Misdrilled chambers

NvilleDave · Post by **NvilleDave** » Fri May 20, 2005 4:29 pm

At what point do you consider a block too misdrilled to complete. The perfectionist in me has been forcing me to discard anything except perfectly drilled stummels. I'm just a hobbiest that dreams of selling my pipes. To that end I can't bring myself to finish anything that isn't perfect. Do any of you guys who sell your pipes ever put one up for sale that say has a draft hole a little off center (1/16") or one that is 1/8" up from the bottom? I'm afraid if I don't start with absolutely perfect pipes I'll never be collectable.

Thanks for any advice.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Fri May 20, 2005 5:19 pm

I don't know about collectible - I'm more worried about smokable. If it's too misdrilled to be smokable, I don't sell it. My definition of "smokable" may be different than some folks - I consider Dr Grabows to be unsmokable....

If it's 1/16" off center, chances are that it's not noticable and will not affect smoking characteristics sufficietly enough to make someone notice. However, you should always try to make every pipe as perfect as you can. There's the problem. I was just talking about this with a silversmith, and he postulated that all good artisans have a "god complex" - you know "I *can* make this perfect, and I *MUST*".

Anything more than 1/16" off-center is unacceptable for sale, in my opinion. If the thing is over-drilled (either direction) then it get's labeled a "second" and donated - or smoked by me with some pipe-mud to correct the problem.

NvilleDave · Post by **NvilleDave** » Fri May 20, 2005 5:59 pm

KurtHuhn wrote:I was just talking about this with a silversmith, and he postulated that all good artisans have a "god complex" - you know "I *can* make this perfect, and I *MUST*".

Yes! YES! There's so many things I don't know about pipe making but what I do understand I try to do perfectly. It MUST be perfect...

KurtHuhn wrote:Anything more than 1/16" off-center is unacceptable for sale, in my opinion. If the thing is over-drilled (either direction) then it get's labeled a "second" and donated - or smoked by me with some pipe-mud to correct the problem.

Good advice... Thanks.

ScoJo · Post by **ScoJo** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:40 am

Hmm. Well, I understand a fair amount about pipe making, but I'm not at the point where I expect myself to do anything perfectly yet (but I'm only working on my 5th pipe now). I'm having fun trying, but for right now (and probably for some time) I smoke everything I make myself anyway.