Working with a block of wood...

[flea1]

How big should the block be to when starting? First pipe...

[bscofield]

well that depends. Are you drilling it? If so then it all depends on your pipe design. Most easy to find and inexpensive blocks are 2" wide (usually less than that tho). So you know right off the bat that your design should call for something not as wide unless you want to drill the side and make one that is VERY wide and not tall (a saucer for example). Once you've drilled the tobacco chamber than the amount of wood that you have on the smallest point of your tobacco chamber wall represents the maximum amount of wood that a symmetrical pipe should have (speaking of most pipes that is). You can always take wood off but never re-add it. Well not unless your a mad scientist like Jeff (I think it was Jeff) who scoops up his sawdust and mixes it with epoxy and adds girth back on to his pipes...

Was that all a ramble or was there anything helpful in that.....?

[flea1]

Ben,

That should be pretty helpful...I am cutting the wood from an apple tree limb. I just needed some idea of how big or small to cut it.

Thank ya....thank ya vury much!

[jeff]

You can always take wood off but never re-add it. Well not unless your a mad scientist like Jeff (I think it was Jeff) who scoops up his sawdust and mixes it with epoxy and adds girth back on to his pipes...

Sadly, I've had to give up that process.

However, I have developed a much better mixture. I use only the highest quality soil from the banks of the Euphrates river and mix it with gorilla snot and motor oil (synthetic blend). It's very effective, really!

JG

[Nick]

sounds like a cool bowl coating!! Wait, thats the pipe? Way cool. A pipe made totally from bowl coating!

[bscofield]

You can always take wood off but never re-add it. Well not unless your a mad scientist like Jeff (I think it was Jeff) who scoops up his sawdust and mixes it with epoxy and adds girth back on to his pipes...

Sadly, I've had to give up that process.

However, I have developed a much better mixture. I use only the highest quality soil from the banks of the Euphrates river and mix it with gorilla snot and motor oil (synthetic blend). It's very effective, really!

JG

WOW... I can just taste it now...

so good it's make my eyes water

[KurtHuhn]

How big should the block be to when starting? First pipe...

Slightly bigger than the pipe that will hewn from it.

Most of the ebauchon blocks behind me here are about 1.5 inches wide, 2 inches tall, and 3-4 inches long. The plateaux is wider and taller.

[flea1]

Thanks everyone for the helpful advise...I have been advised by another pipemaker, I should start out with a kit first. It looks like I will be doing some business with PIMO. Thanks again.