repairing a cracked pipe shank

Photographed and written by

John M. Young

I am not a big fan of figural pipes in general. However, as a Marxman fan, I cannot help but try my hand at bidding when one comes up on eBay for a reasonable price. That was the case with this charming cherub. This little cheeky monk showed up with three other pipes. The Marxman was the obvious target of the acquisition but the other two also looked interesting.

I won’t say what I ended up paying for the trio but it was far less than I was willing to pay for the funky monk. A road trip from Decatur, Georgia to the wilds of southeast Nebraska later the pipes arrived. I also like to think this freewheeling friar made a detour through Sherwood Forest to visit a certain hooded robbing Robin. Now my imagination is running rampant. The stampings on the bottom of the pipe were a nice sharp MARXM with the fletchings of an arrow on the left. The last couple letters of MARXMAN and the arrow tip looked to be the victim of an incomplete stamp. Below this was IMPORTED BRIAR. Anyway, below are some photos of the chubby cheeked monk before he had any work done.

Yeah, this one had some issues. The stem was obviously not the original. There was a visible crack in the shank, likely the reason for the also not original band. The pipe had been smoked as indicated by both the cake in the bowl and the lava on the rim. There also appeared to be a cigarette burn on the right side of the stummel. The carving itself looked good although the small hole exiting the monk’s lips gave me concern. I worried that this irregularity in the tobacco chamber might lead to charring around the hole. Well, I’d cross that stream, without crossing quarter staves with Little John, during the reaming. See that? Another Robing Hood tidbit. I wonder if there will be more.

Background

I keep hoping that an author will write a comprehensive history of Robert Marx and Marxman Pipes, similar to:

Back From The Ashes: Uncovering the Lost History of G. L. Hunt and the Falcon Pipe by K.A. Worth (available here, Amazon.com: Back From The Ashes: Uncovering the Lost History of G. L. Hunt and the Falcon Pipe eBook : Worth, K. A.: Books)
Brigham Pipes – A Century of Canadian Briar by Charles Lemon. (available here, Books)
“As Individual As A Thumbprint”: The Custom-Bilt Pipe Story by William E. Unger, Jr.,Ph.D (no longer in print)
The Peterson Pipe The Story of Kapp & Peterson by Irwin, Mark and Malmberg, Gary (2018). (available here, The Peterson Pipe Book (Softcover) | Smokingpipes.com)

Until then I will have to use less glamorous means of documentation. Heck, I’ll even quote myself, how is that for less-than-glamorous? Below are links to previously written blogs with more complete histories of Marxman pipes, for those interested in reading more about Robert Marx and his company.

Camel figural https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/7445
Jumbo C https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/7197
Jumbo Dublin https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/3071
Mel~O pear https://wordpress.com/post/scimansays1787.com/6995” (https://scimansays1787.com/2024/11/12/a-marxman-four-hundred-restoration/).

As for this particular pipe, I’ll refer to a c. 1950 Marxman catalog,

(File:MarxmanCatalog4.jpg – Pipedia). This is why I titled this blog “A Marxman Carved Head – Monk Restoration”. The catalog calls these pipes “CARVED HEADS” rather than figural pipes and I used that nomenclature. I am assuming that this pipe is from around the 1950 date, prior to the acquisition of Marxman by Mastercraft in 1953. After the acquisition Marxman pipes were manufactured in France and Italy and bear a country of manufacture (COM) stamp indicating the COM. Since this pipe is lacking a COM, I assumed that it was carved in New York City.

The Restoration

The Monk made its way from the photo table to the workbench and received a cleared denim piece.

The first thing I did was look through my limited stock of pipe stems for suitable replacement stems. The stem that was on the pipe was already a replacement stem likely from a Comoy pipe. Comoy had several brands or seconds that used three bars on their stems. I found two then fit the mortise and would require less work on my part to fit the stem to the pipe.

The first was a black hard rubber, non-vulcanite, saddle stem. All of the Carved Heads had a taper stem, according to the photos from the catalog, though some of the animal versions appeared to have saddle stems. This stem would provide a more original look to the piece.

The second was a short briar wood stem. This stem was interesting and would make the pipe into a cute nose-warmer.A very non-traditional look, but one that was intriguing.

Below is a photo of the briar stem from the rear.

I asked the monk which he preferred and got the silent treatment. Not even a, “To Nottingham.” Perhaps he’d taken a vow of silence…

I tried both stems for size and feel.

The nosewarmer version was OK to clench with its short, less leverage physics. The Saddle stem also clenched well and did maintain the standard look of a Marxman. I was still undecided.

Maybe some reaming would cure my indecision.

The reaming was done with the PipNet #1 and #2 blades. The Smokingpipes Low Country reamer and the General triangular scraper.

The reamed tobacco chamber looked pretty good. Just some lateral rings had been lightly cut into the briar.

Sanding the tobacco chamber with 320 sandpaper wrapped around a wood dowel took the briar to bare wood and revealed no damage to the chamber from heat. Also, the small hole leading to the monk’s mouth seemed completely fine.

