Tag: KB&B

A Yello-Bole Billiard (1933-36) Restoration

March 7th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

It is kind of an American tradition to love the underdog. Maybe it goes back to our founding when 13 little colonies took on the greatest empire of the time. Nothing personal, United Kingdom. I look at Yello-Bole pipes in a similar light. They kind of have the reputation of being third string benchwarmers to the “real” players of Kaywoodie. Sure they were a second, but I am a guy who loves leftovers from the night before meals. So I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for seconds.

This little Yello-Bole billiard caught my eye because of the stamp “Honey Cured Briar”. This is a bit more of a rarity than the usual “Cured with Real Honey”. According to pipedia.org, “Pipes from 1933-1936 they were stamped “Honey Cured Briar” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole). That provides pretty finite dates for this old pipe. Let me show you what it looked like upon arrival.

Yello-Bole was started as a processor of briar that did not meet the quality standards for Kaywoodie pipes. I’ll allow pipedia.org to tell the story as a more reputable source than my failing memory.

“In 1932 Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy (KB&B), est. 1851, expanded their programm consisting of KB&B pipes, Reiss-Premier and Kaywoodie as the mainstay brand by introducing the Yello-Bole line. Yello- Bole was designed as an outlet for lower grade briar not used in Kaywoodie production.

At that time KB&B produced their brands in Union City and in West New York, both New Jersey. Deviating from that, Yello-Boles were manufactured by The New England Briar Pipe Company in Penacook, New Hampshire to use this KB&B subsidiary to capacity.1966 Add

As briar was hardly had during World War II, the KB&B Company embarked on a project of domestically grown briar wood, called Mission Briar or manzanita early in 1941. The Pacific Briarwood Company, a subsidiary founded for this purpose, began harvesting the burls growing on the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Though this wood is botanically the same as briar form the Mediterranean countries, the smoking characteristics were not quite as good and the project was abandoned after the war.

Was it for that reason? Advertising from the 1940’s pictures the Yello-Bole “Honey Girl”, who gently urges the pipe smoker to smoke the pipe with “a little honey in every bowl.” In fact, honey was an ingredient of the material used to coat the inside of the bowl. It was said to provide a faster, sweeter break-in of the pipe.

In 1952, 101 years after the Kaufmann brothers had opened a small pipe shop in the Bowery section of New York City, Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy Company with all subsidiaries was purchased by an unknown company strange to pipe industry. (At least, the new owner was economical because the KB&B managers had to leave their luxurious bureaus on 630 Fifth Avenue, New York – the Rockefeller Center – for new rooms in the factory on 6400 Broadway, West New York.) This interlude ended after only 3 years in March of 1955, when S. M. Frank & Co. bought Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy, The Kaywoodie Company, Reiss-Premier Corp., The New England Briar Pipe Co. and – of course – Yello-Bole.

From the time of S.M. Frank’s purchase in 1955 until 1972 Yello-Bole was run as a separate company, as division of the parent. Through this period, Yello-Bole, same as Kaywoodie, had it’s own officers, sales force and maintained the production facilities in West New York. These 17 years were probably the most glorious years in Yello-Bole’s history.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole).

“Tips for Dating Yello-Bole Pipes
- KBB stamped in the clover leaf indicates it was made in 1955 or earlier as they stopped this stamping after being acquired by S.M. Frank.
- Pipes from 1933-1936 they were stamped “Honey Cured Briar”
- Post 1936 pipes were stamped “Cured with Real Honey”
- Pipe stems stamped with the propeller logo were made in the 1930’s or 1940’s – no propellers were used after the 1940’s.
- Yello Bole used a 4 digit code stamped on the pipe in the 1930’s.
- Pipes with the Yello-Bole circle stamped on the shank it were made in the 1930’s, this stopped after 1939.
- Pipes stamped BRUYERE rather than BRIAR it was made in the 1930’s.”
(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Yello-Bole).

Using the above guidelines this pipe represents the 1st, 2nd and 5th bullet points:
1. KBB stamped in the clover leaf
2. “Honey Cured Briar”
3. 4 digit code
Other than the stampings it also had some of the hallmarks of an older pipe. The button for example was filed in a “not so modern” fashion and had a narrow rectangular draft hole. Overall the pipe was in good condition for a 90 year old pipe that I paid less than 5 dollars for. Heck, the shipping cost more than the pipe. In examining the old girl I could still see some of the yellow bowl coating in the tobacco chamber. The stem was very tight, actually “scary tight”. I rubbed the tenon with olive oil when I reassembled it for the before photos.

I figured that the restoration would be fairly simple. It needed a light reaming, airway cleaning, stinger removal and cleaning, oxidation removal from the stem, stummel sanding and fills, button rebuilding with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue), briar refurbishing, stem polishing and a wax. That sounded like a relaxing evening.

I started out with a clean denim piece to protect the work surface. Even though this pipe looked pretty clean I knew the denim wouldn’t stay clean

for long. I wanted to get the stinger out of the stem so I could let it soak in alcohol and soften the tar lacquer (that is my new name for that version of yuck – tar lacquer). The darn thing was stuck. I tried wrapping it in fabric and gripping it with pliers. Tried wiggling, tried sweet talking and swearing but it wouldn’t budge. When all else fails, alcohol. I used to use that saying for more things than a stuck stinger.

With the stem occupied with the alcohol, I turned my attention to the stummel.

