Dunhill Tanshell Restoration for Wally
Services Performed - $19.00
Return Shipping - $9.30
On the 249, I rolled up some sand paper and just kissed the inside of the bowl, it took off the loose shag and cleaned it up nicely with no loss of cake. I ran a 5/32 drill bit down the airway, this is what Dunhill drills their pipes at. It fit effortlessly and I spun it up, knocking loose any burned material, and it came out perfect. The airway cleaned up nicely, it was rather dirty, and although the mortise looked clean, the first picture is what I took out of it. It's definitely clean now. The bowl had all sorts of debris in the craggy (see the pics). I used a hard nylon brush and some pics and got it clean without having to touch the finish at all. The stem has deep oxidation. I gave it a bleach bath for an hour but it didn't really help. I did some wet sanding, some technical file work, and then three levels of buffing. The button end came out perfect . The mortise end looks black but under bright lights the deep oxidation is seen easily. I could take any more material away without it significantly reducing the circumference. I struck the happy medium and I think it looks good. I was chasing pock marks and metal pieces in the vulcanite when I got into the fine work. It drives me crazy as you fix one and then another pops up. At the glass like stage, the smallest of impurities show up to the naked eye. The tension was the same as it was when taken in, I added a touch of beeswax to the tennon and it made for a smoother, tighter transition. I'll send along a block that is more than you'll ever need. Nice size pipe for a group 1, I would call it a group 2 or maybe even a small group 3.
One the 56, I went through the exact same process with better results than the 249. The stem oxidation wasn't quite as bad and I was able to get out that deep dent on the bottom. Same as the other I was chasing pock marks and even now, in the final photos, I see a little fine chow on the bottom of the button that I have to go clean up. What I did see (I thought I saw it last night but was too lazy to go to my workbench magnifying glass) was that this one has been worked a bit around the mortise end of the strummel. I took a few pictures to try and show up. Here's what I saw, they must have had an edge due to buffing down the stem. They probably taped off the end of the shank and sanded it down. The craggy that was lost looks to have been fixed using a screwdriver or awl. This is extremely good work, I have never seen anyone do this and make it look so good. I have never and probably won't even try this as you could really mess the pipe up. All that said, this is a very nice pipe. If I was selling it, after cleaning the stem, I would probably list it in the $250-$275 range and would easily get it.
