As some of you know I recently picked up a Dunhill 5213 in an antique store for only $44. The following are my thoughts as a noob on cleaning up and smoking the pipe.
To be perfectly honest, the pipe was in good enough shape that all it really needed was a sanitizing and it could have been smoked but there were a few things I wanted to address before using it for the first time.
Here is the pipe as purchased:
Issue #1 - someone else's cake:
Issue #2 - marks on the stem:
Issue #3 - stem was generally dirty and/or oxidized:
First thoughts: I've not had experience with a pipe like this before and only bring some knowledge of gunstock finishing to the table so it's clean only, not restore, and don't do any real damage or something a professional restorer couldn't fix at a later date.
To that end, the only items I used, aside from standard cleaning items such as q-tips, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, and cheap vodka, were a plastic brush with brass bristles, 220 grit sandpaper, #0000 synthetic steel wool, and a magic eraser.
The brush with brass bristles allowed me to effectively remove the cake without the risk of gouging and only minimal risk of creating some superficial scratches on the inside. It didn't take too long of twist twist twist with the brush on the cake to remove it. Lots of dumping out absolutely fine carbon powder but all in all it was a very effective method of removing the cake (a minor amount was left) without doing the above mentioned damage a pro couldn't fix. Simple summation: messy but effective.
The 220 grit with very light pressure removed the marks from the stem with little effort and was also used in the same manor on the pipe rim to remove some of the build up.
Follow up buffing with the synthetic steel wool and elbow grease smoothed out both locations. Perhaps a future sanding to 3000 grit will be applied but for now I'm happy with the level of smoothness.
The outside of the pipe was lightly buffed with the magic eraser.
General cleaning of the stem and chamber with the vodka and pipe cleaners, etc. finished the process nicely.
From here, the chamber smelled only lightly of ash/carbon so I gave it 24 hours of coffee grounds which worked great.
Obsidian oil was applied to the stem and a thorough rubbing of the pipe with a silicon impregnated pipe cloth (Decatur) and the pipe was reunited with the stem for a finished product I'm perfectly happy with.
The stem afterwards:
Cake removed (notice minor charring and marks remaining from the previous owner):
The pipe afterwards (nice and readable):
Overall I'm very happy. Someday this pipe may be sent to a professional restorer but for now I'm just a guy who got lucky on an antique store find and who is happy with his pipe.
Finished product:
Smoking some Dunhill Nightcap in it right now and I'm both happy and impressed. The draw is very easy but plenty of smoke and flavor is produced while staying cool and no bite to speak of.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and/or suggestions of things I could do better or in addition to what I've done so far.
To be perfectly honest, the pipe was in good enough shape that all it really needed was a sanitizing and it could have been smoked but there were a few things I wanted to address before using it for the first time.
Here is the pipe as purchased:
Issue #1 - someone else's cake:
Issue #2 - marks on the stem:
Issue #3 - stem was generally dirty and/or oxidized:
First thoughts: I've not had experience with a pipe like this before and only bring some knowledge of gunstock finishing to the table so it's clean only, not restore, and don't do any real damage or something a professional restorer couldn't fix at a later date.
To that end, the only items I used, aside from standard cleaning items such as q-tips, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, and cheap vodka, were a plastic brush with brass bristles, 220 grit sandpaper, #0000 synthetic steel wool, and a magic eraser.
The brush with brass bristles allowed me to effectively remove the cake without the risk of gouging and only minimal risk of creating some superficial scratches on the inside. It didn't take too long of twist twist twist with the brush on the cake to remove it. Lots of dumping out absolutely fine carbon powder but all in all it was a very effective method of removing the cake (a minor amount was left) without doing the above mentioned damage a pro couldn't fix. Simple summation: messy but effective.
The 220 grit with very light pressure removed the marks from the stem with little effort and was also used in the same manor on the pipe rim to remove some of the build up.
Follow up buffing with the synthetic steel wool and elbow grease smoothed out both locations. Perhaps a future sanding to 3000 grit will be applied but for now I'm happy with the level of smoothness.
The outside of the pipe was lightly buffed with the magic eraser.
General cleaning of the stem and chamber with the vodka and pipe cleaners, etc. finished the process nicely.
From here, the chamber smelled only lightly of ash/carbon so I gave it 24 hours of coffee grounds which worked great.
Obsidian oil was applied to the stem and a thorough rubbing of the pipe with a silicon impregnated pipe cloth (Decatur) and the pipe was reunited with the stem for a finished product I'm perfectly happy with.
The stem afterwards:
Cake removed (notice minor charring and marks remaining from the previous owner):
The pipe afterwards (nice and readable):
Overall I'm very happy. Someday this pipe may be sent to a professional restorer but for now I'm just a guy who got lucky on an antique store find and who is happy with his pipe.
Finished product:
Smoking some Dunhill Nightcap in it right now and I'm both happy and impressed. The draw is very easy but plenty of smoke and flavor is produced while staying cool and no bite to speak of.
I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and/or suggestions of things I could do better or in addition to what I've done so far.
