NebraskaPeteGeek

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I have a few Savinelli pipes and they are all fine smokers.  This poor beat-up Porto Cervo must be an absolutely wonderful smoking pipe.  It had been smoked so much that I questioned if it was even salvageable.  I wondered this more than once during this restoration, “Can I return this pipe to service?”  That is why I left the “before” photo up there with the title.  I didn’t know if I could restore it and you, dear reader, are perhaps wondering the same thing. 

This pipe came from an estate lot which I won from Greece.  The Parker from the previous blog was also in this lot.  When I first looked I thought that the pipes looked challenging to restore and so far I have not been disappointed.   Here are a couple of screenshots of the lot.  There were some interesting shapes and makers

Challenging can be fun.  Testing one’s abilities and skills is seldom routine and so far the restorations have tested my abilities and made me think of some unique workarounds to problems.  I will try to keep this write-up short but it was a rather extensive operation.

First off , let me provide some history of Savinelli.  As usual I employed pipedia.org and pipephil.eu for source information.  The pipedia.org section of Savinelli is well written and very informative.  I know I said I wanted to keep this brief but much of this is worthy of repeating especially the “origins” of the company in 1876 and the post-WWII company as we know it.  

Early Origins

“1876 was a year of breakthroughs: Thomas Edison patented the mimeograph, Julius Wolff-Eastport canned sardines for the first time, Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call,

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completed Swan Lake, Melville Bissel patented the first carpet sweeper, Mark Twain published Tom Sawyer, and in Milan, Italy, Achille Savinelli opened one of the first shops exclusively focused on tobacco and smoking accessories.

That last item may seem relatively unimportant in the global scheme of advancements, but for those of us who love pipes, it was a monumental achievement, made even more difficult by the Italian government, which held a monopoly on tobacco. In addition, Achille was convinced that briar pipes represented the future of pipe smoking at a time when the market was dominated by clay and meerschaum. It may not have been obvious in 1876, but Achille Savinelli’s commitment to briar pipes would prove to be visionary.

He soon began designing his own pipes (different from the styling we associate with Savinelli today) and arranged their manufacture by local pipemakers in the Varese district of north-west Italy. The pipes became so popular that some were exhibited at the 1881 Esposizione Industriale Italiana (Italian Industrial Exposition)—the precursor to today’s Milan Fair, one of the largest trade fairs in the world.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli)

Post-WWII

“With his two best friends, Amleto Pomé and Mario Vettoruzzo, he assembled a team of fifteen employees to start a new business in the Varese region—the same area of northwest Italy in which his grandfather, Achille Sr., commissioned his own designs more than 60 years before.

Savinelli Pipes began production in 1948 and, although the pipes were of a superior quality and unique in their aesthetic, the brand wasn’t an immediate success. Few new brands are. It takes time for the public to catch on. Retailers were skeptical of placing Italian pipes alongside their best sellers from England or France, and customers, in turn, were hesitant to purchase a Savinelli over pipes by already established, foreign brands. Achille Jr. stood by his product, however; he knew it was only a matter of time before the world realized that these pipes were of a far superior quality, capable of competing with even the most well-established pipe manufacturers in the world. As it turns out, he was right. In less than a year, Savinelli pipes gained prestige in markets all across the world—heralded for their delicate balance of innovation and tradition, of form and function. Savinelli pipes were placed alongside the likes of Dunhill and Comoy’s in tobacconists from the United States to Europe, and, in time, this exposure modified Italy’s reputation; it was not only the premier exporter of briar, but now a premium source of fine briar pipes.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Savinelli)

Who doesn’t love a success story where hard work and producing a quality product pays off and builds a dynasty?  A story for the soul.  Anyway, the whole article is worth a read.  

The line, Porto Cervo, refers to a seaside resort town on the island Sardinia (That’s the big island that looks as if  the boot of Italy is kicking it towards France).   This little port town with a resident population of only 421 is renowned as a hotspot for wealthy resort goers.  As Tripadvisor claims, “Once an exclusive retreat for the crème de la crème of society, Porto Cervo is still one of the world’s most luxurious resorts, but thanks to the 2004 opening of an airport in nearby Olbia, you don’t have to own a megayacht to vacation here. You do, however, need to realize this is definitely not a backpack-and-Eurail Pass destination. Designer boutiques, luxury spas, fine restaurants and exclusive nightspots abound.” (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g194856-Porto_Cervo_Arzachena_Province_of_Olbia_Tempio_Sardinia-Vacations.html) 

In other words a place for Robin Leach and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (TV Series 1984–1995).

