NebraskaPeteGeek

Tag: rebuilding a button

A Pipe by Lee Large Bull Moose Restoration

January 2nd, 2024
Written and photographed by John M. Young

Pipe by Lee is an interesting brand of pipe made in the 1940 and 1950s. According to the the go-to-information source, Pipedia.org,

“This brand was distributed by Stewart-Allen Co., Inc., NY. Grading (ascending): 1 to 5 stars. Early pipes have seven pointed stars, middle run have five points and later pipes are stamped with coloured gold stars. Lee seconds are: Briarlee, Gold Coast.” (Lee – Pipedia)

Examples of the stars from my own collection:

The first two photos are of brass stars inlaid into the stem. The third photo shows imprinted stars which were then painted. Notice the rubber of the stems on all three look rather porous.

The stampings one the shank of this pipe match the stampings from the pipehil.eu website.

(http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-l3.html#lee)

The shape of this pipe looks very much like the Large Bull Moose from page 7 of the 1947 Pipe by Lee catalog. If you would like to see the entire 10 page catalog here is that link – Pipes by Lee Catalog – Pipedia.

(File:PipesByLeeCatalog-p7.jpg – Pipedia)

For those interested in the history of Pipe by Lee I recommend the following blog article by Steve Laug “A Pipe by Lee Limited Edition 2 Star Rhodesian worth restoring”

The pipe before me today is a first run Pipe by Lee Lage Bull Moose from around 1947 Below are photos of this pipe upon it’s arrival:

This pipe was in relatively good condition upon arrival. There was minimal cake build-up in the tobacco chamber. The briar had some dents and dings with one spot on the heel that looked like it had been dropped onto concrete. The stem had the look of a porous old rubber of vulcanite. The end of the shank appeared to have a clear epoxy where either the threaded aluminum mortise was originally installed or a later repair was made. Overall this looked like just a clean-up and refinish restoration.

I started with the tobacco chamber reaming. The PipNet reaming tool made quick work of the hard cake. The Smokingpipes Low Country reaming knife and the General triangular scraper were used to scrape the remaining cake from the chamber. This was followed by a sanding of the chamber with 220 sandpaper on a wood dowel.

After the reaming I started cleaning the interior of the shank. The chamber had very little cake so, I was hopeful that the airway would be equally as easy – WRONG. The shank proved to be very tar encrusted. The first couple of cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol came back very dark and began to soften the tarred airway. I then would repeat the following:
1. Pour about 3 ml of 99% isopropyl alcohol into the bowl. Allow the alcohol to slosh in the shank.
2. Use a dental scraper to scrape the walls of the airway, wiping off tar onto a make-up pad.
3. Use a nylon shank brush to scrub the newly scraped walls of the airway with the 3 ml of alcohol.
4. Remove alcohol using cotton swaps to further scrub the airway.
5. Repeat.
I did not keep track of the number of times I repeated this process but it was many. Eventually the airway was clean and the cotton swabs emerged non-tarified (pretty sure that needs to be a word).

Next was the scrubbing of the stummel with Murphy’s Oil Soap. This was done over a sink with a medium stiff bristle toothbrush. The scrub worked nicely to remove the accumulated dirt and grime from the briar. The stummel was rinsed with warm water and dried with a cotton dish towel. I then returned to the workbench and wiped the stummel with a make-up pad soaked in 99% isopropyl alcohol. I also poured a couple of ml of the alcohol into the bowl allowing it to slosh around the bowl and airway to pull some of the water from that briar. I prefer to use 95% ethanol for this step as I think it pulls the water from the briar more effectively than does the isopropyl but, I was nearly out of ethyl. The make-up pad showed some sign of removing something from the briar perhaps a little bit of stain or just the last of some old dirty wax. At this point I set the stummel aside to dry. Below are photos of the scrubbed stummel.

I turned my attention to the stem. The stem had the appearance of a rough porous rubber. I have seen this before with pipe from this era. I think it may be from the use of recycled rubber from war time rubber shortages. I used Soft Scrub with Oxy-clean on a make-up pad to scrub the stem. I repeated with a clean pad when the pad became discolored with oxidized rubber.

At this point I also wanted to address the tooth chatter near the button. I tried to paint the area with a disposable light in an attempt to raise the dents. This slightly helped but the areas still required some file work.

Once the oxidized surface had been scrubbed and the chatter filed, I returned to the workbench and liberally coated the stem with mineral oil. This old rubber seems to absorb oil.

With the stem sucking up oil I returned to the stummel. I gave the stummel a quick sanding with a 600 grit sanding sponge and wiped it with a make-up pad dampened with 99% isopropyl alcohol. I then examined the stummel for areas that needed to be filled. There appeared to be four areas which had been damaged and no old fills from the factory. This speaks rather well as to the quality of briar selected by Pipe by Lee carvers for this 3 star pipe. The damaged spots were all filled with cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) and briar dust. In the deep dent by the rim the dent wall filled with briar dust pressed into the dent and This Clear CA was added to the dust. The other 3 areas I placed a small drop of Thin CA to the briar and sanded over the top of it with the 600 sponge. The dust was provided by the sanding sponge. After smoothing the fill I then looked to see if additional applications of CA and dust were required to fill the spot. Below are photos of the four fills.

