Tag Archives: waxing a horn stem

Restoring an old time Debrecen Meerschaum with Cherrywood Shank and Horn Stem

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by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the worktable is an old timer. I am uncertain of what the shape is called. Perhaps it is a Debrecen but I am uncertain. I wrote Ben Rapaport for his help on the shape and he confirmed that it looks like a Debrecen to him. It has a tall meerschaum bowl with a gentle curve to the shank. The meer has taken on a nice patina particularly on the shank and other than being slightly dirty from sitting in a box for years is quite pretty. The rim top and shank end have sterling silver rings or caps. There is also a lattice, tall wind cap on the bowl that is quite stunning. It is hinged at the back and has a small catch that holds it closed. There is a small ring on the shank band that a cord could be attached to that links the shank to the bowl. The shank is cherrywood – basically a branch that has been drilled out with an airway. The mouthpiece is attached by a threaded cap on the end of the shank that it screws into. The shank cap and mouthpiece are both horn and quite nice. They are both in good condition. The bowl has a thick cake in it that lines the walls and carbon darkens the inside of the wind cap. The silver is all slightly oxidized and dirty. The stem is held I the shank with a cork in the shank. The previous owner had wrapped the end of the cherrywood shank with cellotape to hold it in place. I will have to remove that and see what I have to do to restore the cork. I have taken photos and included them below. I removed the long cherrywood shank from the bowl/shank unity. I took photos of the bowl and shank apart to give a sense of what the parts look like and give a sense of the size. The photos show the bowl from the side, the top and with the silver cap opened. You can see the dirtiness of the bowl and the carbon coat on the inside of the cap. There are some kind of hallmarks in the grime on the rim top once the cap is open. Once clean I may be able to discern what they say. It is a dirty pipe internally. Look closely at the shank end to see the tape wrapping on the end. I am uncertain what is under that. I removed the horn stem from the top end of the cherrywood and the cellotape from the bottom end of the cherrywood shank. The end is tapered to fit well in the meerschaum shank. Under the cellotape was still cork. It was dry but not crumbling. I gave it a rub down with Vaseline to soften and enliven the cork. I used a qtip to rub the cork down inside the meerschaum. Once it had absorbed some I rechecked the fit in the meerschaum and was pleased to see that the fit is snug. I set the cherrywood shank aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I carefully cleaned off the cake on the bowl walls and bottom with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. It removed the cake well and left the walls quite smooth. Once finished I sanded the walls with a piece of dowel wrapped in 220 grit sandpaper. The walls were smooth so I could move to further cleaning.I cleaned out the internals of the bowl and the airway into the bowl as best as possible with pipe cleaners – normal and bristle and alcohol. I used the pipe cleaners and alcohol to also clean up the heavy carbon buildup on the inside of the wind cap. I cleaned the airway and threaded cap on the stem with pipe cleaners and alcohol and also cleaned out the inside of the cherrywood shank with the same. The pipe smelled clean.I used a piece of fine XXXX steel wool to carefully further clean the inside of the windcap and carefully work on the rim top. I wanted to clean up the hallmarks to see if I could read them.I further cleaned up the inside of the cap and the rim top around the hallmarks with a cotton pad and alcohol first. Then, I used a fine dental pick to try and remove more grime in the letters. I cleaned out that with a cotton swab and alcohol and was able to read the stamping a bit more. The pipe is definitely Weis pipe according to the stamping on the right side of the rim top. There appears to be a letter ahead of Weis and it is perhaps a C or possibly an L.W. I am unfamiliar with the maker so I will need to do some research on that further clarify the maker’s name. The other side has some letters which are a bit hard to discern but it appears to be stamped PROMP or something like that. Not sure on those are the are worn.Before continuing the clean up I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of digging online regarding the L.W. Weis company or carver. I googled and the first thing that came up was an AI link to a wiki on LW Weis Meerschaum pipes that connects the LW to a Carl Weis so perhaps it is LW that is stamped on the hallmark. I quote from that below.

AI Overview

LW Weis is a brand of antique meerschaum pipes, specifically known for those crafted by Carl Weis, a late 19th-century manufacturer. These pipes are made from the mineral sepiolite, commonly called meerschaum, and are highly valued for their intricate carvings and the way they change color with use. 

 Key Features of LW Weis Meerschaum Pipes:

Material: Made from meerschaum (sepiolite), a mineral known for its porousness and ability to absorb oils from tobacco smoke, leading to a unique color change over time. 

Carvings: Often feature elaborate carvings, showcasing the material’s suitability for detailed designs. 

 Color Change: The natural white color of meerschaum gradually transforms into a range of warm hues (browns, yellows, oranges, etc.) as it’s used, a characteristic highly prized by collectors. 

 Manufacturer: Carl Weis was a late 19th-century manufacturer with a retail store at 399 Broadway, NY, and factories at 69 Walker St., NY, and elsewhere. 

 To me it is interesting that the LW Weis pipes were done by Carl Weis, a late 19th century manufacturer who sold his pipes out of a retail store on Broadway in New York, NY. Now to dig further.