The 677 KS shape is “A bent Billiard with a supple, Brandy-like taper toward the rim, Savinelli’s “677 KS” is a compact yet full-bodied take on the classic English shape. Per the Italian marque’s shaping conventions, Savinelli has elaborated on the standard design, adding mass to the base and transition with extra height and taper lent to the bowl, all paired to one of their signature triangular shanks.” according to Smokingpipes.com.  That is a mouthful of a description.  Also you will later see that the “extra height” is a bit less extra after the restoration.  The three digit shape code for Savinelli pipes was established in the 1970s according to information from pipephil.eu.  One more detail is the “KS” – this stands for King Size.

(Document: Savinelli shape chart — Pipes : Logos & Markings – (pipephil.eu))

So let’s take a look at what this Savinelli Porto Cervo 677 KS looked like upon arrival.

Now, I think you see why I called it a salvage rather than a restoration.  This old girl had been through some rough treatment.  Upon examination I thought, “can I save this one?”, several times.  I decided that I could but that the shape of the stummel would have to be significantly altered.  A close look at the front of the stummel below the rim showed an area that I initially thought was just very beaten up by dottle knocking, proved to have deep charing fractures.  It looked as if the front of the pipe had been lit aflame then filed off in an attempt to hide the evidence of the crime.  Then there was the condition of the stem – deep bite marks and calcium deposits reminiscent of limestone.  Oh well, it ain’t gonna get done by talking about it.

A clean denim piece was added to the work surface and I was off and running.  What to do first?  I admit that the stummel had intimidated me, so I started with a more familiar task, the stem.  I used a sharp pocket knife to scrape away the calcium deposits on the stem.  There was no good way to get into the bite dents with the knife or with a dental  pick so I used a brass brush dipped in a bit of 99% isopropyl alcohol.  The results looked better.

The stem was then sanded with the 320 and 400 sanding sponges.  I wanted to remove the oxidation and roughen up the surface to allow the black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) a better surface to adhere to.  

I placed small drops of the black CA into the dents on the top side of the stem.  I figured this would take several smaller applications with filing and sanding in between applications.  THe drops were spritzed with a CA drying accelerator then filed flat..

After filing came a little bit of sanding.

This led to another application of CA to fill depressions over a much larger area.  The larger area allows the blending of fill.  This application also received a spritz of accelerator. 

More filing and sanding to smooth and blend the repair.

Notice that I had not addressed the button.  I prefer to get the dents smoothed before I try to rebuild the button.  This process was then repeated on the bottom of the stem.  Initial small drops, accelerator, filing, sanding and repeat.

Below is application 3, now over a larger area.

I Threw this photo in to show that the CA has a much smoother texture before the accelerator is used.  THe rapid drying makes the surface rough and more bumpy.

After filing and smoothing with 320 and 400 sanding sponges I was ready to start rebuilding the button.  This button did not need very much material added.  The previous owner fortunately was not interested in mauling both the button and the stem.  I like the cheap shiny Scotch tape for this next technique.  The more expensive matte finish 3M tape dissolves when exposed to the CA accelerator.  I wrap the newly smoothed stem in a layer of tape right up against the button.  This will keep the next application of CA off the previous applications.  

I then add CA to the area I want to build-up.  I immediately invert the step so the wet CA hangs down but doesn’t drip (If it drips then I was using too much CA, thin coats are easier to work with).  While holding the stem upside down, I spritzed with the accelerator.  Now for the part that you have to do fast you will have about 5 seconds to work with.  Flip the stem back over and while the CA is still soft use a sharp knife to cut along the edge of the button.  This will give you a nice straight flat edge that you will not have to spend a lot of time filing and sanding.  Once the CA was set-up the tape was removed.  The cut off piece of excess CA was stuck to the tape and removed with it.  The edge was straight.

The button was shaped with a flat needle file and smoothed with sanding sponges.

The above was then done with the top side button.  Once both the top and bottom side were filed and smoothed I applied a thin coating of Thin CA over an even larger area.  I did this to allow the Thin CA to penetrate into any small seams between the CA fils and the vulcanite and to fill and fine depressions which I may have missed.  

This was then spritzed with a CA drying accelerator and sanded.  Below is the rebuilt stem prior to finishing sanding and micro-meshing.

I think that may have been the best step-by-step procedure that I’ve written.  I hope you find it useful.

Next, I cleaned the interior of the stem using bristle pipe cleaners and 99% isopropyl alcohol.

Now onto the object of intimidation and dread – the stummel.  Normally I will ream the tobacco chamber first.  This time I wanted a more clear idea of what I was working with so I proceeded to scrub the stummel’s exterior.  The scrubbing was done at the sink with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium bristle toothbrush.

