1948 Stanwell Freehand

[bootlegbonvivant]

I'd received this pipe from, I think, portascat a few months ago, but cannot find the picture that was posted at the time.
After some investigation and information received from Baskerville regarding Cyndi's Stanwell volcano, I found out that this pipe also had a patent number dating it to 1948. I had to do a lot of clean up getting the tar cake not only out of the bowl, but off of the top of the plateau. It went through a pipe retort treatment, complete refinishing/sanding with a new two-tone stain and a thick coat of Carnuba. The stem fits a little odd for some reason, so I will probably have another one made for it soon. Thinking of going acrylic. It's a massive chunk of briar, but I think for my second stain job, it looks much much better.

 

[ace57]

That looks real good. :clap:

 

[hilojohnny]

You can be rightly proud of this restoration....Well done!.... :clap:

 

[mlaug]

Looks very nice. Its amazing how bad some pipes get before they meet someone who cares. I wonder about pipes that just get tossed for the simple lack of a good cleaning job?

 

[papipeguy]

Great job.

 

[rigmedic1]

Excellent!

 

[damien83]

That pipe looks amazing!!!! I am a huge fan of freehand pipes. Great buy!!!

 

[bootlegbonvivant]

Actually, I didn't even buy it, lol. It was completely given to me, to which, I thank that person greatly.

 

[unclearthur]

Excellent restoration!! Nice price too!

 

[pdmus]

Nice work!

 

[ssjones]

That is one beautiful hunk of 63 year old briar.

Have you smoked it yet? Think of all the stories a 60+ year old pipe could tell. Who smoked it, where has it traveled? Boggles the mind

 

[bootlegbonvivant]

I will probably fire it up in the morning. The only concern I have is the stem. Since it doesn't seem to fit properly, I'll be replacing it soon.
Thanks everyone. It was a challenging pipe to restore, that's for sure. I still notice some things that I missed or didn't do. But alas, I don't think it's meant to be perfect. It's meant to remind us of its own character and life.

 

[bubbadreier]

Great job! You did a wonderful job on the stain!

 

[pstlpkr]

Absolutely beautiful! :clap:

You did a great job on it!

 

[bootlegbonvivant]

Just found the pics portascat loaded of the pipe 2 months ago...

 

[clanobucklin]

Amazing restoration. I love freehands - I have to say they are my favorite shape with the plateau briar tops. You did an incredible job. Enjoy.

 

[romeowood]

good work bootleg!

 

[timcfla]

Bootleg, I just purchased a Stanwell Deluxe Freehand with no Regd No and I was wondering how you dated yours?

Your pipe is the only one I've seen that looks the same as mine.

Also, what did you use to clean the tableau?

I've done some buffing, but the tableau still has a lot of discoloration on it.
See pics below, these aren't my pics, but the sellers pics.

The one pic shows STANWELL, deLuxe, MADE IN DENMARK.

Thank you.

 

[disinformatique]

Just got hands on a rare 1950-1960 Stanwell without the S on the crown.

Stanwell 879 De Luxe

Regd.No. 969-48

No Crown above the "S"
Cheers,

Chris

 

[dmcmtk]

"Just got hands on a rare 1950-1960 Stanwell without the S on the crown."

Nice!!! Shape 79 Dublin, slightly bent, saddle mouthpiece, by Sixten Ivarsson. Gotta love the old Stanwell's!