Etude 16, Bulldog Blast

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:26 pm

I wanted to try another Bulldog. I find this shape very challenging, and highly educational. The lines and angles demand good symmetry and encourage more attention to flow. Over all I was pleased with this attempt, but had a couple of issues. A bad flaw or fissure opened up in a terrible spot when I started blasting. It's at the apex at the bottom of the shank, near the smooth section before the stem. It can be seen here as an indent just bellow the nomenclature panel. It messes up the grace of my curve pretty well. I was really pleased with the lines of this before that happened. I also had an issue with the centering of the draught hole in the mortise. Acceptable, but not great. As a result of these two "issues", this dog is going to have to stay here in my own pack

:

Specs:
Bowl Height: 2.03"
Bowl diameter at rim:1.73
Overall Length: 5.5 "
Chamber Diameter: 3/4"
Chamber Depth: 1.59"
Hand cut German Ebonite Stem
Ivory Insert

In the above photo and several others you can see the the fissure on the bottom apex of the diamond shank, just before the unblasted area near the stem. This kind of ruins what I had going for a nice graceful curve there.

I'm still trying to perfect the stain technique on my blasts, and I need some lighter stain options. This is a shade darker than I'd like on this. Some decent ring grain in spots, and some nice straight grain showing through the blast. I'll keep working on these Bulldogs, as well as my blasting and finish. Hopefully next time the briar and I will both bring more to the table!

Oh, thanks to help here on the fprum I set up better lighting for my photos, and messed with the settings on our little box camera. It's not great, but much better than it was. Hoping to get a decent SLR Digital camera like the Canon 300D sometime, but also need to lay in some briar and get some more tooling.

I appreciate any candid comments at all. Thanks for looking!

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:04 pm

The first thing I noticed is that these photos *ROCK*. Excellent job capturing the pipe. Beyond that, I only have a suggestion (because I really like the shape) on how to maintain that bottom curve. When blasting, I always leave the bottom two panels of the stem on bulldogs and other diamond shanked pipes smooth. That ensures that the bottom lines of the shank will be good from tip to tail.

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:18 pm

KurtHuhn wrote:The first thing I noticed is that these photos *ROCK*. Excellent job capturing the pipe. Beyond that, I only have a suggestion (because I really like the shape) on how to maintain that bottom curve. When blasting, I always leave the bottom two panels of the stem on bulldogs and other diamond shanked pipes smooth. That ensures that the bottom lines of the shank will be good from tip to tail.

The improved photos are thanks to you, Kurt! Great tip on the bottom panels too. Come to think of it, I've seen that on a number of nice pipes. RATS, I should have thought of that, especially before pulling trigger on this one

Oh well, good lessons always seem to come hard. I'll certainly remember this one...

flix · Post by **flix** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:22 am

Great photos Scott! It's almost as important as some of the aspects of pipemaking, imo. It might be nice to have a section devoted to that, but, that's up to Kurt...

Good job on the pipe. Maybe you'll get a better piece of briar next dog,

--Michael

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:05 am

Damn Scott! That is one really nice pipe! Great work! I can't see a thing that I don't like about it. The stem adornment is very tasteful. The rings look a bit out of place, but that's just a matter of taste. Placing them below the bevel is a neat way to mix it up a bit.

Great work bud,

Nick

LexKY_Pipe · Post by **LexKY_Pipe** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:22 am

Awesome pipe Scott, and the photos are the bomb!!!!

mahaffy · Post by **mahaffy** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 7:00 pm

BEAUTIFUL! Ex-o-tee-kee, as my friend used to say. (Gee, what a shame that you'll have to carry this gorgeous piece around with you!) Very fine work, and great pix.

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:47 pm

Wow guys, Thanks very much for all the comments and encouragement.

This pipe (such as it is) as well as the improved photos are all thanks to the great help available here on the forum. This is an amazing place to learn the craft--like apprenticing under a whole group of masters while never leaving home. The more I read and see the more I realize how much there is yet to learn.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement!

BDP · Post by **BDP** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:55 pm

Scott,

Looks like you are progressing rapidly! I like the tapered, rather than saddled, stem choice on this pipe. I like the thin ivory accent. Possibly slightly too far back from the joint, but let's not split hairs. Keep up the hard work.

Brad

PS- Thanks for the piano wire!

Post by **Tyler** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:16 pm

Scott,

Very nice.

To split hairs, I think it is a little heavy in the shank as it approaches the stem and then also in the early part of the stem, but I wouldn't say that it is a mistake, just bulkier than I like personally. And maybe heavy is the wrong word for the shank. I think the top line needs to dip more in the middle and be continually in motion. In other words, no straight section leading into the stem. That would, I think, fix what I see in the shank. Then I would lose some weight in the stem. That said, this pipe is the real deal. You put that pipe in any shop in the world, and no one will pick it out as the work of a new maker. Well done.

As for the breaking of the line on the bottom of the shank, I don't think it as an issue. I know the heartbreak of a slight goof that "ruins" a line that you worked so hard to perfect, but I think as makers we can often see too well such issues. Had you not pointed it out, I would have never noticed it. Why? It's a blast. It happens. No worries. The irregular texture causes our eyes to sort of extrapolate and see the line as you intended, even though the line is "missing" in certain areas.

Again, well done.

Tyler

sethile · Post by **sethile** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:59 pm

Wow, thanks guys!
Brad, I've mentioned before that your bulldogs completely rock my world. They’re a huge inspiration to me. If I ever make anything close to the beauty of one of those... Well, as Charles's says, "I'll be on my way to diaper change!".

I think your right about the ivory location. Partly, that has to do with a change. I had intended to have more of the shank smooth (would have equaled the thickness between the ivory and shank). As it turns out, I hit too many sand pits and a flaws to keep that section smooth, but had already made the stem. Not sure if that would have been any better, but that was plan. As it is it would look much more balanced with the ivory closer to the shank.

Tyler, As usual, your eye is amazing! Now that you point it out I'm seeing that top line could certainly improve with more curve to it. I ended up with to straight a section again. All my pipes so far have had that same issue. I too was wondering if the shank and stem were too heavy in relationship to the bowl. Glad I was at least questioning that... And I'd already reduced it some, but as is often the case, not enough. I still see things in spurts. I get glimpses of seeing these things as I work, that if acted on, would be real close. But then the visions fade and I convince myself it's ok as it is, or get going another direction with it. In part I'm still worried I'll take to much off, and as a result, I seldom remove enough

The willingness of this community to help, and the insight I get here is a huge blessing to me! Thanks guys!

ckr · Post by **ckr** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:08 am

Scott,

An absolutely beautiful pipe.

"My goal in making well-tempered smoking instruments ..." - I think you have accomplished that but I sense that you are going to go much, much further. Keep em coming!

marks · Post by **marks** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:30 am

Very nice pipe Scott.

My only recommendation is to change your signature from "pipe making hopeful" to "pipemaker"

bluesmk · Post by **bluesmk** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:43 am

Beautiful pipe my friend, and I'll ditto Marks' comment.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

Heinz_D · Post by **Heinz_D** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 8:05 pm

Scott, very well done! The shape really matches a classic Bulldog. Only shank and stem could be a little bit thinner in my eyes - but that's only my personally mind! I'm sure, you could do it, if you want to and you had your own thoughts to do it as it is...

For the blasting I can imagine, that a little bit deeper will look even better, but of course it's nice as it is...

I think it'll be a good smoker, but even with the issues it's worth to be sold.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:24 pm

I agree with Marks. Get the hopeful thing out of your sig. That's a pipe from a real pipemaker!