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I just finished this Dublin-Horn-Freehand. Any and all critique welcome.
Disclaimers and excuses: The marks on both sides of the stem are not tool marks they are inclusions in the Japanese vulcanite. The more I sanded the bigger they got. The briar had a number of pits, the biggest one on the rim of the bowl. I botched the slot, made it too big and thus the bite is too thick because I was afraid to sand into the channel/funnel. Should have started over.
Great work George! Every pipe you show is better than the last. The things that jump out to my untrained eye are:
Your bowl looks a little asymmetrical (too much taken off the left side). Your shank/stem transition could be a little smoother. It looks like there is some rounding on the very end of the shank. I've found that using a file/sanding stick perpendicular to the transition and working your way around will take care of that and give you a more defined taper. The bite zone is a little thick for my taste, but can still be corrected (you should still have room to remove material without going through). As far as the slot goes, a tad bit big, but even so, I'd just clean up the edges to straighten it up and go on to the next one! Again, I think you're definitely getting better with each piece.
I did not notice the asymmetry in the bowl and even looking at it now I don’t see it, but the calipers don’t lie and it is about .02 off. Good eye. Working without a lathe that is always a struggle.
You’re right about the stem-shank transition.
I tried this pipe in my teeth. With all the weight out on the end of that big bowl it will never be a clincher but even so the bite thickness is uncomfortable. A no-go really. I’ll work on it and round the edges of the slot.
Unfortunately I did not see George’s video on stem finishing until I was done with this one. Some of those techniques will help.
Thanks for taking a look and the critique. An extra set of eyes is always helpful.
I think it is time to bite the bullet and buy better vulcanite. These Japanese rods are cheaper but I hate sanding into flaws when I’ve spent a lot of time on a stem.
I buy SEM German ebonite from VF, 18mm by the foot. I’ve never had a problem with inclusions, however the last rod I got didn’t polish to a very high luster for some reason. As far as the bowl is concerned, I’m talking about the shot from the front. It looks like you might’ve taken a little more off the left side (right side in the photo), all in all a good pipe. Keep it up and keep posting- it is inspiring to me.
Thanks. I’m going to keep posting even pipes that I can see obvious flaws in (like the slot and bit of this one). I now see it as the third level of observation. The first is what I see and feel when I think I’m done. The second is the other things that show up in photographs. And the third is what others see that I might not ever notice.
