NebraskaPeteGeek

Tag: Kings Cross restoration

A Kings Cross Saddle Stem Billiard Restoration

January 4th, 2024
Written and photographed by John M. Young

I know what you are going to say, “Good Lord man, another Kings Cross?” Well this is actually only the fifth one of a six pipe estate lot. All six of them, Kings Cross. I will probably spare you from the last pipe restoration as it is another saddle stem billiard with the same shape number as this pipe. Anyway, I thank you in advance for reading this. Maybe, I will be try something new, be especially insightful and humorous this time. That too is probably not going to happen. I’m just full of good new year cheer, eh?

Well, here we are again. The history of a Kings Cross pipe. The best part of this blog for me is that I am writing it while smoking the Pipe by Lee from the last restoration. Let me rephrase that, from the previous restoration. I bet you were thinking, “finally this guy’s last restoration. I figured he would be canceled after the second one.” Hah, still going strong with at least 5 more pipes in the restore box and another 4 due on Friday. Okay, I’ve been putting it off long enough. The history of Kings Cross pipe. Really, again?

These were pipes made by the Chapuis-Comoy company in both their English and French factories. The “FRANCE” stamped on the stem of this pipe indicates the Chapuis factory in France was the home of this pipe. Kings Cross pipes stamped “MADE IN ENGLAND” would be those made in the Comoy’s London factory. 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 these or these links:
As for this pipe and the “6” pipe shape. That coincides with the Comoy shape chart which both factories share.

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

The below photos show how the Chapuis Saddle Stem Billiard appeared upon arrival.

The pipe showed signs of regular use, well developed cake in the tobacco chamber, some calcium deposits and numerous tooth chatter marks on the stem. Overall, the pipe appeared in good condition and only needed fills in two spots. This looked like a straight forward restoration.

I began with reaming the tobacco chamber using the PipNet reaming tool with the number 2 blade, Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife, General triangular scraper and the 220 sandpaper wrapped wood dowel. The cake was hard and required some knife work prior to the PipNet tool.

Next I removed the stem and began cleaning the airway within the shank with a dental scraper, nylon shank brush, cotton swabs and a good deal of 99% isopropyl alcohol.

The initial alcohol dipped cotton swabs came back dark with tar. The initial scrapings were also hard and dry. To soften the residues in the shank I poured approximately 3 ml of alcohol into the bowl and slightly rotated it to allow the alcohol to flow into the shank. While holding the bowl slightly lower than the shank I could keep the alcohol in the bowl and shank. I scraped the airway with the dental scraper, swished the alcohol into the shank then scrubbed with the shank brush. I would clean the brush by pinching it in a paper towel. After scrubbing with the brush I scrubbed the shank with the cotton swabs to absorb the loosened/dissolved tar and removing the 3 ml of blackened alcohol. I repeated these steps numerous times.

Eventually the shank was cleaned and a folded pipe cleaner dipped in alcohol came back without discoloration.

The stem was then cleaned with alcohol dipped bristle pipe cleaners, Again several pipe cleaners were used before the pipe cleaners went through the stem without discoloration. The stinger was soaked in alcohol to soften the residues on it. After softening the aluminum stinger was cleaned using a pocket knife blade in the grove and 0000 steel wool dampened with alcohol.

Wit the internals cleaned I took the stummel to the sink to scrub the externals with Murphy’s Oil Soap. The Murphy’s was used undiluted and scrubbed with a medium stiff bristle toothbrush. Once scrubbed the stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. I returned the stummel to the work bench and wiped the surface with a cotton make-up removal pad wetted with 99% isopropyl alcohol. The make-up pad came back with very slight discoloration.

The lack of color to the pad indicated that either there was little finish remaining on the stummel of that the alcohol did not dissolve the finish. I repeated the make-up pad wipe with acetone to see if that solvent would remove any additional finish. It too came back without much discoloration.

I placed protective painters tape strips over the stampings on the stummel and the stem. I wanted to sand/micro-mesh the stem and stummel together to avoid rounding the edges of the mortise/tenon contact. I sanded the pipe with sanding sponges with 600 grit followed by the 1000 grit sponge. The stummel and stem were wiped with an alcohol dampened make-up pad between and after the pads.

