Reasons to rusticate?

Sanding, rusticating, sandblasting, buffing, etc. All here.
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slowroll
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Reasons to rusticate?

Post by slowroll »

I may be asking a heretical question here, but I'm hugely curious. What percentage of the time do you all believe rustication is done to disguise tool slips or sanding gouges versus faulty briar? I hope this doesn't get me excommunicated as a novitiate. :whisper:
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sandahlpipe
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by sandahlpipe »

Speaking for myself, I rusticate pretty much never and sandblast when there's a minor flaw or weak grain. Tool slips don't happen very often to me anymore, but they might result in a change of shape at most.
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caskwith
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by caskwith »

Smooth whenever possible, sandblast when needed, rusticate only if sandblasting isn't going to work.

Of course if working on a commission ignore the above.

I have in the past had to rusticate or sandblast because I made a mistake.
DocAitch
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by DocAitch »

I always aim for smooth as well, with sandblast as a welcome option. There are some pieces of briar which have little or no figure or larger faults and rustication is an option in these limited circumstances.
I do all my shaping by hand, and haven't yet had a tool mark that caused that kind of difficulty.
I believe that I have seen some higher end pipes that have been both rusticated AND sandblasted on top, and have liked the results, but have yet to try that particular combination.
Just don't jump in and rusticate as the easy option, because this can look like the obvious easy way.
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Last edited by DocAitch on Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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PeskyPrussian
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by PeskyPrussian »

I would imagine a very small proportion of the time. Minor tool mistakes or gouges can almost always be fixed simply by shaping them out or sanding them down. It would be pretty rare, I imagine, to encounter a tool mishap that was drastic enough that it couldn't be fixed by reshaping but not so drastic as to render the pipe unusable anyway. For instance, if I was finish turning a billiard bowl and got a catch that scarred up the rim, I'd probably just redesign the bowl shape slightly and keep on turning.
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slowroll
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by slowroll »

Thanks for the inputs gents, good insights. Just for a laugh, I'll tell you about my recent tool slip and shop/tractor pipe creation where the damage was way beyond reshaping . I dug a bit too deep turning the shank on my second pipe and the shank snapped off and cracked out a big divot in the bowl. After a few 4 letter words I cut a counterbore in the bowl, put a tenon on a hardwood dowel and glued it in. Finished shaping the bowl and now I have an alternative to a cob for smoking on my tractor. Looks like hell, but it smokes well .
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Sasquatch
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by Sasquatch »

PeskyPrussian wrote:I would imagine a very small proportion of the time. Minor tool mistakes or gouges can almost always be fixed simply by shaping them out or sanding them down. It would be pretty rare, I imagine, to encounter a tool mishap that was drastic enough that it couldn't be fixed by reshaping but not so drastic as to render the pipe unusable anyway. For instance, if I was finish turning a billiard bowl and got a catch that scarred up the rim, I'd probably just redesign the bowl shape slightly and keep on turning.
This. It's not really a factor for me at this point.

I rusticate when grain is mediocre or there are small flaws. I have a few "soundness" tests (I don't like it if stain weeps through a flaw into the chamber, for example, then I'll just pitch it) that such a pipe must pass. But I see pipes as being where smooths should be awesome, blasts should be interesting and purposeful, and everything else should be rusticated.
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slowroll
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by slowroll »

Hard to argue with that logic Sas. A good approach to strive for. I had a grinder slip the other day from getting careless on a beautifully grained pipe that I couldn't reshape without a major change to the design. I finished it smooth gouge and and am smoking it to remind to pat attention. 24 grit wheel can get mean in a hurry.
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RickB
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by RickB »

slowroll wrote:I finished it smooth gouge and and am smoking it to remind to pat attention. 24 grit wheel can get mean in a hurry.
I got careless buffing my first billiard, which received some spot rustication via getting spiked against my ~8 grit back porch floor. I left the gouges in there, painful reminder is exactly right. My dumb brain always conflates "gentle touch on the wheel" with "gentle grasp on the work." Or at least it used to :lol:
Chronicling my general ineptitude and misadventures in learning pipe making here: https://www.instagram.com/rustynailbriars/
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by DocAitch »

RickB wrote: My dumb brain always conflates "gentle touch on the wheel" with "gentle grasp on the work." Or at least it used to :lol:
That is exactly the mechanism behind most of my 'launches'. It does take a conscious brain reset to separate the two concepts, and I still fail to do that on occasion. I still have a safety net in the works- two dowels with a piece of loose netting hung between, strategically placed below the buffer, and some salvaged packing foam pads on the bench.
DocAitch
"Hettinger, if you stamp 'hand made' on a dog turd, some one will buy it."
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
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RickB
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Re: Reasons to rusticate?

Post by RickB »

DocAitch wrote:
RickB wrote: My dumb brain always conflates "gentle touch on the wheel" with "gentle grasp on the work." Or at least it used to :lol:
I still have a safety net in the works- two dowels with a piece of loose netting hung between, strategically placed below the buffer, and some salvaged packing foam pads on the bench.
DocAitch
See that sounds like the smart thing to do. Other than the corner of my garage with the lathe, my "shop" is basically all bench sized tools that I carry out to the back porch. I really ought to get in the habit of putting something down, because even a waist high drop on that surface will ding briar or ebonite.
Chronicling my general ineptitude and misadventures in learning pipe making here: https://www.instagram.com/rustynailbriars/
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