NebraskaPeteGeek

Tag: refinishing with black Fiebing’s Leather Dye

A GBD Sierra 1350

July 9th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I left the style of this pipe blank and only used the shape number for reasons that you will see in a minute. I’ve restored a few GBD pipes over the years but this is the first that I have blogged about. This pipe seems very French or maybe Danish to me. A very nice shape which I would be inclined to describe as a slightly bent billiard. The pipe came in an estate lot which also brought a Jarl (https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/6336) a Stanwell (https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/6189) and 2 other pipes from Sacramento, California to the wilds of southeast Nebraska. I included the links to the previously restored two pipes.

This GBD was in need of some work. As my father used to say, “ Looks like it was rode hard and put away wet”. That phrase was originally intended for horses but dad used it for various things and occasionally women. The stamps were discernible through the grime and read; GBD, within an oval, over SIERRA offset to the right and perpendicular was 1350 over MADE IN FRANCE. The later stamp was quite faint and difficult to make out. Below are photos of the pipe prior to work being done.

The pipe was pretty filthy, the finish was faded, the stem heavily oxidized, bowl caked and the internals were anyones’ guess. This was going to be a fun one. I looked through a few GBD photos and found the below image:

(GBD – Pipedia)

That is the color that I wanted for this pipe. Yeah, I know, I am getting ahead of myself but I heard once that setting goals is important. Though, I think I’ll try to avoid getting dye in the tobacco chamber.

Background

The history of GBD is a long one. I reread the pipedia.org site and realized that including all of that might dissuade some readers from the blog. I will include the first paragraph mainly pertaining to the originators of the company and its name and include the link for those who would like more information.

In 1850 three gentlemen got together in Paris to establish a firm dedicated to the fabrication of Meerschaum pipes – a courageous step in politically restless times. Ganneval probably came from the area of Saint-Claude where he had learned making wooden pipes. Bondier’s family obviously came from Paris and had emigrated in 1789 to Geneva. He himself had worked as a wood turner in the clay and china pipe industry in and around Saint-Claude making stem extensions etc. Donninger was an Austrian or Swiss and had worked in Vienna, the world’s center of the Meerschaum pipe. They agreed on the acronym GBD selecting the initials of their surnames. Bondier survived his partners for nearly 30 years. Their places were taken by others. Hence the property of GBD and therewith the company’s official name changed several times.
- Ganneval, Bondier & Donninger
- Bondier, Ulrich & Cie.
- Bine, Marechal & Cie. and finally
- A. Marechal, Ruchon & Cie.
Meanwhile the GBD name was well established and thus retained. August Marechal and Ferdinand Ruchon led the firm into the 20th century. They were in charge of the company for more than 50 years.” (GBD – Pipedia)

In clicking another link from the above site I came across the following,

“The company was founded in Paris, France in the 19th century by Ganeval, Boundier and Donninger who were no longer associated with the company by the turn of the century. By the time they left the GBD name was well established and thus retained. In 1903 an additional factory was built in England and ran by Oppenheimer. The Paris factory moved to Saint-Claude in 1952. Since 1981 the majority of GBD pipes come from the English factory. At about that same time GBD merged with Comoys, since then all production for both GBD and Comoy comes from a single factory. ( I wasn’t kidding when I said it was brief! )

More history and addition information can be read in the main GBD article.”

(GBD Model Information – Pipedia)

Who doesn’t love a writer with a sense of humor, eh?

Now for the pipe in hand, the GBD Sierra. The stamped shape is a 1305, which according to another pipedia.org page has the following:

(above screenshots from: GBD Shapes/Numbers – Pipedia)

“shapes with an * are non standard bowl shapes, and stem angles with a “rev” conotation refer to pipes with bowls that are canted forward.” (GBD Shapes/Numbers – Pipedia). Now, I personally would not consider this pipe a Dublin nor an apple, I will differ and go with the “apple” designation.

Pepidia.org does have a listing of the models attributed to GBD and their “Seconds”. The Sierra is listed as,
- “Sierra — Rusticated finish, made in France: -”
(GBD Model Information – Pipedia)

Unfortunately, that is all. As for the age of the GBD 1350 apple, I cannot be certain of much other than it was made in France likely after 1970.

The Restoration

As usual I began with a clean denim work surface protection device (AKA a square of old blue jeans).

The stem would need some time soaking in an OxyClean and water solution so that was the first task. I hand buffed the stem with 0000 steel wool to remove the outermost oxidation.

The stem was then placed in the solution and allowed to soak for a couple of hours.