At this point I decided to try to give the stummel a contrast stain to liven-up the pipe a bit. The tape on the stummel was removed. I then prepped the area for dyeing. I use an upside down plastic tub as the work surface, paper towel base, black Fiebing’s Leather Dye, a folded pipe cleaner applicator and a disposable lighter. And, the official duct tape wrapped styrofoam fishing bobber for the tobacco chamber plug/ handle.

I applied one complete coat and flamed it with the lighter. I then allowed the dye to dry for about 5 minutes.

After it was dry I returned the pipe to the workbench and wiped off the excess dye with a couple of make-up pads wetted with 99% isopropyl alcohol. One really nice thing about a black stained pipe is how well they show off any flaws in the wood. I decided to fill the two spots now since I would be sanding for the next half hour anyway. This was done using cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. I pressed some dust into the pit and dabbed a small drop of CA onto the briar dust. I used the 600 grit sanding sponge to smooth the fills and to remove the upper layer of dyed briar. Care was taken to avoid the stampings. Some sanding of these areas was necessary but done with a very light touch. The below photos show the stummel dyed and sanded with the 600 sponge.

With the dyeing and initial sanding complete it was time to sand and micro-mesh the stummel and stem. I was really wanting to see how this dye job would look. I used the sanding sponges 1000-3500 with an alcohol dampened make-up pad wipe between sponges. The stem was sanded at the same time with the same sponges. I did use a lighter touch on the stem than on the stummel. The stem was wiped off with a dry paper towel between sponges and a thin layer of mineral oil was applied to the stem with my finger tips then wiped again with a paper towel.

Once finished with the final micro-mesh pad I wiped the stummel with the alcohol pad then applied a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm to the entire pipe. I let this sit overnight as it was bedtime.

Morning came, as I find they always do. I wiped away the slightly more rigid Restoration Balm with the inside of an athletic sock and found a quite lovely finish. All this one needed now are a few coats of carnauba wax from a buffer. The below three photos are of the pipe after the balm was wiped off.

I took the pipe to the buffer for this carnauba wax application. I took my time making sure to apply wax to each side from different directions. I then used a polishing cloth to hand buff the pipe. I returned to the buffer for one more application of carnauba. Maybe, it was just to polish my own ego rather than the pipe. I was pretty pleased with how the stain looked. The contrast stain looked beautiful and the wax was giving it a glow. I looked at the finished pipe and thought “I don’t really care that I don’t know your exact providence. You are lovely.”

Overall I think this Kings Cross Saddle Stem Billiard turned out very nicely. I am glad that I did the contrast stain/dye. I think that it really made the grain show up beautifully. I often feel torn during a restoration that I should try to keep things as original as possible. In this case I am pretty sure that the original workmen would have approved. I was able to retain the stampings and showcase the natural grain in a way that accentuates the natural beauty of the briar. The polished black of the stem goes even better with the black from the contrast stain. I hope that there was something here that you can use in your own restorations or that you were entertained. Thank you very much for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the required if you like this sort of thing please click the like and subscribe buttons.

Below are some photos of the finished Kings Cross Saddle Stem Billiard.
A Kings Cross Bulldog Restoration

December 26th, 2023

Written and photographed by John M. Young

The return of the Kings Cross collection. Back at the end of November, I had won an auction for a lot of 6 Kings Cross pipes. I have restored the 3 Square, Kruger and a Billiard from that lot. The next victim, umm, I mean subject, was this bulldog. It had very classic lines with a slightly forward cant to the bowl, very fine beading and a saddle stem. A very attractive traditional bulldog design. When it arrived here in south east Nebraska from Rutherfordton, North Carolina, it looked to be in good condition.

The bulldog would need the normal restoration attention including: Finish removal, tobacco chamber reaming/sanding/inspection, rim topping, airway cleaning, stem revitalizing with teeth chatter removal, refilling of fills, filling of pits, stummel sanding/micro-meshing, re-staining, and carnauba wax to finish. Plus any new issues which typically arise with closer inspection. In other words, this is an easy one.

