NebraskaPeteGeek

Tag: Fiebing’s Leather Dye staining a pipe

A Tom Howard Billiard Restoration

May 29th, 2025

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Tom Howard, Tracy Mincer and Wally Frank are all names that I think of when I imagine the archetypal pipe makers of the World War II era. Yeah, I know Wally was an importer of pipes but darn it, it’s my imagination. I envision an older guy dressed in a flannel shirt under a worn leather apron, duck cotton pants, Red Wing leather boots and a liberal dusting of wood shavings sprinkled from head to toe. The workshop is equally dusty and briar shaving covered with electric light emanating from bare incandescent light bulbs swinging above each tool station. OSHA be damned! I suppose this is a romanticized image yet, it remains how I imagine the pipes of those days were made. Tom Howard pipes have always struck me as a bit chunky and unrefined, in a good way. Like a toy made by the loving hands of a grandfather for a grandchild. Grandpa’s lack of formal training, precision tooling and general lack of formal designing create a very usable toy that will most likely be used and abused. These are the jobs of both the grandpa and the grandchild. They are not making/enjoying art, they are making/enjoying life.

This Tom Howard pipe had been made to be used and used it was. I would consider it used to the point of abuse.

The original listing of this pipe was spotted on eBay and looked far better than the actual pipe. After the purchase the pipe made its way from Cedar City, Utah to the wilds of southeast Nebraska.

Upon arrival the pipe looked good overall the grime concealing most of the flaws quite well. Below are some photographs taken before any work was done.

Upon closer examination and with the bright photography lights I was able to see that this pipe had been used more than the advertised “Lightly”. The tobacco chamber was well caked and there was a significant lava deposit on the rim. There was a thin crack on the backside of the bowl which appeared to go completely through. The stem was heavily oxidized on one side but did not look as though it had been clenched or chewed. Another day in pipe restoration paradise.

Background

I have to say that I was unfamiliar with any of Tom Howard’s work outside of pipemaking. I began with a search for his pipes on pipephil.eu. Here there was a short entry:

(Hi-Ht — Pipes : Logos & Markings)

THe next stop was pipedia.org. At that site there was more information but not a great deal. According to pipedia.org,

“Tom Howard was a popular comedian and personality in the 1940s/50s, known for vaudeville stage and radio work. But he also was a skilled pipe maker. In a Popular Mechanic article from 1947 he is written up as the “Hobbyist of the Month, Tom Howard.” He made pipes in his workshop outside his home in Red Bank, NJ. starting about 1939, and looks like into the late 1940’s or later. He purchased briar blocks by the bag as well as stem blanks, and in his well equipped shop he hand crafted his pipes, in about three hours on average. He was a true craftsman, also specializing in intricate model boats, trains and brass cannons, all built to scale.” (Howard – Pipedia)

There were also several photos of Tom Howard working in his shop. I found these interesting and includ ethem below.

(File:TomHoward16.jpg – Pipedia)

(File:TomHoward17.jpg – Pipedia)

(File:TomHoward15.jpg – Pipedia)

This pipe was likely made between 1939-1950 in the shop of Tom Howard in New Jersey. I had done a restoration of a Greenwich pipe back in November of 2023 that restoration can be seen HERE. Little information was available other than Greenwich House Corporation of New York City produced or imported Algerian briar pipes and produced and sold a metal pipe, Thoro-Kleen.

The Restoration

The restoration began uneventfully with a cleaned piece of denim on the workbench.

I wanted to get the stem in the Briarville Pipe Stem Oxidation Remover quickly so as to speed along this project. The internals of the stem was cleaned with bristle pipe cleaners and 95% ethyl alcohol. The outside was lightly sanded with a 320 grit sanding sponge.

I quickly tapered the tenon with a countersink bit.

A pipe cleaner was inserted into the stem to act as a handle for easy removal from the solution in a few hours.

I then turned to the reaming of the tobacco chamber. The “ream team” was gathered.

The PipNet with the #3 blades started the process and quickly revealed that the tobacco chamber was quite severely charred. The Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife was used to clean out as much of the charred and damaged briar as possible. The chamber was then sanded with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel.

The photo below shows the sanded tobacco chamber. The walls don’t look bad but they were damaged from charring and were far from straight boring. They were actually curved out.

