Another giant Italian straight grain re-stem
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:15 pm
Actually, the pipe isn't quite a true giant --- it's 7" long and 125 grams (5 ounces) --- but as we used to say back in the day, "It's close enough for government work."
How this specimen came to have a mis-matched but correct brand stem is anybody's guess. Maybe the original got lost or was damaged beyond repair and the owner did a swap from his own collection. Or sent it back to the maker who gave the owner the option of a quick fix since making a new fitted one would be expensive. We'll never know. It is certain that the odd match-up wasn't sold that way as some sort of "Art Statement", though, since the face of the shank had tool marks and was countersunk. Things that would have been properly dealt with if it was intended to see the light of day.
Anyhow, for those of you who like messing with this sort of thing, the gold plated pig bitch here is the "hooked" shank, a la Hawkbill. Not only does extending the lines of such a shank require actually carving/sculpting the stem into a bent shape instead of heat-bending it, but the lines created by the original maker were off. Meaning inconsistent in radius. (Grrrrrr...) Also, the bottom line of the shank has a bulge. (Double Grrrrrr...) So, I had to fudge here and there to make the best of things.
Also the airway had to be drilled considerably below center, the diameter of the necessary rod was quite large, and the pipe's owner wanted the new stem to be acrylic. (Acrylic is wonderful stuff for most pipes, but it is more difficult to work with than vulcanite as a general thing, and the larger the stem the more difficult it gets.)
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How this specimen came to have a mis-matched but correct brand stem is anybody's guess. Maybe the original got lost or was damaged beyond repair and the owner did a swap from his own collection. Or sent it back to the maker who gave the owner the option of a quick fix since making a new fitted one would be expensive. We'll never know. It is certain that the odd match-up wasn't sold that way as some sort of "Art Statement", though, since the face of the shank had tool marks and was countersunk. Things that would have been properly dealt with if it was intended to see the light of day.
Anyhow, for those of you who like messing with this sort of thing, the gold plated pig bitch here is the "hooked" shank, a la Hawkbill. Not only does extending the lines of such a shank require actually carving/sculpting the stem into a bent shape instead of heat-bending it, but the lines created by the original maker were off. Meaning inconsistent in radius. (Grrrrrr...) Also, the bottom line of the shank has a bulge. (Double Grrrrrr...) So, I had to fudge here and there to make the best of things.
Also the airway had to be drilled considerably below center, the diameter of the necessary rod was quite large, and the pipe's owner wanted the new stem to be acrylic. (Acrylic is wonderful stuff for most pipes, but it is more difficult to work with than vulcanite as a general thing, and the larger the stem the more difficult it gets.)
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