A Big Ol' Yorkshire of Questionable Parentage

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MilesDavis

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 16, 2022
204
473
And a right bastard to work on, too! According to sources, this pipe is either a French pipe (Smokingpipes.com), an Italian Pipe (ditto), an American Pipe from Barnaby's in Brooklyn, or one offered through Sears and Roebuck. Because it does not have the fancier lettering, I'm leaning towards one of the first two suggestion because it does not bear the fancier lettering on its stamp that the Sears and/or Barnaby pipe had.

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The pipe had a lot of cake and I reamed it and scrubbed it and reamed it some more. It came through the cleaning in good shape, but the rim was damaged (charred). That required me to "top" it--basically sanding beyond the damage. Since the rim is now bare briar, the rest of the stummel has to be sanded as well so everything matches up color-wise. So I sanded and sanded. One thing about big pipes: they require a lot of sanding. It's particularly difficult getting into the "crook" of a pipe this shape. Beginning with 220-grit, I sanded away the old color/finish and then worked on up to 1500-grit wet sanding with Everclear alcohol. With a nice clean stummel I had a choice to make: What color? I'm sick of BROWN. I have too many brown pipes. So I used mahogany leather dye. Unfortunately, it went on like paint, thoroughly covering any grain. Nuts! My experience with mahogany leather dye is that if you wipe the stummel quickly with alcohol, it tends to remove the "red", leaving the pipe...BROWN! Anyway, I sanded, and buffed, and polished, and waxed, and was quite happy to quit this one. About two hours total work.

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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
9,888
31,593
34
Burlington WI
Nice work! How does that shape feel in the teeth? I like how oompauls just hang, but some have a not so bent stem like that one. As if it got straightened from heat or something, but some makers only bend them that far. Looks uncomfortable.
 
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MilesDavis

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jun 16, 2022
204
473
Nice work! How does that shape feel in the teeth? I like how oompauls just hang, but some have a not so bent stem like that one. As if it got straightened from heat or something, but some makers only bend them that far. Looks uncomfortable.
Thanks! It's a bit on the heavy side and the stem, at the button, is rather large. It's not comfortable as a "clincher", for sure.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
A Sears pipe was undoubtedly made by someone else, like a pipe shop house pipe. You did a great job on that one, and it had all of the necessary quality. Nice.