A little bit about the history of the Kings Cross line. These pipes were manufactured by the Chapuis-Comoys company.

“Kings Cross is a brand made by both Chapuis-Comoy in France using Algerian Briar. Kings Cross is also a brand name used by Savinelli, which is more commonly seen in the U.S. market. Those pipes are made using Italian Briar” (Kings Cross – Pipedia)

Chapuis is the French factory while Comoy’s’ is the English factory. The pipe has the stamp showing it is ALGERIAN BRIAR and 238 shape. This fits with the above quote from pipedia.org concerning Algerian briar. The shape number Coincides with the Comoy shape chart

(Comoy’s Shape Number Chart – Pipedia) with the “str” referring to a straight pipe, “M” medium size and “(S)” for a saddle stem.

Briar, Erica arborea, grows throughout the Mediterranean. It survives on the rocky slopes where most plants would succumb to the dry windy conditions of the Mediterranean climate’s dry season. During the wet season, fall and winter, is the growing season. “Evergreen roots descend deep into the soil to retrieve water to sustain life in an area that varies in precipitation (Tett 2003). Little land is able to be used for agriculture. Only three percent of Algeria is deemed fit for agricultural use” (https://meteor.geol.iastate.edu/~kuballc/portfolio/406%20Version%202.pdf)

The history of Algerian briar is one of Imperialism, wild species harvesting, and war. There is an amazing article about Algerian briar found in the scanned copy of November 1948 Pipe Lovers magazine.

“As is well known, the ideal pipe wood is one which is fine-grained, tough, slow burning and sweet tasting Pipes made of briar root have been the preference of the majority of smokers for over a hundred years.

Of the many kinds of briar root, that grown in Algeria is considered today as being the finest for pipe making and pipe smoking. Although opinions among pipe experts differ, the best is still said to come from this French colony in Africa.

The primary reason isn’t because the country is named Algeria, or because the French own the land. It is simply because the terrain and climatic conditions are such that the wood grown in this section of the earth is most suitable for the creation of briar which comes closest to meeting the pipe smoker s exacting demands. (https://pipedia.org/images/7/7f/PL_NOV_48smaller-file.pdf, p. 327).

In the article the history of French imperialism coincides with the production of the briar for pipemaking, “The use of briar in pipe making began just prior to 1830, the year that the French first occupied Algeria”*. The timing of this article is interesting. The Second World War had ended in 1945. This article would have seen the drought of Mediterranean briar brought on by the War years ending. It would also include the curing time required for the first post war briar. So, this article heralds the reemergence of Mediterranean briar availability for European and American pipe makers. This boon of supply would come abruptly to an end for Algeria, as that country’s war of independence from France was just around the corner. 1954-1962 brought a brutal war with France to Algeria, followed by more years of internal civil conflict. All of these political instabilities further reduced the availability of this “worlds greatest briar” from the pipe makers of the world. *(https://pipedia.org/images/7/7f/PL_NOV_48smaller-file.pdf, pp. 327-328 & 346).

A manufacture date for this pipe remains elusive. I would hypothesize that it was made with Algerian briar harvested between the late 1940s to early 1950s and was produced in France after 1971. “In 1971, the London factory (see Comoy’s) became independent, and Yves Grenard, second cousin to Pierre, took over Saint-Claude” (Chapuis-Comoy – Pipedia). I added the bold blue to 1971.

On to the restoration. I began with the tobacco chamber. This bulldog had a well developed cake with some minimal lava deposits on the rim. The chamber was reamed with a PipNet reaming tool and it’s size 2 blade. It was further scraped with the Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. The inside of the tobacco chamber showed no signs of heat damage.

The rim was moistened with saliva and lightly scraped with the edge of a pocket knife. After these scrapings the stummel was taken to the sink for a scrub with Murphy’s Oil Soap and a medium bristle toothbrush.