I turned to Pipedia and was also taken to the page for Carl Weis. The article there confirmed the information on the New York Store and Factory as well as clearly connecting it to manufacture in Vienna, Austria (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Weis_Meerschaum_Pipes). I quote article in full below.

Carl Weis – Late 19th century manufacturer of meerschaum pipes and smoking articles.

Retail store was at 399 Broadway St., NY; factories were at 69 Walker St., NY and in Vienna, Austria.

From the Internal Revenue Record and Customs Journal, Volume 26 (October 4, 1880):

1st Prize Medal Vienna, 1873 CARL WEIS, Manufacturer of Meerschaum Pies, and holders, Wholesale and Retail. Finest Goods at lowest prices. Send for circular. STORE – 399 Broadway, New York. Factories – 69 Walker St; and Vienna, Austria.

I also searched further and found an advertising piece on the First Prize Medal won at the Vienna Exhibition in 1878. Here is the link (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1853287006/c-weis-pollak-co-meerschaum-pipes-vienna). The photo from the etsy shop is shown below.I also wanted to look up information on the Debrecen shape. It appears that the shape is Hungarian and is made in one of three famous workshops in Eger, Buda and Debrecen. In the early years of Hungarian production, three bowl shapes prevailed: Debrecen, Kalmasch, and Ragoczy. The Debrecen shape seems to have been carved in Debrecen, Hungary with the silver work being done in Vienna, Austria. The connection of the Austrian Hungarian Empire it seems is seen in the pipe. Thus, from what I can find the pipe is an 1890s (late 19th Century) pipe so it has some considerable age.

Now it was time to get back to the pipe. With the shank and stem cleaned I put them back together. The stem had no tooth marks or damage on it. The fitting to the cherrywood was perfect. I was missing the cord that would have held the bowl and shank together but I would keep and eye out for one. I rubbed the stem and shank down with Before & After Restoration Balm. I have found it works well not just on wood but also on horn. I rubbed it on with my fingertips and it works to deep clean, rejuvenate and restore the shine to wood and horn. It looked very good at this point. I rubbed the cork on the shank end with Vaseline and set it aside to have the cork absorb the product. It works to soften and preserve the cork making it more pliable when inserted in the shank. I set the cherrywood aside to let the Vaseline absorb in the cork and turned my attention to the bowl. I polished the silver on the rim top, shank end and rim cap with a jeweller’s cloth. It works to polish and protect the silver from oxidation. It looks very good. I polished the meerschaum with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cotton cloth. The bowl took on a shine by the last pads. I polished the bowl with Clapham’s Beeswax Polish. I rubbed it on the meerschaum and let it dry. Once dried I buffed it off with a clean buffing pad on my buffing wheel. I hand buffed the bowl with a microfibre cloth to deepen the shine. I am really happy with the way that this Late 19th Century Meerschaum Debrecen with Cherrywood shank and horn stem turned out. It really is a beautiful looking pipe with a unique shape and smooth meerschaum bowl, silver rim cap, windcap and shank band. The cherrywood shank and the horn stem are really nice. The patina on the meerschaum came alive with waxing and buffing. The rich patina on the finish gave the pipe a sense of depth with the polishing and waxing. I buffed the bowl with Blue Diamond and hand buffed it. I put the stem back on the bowl and carefully buffed the pipe with multiple coats of beeswax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Old Time Meerschaum Debrecen really is a beauty and feels great in the hand and looks very good. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 11 inches, Height: 3 inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 79 grams/2.79 ounces. The pipe will be staying with me for awhile as it is a beauty that I will enjoy smoking one day soon. Thanks for reading this blog and my reflections on the pipe while I worked on it. It was a fun one to work on!

Restoring an Old KBB Palmyra Horn Stem Bent Billiard with a Wind Cap

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Blog by Steve Laug

The next pipe on the table is an older KBB Pipe with a horn stem that a friend, Rob sent me. It has a nickel band on the shank and a nickel rim and wind cap. The briar has been stained with a dark purple stain and is a great contrast to the polished nickel and the horn stem. The finish was dirty and there are scratches in the finish. The nickel rim cap is dirty on the underside with tars and darkening. The hinge holding it on the cap is missing one of the anchors holding it in place. I am quite amazed that the hinge pin is not missing. The bowl has a moderate cake in the bowl and around the metal inner edge of the rim. It is quite dirty on the inside. The pipe is stamped on the left side of the shank and reads PALMYRA. On the polished nickel band it is stamped with KB&B in a cloverleaf over NICKEL PLATED on the left side. The horn stem is held in place by a threaded bone tenon that is excellent shape. The stem had tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem. The horn stem was worn and dry looking. Rob wrote me an email about the pipe asking if I would work on it. I have included the email below.

Hi Steve! 

Greetings from Kamloops… hope you had a great holiday season. A while back, I picked up a KBB Palmyra on EBay (pictures attached) and I was looking into having it restored. It’s a cool little pipe with a horn stem… I think it’s 1920s era? I don’t mind fixing up estates now and again, but I’d like this one to be restored by someone with a little more know-how than me. It basically needs a thorough cleaning, minor repairs, and a repair to the hinge of the wind cap. Would you be interested in restoring it? And do you know what it might cost, offhand?

