by Steve Laug

This beautiful swan neck bent Billiard is next on the table. We purchased it on 01/28/26 from a seller in Delafield, Wisconsin, USA. It is a beautiful large Bent Billiard with a lovely horn stem and bone tenon that screws into the shank. The bowl is dirty and had a thick cake in the bowl and a thick lava coat on the rim top. The shank end of the bowl had some darkening at the junction of the stem and shank. It easily could have had a thin brass band on the shank that left behind the stain. The finish on the bowl was worn and dirty. The stem was worn and oxidized with tooth marks and chatter on the top and underside of the stem. The only stamping on the shank was W.F.C. in script. There were no other identifying marks on the shank and the stem. It was not a recognizable brand and some of the folks I spoke to suggested it might refer to the previous owner’s initials. I suppose there is no way to know that for sure but it is very similar to quite a few French made St. Claude older bent billiards with the same shape and stem connection. It is a real beauty that should clean up very well. Jeff took photos of the pipe to give a sense of its condition and beauty. Jeff took photos of the bowl and rim top to show the condition of the bowl. You can see the thick cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim top of the bowl. It is really a well used pipe that obviously had been someone’s favourite. The photos of the stem show the condition of the surface and the bone tenon. Jeff took photos of the bowl and shank from various angles. You can see the grain in the briar in each of the photos below. It is a great piece of briar with nice grain that follows the shape. He took a photo of the initials on the left side of the shank. They are clear and readable as noted above. It definitely looked like it was stamped rather than etched and is quite clear. Are they someone’s initials or are they initials of a company.It was time to work on the pipe. As usual Jeff had done a thorough cleanup on the pipe. He cleaned up the reaming of the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer and a Savinelli Fitsall pipe knife to remove the cake. He scrubbed out the mortise and the airway in the shank and the stem with alcohol, cotton swabs, shank brushes and pipe cleaners. He scrubbed the exterior of the bowl, rim, shank and stem with a tooth brush and Murphy’s Oil Soap to remove the oils and tars on the rim and the grime on the finish of the bowl. He rinsed it under running water. One of the benefits of this scrub is that it also tends to lift some of the scratches and nicks in the surface of the briar. He dried it off with a soft cloth. He scrubbed the stem surface off with Soft Scrub and rinsed it off with warm water. The pipe looked good. I took a photo of the rim top and stem to show the condition. The finish on the rim top looked spotty. The vulcanite saddle stem had light tooth chatter and marks on both sides ahead of the button and on the button edges. The stamping on the underside and left side of the shank is clear and readable as noted above. There was a stamp on the left side of the saddle was readable but the white in the stamp was gone. I removed the stem from the shank and took a photo of the pipe to give a sense of the whole. It is a nice-looking long shank apple and should clean up very well.I took some photos of the darkening around the shank end of the pipe. It appears that the darkening could have come from a tin shank band. I will work on it and think about the possibility of adding a new band to it. I sanded the briar with 320-3500 grit 2×2 inch sanding pads. I carefully worked around the stamping on the shank side. I wiped it down after each pad with a damp cloth to remove the sanding debris. I blended the repair into the surrounding briar and polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads – I dry sanded the briar with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads. I wiped the bowl down with a damp cloth after each sanding pad to remove the debris. It really took on a rich shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the surface of the briar with my finger tips and a horse hair shoe brush to get into the rusticated portions. The product is incredible and the way it brings the grain to the fore is unique. It works to clean, protect and invigorate the wood. I sanded the stem with 320-3500 grit sanding pads to remove the tooth chatter and the marks in the stem surface. I wiped it down after each sanding pad with an Obsidian Oil soaked cloth. It began to look very good.I polished the stem with micromesh sanding pads – dry sanding it 1500-12000 pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian after each pad to remove the dust and polishing debris. I polished it with Before After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine. I gave it another coat of Obsidian Oil. This Large French Made WFC Bent Billiard with a horn stem turned out very nice. The mix of brown stains highlights the grain worked well with the smooth taper horn stem. The rim and bowl look very good. The finish on the pipe is in excellent condition. I screwed the horn stem back on the shank and carefully buffed the pipe with Blue Diamond on the buffing wheel. I gave the bowl and stem multiple coats of carnauba wax on the buffing wheel and followed that by buffing the entire pipe with a clean buffing pad. I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The finished Large Swan Neck WFC Bent Billiard is unique and feels great in the hand. Give the finished pipe a look in the photos below. It is a nice pipe whose dimensions are Length: 8 inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ¼ inches, Chamber diameter: 7/8 of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 81 grams/2.89 ounces. Thanks for walking through the restoration with me as I worked over another beautiful pipe. This one will be going on the rebornpipes store, in the French Pipe Makers Section shortly. If you are interested in adding it to your collection let me know by message or by email to slaug@uniserve.com. Thanks for your time.

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.