush to raise the shine. The wax is great protection and I love using it on rusticated and sandblast finishes because it does not build up in the grooves and valleys like carnauba wax does. I buffed it by hand with a microfiber cloth to finish the shine. I polished the stem with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel to polish out the scratches in the vulcanite. I buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up pretty nicely. The contrast of the blacks, dark browns and reds of the stain on the briar with the shine of the polished vulcanite stem is quite stunning. The dark and shallow rustication around the bowl and shank is quite remarkable and gives the pipe an incredible tactile presence. The smooth rim top is a great addition. This is truly a beautiful pipe and one that will be a great smoking pipe. The finished pipe is shown in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 6 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 3/4 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is a light and comfortable 56 grams/1.94 ounces. This is the first Ferndown Bark in my collection and I have been hunting for one for a while. This is a little larger than I was hoping for but it is a great looking pipe. I will be putting it on the holding onto it for awhile and enjoying it. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me. Cheers.

Restemming an Italian Made Mayfair 1005 Poker Sitter for a Local Pipe Man

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Blog by Steve Laug

Last week I received a call from a Vancouver  pipeman that he had some pipes he wanted restemmed and restored. As we spoke on email and then in person when he dropped them off it became very clear that all the five pipes he brought were ones he had purchased from me quite a few years ago now. They had served him well and he wanted new stems for most of them as they were gnawed and broken off at the button edges. The first of these that I am working on is one that he said was a favourite of his. He loved the shape and the weight of. It was what he called his hunting pipe. It was stamped Mayfair [over] 1005 on the underside of the shank. It was also stamped next to the stem/shank union and read Italy.

Before I started the restemming and restoration of the pipe I wanted to reacquaint myself with it and gather the background information on the first restoration. I turned to the blog and found it there (https://rebornpipes.com/2016/12/24/redemption-of-a-mayfair-1005-bent-tree-stump-pipe/). I remember it very well as it was what I called a Bent Tree Stump Pipe when I first picked it up. It was in very rough shape and back in 2016 I restored it and gave the bowl a serious repair of JB Weld and then a bowl coating to protect it from the serious burn damage that was on the walls of the bowl. I have never been sure how long those repairs last but at least I know that this one is about 7 years old and the bowl is in great shape. I have included some photos of the pipe when it left here 7 years ago. It is a unique and interestingly carved rusticated pipe. I took some photos of the pipe today before I started working it. The briar is dry and faded but is still quite clean. The rim top still has some darkening and debris on it. There is a flaw in the front of the bowl mid way down the bowl. It is not too deep but still visible. The stem is oxidized, calcified and chewed off to the degree that it needs to be replaced. There is a light cake and debris in the bowl but it does not cause grief thanks to the underlying coat of JB Weld that I used seven years ago to flush out the damaged walls and checking. I took photos of the rim top and the light cake in the bowl to show how it looked. There was also tobacco debris on the walls and some lava on the rim top. The lava on the rim top is not to thick and should come off quite easily. The photos of the stem show the necessity of the replacement.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 shank and took a photo of the parts of the pipe to give a sense of the proportion of the pipe.I went through my can of stems and found one that was similar in style and roughly the same length. The saddle portion is a little larger but I think it will work well. There is some oxidation on the stem and it is dirty so all of that will need to be cleaned up and the stem will need to be bent to the proper angle. The diameter of the saddle is a bit larger on the right side than the shank so it will need to be adjusted.I used my Dremel and sanding drum and finished tuning the fitting with a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to bring the shank and stem to the same diameter and to clean up the fit. I think it is going to look great once it is finished. I set the stem aside at this point and turned my attention to the bowl. I sanded the walls of the bowl with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. I wanted to check the condition of the walls and smooth out the cake that was present. I did not remove all of the cake but rather smoothed it out so it is ready for him to continue to build a solid base. The bowl is looking very good inside. I ran some pipe cleaners and alcohol through the shank and it was surprisingly quite clean inside.I examined the nooks and crannies of the rustication and found a flaw on the front of the bowl that concerned me. It was not deep but it was very present – mid bowl on the front in the photo below. I have drawn a red box around it in the photo. I filled it in a bit with clear CA glue and some briar dust. Once dry I used a brass bristle wire brush to roughen the finish to match the other rusticated parts of the bowl.The rim top had some debris and build up so I used the brass bristle wire brush on it as well and cleaned it. I took a photo of it after I had put some Before & After Restoration Balm on it to see how it looked. It still is slightly dark but looks much like it did when it went home with the buyer. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the rusticated finish on the bowl, shank and the rim top. I worked it into the surface of the briar with my fingertips to clean, enliven and protect the wood. I used a horse hair shoe brush to work it into the crevices and keep from building up in the valleys and crevices of the finish. Once the bowl was covered with the balm I let it sit for about 15 minutes and buffed it off with a soft cotton cloth and the shoe brush. I polished it with a microfiber cloth. I took photos of the pipe at this point in the process to show what the bowl looked like at this point. The portion of the lightly sanded shank that I did to adjust the fit of the stem looked perfect and matched the rest of the finish very well. Now it was time to address the part of the restoration I leave until last. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I “painted” the surface of the blade with the flame of a Bic lighter to soften the vulcanite so I could bend it. I bent it to the angle needed to match the angles of the briar. It looked pretty good and sanding it would make it better. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the marks in the surface of the saddle and remove the remaining oxidation. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper. I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 finished 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 from oxidizing quickly.The final steps in my process involve using the buffer. I first buff the stem and the briar with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. Blue Diamond is a plastic polish but I find that it works very well to polish out the light scratches in the vulcanite and the briar. I work the pipe over on the wheel with my finger or thumb in the bowl to keep it from becoming airborne. It works well and I am able to carefully move forward with the buffing. The briar and stem just shone! I finished with the Blue Diamond and moved on to buffing with carnauba wax. Once I have a good shine in the briar and vulcanite I always give the bowl and the stem multiple coats of carnauba wax. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I following up the wax buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I follow that up with a 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 vulcanite and acrylic combination stem. It really is a beautiful pipe. The smooth finish around the bowl sides and shank show the grain shining through the rich brown stains of this Mayfair Italian Made 1005 Poker Sitter. The finished 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 ½ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.31 ounces/37 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and the first of the restemming I have ahead of me on five pipes from this pipeman. Once I am finished he will get them back to enjoy once more. 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.

Restoring a Carved Figural Black Meerschaum

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Blog by Steve Laug

Once again in this write up and I will 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 04/18/2021 from a online auction in Rimersburg, 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 the a dark (black), intricately carved figural meerschaum bowl. It is well proportioned and well made with a classic Turkish facial carved sheik.
  2. The finish is dirty and there is dust and debris ground into the carved finish on both side of the bowl and shank. The finish is almost a like snake/fish/dragon scales on the shank. There is a meerschaum cap on the shank extension that is carved as well and is connected to the smooth portion of the extension.
  3. The rim top had a light cake in the bowl and a lot of dust on the top in the carving. The bowl is undarkened in the photos looking down into the bowl. It appears to have been lightly smoked and hardly broken in.
  4. The bowl has a light cake in it that hides the top ½ inch of the bowl walls and the inner edge of the bowl looks quite clean and the outer edges look good and there does not appear to be any obvious damage to the top or bowl edges.
  5. The vulcanite taper stem is in good condition – dirty and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button.

Overall my impressions of this pipe is that it is a beautifully carved meerschaum that once cleaned up will look pretty amazing. The exterior of the bowl is quite dirty with dust and debris. The pipe is very Turkish looking and is a classic carved figural pipe that has the distinctive cut of other figurals pipes that I have worked on. The black stain on the finish is quite stunning and will clean up well. 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 quite thin and is only in the top ½ inch of the bowl from the top down. You can also see the condition of the edges. This is what I look for when assessing a pipe. While there is dust and grime in the finish there is no visible burn or reaming damage at this point. The bowl looks quite good. The photos of the stem surface and the shank extension from various angles confirmed my assessment of its condition. The stem surface though dirty also has light tooth marks and chatter on both sides. Jeff took the pipe apart to show the two different styles of tenon on this pipe. The shank extension is held to the bowl with a nylon threaded tenon that is in good condition. The tenon on the stem is a new style push tenon that pushes into a Delrin insert in the shank end. The next photos show the amazing carving strokes around the heel and the sides of the bowl. Tell me what you see? Are there any visible problems that stand out to you? Are the cracks or scratches? Are there visible flaws or chips in the meerschaum? What kind of carving and grooves are around the bowl and shank? Any visible issues on the heel of the bowl? Even the questions should help you to see what I am looking for when I see these photos. Jeff took a photo of the carved meerschaum shank extension that the longer smooth meerschaum extension was attached to. It is a uniquely carved piece of meerschaum it is carved roses and circles. It is quite beautiful. Have a look in the photo below.I am including Jeff’s cleaning regimen once more because in this case he used the same procedures on a meerschaum pipe. 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 the a dark (black), intricately carved figural meerschaum bowl. It is well proportioned and well made with a classic Turkish facial carved sheik.
  2. The finish is clean and the dust and debris has been removed from both sides of the bowl. The grime ground into the finish is gone and there is some great features to the carving around the bowl sides. The carved features and the scales around the bowl sides and shank look very good.
  3. The dust and debris on the rim top has been removed and it looks very good. The walls of the bowl are clean and I do not see any checking or burn damage. The inner and outer edge of the bowl look good.
  4. The vulcanite taper stem is clean and has tooth chatter and marks on both sides. There is no identifying stamping on the stem or the shank.

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 dust and debris was removed, the edges and top looked very good. It is clean looks very good. I also go over the stem carefully. There were no tooth marks or dents in the stem. 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 love just looking at the beauty of the lay of the pipe with the carving and the proportion of the pipe. I like to remove the stem and the meerschaum shank extension from the shank to get a sense of what was in the mind of the pipe maker when he crafted the pipe. It is a beauty in flow and shape. By this time you should know that I almost always start with the bowl in my restoration because I truly do not like the tedious work of stem repairs and polishing. I always leave that until last even though I know that it needs to be done. For me the encouragement of seeing a rejuvenated bowl is the impetus I need to attack the stem work.

Today I started working on this pipe by turning to the bowl. For the past few years now I have been using 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 nooks and crannies of finish, enliven and protect the briar. I worked it into the briar with my finger tips and 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 worked the Before & After Balm into the meerschaum shank extension both the carved and smooth portions. I let the Balm sit on the surface and after 10-15 minutes buffed it off. I used a black stain pen to fill in the places at the sharp edges that had become lighter during the clean up work on it.I put the shank extension back on the shank of the bowl. It is held together with a threaded nylon tenon that screws into both the shank and the extension and allows the two to be held together snug. It is a great looking pipe. Now it was time to address the part of the restoration I leave until last. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I started with the tooth marks. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the tooth marks and chatter in the vulcanite. I started the polishing of the stem with 600 grit wet dry sandpaper.I use micromesh sanding pads and water to wet sand the stem with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil on a cotton rag after each sanding pad as I find it does two things – first it protects the vulcanite 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 from oxidizing quickly.On meerschaum pipes I avoid the buffer (especially on figurals with ornate carving) as I do not want to risk flattening the carving or damaging it. I tend to do all the polishing work by hand. I gave the bowl and the stem multiple coats of rich mixture of Beeswax and Carnauba wax that is soft and can be put on by hand. I have found that I can get a deeper shine if I buff with a clean buffing pad. It works to raise the shine and then I follow that up with a 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 vulcanite stem. It really is a beautiful pipe. The many sided carving of shapes around the bowl sides and shank show the rich craftsmanship. The rich dark stain of this Figural Carved Sheik with Beard and Turban makes the carving stand out. The finished 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: 8 inches, Height: 2 ¾ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches x 2 inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.05 ounces/57 grams. It is a beautiful pipe and one that I will be putting on the rebornpipes store in the Ceramic & Meerschaum Pipes section.

Hopefully the shape the 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 pipemen and women who hold our pipes in trust until they pass on into the trust of those who follow us.