I’m always impressed by the vast array of pipe shapes and styles available on both the new and estate pipe markets. While many pipe lovers enjoy the classic Billiard, Bulldog and Pot shapes, others take great pleasure in the more unusual or esoteric examples of the pipe carver’s skill. The French-made pipe on the worktable this time is one such example – a large pipe (almost 7 inches long) featuring a squared off stummel covered in an intricately carved grapevine motif.
Marked only with “Bruyere Extra” on the diamond-shaped shank, the pipe was sent in for a cleanup and a new Acrylic stem. As this first series of images shows, the pipe was in fairly good estate condition overall, but has a few issues, primarily a chewed up Horn stem and a missing chunk of grapevine carving. The pipe had a patch of greasy carbon “lava” spread across the rear rim surface and there was quite a bit of dust and other debris trapped in the nooks and crannies of the carvings.
As mentioned above, the only stamp on the pipe is “Bruyere Extra”. It’s not a lot to go on for pipe identification, but it is enough to say that the pipe was likely made in France, and probably in St Claude, the historical centre of briar pipe production.
The original horn stem was well and truly chewed up, with very deep tooth dents, especially on the bottom side of the bite zone. The pipe’s steward had requested a new acrylic stem be fitted, but unfortunately the supply of precast acrylic stem blanks has continued to be somewhat meagre. A Diamond Taper acrylic stem was unavailable, and while a hand cut acrylic stem could be made, it was out of the budget for this restoration.
The next best option was to make one out of a Round Taper stem blank. This pic shows the original horn stem below the new acrylic blank selected for the work. It would have to be shortened to match the length of the original before having a Delrin tenon installed.
Before I got stuck in fitting the new stem, I needed to first clean the pipe. I used some sandpaper wrapped around a dowel to remove a light amount of carbon cake from the tobacco chamber, which was in good shape underneath. A light scrub with 0000 steel wool was sufficient to remove the smear of lava from the rim ands reveal the briar.
The shank and airway were actually very clean. I only used a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean out the light amount of tars and debris.
The larger cleaning task would be the exterior of this large, fist-sized stummel. I used some Murphy’s Oil Soap and a toothbrush to gently lift the trapped dirt and dust from the carving.
And here’s where this so far straightforward restoration took a slight detour. After cleaning the briar, two shank cracks came to light on opposing facets of the diamond shank. I might have suggested an internal shank repair to maintain the clean lines of the pipe, but the shank lacked the internal real estate to safely drill out the mortise and install a sleeve.
The shank would, therefore, need an external shank band to shore up the compromised mortise walls. Shaping a diamond from a round shank band is always a bit of a task as the width of the flat facets are almost never exactly equal. Eventually , however, I had the shank band prepped for installation.
To install the band permanently, I slipped it over the end of the shank, then warmed the nickel band over the heat gun to expand the metal. Sufficiently enlarged, I positioned the stummel shank downwards over the bench and gently but firmly pushed the band all the way home until it was flush with the shank face. The band constricted on colling, clamping tightly to the shank.
This pic shows the band installed and the new Delrin tenon sized to the mortise.
I cut the excess length from the stem blank, then widened the airway to create a mortise for the stem end of the Delrin tenon. After a test fit, I roughed up both the exterior of the tenon and the interior of the mortise to improve the holding power of the two-part epoxy used to cement the tenon into the stem face.
After applying the epoxy, I slid the stem into position on the shank and held the parts in place until the epoxy began to grab. A few pieces of masking tape held the stem in position overnight while the epoxy cured completely.
Coming back to the pipe the next day, I twisted the new stem off the pipe and chased the airway with a drill bit to clear the inevitable excess epoxy. Remounting the stem, I could begin the task of cutting the diamond shape from the round stem. Using the shank as a guide, and paying strict attention to maintaining the symmetry of the shape, I used a series of files to remove the excess acrylic.
With the new shape roughed in, I could switch to sandpaper in 220 and 320 grits to refine the new stem profile.
When I was happy with the shape, I did a final hand sanding with 800 and 2000 grit wet paper to prepare the stem for final buffing.
With the structural repairs now complete, I could turn my attention to the cosmetic work, namely repairing the broken carving. I had some success using epoxy putty to repair a missing decorative element on a meerschaum pipe, so I thought I’d try it out on briar. In this pic, I have cut off a small slice from the putty stick and mixed it until homogeneous.
The epoxy putty has a working time of about five minutes, so it pays to be organized here. I pressed the short sausage of epoxy putty into the damaged area, roughly shaping it to match the existing vine carving.
I allowed the putty to cured briefly, waiting until I felt confident that it would stay attached to the briar before refining the shape of the new section of vine using a needle file and sandpaper. I let the repair cure completely before staining the epoxy with a stain pen that closely matched the colour of the surrounding briar. Not too shabby!
To enliven the dry briar and further blend the epoxy repair into the stummel, I applied a coat of mineral oil to the entire stummel, using a brush to get the oil into the nooks and crannies.
I let the pipe sit for a few minutes, then hand buffed the stummel with a clean towel to remove the excess oil. Then all that was left to do was to take the pipe to the buffer where I hit the new stem with Red Tripoli and White Diamond polishing compounds. Acrylic stems don’t really need a wax finish, but I did add a light coat of Carnauba for some extra shine.
The finished pipe is quite a statement piece. Large and intricately carved, the pipe grabs the attention while the warm honey-amber briar is set off nicely against the bling of the nickel shank band. The new acrylic stem shines a deep black and is a huge improvement over the old chewed up horn stem. This interesting Bruyere Extra pipe has been returned to its steward, ready to provide decades of faithful smoking companionship.
Thanks for joining me for another estate pipe restoration project. I hope you enjoyed the journey. Until next time, Happy Piping!
Here’s the finished pipe.
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