Vermont Freehand Store

[Spence Pipes]

Has anyone had a problem with the briar from Vermont Freehand? I bought 10 blocks from them, and so far, the 3 pipes I have tried had cracks that went all the way through the block, making a hole in the bowl, or cracking it so bad I could not use it. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem. I bought some stem's from them and am very pleased with them. But I do not think I will get anymore briar from them.

[Frank]

Were the cracks actually visible before you cut into the blocks, or were they initially hidden beneath the surface?

Robert (aka pierredekat) seems to have had better luck with his briar purchases from them.

[Spence Pipes]

Didn't find them until I sanded a good portion of the briar. I was almost finished with the rough shaping, then seen the crack. as I sanded some more, out poped a piece of wood, and left me a nice hole in the first two pipe's, right to the inside of the bowl. I'm still working on the third pipe, but just found two small cracks. I have a feeling it will be like the first two. If I had the money to buy in bulk, I wouldn't get as mad. But being new, and having a stay at home mone leaves me very little for supplies.

[pierredekat]

The only thing I can think is to contact Steven, maybe send him a picture of some of the bad blocks, and see if he can give you a refund on at least the untouched blocks.

I explained, in the other thread, about the fact that he's going through a transition right now.

But since he's a pipemaker, himself, I know for a fact that he's aware of the importance of having good briar. And he wouldn't, knowingly, sell you bad briar.

He just got another shipment of briar, though, and since I just ordered 10 blocks out of that newest shipment, I will report back, once I see how my 10 work out, just for future reference.

Part of me is wondering, though, with the outlandish dollar/Euro exchange rate these days, if some of the European briar suppliers aren't going to end up sending us inferior briar as a matter of economics.

If briar has to nearly double in price the way that ebonite has, that might put briar into the range of, like, $40 per block. So if the briar suppliers know they can't sell us blocks at $40 apiece, they might be tempted to sell us their old $10 blocks at $20 apiece.

Does that make sense?

Just theorizing.

[dougk52]

I got 10 blocks from him and so far they have been very nice. I'm on pipe 3 from this batch. In fact some of the blocks have the best grain I've ever seen.

[Frank]

Part of me is wondering, though, with the outlandish dollar/Euro exchange rate these days, if some of the European briar suppliers aren't going to end up sending us inferior briar as a matter of economics.

If briar has to nearly double in price the way that ebonite has, that might put briar into the range of, like, $40 per block. So if the briar suppliers know they can't sell us blocks at $40 apiece, they might be tempted to sell us their old $10 blocks at $20 apiece.

Does that make sense?

Just theorizing.

You could be correct, in a sense, for those European suppliers that have their goods priced in dollars.

[Spence Pipes]

I just finished the third block. Actually got all the cracks sanded with one going through the block. I had to change the shape so many times I lost count. The pie came out pretty good, I just hope the rest work out also.

[pierredekat]

Well, glad to hear that you got a pipe out of at least one block, so far. Yeah, sometimes there are things you can work around, but there is a LOT of luck involved with briar, as well.

Like when I did this pipe, I uncovered a rotted-out piece of a root the size of a pencil, over on the port side, not more than 1/16 of an inch from what you see as the finished pipe surface. And this pipe turned out to be one of my very best. Just luck, you know.

Other times, I have had high hopes for a nice smooth pipe and ended up having to rusticate, due to imperfections that just couldn't be worked out. I rusticated this one, though, and I think I have received more compliments because of the rustication than I would have, had I left it smooth.

But your having deal-breaker cracks surprises me, because I haven't encountered any cracks with Vermont Freehand's briars thus far. Lots of little sandpits and/or bug-bites that I had to get creative with, but no cracks.

Anyway, my latest 10 pieces of briar arrived last night, and at least on the surface, they appear identical to everything else I have received from Vermont Freehand. Definitely nothing out of the ordinary.

But I will try to cut into one this weekend and see what lurks beneath. I had bought a few blocks from GreatGoodsRUS on Ebay awhile back, and I had a very similar experience as you had with your blocks: the surface looked great, but inside there was a whole network of cracks that pointed to really poorly cured briar.

I almost want to bet money that whoever GreatGoodsRUS buys their briar from quick-dries it in a microwave oven. That would be my guess, anyway.

[Frank]

I almost want to bet money that whoever GreatGoodsRUS buys their briar from quick-dries it in a microwave oven. That would be my guess, anyway.

Just using logical thinking, that sounds like a stupid thing to do. Nuking the wood doesn't heat the wood, it just boils the moisture inside. If the moisture is tightly trapped inside the wood, instead of evaporating, the steam will expand and create cracks.

[KurtHuhn]

Just using logical thinking, that sounds like a stupid thing to do. Nuking the wood doesn't heat the wood, it just boils the moisture inside. If the moisture is tightly trapped inside the wood, instead of evaporating, the steam will expand and create cracks.

There is a method for using a microwave to dry wood. Bowl turners use it with great success. However, I would think that briar is far too dense to be effectively dried, and the volume of briar that would have to be done would make sticking a single block in the microcrowave for 30 seconds at a time, pulling it out, cooling it, checking it, yadda yadda yadda... would make it non-feasible from a time and money standpoint. But, if someone didn't know what they were doing, and was rushing the job, then yeah, you could get lots of stress cracks in there.

[Frank]

Has anyone tried these guys as a US briar source? http://www.greatgoodsrus.com/servlet/Categories

[Danskpibemager]

Frank,
I inquired about the quality of the briar at Great Goods R Us in a previous post and the vast majority of the replies were negative. The stuff looks great on the outside but filled with cracks and caverns on the inside. Good for long burning firewood I guess but not much else.

[JHowell]

The cracks are, I believe, from air-drying too quickly. The outside dries and hardens while the inside is still wet. Then, when the inside dries and wants to shrink, it can't because of the rigid exterior and pulls apart.

Drying in a microwave would be too expensive for an operation that sells wood like this. First, you'd have to buy a microwave.

[Frank]

I just wish I knew more about drying wood & how to tell when it's dry enough to work without cracking. I bought a couple of nice chunks of hardwood (I forget what they are) last year about mid summer. I cut off a piece and glued it up to some spalted maple. The very next day it had started to crack, as did the cut edge of the rest of the block. I immediately waxed all surfaces and haven't touched it since from fear of it cracking again. It didn't make me feel any better that the seller had touted it as the world's most expensive burl.

[KurtHuhn]

Frank,

I've bought some spalted maple in the past, and it's always come fully sealed with that brush-on wax compound. The trick to it is shaping the piece about 75%, then re-applying the wax and leaving it in a paper bag for a year. you should weigh it before putting it up though, so you know how much moisture leaves the wood.

Somewhere I have a DVD of a bloke showing how to turn a big, natural edge bowl from a wet log. He shaped it untilthe walls were about an and inch to 3/4 inch thick, wiped on the wax, and set it in a corner for 6 months. The next part of the DVD is him doing the final shaping and sanding. I think you can even find some of that DVD on YouTube if you poke around.

That said, you need act quickly. You can't, for instance, be interrupted because your wife needs you to cook for a dinner party.

I actually lucked out a couple weekends ago when I removed a tree from my in-laws front yard. It was an old Dogwood tree, possibly close to 75 years old, and when I took it down I started noticing some spalting as I got closer to the base. At that point I shifted gears from firewood length to vase and bowl length cuts. It's all sealed up now, and waiting for me set aside some time to do rough shaping on it. In about a year, I'll be bringing a piece of that tree back to my mother in law, but I daresay it'll look a lot nicer than when I carried it off.