NebraskaPeteGeek

A Peterson Captain Pete Restoration

December 21st, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

It has been said that I suffer from Peterson Pipe Acquisition Disorder (PPAD). Though not a painful affliction, except in a financial way, it can prove detrimental to one’s long term mental stability. I believe the early symptoms include a strange desire to only smoke Peterson pipes. As the disorder progresses afflicted individuals feel a compulsion to own each of the Peterson 300 series shapes. In its latter stages individuals can become obsessed with owning an example of every Peterson pipe ever produced. These poor souls have been known to have and hoard hundreds of Peterson pipes which they refer to as “a collection”.

Fortunately, for myself, I seem to be in an early stage of the disorder and only have mild symptoms. This stage is often referred to as being a “Pete Geek”. Some symptoms in PPAD include rambling conversations with patients repeating the terms 1896, patents, well, chimney and P-lip. Some patients have been known to speak poorly pronounced Gaelic phrases like “Sláinte”, “Dia duit” and “Póg mo thóin!”   In my case, I can still see the beauty of other brands and lines of pipes and, so far at least, not fallen into true Obsessive Compulsive Peterson Pipe Acquisition Disorder (OCPPAD).

The subject of this blog is a Peterson Captain Pete. The pipe was purchased via an auction from eBay. Peterson pipes have a long and storied history which is rich and fascinating. I highly recommend the book The Peterson Pipe, by authors Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg as well as a reading of pipedia.com’s Peterson pages. According to Mark Irwin and Gary Malmberg, the Captain Pete:

“This line’s name was derived from the nickname of Charles Peterson, known affectionately as “Captain Peterson.” The first issue, c. 1940-62, was in a smooth finish produced for Rogers Imports with a white stamped P inside C, or a circled P on the mouthpiece. CAPTAIN over PETE on shank, and a MADE IN IRELAND in a circle. English made versions show CAPTAIN over PETE on shank or “CAPTAIN PETERSON” and A PETERSON PRODUCT over MADE IN ENGLAND or LONDON MADE over ENGLAND. The second issue (1998-), features an XL bowl with Sherlock Holmes shapes and compact stems, in rustic or combination of smooth and rustic, with a nickel band between two narrow brass bands.” (Irwin and Malmberg p.295)

Photos of this Peterson Captain Pete when it arrived are below:

As you can see from the photos and by comparing them to the description of Irwin and Malberg, this is a first issue 1940-1962 pipe. The condition of the pipe is remarkable. I would judge that it was only smoked a handful of times. The lathe marks inside the tobacco chamber are visible though not shown in the photos. The condition of the stem and lower bowl interior are nearly factory fresh. When I first examined this pipe I thought the only work that I would need to do was minimal. It included; redoing the factory fills, 8 of them in total, reaming the slight cake of the tobacco chamber, fine polishing of the stem with a logo touch-up painting and a thorough cleaning of the airway.

I began with a look at the airway. It was remarkably clean, after swabbing the shank with a cotton swab dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol and a pipe cleaner

dipped in the same alcohol I only got a slight discoloring of the swab and cleaner. Though not spotless far cleaner than I would have expected from a pipe that was 60-80 years old. I suspected that someone had cleaned this pipe recently.

Next on the agenda were the fills. I do not enjoy replacing fill. Yes, I know it is a part of my pursuit and that the very nature that creates this wonderful wood, briar, would not have the characteristics that we require if it were to grow in more hospitable, less sandy environs. I still do not like fixing fills. “Quit whining, ya big baby.” “Oh good, you’re back. I was beginning to think I was alone.” “You’re not getting paid by the word so knock it off and fix the dang pits.”

I tried to photograph the pits and their factory fills. They were not badly done, just done in a factory. I know this pipe would never have made the cut at Dunhill’s due to the sand pits but a Peterson isn’t a Dunhill. Although

the finished goal is to have a finish that rivals a smooth Dunhill. Anyway, I began by picking out any old fill material that was soft enough to remove with a fly tying bodkin. There were 8 pits in all. I used the same bodkin to place a small drop of brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) into a pit. I then used nitrile gloved fingers to take a pinch of briar dust and forcefully press the dust into the CA filled pit. The CA sets up near immediately with the briar dust so the motion of placing and pressing must be done quickly. Once one was filled I moved on to the next pit. Once all were filled I allowed them to sit and cure for a few minutes.

The beautiful Captain Pete now looked like a pox ridden mess. I remember learning the word carbuncle in High school English, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, perhaps. For some reason that word popped back into my mind.

The next task was to file the majority of the CA and briar dust “new fill” from the stummel while doing as little damage as possible to the stummel. Slow and steady are the keys to this. Now, a normal person can do this by feel. The CA is much harder than the briar and I am sure it feels significantly different than filing the briar. I cannot feel very much with my fingers. They are perpetually numb due to me having multiple sclerosis (MS). I have to use my eyes and ears to see and hear the file working rather than relying on a sense of touch. Since the file is covering the area being filed it is mostly by hearing that I do this. Once filed smoothish I turned to the sandpaper. I

used nothing coarser than 320 and this only with a very light touch. 400 was mainly used after which I went directly to the 1500 micro-mesh pad. Once sanded smooth I then checked for any slight spots where the briar dust had left tiny pores in the surface. When a tiny pore or depression was found I would lightly touch it with the bodkin touched with, not dipped in, brown CA. These very small spots of CA were then allowed to sit for 15 minutes to cure. After curing they were again smoothed using the 2400 micro-mesh pad.

I was now ready to start the micro-meshing of the whole stummel. I used painters tape to mask the stampings and reinserted the stem. I also taped over the stem logo. I used the 1500 and 1800 micro-mesh pads dry with a very light touch. After the pads I wiped the stummel off with a make-up removal pad moistened with 99% isopropyl alcohol. The stem did not require micro-meshing at this coarse of a grit so it was ignored. The 2400 micro-mesh pad was used on both the stummel and stem. The wiping of the stummel remained the same while the wiping of the stem between pads was done with a drop of Obsidian oil rubbed in by fingers followed by a wipe with a clean paper towel. This continued through the 3600 micro-mesh pad with the above mentioned wiping between pads.

Upon finishing with the 3600 micro-mesh pad and wipe I removed all of the painters tape. I then repainted the logo with acrylic model paint. This was allowed to dry for 10 minutes.

Once the paint had dried I began micro-meshing the stummel and stem with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. There were a couple of spots inside the logo that needed to have paint scraped off. This was carefully done with the edge of a pocket knife. Between each of the micro-mesh pads the stummel and stem surfaces were wiped as before.

In examining the pipe after the micro-meshing I was not happy with the briar color. There were light areas where I had sanded during the filling of blemishes that did not match the stummel. I thought it would be best to lightly restrain the stummel using a diluted Fiebing’s Leather Dye.

I poured 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into a medicine cup. I then used a clean soft pipe cleaner as an applicator. The pipe cleaner was dipped into the Light Brown Fiebing’s and stirred into the 5 ml of ethyl alcohol. THe dye was then applied to the surface of the stummel.

Several coats were applied to achieve complete coverage. The wet stummel was then flamed with a disposable lighter to set the dye. I then allowed the dye to dry for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I began wiping the stummel with a make-up pads wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol. The pads removed much of the dye and blended the area very nicely.

Once all of the alcohol had evaporated I slathered the entire pipe with Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allied to sit and do its magic for 20 minutes.

I was definitely in the home stretch and the pipe was looking good. I wiped off the Restoration Balm with a soft cotton rag. I then polished the stem using Before and After Fine Polish applied with my finger and rubbed with a cotton rag followed by the Before and After Extra-Fine Polish.

The final step was to apply several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. After buffing the pipe was hand buffed with a microfiber cloth and taken upstair for a photo session.

Overall I am very pleased with how well this Captain Pete turned out. I had always wanted to restore one of these and can now check it off the list. I do think that the previous owner had cleaned up this pipe and perhaps tried their hand at a restoration. It was remarkably clean, except for the need of a reaming, when I received it. One other thing that I noticed when working with the stem was the lack of any oxidation. For a pipe that is 60-80 years old there should be oxidation. I could tell that the stem had been buffed with noticeable buffing marks running perpendicular to the length of the stem. These were all removed during the micro-meshing. I do hope that you have found this informative and or entertaining. If you like this sort of thing please hit like and subscribe. Thank you very much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

*Irwin, Mark, and Gary Malmberg. The Peterson Pipe The Story of Kapp & Peterson. First Edition, second printing ed., Canada, Briar Books Press, 2018.

Below are some photos of the finished Peterson Captain Pete.
A Marxman Quarter Bent Big Boy Rhodesian Restoration

December 18th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The title of this one is a mouth full. I was happily calling this Marxman a pot throughout the photography, restoration and transfer of the images. When typing the restoration, I asked a Marxman connoisseur, Briar Lee of PipesMagazine.com forum fame, “What would this Marxman shape be called?” He quickly messaged me the answer: “That is a quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian.” Firstly, thank you, Briar Lee. Secondly, now I have to go and change the titles of 56 computer files from “Marxman pot…” to “Marxman quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian…”. Oh, if only there were an app for THAT.

This Marxman, not a pot, came to me via an eBay auction. If you have frequented this blog, you will have seen a couple of other Marxman pipes restored. If you are a new viewer, welcome. I love old Marxman pipes made before the founder sold the company to MasterCraft in 1953.

Yes, the big ugly chunky Marxman pipes. A buddy describes one of my Marxman pipesas, “It’s like a tank made love to a lovat.” and he continued. “Not a brand new tank. Like an old one that went through two or three world wars.” Thank you, Don Cole. He was referring to the beauty to the left. I don’t have to try very hard to see exactly what he meant.

(German Tiger Tank) (Lovat)

I will again refer to the best sources for information available to pipe hobbyists pipedia.org and piphil.eu. Pipedia’s short history of Marxman pipes reads as thus:

“Marxman (Marxman Pipe Company) was created by Robert (Bob) L. Marx in 1934, when he was 29, and after he had worked for the William Demuth Company. His pipes were not outstanding because of the quality of their wood (probably Algerian), but Bob started making unique sculpted pieces, which brought the brand fame in the World of Hollywood cinema. Actors like Zachery Scott, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Joel McRae, and Ronald Reagan were some of the faces that appeared on the bowls. Bob new how to innovate and took full advantage of marketing and press advertising in order to sell the brand–one of his slogans being “Relax with a Marxman”.” (Marxman – Pipedia)

In my last Marxman blog (Marxman Super Briar) I discussed the prices of Marxman pipes and adjusted them to current U.S. dollars. Briar Lee messaged me with some thoughts of his regarding Marxman pricing and pipe lines.