For the shank cleaning I first turned on Roku and Netflix and brought up season four of The Last Kingdom. Though not a necessary part of the restoration, Saxons and Vikings, like a good black cavendish, make most things better. I began cleaning the interior of the shank with cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol. The airway was dirty at what I would call an appropriate level. Several swabs and bristle pipe cleaners later, and a few more Saxons and Danes, the stummel was cleaned. Next, I lightly topped the rim with 400 sandpaper. Below you can see the sanded tobacco chamber and the topped rim.

Now for the part that I figured would be more difficult – removing the finish. This pipe had a healthy clear coat. I first tried 95% ethyl alcohol on a make-up removal pad to dissolve the finish. It was mostly ineffective. Next I tried acetone on a make-up pad – success. The acetone removed the clear coat. I blame Uhtred of Bebbanburg for me not photo documenting the removal of the finish with numerous make-up pads and more dips into acetone. Yes, I could have just dropped the stummel into the jar of acetone and let it soak for a couple of hours but, what would I have done while watching Uhtred? It took the better part of one episode and part of another to remove the finish.

With the finish removed I lightly sanded the stummel, avoiding the stampings, to look for areas that would need to be filled. There was a large existing fill along the bottom of the shank. I was mostly solid and I did not see any reason to try removing it completely. It had a small spot where some of the fill had gotten chipped out so I used cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust to fill that. I repeated this for the two other areas that I thought warranted filling.

Before sanding the entire stummel with the 400 sandpaper and micro-mesh pads I wanted to get the stem ready for sanding and micro-meshing as well. I wanted them attached when I sanded them to avoid rounding their adjacent contact edges.

I also wanted to retain the stampings, FRANCE and K within a circle, on the stem. This meant that I was only going to use Soft Scrub with Oxy-clean on a make-up pad. The scrubbing of the stem also required the death of a few Saxons and Danes, I mean the scrubbing of the stem occurred during the slaying of a few Saxons and Danes. No Danes or Saxons were harmed during the restoration of this Kings Cross Bulldog. I would scrub with the make-up pad until it was heavily discolored with oxidized vulcanite, reapply additional Soft Scrub and continue. Eventually the pads ceased to be discolored, brown. The area around the button needed to be sanded to remove the teeth chatter. I used 400 sandpaper wrapped around and an emery board to provide a stiffness. There were two spots that required black CA fills. A drop of black CA was placed on the depression and then it was spritzed with CA drying accelerant. Photos below before.

After the CA had set-up I filed the CA smooth with a flat needle file and smoothed it with 400 sandpaper. Photos below after.

With the stem’s oxidation removed and both the stem and stummel fills smoothed with 400 sandpaper I masked the stampings on the stem and stummel.

The entire pipe was then lightly sanded with the 400 sandpaper. Once finished I wiped the stummel with a make-up pad moistened with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I worked a drop of Obsidian Oil onto the stem and wiped away the excess with a paper towel. I then worked my way through the micro-mesh pads 1500-3600 with wiping of the stem and stummel as above.

After the 3600 pad I thought that I needed to give the stummel a little bit of dye. Along the keel at the front of the pipe there was an area that was strangely lighter and the fill at the front of the bowl, both could use some additional color.

I assembled the staining gear: Fiebing’s Light Brown Leather Dye, a medicine cup with 3 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol, a clean pipe cleaner, and a lighter (left photo). I dipped the pipe cleaner into the dye and transferred it to the 3 ml of alcohol. This was stirred to dilute the dye (right photo)

I didn’t want to darken the whole pipe, just to darken the light spots and blend it with the existing stain. I applied the diluted dye to the stummel. It took a couple of complete applications before the dye was pooling on the surface of the stummel. I then flamed the stummel with the lighter. I then went over the lighter area again.

After the dye I allowed the stummel to dry for about an hour. After the dry time I moistened a make-up pad in 95% ethyl alcohol and wiped the stummel. The pad was stained with dye it was removing from the briar. I repeated this two additional times. The stummel now looked uniform in color and shade.

I continued on with the micro-mesh pads 4000-12000 and repeated the wiping of the stem and stummel as described above between each pad. With the final wipe done I slathered the entire pipe with a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm.

