First and Second Handmade Briars

[Alden]

Here are my first two finished handmade pipes.
The first pipe is the cutty I took to Chicago with me. Got lots of feedback on my mistakes, and fixed a few of those mistakes on my second pipe.
But I managed to make some new mistakes with #2
As a hobbyist, I would be completely satisfied with both of them. But most of you know I'm trying to do this fulltime, and need to make this learning curve hard and fast.
I have a lot of issues with these pipes, but I'll keep my personal critique quiet and ask you guys to be as brutal and nit-picking as possible. Any little tiny thing that irks you in any way, please post it.
The only thing I point out on the Billiard/Lovat is the stem that I filed too thin. I hit it with a lighter to give the stem a tiny little bend, and immediately buckled the airway on the bottom Thats good because I was tempted to sell this one. New rule, I wont sell anything sooner than my 5th pipe.
Both stems are handcut ebonite.
Critique !

[Alden]

[Nate]

Pretty nice for 1&2. I'll leave the critique for someone else, but that's a good start Edward.

[sam a]

ryan, number 2 looks better than number 1... so you are heading in the right direction. keep going.

[Alden]

ryan, number 2 looks better than number 1... so you are heading in the right direction. keep going.

Thanks Sam. You're exactly right, I'm not staisfied with #2, but its an improvement on #1.
Youre a real good buddy. Friend, I mean, you're a real good friend

[Growley]

Extremely good job for 1 and 2. Much better than my first or second. Your shaping is very good for such an early start. Keep up the good work!

Brian.

[d.huber]

Woot! 2 down, so many to go.

Keep 'em comin'!

[RadDavis]

Ryan,

A good rule of thumb for saddle bits: They should be thicker at the saddle than they are at the button with an appropriate taper in between.

Hope this helps.

Rad

[Alden]

Rad, my biggest problem is I'm a perfectionist. I have to keep filing and sanding and filing and sanding until a certain line is just right. Then I look at it from a different angle, and the sanding and filing starts all over again
This is what I'm fighting, and why all of my work so far ends up too thin. But I'm starting to get a grasp of it.

[e Markle]

Nice work! Go make some more.

[Growley]

Rad, my biggest problem is I'm a perfectionist. I have to keep filing and sanding and filing and sanding until a certain line is just right. Then I look at it from a different angle, and the sanding and filing starts all over again
This is what I'm fighting, and why all of my work so far ends up too thin. But I'm starting to get a grasp of it.

One thing I learned from Tyler is to make sure you're looking your pipe in different lights. You could have shadows that make you think you're shape is off. Tyler told me to do the 180 degrees test. Turn around some ever so often and see if your shaping still looks good...or bad. I also look at my pipe as a silhouette, where you can't see anything but the true shape. In addition, I look at my pipes while spinning in a office chair or swinging on a porch swing.

I guess I spend a lot of time just looking at my pipes come to think of it.

Brian.

[Tyler]

Nice!

Keep up the good work.

[Ocelot55]

Those are pretty sweet looking, man, especially considering these are numbers 1 and 2. Great job!

[Alden]

Thanks guys, I'm hoping pipe #3 is lightyears ahead of these two but it might be a couple more weeks until I'm cranking out a few every week.
Soon come.

[Hudson]

As to shape, I just prefer the lines of the cutty. I can see some imperfections but it seems you're well on your way to working through them. Only one way to get better so I'm looking forward to that #5.

[Alden]

Thanks Hudson.
I agree with you, there is a lot I like about the cutty and I will revisit the shape/lines again some time. I have 3 or 4 different cutty ideas I want to play around with, its a neat shape.