Barling (BB&S) Restoration Thoughts

[fontbandit]

Longtime forum reader, first time poster!

My friend and I are restoring a Barling BB&S Londoner 403T from my father's collection. There's a wooden band around the shank, and how it's supposed to be finished is a mystery!

The bottom of the band is smooth and black, like the stamped area on the bottom of the shank. The top of the band might be rusticated, but it's hard to tell if the missing paint is intentional, or from wear.

From your eyes/knowledge, should the entire band be smooth and black, should it be all natural, or should it be a mix of smooth and a mix of rough?

The only online reference photo we've found is this one, with an entirely unpainted wooden band:

Danish Estates B. Barling Londoner Sandblasted Liverpool (403T) | Buy Danish Estates Tobacco Pipes at Smokingpipes.com

Smokingpipes.com is your one stop shop for Danish Estates B. Barling Londoner Sandblasted Liverpool (403T) Tobacco Pipes and all your tobacco smoking needs. From new tobacco pipes and estate tobacco pipes to tin pipe tobacco and bulk pipe tobacco, we have everything you need

bit.ly

...but that can't be right for this particular pipe, because the band is definitely showing signs of black paint:

Barling

Explore this photo album by Adam Ritchie on Flickr!

flic.kr

How would you recommend restoring the band?

Thank you!

 

[mikethompson]

@sablebrush52 needs to be summoned

 

[OzPiper]

I have great difficulty telling from your photos

Are you sure the band is wood and not heavily tarnished silver ?

I have never come across a wood band. Wooden shank extension, yes.
But that does not look like a shank extension.

 

[fontbandit]

My first thought was heavily tarnished silver, too! I tried silver polish and when it didn't yield any result I realized it was partially painted wood!

 

[BROBS]

Looks to me like an area where the black stain came off. You can see the original stuff left in the stamping. ?

 

[fontbandit]

I think you’re right @BROBS. From the Flickr images, would you say the whole band should be restored to smooth black, or should it be a little speckled, like the rustication, everywhere except the smooth bottom?

 

[BROBS]

Should be solid black like the “DENM” portion. ?

 

[monty55]

Jesse (sablebrush52) is the God of Barling pipes and will be able to answer your question. We'd love to see pictures of your progress on this restoration, and the proper place to post this/it would be under "Pipe Restoration and Maintenance", as opposed to Tobacciana History

 

[cigrmaster]

As Jesse's personal manager, if you want the answer it will cost you 200.00. I will take my usual 10% management fee.

 

[fontbandit]

Thank you, @monty55, and will do. Would it be better if I deleted and reposted to the Pipe Restoration and Maintenance header? I'm a first-timer!

 

[fontbandit]

As Jesse's personal manager, if you want the answer it will cost you 200.00. I will take my usual 10% management fee.

Funny enough, I'm listening to The Yes Album while I'm writing this! "Perpetual Change" just came up.

 

[sablebrush52]

Gotta love Smoking Pipes. The pipe is stamped Denmark and was manufactured by Nording and they describe it as "Brit made". Notice that the finish is two toned, with the smooth portion left lighter than the sandblasted surface.

This pipe is the same one as in the Flicker page. Either that, or it's a one in a million chance that the stain issues are in the exact same pattern on two pipes.

You can go either way with it depending on your wants. Stain it dark, or try to remove the dark areas and stain it lighter. Either would be correct. Personally I'd keep the smooth area lighter, which is the more common approach, but it would be easier to stick with dark.

 

[fontbandit]

Gotta love Smoking Pipes. The pipe is stamped Denmark and was manufactured by Nording and they describe it as "Brit made". Notice that the finish is two toned, with the smooth portion left lighter than the sandblasted surface.

This pipe is the same one as in the Flicker page. Either that, or it's a one in a million chance that the stain issues are in the exact same pattern on two pipes.

You can go either way with it depending on your wants. Stain it dark, or try to remove the dark areas and stain it lighter. Either would be correct. Personally I'd keep the smooth area lighter, which is the more common approach, but it would be easier to stick with dark.

@sablebrush52 Thank you! The pipe I attached to my Forum post is the same one in my Flickr feed — Flickr just gave me more photo upload slots so I could show more photos of it.

The worn away black on the shank extension is pretty glossy, and I wonder if it’s paint instead of stain. I do really like the two-toned look and wonder if I should just lightly sand it and leave it…although it probably wouldn’t get the black out of the letters of the Denmark stamp, so as you said, the answer might just be to paint the whole band a solid glossy black.

 

[OzPiper]

The worn away black on the shank extension is pretty glossy, and I wonder if it’s paint instead of stain. I ... wonder if I should just lightly sand it

the answer might just be to paint the whole band a solid glossy black.

Do not sand !
If you wish to remove the stain, use isopropyl alcohol.

 

[monty55]

Thank you, @monty55, and will do. Would it be better if I deleted and reposted to the Pipe Restoration and Maintenance header? I'm a first-timer!

No, I don't think that's necessary, but if you'd like to share pics of your progress for us to see, start a new thread under Restoration and Maintenance. Good luck!

 

[fontbandit]

I'll close the loop here and will post under the Pipe Repair header with future restorations, starting with this Comoy's Sunrise Grain 441!

Here's how the Barling BB&S Londoner 403T turned out.

We decided to remove as much of the black stain as we could without harming the pipe, because the unstained ring around the shank where the pipe was likely taped up during its original staining looked pretty cool natural.

Thank you, all!

 

[OzPiper]

Good job and well done ??

 

[sandollars]

Now smoke the heck out of it!