influenced by

[pipedreamer]

I'm curious as to what has influenced you to make pipes and what people played a role in all this; can include people other than pipe carvers.

[sandahlpipe]

I thought I was just going to save money by making them instead of buying them. Little did I know how much I would enjoy it and then spend on tools.

[pipedreamer]

Me too Jeremia. I was reluctant at first as a teen (had important things to do, chasing girls) But I had a part time job buffing them up and making small repairs, with lots of help. I just loved being around them. Well they wanted things to discuss and I thought the people involved in the process of turning all of us into a pipe carver would be interesting. Places , pipe carvers, travels, decisions etc, But maybe it's just the wrong time. Thanks for the reply. Have a Merry Christmas! John.

[Zeppo-]

My father smokes a pipe, when I was a kid I used to go with him to the home of the very talented Canadian pipe maker John Calich. Calich's modest basement showroom and workshop had that wonderful smell of old briar and good tobacco. He always had time to talk with us and let us look over his pipes, even if my father was only picking up some tobacco and not looking to buy a pipe. When I was around 13-14 he let me stay with him for a day while he make a pipe from start to finish. He also gave me a couple old pieces of flawed briar. It made a strong impression on me.

[Joe T]

My dad smokes a pipe. When I was 12 his Dr. Grabow (he always bought the cheapest pipes he could) broke. It was a couple of weeks before his birthday, so I decided to try and make one for him. It was a strait billiard, I didn'know this at the time... to my eye it was simply the right shape. It wasn'd bad... except I made it out of cedar! He tried smoking it once, just for my sake, but you can only imagine what it smoked like!

10 years later I decided to try it again. Turned out about as ugly as it could... and I put it down again. Last year I 'got back on the horse'. Been making them whenever I have time ever since. With the help of the great people here they're starting to look pretty good.

[Literaryworkshop]

I'm not much of a pipe maker, but I do a lot of other woodworking. A couple years ago, a friend of mine at work dropped a pipe kit (pre-drilled briar and fitted stem) on my desk and told me to make a pipe. So I tried. It looked terrible, but it was a pipe. Then somebody else asked if I could make him a pipe, so I got another kit and made one that looked a little better than my first. After the third request, I figured I had better figure out how to actually make these things. I did a lot of online research and landed here. Since then, I've learned pretty much everything I know about making pipes from the people on this forum.

[RobEsArt]

...necessity, ingenuity, and the creative spirit.

I started making pipes (like, I'm sure, most everyone else here) from kits - for kicks. I couldn't (and still can't) afford to splurge on expensive pieces. I thought I would try my hand at crafting my own. I really hadn't considered making "for sale pipes", but several years ago my wife and her friend suggested that I sell them (during the kit phase, I mind you). I put it out of my mind because it didn't appeal to me.

A little over a year ago, one of my former professors invited me to participate in a "small works" art show at her gallery. I had been thinking about making pipes from scratch, using various exotic and domestic hardwoods for "artsy" adornments. She accepted the proposal, and away I went. I found so much enjoyment in the processes that, soon after, I was eating, sleeping, and meditating PIPES!
The general public liked them... The general purist didn't. I like exploring artistic endeavors that haven't been before or are rarely practiced. The sense of discovery is what fuels my drive more than anything else.

Knowing that the best way to improve any skill is to remove the inessential to reveal the essential, through practice, I (slowly) began focusing on "standard" two-piece pipes. In doing so, my pipes have been improving. (in order to think outside the box, one must learn what the box is, then discover what is not contained in the box)

[d.huber]

I got into pipe making because I admire functional art, am in love with hard woods, and have an obsession with briar pipes.

[socrates]

Have always enjoyed working with my hands. Made my first fishing rod when I was 12. Took wood shop in HS. Made fins for surfboards and sold them to a board shop I worked for. Made a board or two. Joined the military and became a Navy Seabee. Built things from Vietnam to other places in the world. Fixed/rehabed boats, made custom fishing rods, carved wood/bone, made knives, made jewelry and God knows what else. Smoked a pipe off and on since 17. At my age it's now pipe time. It's difficult for me because my eyes have decided to retire. In order for me to see good enough to work I have to order +10 reading glasses from China. All that I have done and all those that have taught me things THANKS. These are why I have come to do this. Too many people to mention.

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[LatakiaLover]

I never had influences, as such. I was (and still am) a fabrication geek & tool slut who worked with my hands literally farther back than I can remember. (My mom used to love telling me how I made Christmas tree ornaments when I was two years old, and how all I ever wanted for birthdays and such were tools. I do remember cutting, drilling, and shaping reject walnut gunstock blanks she'd buy for a dollar at a lumberyard to keep me occupied when I was three... our garage floor was was always covered with sawdust and wood chips.)

Now, my living room floor is covered with acrylic dust and vulcanite ribbons. Some kids never grow up.

[socrates]

I never had influences, as such. I was (and still am) a fabrication geek & tool slut who worked with my hands literally farther back than I can remember. (My mom used to love telling me how I made Christmas tree ornaments when I was two years old, and how all I ever wanted for birthdays and such were tools. I do remember cutting, drilling, and shaping reject walnut gunstock blanks she'd buy for a dollar at a lumberyard to keep me occupied when I was three... our garage floor was was always covered with sawdust and wood chips.)

Now, my living room floor is covered with acrylic dust and vulcanite ribbons. Some kids never grow up.

God bless the creative kids in all of us.

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