After the reaming the stummel needed to be rid of the years of accumulated grime. It was taken to the sink for a scrub with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a couple of different scrub brushes. The first brush was a medium stiff toothbrush. The stummel was rinsed and dried then I scrubbed it again with Murphy’s and a stiffer nylon scrub brush. This too was rinsed with warm water and dried again with a cotton hand towel.

Back at the workbench the stummel was scrubbed agin, this time with the nylon scrub brush and 95% ethyl alcohol.

TO make sure there was no finish remaining I scrubbed the stummel again with acetone and the nylon scrub brush. The stummel was wiped with a make-up pad dipped in acetone as well.

The shank was pretty well tar coated. I scraped with a dental scraper then poured 3-4 ml of 95% ethyl alcohol into the bowl and allowed it to flow into the shank. I then used a nylon shank brush to scrub the airway with the alcohol. I dumped the darkened alcohol into a second medicine cup. The shank brush was wiped on a cotton wash cloth to clean the tar from the bristles and the airway was scrubbed with cotton swabs dipped in additional clean alcohol.

This rotation of scraping, alcohol/shank brush scrubbing, cotton swab scrubbing went on for several rotations until the shank was clean.

The stummel had darkened with all the years worth of wear and tear and my scrubbing so I decided to bleach the briar with a bit of oxalic acid. I used a saturated solution of oxalic acid crystals in distilled water.

The solution was applied with a cotton swab and allowed to sit for 20 minutes.

After the 20 minutes the stummel was rinsed with copious warm water and again scrubbed with the nylon scrub brush, dried with a cotton hand towel and allowed to air dry for 15 minutes. Below is how the stummel looked after all the scrubbing and oxalic acid.

Next it was time for me to see if I could match the red/black dye of the GBD photos from pipedia.org. I gathered the dark red Fiebing’s Leather Dye and other needed gear. I couldn’t find the fishing bobber that I normally use to plug the tobacco chamber and provide a handle so I improvised. A spent 20 gauge shotgun shell fit nicely into the chamber.

The stummel was dyed dark red with the Fiebing’s Leather Dye applied with a folded pipe cleaner.

The dye was flamed with a disposable lighter. I recommend closing your jar of Fiebing’s prior to the flaming. I’ve never had one ignite but it’s probably a good idea to close it anyway.

The stummel was red, very red.

I allowed the dye to air dry for 20-30 minutes. I then mixed up some black Fiebing’s Leather Dye. I did this by diluting it – 2 parts black dye to one part 95% ethyl alcohol.

The stummel was then dyed black over the red. I was not quick enough to capture the flaming of the black dye. I allowed the black to air dry for 20-30 minutes.

Below are photos taken with the good camera of the dyed stummel.

The stummel was then taken to the buffer where I used a rouge buffing compound to lightly buff the high spots of the rustication.

The stummel was then wiped by hand with a clean cotton terry cloth towel to remove any remaining compound and wiped with a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm.

It was time for the stem to exit the Oxy solution and return to the atmosphere. I wiped the stem vigorously with a make-up pad to dry the solution and buff off some of the loosened oxidation.

Next the stem was scrubbed with SoftScrub applied to make-up pads.

The outside of the stem was looking much better. It was now time to clean the airway of the stem. It was far better than the shank but still required several bristle pipe cleaners and alcohol.

I couldn’t wait any longer to see how the stummel would look. I used an inside out athletic sock to hand buff the excess Restoration Balm from the stummel. Eureka! I was pleased with the dye job.

Back to the stem. I thought I could get rid of the tooth chatter by painting the stem with a flame and sanding. I was wrong. There was one spot that I was not happy with so it got the old black cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue) treatment. The depression received a small drop of black CA. This was then spritzed with a CA drying accelerator. The cured drop was filed with a flat needle file and sanded with a 400 grit sanding sponge. This meant that I had to re-sand the top of the stem but the results were well worth it.

The stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges from 600- 3500. Between each sponge I would dip the tip of my finger into mineral oil, rub the oil over the stem and wipe with a dry paper towel.

The stem was polished with Before and After Fine followed by the Extra Fine Polish. Then the pipe received several coats of carnauba wax on the buffer.

I think this GDB 1350 Apple turned out very nicely. Especially when looking back at the before photos. My goal of matching the red/black or burgundy stain was a success and the stem turned out better than I thought it would. The glossy black of the stem really works with the dark red dye on the briar. I do wonder how it would look with a bright brass band. I know it didn’t need a band but I think it would add something special to the pipe.

