pipemakersforum.com

I applaud you for even considering the question. It's also the "WalMart" dilemma: Shop local or buy big box/Internet? My rule of thumb is that if the price differential isn't too huge (I'll usually go up to 10% or 15%) and it's the item I want, I'll buy local. Of course, I live in the howl...

UPDATE: On the other hand... Vt Freehand convinced me that I should keep it and use it for stems. Why not? It's here, it's paid for and there's room. So, as they say, "Never mind..." Sorry if I got anyone all excited (although from the sound of crickets... probably not much). Bryan It neve...

Recently, I purchased a Nording bent apple -- one of my favorite shapes -- but the stem isn't quite bent enough. It's almost a jaw-hanger, but not quite. I've tried to get used to it, but it's annoying as hell, somehow. Having read accounts from others in this forum about bending stems, it occurred ...

Magnificent pipes. Number 3, the stubby bulldog, looks like it needs a home... (No, *must not* spend the mortgage money... again.) I'm curious about the tradition of the diamond shape of bulldog shanks. Who the hell came up with that? It's not particularly comfortable to hold, it looks like it'd be ...

Fantastic pipes! I particularly liked the naunet -- the shape looks spectacular on its own, yet it looks like it would be comfortable to hold. When you use a non-wood component, like ivory, do you have any concerns about different rates of shrinkage or change with heat and time making gaps where the...

Hey, Jon, Well, the standing orders at the time (this was over 30 years ago) were, "Don't ask, and please, for the love of God, don't tell..." Naw, my only concern is that by surveying this group you're skewing (*note* the spelling, please!) the data, since members of this forum are self-s...

What was that line in the Woody Allen movie? Something about how he cheated during a test in a philosophy course by looking into the soul of the guy sitting next to him. Did your prof. come up with these questions for any type of behavior, and you're just supposed to plug in "smoking" for ...

andrew wrote: "You're lucky you get to smoke in your shop." Somehow, the idea of a pipemaker not being able to smoke in his own shop is like binding the mouths of the kine who thresh the corn. Glad the pipe was finished and in use, though. It looks like the sort of pipe to smoke on the por...

How did you get it up into the attic?

Hi, Charl, This is Bryan (the lunatic in the U.S. who had you make that pipe last summer). One of the things I really like about your pipes are the proportions of the stem to the overall length of the pipe. I don't know if you plan it this way or if it's just an unconscious way you design pipes, but...

just a little off-topic, but has anyone tried to make a P-lip? For the life of me, I can't figure out how it's done.

Bryan

Personally, I think the best pipe buyer is someone who has tried to make a few has a hobby -- just as a hobby, with no intention of every going into the business himself. Just the attempt of trying to flog a piece of briar into a semblance of a pipe is a humbling experience and teaches the wise pipe...

[Imagne animation of a partially-crippled man trying to do a hat-dance with a Yooper hat] Dang, dang and double dang! Why didn't I read that thread until after I ordered the wrong tool? Where is that receipt? What heading on this forum do I look under to learn more about this? Is it really that good...

Re-reading my previous post, I realize why the local Boy Scouts are automatically awarded an oak leaf cluster for doing a "good deed" when they help me across the road. Dang, am I cranky today. That's all right: Phyllis is 5-foot-1/4 inch of attitude re-adjustment after work. Usually with ...

Ah-hah! From what I've been reading, it comes down to this: Do some of your buyers have the knowledge, patience and taste (in all senses of the word) to break in a pipe properly? Quite frankly (and this is just my native mean coming out) I don't have much patience with folks who can't take the time ...

Thanks, Wayne. I haven't tried using carnauba yet, because I was afraid that it would make my pipes look too shelacked/hard-shiny sort of thing. I'm so ignorant, I don't know how to tell the diffence in the pipes I've purchased between (among?) the various types of finishes. Hmm... some investigatio...

As a smoker, and not a maker, I'd say that I wouldn't expect a pipe to come with a bowl coating. In fact, a coating smacks a little too much of a Medico-cheap-pipe sort of thing -- something that I'd expect from a mass-produced pipe for amateurs. Just my biased attitude, for whatever that's worth.

I've accidently come across an interesting method of finishing and wanted to know if anyone has any advice on how to replicate it. When I finally stopped tortuing a kit pipe, I gave it a medium walnut stain, sanded it with 600#, restained it, added a little wax and buffed it. Not very impressed with...

Speachless.

Looks great!

What lathe do you have? "Briar claws"? Is that related to Santa Claus? Why didn't you drill the chamber while the block was still locked in, so you'ld get exact allignment? How many miles between the earth and the moon? Um... sorry, got carried away.