The bowl appeared like the advertisement below – concave walls. This was not something that I wanted to have when finished. As I continued I was contemplating remedies for this bow-bowled condition.

The airway of the shank was far dirtier than the stem had been. I started the cleaning with alcohol dipped cotton swabs and a dental scraper.

More scraping, cotton swabs, a nylon shank brush and even a brass bore brush were used.

Eventually the airway’s tar deposits were vanquished.

The stummel was taken to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a nylon brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and the stummel dried with a cotton hand towel.

The scrubbing had softened the old fills. They were picked from the briar using a fly tying bodkin.

There were more pits scattered around the stummel.

I was ready for the crack repair. The crack itself was small and was quite tight even though it ran a good deal of the bowl’s length. I used a 2 mm drill bit with the depth taped off with masking tape.

Three holes were drilled at different angles through the crack in the briar on each side. Brass pins were cut from a length of 2 mm brass rod.

The below photo shows the pins partially inserted and their angles.

I forced some JB Weld into the drilled hole using a fly tying bodkin. The brass pins were roughed up with sandpaper then pressed into their respective holes. I used a thin CA to penetrate the crack.

The remaining epoxy was spread into the tobacco chamber using a nitrile gloved finger. The stummel was set aside and allowed to cure/dry for 2 hours. During this time I removed the stem from deox and vigorously rubbed the remaining solution from the vulcanite.

I reattached the stem to the stummel while it was still curing. The stem like the oxidation had not been removed but this was just surface oxidation that would be removed with sanding.

After the curing/drying time, I used brown CA and briar dust to refill the excavated pits.

The stem was then sanded with a series of sanding sponges from grits 320-3500. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad wetted with alcohol. Below you can see that the shank was wrapped with masking tape to keep the joint where the two pieces meet from being rounded.

The stummel was sanded with grits 320-600. The sanding avoided the stamped areas. I did not sand finer than the 600 because this was in preparation of giving the stummel a contrast dye. I don’t think the dye absorbs as well into the briar if the surface has been sanded with very fine sandpaper.

The dye kit consisted of black Fiebing’s Leather Dye, a lighter, a cork and a folded pipe cleaner as an applicator.

The dye was applied with the pipe cleaner and flamed with the lighter. This burns off the solvent portion of the dye and allows it to better stain the briar. The cork acted as a plug keeping the dye from the inside of the tobacco chamber. The stummel was then wiped with a paper towel.

I did not care about giving the dye drying time as I was only interested in the dye penetrating the softer grained briar. I took the stummel to the buffer where I buffed the black dye outer layer of briar from the stummel using the rouge compound and rouge wheel.

The resulting color is shown in the photo below. The stummel was then lightly sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge the surface was wiped with an alcohol wetted make-up pad.

The stummel was then given a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

An inside out athletic sock was used to wipe away any remaining balm.

The epoxy in the tobacco chamber had cured for about 3 hours. It still remained slightly soft. I used the PipNet with the #3 blade to remove the epoxy from the high points of the chamber. There was still a rather significant curve to the inside walls. A second batch of epoxy was mixed. I planned on using the pocket knife below as a trowel to apply the epoxy to the tobacco chamber. This epoxy sets-up in about 15 minutes so I allied the freshly mixed epoxy to sit for about 5 minutes before applying.

This application better filled the remaining low areas. I used a single finger from a nitrile glove to spread the epoxy into the low spots.

Below you can see the interior at this time. The epoxy was again set aside for a couple of hours to cure.

After the curing time, I again used the PipNet and #3 blades to remove the high spots and reform a cylindrical tobacco chamber. The results were far better with only a couple of areas that remained depressed. These were again filled with fresh epoxy and allowed to cure. I failed to take any photos, apologies. Once the final epoxy had cured for a couple of hours the PipNet was used again. This time the tobacco chamber had been restored to a nice cylindrical cavity. I had to wait overnight to allow the epoxy to fully harden enough for sanding. The next day the tobacco shamber was sanded with 320 sandpaper. I wanted a good bowl coating to cover the epoxy and chose to use 100% maple syrup and carbon powder for the coating. A cotton swab was used to apply an even coating of syrup to the tobacco chamber. A pipe cleaner was inserted into the airway to prevent syrup and carbon powder from entering.

A capsule of carbon powder was poured into the chamber/

The rim was covered with a piece of masking tape.

The stummel was then shaken, rotated, shaken, rotated, shaken, etc… After a few minutes of this the tape was removed and the remaining powder dumped. The resulting bowl coating would take a couple of days to dry.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth further improving the shine.

Tom Howard made a sturdy pipe and this one withstood the abuse of hard use and time and came through it still smoking. I am very pleased with how well this old pipe turned out even though it took days longer than I had intended. The briar grain is quite pretty and the contrast dye brought the grain forward. The sturdy shank compliments the round bowl nicely. Pinning the cracked bowl with 3, 2 mm brass pins winn undoubtedly hold the crack together and not allow it to be an issue in the future. The old vulcanite polished up beautifully and the high gloss finish accentuates the black dye contrasts in a cohesive fashion. I am sure this old pipe will be a sturdy smoking companion for many years to come.The dimensions of the Tom Howard Billiard are:

Length: 5.72 in./ 145.29 mm.

Weight: 1.59 oz./ 45.08 g.

Bowl Height: 1.97 in./ 50.04 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.52 in./ 38.61 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.80 in./ 20.32 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.55 in./ 39.37 mm.

I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

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Below are some photos of the finished Tom Howard Billiard.
A Trapwell Large Apple Restoration

July 25th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I just can’t stop myself from working on those darn 1940s pipes. This little gem is one of those World War II Mediterranean briar substitutes. Kind of like a substitute teacher, they try but just are not the same as the regular version. I’ll get to more detail on that in the Background section, below. I have restored a handful of Trapwell pipes over the years

and found them to be exceptional smokers. They all share the same system for cooling the smoke and condensing out steam. It is this system that makes them good smokers but also a bit troublesome to clean. The subject of this blog is a large apple that has seen some tough handling. The pipe was purchased through eBay and was not part of an estate lot, just a single pipe. After a journey from Union Dale, Pennsylvania to the wilds of southeast Nebraska the old girl arrived. Below are some photos of this Trapwell as she appeared prior to any work.

I am not all that familiar with pipe care practices in different parts of the country. Apparently in Pennsylvania, pipes are frequently placed into cages with hyperactive irate badgers. I could be wrong on this but it would explain the numerous gouges, scratches, dings, dents and other surface scars that the Trapwell had. There were also signs that the pipe was smoked in between badger treatments and perhaps tumble drying sessions with the previous owner’s rock collection. There was a definite lava accumulation on the rim and some caking within the tobacco chamber. The stem and band had marks along their length that indicated that the badgers of Pennsylvania have acquired the use of pliers. These tool marks indicated to me that the stem was probably quite stuck in the shank (It was). The stem also had a bit of tooth chatter which would have to be repaired. Overall, it looked like a fairly straight forward restoration (It wasn’t).

Background

To have an understanding of Trapwell, we have to look into their origin story. No, there are no radioactive spiders but it is still a good story. “Henry Leonard & Thomas, Inc. (HLT) was founded in Ozone Park, Queens, New York by Henry J. Lavietes and two partners on May 31, 1938. The company patented a stem design for pipes and cigarette holders designed by Henry on March 9, 1943. Henry was the son of David Lavietes, who moved to Sparta, North Carolina in the early 1940s to purchase laurel and rhododendron burl to ship back to his son and HLT. Lavietes decided to stay in Sparta and founded the D&P Pipe Works with his other son Paul, originally as a 15 person operation. David Lavietes was the inventor of the Ajustomatic feature incorporated into Dr. Grabow pipes even today.

In 1944, the trademark for the Royalton filter well was granted to HLT. Soon after, however, Henry Lavietes closed the New York operation with little warning and moved the entire production to Sparta, North Carolina. At this time in addition to the Royalton line, HLT was making many other lines of pipes.

In 1953, HLT acquired all assets and equipment of the Dr. Grabow company of Chicago, Illinois, and began production of Grabow and Hollycourt pipes. At the same time, they acquired the Continental Briar Company, owner of the Royal Duke, Duke of Dundee, and Honeydew pipe brands still evident in the common use of the word “Duke” to name Grabow pipes.

On October 21, 1969, United States Tobacco company, owners of the Mastercraft brand, announced that it had acquired HLT. It still ran as a separate company until 1985, however, when Sparta Pipes, Mastercraft and HLT were merged into Sparta Industries, Inc.