After 30 minutes of letting the balm do the magic that it does I wiped the remaining balm from the pipe using the inside of an athletic sock. Yes, it was a clean one. The final stretch. The pipe looked very nice. The wood grain stands out from the glossy black stem. The stamps remained visible. All that remained was to apply several coats of carnauba wax with the buffer. After this was done I hand buffed the pipe with a microfiber polishing cloth and took it upstairs to photograph.

I hope that you readers are not getting tired of Kings Cross pipes. There are still 2 to be restored. Actually they are both the same shape so I will probably not do blogs on both of them. Although I could just say “See previous blog” for the second blog. This one was fun and not just because of Uhtred. I do love the bulldog shape and this one has some very nice grain. It also allowed me practice at stamp avoidance which is a necessary skill to hone and use. I do hope that you found some of the techniques used were helpful or at least entertaining. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover. I also hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you all a very happy New Year.

Below are some photos of the finished Kings Cross Bulldog.
A Kings Cross Foursquare Restoration

December 2nd, 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, 2-Made in France and 2- no Country of Manufacture (COM) just “ALGERIAN BRIAR”. They all looked like just what I needed after two recent restores that were rather difficult. Wonderfully dirty, oxidized old pipes WITHOUT major issues. I apologize if you are here for some nail biting cliff hanging drama like with the Pipe by Lee restoration that led to the restoration of the restoration (I linked those if your nails need biting). These, looked like a relaxing day on the lake fishing for crappies.

I chose to work on the rusticated paneled billiard first. Here are her arrival photos:

A little bit of history is one of those things that I love about these projects. Here is what we know:
1. I own a Kings Cross made in Italy by Savinelli
2. The Kings Cross I chose to start with is Made in England.
1. The stampings look nothing alike.
What do you deduce, my dear Watson?

Umm, Mr. Savinelli moved?

No, there obviously is mystery afoot, old chap.

The first search of “Kings Cross” led me to the following quote from Pipedia.org:

“Kings Cross is a brand made by both Chapuis-Comoy in France using Algerian Briar. Kings Cross is also a brand name used by Savinelli, which is more commonly seen in the U.S. market. Those pipes are made using Italian Briar”

(Kings Cross – Pipedia)

Comoy’s is an English pipe maker and Chapuis is French. Hmm, the mystery deepens. I checked the Comoy page on Pipehil.eu and found the Comoy seconds.

Comoy — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu)

No mention of “Kings Cross” as a second of Comoy. Strangely, there is no Comoy stamping on the pipe either. So, this Kings Cross is not a second of Comoy yet, they apparently didn’t want it known that she was a Comoy either. To verify the Comoy heritage I found a list of Comoy shapes and shape numbers on Pipedia.com. Sure enough, the 368 was there.

(Comoy’s Shape Number Chart – Pipedia)

Now we know that the Kings Cross is definitely a member of the Comoy family with that specific shape fitting in with their listed shape chart. I returned to the Kings Cross page on Pipedia.org. For more information. And found nearly the exact stamping. They called it “Comoy’s version” of the Kings Cross and visually compared it to the Chapuis version.

(Kings Cross – Pipedia)

What is the relationship between the two companies and their English and French COMs? It seems odd that two separate companies would both make the same line of pipes with the same name. The plot thickens.

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

Talk about your confusing family trees. The present day briar pipe owes a great deal to the Comoy family. Below is an abbreviated history.

Chapter One- “Francois Comoy and his brothers started making pipes (probably clays, boxwood and beech) in 1825 in the small monastic town of Saint-Claude in eastern France. Francois and his son Louis discovered that briar had vastly superior qualities and from 1848 made pipes only in this wood.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia)

Chapter 2- “In 1879 Francois’s son Henri, who was born in 1850, moved to London with a small bag of tools, but a great deal of experience. Henri set up a small factory in Seven Dials which is today known as Cambridge Circus. He was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the briar pipe trade in London and is credited with being the author of the appellation “London Made”.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia)

Chapter 3- “He was helped at first by some of his brothers and around 1891 was joined by his two nephews, Louis and Charles Chapuis. Louis took the name of his adoptive parents. By 1895 the business had outgrown the Seven Sisters site and a new factory was built in Newcastle Place, Clerkenwell. By 1905 markets were being sought in America and the extra business required a new factory to be built in 1913 at 72 Rosebury Avenue.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia)

Chapter 4- A couple of world wars, financial issues, mergers, independence from mergers and general corporate mayhem leads to the above family tree of chaos.