The reaming of the tobacco chamber was easy and uneventful. I probably even could have skipped it. After the reaming I sanded the chamber smooth, some of the original yellow bowl coating didn’t want to budge so I left it to remind me that it was a Yello-Bole and because it’s probably a lead based paint. Just kidding, the environmental control laws of the 1930’s are well known for their extensive product testing. Yeah, kidding again.

I didn’t think the shank airway could be too dirty since the pipe did not appear to have smoked very much. Cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol would clear out any tar lacquer and associated yuck. I have to admit being a bit surprised by the number of swabs it took to get the airway clean but clean it was.

I must have been feeling lazy because I did not give this stummel the usual Murphy’s Oil Soap scrubbing. I figured that I would just clean and remove the finish in one fell swoop. Using 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up pad I started wiping the exterior of the stummel.

Now I remembered why I used Murphy’s. The first pad just removed the accumulated dirt and grime from 90 years of existence. The next pad did remove a little finnish but the alcohol was not having the desired effect of removing all of the finish.

Pad number three was enlisted with acetone. This one did what I wanted it to do. The acetone dissolved the finish readily.

A couple more for good measure and the stummel was ready for sanding.

I checked back on the stem. The stem retained it’s death grip on the stinger. Again, the pliers, fabric, sweet talk and swearing were employed with no result. I will be victorious, just not yet. I gave the stem a little bit of work with the flat needle file and 320 sanding sponge to smooth out the roughness around the button. How a pipe that appeared relatively little smoked could have a stem chewed up this badly is a mystery to me. Perhaps it had been smoked frequently and just well cleaned. That concept broke with my experience with pipes from this era but remained a possibility.

Once the worst of the oxidation had been removed by sanding, I started the rebuilding of the button. The dent above the button was filled first using thin applications of black CA, spritzing with CA drying accelerator, filing and sanding. The resulting area then received a second coat of black CA with the above speed drying and smoothing until it was filled.

The below photo shows the rebuilt area smoothed inside a yellow square.

The draft hole of this Yello-Bole was rectangular, nearly square. I thought about items to use to support the liquid CA prior to it setting-up with a CA accelerator. The cotton swabs I had been using had a plastic “stick portion. I thought I could square this off with a bit of force and make it work. I worked very well. The CA did not stick to the plastic and the size and shape fit with near perfection. The plastic was inserted into the airway, while I applied a drop of black CA to the chewed through section of the button. The wet CA was then inverted and held upside-down while I spritzed it with the CA drying accelerator.

Once the CA had set-up I continued adding additional thin layers of black CA followed by spritzing with the accelerator. Eventually the gap had been spanned with new material. This new material was shaped with a flat needle file and smoothed with a 400 sanding sponge.

Final shaping and smoothing were done until I was happy with the results. My reshaping did take away that “older look” and did make the stem look more modern. I have conflicting feelings about that. It is more comfortable and looks more finished but It lost that apparent “old pipe” look.

After the button was finally shaped I started cleaning the airway in the stem. This went quite smoothly using bristle pipe cleaners and 99% isopropyl alcohol.

For the sanding I wanted the two pieces together so as to not round the edges of the joint where the pieces join. I taped off the stampings; right, left and bottom. The sanding was done with a series of sanding sponges from 600-3500 grit. Between each sponge I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with 95% ethyl alcohol. The stem was rubbed with my finger dipped in mineral oil then wiped with a dry paper towel.

Next, I worked the pipe with the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. I wiped the stummel as above but the stem received a drop of Obsidian Oil rubbed in with my finger and wiped with a paper towel.between pads.

The final stem polishing was done with Before and After Fine and Extra Fine Polish, respectively. Each polish was applied by fingertip and hand rubbed with a soft cotton cloth.

The entire pipe was coated with aBefore and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit for 30 minutes.

Once 30 minutes were up, I used the inside of an athletic sock to wipe away the excess balm.

THe stinger was still stuck. I said that I would be victorious and I had some thought as to how that could come about. The first plan was to try to soak the stinger in boiling water. The thought was that the aluminum would heat up the surrounding tar lacquer, softening it so that I could remove the stinger with a little bit of force. Good idea, no results.

THe next idea was to apply heat in the form of flame. The hotter than boiling water temperature would soften the tar lacquer releasing it’s death grip on the stinger and allow me to remove it. As I was heating the stinger I was steam coming from the point where the stinger was inserted into the stem. Some water must have seeped into the stem and was being vaporized by the flame heating the aluminum stinger. I knew that if the water was vaporizing I was at the boiling point of water also the temperature that vulcanite begins to soften. I wrapped the stinger in a cotton handkerchief and pulled on the wrapped stinger with a pair of pliers. It came free. Victory! I then cleaned the stinger with 99% isopropyl alcohol and a nylon scrub brush. I ran a couple more alcohol dipped pipe cleaners through the stem, now unimpeded to get it completely cleaned also.

All that remained was to apply several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer to the whole pipe.

