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mightysmurf8201 wrote:Does anyone know if Steve Norse carries denatured unicorn piss? I prefer it to be organic if at all possible.

He only shares that with Abe.....

If the unicorn piss is denatured, what's the point? I want it right from the horse's.... nevermind.

Jeremiah, I know you face to face as a reserved and caring guy, a gentleman, gracious and generous. If I come across in writing as a little glib, you come across as a little dogmatic. There's only two things in the world I can't stand; dogma, and the Dutch.

Yeah, I apologize if my answer had a little too much asshole to it, I was in a foul mood yesterday for unrelated reasons. You are really helpful with new people, and as Sas says I know you personally to be a good guy.
BUT, you give all of your information as fact when you are still very much a student yourself. I don't give a ton of advice because I reached a point that I realized 10% of my advice was total bullshit, and 10% is enough to really screw up a new guys notion of right and wrong. For the record a lot of the bullshit I picked up early was from the 10% of bullshit advice I listened to in the middle of all the good stuff.
So you get some of your technique from Alex Florov, and his technique is sound (though I doubt he shared his techniques with you intending to find it scrawled out on the internet in bold print, that is an entirely different issue)
Alex Florov has a total understanding of his technique, and you have a cursory explanation of it. It's not the same thing.
I guess my point is, keep helping, just be a bit less sure of yourself as you do. One tiny little turd in a good pot of stew ruins everybodys dinner, and thats kind of what a little misconception is in the middle of good advice.

You guys might remember that Sandahl and I got off to a rough start for the same reason. Ancient fuckers like me tend to have less patience as time goes on with "repeated knowledge", and give more weight to experiential knowledge. Because the longer you're around the more you realize that "repeated knowledge" contains a much higher percentage of bullshit than you once thought.

That said, my crankiness in that regard only made the aforementioned rough start worse than it needed to be. Something ancient fuckers also discover is that since all humans make mistakes, among HONORABLE ones, intention is all that matters. And I definitely didn't listen to the little voice in my head concerning that principle at the time.

Because it turned out Sandahl is indeed one of the honorable ones. He tirelessly gives his best to everyone who shows up here, month after month, regardless of their experience level, and he's also a consummate gentleman (we met in Chicago). Overall, a very soft-spoken, respectful, and classy guy. Smart as hell, too.

So, no harm, no foul. If he extrapolates a bit too much occasionally or passes on some secondhand knowledge that's flawed, there are plenty of old hands around here to set things straight. Given that MOST of the time he DOES get it right, and he doesn't argue for the sake of it when corrected, that's hardly a burden.

Alden wrote:I guess my point is, keep helping, just be a bit less sure of yourself as you do. One tiny little turd in a good pot of stew ruins everybodys dinner, and thats kind of what a little misconception is in the middle of good advice.

I think being sure of oneself has little to do with it. I spent my high school years being quiet because I wasn't sure. Then I realized that nobody was as sure as they thought and realized that people like to correct the person who's more outspoken and I found that if I speak my mind, people tend to correct me and I learn. And that's precisely what happened here. I was going on bad information. And now anyone who reads this thread knows more because somebody said something wrong. Everyone learned at my expense and I'm happy with that. I have learned more through by watching someone else make a mistake than I have through hearing the right thing all the time.

The other thing to consider is that sometimes, a student gets something wrong when a teacher makes a mistake. And sometimes a student has an idea that turns out to be revolutionary. Not saying I'm that brilliant of student, but if I never said what I thought, I'll never know. My point is you've gotta put yourself out there; toss your noodles on the wall and see what sticks.

I'm sorry, too if I come across as a jerk or know-it-all at times. Trust me when I say it happens a lot less than it used to.

The discussion in this thread is precisely why I like to ask questions here. Even as a new pipe maker I've learned with hours of research that everyone has different information and I always seek multiple answers to every question before weighing the results and ultimately forming my own conclusion. The number of variables that go into every design craft and particularly one as artisanally based as this one means that no one, no matter how experienced or not, is going to have the exact correct answer to every question. Its the dialog that is valuable and the discussion that ensues which results in a good outcome for all involved.

Anyhow, thanks everybody for answering. With luck I'll soon have some pipes that I feel are good enough to post on here to have you all convince me otherwise.

mightysmurf8201 wrote:Does anyone know if Steve Norse carries denatured unicorn piss? I prefer it to be organic if at all possible.

Yes. It's organic, but being an animal by-product it's obviously not vegan.

Organic unicorn piss is redundant. No one makes inorganic unicorn piss.

Hope this helps.

Alden wrote:Yeah, I apologize if my answer had a little too much asshole to it, I was in a foul mood yesterday for unrelated reasons. You are really helpful with new people, and as Sas says I know you personally to be a good guy.
BUT, you give all of your information as fact when you are still very much a student yourself. I don't give a ton of advice because I reached a point that I realized 10% of my advice was total bullshit, and 10% is enough to really screw up a new guys notion of right and wrong. For the record a lot of the bullshit I picked up early was from the 10% of bullshit advice I listened to in the middle of all the good stuff.
So you get some of your technique from Alex Florov, and his technique is sound (though I doubt he shared his techniques with you intending to find it scrawled out on the internet in bold print, that is an entirely different issue)
Alex Florov has a total understanding of his technique, and you have a cursory explanation of it. It's not the same thing.
I guess my point is, keep helping, just be a bit less sure of yourself as you do. One tiny little turd in a good pot of stew ruins everybodys dinner, and thats kind of what a little misconception is in the middle of good advice.

At my house you fish out the turd and eat.

I suppose I should actually answer the OP's question and not just be a smart ass even though I prefer the latter.

I keep my briar in my workshop. It never gets below freezing. I've never had a block crack. The only block I've had crack was a block I bought in the winter months and tossed in the back of my car to take home later when it was below freezing. It felt relatively wet to me. When I took it out when I got home it had a hairline crack down the middle.

wdteipen wrote:Organic unicorn piss is redundant. No one makes inorganic unicorn piss.

Hope this helps.

I do.

I really like how this thread evolved. Good lesson for everyone.

Just to clear up the info on mortise stabilization: while it is very helpful and good practice, it is kind of unrelated to the seasonal/humidity related fit. Stabilizing the mortise helps keep the wood in place so that the individual fibers cut or possibly torn while drilling don't rise and affect the fit of the tenon. It's a surface treatment that helps keep the surface flat. It does nothing ('cause almost nothing can be done) to prevent the overall humidity changes in the entire stummel which really affect the looseness or tightness of the joint. Still a good thing to do though.

Guess I am lucky here in the UK, unless it's really cold outside (just a few weeks a year if that) I don't have any tenon trouble and only one case of tenon trouble reported by a customer (bad enough to actually warrant telling me that is)

Some have told Me They stabilize the mortise with shellac and Others use ca glue. My thought is if Someone does a thorough cleaning with alcohol the shellac will be removed and make the stem fit loose. Is Anyone willing to share how They stabilize the mortise? Thanks, Norm.

Dry shellac is slow as hell to dissolve, like, it takes a few days. So I wouldn't worry one way or the other.

I think CA is better, but ... well, I just do.

scotties22 wrote:

mightysmurf8201 wrote:Does anyone know if Steve Norse carries denatured unicorn piss? I prefer it to be organic if at all possible.

He only shares that with Abe.....

thanks for blowing my Cover, guys (Cover is the name of my unicorn too)...