Briar Calabash with Removable Bowl

[WCannoy]

I was asked by a friend last Monday night to make a briar calabash as a Christmas gift for his father. A little last minute, but ok...
I called Tim at JH Lowe on Tuesday morning as I had no briar wide enough for a calabash of this size. Tim kindly hand picked a few blocks for me and got 'em in the mail that same day.
The briar arrived on Friday, which happed to be day two of what would become a four-day "bed ridden with severe flu symptoms" nightmare. By Sunday night, I had decided to try to start this pipe. I got to the point of trying to do some lathe turning, but I was in a cold medicine stupor and quickly decided that operating the lathe in this condition was dangerous, so it got put on hold again.
On Christmas eve, I forced myself to work all day on it, stopping only to do some last minute Christmas shopping which I had also neglected to do while I was sick! By the end of the night, it was almost done. All that was left was to finish sanding and polishing the stem, but I was so exhausted and still feeling loopy that I had no choice but to quit for the night.
I spent Christmas day with my family after letting the customer know that the pipe would not be finished. He assured me that it would be ok as a "late" Christmas gift. I got up this morning, made my coffee, and got the stem sanded and polished.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 660&type=1

[JonBood]

Very nice!
Hope you're feeling better from the flue!

[brurobas]

Awesome!

[oklahoma red]

Excellent pipe!
By chance do you have any pics with the bowl off so we can have a peek at the guts?
Hope you are better.
Chas.

[WCannoy]

By chance do you have any pics with the bowl off so we can have a peek at the guts?

Ohhhh, no... I didn't get any good pics of the insides. I'll have to remember to do that next time! I only have this one that I snapped on my phone while it was on the bench...

[oklahoma red]

Interesting. Since we cannot see up under the flange of the bowl, do you have an O-ring there or is it all a friction fit, wood to wood?
If there is no O-ring is there any chance of the bowl splitting the thin wall shell if it expands with heat?
Nice execution regardless.
Chas.

[WCannoy]

[quote="oklahoma red"]Since we cannot see up under the flange of the bowl, do you have an O-ring there or is it all a friction fit, wood to wood?quote]

In the tradition of the gourd calabash, I fitted it with a cork seal.

[oklahoma red]

Another question or two if I may. Does the contour of the interior of the shell reasonably match the outer contour of the briar insert or is the shell pretty much all hollowed out for a true "calabash effect"? If it is all hollowed out did you accomplish that on the lathe with bowl tools or scrapers or ????
Chas.

[WCannoy]

Another question or two if I may. Does the contour of the interior of the shell reasonably match the outer contour of the briar insert or is the shell pretty much all hollowed out for a true "calabash effect"? If it is all hollowed out did you accomplish that on the lathe with bowl tools or scrapers or ????
Chas.

I hollowed it out on the lathe as far down as possible, mostly with a round nose scraper. Down where it starts to curve, I went at it with the dremel for a little more depth, then drilled the draft hole as usual from the mortise end.

[oklahoma red]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to put one of these on my list of challenges to try, tho in a smaller version so I don't have to search for huge blocks. One would need a strong jaw to hole this sucker up.
Chas.

[ND Pipes]

super nice pipe.. love it

[MonsieurLabo]

Rock star status in my book Walt! Love the rustication as well. Did you use a special homemade tool for it or a combination of things?

Thank you for sharing!

[WCannoy]

Rock star status in my book Walt! Love the rustication as well. Did you use a special homemade tool for it or a combination of things?

Thank you for sharing!

Thanks Michael! I don't know how to explain my rustication process other that to say that I basicly torture the briar with a Dremel #105 cutter...
http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Accessories ... px?pid=105