Larks

ozark southpaw · Larks

Irish Lefty's Larks made me think that I should dig out that beat up old Lark of mine and clean it up. Actually found two of them in the project box! While working on these two I noticed a few differences in them. For starters one(smaller one) is marked Italy. I assume the other is a Sparta made pipe. The little Italian has an aluminum "washer" on the stem and it has a slightly different cleaner/stinger. It is longer and does not have the point on it like the other pipe. The spade on the Italian is smaller. The stampings are also different. The Italian uses all upper case letters where as the Sparta pipe has both upper and lower case in the Dr. Grabow stamping. The last difference I see is the lacquer. The Italian looks like it was dipped-several times!! The Sparta pipe has a much thinner coat and looks better in my opinion.

LokoMac8 · Re: Larks

steverino

OS, you inspired me to get out my beat up old Lark too. It appears to be still a third version. It is most like your Italian, but it says only "Imported Briar". The Dr. Grabow is mixed case like yours, and the cleaner is like yours with the flattened off end. One interesting thing I noticed that I can't tell about yours in the picture - the hole in the stem for the cleaner is way off to one side from center. I wonder if this was intentional so that the groove in the cleaner could be turned toward the center of the stem, allowing the air to pass in the center rather than off to one side as it would with the centered cleaner. Don't know, just an imaginative guess. Yours look great, as usual! Oh - mine doesn't have the washer like yours does - could have been lost, I imagine.

ozark southpaw

RJ,you are welcome! Hope that little bit of info helps! Steverino,cleaners on both my pipes are pretty well centered. I'd guess that since the stems are molded that the mold must have been off center!

steverino

Yeah, I reckon you are right. I was just looking for an elegant answer. Should have shaved with Ockham's Razor this morning.

ozark southpaw

How'd you talk Ockham out of his razor? He quit shaving?

LokoMac8

steverino

OS, no but he is pretty liberal about letting people use it!

RJ & OS, I looked at my stem and it does not appear to have marks that look like they came from a washer. Also, and I don't know if this is significant, the "imported brair" stamp on my is done in something like an old english font.

ted

OS..A commentary on Lark..... Yes, Italian Lark were slightly smaller than domestic. So. La. R.E.S. made the stummels differently from Sparta.

The cleaner amazes me. Mac, Dr.B..Sparta supplied all the aluminum to Otto. When did the "nipple" leave this cleaner?

Italian spades are smaller than American spades. Same as with.....sorry.

Solares dipped the lacquer till about mid 67'. We sent them a crude spray booth. That fixed that.

Washers were used in Italy and Sparta. A slightly short shank got a washer. It most certainly left "grooves" along the tenon.

Ockham needs a shave. Didn't he do the KISS theory? Keep it simple TED....ted

ozark southpaw · cleaners

Got another one for ya Ted. Got this little Italian Riviera. It has no nipple either. Neither do any of the Larks that I bought from Irish Lefty. Notice how the mid section is cut different on these two and the two above. The Riviera stem is the shiny one below.

LokoMac8

Larks

Re: Larks

cleaners