The below timeline allowed me to deduce a couple of dates of relative importance to the Kings Cross in question:

The Chapuis-Comoy factory

Chapuis-Comoy :: Chacom

The Chapuis-Comoy factory

1922

This date corresponds to the Chapuis-Comoy society establishment. But it is rooted in the end of the 19th century and its origin is indissociable from two branches of a unique family.

Henry Comoy (1870-1924) was a pipe maker established in Saint Claude prior emigrating to London where he started the “H. Comoy & Co Ltd”.

He convinced his Chapuis cousins to form a partnership with him and start a factory in Saint Claude. That’s how was born “Chapuis-Comoy & Cie”.

1924

At this time Oppenheimer group⁽¹⁾ holds the capital of the society as for C.J. Verguet or La Bruyère, two others pipe firms in Saint Claude.

Acquisition of an ebauchon drying shed at “rue des Etapes”.

The factory in Saint Claude provides the London one with ebauchons

The drying shed : ▲ Inside

The wood of your old and very british Comoy probably seasoned in this place a while. Outside ▼

1928
Création of the Chacom brand.

1932
Merger of La Bruyère and Chapuis-Comoy & Cie. The Chapuis-Comoy brand disappears.

1957
In view of the success encountered by the Chacom brand, La Bruyere takes back the “Chapuis-Comoy & Cie” society name.

1972
The society recovers its whole independence to London thanks to Yves Grenard, grand cousin of Pierre Comoy (Henry’s grand son) and manager of Chapuis-Comoy & Cie.

1988
Creation of the S.A. Cuty-Fort⁽²⁾ bringing together Chapuis-Comoy, Emile Vuillard, Jeantet-David and Jean Lacroix. They have the production in common, but the different brands are preserved for the pipe’s distribution.

Antoine Grenard 2008

2012
Yves Grenard passed away on Feb 8, 2012. His son Antoine manages Chapuis-Comoy & Cie

(1) An overview of the connexions between French and English pipe companies here.

(2) S.A. (Société Anonyme) : Limited Company (UK) or Incorporated Company (US)

Document: The Chapuis-Comoy factory — Pipes: Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu)

Here we have, what I think would be the earliest date that the pipe would have been made: “In 1971, the London factory (see Comoy’s) became independent, and Yves Grenard, second cousin to Pierre, took over Saint-Claude” (Chapuis-Comoy – Pipedia) On another Comoy page in Pipedia.org they state that: “Comoy’s remained a family owned company until it was finally taken over by Cadogan Investments during the early 1980’s.” (Comoy’s – Pipedia) I added the bold to “1971”.

I think that the quote that best identifies the latest date of production would be 1988 when the Comoy pipe production joined the Chapuis production: ”They have the production in common, but the different brands are preserved for the pipe’s distribution.” Joint production at the Chapuis factory would mean the pipe could not have been “Made in England”.

Document: The Chapuis-Comoy factory — Pipes: Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu)

With the beginning date of 1971 and end date of 1988, this would put the Kings Cross more recent than what I am used to restoring. Hah, I am older than you, pipe. I am not sure if Sherlock Holmes would agree with my deductions or not but, I could certainly convince Watson.

To the restoration. First thing I did was to ream the Kings Cross and rid it of the cake. There was a pretty healthy deposit that the

Smokingpipe Low Country Reamer scraped out quickly. I followed up with the number two blade of the PipNet and gave it a final scrape again with the Low Country. Next I sanded the interior of the bowl with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wooden dowel.

Next stop the sink for a Murphy’s Wood Cleaner scrub. I use Murphy’s undiluted and scrub with a medium stiff toothbrush. This will usually remove the dirt and grime accumulated through years of use. The Murphy’s did its job quite well but there was a layer of some kind of clear finish that I did not want on this pipe.

