just showing off

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KurtHuhn
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just showing off

Post by KurtHuhn »

I haven't shown one off in a while, so I figured I'd toss one up just for giggles.

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Making it was an interesting exercise in self control. It's amazing how many things you have to think about when making a reverse-taper shank - especially when your airway follows a different vector than your mortis.

If I had my druthers, I would have made the copper a little thicker, but I have tons and tons of that gauge, so I decided to work with what I have on hand.

This is also a pretty rare pipe for me these days since it's going into the web store. I used to do almost exclusively web-store sales, but now I seem to have no time for creating pipes just for the store - about 85% of my sales are now special requests and custom orders. Not that I dare complain....

I Also made a second calabash as seen here:
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A special order (of course) which generated a few other orders when it was shown off at a pipe club meeting along with a couple others I did.
Kurt Huhn
AKA: Oversized Ostrogoth
artisan@k-huhn.com
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Tano
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Post by Tano »

Beautifull, wonderfull, splendid....if I could make pipes like these I'd be giggling al lot.
Tano
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Tano
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Post by Tano »

Beautifull, wonderfull, splendid....if I could make pipes like these I'd be giggling al lot.
Tano
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LexKY_Pipe
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Post by LexKY_Pipe »

Kurt, you are surely one of the first class pipe makers in the world. These are beautiful.
Craig

From the heart of the Blue Grass.
Lexington, KY

loscalzo.pipes@gmail.com
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smokepiper
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Why so Modest

Post by smokepiper »

Your work speaks for it self, don´t hide when displaying they are good work i like them.... A LOT!
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Karol
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Post by Karol »

I love reverse taper shanks on pipes, plus that finish is beautiful. Both pipes are of course very nice.

I'm struggling to find words to describe this sandblast. :think: It's very inviting, makes me want to hold it my hands.

Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Karol
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achduliebe
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Post by achduliebe »

Kurt, they are both beautiful. I really really love the first one. Love the shape and love the sandblast...awww how I want to sandblast. Oh well, all in good time.

As usual, great work!
-Bryan

"You should never fight, but if you have to fight...fight dirty. Kick 'em in the groin, throw a rock at 'em"

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sethile
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Post by sethile »

Wow, Kurt! These are both beautiful pipes, are both are very unique. The first one is an intersting lighter blast texture, which I think looks real nice unstained like that. Do you sand it after the blast? It sort of reminds me of the GBD Granitan finish, only unstained.

Like Bryan, I'm really looking forward to trying to blast sometime. I'm just glad to have the lathes going now. Next step may be to get a blaster.

I'm REALY curious about your Calabash. I love the shape, and I've never seen the seperate briar bowl inside a goard shaped briar like that. Really a classy look to it. Is that an O ring that acts as a seal? Are the bowl and top cap all one piece? Care to elaborate at all on this approach? How does it smoke? Very interesting idea....

Thanks for keeping this forum up and running, as well as all your contributions to it, and the inspiration of your work. It's a huge blessing!
Scott
Scott E. Thile
Collector, smoker, and aspiring pipemaker.
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PapaDuke
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Post by PapaDuke »

Two of the finest pipes I've seen.

Sorry but they didn't make me "Giggle"
Piss my pants yes
But Giggle... Naaa
:thumb:
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bvartist
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Post by bvartist »

The calabash is one of the most unique and interesting pipes I've seen. How did you ever come up with the idea for that one?!? Wonderful pipes, both of them. :thumb:


David
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hlp808
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Post by hlp808 »

Man that Calabash rocks. :thumb:

I like the first one because of the reverse-tapered shank.
:thumb:


Jaden
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KurtHuhn
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Post by KurtHuhn »

Thanks guys!

The calabash shapes are getting hugely popular with folks that have seen them in person. I did one for a customer that asked "Have you? Would you?" and that got me started on it. I actually experimented on a block of cherry before doing one in briar just to figure out how the heck I had to do things. Since then I've gotten requests for a good half dozen more. I think I just found a nice niche. :)

They're somewhat difficult to get bored and drilled due to the way you have to create the inner chamber, but it is straightforward once you have it all sorted. They're time consuming, since you have to spend a lot of time with the foredom/dremel hollowing out the interior, but there's nothing inherently difficult about them. There's a lot to take into consideration, so you kind of have to think three steps ahead of yourself. And you have to use two blocks of briar....

The bowl and cap are one piece, made from a nice wide hunk of briar, and the body is made from a second piece. That o-ring is a #17, which just fits in a 1/16" groove once it's stretched over the bowl. The fit is tricky to get just right, but it's better to be a little snug than a little loose in my opinion. It's got to be airtight in order to give a good smoke. And I've been told that they smoke like a *dream*. I should hope. I sure spent enough time kvetching about how to create the airway and the inner chamber.

For the blast on the first one, the briar dictated that one. It would have made a nice smooth, except for some shallow pinpricks with disappeared after it was blasted. I've found that most small flaws like that completely disappear with a blast - you just have to be careful that they don't grow while you're blasting. It didn't take to well to the first media I hit it with, but when I went back at it with a finer grit and lower pressure, it responded much quicker.

As you can see, the growth rings are very close together, and that makes it difficult to get a deep and detailed blast. However, I still prefer it over rustication since it dopesn't hide the wood structure (personal preference). Ideally, I would have liked teh rings to be about three times as far apart, but we can't have everything. :)
Kurt Huhn
AKA: Oversized Ostrogoth
artisan@k-huhn.com
geigerpipes
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Post by geigerpipes »

very nice pipes especially like the first one very elegant...just in my taste..

On Briar calabashes I remember seeing Joao Reis verison of the shape a smooth with ony 6mm thick walls in person at a show.. truely amazing.. he drilled the "gourd" by drawing out the curved line representing the bend on the side of the block and having different centers along that line he drilled it by repositoning the center as he went deeper and stepwise used smaller and smaller bits...

on you Calabash (and this is just my oppinion) I think the bowl-shank/stem proportions sets it off a bit plus with all the turned rings and edges on the shank/stem is a bit to much... dont get me wrong the stem in it self is a real beauty only slightly out of place especially when veiwed from the side compared to the size of the bowl..only my ramblings
Smoke in peace!!

Love
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