“In my experience, how to tell … a Big Boy … Marxman is:

1. No size stamp. If there’s a B or C those were $7.50 or $10 pipes.

2. The inside of the bowl is at least .850. Most are bigger.

3. Most have thick shanks with saddle stems.

4. 60 to 90 grams. Two or three times more than usual 30 gram medium size.

5. Not always, but usually no Jumbo or Benchmade or Super Briar grade stamp. Most common is just Marxman with arrow over IMPORTED BRIAR.”

The stamping that Briar Lee is referring to is:

(photo by J.M. Young)

And,

“All the beautiful full page of a national magazine in color advertisements Marx ran in Look, the Saturday Evening Post and other such big circulation magazines would have the 400 at $25, a Jumbo at $10, a Benchmade at $7.50 and a Super Briar at $5 and a Mel-o at $3.50.

Not any mention of his figural pipes at all.

Sometimes in the fine print there was a $15 size.

My guess is almost all pipes over $5 were bought as gifts.

The B and C size Jumbos are big pipes, too.

But the $15 size were not just huge (for the forties) but magnificent, the ones in the top of the store display.” (Briar Lee, personal communication)

Using an inflation calculator and comparing November 1945 to November 2023 we can see that $3.50-$25 is equivalent to $59-$424. (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm) The $15 and $25 ($254 and $424) Marxmans were not the price ranges of lower quality pipes nor were they the pipes of the “everyman” who was having a pipe. These were the luxury items of their time. I could not find a 1945 Dunhill catalog but did find a 1951.

(File:Dunhill catalog 1951 11.jpg – Pipedia)

The prices are indicated in pounds. Below are historical exchange rates of the U.S. Dollar to the British Pound Sterling for 1950.

A £10 Dunhill in 1950 would have cost approximately $28.50 (10 / 0.3508) or a £50 Dunhill would be $142.50 (50 / 0.3508). In today’s dollars these would be $354 and $1,771.45 respectively. Dunhill, then and now, a luxury item.

The Marxman pipe that this blog is dedicated to is a quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian. The date of manufacture would be between 1934 and 1953 and was probably a $15 pipe in 1945. Upon arrival the pipe looked like this.

The condition of the pipe was very good for a pipe of this age and use. The tobacco chamber appeared to have been either frequently reamed or seldom used. The rim had evidence of lava but no heavy deposits. The stem showed no heavy denting nor chatter from teeth. I was pretty sure this was going to be a simple restoration.

The first step was to completely ream the tobacco chamber and sand it to bare briar. This was done with a PipNet reaming tool with the largest size blade, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and a General triangular

scraper. The reaming eliminated the minimal cake quickly. Further scraping with the knives was required as the chamber diameter was larger than the largest blade of the PipNet. The chamber was then sanded with 220 wet dry sandpaper and my finger. Those huge bowls are so nice and easy to sand with a finger.

With the reaming finished I took the stummel to the sink for a scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The Murphy’s was used undiluted. The scrubbing was done with a medium bristle toothbrush. All of those nooks and crannies of the rustication trapped a significant amount of dirt and grime. After the first scrub I poured on another blob of Murphy’s and scrubbed the stummel a second time. The Murphy’s was then rinsed with war mater and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and used a 95% ethyl alcohol soaked make-up removal pad to vigorously rub the entire stummel. The pad was quickly shredded by the rusticated surface but little color came off the pipe indicating that there was no stain nor finish used on this briar. It probably was only treated with wax from the factory. At this stage the pipe stummel looked like this:

I thought, “wow, this is going fast and easy”. Yeah, I know, “why did you say that? Now the next thing you do is going to be terrible.” I am pretty sure those were the same words that George Armstrong Custer said prior to running into the Sioux nation on June 25th 1876. Okay, I think you can see where this is going and I admit to exaggeration. Custer didn’t run into the whole Sioux Nation, just a large number of irate Lakotas and some Cheyenne. I, on the other hand, narrowly escaped defeat with the cleaning of this shank.

The first thing to do when cleaning a shank is to moisten a cotton swab with alcohol and rub it around the inside of the shank. Often the first rub in the shank doesn’t look so bad as the alcohol is actually starting to dissolve the tars and dried oils in the airway. The second alcohol dipped swab then goes into the shank and gets introduced to the now softened yuck (technical term used in restoration for tars, oils or general filth). This poor second swab can

become very darkly stained and covered in yuck. That is exactly what happened except it wasn’t just the second cotton swab it was the 2nd through the 46th. To be fair, I alternated with using the dental pick to scrape the walls of the airway, filling the airway with alcohol and scrubbing it with a nylon brush, cotton swabbing, wrapping a piece of a paper towel around a round needle file and scrubbing with the paper towel then back to cotton swabs. In other words the

airway was doing a very good impression of the La Brea Tar Pits without any dead megafauna. After what seemed like eternity, I packed the tobacco chamber and shank with cotton and poured in 95% ethyl alcohol until the cotton was saturated and the alcohol pooled slightly. I then turned my back on the stummel and let it soak overnight.

In the morning, the cotton looked like this. I began with another alcohol soaked cotton swab. I quickly became loaded with dissolved tar and yuck. I

began scraping with the dental pick and then swabbing. Just when I was about to surrender the cotton swabs started to lighten. They

changed from dark brown to a lighter golden brown then to light brown, then tea stained, then clean. I was victorious, unlike Custer.

This whole filthy shank admittedly took me by surprise. The bowl had been in good condition, indicating a cleaning regimen, the stem did not appear heavy chewed on again indicating that care was taken with this pipe. Then to find a shank that had apparently never had any type of cleaning surprised me.

On to the stem. The draw of the stem seemed open but it did have the taste and smell of old tobacco residue and tar. I could see light through it so, how bad could it be? The first bristle pipe cleaner was dipped in alcohol and would not go all the was through. I just scrubbed back and forth with the length that would pass. Upon repeating I was able to get the next pipe cleaner further. The next went even further after 4, I could get a pipe cleaner through the entire stem. They were still coming out stained with the before mentioned yuck. Another two, still yuck. I then moved to a churchwarden bristle pipe cleaner. I dipped the pipe cleaner as far as possible into the alcohol bottle, clamped one end in the vice and threaded the stem onto the other end. Holding the free end in one hand I moved the stem up and down along the length of the pipe cleaner. This cleaned out the remaining residue. Subsequent normal pipe cleaners then came out clean.

The exterior of the stem was in good shape. It may not have been pretty but

There was not actually much to do. I used 0000 steel wool eliminate most of the surface oxidation from the vulcanite. I used a dental scraper to clean out the corners where the button meets the stem. Then I used Soft Scrub with OxyClean on make-up pads to vigorously rub/scrub the stem. The pads would quickly become discolored requiring me to use a clean spot on the pad or to replace the pad altogether. After 5 pads or so, the stem was really looking good. I then reattached the stem to the stummel. Hmm, all that stummel scrubbing must have made the stem fit a bit loose.

It might have tightened up with a smoke or two but I did not like the loose fit. I used a dry-brushing paint brush and black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) to increase the diameter of the tenon. I placed a drop of CA onto the

tenon and used the brush to paint a very thin layer onto the tenon. Avoiding the shoulder of the stem. The stem was then set aside to dry. I hardened within a few minutes. I then tried fitting tenon into the mortise. It was still loose, better but loose. I applied another drop of CA and “repainted” the tenon and allowed it to dry. After the second coat of CA i used a 3600 micro-mesh pad to polish the tenon then tested the fit. Perfect. The paint brush was cleaned with acetone after each use.

Okay, let’s try reattaching again. I reattached the stem to the stummel – nice. I was ready for the micro-mesh pads. I covered the MARXMAN stamp with painters tape to protect it from sanding. I remembered that I wanted to get

rid of 2 small sand pits on the rim and the one remaining dent on the inside rim. The photo doesn’t show the pits but trust me, they were there. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply a small drop of CA to the pits/dent, I then forced a pinch of briar dust into the CA wetted pit/dent. The CA sets up nearly instantly. The fill was then carefully filed using a flat needle file and sanded with 400 sandpaper. This briar that Marxman used is incredibly soft. You can easily dent it with your fingernail. This softness makes it difficult to work and if there is one grain out of place on your sandpaper it will scratch the surface.

The micro-meshing was tedious on the wide smooth rim due to the softness of the briar. The stem went quite well. I started with the 1500 micro-mesh pad after wards I wiped down the briar with an alcohol dampened make-up pad and I rubbed a drop of Obsidian Oil over the stem and wiped it with a paper towel. I then moved to the next micro-mesh pad. Each pad was used in succession with the same wiping between each. When I got to the 6000 micro-mesh pad I removed the painters tape from the stummel and wiped the area free of any adhesive with the alcohol pad. I then progressed through the remaining micro-mesh pads.

I took the pipe to the buffer for the application of several coats of carnauba wax. Once finished I gave the pipe a final buffing with a microfiber cloth. I took the pipe upstairs for some photographs. I had some sunlight to work with and wondered if I would like the lighting with the low angle nearly winter sun. With the bright light I could see oxidation on the stem below the button. I did not like this and returned the pipe to the workbench and the 400 sandpaper. After the sanding the same micro-meshing procedure was repeated for the upper end of the stem. That made it look much better in both normal and brightly lit settings.

Tis pipe proved to have hidden and unexpected issues regarding the level of yuck in its shank. Perhaps that is a sign from above, to remind me that things are not always as they seem. The same way that this less than beautiful pipe can provide unparalleled smoking pleasure. I actually smoked this pipe as I was typing this, earlier. Typical of a Marxman of this type and era it smoked amazingly. Cool and delightful are the words that come to mind. I immediately berated myself for complaining about the soft briar. That very briar is what makes these Marxman pipes the wonders that they are. I guess I will just have to smoke them more often to avert my forgetfulness. If you have found anything here useful or entertaining click that like and subscribe. Thank you so much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the Marxman quarter bent Big Boy Rhodesian, both with sun and without..

The stem photos in the sun were taken before redid the area near the button.
An Amphora Bent Billiard Restoration

December 17th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

During the 1950s-1970s many popular tobacco companies would include offers for pipes in the packages of their tobacco. These coupon pipes include some of my favorites like the Dr. Grabow Westbrooks. These were pipes that were only available by redeeming the coupon through the mail. Amphora did the same. Below is the text from pipedia.org in reference to Amphora pipes:

“Amphora pipes are made in Holland by the Jos. Gubbels organization, the same company which makes the very well known and loved Amphora Pipe Tobaccos. The pipes are produced in relatively small numbers to a high standard and not commonly found. They were used primarily in promotions and incentives for Amphora tobacco.

The Royal Dutch Pipe Factory Elbert Gubbels & Sons B.V. is the only manufacturer of briarroot tobacco pipes in the Benelux countries where pipes of high quality are made under the brands Big Ben, Hilson, Royal Dutch and Amphora. They also supply numerous smokers’ accessories of high quality.“ (Amphora – Pipedia)

And of course one needed a coupon for the pipe.

