Being the rank amateur that I am, I've decided to push myself and offered to make a pipe for an actual, honest-to-god, other person; a friend of mine who introduced me to the world of pipes. I asked him what sort of shape he'd like, he said bulldog. Which is great, as I'd been wanting an excuse. After a bit of shaping and a short discussion we decided it should be a bit squatter than a standard bulldog. I'm a fair way into the stummel (the stem in the pictures is just a vulcanite one I had knocking around and used as a guide for squareness).
There's a pretty major issue in the shank where a piece of the plateau bark sank down a good half inch into the briar, which took me by surprise, but I think I might just about get away with it by shaving another millimetre off the shank.. Other than thinning that out a little, are there any massive glaring errors anyone would like to point out? Obviously it's still rough as anything, and there's a lot of work to do, but I'd be really interested in feedback on the general shaping so far.
The bulldog is a tough shape. The biggest issue is that you need to keep the lines straight and parallel. Yours are straight, but not parallel. I would make the stem and shank the same dimension. Having a step there doesn’t make any sense. Having stem and shank the same dimension is helpful in seeing whether your lines are straight and parallel. I wouldn’t worry about a bit of plateaux one way or another. Just shape where you want it and call the flaws character.
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Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.
Thanks Jeremiah. To some degree the tapering was deliberate on my part, although I feel as though it's too exaggerated certainly, and I also think I need to reduce the weight of it a little as it's quite the lump at the moment. Bringing the edges in towards parallel would help with that. The step isn't a permanent feature, just an artefact of not having the material yet to start the stem at the diameter I'd like it..
Is there any merit at all in maintaining a degree of taper to the stem, or do you feel that that is too much of a stretch to the bulldog form and would just end up looking like carelessness?
Ok, so now that you see the principle, there’s a little wiggle room there. You can taper those lines about 1° or less so they’re slightly wider at the bowl than the stem end. But they should appear straight, even if they are in fact a little tapered.
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Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.
Shaping the stummel without the actual stem present can cause problems. In both your 3rd and 4th photos you can see that your extension is rounded down. If your stem were present, you could continue your line onto the stem without that rounding.
I would suggest that you fit that stem before continuing any further, then correct the taper as suggested by Jeremiah. That will take care of both problems.
That said, a bulldog is very ambitious and your progress is impressive.
As for the plateau, don’t try to eliminate it at the expense of your overall shape. Make your lines and the diamond shank right and accept what happens. There won’t be a structural issue since the shank extension will provide mechanical strength for your mortise.
DocAitch
"Hettinger, if you stamp 'hand made' on a dog turd, some one will buy it."
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
Thanks Jeremiah, DocAitch. Encouraging words. I shall get the stem roughed out and in place before I proceed, I'll let you know how I get on in due course!
As promised, here's an update.. (you should be able to click the pictures to go to the hosting site and see it without the stupid watermark.. but it's free hosting.. so what can you do eh?)
There is still a bit of a taper to the shank and the stem, but not really as much as would seem to be indicated by the pictures.. I feel like there's some lens distortion from my crappy phone camera (excuses excuses). specifically I have tried to make sure the centre line and the top edge are more or less spot on parallel and then I've given the bottom line a bit of a belly to curve into the combination stem.. The rest of the shaping is to better blend the stem and the stummel. I've done an entirely clear stem basically as a learning exercise. I've no idea how well it will stand up to use, and it if looks awful after a couple of smokes I'll make something else to fit.. (I'm sure that'll be a breeze now right?) But actually, I quite like the look of it.
Looks good! There is still a slight discontinuity of line on the top of the shank/stem junction but it is better.
Clear acrylic is a great medium for practice for hand shaping a stem from rod, but the inside willl turn brown as you note. The airway and general lines of the stem is impressive.
I am still not getting a sense of how comfortable the bite area will be. My personal sense is that a real saddle would be more comfortable, but that depends on the smoker’s preference.
TIAFO.
DocAitch.
Last edited by DocAitch on Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Hettinger, if you stamp 'hand made' on a dog turd, some one will buy it."
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
That's very much improved. There's only one thing that I'd fix: the bottom line. To my eye, the bottom line is too much of a taper as it goes under the bowl. And I don't understand the purpose of not having the same saddle on the bottom of the stem as you do on the top. With a shape based in symmetry, you've got to have a compelling reason to make something not match the opposite side. Otherwise it looks wrong. The other lines appear to be spot on. You might consider opening the funnel just a little more, but that's your choice.
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Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.
Thanks Guys, I really feel like this one stretched me. I get your criticism on the top line Doc, as for the bottom line, I can entirely see what you mean Jeremiah, and it's quite possible I'd like it more as a perfect reflection, but I've kinda nailed my flag to the asymmetry flagpole on this one for whatever reason.. I think it has to do with an instinct that there will be more interesting internal reflections in a clear stem if it's asymmetrical.. but I might just be post rationalising that.
The bite and the funnel are indeed a little bit of a compromise, I opened up the slot a little too wide top to bottom and chickened out in thinning it down perhaps as much as I ought to. The draw is pretty loose at the moment, so I'd be hesitant to make anything wider at this point. You never know, it's future owner may end up finding the stem unpalatable and I'll end up modifying or re-making it anyway.. It's been an excellent learning opportunity, so I'm happy either way.
One question though, would you leave the twin cuts around the bowl as uncoloured, or would you dye or otherwise fill them? I'm on the fence at the moment.
