I've completed carving my first two pipes from kits and I just wanted to give a big THANK YOU! for all the info I gleaned while lurking around and searching the archives. From suppliers to shaping to finishing, it's all here and you are a very generous group.
Both of these pipes started as plateau kits. My primary shaping tools were a cheap sanding disk, a cheap chorded drill, dremel, and files. No saw touched the briar. I tried a mish mash of contrast staining techniques researched from the archives with about as good a result as a total noob could achieve. I sanded to 600 and buffed with the Beall Buffing System chucked into the drill.
Gonna try and post a few shots of my first two efforts. The poker I made for a good friend and the eggish looking one is for me. The owner of the poker is actually experiencing the stain coming off on the hand problem I read about. The eggish one I have not had a problem with. Interesting because they went though near identical staining/sanding/buffing/waxing regimen.
Thanks again to all that contribute!
Kevan