The above photo shows what I think was evidence of a drop onto concrete.

With the fills taken care of it was time to give the pipe a sanding/micro-meshing. I cut two pieces of painters tape and placed them over the stamps for protection. I began the sanding with a 600 grit sanding sponge with a wiping the stummel with an alcohol dampened make-up pad afterward and wiping the stem with a dry paper towel and applying a drop of mineral oil with my fingers and wiping it again with a paper towel.. I repeated this with the 1500-3500 sanding sponges.

(above cropped photo from https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMPWHXJC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)

After the sanding sponges I moved to the micro-mesh pads starting with the 4000. I used the pads in the same way that I used the sponges, wiping the stummel and stem after each pad. I proceeded to use the pads from 4000-12000. Below are photos of the stummel after the sanding.

The stem was looking much better but I was still unsatisfied with the button. The years of use and clenching had flattened the button on both top and bottom. To address this damage I use scotch tape to mask the newly smoothed area above the button.

I then apply a drop of two of black CA. I immediately invert the stem so the drop hangs down but remains on the button with surface tension. I can then rotate the stem allowing the drop to hang lower on the portion of the button which requires more material. I then spritz the black CA with cyanoacrylate drying accelerant. This quickly sets and cures the CA. I does leave a more coarse surface than allowing it to cure slowly. While the CA is curing I quickly use a sharp knife to cut the edge of the button while the CA is still soft. You only have a few seconds to do this so the knife has to be readied before the spritz.

A few second after the cut the accelerant evaporates completely and the CA is cured. It’s a good idea to wipe the knife blade quickly to remove any CA that is on the blade. Acetone will dissolve CA especially prior to the complete curing. The tape is then removed. This leaves a nice straight edge with minimal filing and/or sanding required.

At this point I apply a new piece of scotch tape to the stem immediately above the button to protect it from filing and sanding. I then used a flat needle file to shape the button.

Once filed to shape the button was then sanded with the sponges and micro-meshed to the highly polished surface that I wanted.

At this point I figured that I would try something new. Well, new for me anyway. Briar Lee (his handle on the forums at PipesMagazine.com) said to me in a personal message, “PS Lees love grapeseed oil.” I decided to try this advice. The first phot below is the before photo. The second is a well grapeseed oil saturated pipe and the third photo is about an hour after the soaking. As you can see the briar proved quite absorbent to the oil. I added a second coating of oil and waited another hour. It too was absorbed with more in some areas than others. After the second hour, I wiped the pipe off with a clean dry cotton rag (piece of t-shirt).

Below are additional photos of the oiled and wiped off pipe. Notice that the briar does not look as if it has been micro-meshed to a high polish.

After a few minutes some of the surface became more oily so I wiped it again. The surface of the pipe did not look as if it had been micro-meshed at all. It seemed almost porous. I thought back to restorations of other Lee and Marxman pipes with a very similar briar. I recalled that they too seemed to have a softness of briar that was more porous. Perhaps that is why they smoke so well.

I took the pipe to the buffer to apply the carnauba wax. I applied several coats of wax. The pipe looked good but not what I would call great. I decided to let it sit and wait until morning to see if I was seeing things, too tired or a combination of the two. Old eyes late at night do make things appear differently.

In the morning I looked at the pipe again. It seemed as though it had been waxed but then hand buffed with a rough rag. I returned to the buffer and gave the pipe another couple of coats of carnauba wax. This time the finish looked much better. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth and took it upstairs for some photos. Under the lights it again appeared slightly dull. I decided to take it outside and see how it looked with natural light. That is apparently what it really needed. The sunlight really made the briar glow.

This pipe was purchased for my personal use. I really do love the way the old Lees and Marxman pipes smoke. And the thought of them being 80+ years old and still doing what they were intended to do warms my heart and hand. I am hopeful that in another 80 years someone, preferably a grandchild, will be able to continue appreciating this pipe. I do hope that you have found something here helpful to your own restorations or were entertained. If you enjoy this sort of thing please click the like and/or subscribe. Thank you for reading the ramblings of an old pipe lover.

Below are some photos of the finished Pipe by Lee Large Bull Moose.
A Marxman Super Briar

December 14th, 2023
Bent Bulldog Restoration

Written and photographed by John M. Young

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

(Marxman – Pipedia)

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

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

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

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

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

When this Marxman arrived it looked like this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tape applied to the stem to protect it from filing.

Once filed flat the tape was removed.

Sanding with 400 sandpaper.

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

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

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

Scotch tape applied to the stem immediately below the button.

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

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

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

The new button is shaped with needle files and sandpaper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Below are some photos of the finished Kings Cross Kruger: