It's 2016! May it be a great year for all of you and yours. I thought I'd start the year off right with a restoration that gives many new years to a classic Canadian-made pipe. This restoration was easily one of the most ambitious and challenging pipe refurbishments I have undertaken to date. A fellow… Continue reading Happy New Year and Happy New Life for a Brigham 613
I recently purchased a mixed lot of New Old Stock pipe stems, so I sat down yesterday and sifted through my box of estate stummels to see if I could put two and two together, so to speak. I came up with a bent billiard stummel marked “S.C. Flambe” on the left shank, “908” on… Continue reading Restoring and Re-Stemming a Paradis “S.C. Flambe” Bent Billiard
I managed to squeeze one more restoration in before heading away for a bit of Christmas R & R with the family. The pipe was sent to me by a fellow member of the Brothers of Briar pipe forum. He had been given this old Hardcastle but needed the stem repaired before he could use it.… Continue reading Reviving a Family Era Hardcastle’s Jack O’London Blasted Billard
I've worked on quite a few bulldog pipes recently, so it was a refreshing change to reach into the refurb box and pull out this Dr Grabow Golden Duke. It's a larger pipe, measuring 6” long with a 2” tall bowl and a 7/8” bore. The bowl has the classic Dublin inverted-cone shape, flaring gently… Continue reading Stem Repair on a Grabow Golden Duke Wire-Carved Dublin
I bought these two bulldog pipes separately, but as the restorations proceeded almost identically, I thought I'd write them up together. Both pipes are from the late 1970's or early 1980's – the unique rusticated stummels with wave-shaped smooth features are illustrated in this Brigham catalog from 1978. I'm working here on a 316 Straight… Continue reading Cleaning Up a Pair of Brigham Bulldogs
This old Kaywoodie “500” came in a recent auction lot and arrived in fair condition for a pipe that was likely never expected to last as long as it has. On the other hand, the 500 and 600 lines from Kaywoodie were cheap, low-end pipes manufactured between 1959 and 1967, so perhaps my specific 500 wasn't… Continue reading Cleaning Up a Kaywoodie “500” Canted Billiard
This smaller pipe came to me in pretty rough cosmetic condition. Marked “Willard” over “Imported Briar”. Pipedia tells us this: "The Willard pipes were made by Sparta Industries in Sparta, N.C from 1963 to 1975 (about 60,000 pipes per week). Some were distributed by the Post and Base Exchanges that serviced the military during the… Continue reading Investigating a Melting Stem While Refreshing a Willard Imported Briar
This is another pipe from my recently auction lot purchase. The shape and size of this Rhodesian is, at least for me, very appealing, though it may be a tad heavy for those that like to clench the pipe in their teeth. It is marked “Treaty Bond” over “Made in France” on the left shank,… Continue reading Filling and Filing – An Exercise in Repairing Pits and Dents on a Treaty Bond Rhodesian
Hi again! This is more or less a continuation of my previous blog post Salvaging a Sorely Mistreated Brigham 3-Dot Acorn, but I decided to break it out into its own repair blog to make the information easier to find. If you recall, this pipe stem had been "hack repaired" by a previous owner (or, heaven… Continue reading Rebuilding a Pipe Stem Button Using CA Glue and Charcoal
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