A typical scrubbing uses one application of soap.  This one used 3 and a stiffer nylon scrub brush in addition to the toothbrush.  The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.  Hmm, I was still wondering if this pipe could be saved.

I returned to the workbench and started the reaming.  I used a plastic envelope to catch the reaming residue and the PipNet with the #2 blades.  The cake in the tobacco chamber was softened by the water but it was still quite hard.  I had to stop several times to scrape

with the Smokingpipes Low Country knife and the General triangular scraper then proceed with the PipNet.  I replaced the #2 blades with the #3 blades and further cleared the cake from the chamber.  The #3 blades proved to be too small to reach across the chamber as more cake was removed.  This led me to scraping with the knife and the triangular scraper.  Eventually the cake was removed and the chamber was sanded using a wooden dowel wrapped in 220 sandpaper.  I felt certain that the walls of the chamber had to be charred due to the amount of material I was removing but upon inspection with a flashlight I saw no evidence of charring. 

I did not bother with trying to scrape the rim clean of lava.  In order to reshape the stummel the rim was going to lose about ⅛ of an inch of briar so scraping became a mute point.

I took the stummel to the counter where I top pipes.  Here a sheet of 220 sand paper is laid flat on the counter and used to sand during topping.  I started the sanding and quickly wished that I had a belt of disk sander.  I moved the stummel in a circular motion every few circles, I would rotate the stummel 90 degrees.  I was trying to keep an even pressure on the entire rim.  The back of the rim looked good but the front was still showing charred wood.  I decided that the new shape of this stummel would have to have a forward cant.  Additional pressure was put on the front of the stummel during the sanding.  The result looked pretty good.  

Now to address the reshaping of the front of the pipe.  I used a piece of 80 grit emery cloth wrapped around a wood block to coarsely remove and reshape the stummel.  The goal was to remove the char while retaining most of the character of the Savinelli shape.  I apologize for not photo-documenting this stage.  Once happy with the progress I used 220 sandpaper to smooth the stummel.  Eventually I was back to using the 320 sanding sponge followed by the 400 sandi sponge.  THe below photos show the pipe at this point.

I was now certain that the Savinelli Porto Cervo 677 KS could be saved.  The question of: “But, how will it look?” remained.  

When I would wipe the stummel with alcohol I would get the following dark color below the rim at the front.  I did not like the dark color.  I had read about work workers using oxalic acid to bleach wood.  This was usually done to remove water or iron stains from wood.  I bought some oxalic acid thinking that someday I’d try it.  Hmm, does oxalic acid work on burned spots with briar?  I asked that very question in a pipe restoration group on Facebook.  THe response from several people was yes.  

Preparing chemical solutions was something that I had years of experience with as a high school chemistry teacher.  I figured that I’d just prepare a saturated oxalic acid solution.  I cleaned out my induction kettle with vinegar and soap then rinsed it with distilled water.  I washed out a glass jar and lid and rinsed them with distilled water also.  I brought 300 ml of distilled water to boiling in the kettle.  I poured 250 ml into the clean jar.  I added 2 

teaspoons of oxalic acid crystals.  They dissolved immediately.  Hmm, maybe I should have read a recipe?  Na, this is bucket chemistry.  I added another 2 teaspoons.  Again totally dissolved.  One more – didn’t completely dissolve.  Wait a few minutes.  Crystals remained at the bottom of the jar.  We have a saturated solution that will become supersaturated as it cools.

I allowed the solution to cool to room temperature and took the solution down to the workbench.  I applied a coat to the stummel using a cotton swab.  The oxalic acid solution

was absorbed quickly by the briar.  I applied a second coat.  I had read to allow the oxalic acid 20-30 minutes to work on the wood.  I waited for about 40 minutes.  In the meantime I prepared a baking soda solution to neutralize the oxalic acid on the briar.  40 minutes later I was ready to rinse away the oxalic acid and scrub the stummel with the baking soda solution.

I don’t know if the oxalic acid lightened the charred area a noticeable amount.  I guess I should have taken before and after photos.

I returned to the workbench and worked on reestablishing the inner rim bevel that the Porto Cervo had before I so rudely sanding it away.  I used a 2 inch polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe with a 2 inch PVC round end cap.  The end cap was wrapped with 220 sandpaper.  This gave me a uniform curved surface to reestablish the curve of the rim bevel.  If you are interested in the real purpose of this tube, ask me in the comments.

With the Stummel reshaped and the rim beveled it was time to start sanding.  I used painters tape to cover the stamps.  I wanted to keep the stem and the stummel together for the sanding to avoid rounding any of the edges where joined from being rounded. 

