How Do I Stop Making War Clubs?

[bscofield]

ScoJo, check this out:

It's a $350 war club!

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/s ... t_ID=12776

[alexanderfrese]

ScoJo, check this out:

It's a $350 war club!

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/s ... t_ID=12776

The same thing – again and again – with most of the things that are »designed« to some extent: They become considerably ugly, if the desperate attempt to design something different lets the maker loose the overwiew over the appearance as a whole:

Make it the shape of a chicken’s egg. OK.
Boring?
Add a strange rim. Still looks like an egg – breakfast finished.
Still bored?
Lets do some proportions, angles and symmetries no one ever saw before. The shank should look a bit too thin, and the curve it takes should remind us of grandpa bevore they invented viagra.
Pretty ugly already, but there is still something to add.
Let's mill a chamfers round the bowl, and wait, let's put it, where there is absolutely no symmetry or harmonic division of any given proportion or where it could continue a line or shape found somewhere else on that thing.
To spice up value appearance, we finish it with some gold rings between stem and shank. And don't ask us why one is that unelegant bit smaller than the other! Remember: We wanted to do something never seen before!

Now it is a must. At a bargain!
What a piece of crap.

I am not an experienced pipe carver. There may be skills used to make this one I cannot even dream of. But what's it all about, when the skills don't lead to something.

Less is more.
Less is more.
Less is more.

It's the same with music. How many musicians have reached a form of rather simple music in their older days after a long and winding fight with the ghosts of complication. And the simple thing suddenly starts to touch our hearts.

We cannot start by »being old« in that way I said. But we should remember, that just adding things, gimmicks and features to a block of wood doesn't make a beautiful pipe. If a pipe can bear many extras, they sure have to be matched far better than within this example.

Alex

[Tyler]

I just discovered this thread. I missed it Indian Princess'ing, I guess. Now the whole war club joke makes a lot more sense.

As much as I'd like to offer some really cool and thoughtful artistic insight, I'm afraid my advice is rather mundane:

-buy smaller blocks
-quit drilling bents on the same axis as the mortise.

:dunno:

Tyler (who is off to browse a few dog and pony sites)

[RadDavis]

-quit drilling bents on the same axis as the mortise.

Hi Tyler,

What exactly are you talking about here? By axis, do you mean the angle of the drill?

I have plenty of small blocks.

Rad

[Tyler]

-quit drilling bents on the same axis as the mortise.

Hi Tyler,

What exactly are you talking about here? By axis, do you mean the angle of the drill?

I have plenty of small blocks.

Rad

Rad,

I think we are talking about the same thing. I am saying that if you are drilling a bent, and you don't have to reposition your block when when switching from drilling the mortise to drilling the draught hole, then you are setting yourself up for "war clubs". That is not a guarantee, of course. One can still make graceful shapes with that drilling, but it is certainly more challenging, IMO.

Tyler

[ArtGuy]

When I'm finished shaping a pipe I want it to look like it's been stretched taut over a smooth frame. It should be cut to the bone. When you think you're finished, hold it up in front of you twisting and moving it around, holding it against a solid backdrop and letting your eye trace all of the lines. Only when you see that they're smooth, fluid, and uniform should you move on to the next step in the process. Don't worry with pits at first. Just train yourself to create the shapes you're trying to achieve. Once you can do this with some consistency, you'll be able to do it in a $50 block where you have to worry much less about the potential of hitting large sandpits. If you want an idea of what a perfectly shaped pipe would resemble, take a look at a Greyhound or a Thoroughbred, not another pipe.

Todd

That is some of the best advise ever posted on this forum.

[ScoJo]

Well, my 4th pipe is now done. In making this one, I DID drill the draft hole and the mortise at different angles (I made a VERY bent pipe), and this helped make the pipe a little "smoother" looking (although it did present other problems for me, but it was a first try). The pipe is still a little "chunky" looking, but it's a step in the right direction, so I think that is very good advice.

I am working on the smaller block thing. When you guys were starting out, did you honestly look at some of these smaller blocks and think, "Wow! What am I going to DO with this thing??"?

:think:

[Sir_Saartan]

Do you guys actually stick with the drawing you made before starting?

I tried to do that, and it hasn't worked for me. I've only been serious about pipe making
with the last 3 attempts, and have chosen to do the following:

- chose a pipe I think has pretty good lines, AND is quite a bit smaller than the block I'm working
on.
- try to come as close as I can with the overall design on the lathe, but leave plenty of material and a little taller bowl
(ending up with a chubby version of what I was looking at)
- start filing and sanding, while trying to get as close proportion wise to the original as I can

all 3 of my pipes ended up with thicker walls and stems than I was aiming for, but
the overall proportions were pretty similar.

is this a legit way? or should I be brave and more prepared to toss pipes that I messed up?
I may want to add that I have a pretty decent supply of briar, meaning for a hobby pipe maker,
22 pieces of plateau should probably be enough to be willing to toss some?

[seamonster]

I wouldn't toss a stummel because it has TOO much material on it.... just keep removing material until you have something closer to what you were shooting for. I think it's pretty typical to start out my making big heavy pipes, and then slowly refine. I remember my first trip to the Vegas pipe show, I just kept thinking 'holy shit! these pipes are SMALL!!!"

[Sir_Saartan]

I wouldn't toss a stummel because it has TOO much material on it....

Sorry I'm german so maybe my post wasn't clear.

I'm not tossing a pipe that has too much material on it. But so far
when I got to a point where my pipe looked pretty good, I stopped
removing material and finished the pipe, even though I could have
removed more and made it thinner.

My question was: Once I reach a point where I have a pretty decent looking
pipe: should I keep it (which I have been doing with 2 pipes) or should I
take more material off, trying to get an even better pipe, while risking
to destroy it.

[seamonster]

Keep going. Go slow. Better is always better.

[Sir_Saartan]

thank you.