I love how this 90 year old Yello-Bole turned out. The wood grain is beautiful. Sure, it has some fills. I left the old olds and only fixed a couple of small scratches while I was sanding. It was a “second” after all. The stem was cleaned-up and polished nicely. The logo and stampings all remained intact and are more clearly legible now than they were under the grime and finish. I did get to smoke this pipe earlier and it smokes very well for being a smaller pipe. The walls are thick enough that they remained cool throughout the bowl of tobacco. This pipe was never intended to be a showcase item and I intend to use it as it was designed as a nice pipe to smoke on the way to town for errands when a 15-20 minute smoke is what is needed. I hope that you have found something here useful to your restorations or were entertained. If you like this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Yello-Bole Billiard.
A Kaywoodie HandMade Saddle Stem Restoration

March 1st, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I am starting to feel like I work at a lumber yard. This is the third Kaywoodie HandMade restored in the past couple of weeks. Good thing they are fun to work on. The first one had a push stem and no Kaywoodie logo on the stem. The second was a tapered stem with a white circle with a black 3 leaf clover logo. This one is all decked out with a saddle stem and the same white and black logo as the tapered stem. That logo was discontinued after 1955, according to pipedia.org and the shape first appeared in the 1947 catalog.

I’m just going to copy the historical information from the first HandMade restoration.. I am pretty sure that nothing historical has changed in the last few days.“Kaywoodie name first appearing in February of 1919.” (Kaywoodie History – Greywoodie LLC) The history of Kaywoodie pipes is fortunately well documented thus, allowing rather precise dates for a Kaywoodie collector to declare the provenance of their charges. The above pictured Kaywoodie is stamped HANDMADE over KAYWOODIE (left) and IMPORTED BRIAR (right). No shape number is present.

Using this information and referring to the Kaywoodie Collectors’ Guide listed on pipedia.org I found that these pipes were made during the following years:

“Handmade-Oversize-Carved 1947-1955 on and off” (https://pipedia.org/images/3/3d/Kaywoodie_Pipe_Names.pdf) and that

“The Oversize Kaywoodies were, as the name implies, “Giants”. Lowndes notes that these pipes were stamped simply, “Hand-Made”. The pipes were all roughly “bulldogish” in appearance and were available in the following styles and grades7 : • Hand-carved “Colossus” ($10) • Walnut finish, banded “Hercules” ($20) • Hand-carved “John Henry” ($10) • Virgin finish, specimen grain “Paul Bunyan” • ($25)Virgin finish, banded specimen grain “Goliath” • ($25)Walnut finish “Atlas” • ($20)Hand-carved, Meerschaum-Inlaid “Samson” ($15)” (Kaywoodie Collector’s Guide – p10.pdf)

Looking into the stampings, I went to piphil.eu for confirmation. ThereI was able to find an exact match of this pipe’s stampings.

(Kaywoodie series from L to Z — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

Well, that was easy. This large Kaywoodie Hand Made, though not very “bulldogish” was most likely made between 1947 and 1955 at the West New York, New Jersey factory. If you would like to see the 1947 Kaywoodie catalog here is a link: Kaywoodie_1947.pdf (pipedia.org). It is a fascinating read with great old marketing photos and illustrations. Just out of curiosity I wondered what $10 in 1947 was equivalent to today. According to a bis.gov inflation calculator it is $131.09 (Using Dec. 1947 and Dec. 2023)(CPI Inflation Calculator (bls.gov)). I highly recommend reading the above links for further Kaywoodie history.

This Kaywoodie HandMade saddle stem came from Las Vegas Nevada to southeast Nebraska. All three Kaywoodie HandMades were from the same seller. The first one bought on a whim the second two were negotiated for. I will link the first two restorations for you, if you are interested in reading about them: Hand Made 1 and HandMade 2. This third pipe was stamped HANDMADE over KAYWOODIE on the left shank and IMPORTED BRIAR on the right. No stampings were on the bottom. Below are photos of how the pipe appeared upon arrival.

This restoration began like most others with a fresh clean denim piece for the work surface. I should show the final version of the denim, I’ll probably forget but it’s worth a shot.

Since this stem was badly oxidized I decided to give it a several hour long soaking in the Before and After Deoxidizing Solution. I first sanded the stem with a 400 grit sanding sponge and cleaned out the interior with several alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners. The final pipe cleaner You see in the photo above, inserted into the stinger.

The stem was too long to hang in the solution. I ended up using a wood sanding block to tilt the jar of Deoxidizing solution (deox, as I like to call it).

It wasn’t perfect but I was certain that it would work. At this point I actually went upstairs to type up the restoration of the second Kaywoodie HandMade. Oh, this is confusing. About 4 hours later, I returned to the deox jar to retrieve the stem. After allowing most of the excess solution to drip off the stem, I like to use a coarse cotton shop rag to vigorously rub off the remaining solution.

The stem looked much better. You can see the black has returned but the surface was rough and pitted.

I used Soft Scrub on make-up pads to rub off the remaining oxidized vulcanite.

After the Soft Scrub I oiled the stem with a coating of mineral oil and allowed it to soak up the oil while I started work on the stummel.

Looking back at my photos I apparently neglected to photograph the reaming of this HandMade. Don’t worry, you are not missing much. This pipe had been smoked very little as you will see when I describe the shank cleaning. The reaming was very quick and uneventful. I used the PipNet with the #3 blades to barely mess up my plastic drop surface. The scraper and knife were not used and the tobacco chamber was sanded with 220 sandpaper on a wood dowel followed by 320 sandpaper wrapped around a Sharpie marker. The most interesting part was that there was a shallow groove inside the chamber that ran along the left side. I remembered that the second Kaywoodie HandMade also had a groove in it’s chamber. Upon looking very closely at both with a bright flashlight I saw what appeared to be a thin crack in both chambers. It did not go from the top to the bottom; rather it was about ½ to ¾ inches long in the center of the chamber on both pipes. It almost looked like it was a crack from improper drying or the chamber was bored out while the wood was not completely dried. I then remembered that both of these pipes had come from Las Vegas Nevada, a place not known for their humidity. Perhaps years of storage in the desert had not been good for the pipes. Either way I thought it would be best to mix up some J.B. Weld and fill the crack from within the chamber. Allow the epoxy to set and sand it smooth with the chamber surface. I thought that I would come back to do that step with both pipes when I was finished with the restoration.