I used the 320-400 sanding sponges on the stummel only.  The 600-1000 sanding sponges were used on both parts.  In between sponges I wiped the stummel with an alcohol moistened make-up pad to remove the dust .  I applied a drop of mineral oil with my fingertip to the stem and wiped that with a paper towel.  

While wiping the stummel I couldn’t help focusing on the dark spot at the front of the pipe where the briar had been burnt.  It still seemed too dark for my liking.  I decided to give the stummel a contrast stain.  I thought that maybe a black dye might penetrate into the softer grained areas giving them a darker appearance while I sanded the black dye off of the harder, more resistant grain.  This would darken the pipe overall but would still show off the existing grain patterns.  

I prepped the counter for dying.  Actually for mitigating a dye spill if one occurred.  I used an inverted plastic container as a work surface.  This was topped with a couple of paper towels.  The black Fiebing’s Leather dye, a disposable lighter, a folded pipe cleaner, a small medicine cup with 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol were gathered and the fishing bobber wrapped in duct tape.  The bobber was pushed into the tobacco chamber giving me a handle.  The pipe cleaner was the dye applicator.  The lighter is to flame the dye once applied to the pipe.

I put on nitrile gloves and applied a single coating of the Fiebing’s Leather dye to the stummel.  I flamed this with the lighter.  This burns off the alcohol base of the dye and sets it into the briar. 

After the stummel had been flamed I wiped the surface with a dry paper towel to remove any remaining dye.  I was not concerned about the dye drying for a certain time as I was going to remove the majority of the dyed wood in short order.

I returned the stummel to the work bench and began sanding away the newly dyed briar from the surface of the stummel.  I was very careful to avoid sanding the stamped areas.I wiped the sanding sponge off frequently of the denim work surface to keep the sponge clean.  I used a barely wetted with alcohol make-up pad to wipe away the dyed briar dust and assess where I needed to sand in order to have a uniform color.  Below is how the stummel looked after the black dye was sanded.

I was fairly pleased with how the black had accentuated the grain while masking the burned area.

The sanding continued as before with the 1500-3500 sanding sponges.  I did not tape the stamps but I was careful to avoid them.  I had to get close to avoid having a “CENSORED” box appearance around the stamps.  As before, I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad between sponges.

It was at this point that I realized that I had completely forgotten to clean the shank airway.  If you are a regular reader, you will probably be saying something like:  “Forgot, nothing.  You just didn’t want to do it.”  Yeah, it’s not my favorite job.  I did clean the shank, thank you very much.  I started by pouring 3 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and letting it flow into the shank.  I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol.  After a vigorous scrub, I poured the alcohol into a medicine cup to assess the progress.  This process is repeated ad nauseam.  After a few scrubs I would go back to the workbench and see if I could scrape some yuck out of the airway, scrub with a cotton swab and repeat the 3 ml alcohol scrub routine.

After what seemed like 4 hours of repeating the process the cotton swabs emerged clean.  I did notice a cherry aromatic smell throughout this process.  I had never had a pipe so heavily infused with cherry aromatic tobacco before.  It wasn’t a bad smelling blend, just very cherry.  

Next was the micro-meshing.  Here I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence on both the stem and  stummel.  Between each pad I wiped the stummel with an alcohol dipped make-up pad.  The stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in with my finger and wiped with a paper towel between pads.

I was in the home stretch, the end was in sight.  All that remained was to polish the stem and apply some carnauba wax with the buffer.  So, that’s what I did.

The polish was Before and After Fine Polish followed by Before and After Extra Fine Polish.  Both were applied by finger and rubbed with a soft cotton cloth.  The waxing was done with my low speed grinder converted to a buffer and carnauba wax.

Well, I wasn’t sure if this pipe would be salvageable, much less restorable.  I am glad to report that I smoked it today and it was lovely.  Remember when I said that it had a definite cherry aroma?  Well I may be giving her a cotton ball alcohol treatment.  I didn’t find it annoying  but it certainly did alter my Lane BCA to a vanilla cherry.  The pipe looks pretty darn good.  I am sure that a Savinelli connoisseur will spot that it is not really a 677 KS any longer.  I bet they would agree that the contrast stain turned out nicely.  I worried about it being too dark for the brass and wood banding on the stem but I think they work well together.  The stem rebuilding also was a success and polished equally as well as the waxed stummel.  I do hope that you found something here useful in restoring or just caring for your own pipes.  If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe.  I know I said I wanted to keep this brief and I have done anything but that.  Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for:  Some photos of the finished Savinelli Porto Cervo 677 KS.