Greetings friends,
I really enjoyed the last pipe I restored, so I once again searched Ebay for pipes that were worse for the wear, and stumbled on another of my favorite styles, the Cavalier! The pipe I bought was missing the bottom cap, but at least still had the threads for it. The stem was oxidized and the bowl had very heavy cake inside. Luckily, the briar was in great shape and the grain on it at least at first glance was very pretty!
I started off my reaming the inside of the bowl to get rid of the ridiculously thick cake, which was surprisingly easy and revealed that the pipe was in really good shape!
Inspecting the briar more closely, I found no holes or voids that were filled at any point. It really seems that this pipe was well made and properly used, but I imagine the loss of the foot cap (either it broke or was lost) spelled the end of it's useful life for the previous owner. The process for re-finishing the briar was very straightforward, I used some 300 grit sandpaper to remove any grime and old finish, and then sanded to 600 grit for a really smooth surface. I applied a couple thin coats of amber shellac to the briar, which really highlighted the beautiful grain of this piece of wood. I decided not to dye it at all, as the natural briar color with shellac was plenty good-looking. In fact the grain on this particular piece of briar was stunning!
To make the foot cap, I used the remaining piece of horn I had from the last pipe I restored, and fashioned it into a simple cylinder. I drilled the hole and tapped it, which allowed it to very easily screw onto the existing threads coming out of the shank.
I polished the stem with progressively finer sandpaper, followed by a quick rub-down with Yorkshire Grit, and it came out looking fantastic! I wasn't able to use my lathe to create the bottom cap and so had to use my drill press. In the future I may redo the cap but for now the pipe looks great and is usable.
Thanks for reading,
Juju