Well, this one just went from bad to worse. I got to filing it down a little bit to refine the shape and opened up a long fissure in the back of the bowl, right above the stummel. So I set it aside to think for a while and decided that, just for practice, I would work on it a little more.
First I filled the void with some JB Weld epoxy tinted black. I have no idea if it will hold up to smoking, but the glue itself will withstand 500+F, so it's just a matter of the surrounding wood staying put, I suppose. I really just wanted to see if I could hide a filled gap like that.
Then I decided it was time to learn to rusticate a pipe. It was kind of fun and didn't take all that long, especially compared to sanding. I still need to work on my technique, but I can see myself doing this kind of finish more often.
So it turned into a shop pipe (or gift pipe, maybe), but it was good practice.
- Steve S.