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suffice to say I'll be giving up on "boxwood"
but any other feedback on el stummelo would be appreciated.

cheers

Thanks Jeremiah
yeah my stem work continues to frustrate the crap outta me.

Boxwood, Castello (Woodcraft): apparently not a true boxwood but supposedly shares many of the same qualities. WTF?

also can someone help me clean up the boxwood? sanding just seems to drive stem dust into the wood. buffing and waxing didn't help either (obvi).

You know the drill

really beautiful work.

would you mind describing your process for making the shank insert?
also, is purely decorative or is there some functional reason for doing this?
Its lovely

can I ask: did you face your shank and stem with a forester bit or on a lathe?
I am on pipe #10 and have yet to get a perfect fit between stem and shank using a forester bit. I continue to wonder if thats my fault or the limitations of the cutting edge......


lovely pipe btdubs

would you post a pic of your pipe so that we can see what you're reviewing?
cheers

to get back on topic... to make the gleam line your 'best friend while shaping' means, presumably, that you completely sand and polish the stem, find some flaw, go back and fix it, re-do the entire finish and polish, find another flaw, etc... etc...?? Is this how you use the gleam? Or do you have an...

never mind that the aesthetic isn't my thing: Is this pipe finished? you didn't cut the slot. The inside of the bowl needs to be sanded there are cut marks all over the place (filing? knife work?) the stem looks like its made from wood. If so, thats gonna be a problem down the road. I laud your crea...

Something I see is that the lowest point on the pipe appears to be directly underneath the tobacco chamber. I think you should have taken more off the heal and baked the lowest point up closer to the shank.

Very nice pipe.

oh and there is a lemon cucumber to the right of the pipe in these pictures....hence the yellow after glow.

My tenth pipe...still lots to improve on. My button sucks. I've read all of the how to make a button links here but the task still eludes me. More practice.

7 pictures down I think I see the virgin Mary in the bottom of the bowl.

beauty (the pipe, not the virgin).

I french polished my last pipe (assuming that by French polish you mean the many thin coats of shellac that is described online). But I read through many of the threads here and some say that unless you put shellac on extremely thin, that it will eventually bubble from the heat of the pipe. Is there...

PremalChheda wrote:

Vermont Freehand wrote:, but I'm totally pulling that part out my ass

Hope this helps

So it has been cured already like that super expensive Coffee that Monkey's poop.

Civet's poop....not Monkey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

Man who catch fly with pipe stem, accomplish anything.

I'm so flattered to get so much thoughtful feedback from such a talented group.
thanks everyone.

Premal, your suggestion to buff between grits is great. I've never heard this before. On the stem, could one just remove the greese/grit with alcohol before moving on to the next grit?
cheers
Ryan

I usually do 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800 on the pipe
I've started going 800, 1000, 1500 but only on the stem

thanks for the feedback so far.

I keep wondering...when you sand do you use really light pressure? I have a hard time getting base stain off with anything other than a pretty firm hand, which must leave me with deeper scratches than I can get with the next grit up.

2nd try at this shape.

A friend wanted a pipe he could fit in his pocket while fishing or skiing.
He's a bartender so the brandy shape seemed appropriate.
looking for honest criticism.
cheers