Blog by Steve Laug

Of all my finds on my recent pipe hunt this little Group 4 Dunhill Shell is one of the favourites. It has a great sandblast that really had some nice craggy grain. The finish was in good shape. The rim was dirty and had a slight build up of oils and tars. The bowl was caked with a thick cake. The stem was oxidized and also had a calcium buildup for the first inch of the stem. The stem had an inner tube inside that was slightly bent that kept the stem from seating correctly in the shank. There were several shallow bite marks on the top and bottom sides of the stem near the button. Internally the stem and shank were surprisingly clean. It is stamped on the underside of the shank with 42121 Dunhill Shell over Made In England and next to the D of England was an underlined and superscript 20 next to that was an underlined 23. Using John Loring’s Dunhill Briar Pipe book the dating is 1980 as seen by the underlined 20 slightly elevated and following the D. The underlined 23 indicate that it was sold in 1983, due to the one year guarantee.The next photo shows the buildup on the rim that needed to be dealt with in a cleanup and restoration of the pipe.I cleaned out the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol until the cotton swabs and pipe cleaners came out clean. I scrubbed down the bowl with undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap on cotton pads and then rinsed it off with running water. I dried it with a cotton towel.I scrubbed the rim with a soft bristle brass tire brush to clean off the tars and oils and open up the sandblast on the rim. I scrubbed it with a soft cotton pad and alcohol to remove the pieces left behind by the wire brush.I touched up the finish around the edges of the bowl rim and the end of the shank. I also touched up spots on the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the shank. I used the Guardsman Stain pens that Greg sent me to do the touch up work. I chose to use the lightest stain pen as it matched the colour of the bowl precisely. When I use these pens I always start with the lightest stain and work toward the darkest until I get a match. I sanded the stem with 220 grit sandpaper and then with medium and fine grit sanding sponges to remove the oxidation and the calcium deposits. I “painted” the tooth marks with the flame of a Bic lighter to lift them closer to the surface and then sanded what remained with 220 grit sandpaper and the sanding sponges.Taking a cue from Al Jones I made a plastic washer to put between the shank and the stem to make the sanding of the saddle simpler. I could sand right up to the edge without damaging the end of the stem and rounding the edges. I sanded the stem with my usual array of micromesh sanding pads – wet sanding with 1500-2400 grit pads and dry sanding with 3200-12,000 grit pads. Between each set of three pads I rubbed down the stem with Obsidian Oil before moving on to the next set of three. When I had finished with the 12,000 grit pad I took the pipe to the buffer and buffed the stem with White Diamond. I lightly buffed the bowl and the stem once again with the White Diamond and then used Halcyon II wax on the bowl and carnauba on the stem. I hand buffed the pipe with a shoe brush and raised the shine. The finished pipe is shown below. I am looking forward to loading an aged bowl of McClellands 5100 and having the inaugural smoke in this beauty.