Sasquatch wrote:Don't be offended Massis - it's your first pipe, it's from a kit, and that's exactly what it looks like. The color is nice and even but the finish could be shinier - that looks like it was sanded at about 600 grit and called done.
The stem bend is nicely done, the transition onto the shank is not so nicely done - did you keep the stem in place the whole time?
The shape of the bowl would be better in my opinion if it were perfectly symmetrical. I realize that it's sort of an undefined shape, but that's kind of what lends it an amateurish look too. If you are going to define 4 specific quadrants and have them each do the same thing, it ought to "really" be the same.
Having said all that, it's an ambitious first pipe and it worked out pretty well.
First of all: thank you for at least taking the effort to reply.
I know this isn't a great pipe by a long shot. That's basicly why I joined (I've been reading along for a little longer). I posted this - even though it's "only a kit pipe" - to get comments. "What's wrong with it?" "How can I make it better?" "Do people like the shape?"
It doesn't matter if every comment I get is a comment saying how bad it is, but no comments at all makes it rather hard to improve myself.
Mind you, I'm 22 (so I've got plenty of years to go :p ) and I don't have any experience in woodworking or anything like that except for building some vivariums (which is basicly screwing a bunch of plates together...). Plenty of learning to do...
So, in reaction to your remarks: it was sanded with 600 grit and then straight onto 1200, which might not have been the best of options (as I stated in my first post). I did take quite some time sanding it, but in hindsight it appears it wasn't enough.
I did make the mistake of taking off the stem somewhere during sanding. As far as I can remember, I did so to sand down the black stain on the end of the shank. Apparently I sanded it down a bit too much.
I'm thinking about resanding and finishing it even better now that I know how. If I do so, i'll go back down to 400 and take all the stain off, and then work my way up to 1200 but this time through 600, 800 and 1000. As far as I can tell, there is enough briar left to decently sand it down again.
However, I don't really think the sanding is the only problem with my finish. I think the main problem is in the polishing. For now all I have are small buffing wheels for my dremel (which are all the same material), and I can't afford a decent polishing wheel with decent full size buffs.
The tripoli paste works fine with these buffs, the white a little less so. The carnauba I have doesn't even react when I put my buff against it (I've tried multiple speeds and different amounts of pressure, to no avail). That's why I only sealed it off with lineseed.
Finally, concerning the shape, it was indeed ment to be "freehand" and therefore not fully symmetrical, but I have to agree that it might have made the pipe look amateuristic. Maybe next time I'll go for a model that's easier. My very first plan was to make it symmetrical, but the briar block I had made this rather impossible due to the rough edge it has:
From this I also learned one of my first lessons: first get the briar, then decide on what to do with it. As you can probably tell from this block and the resulting pipe, I completely ignored the grain and shape of the block before deciding on my pipeshape. (in fact, I had the shape in mind before I even ordered my briar...)
Once more, thanks for the comments, they can only help.
i am using a flat piece of wood (lets say three cm wide) and i glue the sand paper on it and use it like that to sand that spot down... this way Your sand paper will not damage the connection....