I turned to cleaning the airway of the shank. This was done with several bristle pipe cleaners, a nylon shank brush, several cotton swabs all dipped in 99% ethyl alcohol. There was also some scraping of the airway with a dental scraper. The alcohol softened the glue holding the band. This was removed and dropped into the alcohol.

After soaking in alcohol, the band was cleaned with a cotton swab and a light rubbing with 0000 steel wool.

I wondered how the band would look buffed, so I took it to the buffer and lightly worked it with white buffing compound. It shined up nicely.

I tried both stems with the polished band.

I had decided. The replacement of the replacement stem would be the saddle stem. It would require some file work though.

I thought to myself, “Hi self, You know that band would look much better if it were brass.” I couldn’t help but agree. I went through the bras tube stock and found a piece that would fit with minimal shank filing. I used a pipe cutter to cut off a section to fit the monk’s shank.

The new band was too tight to allow a good fit, Some cleaning and then filing and sanding would be required.

The monk still needed a tiny bit of dental work. The small hole in between the lips would not pass a pipe cleaner through to the inside of the tobacco chamber. I used a couple of alcohol dipped pipe cleaners then used a Vermont Freehand slot tool (Slot Tool (with handle) – Vermont Freehand). To clean-up the inside of the hole.

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

Returning to the workbench, I wiped the stummel with a cotton make-up pad dipped in 99% ethyl alcohol.

I was not happy with how the shank cleaned up so I thought that a cotton alcohol treatment would loosen up the tar deposits in the airway. The tobacco chamber and the airway were packed with cotton from a few make-up pads. I thought that 10 ml of alcohol would suffice. The alcohol was transferred via a disposable pipette.

I used a pipe stand to elevate the shank end to be about the same level as the rim as the pipe was now filled with alcohol saturated cotton.

Usually I allow the alcohol to evaporate overnight. This pipe sat for seven hours until I returned to it. The monk, not like Friar Tuck from the stories, didn’t seem to be able to handle his alcohol and was face down.

Upon returning I could see that the evaporating alcohol had done its job of liberating the tars from the briar and moving them to the cotton as the alcohol evaporated.

The shank too, looked like the treatment had been successful.

The cotton was removed and with it a good deal of tar and smoking residue. I again cleaned the shank with alcohol dipped cotton swabs and bristle pipe cleaners.

I masked the shank and band for their protection. The replacement stem was fitted using a small flat file.

Once filed to fit I smoothed the saddle with 320 and 400 grit sanding sponges. The stem was rubbed with mineral oil and wiped with a paper towel to remove sanding debris.

It was time to glue the new band in place. The fit was tight and required me to place a wood block against the end and tap the band into place with a hammer. I decided to go with brown cyanoacrylate (CA, super glue).

My brown CA is getting old and it is like applying warm tar. I used a fly tying bodkin to apply the CA around the end of the shank leaving a couple mm for the CA to move when the band was pressed on.

The seating of the band went well. After allowing it to set-up for an hour I wetted a soft cloth with acetone and wiped the band and shank. Acetone will dissolve CA, especially before it is completely hardened.

The replacement stem was sanded with a series of sanding sponges. The first were 320-600 grits. Again between each sponge I rubbed the stem with mineral oil and wiped the stem with a paper towel.

The next set of sponges were 1000-2500 grits. Again the oil and wiping was done between each sponge.

The final sanding was done with 3000 and 3500 grit sanding sponges with the same oiling and wiping.

I worked the stem with micro-mesh pads 4000-12000. In between each pad I rubbed the stem with Obsidian oil and wiped it with a paper towel.

The stem and band were then buffed with white buffing compound.

The buffing compound was removed with vigorous hand buffing with a cotton cloth. The stummel then received a coating of Before and After Restoration Balm applied with a baby toothbrush to get the balm into all of the nooks and crannies. This sat overnight.

The next day, I used an inside out athletic sock to remove the remaining Restoration Balm.

The pipe was then taken to the buffer for several coats of carnauba wax.

The final step was a hand buffing with a microfiber polishing cloth.

As always, I enjoyed working on this Marxman pipe. The figurals, though not my favorite, were fun and kind of whimsical. I couldn’t help but think about all the adventures of Robin Hood while I was working on this pipe. I know it is not made in the image of Friar Tuck from the Robin Hood tales but, that is what was running through my mind. The carvings are of good quality with well defined cuts and contours. The briar is of good quality and was generally free of pits and fills. The replacement stem polished up nicely and does look like it belongs with this pipe. The band also turned out well and should provide years of beauty and security from further cracking. The dimensions of this Marxman Carved Head – Monk are:

Length: 4.99 in./ 126.75 mm.

Weight: 1.64 oz./ 36.49 g.

Bowl Height: 1.75 in./ 44.45 mm.

Chamber Depth: 1.51 in./ 38.35 mm.

Chamber Diameter: 0.72 in./ 18.29 mm.

Outside Diameter: 1.56 in./ 39.62 mm.

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