Having Fun

[hawky454]

Here are a few more pics of some other pipes I've had the joy of crafting over the months. I DID NOT hand carve these stems. Critique welcome.






Thanks for looking.

[HumblePipe]

These are all some great looking pipes! I think I like the first and the last pipes the best.
This may be a very dumb question but, how exactly do you guys do the extention of different woods that are connected to the briar before the stem or rather, what is the best way to go about this?

[Growley]

Nice looking pipes. They've got several things going for them. The bowl looks great on the first one. Nice shape. Here's my 2 cents:

Pipe one - It looks like the bowl is at a 45 degree angle to the shank. From what understand, on a bent pipe it's best to put least a 3 degree forward lean on it. Otherwise, your eye will trick you to make you think it's actually facing a bit backwards. You can especially see this in pic 2.

Pipe two - I could be terribly wrong on this...but the one thing that catches my eye wrong on this one is that everything on the pipe has a great curve to it except the shank. I feel like if you kept the same curve that your stem has going all the way through the shank to the bowl it might be more pleasing to the eye...but I could be wrong. I really like this pipe though. Neat shape, like the natural top, and great stain and grain. I do see that the bottom of the bowl matches the shank so maybe that make work, or maybe it works already

Pipe three - The only thing I would say about his one is that you probably could have taken a bit more briar off the inside of the bowl...not much, bit it looks like it has a bit of a web there. You can see this the most on the first pic. I slopes up to the bowl. Removing that little bit will show the bowl shape off better.

Nice work. If you have any interest in trading your second pipe for one of my pipes I've recently posted, let me know.

[hawky454]

These are all some great looking pipes! I think I like the first and the last pipes the best.
This may be a very dumb question but, how exactly do you guys do the extention of different woods that are connected to the briar before the stem or rather, what is the best way to go about this?

Thank you. I dunno if I would be the best person to explain to you how execute an extension, this was my first attempt. What I can do is tell you how I did it. I bought set of olive wood pen blanks and rounded a block on the lathe. I then drilled it (the same size you drill your draft hole) You then make a tenon on the blank just like you would do on a stem and you fit that tenon into the mortise of the stummel with a tad bit of epoxy (I then clamped it and let it cure over night.) My stummel at this point is still chucked in my lathe so I proceed to shape the extension to be flush with the shank. I then drill a hole (the mortise) in the extension so I can then fit the stem in the extension. Please take my advice for what it's worth (not much)...I'm still learning myself. I would search for other ways to do it and find out what works for you. There is a bunch of great info on here about extensions, you just have to dig it up. I hope this helps. If anyone else would like to chime in and explain a better method of doing this, please feel free to do so.

[HumblePipe]

Hawky, thanks so much, that was very informative and I greatly appreciate your time to explain it. I am starting to think I need a lathe because I am doing everything by hand and I am messing up way to many stems...

[taharris]

These are all some great looking pipes! I think I like the first and the last pipes the best.
This may be a very dumb question but, how exactly do you guys do the extention of different woods that are connected to the briar before the stem or rather, what is the best way to go about this?

Thank you. I dunno if I would be the best person to explain to you how execute an extension, this was my first attempt. What I can do is tell you how I did it. I bought set of olive wood pen blanks and rounded a block on the lathe. I then drilled it (the same size you drill your draft hole) You then make a tenon on the blank just like you would do on a stem and you fit that tenon into the mortise of the stummel with a tad bit of epoxy (I then clamped it and let it cure over night.) My stummel at this point is still chucked in my lathe so I proceed to shape the extension to be flush with the shank. I then drill a hole (the mortise) in the extension so I can then fit the stem in the extension. Please take my advice for what it's worth (not much)...I'm still learning myself. I would search for other ways to do it and find out what works for you. There is a bunch of great info on here about extensions, you just have to dig it up. I hope this helps. If anyone else would like to chime in and explain a better method of doing this, please feel free to do so.

I have done the same, but with limited success. I have found that some woods are a lot more prone to cracking when fitting the stem. Briar, being a burl, has a lot more twisted grain, which gives it strength. I have made stem extensions this way with Yellow Heart with success, but when I tried to use Blood Wood it cracked every time. I guess with some woods it may be necessary to use a SS tube like is done on bamboo.

Any others have experience to share?

Todd

[hawky454]

Hawky, thanks so much, that was very informative and I greatly appreciate your time to explain it. I am starting to think I need a lathe because I am doing everything by hand and I am messing up way to many stems...

You can do it without a lathe but, yes, a lathe definitely helps a bunch. Todd Harris (the poster above me) posted an excellent detailed page with pictures on how to go about shaping a pipe on a wooden lathe. Kurt has also posted a nice video that helps a lot too. If you're a hobbyist I would recommend a wood lathe cause they're cheaper. If you're dead serious, than I would skip the wood lathe and go straight for the metal lathe. Keep making pipes regardless if you have a lathe, you will still improve your skills.

[HumblePipe]

Thanks hawky, and I am sorry, I did not mean to take over your thread here. Lets get back to those amazing looking pipes that you made!

[taharris]

Hawky, thanks so much, that was very informative and I greatly appreciate your time to explain it. I am starting to think I need a lathe because I am doing everything by hand and I am messing up way to many stems...

You can do it without a lathe but, yes, a lathe definitely helps a bunch. Todd Harris (the poster above me) posted an excellent detailed page with pictures on how to go about shaping a pipe on a wooden lathe. Kurt has also posted a nice video that helps a lot too. If you're a hobbyist I would recommend a wood lathe cause they're cheaper. If you're dead serious, than I would skip the wood lathe and go straight for the metal lathe. Keep making pipes regardless if you have a lathe, you will still improve your skills.

Here is the link if you are interested:

http://www.woodturnersresource.com/extr ... _pipe.html

Todd

[HumblePipe]

Hawky, thanks so much, that was very informative and I greatly appreciate your time to explain it. I am starting to think I need a lathe because I am doing everything by hand and I am messing up way to many stems...

You can do it without a lathe but, yes, a lathe definitely helps a bunch. Todd Harris (the poster above me) posted an excellent detailed page with pictures on how to go about shaping a pipe on a wooden lathe. Kurt has also posted a nice video that helps a lot too. If you're a hobbyist I would recommend a wood lathe cause they're cheaper. If you're dead serious, than I would skip the wood lathe and go straight for the metal lathe. Keep making pipes regardless if you have a lathe, you will still improve your skills.

Here is the link if you are interested:

http://www.woodturnersresource.com/extr ... _pipe.html




Todd

That was amazing, and informative! Thanks so much for that. I hope to have a lathe sometime in the begining of next year so this really helps.