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Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:35 pm
by LatakiaLover
There are Dunhill collectors, Dunhill ODA collectors, and Dunhill ODA's-of-a-specific-shape collectors.

The last sort are definitely lifers, because there aren't many ODA's in the world to begin with, and finding a specimen of every finish within a specific shape isn't easy. Trying to find a full set of one the scarcest shapes in the ODA range borders on masochistic.

The pipe in this thread was sent to me by one of the last type of collectors. (If he were an athlete he'd want to run the Leadville 100, or climb Mount Everest, I imagine. )

How those guys tend to do it is by filling their collection with whatever they can find, and then never stop playing King of the Hill, swapping out the weak specimens when stronger ones are found.

Dunhill's 838 in the Root finish is a right little piggy in that regard, though, being infamously elusive. Never mind trading up, finding one for sale in pretty much any condition is a rare enough event that you grab first and deal with its issues later.

And here we are. This one had a poorly-made replacement stem (even the dot wasn't round... how's that even possible?!), and the rim had been rounded over at some point with sandpaper and refinished, presumably to remove knock damage. The nomenclature had also suffered from the heavy-handed re-stem (some shaving to achieve level had taken place) and possibly from the rounded rim re-finish (if the entire stummel had been sanded to make the stain color matching easier.)

So, the two main issues with this piece just happened to be what are (by a considerable margin) the two most challenging things to achieve in the pipe repair world: Cutting and leveling a geometric/faceted stem with absolutely ZERO shank manipulation allowed because of the faint nomenclature; and getting a perfect color & translucency match of raw wood to an existing finish when ONLY the rim can be touched. (If an entire stummel can be re-stained, even slightly, matching is much easier. That's how it's usually done. But not in this case. Simply color-buffing the shank would blitz the nomenclature.)

Anyway, there you have it, and here are the pics. (My apologies in advance to anyone using a slow connection):

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The Patient:

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The Process:

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The Result:

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Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:32 pm
by Bniesen
Really incredible work.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 11:18 pm
by sandahlpipe
Lovely work, as always, George! Thanks for sharing!

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:06 am
by caskwith
As usual, incredible work.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:31 am
by RickB
Man that's pretty. You've done that whole "stem too nice for the stummel" thing again, though!

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 10:26 pm
by NevadaBlue
Very nice, thank you for showing the process.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 11:20 pm
by mightysmurf8201
Wow!

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:27 pm
by Charl
Beautiful work, George!

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2017 3:10 pm
by pmbattles
That really is amazing work! Can I ask what kind of tape you use as the center line of the stem before you start shaping?

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2017 4:10 pm
by LatakiaLover
Just ordinary masking tape. It's available in different widths.

Hit the size drop-down on this page to see 'em all:

https://www.amazon.com/3M-2364-Performa ... e+1%2F8%22

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:17 pm
by pmbattles
Great, Thanks LL!

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:16 pm
by pipedreamer
You are amazing Sir!!! :notworthy:

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:43 pm
by JMG
Meh.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:22 pm
by wdteipen
I missed this thread originally. Once again, it's completely unconvincing, George. Dunhill has never made a stem that nice.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 5:45 am
by caskwith
wdteipen wrote:I missed this thread originally. Once again, it's completely unconvincing, George. Dunhill has never made a stem that nice.
Some of the old stems were nice (still not this nice of course), as time has gone on though they get worse and worse. I saw this recent dunhill, a couple of years old maybe and the button looks to have deep file marks at the crease and is so chunky it is ridiculous.

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And looks tat the twist on this, worse than one of mine! lol.

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Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 2:05 pm
by LatakiaLover
I'm not sure why this thread percolated back up after six months, but thanks for the additional feedback & props. :D

10-4 on Dunhill's stem quality having reverted to the dark days of the 1970's over the past few years. Nothing about what they put out anymore excites me in the slightest. Even the stummel shaping has gone clunky.

The same 838 collector found another needs-work specimen recently, so I'll soon being going back into the same facet-filled carnival funhouse. :? Pics when it's cooked (provided I survive, of course).

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:45 pm
by DocAitch
You already probably know this or don’t want to know, but I can tell you how the non round white dot was done, having done several like that way back.
Drill a round hole, then take any old piece of white plastic, shape it by hand to a near round piece, put a little glue in the hole and jam in the white plastic, sand off and Voila! Looks sort of like a Dunhill from 6-8’ away.
I remember using that procedure with a blue Bic pen clip to reproduce the dots on a Sasieni
DocAitch

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:53 pm
by LatakiaLover
That's sort of scary, Doc. :lol:

No need, either. Just chuck pretty much any material into a hand drill, and hold it against a belt sander. The PROCESS is self centering. Hardly any skill needed.

FWIW, a good source for Sasieni dots are plastic knitting needles. For some reason pastel colors are popular for them, and several shades of blue are readily available. Among them is "Sasieni blue". 8)

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:28 pm
by wdteipen
Question for you, George: Did Dunhill round off the edges of the briar between the two grooves of the bowl in the OP or is that from years of buffing and wear? I like the looks of it. I was just curious if they did that intentionally or not.

Re: Dunhill ODA 838 Restoration

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 1:18 am
by LatakiaLover
If it was intentional, it would be a first time I've ever seen it thing. Since the rest of the stummel was badly over-buffed (and it's the simplest explanation---evenly rounding the bead would be more work for the Dunhill shop, not less), I'd bet a fair amount that owner exuberance is what caused it.