Restoration Project Of The Week

[Houtenziel]

Here's an Italian made "Old Vic". It wasn't in bad shape before I started and general clean up was painless but I decided to lightly sand the rustication, the rim of the bowl and the end of the shank in order to add some mahogany and give the pipe a little more color contrast.
Before...

After...

That contrast is a good improvement. Little tip, and I try not to nit pick but this one always gets me, sorry. Keep the pipe assembled when removing material to prevent losing your lines and rounding off the shank or stepping it down.

Yeah, it's hard to tell in the before photo because of the angle and darkness but that is how the stem originally fit and I thought about reducing the stem down flush with the shank but that would probably mean losing the logo. I may just go ahead and do it anyway because it bugs me too.

If it bothers you, another alternative that could keep you from having to mess with the stem is to sand the shank face back to where it's square again with the stem face. That would probably give you the most crisp lines. Otherwise, that pipe is a beauty! I really dig the color contrasts.

[oldbill]

That contrast is a good improvement. Little tip, and I try not to nit pick but this one always gets me, sorry. Keep the pipe assembled when removing material to prevent losing your lines and rounding off the shank or stepping it down.

Yeah, it's hard to tell in the before photo because of the angle and darkness but that is how the stem originally fit and I thought about reducing the stem down flush with the shank but that would probably mean losing the logo. I may just go ahead and do it anyway because it bugs me too.

If it bothers you, another alternative that could keep you from having to mess with the stem is to sand the shank face back to where it's square again with the stem face. That would probably give you the most crisp lines. Otherwise, that pipe is a beauty! I really dig the color contrasts.

Thanks hout! Coincidentally that is exactly what I just did and I was able to taper the stem down a little without touching the logo as well. Still not perfect but it's much better.

[oldbill]

This an Italian made Marco Poltronieri. The coloring of the wood seemed a bit drab, so I gave it a darker shade first using dark brown which was lightly sanded and then over that with light brown in an effort to make the grain of the wood pop. The stem had some really stubborn oxidation on it but other than that the pipe was fairly clean, didn't look like it had been smoked much by the previous owner.
Before...

After...

[oldbill]

Before...

After...

[Houtenziel]

Nice! I dig the chainlink rustication on that thing.

[Mr Beardsley]

Great choice on the color change.

[oldbill]

Nice! I dig the chainlink rustication on that thing.

Yeah I don't think I've ever seen a chain link design on a pipe before, I almost wonder if the previous owner did it. There isn't really much info. out there on the pipe maker, so it's hard to know if he normally did that kind of thing with his designs or not.

Great choice on the color change.

Thank You Sir!

[Longshanks]

Here's an Italian made "Old Vic". It wasn't in bad shape before I started and general clean up was painless but I decided to lightly sand the rustication, the rim of the bowl and the end of the shank in order to add some mahogany and give the pipe a little more color contrast.
Before...

After...

I'm not a big fan of pipes that look painted, so I absolutely like the new contrast you created. I wish Stanwell would do that with their fairly recent black painted wire-brush line.

[oldbill]

Here's an Italian made "Old Vic". It wasn't in bad shape before I started and general clean up was painless but I decided to lightly sand the rustication, the rim of the bowl and the end of the shank in order to add some mahogany and give the pipe a little more color contrast.
Before...

After...

I'm not a big fan of pipes that look painted, so I absolutely like the new contrast you created. I wish Stanwell would do that with their fairly recent black painted wire-brush line.

Agreed! This is the second painted pipe that I've dealt with and like the first (the White Summit) apart from the annoying fact that they've covered up a beautiful wood grain with paint, it had a large hole that had been filled with a filler to hide flaws in the briar. I got this pipe in a lot of 18 estates off of ebay for around $6 but I don't think I'd ever buy a painted pipe at full price no matter how nice the pipe just because of the unknown.
Here's the mess that I uncovered on the White Summit...
White filler clear through to the inside of the bowl and about a dozen pits all over the outside!

[oldbill]