(Amphora_Info_1967.jpg (1080×647) (pipedia.org))

And here we see the shapes available and their subsequent pipe number to enter onto your coupon.

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:Amphora_Chart.jpg)

(File:Amphora1970.jpg – Pipedia)

To think that someone around 1970 picked-up a pack of Amphora pipe tobacco, discovered inside a coupon/order form, filled it out and waited (8-14 weeks, most likely) for their prize. I can imagine the joy and anticipation when they opened the box to find the above Amphora 725 smooth finish bent billiard. They probably felt that this was a pipe made specifically for them as they got to choose the specific shape and finish.

Enough imaginative silliness. Let’s get to the restoration of this darling that came to me as part of an estate lot purchase from eBay. Shen the lot arrived this Amphora was not in factory fresh condition. It appeared as the photos below show.

The term ”well used” came to mind. I also wondered about the pipedia.org quote about “The pipes are produced in relatively small numbers to a high standard and not commonly found.“ (Amphora – Pipedia). Wondered about the 8 fills that I would have to deal with, that is. The inner voice chimed in, “Oh well, you were the one who always wanted to work on an Amphora.” “Yes, I do”, was my reply to myself.

I figured that I would start with the usual tobacco chamber reaming. This “usual” proved to be slightly less usual. Part of the material to be removed from the chamber was of spider origin. Undaunted, I continued with the PipNet reaming tool and the Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and General triangular scraper. The thick cake succumbed to the scrapings of the tools wielded by their primate operator. The chamber was further sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wooden dowel. The interior of the chamber had been protected by this cake and had not received any damage from the smoking of innumerable packages of Amphora pipe tobacco.

The rim was also scraped of some of its lava before heading to the sink for the Murphy’s Oil Soap scrub.

The Murphy’s was used undiluted and scrubbed with a medium bristle toothbrush. Particular attention was paid to the rim in an attempt at removing all of the lava. After the scrub the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

Returning to the workbench I could now see the damage done to the rim. Hmm, topping this rim would take at least an ⅛ inch or 3–4 mm off the top. I decided to give the rim a slightly “canted” appearance by filing the front off the stummel then reestablishing the beveled rim by sanding with a 1 ½ in PVC pipe cap topped with sandpaper. The newly sanded rim was then stained with Maple colored furniture repair stain pen. This was blended in with an alcohol soaked make-up pad.

I failed to take any photos of how well this worked at this stage of the restoration. You can jump down to the finished photos of the rim if you can’t wait. I don’t want to spoil the surprise for those with patience.

Next was dealing with the fills. I used a fly tying bodkin to pick out any fill material or to clean out the pits. None of them were really large fills, just little sand pits that I found annoying.

The easiest way to deal with them was to forcefully press briar dust into the pit and place a small drop of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) onto the briar dust filled pit.

Immediately after the CA was added I would press additional briar dust down onto the CA. There was still a small damaged area at the front rim which I also placed a dab of CA and then applied a pinch of briar dust. After all of these fills had cured I smoothed the CA off with a needle file then sanded with 400 sandpaper.

Next I started cleaning out the airway. This proved to be more troublesome than I initially thought. I don’t know why, I had seen the cake in the tobacco chamber and knew this pipe had seen heavy use. I guess “de nile” isn’t only for African geography students. The shank was heavily tarred. The short

version is; many alcohol soaked cotton swabs, a few visits to the sink with alcohol poured into the bowl and scrubbed with a nylon shank brush and more cotton swabs later the airway was cleaned.

The stummel was ready for finish sanding but the stem needed to be attached for that. This meant that the stem needed to be the next focus. There were no deep dents from clenching nor any significant tooth chatter. Oxidation

and calcium deposits were the only issues. I started by scraping the button edges with a sharp knife. Then gave the stem an energetic rub with 0000 steel wool to remove the calcium and outer oxidation. After the steel wool, I started rubbing the stem with Soft Scrub with Oxy-Clean on make-up remover pads. These came back with the dark golden brown indicating that they were removing oxidized vulcanite. I continued this until I was satisfied with the color of the stem. Since there were no dents requiring sanding I thought that I’d just use white diamond buffing compound and the buffer to polish the stem. It looked good so I gave it a drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in with my fingers.

The stem was reunited with the pipe. I knew that I would probably scratch the just polished surface of the stem with the micro-mesh pads but was not concerned since the shank and stem would be smoothed evenly in the process. I masked off the shank stampings with painter tape and began with the 1500 micro-mesh pad. I used the pads dry in succession through the 3600. Between each pad I would wipe the stummel with an alcohol moistened make-up pad and the stem with a drop of Obsidian Oil followed by a paper towel. After the 3600 micro-mesh pad I removed the painters tape and cleaned off any adhesive residue with alcohol. I continued with the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads again wiping with alcohol pads and Obsidian oil, as before.

At this stage I had what appeared to be a few spots of uneven color due to the sanding of the CA fills. The light spots were not very noticeable with the photos. Trust me, they were there. To address this I poured about 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into a medicine cup. I then made a dye applicator from a pipe cleaner. I dipped the pipe cleaner into Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye. I then stirred the 5 ml of alcohol with the dye soaked pipe cleaner. This acted to dilute the dye significantly. After stirring I applied the dye onto the stummel. I used two coats, flamed after the second coat. This was then wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad to blend the dye. It worked as planned, unfortunately I did not photograph this part. Apparently it was late and I blame sleepiness for my neglect.

When finished with the micro-mesh pads I slathered on a healthy coat of Before and After Restoration Balm and let it dry overnight. Bed time.

The next morning I wiped off the pipe with the inside of an athletic sock. I am beginning to think this may be the purpose for the terry cloth inside of socks. The pipe was really looking good. I took it to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax on both the stummel and stem.

Overall the Amphora turned out very well. She is quite photogenic. The rich browns of the briar contrast nicely with the ebony stem and the grain patterns of the sides are mostly symmetrical and show off the swirls and bird’s eyes at the front. I neglected to repaint the logo. That will need to be done in the future. I have noticed two different colors when looking at old Amphora photos so, I am unsure as to which color would be more appropriate. I hope that you have found this restoration useful or at least entertaining. If you like this sort of thing please click the like and or subscribe, below. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are photos of the finished (sans logo repainting) Amphora bent billiard.
Commissioning a Pipe from Phillip Rivara

December 15th, 2023

In November I decided to have a custom pipe made. I had never done anything like that before. I had heard great things about Phillip Rivara and was introduced to him by a fellow member of a Facebook group that I am in, Bound by Briar. I explained that I was interested in having a pipe made with borings similar to a Peterson Straight System pipe. He said that he could do that and mentioned his admiration of the Peterson 1906 Jap shape. I agreed. The following are photos taken by Phillip Rivara and sent to me documenting the process of making the pipe. The final few photos are taken by me when the pipe arrived here. I had a great time working with Phil and felt involved in nearly all aspects in building this dream pipe.

The following link is to a Google documents slide show that I put together showing the process of making the pipe.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1n2KRlpJKaDQ3dKdximzmSf6ki2VKYTKOdPoCIJBBX9I/edit?usp=sharing

This link will take you to a video that Phillip Rivara posted on his YouTube channel showing the commissioned pipe.

I do hope that you found this interesting and/or entertaining. Thank yo for reading and in this case watching the rambling of an old pipe lover.
A Marxman Super Briar

December 14th, 2023
Bent Bulldog Restoration

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The bulldog, easily one of my favorite shapes. The other day I was discussing my favorite shapes and I joked that my top 3 list of pipe shapes had 5 contestants. This ridiculous statement indicates my inability to choose only 3 or that my math skills are subpar. Either way the Bulldog or Rhodesian is definitely on the list. The subject of this blog is a Marxman bent bulldog The shape comes directly from the Marxman catalog, circa 1945:

(Marxman – Pipedia)

This Marxman bent bulldog was purchased individually on eBay. Yes, there are some people that purchase a Marxman pipe individually and not just one of an estate lot. I get the impression that there is a prevailing idea that Marxman pipes are pipes of lower quality. Let us examine some common claims:
1. Marxman pipes were cheap.
Marxman did not produce any $.50 to $1.00 pipes. Judging by the Marxman catalogs and print ads $2.50, $3.00, $5, $7.50, $10and $15 were the 1945 prices of Marxman pipes. $1 in 1945 = $17 today thus, $42-255 in today’s dollars. (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm)

Comparing Marxman to 1946 Yello-bole print ads, Yello-bole pipes are listed at $1 and $1.50 (https://pipedia.org/wiki/File:YBShankLogo16.jpg)
1. Marxman pipes are full of fills.
Look at the time frame. Marxman started the company in 1934 and sold it to Mastercraft in 1953. Other than the first 5 and last 5 years, World War 2 affected the ability to access Mediterranean briar. (Marxman – Pipedia)

I have Marxman pipes with many fills and with no fills, indicating that they used the briar that they could obtain.

I have yet to find a Marxman pipe that has more fills than I have birthday candles on my cake. Yeah MasterCraft, that is aimed at you.
1. Marxman pipes are less than attractive (AKA Ugly). Okay, I’ll give you that one.
2. Marxman used those ugly worm trail carvings to hide cheap briar.
Perhaps those carvings are the best way to work the soft Algerian briar that smoke so well.
1. Algerian briar is of poor quality.
Now that is a loaded statement. Search any pipe smoker forum for “Algerian briar” and you will find opinions as to it being the “best” to “barely fit for pipe making”. I have examples of exceptionally smoking pipes made from Algerian briar.

As for this Marxman Super Grain Bent Bulldog I can say that it was made in New York City (Marxman Pipes Inc., was located at 27 West 24th St. New York 10, NY.) between the dates of 1934-1953. (Marxman – Pipedia).

When this Marxman arrived it looked like this:

Everything a guy who loves to restore old pipes would possibly want. It is going to need the following: Tobacco chamber reaming, rim topping, scratch removal, fill replacement, button reconstruction, figure out why the stem won’t go in all the way, general cleaning and surface restoration. Better get started, eh?

The first thing I addressed was the stem issue. Looking down the airway with a flashlight I could see lots of yuck. Yuck is the technical term for any unwanted smoking residue. I don’t think I had ever seen chunks of yuck

before but they were there. I used a dental scraper and a drill bit (slightly smaller than the mortise drilling) to clear the mega-yuck. Mega-yuck is a newer technical term used to describe large pieces of yuck. When the stem was reinserted there was still an undesirable gap. Hmm, I’ll check it again after the reaming and scrubbing.

