First Pipe

[irish_lord99]

Yep, it looks like crap, it's bland and boring, it gots a pre-fabbed stem, and what the hell's it made out of? But it's my first pipe and I felt like sharing. I'm not looking for any constructive criticism at the time, but it won't hurt my feelings if you feel like pointing out the hundred-and-one defects in craftsmanship (I'm already aware of the hundred, but you can point out the one that I missed ) or the aesthetic flaws.

My plan is to make nine more out of maple (or whatever I got lying around that's not toxic) and then switch to briar and do ten more with pre-made stems, and then start trying to make my own stems. So in twenty years time I'll be making a true from-scratch pipe!

[WCannoy]

Congratulations on making your first pipe!

Now make some more!

[wisemanpipes]

welcome! ive seen much worse (including mine)! lets see some more!

-Evan

[Literaryworkshop]

Not bad for a start. On your next pipe, try to make your lines crisper and more defined, especially on the top of the bowl. Also try to make the lowest part of the bowl a little farther back, just under the rear half of the tobacco chamber, if that makes any sense.

[irish_lord99]

Not bad for a start. On your next pipe, try to make your lines crisper and more defined, especially on the top of the bowl. Also try to make the lowest part of the bowl a little farther back, just under the rear half of the tobacco chamber, if that makes any sense.

That makes sense, thanks. I've been doing wood working since age 4, when my grandfather handed me a piece of pine and said, "here, sand that." But this seems more like wood sculpting than wood working, and I'm having to learn to take my time and try to achieve those crisp lines without over sanding other parts of the pipe. I don't have a lot of time to devote to learning a new hobby (I doubt this will ever be a money-maker for me), so i doubt I will be posting a lot of pics in the gallery for a while. Once I've got a steady technique down, and once I actually think that my pipe are coming out 'good'; then I'll probably post a few more so you guys can rip them apart.

Until then, I plan on mostly reading PMF and only occasionally posting questions. Thanks!

[Literaryworkshop]

It really IS sculpting wood. Except for the junction between the stem and the wood, it's got almost nothing in common with typical joinery, carpentry, or cabinet making. Even the basic tool sets are different, though they do overlap somewhat. Plus, unless you've been trained as a luthier or something like that, you're working to much closer tolerances than you would in most other kinds of woodworking.

Though I've not made many pipes yet, I have found that my woodworking skills that are most transferable to pipe-making mostly came from carving wooden spoons.

[Lowpockets]

I'm at the same stage you are, but here's my 2 cents:

You don't need to practice with maple, I don't see any reason for you to not work with briar. If anything: it'll motivate you, and you'll have a good pipe to smoke while you work on the next one.

It's a great first pipe, don't fear the briar!

[irish_lord99]

@ Literaryworkshop: Well, I've done some luthier work (guitars) but I'm not properly trained. What I'm having difficulty with is the small scale of the pipe. My collection of planes and spokeshaves do me little good here. I'm on my third pipe now, and I'm learning to cut back on my power sanding already. I'll do more file work on this one, and then start to ease back into doing more disc sanding as I get comfortable. I'm sure the case is similar for most, by my biggest problem area is the shank to bowl transition. I'll take too much out of the bowl while disc sanding the shank and then I'll try and take down the rest of the bowl to match the dip in the shank-bowl transition... and in the process of doing that I'll inadvertently take a gouge out of the shank. So yeah, I'm learning to slow it down a bit.

@ lowpockets: so far the two maple pipes that I have completed smoke fine. Actually, I really like the way my first smokes. I can't justify buying briar to my wife at the moment, and I've got a good bit of 8/4 maple lying around. Only 7.5 more maple pipes and I'll make the switch.

[pipedreamer]

Good plan.