This pipe came to me in a large mixed lot of estates for repair. It is an attention-commanding fist-sized chunk of briar carved into an equally commanding bulldog figural pipe. As you will see in this series of shots taken when I first brought the pipe to the worktable, the briar was in pretty good… Continue reading Repairs and a New Stem for a Unique Bulldog Figural
The work on this pipe has been started and stopped several times over the last few months, repeatedly sidelined in favour of more pressing repair jobs. It's been so long, in fact, since I started working on it that it took me quite a while to find (most of) the pictures. This series of pics… Continue reading Rusticating a London Made Billiard
I recently wrote about replacing a broken tenon and called it one of the most common pipe repairs. Today's post is about another - a cracked shank. For many pipes, a cracked shank can be easily and permanently repaired by installing a shank band over the damaged briar. An external band like this is essentially… Continue reading Sleeving a Cracked Shank on an Algord Krisson Standard Freehand
Amid all the work I've been doing on other people's pipes lately, I try to squeeze in one of my own where I can. This Brigham 206 has been waiting patiently for a little love for quite a while, so I decided that it was time to give it some attention. The series of pictures… Continue reading Cleanup and Stem Work for a 1990’s Brigham 206 Medium Straight Dublin
I've worked a lot on other people's pipes lately, so thought it was high time I cleaned up an estate from my own box of Refurbs-in-Waiting. In this post I am working on a pretty Jobey Virgin Prime 345 in a Bent Pot Sitter shape. As you can see from this series of pics, the… Continue reading Repairing Rim Dents and Stress Fractures on a Pretty Jobey Virgin Prime 345 Bent Pot Sitter
The pipe on the worktable today is a good example of how Brigham made good use of old stock left over from discontinued product lines. I think this practice was very much in line with Herb Brigham's penchant for tinkering with pipe shapes and his son Michael's focus on efficiency and cost-savings in the 1980s.… Continue reading A New Stem for a Brigham 4W5 Freehand
Here is another pipe from the box of repairs I've been working through recently. This time I'm working on a lovely Peterson Christmas 2012 B11 with a very unfortunate issue - a long crack running up the bowl. Ouch! Here is the pipe as it looked when I first brought it to the worktable. I… Continue reading Pinning a Cracked Peterson Christmas 2012 B11
The Coronavirus pandemic is keeping most of us in self-isolation, and I am no exception. While I am missing my usual wanders through antique shops, I have a fairly full box of estate pipes to work on while holed up. This Brigham 354 is one such pipe, acquired as part of a larger eBay lot.… Continue reading A Quick Refresh for a Stunning 1980's Vintage Brigham 354
Here is another eBay estate pipe find sent directly to me by the buyer for restoration. This time, I'm working on a Shamrock 268 by Peterson that looked to be in fairly good condition when it arrived. The last pic above should give you a clue as to what was lurking inside the stummel -… Continue reading Freshening Up a Tired Peterson Shamrock 268
This pipe has been a project for a while, one that I have worked on in between other repairs over the last few months. The pipe in question, a Medico Medalist, had been knocking around the bottom of my refurb box for some time when I finally decided it was due some attention. It was… Continue reading From Junker to Jazzed – A New Vision for a Battered Medico Medalist
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