While, even after this time, the HLT brand was sold to Lane, and later, in 2006 to International Pipes & Assessories, the current owners, IPAL continues to make and sell the Royalton pipe with the original HLT logo as part of the Grabow line.” (Henry Leonard & Thomas Inc. – Pipedia) (Italics are mine)

So we have David Levietas and son, Paul, setting up a North American briar harvesting venture in North Carolina. All of this due to the Nazis waging war on Europe and shutting down exportation of the pipemans’ favorite wood – briar. That dynamic duo was D&P Pipeworks.

“Trapwell pipes marked with “World’s best briar” are made of Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) a species from the Ericaceae family.

The brand was made by D & P Pipe Works, owned by D. P. Levitas and located in Sparta, Alleghany County, North Carolina close to the population of Mountain Laurel in the area. Later, this company changed its name to Sparta Pipe Works and still later to Sparta Industries.

There were at least three pipe brands made from the Mountain Laurel: Trapwell, Breezewood and Custombilt.” (Trapwell – Pipedia)

David Levietas, as previously mentioned was the inventor of the “Ajustomatic”. He also was the inventor of the Trapwell system. The below diagram from the original US patent 2,262,159 was screenshot from the PDF. This PDF can be found here: US2262159A – Smoker’s pipe – Google Patents for those interested in the original.

The text of the patent was also saved as images and is included below. Again the original PDF can be seen here: US2262159A – Smoker’s pipe – Google Patents.

It is this feature that makes the Trapwell pipe what it is – a fine smoking tool.

The Restoration

This restoration began with me attempting to unscrew the stem from the shank of the pipe. This unscrewing actually removed the aluminum mortise from the shank. This was not an intended part of David Levietas’ design. From the photos above you can see the following images:

The photo on the right is what is supposed to happen when unscrewing the stem. Using a pliers with the jaws wrapped in painters tape, as to not mar the stem nor aluminum, I was able to unscrew the two aluminum threaded parts. I would have to reinsert and glue the mortise section back into the shank. This comes later in the restoration.

I set out cleaning the threads of the tenon by soaking the threads in 95% ethyl alcohol. The threads were then scrubbed with a brass brush dipped in the alcohol. This cleaned any residual tars and removed most of the oxidized aluminum.

The shank piece of aluminum was larger and required a larger medicine cup for soaking. It also required more alcohol. I opted to use 91% isopropyl alcohol for this larger amount. Yeah, I’m cheap. Isopropyl is far less expensive than ethyl. That extra carbon and two hydrogens of the isopropyl must reduce both the effectiveness of it as a solvent and the cost. It still worked to clean the aluminum along with cotton swabs and bristle pipe cleaners.

The stem was cleaned out with 95% ethyl alcohol and bristle pipe cleaners.

With the insides clean it was time to address the exterior. I lightly sanded the stem with a 320 and 400 sanding sponge. I then painted the tooth chatter with a lighter in hopes of raising the dents.

The sanding and flame painting helped with the tooth chatter but were unable to do much to the pliers scars. These would require filling with black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).

I switched tasks to the stummel. Yeah, ADHD isn’t just for kids. I gathered the reaming tools and started working on the tobacco chamber. This was a relatively narrow chamber and would not fit my PipNet Reaming tool since I had broken the smallest size blades for it. The Scotte Stainless Steel reamer would suffice.

Looking down into the chamber I couldn’t see any damage from heat. It still needed additional scraping and sanding but still the Mountain Laurel appeared to be heat resistant. Not the badger claw marks through the lava.

Next the stummel was taken to the sink. Here it was scrubbed with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a medium toothbrush. The soap was rinsed with warm water and then the stummel was dried with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench you can see the grain of the Mountain Laurel. It is different from briar and lacks the bird’s eyes. I can’t say that it is unattractive, just different.

I wiped the surface with a make-up pad dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol to remove any wax and or finish from the stummel. I got some color on the pad. It looked more like a stain than a finish.

The stummel was then sanded with a 320 and a 400 grit sanding sponge.

The rim needed topping to address the dents and dings on the surface. This was done with a piece of 320 sandpaper laid flat on a countertop. I used a circular pattern with rotations of the stummel in my hand every 3-4 circles. This process was repeated with 400 grit sandpaper.

In preparation of a contrast dye, I taped the stamps to keep them from being as heavily dyed as the stummel. The tape was cut in irregular patterns to avoid the blocky appearance when finished.

I planned to use a mixture of ⅓ black to ⅔ dark brown Fiebing’s Leather Dye.

The dye was measured out with a disposable pipette and mixed in a medicine cup. It was then applied to the stummel using a bent pipe cleaner as an applicator. The wet dye was flamed with a lighter to burn off the alcohol solvent of the dye.

The stummel was then rinsed with 91% isopropyl alcohol over the sink.

Excess dye was wiped from the stummel with a paper towel. The protective tape also came off during the wiping but it had done its job.

Back at the workbench the stummel was wiped with a couple of make-up pads dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. I was not sure how the Mountain Laurel would take the dye as I had never dyed Mountain Laurel before. The softer portions of the wood absorbed the dye very well while the harder grain seemed to repel the dye to some extent. This looked to give the wood a very interesting pattern.

I then tried to sand off the outermost black dyed layer of wood. It was here that I realized how woefully inadequate my previous sanding had been. The badger claw marks were everywhere. Stupid badger.

After thinking about how to deal with the scratches and dents for what seemed like hours, I thought, “try steaming them out”. I plugged in the iron, set it to high, wetted a washcloth and donned a left glove. I wrapped the washcloth around the stummel and proceeded to roll it over the hot iron. I would have taken pictures of this process had I more than the two hands.

The results of the steaming were better but still required far more sanding. And yes, it’s a kevlar glove, I clean fish down at this sink on occasion.

Okay, back to sanding. Lots of sanding. And then some more sanding.

Finally I was wondering if I had done so much sanding that the contrast dye had been completely removed. Out of curiosity I grabbed the Before and After Restoration Balm and gave the stummel a coating. I waited 15 minutes for the balm to do what it does – magic. Many of the dents and scratches seemed to have disappeared.

There were a couple of dents that were too much for even the wonders of Restoration Balm. These would have to be filled with brown CA and briar dust. Now that I write that I realize I should have used Mountain Laurel dust. I certainly had enough.

The new fills were filed with a flat needle file then smoothed with 400 sandpaper.

I must have left stummel mode and entered CA fill mode. I started filling the tooling and tooth dents on the stem. Here I used black CA and spritzed it with a CA drying accelerator.

These areas were again filed flat with a flat needle file then smoothed using a 400 grit sanding sponge.

For a final finish I applied a light top coat of thin clear CA. This CA flows more easily and filled any small depressions that remained. Once cured the areas were filed and sanded as above.

The wood of the shank was taped with painters tape and the stem was sanded using a series of sanding sponges from 400-1500. Between each sponge I dabbed mineral oil onto the stem, rubbed it in with my fingertip and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

The above was repeated with the 2000-3500 sanding sponges.

The stummel got new tape over the stamps. Then was sanded sith the sanding sponges 1000-3500. Between sponges I wiped the wood with a make-up pad moistened with alcohol.

The tape was removed and the adhesive wiped off with alcohol. The pipe was then polished with the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. The stummel was wiped with alcohol on a make-up pad between pads. The stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed onto the vulcanite and a wipe with a dry paper towel.

Once finished with the micro-meshing I pulled the aluminum shank insert out. Cleaned the hole and the aluminum with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol then applied a light coat of white all purpose glue to the toothed end of the aluminum and reinserted it into the shank. I adjusted the bit while the glue was wet. The joint where the two pieces meet was wiped with a paper towel and a bit of alcohol. The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.

This Trapwell Apple turned out far better than I thought it would. During the restoration I still had my doubts as to how it would look finished. It is truly a stunning pipe. Some of the scratches are still evident but the Mountain Laurel nearly has a glow to it. In sunlight it is remarkable. The contrast dye did far better than I hoped it would, even after all my post-dye sanding. The stem polished up nicely as well. There remain some deep scratches in the aluminum but removing them would probably alter the straight smooth shank to stem junction. Overall I am very pleased at how this pipe turned out. The dimensions of this beauty are:

Length: 6.11 in./ 155.19 mm.

Weight: 1.34 oz./ 38.00g.

Bowl Height: 1.47 in./ 37.34 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.26 in./ 32.00 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.68 in./ 17.27 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.56 in./ 39.62 mm.

I do hope that you have found something here useful to your own pipe care, maintenance or restorations. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Trapwell Large Apple.