That was a nice segway to the next task, the reaming of the tobacco chamber. I used the number two sized blade with the PipNet reaming tool to clear the

majority of the chamber. The Smokingpipes reaming knife and the General triangular scraper were also used to rid the chamber of the cake. This was followed by a sanding of the interior with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and sandpaper on my finger. When finished I could see no damage to the interior of the chamber. I also scraped the rim lightly with the General scraper to remove the worst of the lava.

Next stop on the tour is the sink, for a Murphy’s Oil Soap scrub. The Murphy’s is used undiluted while the scrub is done with a medium bristle toothbrush. This eliminated the years worth of accumulated dirt and grime from the exterior of the stummel. The rim still retained blackened areas. I was hoping that they were lava but I could now see some of it was charred briar from lighters and/or matches. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

I returned to the workbench and gave the stummel a wipe with a make-up removal pad soaked in 95% ethyl alcohol. The pad removed very little, only showing a yellowish smudge after the wipe. This indicated that there was little to no finish remailing and that the stummel was natural, not dyed/stained. I allowed the stummel to dry while I turned my attention to the stem.

Earlier in the day I had given the reaming knives and pocket knife a diamond stone sharpening. I used the pocket knife to scrape the surface of the stem. I did this holding the blade 90 degrees to the surface of the stem. I very lightly brought the blade towards me. This works very similar to a woodworking card

scraper. An amazing device that allows a woodworker to remove very thin layers of material. I was able to scrape the calcium deposits and the outermost oxidation from the stem. I then used 0000 steel wool to further smooth the surface.

I wanted to deal with the charred rim next. I used a technique described to me by a Germain Facebook buddy, Sascha Mertens. He said to rub the charred area with petroleum jelly then lightly scrape it with a very sharp knife edge. By doing this very slowly and carefully I was able to remove a very thin layer of

charred wood. I would wipe the blade on a make-up pad and repeat. When additional petroleum jelly was needed I applied more. Once finished removing the charred areas I very lightly topped the rim using 400 sandpaper.

Next on the agenda was to clean out the airway. The stem was removed. The stinger was removed from the stem and dropped into a medicine cup with alcohol. While the stinger was soaking I dipped a pipe cleaner in the 95% ethyl alcohol and ran it through the stem. It came out very dirty. Where the alcohol touched my finger on the stem the surface felt slippery then tacky. Wait a minute! This is not vulcanite. As the alcohol evaporated I was left with a fingerprint on the stem where my finger had been. Okay, no more alcohol for you, stem. I switched to cleaning the stem with soap and water with the pipe cleaners. I am guessing that the stem was Bakelite or a bakelite-like material.

With the stem done I started cleaning the stummel airway. It too was rather filthy. Oh yeah, I remember the yuck and mega-yuck from earlier. Well, it hadn’t gotten andy better. I started with a cotton swab dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. It returned dark brown. I figured that I could continue with a kajillion more cotton swabs or I could pour 3 ml of the alcohol into the bowl and use the nylon brush to scrub the yuck in an alcohol bath. I went with the alcohol bath and brush route. I scrubbed for a while, dumped the alcohol out, assessed the color and repeated with clean alcohol. I did this 4 times before the alcohol came back not looking like black coffee. Once it was more teacolored I switched over to the cotton swabs. After about 10 swabs the shank airway was clean.

The pipe was reassembled without the stinger, wiped with alcohol and photographed. The post-scrub Marxman was looking significantly better. As a bonus the stem now fit snugly with the stummel. Small victories are accepted without question.

Next, that ugly fill by the stem had to go. There is just something about

those pink fills that makes me a bit crazier than normal. I used a fly tying bodkin to see how securely attached the fill material was. Yay, I popped right out.

It was deeper than I thought but was not worried about the structural integrity of the proximity to the mortise edge. Wow, that sentence made me sound all kids of intelligent – I will stop that at once. Yes, it was close to the edge but the replacement fill of cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust would be far stronger and better bonded to the briar than the pink goo (goo, a technical term describing anything either black or pink in pipe restoration) ever had been.

To fill in this larger pit, I placed a large drop of brown CA onto a small plastic lid. I then placed a pinch of briar dust next to the CA. Using the fly tying bodkin I dragged some briar dust into the CA and stirred the dust into the CA. I repeated this until the CA/dust had a consistency of syrup. If you add too much dust the magic smoke will rise from the mixture and it will set up immediately. This requires you to start over. (So, I hear…). Upon starting over and repeating the mixing, I then applied the mixture to the area needing to be filled with the bodkin. The CA set-up very quickly and allowed filing and sanding within minutes.

Tape applied to the stem to protect it from filing.

Once filed flat the tape was removed.

Sanding with 400 sandpaper.

This little sand pit was filled by placing a small drop of brown CA in the hole. A small pinch of briar dust was placed onto the CA and pressure was applied to the dust, forcing it into the hole. The CA set-up immediately filled the pit and C.A. Filmore was born. The small fill was then carefully filed smooth and sanded.

Hello, my name is C.A. Filmore and I will be your tour guide. Hmm, you may want to use nitrile gloves.

To rebuild the button I used a technique that I have not seen other restorers use. I first smoothed the area below the button with 400 sandpaper.

Scotch tape applied to the stem immediately below the button.

Black CA applied to the button to build-up the area.

The CA was spritzed with accelerant and “cut” at the back of the button with an Exacto knife while the CA was still soft. You only have a few seconds between the spritzing and the curing of the CA. The “cut” needs to be made during these critical seconds when the CA is still soft.

Scotch tape removed along with the CA that was “cut”.

The new button is shaped with needle files and sandpaper.

With the fills filled and the button rebuilt, all that remained was the micro-meshing of the stummel and stem. I kept both pieces attached during this process in order to keep the hard angles of their juncture. The 1500 and 1800 micro-mesh pads were moistened with a drop of water. Between each pad I would wipe the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol and would apply a drop of Obsidian Oil to the stem, work it in with my finger and wipe it off with a paper towel. I would then move to the next micro-mesh pad. The finer micro-mesh pads were all used in sequence, dry, with the same wiping with alcohol and oil to the stummel and stem respectively.

Upon completing the micro-meshing I applied a slathering of Before and After Restoration Balm to the pipe (stummel and stem) and allowed it to marinate for 20 minutes.

After the Restoration Balm had done it’s thing for 20 minutes, I removed the excess with a clean cotton rag. The pipe was really looking good. I took it down to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.

This old Marxman Super Grain bent bulldog turned out amazingly well. I did give it a smoke and that too was amazing. I do not know what it is about Marxman pipes but, the pipes made in New York from Algerian briar are some of the finest smoking pipes I have ever used. They remain cool, require no break in and deliver a sweetness that is just amazing. I hope you have found some of the techniques used here helpful in your own restorations or were at least entertained. If you enjoy this sort of thing please hit the like and subscribe below. Thank you very much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Here are some photos of the finished Marxman Super Grain Bent Bulldog:
A Kings Cross Billiard Restoration

December 12th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

I recently won an auction for 6 Kings Cross pipes. They are a mixture of 2-Made in England, 3-Made in France and 1-no Country of Manufacture (COM) just “ALGERIAN BRIAR”. I have chosen this billiard as the next restoration subject. Below are the photos of how it appeared as I removed it from the box:

This pipe needs many things done to bring her up to snuff: Reaming, rim topping and bevel, airway cleaning, stem sanding with button building, briar and stem refurbishing and a good waxing. I accept this mission.

In a previous pair of restorations (Kings Cross Kruger and Kings Cross Foursquare) I discussed the Chapuis-Comoy history and this pipe shares that heritage. This Kings Cross is of a French country of Origin (COM) as indicated by the stamp on the stem. It is unfortunate that this stamp is so faint. I know it will not survive the restoration thus any COM will be lost. I guess I can take some solace in knowing that her history will be preserved with this blog and I can pass that on to the next steward of this pipe.

As for the provenance of this pipe we can look at the shape number “185” and take a look at the Comoy shape chart from pipedia.org:

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s_Shape_Number_Chart)

That looks like a match, to me. This is indeed a large billiard with a straight stem. Both Comoy and Chapuis used the same shapes when they consolidated their production in 1988. Which means that this old girls was a product of the Chapuis factory of Saint Claude (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/chapuiscomoy-en.html) .

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/infos/chapuiscomoy-en.html)

On to the restoration. Other than the stem, which looks like some arseling tried to use a vice grip to see if he could squeeze the smoking residue from the stem rather than use a pipe cleaner, the pipe looks pretty good. There are two noticeable pits that will require filling and the damage to the rim from the previously mentioned arseling knocking the dottle from the pipe against pieces of broken concrete.

Sidenote: Arseling – The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines arseling as meaning “backwards” and having been derived from the noun arse and the suffix –ling. Used above as a noun deriding the person who inconsiderately damaged the pipe. (https://thijsporck.com/2015/11/12/arseling-a-word-coined-by-alfred-the-great/#:~:text=The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20(OED,arse%20and%20the%20suffix%20%E2%80%93ling.)

I began by reaming the tobacco chamber using the 3rd size blade on the PipNet, it is a “L” for large.

The Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and the General triangular scraper were also used after the PipNet. This was followed by 200 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel and with sandpaper on my finger. The interior of the chamber looked great. I used the edge of the knife to lightly scrape some of the lava from the rim.

Next the stummel went to the sink for the Murphy’s Oil Soap scrub. I used the Murphy’s undiluted with a medium bristle toothbrush. The stummel had years of dirt and grime attempting to hide the grain beneath. I spent a bit of extra time on the rim to address the lava remaining there. The stummel was then rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. Returning to the workbench I saw that there remained some stubborn lava on the rim. I worked on this with saliva and a cotton rag until I realized how dumb, I was behaving. “Hey dummy, you are going to top that whole rim.” Hmm, good thing I have a kind and loving internal voice. I returned to the sink, since that is where the counter I use for topping is. I used a piece of 200

sandpaper laid flat on the counter to top the stummel. As I sanded I rotated the stummel to maintain even pressure around the entire rim. After the topping I wanted to maintain the bevel on the inside of the rim. I used a

wooden sphere wrapped in 200 sandpaper to reestablish this bevel. Different sized spheres can be used for different angles. After the topping the new rim needed a bit of stain. I used the walnut furniture touch-up marker for the initial color match and blended it with an alcohol dipped make-up pad.

With the rim complete I turned my attention to the two spots requiring fills. They were both small but in positions that would require care to maintain

the original shape of the stummel. I chose to use cyaloacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply a small drop of CA to the hole and placed a pinch of briar dust onto the CA. I then pushed the briar dust into the hole. This usually fills the cavity in one application and will give you a nice little CA fill spot on your index finger. The CA cures almost instantly with the briar dust and pressure. The remaining scab, for lack of a better term, was filed off using

needle files. I used the flat file for the flare area on the right fill and curved and rounded files for the shank/bowl transition. The area is then sanded with 400 sandpaper and touched-up with the furniture touch-up marker.

