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I suspect most pipemakers started out by making the shanks on bent pipes "wrong". I know I did... And I had to learn how to do it right at one point.

Once I learned how to make a bent pipe look good, every pipe that I made "wrong" before that really bugged me, embarrassed me even.

In an unprecedented act of humility, I hereby present two case studies of bent pipes that I made "wrong" in the past, and a virtual make-over of these pipe in the hopes that others will learn from my mistakes!

Here is a pipe I made in 2001. I was so proud of this pipe! The grain was phenomenal!



But as you can see, the shank, while being angled, is not at all bent. It just sort of juts out from the back of the bowl and the lines of the profile have no flow to them.



So what could I have done to make this pipe a graceful, flowing masterpiece ( ) of a bent pipe? Well, if I had moved the lowest point of the bottom curve to a point just behind the center line of the bowl, dropped the shank down lower, and continued the bottom line in one sweeping motion all the way up to the stem joint, the difference would be quite dramatic!

Here are the profiles: First the original shape. Second, the bottom line and shank curve are fixed. Third, the difference between the two.



You can see in the last image where the apex of the bottom curve has been pushed back behind the center of the bowl. The positioning of the shank is a dramatic difference! If you look at the top two silhouettes, I think most folks will agree on which one looks better than the other.

For the second example, we'll step it up a notch and add in a slightly curved section of bamboo. This is a piece that I made in 2002:



You should really be able to pick out the mistakes in the silhouette.



Not only were the same mistakes made in the shaping of the stummel, but the section of bamboo is upside-down also! Can you see it? If not, that's ok. We're going to break it down.

First we'll divide this pipe into its different components, and simply flip the bamboo over so that it will curve slightly upward instead of slightly downward.



Then we fix the shank and bottom curve on the stummel, put it all back together, and put a little more bend in the stem to compensate for the corrected curve in the shank:



Looks much better now, right?

So lets look at the original profile, the corrected profile, and the difference between the two:



You can see in the comparison that the apex of the bottom curve has been pushed back behind the center point of the bowl, and that line is continued in a gentle sweeping curve to the point where the bamboo begins. The section of bamboo has been flipped over so that the gentle curve continues to the stem joint, and the angle of bend on the stem has been adjusted for the new angle.

So there we have it. Two pipes that I shaped "wrong" early on in my pipemaking career, and a virtual correction of each of these shapes.





I hope the differences in aesthetics here have been made clear, and I hope this helps!

I'm not seeing any images?

Ratimus wrote:I'm not seeing any images?

Ok, I've changed the image hosting. Can you see them now?

Yes sir. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Awesome Walt, thanks for taking the time to highlight this. Your pictures are worth a million words!

Awesome post, very helpful. You're a nice guy, Mr. Cannoy.
Arrgh, slow typing= redundant.

Nice post Mr Cannoy !

I do not quite agree that you shaped the pipes wrong. I see two different shapes. Acornish and dublinish.

The point though, is that bent pipes aren't just a bowl with a straight shank stuck off at whatever angle. There's a curve to consider, and the derivative is zero well behind the bowl's vertical axis of symmetry.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

Sasquatch wrote:The point though, is that bent pipes aren't just a bowl with a straight shank stuck off at whatever angle. There's a curve to consider, and the derivative is zero well behind the bowl's vertical axis of symmetry.

Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it.

I did not pay attention in English class and may be mis-interpreting what you are saying, but there really does not have to be a curve in a bent in order for it to look good, and there does not have to be a curve for it to be a bent.

It was math class you missed.

Agree, the shank doesn't have to be curved (take any number of Dunhill shapes). But the curve on the bottom of the pipe does not reach it's lowest spot under the middle of the bowl. Ever.

Can you spot the Newbie pipe? Course you can. Because the bottom line of the pipe is wrong.

Obviously something acorn-y is not going to follow that so much.

It is not necessarily wrong. It is not ideal, but it actually does not look bad, and sometimes it works. A Dublin style bowl like the top left can look good with the straight shank.

I once made a pipe like that and the Guy that critiqued it tore it apart, Norm.

PremalChheda wrote:It is not necessarily wrong. It is not ideal, but it actually does not look bad, and sometimes it works. A Dublin style bowl like the top left can look good with the straight shank.

Is this the exception that proves the rule? Or can you further explain when it can look good?

This is not about straight or curved shanks. Some of the pipes in my picture have straight shanks - the kaywoodie at bottom left, the greek thing top right.

It's about shank placement on a bent and the geometry that follows.

Bent pipes where the bottom curve of the pipe occurs right at the vertical axis of bowl symmetry look amateur. You cannot find me a Dunhill, Charatan, or Peterson where this occurs.

Never the one on the left, always the one on the right.

sandahlpipe wrote:

PremalChheda wrote:It is not necessarily wrong. It is not ideal, but it actually does not look bad, and sometimes it works. A Dublin style bowl like the top left can look good with the straight shank.

Is this the exception that proves the rule? Or can you further explain when it can look good?

No Premal's just wrong here.

I don't want to stir the pot, but for the purpose of studying and understanding shapes, what about skaters? I have two that definately have bowls that are lower after the bend, one which has a reverse bend similar to the first iteration of the bamboo shank Mr. Cannoy posted. They're not amateur, but they might be wrong...just c urious?

There are obvious exceptions - skaters, a shape like a 55, hawkbills, acorns, elephant feet etc.

This is one of those things where maybe all a guy can say is "if it's part of the design, by necessity or feature, then great, if it's NOT, then it shouldn't be there".

Make nice pipes, use nice curves, don't leave lumps.

Sasquatch wrote:This is not about straight or curved shanks. Some of the pipes in my picture have straight shanks - the kaywoodie at bottom left, the greek thing top right.

It's about shank placement on a bent and the geometry that follows.

Bent pipes where the bottom curve of the pipe occurs right at the vertical axis of bowl symmetry look amateur. You cannot find me a Dunhill, Charatan, or Peterson where this occurs.

Never the one on the left, always the one on the right.

Per your drawing, the one on the left looks better than the right.