Smoking Pipe Repair & Restoration
Pipe manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to make their products more appealing to a wider audience – new shapes, new finishes, new colours, etc. The Chacom Atlas Calabash on the worktable today demonstrates one such innovation, the dip-dye finish. First seen in the 1990s, the finish process seen here consists of a solid base…
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Following closely behind broken tenons on the list of the most common pipe repairs is the shank crack. Lengthwise cracks – those that run up the shank from the mortise – are usually the result of the same accident that broke the tenon and are typically easily fixed with the addition of a shank band.…
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The hunt for hidden gems keeps a good number of pipe smokers and collectors wandering through antique shops, secondhand stores and other repositories of the past. One such treasure hunting prize, a John Brumfit Billiard, was sent to me recently for restoration along with its original box and sock. The manufacturer was unfamiliar to me…
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This post is a bit different from most on this site in that the pipe on the table today was sent for preservation more than restoration. It is stamped simply “Master Bent” on the left shank and “Imported Briar” on the right. I have been unable to find any reference to a maker online,; if…
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Leonard Payne was a British pipe maker who immigrated to Canada and set up shop in British Columbia. His pipes can be found on the Canadian estate market, though I’m not sure how many pipes were produced over the years. The entry on Pipedia.org is brief and to the point: Mike Glukler of Briar Blues, states,…
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This is a restoration project I picked away at in between other jobs over the last few months. The subject is a French-made Kaywoodie Square Shank Pot with a large bowl and a handsome sandblast finish. Unfortunately, the aluminum fitment had been scavenged from the pipe, shattering the shank in the process. The broken shank…
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Finding a parcel in the DadsPipes mailbox is always a bit like Christmas morning – I never quite know what I’ll find, but I’m usually excited by it! This Savinelli 616KS No-Nik pipe arrived with a few others some months ago but I’m only now getting around to writing them up. They belonged to the…
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This Danish Freehand by Bjarne was sent to me, along with a few other pipes that had belonged to the owner’s father, for a good cleaning and a refresh. I was immediately taken by the unique design of the stummel which features a spiral design winding up the bowl from a Vulcanite-clad foot to a…
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Today I’m back digging around in the estate lot of pipes I purchased last summer. Along with the Brigham 5W1 I wrote about last time, the lot included another Brigham – an interesting 5-Dot Bent Brandy. I have pulled it out of the refurb box several times since I acquired it, trying to get a…
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After slogging through a number of more complex restorations recently, I’m rather relieved that this week’s Brigham 5W1 refresh is at the other end of the estate pipe spectrum. With no major dents, dings or missing parts, this 1990s-era pipe was in pretty good estate condition, though it needed some attention. Apart from a layer…
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