With the fills dealt with I started in on the roughest parts of the stem. I used the flat needle file to smooth the most egregious gouges on the stem then sanded them with 200 sandpaper wrapped around an emery board. I wanted the stiffness of the emery board to keep me from sanding the gouges into a curved shape. After the worst of the gouges were removed there remained a couple of depressions on both sides of the stem. I filled these with black CA. The CA was spritzed with a curing accelerator then filed smooth with the flat needle file. These areas were then smoothed with sandpaper.

At this point I decided to build up and shape the button of the stem. I again used the black CA for this reshaping. On previous restorations, I have neglected to photo document my process of button building. This is not to preserve my “secret technique”. It is merely because I get to working on this part and get so consumed in the process that I forget to document it. This time I made an effort to show what I do. I will typically shape and sand the area shank-ward of the button. Once smooth, I use a piece of scotch tape to keep the new CA only on the button.

I apply the black CA and spritz with accelerant. You have a few seconds when the CA is soft, before the accelerant cures the CA into it’s hardened form.

While it is still soft I use an exacto knife to cut the edge of the button giving it a sharp definition towards the stem. I then peel the scotch tape off, taking with it the area beyond the cut. I will then shape the new CA button. I will repeat this until I have the desired shape. I have not seen other restorers use this technique. I doubt I am the only one who has thought of this.

After the fills were smoothed with 400 sandpaper I prepped the pipe for micro-meshing. Since I had so much sanding of the stem to do, I left the stem and shank together for the sanding and micro-meshing. I knew that this would obliterate the “FRANCE” stamping on the stem but I did mask the stamping on the stummel to preserve them.

The micro-meshing was pretty standard from1500-1800 pad used wetted with a drop of water. The stummel was wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up removal pad while the stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel. The next micro-mesh pads were the 2200-3200 used dry with the above mentioned wiping done between each pad.

I removed the painters tape before using the 4000-12000 micromesh pads. I rubbed the areas taped with an alcohol pad to remove and tape adhesive residue and continued the micro-meshing with alternating wipes between pads.

At this stage the pipe was looking very nice. I gave the stummel a liberal coat of Before and After Restoration Balm and the stem a coat of Obsidian Oil and allowed them to while I attended to some laundry duty.

With the laundry folded an put away it was time to wipe off the balm and see how this old billiard is looking. I wiped the pipe with the inside of an athletic sock. Those little ankle high socks fit on my hand perfectly and have a wonderful terry cloth interior perfect for pipe rubbing. Oh, she is looking so much better. All that is left is a trip down stairs to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer.

Oh, dang it, I forgot about the stinger, again. It had been sitting in a medicine cup with some 99% isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol softed the tar-lacquer (not sure if that is a thing). I used the buffer with some white compound to polish it up then reinserted it into the stem.

This restoration was all very straight forward. It was a good way to spend the better part of an afternoon. The briar grain shows very nicely and sets off the ebony of the polished vulcanite well. Not too shabby for a factory made briar pipe. I am sure she will make a great companion for her next owner and provide years more of quality tobacco consumption. I hope that you found some of these techniques helpful for your own restorations or were entertained. If you liked this sort of thing, please hit the like and/or subscribe buttons down there. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Here are some photos of the finished Kings Cross billiard:
An LHS London Royal Restoration

December 10th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

This little gem came in an eBay estate lot from Bemidji, Minnesota. We spent several family vacations with friends on Leech Lake (sounds horrible but it is beautiful) and I remember the annual visits to Bemidji fondly. This was a well loved little pipe and saw more than it’s share of tobacco. It looks to be a restoration requiring several techniques.

In looking at the photos you can see that this London Royal is in need of; a cleaning, reaming, rim work, stem refurbishment, a button rebuild, general sanding/refinishing and maybe a dye job (to emphasize wood grain). This looks like a fun one.

“Who made this London Royal?” was one of my first questions. I turned first to pipedia.org, where I was met with 20 mentions of “London” with none of them having the “Royal” after London. Hmm, not a promising start. Next I turned to pipehil.eu. This returned the following:

Now I was getting somewhere. The “Royal London” name was there but the stamping style did not match and the absence of any logo on the stem was worrisome. I did have the “LHS” lead to follow. Okay, pipedia.org, time to redeem yourself. With a search of “LHS”, I had more information to work with.

“Ludwig Stern, a successful pipe manufacturer since 1893 and closing around 1960, reorganized his company along with his brother Hugo Stern, opening a factory in 1911. They named the company L&H Stern Smoking Pipes & Holders. The newly formed company was moved into a six story building on the corner of Pearl and Waters street Brooklyn, NY.” (LHS – Pipedia)

This little London Royal did not strike me as being a very old pipe. When I saw the closing date of 1960 I was a bit surprised. This led me to think that I did not have the correct maker. I continued reading the LHS information.

“Thoroughly organized in all departments, and housed in a well-lighted and ventilated modern office and manufacturing building, the firm of L&H Stern Inc. is located near the first arch of the Manhattan bridge, near the river and convenient to the Brooklyn bridge, which makes it accessible from all the hotels in the metropolis for visiting buyers. The structure is six stories with a seventeen-foot basement, with light on three sides through prismatic glass windows, the first floor being seven feet above the sidewalk. Light enters the upper floors from all four sides.

L&H Stern is known to every important wholesaler and jobber in the country. LHS manufactures a complete line of briar pipes. Ginmetto wood pipes are also made, as well as Redmanol goods, the man-made amber. The first substitute for amber. Everything, even down to the sterling silver and other metal trimmings are made under one roof.” (LHS – Pipedia)

Interesting, a company that produced all aspects of their product. In today’s world that is nearly unheard of. The “Redmanol” part especially caught my attention. Redmanol was an early plastic created by Lawrence Redman:

“Born in Oil Springs, Ontario, Redman took a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto in 1908. He continued his studies at the University of Kansas. In 1913, with the backing of S. Karpen & Bros., a Chicago furniture manufacturers, Redman established the Redmanol Chemical Products Company which produced a plastics similar to Bakelite. Redman was the president.

In 1922, the Redmanol company, the Condensite Company of America, and General Bakelite were consolidated into Bakelite Corporation.^[1] Redman became vice president and director of research. He retired in 1939.

Redman was a member of the American Chemical Society and its president in 1932.” (https://docs.google.com/document/d/147Wq0urGOvxojLwagHF3yXDwNu5XhtefJ3xp6zl-JAw/edit)

The reason this caught my attention was that the stem on this pipe did not have the appearance of vulcanite. It had a slightly different feel on my teeth and the texture just didn’t feel “right”. Also the fact that such a well used pipe with the button worn down yet did not display any noticeable indentations from being clenched seemed odd to me.

“Bakelite’s availability and ease and speed of molding helped to lower the costs and increase product availability so that telephones and radios became common household consumer goods.^[8]^{: 116–117}^[40]^[41] It was also very important to the developing automobile industry.^[42] It was soon found in myriad other consumer products ranging from pipe stems and buttons to saxophone mouthpieces, cameras, early machine guns, and appliance casings.” (Bold added by me) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite)

The final piece to this pipes provenance came from a photograph on the pipedia.cog LHS site:

(photos from LHS – Pipedia)

The tenon extension of the photo, right, is the exact same as the tenon extension of the London Royal. I own a couple of old Peterson pipes with bone tenon extensions. These extensions or “chimneys”, as they are known at the Peterson factory, change color with use. They change from their natural bone color to the deep brown, nearly black, that is seen both in this pipe and the photo, right. This leads to the question: “Is this a bone extension or is it a Bakelite/Redmanol extension?” I had not heard of plastics being used as tenon extensions. Another LHS – Pipedia photo shows the following and mentions “bone screw”:

(photo from LHS – Pipedia)

I am assuming the “bone screw and Redmanol bit” were together in a single stem. This shows that LHS was using tooled bone as part of their manufacturing. It also indicated a very strong case for the heritage of the London Royal as an LHS product with manufacture dates between 1920s-1960.

With this bit of the history solved I turned my attention from the computer to the pipe. The first step was to get the tobacco chamber reamed and check for any damage. The cake was extensive and required the use of the Scotti and PipNet reaming tools, the Low Country and General knives followed by the 200 sandpaper wrapped dowell.

You can see from the photos that there was a bit of rim scraping done with the edge of the knife as well.

After the reaming and chamber sanding the stummel went to the sink for the Murphy’s Oil Soap and toothbrush scrub. The toothbrush is a medium stiff bristle and the Murphy’s is used undiluted. The stummel was rinsed with warm water after the scrub and dried with a cotton dish towel. I returned to the workbench for a good look at the condition of the stummel. The rim still had a few spots of lava after the Murphy scrub. These were worked on with saliva and a cotton rag until removed. The stummel was then rubbed with a 95% ethyl alcohol moistened make-up removal pad. The first pad came away with a bit of discoloration, indicating the removal of finish. This was probably a shellac. The second pad came away with less while the third was pretty much clean.

I was not looking forward to the next part of the cleaning. I figured if the tobacco chamber was that heavily caked the shank would be a tar filled wonderland (with extra sarcasm). I tried feeling around inside the airway with a dental pick but everything felt solid, not gummy. “Oh, this won’t be so bad”, I wishfully thought. I dipped cotton swab in alcohol and gave the airway a swirl. Dramatic pause. It came back brown, not black. The other end with more alcohol went in. Another dramatic pause. Umm, I think the first one just pissed off the tar. This end was BLACK. The first bit of alcohol had gone in and softened the dried residue and primed it for the second swabbing. Yeah, it was as bad as I had originally thought. To make matters more interesting the boring of the airway was done similar to a Peterson Straight System – in other words the mortise was drilled the length of the airway to the bowl-shank transition. At this point the draught hole was a short drilling from the bottom of the tobacco chamber to the enlarged airway. This diagram attempts to clarify:

I am the proud owner of several Peterson 31s and a pair of 120s that are all Peterson Straight System pipes. I absolutely love the way they smoke. Cleaning them is not as easy as a standard pipe. It is kind of like arguing with your child: You love the way your child uses logic and language to make a good point but dislike the fact that they are arguing with you. Anyway, this design allowed the smoke to enter the “chamber” (for lack of a better word) where it could cool and let the water and other stuff to condense, then the cooler drier smoke would pass through the stem to the smoker. All this other stuff had accumulated and dried in the chamber and created a less than easy cleaning.