I took the stummel to the sink. There I scrubbed the stummel with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium bristle toothbrush. The years of dirt and grime were evident in the lather. The stummel was rinsed in warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

When finished drying I poured 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the tobacco chamber and allowed it to flow into the shank. Without pouring the alcohol out I used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway within the shank with the alcohol. This alcohol was poured into a medicine cup. The color indicated the extent of the tar accumulation in the airway.

THe very light color of the alcohol led me to believe the shank was relatively clean. A few alcohol dipped cotton swabs confirmed this.

With the internals cleaned out I returned to the exterior of the stummel. There seemed to be some yuck (the technical term for unwanted debris) in the grooves of the carvings. I wetted a make-up pad with 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped-down the exterior of the stummel. Very little color came off.

I then used a stiff nylon bristle brush dipped in the alcohol to scrub the carvings. Again I wetted a make-up pad and wiped the surface. This time the grooves looked deyuckified and it showed on the make-up pad.

The rim looked very clean after the alcohol and nylon brush scrubbing. Although it did show a bit of charring around the inside edge of the rim.

Now to deal with that charring. I used a wood sphere with a piece of 220 sandpaper. The sphere provided an even angle for a bevel and erased the charred briar. THe bevel was then sanded smooth with the sanding sponges by using the 400, 1000, 1500 and 2500 sponges in sequence.

The stummel required no real sanding other than a light buff with the previously mentioned sanding sponges. I wiped the stummel off with an alcohol dampened make-up pad and let it dry. The stummel was then coated with Before and After Restoration Balm and allowed to sit overnight.

In the morning the Restoration Balm was hand buffed from the stummel using the inside of an athletic sock. The terrycloth of the sock worked excess balm from the rustications of the carvings and left a very pretty shine on the stummel.

The stummel needed an equally attractive stem, so back to work. I wiped the excess mineral oil from the stem and began sanding with the series of sponges – 1000-3500. Between each sponge I would dip my finger in the mineral oil, rub the stem and wipe it dry with a paper towel. I would also wipe the sponge off on the denim to keep the sponges kind of clean.

After the sanding I started to micro-mesh the stem. Here I used the 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads in sequence. Between each pad I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil. The oil was rubbed in with my finger and wiped away with a paper towel.

The final steps in polishing the stem were done with Before and After Fine and Extra Fine Polish. The polish was applied by finger tip and hand rubbed with a soft cotton rag. Fine Polish followed by the Extra Fine Polish.

The final touch was the application of several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. I tried to only apply the wax to the high area but gave up on that. I used the edges of the buffing wheel to work the wax into the carvings. When I was finished I replaced the waxing wheel with a clean flannel wheel. I used this wheel without any wax and used the corner edge of the wheel to get into the carving grooves. My thought was to melt and absorb as much of the wax from the grooves as possible while still leaving a thin coating to protect the briar. It looked good.

Overall I was very pleased at how well this Kaywoodie turned out. These were fun pipes to work on and their size makes you feel like you have accomplished a real feat. The briar cleaned up beautifully and the stem again shines like new vulcanite should. As for the dimensions of this pipe, as I said it is large, the dimensions are as follows:

Weight: 3.12 ounce/ 88.45 g.

Length: 6.42 in./ 163.07 mm.

Bowl Height: 2.18 in./ 55.37 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.85 in./ 46.99 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.84 in./ 21.34 mm.

Outside Dimension (side-side): 1.60 in./ 40.64 mm.

Outside Dimension (front-back): 1.91 in./ 48.51 mm.

These are not pipes that you can clench while raking leaves or shoveling snow. This pipe demands you attention. I am sure the reward for such demands is a very nice cool smoke. I do hope that you have found this to be useful and entertaining. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the Kaywoodie HandMade Saddle Stem.

Well, I’ll be darned. I didn’t forget.
A Kaywoodie HandMade tapered stem Restoration, dé·jà vu

February 28th, 2024

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I know what you are thinking: “Dang Young, you must be getting old and didn’t realize that you already posted that restoration.” And I reply: “Hah, this is a different one. This one has a screw-in tenon and a pre-1955 logo.” You are correct though, I am getting old. I came across two more of these Kaywoodie Hand Mades the other day and settled on a price with the seller. This one has a lovely tapered stem while the other one has a saddle stem. These pipes make me think of the word “lumber” when I handle them. They are large. Both over 2.5 ounces (71 g). Not clenchers but, I am sure they will be cool smokers.

I am going to use the historical information from the previous Kaywoodie HandMade restoration. I linked that blog as well, for those who would like to read it.

“Kaywoodie name first appearing in February of 1919.” (Kaywoodie History – Greywoodie LLC) The history of Kaywoodie pipes is fortunately well documented thus, allowing rather precise dates for a Kaywoodie collector to declare the provenance of their charges. The above pictured Kaywoodie is stamped HANDMADE over KAYWOODIE (left) and IMPORTED BRIAR (right). No shape number is present.