The dimensions of the GBD Sierra 1350 areas follows:

Length: 5.90 in./ 149.86 mm.

Weight: 1.13 oz./ 33.10 g.

Bowl Height: 1.81 in./ 45.97 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.39 in./ 35.31 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.69 in./ 17.53 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.26 in./ 32.00 mm.

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

Below are some photos of the finished GBD Sierra 1350 Apple.
A Jarl 1502 Bent Billiard Restoration

June 20th, 2024
Photographed and written by

John M. Young

Capturing the essence of an old pipe is part of the fun of restoration for me. I had never held a Jarl pipe before this battered darling arrived. It was part of the estate lot with the Stanwell from a previous blog. (I linked it if you would like to see that one also.) I searched through photographs online to see as many Jarl pipes as possible. They looked similar to Stanwell pipes, with their Danish characteristics of more delicate shanks and sweeping curves. More whimsical and fluid than the traditional shapes of France and England. The drillings on this pipe were exceptional. It looked like a quality piece of briar even before the restoration had begun. The stamps of the Jarl were mostly clear and read JARL over MADE IN DENMARK. There was also a 1502 as what I assume was a shape number stamped around the bottom of the shank. Let me show you the pipe as it appeared before making it to the workbench.

It may be difficult to see the qualities that I saw from the above photos. The finish was long gone and the fit of the stem to the shank seemed out of alignment. The oxidation of the stem was pretty bad as well. Maybe it was just me looking through my rose tinted lenses or seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty. Whatever the reasoning, I thought this old Dane would certainly make someone a grand smoker.

Background

There was not a great deal of information to be found on Jarl pipes. I perused the “go to” sites of pipephil.eu for information on logos first. The below screen capture shows everything that pipephil.eu had on Jarl.

(J-Jd — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

It was the middle section of the three that was most similar to the pipe in hand. The stamps matched nearly perfectly save for the different shape number. The photograph showed non rusticated patches on the sides and bottom very similarly to the Jarl I had.

(J-Jd — Pipes : Logos & Markings (pipephil.eu))

The next search was on pipedia.org. Jarl there led to a page with little information but a great number of photographs of Jarl pipes. Here is the text in its entirety: “In December of 2010 Ellen Jarl wrote that Jarl pipes were made by her grandfather, Niels Mogens Jørgensen in a little factory in the town of Bramdrupdam, just outside Kolding, Denmark. We have no reason to doubt that Niels Mogens Jørgensen is the maker of these pipes:
- Examples and details, courtesy Doug Valitchka” (Jarl – Pipedia)
Like I said, not much information and darn near every article online includes this quote from Ellen Jarl. Of the many photographs present there were several examples of rusticated Jarl pipes. I will show a few to exemplify why I chose to refinish the Jarl 1502 the way that I did.

The two photos above show the rusticated areas as unstained left and nearly black right.

The above two show the rusticated area stained darker but not black.

The final photo below shows what I am calling a worn black stain to the rusticated area. This stain looks like it was originally black with some of the black buffed or wiped off.

That was the finish that I would try to emulate. All of the above photos are from

Jarl – Pipedia.

The Restoration

On to the workbench with a clean denim piece and another beautiful old pipe hiding under the years of neglect.

The reaming tools were gathered.

And, put to work. This tobacco chamber was deep with a conical taper at the bottom. The PipNet couldn’t ream out that shape but the scrapers could.

The chamber was then sanded with 220 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel. No damage to the interior was observed.

The stummel made its way to the sink for a scrubbing with undiluted Murphy Oil Soap and a toothbrush. The rustications were actually scrubbed twice, once with the toothbrush and a second time with a stiff nylon brush. The soap was rinsed with warm water.

I hoped to soften and loosen the residue in the shank with warm water and a scrub with a shank brush and a bit of Dawn dish soap. The soap lathered up brown and was thoroughly rinsed with water.

Back at the workbench the stummel showed signs of a finish of some kind. Note the darker shiny area along the shank.

I used a make-up pad wetted with 95% ethyl alcohol to remove the finish. This colored the pad indicating that the finish was being removed. It also darkened the briar significantly, weird…

I used a toothbrush dipped in ethyl alcohol and scrubbed the stummel and rewiped the stummel. More finish was removed.

Finally I wiped the stummel with acetone on a make-up pad. This yielded some finish removed and allowed me to see a large red fill. I picked the old fill material from the pit. The stummel’s color remained darkened.

I started scraping the airway of the shank using a dental scraper. I am not sure why but, the darkened briar bothered me. I stopped working on the airway.

