A little backstory on these abominations: Two weeks ago, my younger brother brought his MM Maple Great Dane to me and asked me to craft a replacement. It had burned through at the thin middle portion, and he wanted a sizeable replacement in a similarly "folkish" style. To that end, I decided to cannibalize what parts I could (he had fitted it with one of MM's freehand bits and had some extra metal rings). Now, what to use, what to use... Fortune smiled upon me. A few years ago, I had an apple tree die from sheer cold during a particularly brutal winter (I wasn't even aware that was possible
). It had been standing in my yard for three years now, as I had not had time to cut it down. Well, on one of my odd days off I finally took 'er down and saved some choicer bit for stummels and shanks. My process was crude, to be kind- carving was done completely by hand (rough shaping with a rasp and Buck knife, finer shaping with a 60-grit Dremel sanding drum). I bored the chamber and airways first, using spade bits for the chamber and a 5/16 conventional bit for the airway. For tenons I used 5/16 expansion collars from my local hardware store, then stained with Minwax oil-based stain after sanding with my finest grit (120, on the Dremel again). Finishing was beeswax, rough-buffed with a felt Dremel pad and given a final shine with an old sock. Being rather pleased with the end result (the barrel-shaped monster with a bark ring), I decided to use the rest of the branch to craft a few for myself. Using various finishing methods (including none at all and a blowtorch) and parts ordered from Missouri Meerschaum, I created what you now see. The chambers (except for the Dublin-ish looking one, which is 3/4 in diameter) are 1 1/4 inches in diameter. The interiors of the chambers where pre-coated with honey, thinned with a little Wild Turkey. I was quite proud of my first attempt, but I almost wet myself laughing at them when I stumbled on this place. Oddly, they smoke quite well. The Dublin-ish is my designated navy flake pipe, the burned kinda-billiard does marvelous things with Lat/Oriental mixes, and the completely unsanded poker (which I have since dubbed "Thud") is reserved for aromatics. A friend who owns a woodworking store has given me a few scrap chunks of claro walnut, and I have some bamboo on order for shanks. So, now that you've read my novel, how about some not-so-pretty pictures? Please forgive my poor photo quality; my camera is almost ten years old and I'm no photo-hound. Let the evisceration commence!