“What kind of finish is it?” I wondered. Hopefully shellac and please don’t be some space-age-polymer. (Yeah Kaywoodie Magnum, I’m talking about

you. How they ever liquified diamonds and put them on a pipe I’ll never know) I wetted a make-up removal pad with 99% isopropyl alcohol and tried rubbing the flat surface of the stamp. A little bit of color came off but the surface remained shiny. I wetted the other side of the pad with 95% ethyl alcohol and tried again. This time a bit more color but the shine

remained. New pad, with acetone. This time more color and the shine was gone. We have a winner.

That meant that the stummel would have to take a bath in the acetone jar.

While the acetone was dissolving the finish I addressed the stem. Oh joy, a stinger. I am not a big fan of stingers, in general. I love the tenon extensions

or chimney in a Peterson pipe, tolerate them in a Kaywoodies and feel okay about them in a Dr. Grabow Westbrook but generally they are not my cuppa tea. I’d never go and deface a pipe by cutting one off but I have been known to remove them and forget where they have gone. This one looked like it was just a push fit aluminum type. The highly technical stinger extractor was used to try to pull it out. By the way, that’s just a pair of pliers with painters tape wrapped around each jaw. It doesn’t budge. Hmm, maybe it will become loosened with the airway cleaning? Spoiler, it didn’t.

The stem had a lot of small tooth chatter marks on both the top and bottom. The worst thing looked like a series of dents along the left top edge. I did not want to round the stem and change its original look.

I painted the chatter and the dents with the flame of a disposable lighter. That seemed to reduce the dents but did not remove them. Next I got out the 400 wet dry sandpaper. With a light hand and small circular rubbing I started to work on the chatter. For the sides I tried to keep the stem as flat as possible and work the stem on the sandpaper with the sandpaper flat on the bench surface. I still had to sand the edge to remove the dents but did so on each side to mask the rounding.

I hoped that the remaining dings would come out with the micro-meshing.

Time to check on the stummel. I removed the stummel from the acetone. I recommend nitrile gloves when handling a wet with acetone stummel. I completely ignored my own recommendation. I used a brass brush to work the finish free from the grooves of the stummel. Frequent dips of the brush were needed to fully saturate the air with acetone fumes. I recommend using a respirator classified for fumes. I also ignored this recommendation. I would rinse the stummel in the acetone, allow it to evaporate and check for shiny spots then repeat the scrubbing as needed. I did this until I saw no further shine or until I saw more stummels than I could count, from the acetone fumes.

Here is what I had after the acetone scrub:

Next on the agenda was to top that wire brushed rim. I know, do no harm, restore doesn’t mean remake but, I couldn’t help myself. This rustic look was screaming for a touch of class. I topped the rim with 220 sandpaper followed by 400. I left a couple of scratches on the rim because I thought the looked cool.

After that the stummel got a healthy dose of Before and After Restoration balm. I rubbed the balm in with my finger and thumb them worked over the whole surface with a soft bristled baby toothbrush to work the balm into all the nooks and crannies.

Here is what she looked like all slathered up:

I let the restoration balm sit all night for no other reason than I went to bed after taking those photos.

All that was left was the final micro-meshing of the stem, a quick visit to the buffer for a final polish and a few coats of wax. First the micro-mesh. Normally I would moisten the 1500 and 1800 pads with a drop of water but here I still wanted to see if I could remove those last marks. So I ran through the entire series of pad dry. I still applied a drop of Obsidian Oil between pads and wiped with a paper towel before proceeding to the next. When

finished I took the pipe to the buffer and gave it a light buff with white diamond compound. Just on the stem and careful of the circle K logo. I finished the stem by wiping and remaining white diamond compound off with a rag. I then applied a couple coats of carnauba wax. For the stummel I finished it with a liberal rub of Decatur No-Buff Wax. I allowed it to dry for 15 minutes before buffing with a dry polishing towel.

Overall I am pleased with how this restoration turned out. The old Kings Cross with all of its convoluted history looks good and will be a good companion pipe for someone for many years to come. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover. If you enjoy this kind of stuff please click the like and subscribe.

Here are the final photos of the Kings Cross Made in England Foursquare: