In the late 1990's, from my acquaintance with Mark Tinsky, I sent several pipes to his (now ex) wife for work that was beyond my capabilities. The ones that stand out (there were others) in my memory were first year or two Ashton Sovereign's that had stain issues. Bill Taylor himself would have been hard pressed to find fault with her work. (I suspect that the problems may have been due to improper long term storage. )
I have recently acquired several "estate" pipes as I have disposed of everything that I felt had more value than they were worth to me as smokers. I would have not embarked on this had I not known what to do with "non - pristine" wood.
Now doing business on her own, I have confidently sent about a dozen pipes to Mary Ann Keller for basic cleanup. I no longer have a buffing wheel, various compounds, blocks of carnuba, drills, Dremel tools, reamers, files and so forth that are required for this sort of work. In every single case, her work has equaled or exceeded my (high) expectations.
Mary Ann's web site is American Smoking Pipe Repairs. She responds promptly to emails. Her turn around time is 2-3 weeks. She has a light touch, and is in no way a wood butcher. Her work with bowl interiors is particularly noteworthy and careful. I have no specific memory of using her for new stems, tenons, splicing, etc. but have no doubt she does this sort of work very competently. I am thrilled with the appearance and cleanliness of these pipes.
Please note the following:
(1) There may well be others out there who would do better work at what I would term collector grade restoration. I have seen work done by Rich Lewis, John Eels, and Jim Cooke that can be virtually impossible to distinguish from factory new. Heck, I have sleen Dunhill stems from John Eells that are better than anything Dunhill put on a pipe. Both he and Rich Lewis can cut and fit a bit without even touching the wax- not a trace of coke bottling. I may be corrected, but I have no sense that this is the park she plays in.
(2) I have no interest in Mary Ann's business. She has been paid in full for every pipe I have sent her. I am in no way being compensated for this testimonial.
I have recently acquired several "estate" pipes as I have disposed of everything that I felt had more value than they were worth to me as smokers. I would have not embarked on this had I not known what to do with "non - pristine" wood.
Now doing business on her own, I have confidently sent about a dozen pipes to Mary Ann Keller for basic cleanup. I no longer have a buffing wheel, various compounds, blocks of carnuba, drills, Dremel tools, reamers, files and so forth that are required for this sort of work. In every single case, her work has equaled or exceeded my (high) expectations.
Mary Ann's web site is American Smoking Pipe Repairs. She responds promptly to emails. Her turn around time is 2-3 weeks. She has a light touch, and is in no way a wood butcher. Her work with bowl interiors is particularly noteworthy and careful. I have no specific memory of using her for new stems, tenons, splicing, etc. but have no doubt she does this sort of work very competently. I am thrilled with the appearance and cleanliness of these pipes.
Please note the following:
(1) There may well be others out there who would do better work at what I would term collector grade restoration. I have seen work done by Rich Lewis, John Eels, and Jim Cooke that can be virtually impossible to distinguish from factory new. Heck, I have sleen Dunhill stems from John Eells that are better than anything Dunhill put on a pipe. Both he and Rich Lewis can cut and fit a bit without even touching the wax- not a trace of coke bottling. I may be corrected, but I have no sense that this is the park she plays in.
(2) I have no interest in Mary Ann's business. She has been paid in full for every pipe I have sent her. I am in no way being compensated for this testimonial.
