100% Guaranteed Authentic "Fake/Counterfeit" Dunhill Pics

[georged]

No speculation, cuz I made it.

Only the stem in this case, but the principles remain the same.

The amount of labor necessary to shape something to exactly match something else is FAR greater than shaping it "solo", where the only criterion is that the person creating it is satisfied.

There are world class pipe carvers who could make an entire pipe in the time it took to make this one stem. (And I've had lots of practice, so that isn't the problem. lol)

It's COPYING that's the problem. There is zero room for error. A couple hundredths of an inch can get you "busted"; while an accidental dig or wave or mistake while creating something new only needs to be accommodated.

Anyway, there you go. No one out there is counterfeiting famous brand pipes intended to fool collectors.

If they have the chops to do that, they could make a lot more money---and derive a lot more satisfaction because they wouldn't have to stay anonymous---by making pipes under their own name. (NOTE: There are some basket pipes that are merely stamped with marquee brand names to catch easy marks Nigerian Scam style, but that's an entirely different thing.)

Note: The missing button was copied from a pipe w/the same stem size and design that was made in the same production era. No guessing was involved.

 

[OzPiper]

Great work as usual.
Should have put in a black dot, instead of a white.
Could have charged more if you did

 

[Scottmi]

Very nice work!!

 

[craig61a]

She’s a beaut Clark.

 

[georged]

Here's a peek behind the curtain for any shop geeks who might be interested.

(The rod is NYH. In my experience it's the blackest, slowest oxidizing, and least likely to have any inclusions. The white rod is antique celluloid, which is the same material Dunhill used from their earliest days until relatively recently.)

 

[PaulTheScandinavian]

I can't help wondering why it seems to be so difficult to produce authentic looking repair stems for Dunhill pipes,in 80% of cases where I look at sales advertisements of a pipe with those replacement stems fitted, there is almost always something that does not match with the original ones ..

 

[georged]

I can't help wondering why it seems to be so difficult to produce authentic looking repair stems for Dunhill pipes,in 80% of cases where I look at sales advertisements of a pipe with those replacement stems fitted, there is almost always something that does not match with the original ones ..

In a nutshell, it's because making stems is 100% subtractive. There is no "putting back a pinch of material" like in pottery, making injection molds, or even metal in many cases. Remove it and it's gone forever.

Meaning the sequence of operations, tool usage, tool selection, and so forth is critical and combinatorially complex. Mistakes usually reveal themselves after it's too late, and starting over isn't practical. The result is nearly always a stem that's an attempted blending of many small errors, which, when compared with the original, doesn't "look right."

 

[captpat]

I can't do it, can't teach it but I can admire it. Very nice work as always

 

[doug535]

I can't do it, can't teach it but I can admire it. Very nice work as always

With 5 minutes of practice, and some tools I found in my Dad's shed, I could do it.

Awesome work as usual George

 

[Hillcrest]

Stunning work !! Forgive an uninformed perhaps unintelligent question but is it not possible to remove the original white dot and transfer it to the new stem or is that not worth the time and effort ? Perhaps I answered my own question ??? Just curious ...

 

[georged]

Stunning work !! Forgive an uninformed perhaps unintelligent question but is it not possible to remove the original white dot and transfer it to the new stem or is that not worth the time and effort ? Perhaps I answered my own question ??? Just curious ...

Besides being impossible in this universe outside a lab with a micro-laser robot-controlled CNC type machine of some sort to cut it free one molecule at a time, never mind RE-installing it without damage to an exact, flush-fit depth.... if you DID, it would be indistinguishable from the new one. (they are both the same material---decades old celluloid)

Other than that, no problem.

 

[Hillcrest]

Besides being impossible in this universe outside a lab with a micro-laser robot-controlled CNC type machine of some sort to cut it free one molecule at a time, never mind RE-installing it without damage to an exact, flush-fit depth.... if you DID, it would be indistinguishable from the new one. (they are both the same material---decades old celluloid)

Other than that, no problem.

O.K. ... So ... it could be done then ?! ... Thanks ... I realized it was more trouble than worth it otherise you would have done that ,,, after I posted and edit time ran out.

 

[georged]

Note: The missing button was copied from a pipe w/the same stem size and design that was made in the same production era. No guessing was involved.

For the sake of thread completeness, here is a side-by-side button comparison with the "pattern" stem mentioned above.

 

[Ahi Ka]

George, what do you do when you are working on a stem which you don’t have an example from the same era?

Also, as an aside, I’d love to get a dozen or so pictures of different era stems together and see if you could identify the decades they were made in by pointing out the differences in factory production.

 

[anotherbob]

In a nutshell, it's because making stems is 100% subtractive. There is no "putting back a pinch of material" like in pottery, making injection molds, or even metal in many cases. Remove it and it's gone forever.

Meaning the sequence of operations, tool usage, tool selection, and so forth is critical and combinatorially complex. Mistakes usually reveal themselves after it's too late, and starting over isn't practical. The result is nearly always a stem that's an attempted blending of many small errors, which, when compared with the original, doesn't "look right."

or why leaving a little extra might be better then accidentally taking off a little bit extra.

 

[georged]

George, what do you do when you are working on a stem which you don’t have an example from the same era?

I have a fairly broad representation on my shelf, and when that doesn't cover it I know a lot of collectors. (In the emulsion film era that wouldn't be worth much. In today's digital one where everyone has a camera, it's virtually effortless... snap & send with a finger flick.)

Also, as an aside, I’d love to get a dozen or so pictures of different era stems together and see if you could identify the decades they were made in by pointing out the differences in factory production.

Neill Roan did exactly that on his Passion For Pipes blog some years ago. It turned out that multiple angles were necessary (top, side, button face, and a couple obliques) were necessary to for the game to work as intended, plus good lighting in macro photography is more difficult to achieve than most people expect.

It was expanded beyond Dunhill to show similar changes with other makers, but in the end everyone decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

 

[ssjones]

I remember Neill's button game!

That is definitely a button that I could love! Bravo!