2 more: 1 reject and my first volcano

[Ocelot55]

Gentlemen,

Here are my latest. They're not exactly the prettiest gals at the dance, but I had fun making them. I think I learned a lot too.

#1 a reject cutty/belge. Unfortunately I discovered a small hairline crack running down the bowl while sanding. It is barely noticeable. I decided to finish the pipe anyway. It looks alright but I don't know if it will last if smoked.







#2 My first volcano and only my second piece of plateau briar. It has some sizable flaws on the front. There is a lot I am happy about with this pipe, but also a lot I'm not satisfied with.











As usual, any critique is welcome and needed. Thank you all for looking.

[Alden]

I like the Volcano, you went with a nice style.

[Growley]

It seems like your skills have really improved recently. Have you made a lot more pipes you haven't posted? Both of these look really nice. Too bad about the crack on the cutty and the fissures on the volcano. I like your cutty lines. I don't know enough about volcanos to offer any critique there other than to say if you did a high contrast stain and darken it up a bit you would mask the fissures a bit better.

Really great work on both!

[Ocelot55]

Thanks guys.

Brian, I have posted every pipe I've made since I joined the forum. It just shows how valuable the imput of the community is. I also think there is a threshold that I crossed about 6 or so pipes ago when I really started nailing the basic shaping. I hear it takes 10,000 hours of work to master a given craft, well maybe there is also a lower threshold that separates rank amateurness from an apprentice and so on.

The cutty really aggravates me. Everything about the pipe was going so well until I saw that tiny little crack. It would have looked even better if I had taken the time to sand and polish it properly, but I didn't want to waste the effort on a pipe that might not last but a few smokes.

Do any of you think I could mitigate the problem somehow? I've thought about applying some shellac to the outside and maybe a precarb of some sort to the bowl.

[Sasquatch]

I can't tell from the pix how bad the crack is.... did stain come right through it?

I'd say light it up and smoke it. If it dies.... well, good thing you didn't sell it. But more importantly, smoking your own product will let you know how the briar tastes, let you know how comfortable you are cutting your stems, etc.

Your bending and curvature are really nice. There's just a bit of a fudge-out on the shank of the belge, just as it hits the bowl it fattens up.

The chamber looks "pinched" at the top, front and back - get in there with some rolled up sandpaper and get rid it rounded out and even on the stain line.


The volcano is really good on the bottom - the top line from shank to bowl is not a very nice transition - looks like the top was done on a lathe and the transition to the curve is a little abrupt or clumsy. It can be both sharper defined and more curved at the same time. But it's very nice, nice stem and nice overall execution, and it's a damn shame about the briar. Sometimes is just doesn't wanna play nice.

[Ocelot55]

Thanks, Sas.

The stain did not bleed through on the belge/cutty. You are right about the bowl being pinched. As soon as I discovered the crack I said to hell with sanding the inside of the bowl and making things look real good.

As far as the volcano, I have no lathe, so I guess I have even less of an excuse about the sloppy bowl/shank transition. I succumed to my biggest weakness, impatience, and was way too excited to finish the pipe. If I take my time and really look at the flow I usually catch those things. The stem on the volcano was a pre-mold so I'm pretty happy with how the half-saddle turned out. it was the first time I had attempted such a feat. I'm still struggling getting delrin to meet perpendicular with the face of my stem material...when I get that all worked out I should be able to start carving my own stems.

Thanks for the imput!

[Sasquatch]

One way to sort of "fake" the delrin facing problem would be to cut the hole in the stem just a hair big, and then when you epoxy the tenon in, you can actually put the pipe together, get a perfect fit, and then let the epoxy cure at that angle. You'd have to be damn sure there was no epoxy on the tenon or mushing around on the shoulder, or you might glue the whole damn thing together.

It sounds like that belge has a flaw that you wouldn't want to sell, but it will probably hold up to smoking for awhile. I've chucked out probably.... 5% of my stummels for just that kind of thing - get a crack or a fissure or something that just... doesn't seem up to par, and I won't sell it. Can't have someone going around saying "yeah I bought a pipe from Mr.X and it had a huge big crack in it and it split open and burned the hair off my dog's ears" or some horrible thing like that.

[Tommi]

Hello,
i like both of your pipes. the belge is my favorit,
the lines are excellent and the grain is nice.
Good work.
Greetings Tommi