I wanted to address this darkened briar. I have had mixed results using a saturated oxalic solution on briar to bleach the wood. I thought this might work well here.

The solution was applied with a cotton swab and allowed to sit for 30 minutes. The stummel was rinsed with copious amounts of warm tap water and scrubbed with a nylon brush during the rinsing.

After the stummel dried I could see that the oxalic acid did a wonderful job at lightening the briar and returning it to a natural color.

The stamping remained in great condition.

Next, I needed to soften up the oxidized surface of the vulcanite. I used a solution of water and OxyClean. The stem was allowed to soak for an hour.

I returned to cleaning the airway. More scraping with the dental scraper, scrubbing with a shank brush and alcohol and cotton swabs dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol. I forgot to photograph the shank cleaning other than the photo below. Apologies if you love seeing many tar stained cotton swabs.

As previously alluded to I wanted to darken the rusticated area while keeping the smooth panels natural. I had purchased a product which I read about for painting miniatures for gaming. This product was a water based latex that could seal off an area where no paint was wanted. The latex could then be peeled off. I thought that the stuff sounded interesting and had ordered a bottle of it a year or so ago. I now had what I thought would be the perfect job for it. Using a detailing paint brush I painted the Vallejo Liquid Mask onto the smooth surfaces. As the mask dries it turns more clear. I set the stummel aside to allow the mask to dry.

I turned my attention back to the stem.

Once removed from the Oxy bath I used a clean make-up pad to vigorously wipe the Oxy solution from the vulcanite. This removed some of the surface oxidation.

I proceeded to use make-up pads and SoftScrub to scrub the surface of the stem. Eventually the pads were no longer removing oxidized rubber.

The mask appeared to be dry. I continued with the stem cleaning to allow more mask drying time. Bristle pipe cleaners dipped in 95% ethyl alcohol were used to clean the stem’s airway. Hey, there are some of the cotton swabs from the shank cleaning. The stem was then coated in a layer of mineral oil.

Time to test the mask and dye the rusticated areas. I prepped the area for dying and assembled the Fiebing’s Black Leather Dye, a folded pipe cleaner (applicator) and a lighter.

The black dye was applied and flamed with the lighter burning away the alcohol of the dye.

I rinsed the stummel with a stream of 70% ethyl alcohol to rinse excess dye and wiped the surface with a paper towel. I took the stummel to the buffer and buffed the stummel with rouge compound on a flannel wheel. The buffer removed the outermost dye and the mask. The masked areas were completely unaffected by the dye. Success! A little bit of scrapping with a sharp blade and sanding to clean up the edges would be needed to make the edges beautiful. Looking at many of the Jarl pipe photos his pipes often have a reddish tint to the briar. I liked the more golden, natural shade that I had and decided against a red or orange dye wash.

After the scraping and sanding I applied a layer of Before and After Restoration Balm to the stummel and allowed it to sit for 20 minutes.

20 minutes later the balm was wiped away using an inside out athletic sock to reveal a lovely two tone rustication.

The stem was sanded using a series of sanding sponges from 400-3500 grit. Between each sponge I rubbed in a dab of mineral oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

I worked the stem with 4000-12000 micro-mesh pads. Between each pad I rubbed in a small drop of Obsidian Oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The stem was polished with Before and After Fine Polish applied with my fingertip and hand buffed with a soft cotton cloth.

Before and After Extra Fine Polish was then used to hand buff the stem again with a soft cotton cloth.

The stem logo was repainted using white acrylic modeling paint.

This was a fun restoration. I got to work on a new brand and try a new product. I think the pipe turned out very nicely. Of course I have never seen another Jarl pipe and only had internet photos to base my judgment on. I’ve heard the saying, “ignorance is bliss”. I am therefore a blissful ignoramus regarding Jarl pipes. Nevertheless, I think this pipe looks great. The Vallejo Liquid Mask did exactly what it is supposed to preserve the natural grained briar from the black dye. The “worn black” dye that I was trying to achieve turned out how I imagined it would. The stem polished up pretty well, I didn’t want to be too aggressive with the restoration and obliterate the J logo. I think that I captured the essence of the pipe.

The dimensions of the Jarl 1502 Bent Billiard are:

Length: 5.66 in./ 143.76 mm.

Weight: 1.25 oz./ 35.70 g.

Bowl Height: 1.96 in./ 49.78 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.72 in./ 43.69 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.75 in./ 19.05 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.49 in./ 37.85 mm.

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

Below are some photos of the finished Jarl 1502 Bent Billiard.