Ferndown: Les Wood, Silver and Bark

Welcome: what this guide can and cannot do

Welcome. If your pipe is stamped Ferndown, L. Wood or LJS, this guide helps you read it.

Ferndown has no year stamp and no shape numbers. The name on the pipe gives a wide floor.

The silver is the better clue. Most Ferndown pipes carry hallmarked silver, and a hallmark can give an exact year.

Each rule below has a rank: high, medium or low.

1963

The maker: from Dunhill to his own workshop

Les Wood started at Dunhill in March 1963, in the silver mounting department.

He worked under Jack Spriggs. About two years later Spriggs left, and Wood took over the department.

After 19 years, Dunhill asked him to buy the machinery and set up on his own.

He worked with his wife Dolly. She had worked in the Dunhill finishing department.

Les Wood tells this story himself, in his own account on Pipedia.

1978

When the workshop began: two accounts

Pipedia says Les and Dolly Wood formed L. and J.S. Briars in 1978.

An interview with Les Wood by the pipe shop MBSD Pipes gives other years. Silverware came first, around 1978 or 1979.

In that interview the first L and JS pipes came around 1981 or 1982. The Ferndown name came around 1983.

We keep both accounts. The 1978 floor is safe under both of them.

One maker, several names

Because of trademark law, the early pipes carry different names: L. and J.S. Briars, Ellwood, Les Wood or L. Wood.

Ferndown is named after his house. It is the name for the UK and the USA.

In Germany the same pipes were sold as L. Wood.

Sources give different numbers made. Pipedia says 1500 to 2000 a year, and Les Wood says 1200 at times.

The MBSD interview says about 500 a year, later 700 to 800 a year.

The marks to read

The finish name is the grade. Bark is a dark rusticated finish, and Pipedia says about 90 out of 100 pipes have it.

Antique Bark is a tan rusticated finish. Reo is a smooth brown and red finish.

Root is a smooth orange finish. Tudor Root is a smooth orange and brown finish.

Pipedia says stars from one to four show the size. SG means straight grain.

Les Wood says the mouthpiece is engraved with the letters LJS.

Almost every pipe has silver: a band, a cap, a spigot or an army mount.

Bark and Premier Sandblast

Bark is not a sandblast. Dolly cut it by hand with a special drill.

Premier Sandblast bowls were blasted in Canada. Maxim Engel of pipes2smoke arranged this.

So a sandblasted Ferndown is a Premier Sandblast, not a Bark. We have no years for the Canada work.

The silver gives the year

Les Wood was a master silversmith, and his silver is hallmarked.

A British hallmark holds a date letter. Read it with our UK silver hallmarks guide.

That year is when the silver was marked. The pipe was made at about the same time.

Traps we see often

Do not read LJS on a mouthpiece as an early pipe. Les Wood engraved LJS on his pipes in general.

Do not read Bark as a sandblast. Bark is hand rustication.

Do not read the stars as a year. They show size.

Do not read a Les Wood silver band on another brand as a Ferndown. He also made silver work for Ashton, Comoy's and Bentley.

Do not read 1963 as the year of your pipe. That is when Les Wood joined Dunhill.

Today

The MBSD interview says Les Wood retired around 2016.

In January 2020 he wrote that he still makes pipes, in a much smaller number.

We keep both statements.

Windows from the name on the pipe

Each row comes from our Ferndown cabinet. A hallmark on the silver can give a closer year.

Changelog

• 2026-10-21 — First published. Every year comes from our Ferndown cabinet and our saved Pipedia page.