my first attempt at a pipe

[BramV]

Hi

This is my first attempt at a pipe, I went for a poker design because I thought it would be easy to put down when smoking.
So I mainly used files and sandpaper to shape the pipe, for the stem I dit use a metal lathe to turn the tennon. The holes in the stummel were drilled with a drill press and home made spoon bit. after finish sanding with 1000 grit and dying I sanded again with 1000 grit and then I pollished with Tripoli, white diamond and carnuba wax.
I know there are several things wrong with the pipe: to much material at the bottom of the stem.
little imperfections in the briar, but i like the look of smooth pipes
not the most even dye-job.
and a lot more ...

So the briar I used was plateau piece, and the stem I made from a ebonite rod.

I'm looking forward to hearing your critique!

kind regards
Bram











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[DocAitch]

I'm a newb also and was headed to post my first pipe (of this century) in the gallery when I spotted this, so I hope that you get a more practiced artisan's input.
For a first attempt, that pipe is impressive, and way better than my first, especially with having made the stem from ebonite rod.
Your drilling looks spot on, but the vent hole looks a little large. What size drill did you use for the airway?
You did well to maintain the cylindrical shape of the bowl for the upper 2/3rds, and the bottom looks perfect.
Things didn't go so well at the transition from shank to bowl. In my opinion, a poker is two cylinders, the bowl and the shank, and it looks best when the shank cylinder is maintained until it almost touches the bowl cylinder. They should be joined with a short radius. (think of a straight shank corn cob pipe with a radiused junction).
That is generally file work (although a properly formed sanding pad/block would work) and you may need to acquire a small cylindrical file), and a lot of practice.
I personally will re cut the unsatisfactory area of the pipe when I decide that there is a problem. The alternative is to smoke it like it is and start a new one. It is emotionally difficult to re cut a finished pipe, but I find it to be rewarding, (and economical)
An uneven stain can always be re sanded. I only sand to 600 on the wood and to 1000 on the ebonite. (I did recently have a ?softer stem material material that I sanded to 1500, but that would be an exception).
I see some rounding off of the shank face and the stem face, this usually comes from working the stem and the shank when they are separated. Try to keep them together and work the wood and ebonite in that area as it were one piece. That would also help to keep the line of the shank and stem continuous instead of having the shank turn downward off the stem axis as it approaches the bowl.
The mouth area of your stem looks a little thick, and you would have to be careful there to avoid entering the airway. The stem otherwise looks very good for a first attempt. You have maintained the lateral lines of the stem to the button, which is something that I still struggle with.
There is a video in the Stem forum, "Thank you George" that George Dibos(?) made showing the finishing of the button. This is well worth the time to watch. If you read the whole thread, George (Latakia Lover on this forum) added a link to the original thread, which is also worth reading.
Very impressive first effort.
DocAitch

[Massis]

Some obvious pointers from a fellow novice carver with a tad more experience:

1- from the right side view you can clearly see the top & bottom of the shank are a completely different length: remove a ton more stummel on the bottom side of the shank. Your stummel now has one single 45° slope from the bottom to the shank, this should be 2 near 90° angles.

2- from the top down view, you can see that the pipe is not symmetrical, try working on that, so that both sides of the stummel transfer into the shank in a similar fashion. I still find this to be one of the harder parts in pipemaking...

3- a slight light gap between stem & shank. For a first pipe, ignore it, you've got a fairly decent fit! You seemed to have not stepped into the common trap of sanding stem & shank separately, good work!
For a first stem from ebonite rod you did a mighty fine job! One thing you could try refining easily is the button, it's too long (from the end towards the stummel), just sand it a tad shorter until it's only 2-3mm long and refinish it...

Overall for a first pipe I'd say you absolutely nailed some parts that others still miss after 10 pipes (myself included), and made some obvious rookie "designs", so work on those on the next pipe!

[BramV]

thanks for the reactions, I used a 4mm drill for the draft hole. I think I'm going to leave this one as i is and start on a new one, probably a canadian.
The not being symmetrical is a big working point for me. And the extra material is another one of those working points but I totally agree.

kind regards

[Effe]

It's normal at the beginning not to be symmetrical, you find your way with practice.
Very good first pipe,I'm not an expert but you have it,just do it

[Charl]

OK, now make 50 more.

[caskwith]

Plenty of critique above so all I will say is that for a first pipe it looks very good to me and you should be proud of it.

[Dane C]

I like it.

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