Dunhill has been one of the largest names in British pipes, and indeed pipes worldwide, for over 100 years so it’s not terribly surprising that some of the craftsmen that worked for Dunhill went on to open their own pipe companies. The makers of Sasieni, Ashton and Ferndown all learned the ropes at Dunhill before launching their own ventures. Ferndown pipes, made by Les Wood, are known for their excellent smoking qualities and the high level of their silverwork. For more on Ferndown pipes, have a look at this entry on Pipedia.org.
I’ve worked on a few Ferndown pipes over the years, and was pleased to see another come through the shop recently, sent in for some work by an American pipe fan. The original stem had broken, so it was my task to make the pipe whole again with a Hand Cut stem crafted from Cumberland Ebonite rod.
As you can see in this initial series of images, the stummel arrived at the shop in quite good estate condition. The briar was in great shape, reasonably clean, and free from dents and dings. The factory silver band was, not surprisingly, an excellent fit to the briar beneath.
On the smooth underside of the shank, the pipe is stamped” Ferndown” over “Bark” over four stars, then “Handmade in” over “England” over “Les Wood”. The stars indicate the size of the pipe here rather than the quality. I’d guess this stummel is roughly equivalent to a Dunhill Group 5 size.
As always, the first step to any restoration or repair is to clean the pipe. This was a quick job this time, requiring only a few pipe cleaners and cotton swabs dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol.
With the stummel clean, I took a few measurements, then cut a section of Ebonite Cumberland rod a hair longer than the distance from the front of the bowl to the end of the shank. This is the classic ratio of stem to stummel for a Billiard pipe; the sliver of extra length is a safety margin that I would remove as the stem takes shape. (It’s a lot easier to remove material than add it!)
After mounting the rod in the lathe, I drilled the airway, starting with a long 1/8″ bit to rough in the airway about 80% of the way through the rod. This drilling needs to be done in stages to clear out the debris lest the drill bit bind inside the rod. (Ask me how I know!)
The airway is then widened to 9/64″ and extended using a taper point drill bit to roughly a half inch from the button end, the point at which the V-shaped slot would later join the airway. The tapered point of the drill bit shapes a cone inside the end of the airway, creating a natural guide for the last drill bit, a 1/16″ bit used to complete the drilling through the button end.
To complete the roughing in of the new stem, I drilled a 5/16″ mortise in the stem face and used a bit of two-part epoxy to secure a shop-made Delrin tenon into the rod. A live centre mounted in the lathe’s tailstock made a great glue-up jig, holding the tenon square to the end of the rod and firmly seated in the mortise while the epoxy cures.
I left the stem in the lathe overnight to give the epoxy plenty of time to cure. I could then chase the airway with a drill bit to remove any excess glue and remove the proto-stem from the lathe.
The next stage in stem making is shown below – cutting the slot at the button end. For this, I have taken to using a cross-slide vise mounted on my drill press. Centering a 2mm end mill over the 1/16″ airway, I set the depth stop on the drill press, lowered and locked the end mill in place and used the cross-slide on the vise to cut a nice tidy slot. Later in the process, I’d come back with a variety of files to create a V-shaped slot that will spread out the smoke stream as it leaves the stem.
With the internal geometry of the stem mostly complete, I moved on to shaping the exterior of the rod. The lathe made short work of turning the rod to rough diameter, after which I added thin strips of masking tape to mark out the location and height of the airway and the rough depth of the button. These guide lines play an important role in keeping the lines of the stem straight and preventing over-zealous removal of material that could lead to cutting into the airway and ruining the piece.
The fatter section at the button end of the rod in the pic below shows where the jaws of the lathe chuck were holding the rod. It is also, not coincidentally, roughly where the tapered airway meets the 1/16″ straight bore. This is a key junction, as the area beyond this line can be cut much thinner than the rest of the stem.
A few minutes on my 1″x30″ belt sander removed the bulk of excess rod stock and created the taper for the stem.
From that point, crafting a hand cut stem is, as the name implies, all done by hand using a series of files and sandpaper to refine the contours of the stem and cut the button.
This pic shows the stem thinned out to nearly its final dimensions. I generally aim for a thickness of about 5mm just behind the button for a comfortable fit in the teeth. Note the tape covering the silver shank band. This protects the delicate silver from errant file strokes.
These pics show the progression as I refined the shape of the button.
This pic shows how the masking tape guide lines keep the slot centred vertically on the stem.
A bit of careful file work around the shank-stem junction removed the last bits of excess Ebonite for a smooth flow from shank to button.
Then it was time to finish the slot and button. In this pic you can see two different slot files, a small flat needle file and some sandpaper, all used to carefully remove the inside “corners” of the slot to form a smooth V shape centred on the airway.
Finally, I took the finished pipe to the buffer for a run on both the Red Tripoli and White Diamond wheels to smooth out any remaining sanding marks and bring up the shine. I also game the smooth areas of the stummel a quick polish on the White Diamond wheel before giving the entire pipe a few light coats of Carnauba wax to shine and protect the finished pipe.
Hand crafting a new stem for any pipe is a rewarding undertaking, but working on top-tier handcrafted pipes like this Ferndown Bark Billiard is especially satisfying. While a generic, pre-cast stem blank would have made the pipe useable again, I’m glad that the pipe’s steward made the effort to maintain the pipe’s “handmade from bowl to button” pedigree. Cumberland Ebonite was definitely the right choice for this stem as it compliments the stummel’s red and black tones perfectly and adds a richness to the overall presentation of the pipe that its current (and potentially next) steward can enjoy for many years to come.
Thanks for joining me for another estate pipe restoration. Until next time, Happy Piping! Here’s the finished pipe.
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