I Started with cotton swabs. This proved inadequate for the job. I moved up to a piece of paper towel wrapped around a round needle file, dipped in alcohol. Also inadequate. I then graduated to pouring about 3-5 ml of alcohol into the tobacco chamber and using a nylon brush to scrub the airway while I held it at an angle to pool the alcohol in the bowl and shank while allowing it to dissolve the residues. Better but still not cutting the tar. Finally I got out the big gun – a .22 caliber brass bore cleaning brush. It was smaller in diameter than the chamber so I didn’t have to force it in. I refilled the bowl with 3-5 ml of fresh alcohol, held it at an angle and lightly scrubbed the interior with the .22 bore brush. This was finally able to cut through the residue. It still took a large number of cotton swabs but I was victorious.

Next was the stem. Remember how I said that the stem didn’t feel like vulcanite? Well, I dipped a pipe cleaner into 95% ethyl alcohol and started to run it through the stem. I quickly realized that the stem absolutely was not vulcanite. It became very slippery in my fingers with a drop of alcohol. Bakelite and Redmanol are soluble in alcohol and acetone. Fortunately the alcohol dries quickly and the Bakelite goes back to being hard plastic. Hmm, that would be an easy test to see if the tenon extension is Bakelite or bone! The alcohol had no effect on it. Verdict, the tenon extension is bone. Okay, alcohol is out. Water on vulcanite is not good unless you like discoloration and oxidation. Guess what? Water has no effect on Bakelite. Problem solved. I would just use hot soapy water to remove the yuck (the technical term) from the stem. That sounded great until I realized that all of my nylon brushes were too large to fit in the button or the bone tenon extension. I used bristle pipe cleaners with Dawn dish soap and hot water. The pipe cleaners worked at removing the yuck (the technical term) from the stem airway.

Returning to the stummel, I started with a 1500 micro-mesh pad used dry. There were no large scratches of surface blemished to address. I worked up through the 4000 micro-mesh pad. Between each pad I wiped the stummel off with an alcohol dampened make-up pad. It was here that I thought again about giving this pipe a dye and light sanding to try for a contrast stained finish. The wood grain was not terrible nor was it anything wonderful. A bit of contrast may be just what this old pipe needs.

I got the necessary dye gear ready. Fiebing’s light brown leather dye, a pipe cleaner, the official bowl plug, a lighter and the plastic bin to protect the counter, and since the heat gun was already out, the heat gun. I put the official bowl plug into the bowl. This amazing device not only keep the

dye from getting into the bowl, it also provides a handle. Okay, it’s really just a fishing bobber wrapped in duct tape. I hear some people use wine bottle corks. I then heated the stummel with the heat gun. This expands the pores in the briar allowing better penetration of the dye. Next I used the pipe cleaner as an applicator with the dye. After I was satisfied with the coverage I flames the dye burning off the alcohol in the dye and setting the dye into the briar. I allowed the dye to dry for a while while I did some chores that I had been busy neglecting.

Chores complete, I returned to the workbench and began lightly micro-meshing the stummel with the 2400 micro-mesh pad. I did this dry to remove the outermost stained briar. Hopefully the light touch would remove the outermost layer of stained briar. This allows the briar to show the grain that absorbed more of the dye as darker while the grain that absorbed less remains lighter. At least that is the theory. I think it looks better than it did. I continued to micro-mesh the stummel with the 4000 and 6000 pads. I did not use alcohol to wipe the stummel between pads as I did not want the stain to bleed from the darker to the lighter area.

I started to work on the stem. I was not sure how the Bakelite would handle sanding or micro-meshing so I started with the 2400 micro-mesh pad. It seemed to removed marks and teeth chatter well. I went down to a more coarse grit to speed the process along. I used the 1800 micro-mesh pad dry to smooth the chatter and smooth the stem. I did this with a very light touch. After 1800, I returned to the 2400-6000 micro-mesh pads. I wiped between each with a water moistened paper towel.

I needed to rebuild the button before I did any more work on the stem. To build up the button I was going to use black cyanoacrylate (CA, superglue). I wrapped a piece of scotch tape around the stem right up against where the button started. This gave me a clean sharp edge to build material. I also did not know how the Bakelite would react to the accelerant for setting the CA. I figured the scotch tape would allow me to protect the stem surface from any over spray. Like usual, I got into the groove of adding material, spritzing, filing, adding more material, filing, sanding, etc… and completely forgot to document/photograph the process. AGAIN. Apologies, I can show the finished product though.

After the button rebuild I finished with the 6000-12000 micro-mesh pads again with the wetted paper towel between pads.

The stummel was reunited with the step and both were taken to the buffer where I applied several coats of carnauba wax to the entire pipe. In looking at this pipe I see a unique bit of history. I can’t help but think this was an attempt to copy the Peterson straight system. Below is the London Royal and my Peterson 120 with a bone tenon extension:

Peterson stopped using bone in about 1960, which is also the year LHS ended as a company. The bone tenon extensions have a tendency to fuse with the vulcanite with age and cannot be removed without breaking the bone. The bone would then have to be drilled out and replaced with an aluminum tenon extension. These are available from Peterson or

(https://www.smokingpipes.eu/accessories/replacement-stems/)

Smokingpipes.eu for a reasonable €2.03, then there is the €15 for shipping. The Smokingpipes.com has had them as sold out for over 2 years. If one were to accidentally break a bone tenon extension this would be a viable replacement. There I go, rambling on about Petersons again. Anyway this little London Royal made in Brooklyn with some darn old materials turned out to be a pretty little pipe. I do not know how well she smokes but, judging by the cake build-up she had, she must be pretty good. I do hope that some of the techniques used here are helpful to your restorations or entertaining. If you like this sort of thing please hit the like and subscribe at the bottom. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Here are the finished photos of the LHS London Royal.
A new old stock (NOS) Weber “Windpruf” Restoration

December 7th, 2023
Written and photographed by John M. Young

Here we have another pipe from the curiosities rack. This is a pipe that I received years ago and didn’t do anything with since it was unsmoked. Well winter is nearly upon us and it seems like a good time to revisit some of these old pipes and breathe a bit of life into them. I do not recall when this pipe arrived nor from where. I can tell you that a certain granddaughter can use this pipe to raise a certain grandfather’s blood pressure quickly with her ability to take things apart. Given her saying, “Grandpa, I think I broke it” didn’t help. Let the record show that the metal wind-cap slides on and off easily.

You can see that the finish is darkened with age, the stem is oxidized and the metal has developed a patina yet the springs still function like new.

Who the heck is this Weber guy? Carl Weber according to pipedia.org:

“Carl B. Weber was a German from Bavaria. Aged 21 he emigrated to the USA in 1911. In 1938 he established Weber Briars Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey. Later renamed in Weber Pipe Co..

The firm grew to be one of the giants of American pipe industry focusing itself in the middle price and quality zone. Trademark: “Weber” in an oval. Beside that Weber – especially in the years after 1950 – was a most important supplier for private label pipes that went to an immense number of pipe shops. Alone in New York, exactly the same pipes were found at Wilke’s, Barclay Rex, Trinity East, Joe Strano’s Northampton Tobacconist in Ridgewood, Queens, Don-Lou in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn… Nearly all pipes for Wilke were unstained and many models, for example the “Wilke Danish Bent”, could hardly deny originating of Weber.

Weber Pipe Co. owned and manufactured Jobey pipes – when mainly sold in the USA by the Tinder Box from 1970’s – 80’s. In addition Jobey / Weber bought Danish freehands from Karl Erik (Ottendahl). These pipes were offered as Jobey Dansk. Ottendahl discontinued exports to the United States in 1987 and in the very same year – obviously only as a ghost brand – Jobey was transferred to Saint-Claude, France to be manufactured by Butz-Choquin.” (Weber Pipe Co. – Pipedia)

In other words he was the epitome of the American dream. A true immigrant success story like so many in the history of our hobby. Unfortunately, he has slipped into the mists of history without much acknowledgement. A most poignant observation was written in a Smokers Forum of Pipesmagazine.com by a frjacob:

“I like Carl Weber Scoop pipes — the carved ones. I’ve seen short bios of him & his company online https://pipedia.org/wiki/Weber_Pipe_Co., but I’d really like to know more about him. Like, when did he/his company stop making pipes, and when did he die, for example; and pretty much anything else about him. He and his company were very prominent from the 40’s into the early 60’s. He also wrote two of the best pipe books ever written. I’ve never heard him mentioned at pipe shows or, unfortunately so far as I can discover, featured in the sorely lamented Pipe & Tobaccos magazine.” (Carl B. Weber – Pipe Maker :: Pipe Talk :: Pipe Smokers Forums of PipesMagazine.com)

There ore no responses to frjacobs. and all it says and the bottom is: ” Not open for further replies.” The two books mentioned are most likely Carl Weber’s
1. Weber’s Guide To Pipes And Pipe Smoking (ISBN-10 1438288514)
2. Carl Weber’s The Pleasures of Pipe Smoking (ISBN: B0013OOJQ8)
I have a 1962 paperback copy of the first book and can attest to the easy writing style and informative nature of Weber’s work. It is a lovely little book that you feel you must have a pipe in hand while reading. Topics include the history of smoking to selecting a pipe.

Regarding the provenance of the of this “Windpruf” pipe, sitting on the workbench, I can say next to nothing. It is a Weber pipe dating from 1938-1980s. I could find no Weber shape chart nor history. There are several Weber print ads which are fun to look and do have dates of “1940’s” and “1947” associated with them (Weber Pipe Co. – Pipedia). I will end this history with a quote from Weber himself, “A pipe to be smoked outdoors should be fitted with a cap. The cap will prevent flying ashes from starting small fires and keep the wind from burning the tobacco so rapidly as to cause a cracked bowl. Pipe caps come in various sizes, to fit any size bowl.” (p. 56)*. A generalized Weber quote for a generalized Weber pipe.

*Weber, Carl. Weber’s Guide To Pipes And Pipe Smoking. New York, Cornerstone Library, 1962.

My goals with this pipe were to remove the original finish (clearcoat) to emphasize what looked like pretty grain underneath, revitalize the vulcanite and polish the metalwork while retaining the patina. That sounds like a grand way to spend a winter afternoon. Far better than picking up the leaves that finally fell from the Red Oak tree out back.

This old girl didn’t need a trip to the sink and an introduction to Mr. Murphy. Instead I started by wiping the left side with a make-up removal pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. If the finish is shellac, the ethyl will dissolve it in short order. The pad took off something but not very much.

Hmm, not shellac I guess.

I tried the same thing with acetone on the right side. This pad came back with more material removed but there was still finish left behind.

I tried the acetone on the bottom. Bright red finish and stain. Apparently, at the factory they sprayed the pipes and the finish dripped to the bottom surface and deposited a thicker coating there. Oh well, so much for removing the finish without sandpaper.

