Yesterday my friend Geoff, a fellow Vancouver Pipe Club member, came on down to help restore a couple of pipes. His was a 1958 birth year Dunhill ODA Shell Billiard, definitely a nine inning pipe. It was in remarkably good condition fut the stem had quite a bit of oxidation. Mine was a 1963 Dunhill Tanshell Prince that had an olive green stem, a rim coated with gunk and a dull, flat finish on the bowl.
I have a pipe repair and cleaning station set up at the work bench in the engine room of my boat. It is well lit, with lots of tools a vise, buffing wheels, vacuum and plenty of headroom.
We started by soaking our pipe stems in an oxyclean solution, My bowl needed quite a bit of attention but Geoff's was in much better condition. After I got done with my bowl, we scrubbed down the stems, after a second oxyclean soak, using magic sponge.
While everything was drying out, we broke for lunch. Nancy made a butternut squash and aged bruyere quiche with fresh apples and pears on the side which we paired with some St. Peters Organic English Ale.
The back to the engine room to do some micro mesh work on the stems.
I took a few photos of our work. Then we retired to the aft deck to puff away for a spell on our pipes with some of Fred Hanna's Wilderness as a fitting first bowl in our respective Dunhills. My little prince was long gone while Geoff still had plenty left in his bowl for the drive back to Vancouver.
A fun diversion and great visit.
Before
The Fruits of our Labor
Here is a close-up of my prince
Here is another Dunhill Bulldog I did last week:
BEFORE
AFTER
Here are the steps I took in restoring these pipe:
Soak stem in concentrated solution of hot water and Oxyclean
removed tar and cake on rim with terry towel and saliva - This step took longest but done this way to avoid removing any wood or stain*
Scrape cake off chamber with pipe knife
Wipe chamber with alcohol
Clean air passage and mortise with alcohol
Scrape dirt and particles out of grooves with back of thin knife blade
Return to stem and let strummel dry
Scrub stem with Oxyclean solution using Magic Sponge
Clean out air passage of stem with fine bristle brush & pipe cleaners
Return to strummel while stem is drying
Sand bowl with Micro Mesh starting with 3200 grit and progressing to 8000 grit (smooth pipes)
Or scrub bowl with Murphy's Oil Soap and stiff toothbrush (blasted pipes)
Wax bowl
Sand Stem with Micro Mesh with 3200 grit
Buff stem with 6" variable speed bench grinder at lowest RPMs using white diamond
Reassemble pipe and hand buff with 100% cotton flannel rag.
I have a pipe repair and cleaning station set up at the work bench in the engine room of my boat. It is well lit, with lots of tools a vise, buffing wheels, vacuum and plenty of headroom.
We started by soaking our pipe stems in an oxyclean solution, My bowl needed quite a bit of attention but Geoff's was in much better condition. After I got done with my bowl, we scrubbed down the stems, after a second oxyclean soak, using magic sponge.
While everything was drying out, we broke for lunch. Nancy made a butternut squash and aged bruyere quiche with fresh apples and pears on the side which we paired with some St. Peters Organic English Ale.
The back to the engine room to do some micro mesh work on the stems.
I took a few photos of our work. Then we retired to the aft deck to puff away for a spell on our pipes with some of Fred Hanna's Wilderness as a fitting first bowl in our respective Dunhills. My little prince was long gone while Geoff still had plenty left in his bowl for the drive back to Vancouver.
A fun diversion and great visit.
Before
The Fruits of our Labor
Here is a close-up of my prince
Here is another Dunhill Bulldog I did last week:
BEFORE
AFTER
Here are the steps I took in restoring these pipe:
Soak stem in concentrated solution of hot water and Oxyclean
removed tar and cake on rim with terry towel and saliva - This step took longest but done this way to avoid removing any wood or stain*
Scrape cake off chamber with pipe knife
Wipe chamber with alcohol
Clean air passage and mortise with alcohol
Scrape dirt and particles out of grooves with back of thin knife blade
Return to stem and let strummel dry
Scrub stem with Oxyclean solution using Magic Sponge
Clean out air passage of stem with fine bristle brush & pipe cleaners
Return to strummel while stem is drying
Sand bowl with Micro Mesh starting with 3200 grit and progressing to 8000 grit (smooth pipes)
Or scrub bowl with Murphy's Oil Soap and stiff toothbrush (blasted pipes)
Wax bowl
Sand Stem with Micro Mesh with 3200 grit
Buff stem with 6" variable speed bench grinder at lowest RPMs using white diamond
Reassemble pipe and hand buff with 100% cotton flannel rag.
