Recutting a piece of briar

[Sasquatch]

Sometimes you get a piece of briar that might make a decent pipe, but it's cut crooked compared to the grain. The best cutters get this right more often than not, but no one is perfect. So here's a crooked lump of a block, with the grain quite obviously running at about 15 degrees to the current cut.



It's kind of hopeless - big chunk off the bottom, plateaux at a ridiculous angle...



So let's run it through the saw at 15 degrees and see what happens




The slice that comes off exhibits poor looking grain on the outside -



but on the "angled" side of the cut, the cut now being parallel to the briar, the grain on the same piece is outstanding




more to come in a sec

[Sasquatch]

So we have the angle we want - now I'll reset the saw at 0 degrees and use the freshly cut side as the new "square" side.

Set up a false fence to cut through, keeps the briar stable. Now I have it cut side down and will take the bottom of the block off at the new angle.



Done that:



Now just knock off that other angled side, the leaning Block of Pisa will be no more.



And now I have a block that might in fact generate a nice looking pipe. Notice how much better the grain on the cut block is than what was being displayed originally!




Pretty good on all sides now - cleaned up the front face, square now





Oh and here's a little dog taking a bath with his tennis ball. It's awful hot here right now.

[baweaverpipes]

Jeepers Mr. Sassafras, if you simply shaped, then drilled, you wouldn't have to go through all that cutting and stuff.
Did you get Pohldancers bits?

[Sasquatch]

I didn't, probably shoulda. But you'll die fairly soon so there'll be an extra set around, yeah??

On the off chance that someone wanted to cut a shape on a lathe rather than freehand, re-orienting a block is handy.

Wait a minute... am I justifying myself to you?

[SchmidtN]

Nice looking doggies there... seems I've met one of them before.

Nice tutorial on squaring a block up with the grain... only problem I see with this is now everyone will think you're highly skilled instead of a pipe making jedi. #CurtainPulledBack

[wdteipen]

Or, you could have a special chuck made that allows you to tilt a block and save the risk to your fingers.

Seriously though, you turned a crappy block into an outstanding block. You'll have to post pics of the pipe you make out of it.

[Sasquatch]

What's the practical limit on your chuck, Wayne? Could you get 15 or 20 degrees out of it?

[d.huber]

Nicely done. I'd post a photo session of how I do the same thing but it'd be pointless... I clean up my blocks... with my MIND.

[RadDavis]

Mr. Squatch,

You need to clean that bathtub.

Hope this helps.

Rad

[Sasquatch]

Good eye, Rad.

[andrew]

Mr. Squatch,

You need to clean that bathtub.

Hope this helps.

Rad

Its just dirty cuz Sas took his annual bath. Gotta wait for warm weather.

[wdteipen]

What's the practical limit on your chuck, Wayne? Could you get 15 or 20 degrees out of it?

Depends on the width of the block. With my current chuck and a two inch wide block I'd guess I could cant it as much as 20 degrees or so but I've never had to cant one that far. I'll have to check it out tomorrow to see how far I can cant it.