I first taped over the stampings with painters tape. Then I got a piece of 400 sandpaper and my small foam block and started sanding the stummel. The

sandpaper worked through the finish quickly. The flat surfaces of the pipe made this easier than I had thought it would be. The only problem was that the

finish clogged the sandpaper quickly and required me to clean the sandpaper frequently. This was done by dipping a toothbrush into alcohol and scrubbing the surface of the sandpaper then wiping the paper on a rag. The following photos show the sandpaper and foam block with the stummel.

At this point I thought I had better address the stem. The oxidation was fairly well developed. The entire stem appeared uniformly brown. I rubbed each side with

0000 steel wool to remove the outermost layer of oxidation. I could not get the stinger to come free of the stem so, I inserted a pipe cleaner into the stinger and placed the stem into the Deoxidizing solution. I figured that about an hour in the solution would be enough.

I returned to the stummel and started working the surface with the micro-mesh pads. I began with a wetted 1500 micro-mesh pad. I followed the micro-mesh pad with a wipe with an alcohol moistened make-up removal pad. I then went to ta wetted 1800 micro-mesh pad and repeated the alcohol wipe when finished with it. I continued with the pads in order to the 4000

micro-mesh pad. Here I removed the painters tape. I figured that the 6000, 8000 and 12000 micro-mesh pads would not remove enough material to affect the stampings and may blend the fresh briar with the old finish. The remaining micro-mesh pads were each used with an alcohol wipe between each. The stummel was then coated with a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to set while I worked on the stem.

I removed the stem from the Deoxidation Solution and allowed the excess to drip back into the jar. I then energetically rubbed the stem with a coarse shop rag. The rag absorbed the remaining solution and rubbed off some of the oxidized vulcanite. The stem looked like there was still some oxidation browning present. I used make-up pads and Soft Scrub to remove the remaining oxidation. The pads showed that there was indeed oxidation.

After the Soft Scrub I returned the stem to the workbench and gave the exterior a coating of mineral oil. It now looked nice and black. I ran two pipe cleaners through the stem, from the stinger end, through the stem to remove and deoxidation solution. I then dipped a clean pipe cleaner in the mineral oil and oiled the airway. The stem was ready for the micro-mesh pads. They were used in sequence from 1500-1800 wet, then 2400-12000 dry. In between each pad I would rub a drop of Obsidian Oil onto the stem and wipe the excess oil with a make-up pad.

After the stem was completed I wiped the excess balm from the stummel and reunited the two pieces. I was very glad that I decided to remove the finish here are before and after photos of the right side of the stummel and the

bottom. The grain is far too pretty to keep hidden under that coating of old finish.

I took the brass wind-cap to the buffer. I used a very light touch just allowing the loose fuzz of the buffing wheel to touch the brass. I did not actually allow the felt proper to come in contact with the brass. I lightly brushed the surfaces to clean and polish them. The corners were used the same way to reach the inside hinged areas. I was able to preserve the patina while still polishing the surfaces.

The wind-cap was slid back into position. I applied a thin coat of Johnson’s Paste Wax to the wooden rails on which the brass wind-cap slides. I then gave the entire pipe was given several coats of carnauba wax. This proved more difficult than a rounded pipe. I would get one side buffed and there would be a bit of non-buffed wax deposited on the adjacent surface. Buffing that surface would do the same thing to the next side, Eventually everything was evened out and made pretty.

Overall this restoration turned out very nicely. It was enjoyable not to have a bowl to ream, nor a dirty airway to clean. The new finish really shows off the grain of the briar. The stem polished up beautifully as well. I would like to say that this pipe is ready to return to duty but the poor thing never got any use, much less duty. Either way, she is clean, shiny and ready to be smoked. I hope you found this useful in your own restorations or entertaining. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover. Oh yeah, If you did like this please click the like and subscribe below.

Here are the photos of the finished Weber “Windpruf”. Ready to report to duty.
A new old stock (NOS) Wally Frank

December 5th, 2023

Briar Wind-capped Horn Restoration

Written and photographed by John M. Young

Wally Frank is a most enigmatic (AKA: crazy cool) figure in the history of pipes. A world traveler in search of briar, pipes, pipe making artists and craftsmen, a businessman, a marketer, all fascinating. This print ad illustrates what I mean. Here we see Castello pipes advertised with the Weber Guide to Pipes and Smoking and Wally Frank Natural Unvarnished pipes all on one page.

(File:Castello Ad.jpg – Pipedia)

“Why is that so interesting?”, you ask. Frank “discovered” Carlo Scotti, founder of Castello and imported his pipes to America. Weber, one of the largest pipe manufacturers in America and Weber’s book telling you everything about how to smoke a pipe. Weber was also a major producer of Wally Frank pipes. And his own Wally Frank brand. All on one lovely Wally Frank ad page. Sounds like an empire builder to me.

One of the best stories of Wally Frank’s career is the “discovery” of Carlo Scotti. I quote from Hacker’s The Ultimate Pipe Book:

“In 1952 Wally Frank, the famous East Coast tobacconist, was on a buying trip in Italy and came across Scotti’s pipes. He liked them and wanted to import them into the U.S. Unfortunately, there was a problem:Scotti’s “white line” trademark looked almost identical to the trademark Frank was using for his “White Bar” line of pipes. The solution was obvious. Scottie would simply change his logo. The two men sat down in the warm Italian sun and came up with the idea of drilling a hole in the “near side” of the stem, interesting a small piece of crumpled silver foil, and sealing it over with clear Lucite. A legend was born and even today some collectors insist that every Catello pipe has a diamond in it… or at worst, a rhinestone. But perhaps it is best to leave both the clear Lucite and the image intact, for the superb craftsmanship and the smokability of the Castello is really what constitutes the true value of a pipe.” (pp. 255-256)

Hacker, Richard Carleton. The Ultimate Pipe Book. Autumngold Pub., 1984.

One of my favorite Wally Frank’s marketing ideas was the “Pipe of the Month Club”. Here is the order form from http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-w1.html

The date on the form is difficult to make out but, I think it is 1947. $1 in January of 1947 is equivalent to $13.91 in January of 2023 (https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm). Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to get a new pipe every month for $14 dollars today?

The first paragraph about Wally Frank from Pipedia pretty much sums up Frank’s contributions to our hobby:

Wally Frank, Ltd. was one of America’s oldest and most respected names in pipes and tobaccos, beginning in the early 1930’s. Wally Frank operated a chain of tobacco stores in New York City (the flagship store was in Lexington Avenue) and had a vast catalog business for pipes and pipe tobaccos. Their numerous private-label pipes were made by many makers, including Charatan, Sasieni, Weber, and many others. Wally Frank, Ltd. also owned the Pioneer brand of meerschaum pipes, made from both Turkish and African meerschaum. In addition to importing pipes, he had many pipes made in his own name and also employed pipemakers like Peter Stokkebye, Svend Bang, and Ed Burak (who later became the owner of Connoisseur). As a result, each Wally Frank pipe must be individually evaluated on its own merit.

(Wally Frank – Pipedia)

That brings me to the subject of this blog post. A unsmoked Briar Wind-cap Wally Frank Horn pipe. I have little idea as to when this pipe was produced. I gather from forum posts that the pipe of the month club died away in the early 1960’s yet, no one had any verifiable sources for that. I’d like to think that this pipe was a pipe of the month yet I also have no verification. I can say it is a unique looking pipe and my descriptions will be “individually evaluated on its own merit.”

I don’t remember exactly how or when this pipe came to me. It was most likely part of an estate lot which bid on and won via an ebay auction. I tried looking back through my “purchase history”. Unfortunately, the photos after about a year do not seem to be archived. Here are the photos of the dusty and dirty horn:

The pipe, though dusty, looked as though it had never been fired. The stem was oxidized and had no evidence of any contact with teeth. “This isn’t going to be a restoration”, I thought to myself, just a cleaning.

That is where I started. Cleaning. I took the horn to the sink and used undiluted Murphy’s Wood Cleaner on a medium stiff bristle toothbrush. The Murphy’s lather changed to a slight gray color as it removed the dirt and dust. The Murphy’s was rinsed with warm water and the stummel was dried with a cotton dish towel. I then wiped the surface with a cotton make-up removal pad moistened in 95% ethyl alcohol. I hoped that this would loosen and remove any dirt remaining as well as tell me more about the finish on the briar.

The pad became pink with the red dye that was used to stain the briar. The dirty spots on the pad are from me using it on the threads of the wind cap. The removal of stain with the pad indicated there was little finish to worry about.

The stem did not appear to have enough oxidation to warrant a bath in the Deoxidation Solution. I used Soft Scrub on a make-up removal pad and vigorously rubbed the stem.

After the scrubbing the stem was oiled with Obsidian Oil. I took both parts of the pipe to the bright light to assess the best course of action and for some photos.

In this photo you can still see the lathe chuck marks inside the tobacco chamber.

The stummel had one spot with an obvious fill. This fill was not a good color (too pink) match to the briar so it had to go. The stem looked like it had tiny pock marks all over the surface. I did know it was just from age, oxidation, poor quality vulcanite or a combination of those.

First thing I addressed was removing the old fill material. It was fairly soft and canme out with little effort. I used the dental pick and fly tying bodkin for most of the removal and scrubbed the hole with a brass wire brush.

With the old fill removed I started working on the stem. I reassembled the pipe and wrapped the shank with scotch tape to avoid scratching the briar with the sandpaper or micro-mesh pads. I worked the stem’s surfacewith 400 wet day sandpaper wrapped around a small foam block. I then used the 1500 micro-mesh pad dry. After the pad I wiped the stem with a dry make-up pad and applied a drop of Obsidian Oil with my fingers. I wiped the excess and used a wetted 1500 micro-mesh pad. After this pad I wiped, oiled and wiped the stem again. I then proceeded to the 1800 micro-mesh pad also wetted with water and then the 2400 pad dry. In between pads I continued to wipe, oil and wipe excess.

I then prepared to work of the fill. I used Brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust for the new fill material. I dipped the bodkin into the CA and got a small drop. I placed the drop into the hole, took a pinch of briar dust and pushed it into the glue wetted hole. I used the flat side of the dental broad dental pick to force the dust into the hole. It set-up nearly immediately.

I then used a flat needle file to remove the material new fill until it was smooth to the surface. I very light touch with 200 sandpaper revealed that I still had a couple of low spots in the new fill. I repeated the CA and briar dust. At this point I removed the scotch tape and cut two pieces of painters tape to cover the stampings. I figured that any sanding and micro-meshing from here out could be done to both the stem and the stummel.

The new fill was then filed and sanded to smooth. The sanding would be blended with the sanding and micro-meshing.

I did not need to use the 1500 nor 1800 micro-mesh pads on the stummel. I used the remaining series, 2400-12000 on the stem and stummel. Between pads I would wipe the briar with a make-up pad moistened with 99% isopropyl alcohol and the stem with a drop of Obsidian Oil on my fingers wiped with a dry make-up pad. When finished with the micro-mesh pad I applied a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the briar and a coating of Obsidian Oil to the stem.