Have a great weekend, Rob

He sent the following photos which I have included below. They reveal the condition of the pipe and gave me a sense of what would be needed. When the pipe arrived yesterday I took it to the worktable. I took it out of the box and took photos of it before I started working on it. The pictures that Rob sent above told the story very clearly. The finish looked okay but there were some nicks and dents in the briar. The stain was a dark purple/oxblood colour that hid the grain but it is the classic stain that was on the bowl when it was made. The nickel on the band and rim edge were clean. The cap needed polishing and the inside of the cap was dirty with tars, oils and build up. The horn stem had tooth marks on the top and underside ahead of the button. I took a photo of the rim top and cap to show the condition. You can see that part of the hinge material is missing at the bottom edge of the pin below. I have inserted a red arrow in the photo below showing the missing hinge piece. I opened the cap and took a photo of the inside. The top of the cap is dirty as noted above and quite rough. The rim cap is also dirty and will need to be cleaned. I also took photos of the stem to show the tooth marks in the surface. I took a photo of the stamp on the shank side. There is some gold leaf still in the stamp that I would touch up after the clean up. I took a photo of the stem and bowl to give a sense of the size and proportion of the pipe. I decided to start with the stem work. I sanded out the tooth marks on the stem surface with 320-35000 grit sanding pads to remove the tooth marks in the surface of the stem. Once I was able to remove the marks in the stem surface and started polishing the horn surface. It looked much better.I polished the vulcanite stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it with 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped the stem down after each sanding pad with Obsidian Oil and set it aside to dry.I polished it further with Before & After Pipe Polish – using both the Fine and Extra Fine Polishes. I gave it a rubdown with Obsidian Oil one last time and set it aside. I set the stem aside and turned my attention to the bowl. I removed the cap and the hinge pin from the one side of the cap to free it from the bowl so that I could work on it.  I used a folded piece of 220 grit sandpaper to clean up the metal lined inner edge of the bowl. I also cleaned up the rim cap top at the same time.I scraped the bowl with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife. I removed all of the cake on the bowl walls. I sanded the bowl walls smooth with a piece of dowel wrapped with 220 grit sandpaper. The bowl was smooth and undamaged.I cleaned up the top of the wind cap with a worn 1200 grit micromesh sanding pad to remove the grime on the top of the cap. I also worked on the build up on the inside of the cap with the same piece of 1200 grit micromesh. It removed the grime but did not damage the polished nickel.I cleaned out the internals in the shank and the airway in the stem and shank with pipe cleaners and isopropyl alcohol. It was surprisingly clean and it took very few cleaners to leave it clean.I touched up the light spots on the bowl sides and on the joint of the shank and the bowl with a Mahogany stain pen. The colour matched perfectly. Once it had cured I would polish it and blend it further. I worked Before & After Restoration Balm deep into the smooth finish to clean, enliven and protect the briar. I hand rubbed it with my fingers and worked it into the finish then set it aside to dry for 10-15 minutes. I wiped it off with a soft cloth. I buffed the bowl with a cotton cloth to polish it. It really began to have a deep shine in the briar. I took some photos of the bowl at this point to mark the progress in the restoration. The grain on the bowl stands out with interesting lines moving across the sides of the bowl and the shank. I touched up the gold gilt in the stamping on the left side shank with Rub’n Buff Antique Gold. I worked it into the stamping with a tooth pick and buffed off the excess with a cotton pad. It looked quite good with the retouched stamp.Now it was time to work on the broken hinge on the cap. The right side of the hinge cap was present as was the hinge pin. The right side had broken off somewhere in the life of the pipe. I used a soldering iron and some solder wired to build up a cap over the left side end of the hinge pin. I opened the lid and soldered the end over the pin on the inside of the cap first. I closed the lid and built it up on the outside of the hinge. I used a small flat file to flatten out the hinge end on the inside and the outside of the cap. I finished it up with a Dremel and a sanding drum to further flatten it out. I screwed the horn stem back on the KB&B Palmyra Bent Billiard and carefully worked the pipe over on the buffing wheel using Blue Diamond to lightly polish the stem. I buffed the bowl and stem to raise the gloss on the briar and the vulcanite. I gave the pipe multiple coats of carnauba wax. I buffed the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished KB&B Palmyra Bent Billiard is shown in the photos below. The purple/oxblood stains on the smooth Billiard shaped bowl works well with the polished nickel band and the polished horn stem. The dimensions of the pipe are: Length: 4 ½ inches, Height: 1 ¾ inches, Outside Diameter: 1 ¼ inches, Diameter of the chamber: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 1.38 ounces/39 grams. This is an interesting pipe with the dark stain on the bowl, the gold stamp on the left side of the shank and shank, the nickel wind cap and band all work with the polished horn stem. I really like how well the parts work together. This one will soon be on its way back to Rob. I think he will enjoy himself with this beautiful little old timer. I look forward to hearing what he thinks of it once he sees it.

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