Using this information and referring to the Kaywoodie Collectors’ Guide listed on pipedia.org I found that these pipes were made during the following years:

“Handmade-Oversize-Carved 1947-1955 on and off” (https://pipedia.org/images/3/3d/Kaywoodie_Pipe_Names.pdf) and that

“The Oversize Kaywoodies were, as the name implies, “Giants”. Lowndes notes that these pipes were stamped simply, “Hand-Made”. The pipes were all roughly “bulldogish” in appearance and were available in the following styles and grades7 : • Hand-carved “Colossus” ($10) • Walnut finish, banded “Hercules” ($20) • Hand-carved “John Henry” ($10) • Virgin finish, specimen grain “Paul Bunyan” • ($25)Virgin finish, banded specimen grain “Goliath” • ($25)Walnut finish “Atlas” • ($20)Hand-carved, Meerschaum-Inlaid “Samson” ($15)” (Kaywoodie Collector’s Guide – p10.pdf)

Looking into the stampings, I went to piphil.eu for confirmation. ThereI was able to find an exact match of this pipe’s stampings.

(Kaywoodie series from L to Z — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

Well, that was easy. This large Kaywoodie Hand Made, though not very “bulldogish” was most likely made between 1947 and 1955 at the West New York, New Jersey factory. If you would like to see the 1947 Kaywoodie catalog here is a link: Kaywoodie_1947.pdf (pipedia.org). It is a fascinating read with great old marketing photos and illustrations. Just out of curiosity I wondered what $10 in 1947 was equivalent to today. According to a bis.gov inflation calculator it is $131.09 (Using Dec. 1947 and Dec. 2023)(CPI Inflation Calculator (bls.gov)). I highly recommend reading the above links for further Kaywoodie history.

With that perfect example of a generation-X lazy re-use of a previous blog history it is time to get to the restoration. Here is what the Kaywoodie HandMade taper stem (that is what I’m calling it) looked like upon arrival.

This looked like a normal restoration. The main tasks to be completed should be: Reaming the tobacco chamber, cleaning out the airway, cleaning and removing any finish from the stummel, removing the oxidation, and restoration of the stem, wax and polish. It always sounds easier than it actually turns out to be but I am an optimist.

I started with a clean denim piece for the work surface and started working on the stem.

I began with the airway within the stem. I am not a big fan of stingers especially, stingers that don’t come apart. At least with those you can slide out the funky shaped end-piece and run a pipe cleaner through a fairly open hole. Kaywoodies on the other hand, not so much. I was able to get a bristle pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol from the button end down into the stem. Fortunately the stem was not too dirty. Thank you, previous owner. A couple pipe cleaners later and the stem was clean.

Nex, I rubbed the surface with 0000 steel wool then dipped the steel wool into 99% isopropyl alcohol and cleaned up the stinger. After the steel wool I thought that I would not need to give this stem a soak in the Before and After Deoxidizing solution.

The stinger cleaned up nicely and the oxidation on the stem looked like all it needed was Soft Scrub on a make-up pad. Well, several applications of Soft Scrub, that is.

After a mineral oil rub the stem was looking much better. I set it aside to soak-in some oil and started to work on the stummel.

I gathered the reaming crew: The pipNet with the #2 and #3 bladed, Smokingpipes Low Country knife, General triangular scraper, 220 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel and the 320 sandpaper wrapped Sharpie marker.

With the crew all ready I started with the PipNet with #2 blades attached. It was far smaller than the tobacco chamber but working in steps is easier that taking a large step.

It reminded me of the old saying, “How do you eat an elephant?”. “One bite at a time.” The #3 blades cleaned up the chamber most of the way and required little scraping with the knife or scraper.

The chamber was sanded to bare briar with the 220 sandpaper and finished with the 320 sandpaper. There was a strange groove cut into the chamber from nearly the top to the bottom. The groove was about 1-2 mm wide and not a mm deep. I tried to sand it smooth without getting the chamber out of round.

I normally would have addressed the rim at this time but the rim had fine rustications and a smooth surface immediately out from the chamber. I did not want to change the rustication so opted to try to remove the lava with the Murphy’s Oil Soap scrubbing. I did want to get some idea for how fouled the airway of the shank was. I moistened several cotton swabs with alcohol and tried scrubbing the shank. They came back very darkly stained with tar and yuck (the technical term for black tar like smoking residue). That told me that the shank cleaning would be a difficult one. The Kaywoodie mortise being aluminum meant that it was difficult to do any scraping of the airway with a dental scraper.

I took the stummel to the sink for scrubbing. At the sink I used Murphy’s Oil Soap undiluted and scrubbed the stummel with a medium bristle toothbrush. A surprising amount of old dirt and grime came off in the scrub.

The rim was scrubbed with the toothbrush initially then I graduated up to a brass brush to remove the lava without damaging the rustication. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. I then poured about 5 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl. I let this flow into the shank without pouring it out. I then scrubbed the airway using a nylon shank brush allowing the alcohol to soften and dissolve the accumulated yuck. This was then poured into a medicine cup. The results were very dark and indicated that the shank was full of yuck.

I returned to the workbench to do what scraping I could with the dental scraper. Anything I could get out with the scraper was worth several alcohol/shank brush scrubs.

The scraping alternated with alcohol and nylon brush scrubbing. An abbreviation that comes to mind is TMTC, meaning too many to count. TMTC later the cotton swabs were finally yielding less and less yuck.

With the shank finally cleaned out I returned my attention to the exterior of the stummel. I wiped the exterior with a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol. The briar did not appear to have been stained and not finished. I was hoping that it was just wax and grime that would be removed with the pad.

The alcohol pad came back with what looked like some sort of finish or wax, mostly from the carved areas. I decided to use an alcohol dipped brass brush to scrub the carved areas more thoroughly.

This resulted in removing much more, whatever it was that was, being removed. The stummel looked much cleaner. The only sanding that I did to the stummel was a slight beveling of the rim around the tobacco chamber to eliminate some of the charred wood from lighting the pipe. Since there wasn’t really anything to sand or micro-mesh on the stummel I gave it a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm worked into the rustications with a baby toothbrush and set it aside.

The stem had soaked up a bit of the mineral oil. I started with the 400 and 600 sanding sponges. I wanted to see if the tooth dents were bad enough to fill or if they could just be sanded.

The dents on top were minimal but the both would require filling with black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue). I placed a small drop of the black CA on the dent filling it. I then spritzed the drop with a CA drying accelerator. This dries the CA almost immediately. I then filed the drop smooth. A second layer of CA was then spread over the entire area from the button back up the stem for about 1/2 inch (1 cm).

This was then smoothed with a flat needle file, followed by the 400 and 600 sanding sponges. The wider area helps blend the filled dents better than just having CA spots on the vulcanite.

I admit to doing a poor job at photo-documenting the process with step by step photos of both top and bottom. The results look good though. Next was sanding the stem with the full series of sanding sponges from 1000-3500. Between each sponge I applied a finger dipped in mineral oil to the stem then wiped it off with a paper towel.

After the sanding sponges I used micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 to further polish the stem. Between each of these pads I applied a drop of Obsidian Oil, rubbed it in with a finger and wiped the stem off with a paper towel.

The final polishing was done with Before and After Fine followed by their Extra Fine Polishes. These were applied with a finger and rubbed with a soft cotton cloth.

I had allowed the Before and After Restoration Balm to dry overnight on the stummel. It had formed a slightly tacky textured finish that I hand buffed off with the inside of an athletic sock. I do love the way the terry-cloth of a sock removes the excess balm.

The pipe was reassembled and taken to the buff for several coats of carnauba wax. I tried to apply very light coats of wax to the rusticated carved surfaces using the edges of the buffing wheel to work the wax into the carvings. It seemed to work well. After the application of was I replaced the waxing wheel with a clean buffing wheel and went over the carving again hoping to draw out excess wax with the clean buffing flannel. The waxing wheel was placed back on and I applied a final coating of carnaube to the smooth surfaces carefully avoiding the carvings.

Overall this Kaywoodie HandMade tapered stem turned out very well. It feels very good, substantial but good in hand. My fingers seem to line up nicely with the carvings making it quite comfortable to hold. This is probably good because clenching this pipe would be difficult with it’s 2.52 ounce weight. The other dimensions are as follows:

Length: 6.16 in./

Bowl Height: 2.20 in./ 156.46 mm

Chamber Depth: 1.96 in./ 49.78 mm

Chamber Diameter: 0.85 in./ 21.59 mm

Outside Dimension (side-side): 1.67 in./ 42.42 mm

Outside Dimension (front-back): 1.89 in./ 48.01 mm

Yes, she is a big girl, some might even refer to this pipe as lumber. Were I a betting man, I would wager that she smokes very coolly. I do hope that you have found this to be useful and entertaining. If you enjoy this sort of thing, please click the like and subscribe. I thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some of the finished photos of the Kaywoodie HandMade taper stem.
A Kaufmann Bros. & Bondy (KB&B)? Churchwarden Restoration

November 23rd, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The first time I ever publicly wrote anything about pipe restoration was in a forum at SmokingPipes.com back on October 21 2022. I guess I was feeling pretty proud of myself and wanted to brag a little. I titled the post “You did what to a what with a what?” The following is that post in its entirety:

It was bound to happen: I finally got a Ropp cherry wood branch with an auction and no, that was not the pipe in the lot I wanted. Anyway, the old Cherry was kind of cute. I felt obliged to give her a little bit of love. A little bowl reaming followed by the old Murphy’s oil soap with a toothbrush routine and the obligatory removal of the electrician tape in front of the mouthpiece revealed a – dramatic pause – a cracked shank. Who saw that one coming? Hmm, how much obligation do I really have for this old girl? I mean, we just met…

Well, lets see how bad the crack is. Hmm, half an inch. Internet search for a ring shows that the Vermont Freehand boys are going to be in Las Vegas for a few days and this old Cherry needs a doctor “stat”. What else could I use? Hey, what is that old .357 cartridge doing in my pipe cleaning tool box? The caliper says that .375 would require a whole bunch of file work and sanding to make a ring. Hmm, last time I checked a .44 Mag case is wider than a .357. Wheels turning, let’s visit the reloading bench. Sure enough, a .44 is bigger than a .375 and would only require a little bit of filing and sanding. Hmm, now all I need is a son-in-law who is a plumber with a pipe cutter. Oh yeah, he’ll be home at 4:30. Snippity snap I have a .44 cal, I mean a brass ring for the patient. Doctor, I think she is going to pull through.

I hope you had as much fun reading as I did restoring this old Cherry. And for the record, she smokes pretty well.

From south east NE,

John

I am guessing that you can relate if you have purchased an estate lot or two. You get that pipe with tape around the shank right there at the mortise. You think to yourself, “I bet the previous owner just liked tape.” Yup, da Nile is a river in Africa. Then you carefully peel the tape off, certain that if you go slowly the crack will have healed over time, you continue, slowly, slowly.

Visions of Brad Pitt pop into your head. You continue undaunted, a little more. Then there it is in all of its eldritch horror. – a shank crack. You are sure that the crack is so large the previous owner probably fell into it and may still be trapped down there.

Okay, maybe I have a tendency to over exaggerate – the Nile is mainly in Egypt. But, the rest is exactly how I felt the first time I discovered a shank crack. Learning to deal with them allows our darlings to live again regaining some of their smokey glory. After having glued and clamped one successfully. I thought, “this isn’t so bad”. That first glue job is still together after well over 2 years.

Then you find another crack and try to fashion a band and that works out pretty well too. You try a few more and sure enough, shank cracks are just another little thing that we have to deal with. I still recommend checking to make sure the previous owner isn’t trapped in there before you glue and clamp it up.

That brings us to the pipe of the day, a lovely old KB&B churchwarden (?) with a metallic tape shank. Not just scotch tape for this girl, no sir. Real duct

tape. And under that tape, you guessed it – a shank crack. I failed to take a picture of just the crack so you get to see what I did to the end of the crack.

Sorry if that kind of ruined the surprise. I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start with the photos of the pipe when she arrived:

She’s a long one, coming in at just under 12 inches (30ish cm)an she had all of the things that you expect from an old pipe: Dirt and grime, a caked bowl, lava on the rim, an oxidized stem, dents and dings, dirty internals and a cracked shank. Now the title of this blog contains a question mark because the stummel is not stamped with the KB&B clover nor with KB&B anywhere. The only stamping on the stummel is the “CHURCHWARDEN”. There is no country of manufacture (COM) nor any shape number. So, “why are you calling her a KB&B?”, you rightfully ask. Because the logo on the stem matches the logo for Kaufman Bros. & Bondy from their pre Kaywoodie days.

(https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaufmann_Bros._%26_Bondy)

It is also true that there were two KB&B seconds brands which also used this logo. The first is Dorset. Here you can see the same logo but in light blue.

(Do-Dq — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

The second is the Hamilton, here the logo is in yellow. The yellow looks to be the same as the first emblem pictured.

(H-Hd — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

Both the Dorset and the Hamilton are stamped with the KB&B cloverleaf. It does bother me that there are no other stampings on this churchwarden to verify this claim. According to the KB&B page at Piedia,

“The trademarks, for the inlaid cloverleaf and the cloverleaf with the KB&B initials inside, were issued in 1881.” (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Kaufmann_Bros._%26_Bondy)

KB&B had used the cloverleaf logo for many years prior to the origination of Kaywoodie and Yello-Bole.

This could have been an old stem that was slapped onto some no name stummel at any point in the previous century. I am not claiming that this is a true Pre-WWI or WWII KB&B and listing it up for auction. This is a pipe that I enjoyed working on and continue to enjoy smoking. As for the history of the piece, It may be lost to the mists of time.

To the restoration. I apologize in advance for the lack of step by step photos. This was another of my earlier restorations before I started proper documentation.

The first thing that I did was to remove the tape. I think I covered that ordeal pretty well earlier. The crack was approximately one half an inch (1.25 cm) long. Normally I will ream the tobacco chamber first but, I wanted to see to this crack. The tape must have been applied shortly after the shank had cracked and the owner applied a good amount of force when taping the shank back together. They had obviously enjoyed smoking this pipe and tried to the best of their ability to fix her up and get her back into the game. There was very little debris in the crack.

I started cleaning out the airway with cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol. They were pretty dirty. I then poured about 3 ml of the alcohol into the bowl and held the pipe at an angle that would not dump the alcohol all over the workbench. I retrieved a small nylon shank brush. With the alcohol pooled up in the shank, I started scrubbing with the brush. You could feel the alcohol doing its job as the brush became more and more easy to move back and forth. I dumped the alcohol into a medicine cup knowing the color would be dark, it was. I poured another 3 ml of alcohol in and repeated the airway scrub. This time the alcohol came out more brown than black. I repeated the process again and the alcohol was more golden. Progress. After the third alcohol shank scrub I then was able to use the cotton swabs to finish cleaning out the airway. I figured that all of this alcohol would also be cleaning out and rinsing the crack as I was cleaning the airway. I used a longer bristle brush to work alcohol into the crack and clean it out as well as I could. I used the fine dental pick to see if there was anything else that could be removed. The crack appeared clean.

I started on the tobacco chamber next. I used the PipNet reamer. All the alcohol had softened up the cake nicely and the reaming went without any

issues. I gave everything a final scrape with the SmokingPipes Low Country Reamer. The final step was to use 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wooden dowel to return the chamber to bare briar and inspect for any damage. The interior of the chamber looked good and showed no signs of damage.

I then took the stummel to the sink for its bath. The bath is a serious scrub with undiluted Murphy Wood Cleaner and a medium stiff toothbrush. This

will usually remove the years worth of dirt and accumulated grime. Again the lava on the rim had also been softened by all the alcohol from earlier and it too scrubbed off nicely. The rim did look like it was in need of a topping as the years of use had given it a charred taper rather than a nice sharp edge. After the Murphy’s scrub the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel.

The stummel returned to the workbench looking clean and finish free. I started to rub down the stummel with cotton make-up removal pads soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol. There did not appear to be any finish remaining on the briar. I wanted the wood to be completely dry before addressing the crack so, I set it aside and turned my attention to the long churchwarden stem.

Typically I would rub the length of a stem with 0000 steel wool and give it a soak for an hour or so in the Before and After Deoxidizing Solution. This stem was far to long to fit in the jar. Which meant that it would have to be done with Soft Scrub and cotton pads. The thought that made my finger start cramping in anticipation. I decided to make an OxyClean solution in a large ZipLock bag and soak the stem in the solution in an attempt at softening up the oxidized vulcanite. I put about a heaping tablespoon of OxyClean in about ¾ cup of warm water. Yes, I know, exact measurements are helpful. I figured that I’d let it soak for an hour then see how it was progressing.

The OxyClean soak did work at softening the oxidation. I set to work with the make-up removal pads and the Soft Scrub. Many pads later and a couple breaks, not of the stem but breaks for my hands, the stem was looking much better. I oiled the stem thoroughly with mineral oil and mentally prepared myself for the stem airway. Knowing how grimy the shank was I had kind of

https://www.piggypolish.com/channeling-scrubbing-bubbles/

been putting off the stem airway cleaning. I did hope that the OxyClean solution would have been like the scrubbing bubbles on the old commercials.

I got a medicine cup filled with about 5 ml of alcohol, a pipette for dropping more alcohol on the length of the pipe cleaner and a new bag of churchwarden bristle pipe cleaners. Long pipe cleaners work well if they do not get a bend in them. This means the you are pushing less than one centimeter at a time into the stem. It was a long and tedious process with many bent stems and additional drops of alcohol but I finally got one pipe cleaner through. I remembered seeing a

video somewhere about clamping the end of a pipe cleaner in a vice while holding the other end of the clamped cleaner and moving the stem up and down along the pipe cleaner. If I recall correctly the guy in the video was talking about polishing the airway. I did this with the churchwarden stem. I added additional alcohol to the top and slid the stem up and down on the clamped pipe cleaner. Several pipe cleaners later the airway was clean. The next job was to micromesh the stem. I started with the 1500 followed by the 1800 micro-mesh pads. These were both wetted with a couple of drops of water. After the 1500 I wiped the stem with Obsidian Oil before proceeding to the 1800. After the 1800 micro-mesh the Obsidian Oil was used again. The remaining pads were used in increasing numbers with Obsidian Oil applied between each pad.

The following day, after the stummel had dried overnight it was time to address that crack. To keep the crack from spreading I used the smallest drill bit I had and my Dremel rotary tool. I drilled a small hole at the end of the crack. This crack was wide enough that I thought J.B. Weld would be a better glue to use that cyanoacrylate (super glue). I then mixed the two part epoxy on a small plastic tray with a toothpick. I then worked the epoxy into the crack flexing it open and closed to allow the glue to penetrate the entire crack. Once i was satisfied with the coverage I used a small clamp to squeeze the sides together. To make sure there was no epoxy on the inside of the airway I used a couple of cotton swabs slightly moistened with acetone to wipe the excess glue from the airway. This was set aside to allow the epoxy to cure.

My next task was to cut a brass band. I thought that brass would look slightly better that the aluminum tape band that the pipe had on arrival. You my have noticed from the earlier photo of a few of my band projects they are made from spent cartridge brass. That was the source of my brass bands

prior to me actually buying several different diameters of brass tubing. In the case of this KB&B (?) I used a 44 Remingth Magnum spent cartridge (pun intended) as the donor. A pipe cutter was used to cut a piece that would cover the crack. The cutter is nice as it gives the brass a little bend to the cut end and softens the edge.

I allowed the epoxy to cure overnight before removing the clamp. The instructions say that the glue sets-up after 15 minutes but I wanted to make sure the the stress of the wood would not spread the still soft glue and widen the crack. The next day I removed the clamp and took a look at the glue seam.

It looked good. I sanded the excess glue on the outside of the stummel then sanded the area that would be under the band for a better fit. The band went on without glue as it was a very tight fit. I used a scrap wood block to press the band the final millimeters and t make it flush with the shank.

With the band seated all that remained was the final micro-meshing of the stummel. This process nearly the same as with the micro-meshing of the stem.. The difference was that rather than using Obsidian Oil between the micro-mesh pads I wipe the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with

99% isopropyl alcohol. After the 12000 micro-mesh pad and alcohol wipe I gave the stummel a liberal coating of Before and After Restoration Balm. The balm was allowed to sit for 30 minutes.

After the wait time I rubbed the remaining Restoration Balm off with an inside-out athletic sock. I did not have a buffer at the time of this restoration. I did have Renaissance Microcrystalline Wax. The wax was applied and allied to dry to 10 minutes. The wax was then hand buffed with a buffing pad. This was repeated two additional times.

I have enjoyed smoking the this old pipe many times. I certainly understand why the Germans call churchwardens “lesepfeife”, which means reading pipe. They do make wonderful reading companions. Other benefits include not getting smoke into your eyes when reading, not having to reach all the way to your face for a pipe and looking wizardly. No, not like Gandalf. In the J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth books Gandalf did not use a long stemmed pipe. He had a small clay pipe that he tucked into his robe. We can thank Peter Jackson for the image of Gandalf with a long stem pipe. I don’t think I will ever be certain as to the pedigree of this churchwarden. KB&B or not? I don’t think it matters one bit to the pipe nor the tobacco and guess not me either. Thank you for reading the rambling of this old pipe lover. If you have any insights to the origin of this churchwarden please feel free to leave a comment. If you like this sort of thing please click the “like” and or “subscribe” buttons.

Below are photos of the finished KB&B (?) Churchwarden.