I let the balm and oil do their magic to the pipe for about an hour. After the hour had passed I wiped the entire pipe with an inside-out athletic sock to remove the remaining balm and oil. The pipe was looking very reshreshed. The last step was to take it to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.

This was a fun restoration of an unusual old pipe. I have no idea how the horn shape smokes. My fear would be that the top inside of the tobacco chamber would get too hot and be prone to the risk of heat damage. Or perhaps this shape is meant to be used while reclining in a hammock enjoying a pipe on a warm summer day. That is a delightful image. If you enjoyed this kind of thing please, click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are photos of the finished Briar Wind-cap Wally Frank Horn:
A Kings Cross Kruger Restoration

December 3rd, 2023
Written and photographed by John M. Young

You may recall from an earlier restoration that I had acquired an assortment of Kings Cross pipes. This is a continuation of that set of pipes. Here we have another “MADE IN ENGLAND” Kings Cross.

These were pipes made by the Chapuis-Comoy company in both their English and French factories. The “Made in England” being Comoy’s while the “France” indicates Chapuis. The pipe lovers of the world are indebted to the Comoy family for their contributions of bringing briar to the pipe making world. If you are interested in the Chapuis-Comoy family history, and it is amazing, take a look at the previously mentioned blog post or these links:
As for the history of this specific pipe it has the Comoy shape number of 17. According to the Comoy’s shape chart:

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Comoy%27s_Shape_Number_Chart)

Shape 17 is a Kruger, after Paul Kruger* (typically referred to as an Oom Paul), ½ bent, medium size saddle stem. That sounds like our girl.

*Kruger, Paul according to the Kruger National Park site: “In 1882, the 57 year old Paul Kruger was elected president of Transvaal. He left for England in 1883 to revise the Pretoria Convention of 1881, an agreement which was reached between the Boers and the British that ended the first Anglo Boer War. Paul Kruger acquired many allies in Europe during this time.” (https://www.krugerpark.co.za/Krugerpark_History-travel/paul-kruger-history.html)

As for the date this Kruger was made, I have little idea. I thought I had some idea when I was researching the Kings Cross Foursquare but, I think I was reading too much into all of those sources. For the sake of positive determination of this pipe’s providence I can only say it is a Comoy’s make pipe. If you know more about the dates of these pipes please let me know in the comments.

To the restoration. First step ream the bowl. Initially it looked good but that was just to top ¼. There was significant cake built up on the lower portion of the chamber. Nothing that the PipNet and the reaming knives could take care of. Oh, I am trying out a new reaming knife. It is a General brand triangular scraper. I did have to round the tip with a grinder as it had a very sharp point. The edges are quite sharp and require care when using but it seems to be a very capable tool.

Next stop the sink for the ever popular Murphy’s Wood Cleaner and toothbrush scrubbing. The Murphy’s is used undiluted with a medium stiff bristle toothbrush. Extra time was spent at this stage due to the coarse nature of the rustication. The stummel was then rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. Since I was over at the sink, I figured this would be a good time to top the rim of the stummel. I thought that a smoothed rim would add a touch of class to this rusticated pipe. I did leave a few of the deeper rustications because I thought they added a unifying touch to the overall appearance. The topping was done with 200 sandpaper followed by 400 sandpaper laid flat on the countertop with the stummel rotated to achieve equal pressure and sanding across the rim.

This stummel had a finish coat that remained mostly intact after the scrub. I did not want this old finish. On a prior pipe restoration of another Kings Cross pipe I found that the finish was susceptible to acetone. I chose to do the same treatment with this pipe as I did with the previous pipe. I placed it into a jar filled with acetone and left it for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes I removed the pipe and scrubbed it with a brass brush dipped in the acetone. After a good scrub I would dip the stummel into the acetone as a rinse, allow it to dry and look so shiny spots where finish remained. I would then scrub those areas with acetone and the brass brush. Eventually, I no longer saw any shine.

Returning to the workbench I tried to scrape out the airway to get as much of the built up tars out before using the pipe cleaners with alcohol. The airway appeared clean and I was unable to scrape any significant material from it. I soaked the tip of a bristle pipe cleaner in 99% isopropyl alcohol and ran it through the airway – it came back black with smoking residue. Hmm, I looked down the mortise with a flashlight and saw that this pipe had a

(Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterson_Pipes)

reservoir that continued down past the airway. It looked like a Peterson System copy-cat. Very cool. Also, with a well used and seldom cleaned pipe, a pain to clean out. This was looking more like it was not going to be the straight forward restore that I thought. I poured about 5 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol into the bowl and began scrubing the airway with a nylon brush. The brush came back filled with tar. I wiped it off on a paper towel and continued scrubbing. I had to wipe tar from the brush numerous times through this scrubbing. Occasionally I would pour the alcohol into a medicine cup and pour fresh alcohol into the bowl. Eventually the alcohol turned more of an amber color then dark brown. I then tried the bristle pipe cleaner soaked in alcohol. They came out brown but were not black. I repeated with the pipe cleaners until they came back clean.

During the above airway cleaning, the reservoir was soaking in alcohol as I was cleaning the airway. This allowed the tar there to soften. I did not keep track of the number of cotton swabs, soaked with alcohol, that it took to clean the reservoir. This was probably due to my inability to count that high. Needless to say, it was a lot.

The stummel still had the aroma of “Granny purse”. That is a term I use to describe the smell left by Lakeland blends. The floral fragrances remind me of the perfume that saturated my grandmother’s purses. To remedy this I packed the reservoir and tobacco chamber with cotton. I then started adding 95% ethyl alcohol by a pipette until it pooled slightly on both surfaces. The surfaces were held level to one another. I let this treatment set overnight.

In the morning I returned to the granny purse infused stummel to find that the cotton in the bowl looked pretty clean while the shank side cotton had discolored, proving that I had not cleaned the shank as well as I

thought I did. I removed the cotton and assessed the results. Yeah, the alcohol had removed some tar and stuff but had also further softened the remaining tars and stuff (stuff is another technical term used by restoreres).

Back to the workbench. More cotton swabs later I was still getting brown residue. I then tried a technique I’ve not seen other restorers use. I tore a piece of paper towel about 2 in²(5 cm²) I rolled this paper towel around a

round needle file, dipped the tip into the alcohol and scrubbed the inside of the mortise/reservoir with it. After the end of the paper towel gets saturated

with yuck (yuck is another technical term used by restorers), you can unroll the paper and reroll the clean end, dip and repeat. This works well for tough jobs that need more pressure than is possible with a cotton swab. After a few pieces of paper towel I went back to the cotton swabs and was happy to see they were getting progressively cleaner. I finally got to the “clean” stage.

Here, I started working on the stem. I rubbed the surface with 0000 steel wool to remove the worst of the oxidation, inserted a pipe cleaner into the

tenon end of the stem and took it to the Deoxidation Solution jar. I placed the stem in the solution so it was submerged and put the lid back onto the jar. While the stem was soaking I figured I may as well treat the stummel with the cotton and alcohol a second time.

Normally I only leave a stem in deox for an hour or two, I got busy and returned after 4 hours. I checked the stummel first. The cotton came out clean. Next I removed the stem from the deox solution. I allowed most of the excess to drip back into the jar. I then used a coarse shop towel to vigorously rub the remaining solution from the stem. I ran two pipe cleaners through the stem to remove any remaining solution from inside. I then used a spot of Soft Scrub on a make-up removal pad to remove remaining oxidized vulcanite. The stem looked good.

I returned to the workbench and oiled the stem inside and out with mineral oil. The pipe cleaners cane out relatively clean. I thought this strange because the airway of the stummel had been filthy. I dipped the tip of a bristle pipe cleaner into the isopropyl alcohol and inserted it into the tenon end of the stem. It moved easily up the stem until it got close to the button. I pulled it free and saw what I expected – a very dirty pipe cleaner. I then tried to repeat the process from the button end. I was met with a great deal of resistance. After several bent pipe cleaners I finally pierced the layers of grime inside the stem and could get a pipe cleaner through. I then took a long churchwarden pipe cleaner, the stem and a pipette filled with alcohol to the vise. I clamped one end of the churchwarden pipe cleaner into the vice and threaded the stem onto the pipe cleaner. I used the pipette to wet the pipe cleaner above and below the stem with alcohol. I held the top end of the pipe cleaner with one hand and moved the stem up and down

the length of the pipe cleaner. This removed a good deal of the yuck from inside the stem. After this I returned to the workbench and started running pipe cleaner through the stem as normal. Well, I was shocked to see how filthy this stem was, no wonder a pipe cleaner had trouble getting through. You get the idea. Many pipe cleaners and much alcohol later the stem was clean. When placed back on the stummel there was no Granny purse remaining.

Next was sanding to address the tooth chatter and rebuilding the button. I wrapped 400 wet dry sandpaper around a small foam block to give it additional stiffness. I then sanded the area beyond the button to rid the stem of the dents from clenching. The dents were shallow so after a bit of sanding I tried to paint them with a light in hopes of raising them. This worked a little but I didn’t need much. Happy with the dent eradication I wrapped a piece of scotch tape up against the edge of the button. This would provide a straight edge for filing the black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). I applied a bead of glue along the top of the button. I quickly inverted it so the CA would be hanging down. I adjusted the drip by rotating the stem until it looked like it was filling the depression. I then spritzed the CA with an accelerant to speed the curing. I then used a flat needle file to reshape the button. I had to repeat the application of CA a few times to build-up material where I wanted it and file it off to regain the shape of a proper button. Once satisfied with the shape I used 400 sandpaper to smooth and polish the rough edges. One of these days I will actually remember to photograph this process rather than getting caught up in the moment.

The stem was then sanded with micro-mesh pads. The 1500 and 1800 pads were used with a drop of water on them. Between each pad I would apply a drop of Obsidian Oil, rub it in with my finger and wipe away the excess with a paper towel. After the first two pads, the remaining series was used dry with the application of oil and wiping the same. The stem was taken to the buffer where I applied several coats of carnauba wax.

I do not like applying carnauba wax to heavily rusticated stummels. I did apply a couple coats of carnauba wax to the flat surface of the stamp. The rest of the stummel received Dacatur No-Buff Wax applied with my fingers and a soft bristle baby toothbrush. This was allowed to dry for 15 minutes and rubbed off with a clean dry terry cloth towel.

I think this pipe turned out very nicely. It makes a fine companion for the Kings Cross Foursquare from a previous restoration. I wanted an easy

restoration and for the most part this was one. I think the smoothing of the rim really adds to the appearance of these pipes. I hope that you found

something that you can use in your own restorations or that you found this interesting/entertaining. Thank you for stopping by and reading the rambling of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Kings Cross Kruger: