pipemakersforum.com

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:03 pm**

thejayrob wrote:Todd,
I have to say your original post is right on. I'm a newbie. I wouldn't even regard myself as a pipe maker yet. I have shaped a total of four predrilled blocks with prefabricated stems. After watching a ton of youtube I did what a lot of newbies do. I thought my pipes were amazing and I plastered them all over the net. I made two more. Those two were amazing too. Im being sarcastic. Then for pipe four, I thought I would try to make a blow fish. I had to throw away the block. Wow I learned a lot. After speaking with a friend of mine he told me how this whole pipe making thing goes. A new pipe maker needs to learn the first basic principles of pipe making. So like I'm on lessons 4-10 and guys like Tyler Beard and Jeff Gracik are on lessons 900-1000. I learned the best pipe makers in the world are able to do what they do and use the materials they do because they don't have to think about things a new pipe maker has to think about. I have been humbled and I have learned to ask more questions and I have no desire to try to reinvent the wheel. I also believe in innovation. But the nature of innovation is that you have to have a level of basic understanding of the area of our innovation. I can not come up with a new and exciting way to bake a cake if I don't know the basic process and ingredients of making a cake. Anyway, these are thoughts from a newbie.

Great thoughts jayrob. I think you've got the right idea. One has to know the rules before they can break them.

It's tough to know when one has become a pipe maker. Everyone on this forum makes pipes for fun or profit, but where's the defining line? I surely wouldn't have the balls to call myself a Pipe Maker in front of anyone. Do I make pipes? Sure do and I love it. Am I a Pipe Maker? Eh... not yet. Maybe some day.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:32 pm**

UberHuberMan wrote:
thejayrob wrote:Todd,
I have to say your original post is right on. I'm a newbie. I wouldn't even regard myself as a pipe maker yet. I have shaped a total of four predrilled blocks with prefabricated stems. After watching a ton of youtube I did what a lot of newbies do. I thought my pipes were amazing and I plastered them all over the net. I made two more. Those two were amazing too. Im being sarcastic. Then for pipe four, I thought I would try to make a blow fish. I had to throw away the block. Wow I learned a lot. After speaking with a friend of mine he told me how this whole pipe making thing goes. A new pipe maker needs to learn the first basic principles of pipe making. So like I'm on lessons 4-10 and guys like Tyler Beard and Jeff Gracik are on lessons 900-1000. I learned the best pipe makers in the world are able to do what they do and use the materials they do because they don't have to think about things a new pipe maker has to think about. I have been humbled and I have learned to ask more questions and I have no desire to try to reinvent the wheel. I also believe in innovation. But the nature of innovation is that you have to have a level of basic understanding of the area of our innovation. I can not come up with a new and exciting way to bake a cake if I don't know the basic process and ingredients of making a cake. Anyway, these are thoughts from a newbie.
Great thoughts jayrob. I think you've got the right idea. One has to know the rules before they can break them.

It's tough to know when one has become a pipe maker. Everyone on this forum makes pipes for fun or profit, but where's the defining line? I surely wouldn't have the balls to call myself a Pipe Maker in front of anyone. Do I make pipes? Sure do and I love it. Am I a Pipe Maker? Eh... not yet. Maybe some day.

Well, that is precisely the spirit in which the original post was intended. I am trying to "innovate" every day, but after 13 years of making pipes, I have the know-how to isolate variables and determine whether or not method Y is better than method X. If you're a new pipe maker, master method X first. Then tell me why method Y is better, and you will have added something to the discussion. Good luck in your endeavors.

TJ

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:05 pm**

ToddJohnson wrote:
UberHuberMan wrote:
thejayrob wrote:Todd,
I have to say your original post is right on. I'm a newbie. I wouldn't even regard myself as a pipe maker yet. I have shaped a total of four predrilled blocks with prefabricated stems. After watching a ton of youtube I did what a lot of newbies do. I thought my pipes were amazing and I plastered them all over the net. I made two more. Those two were amazing too. Im being sarcastic. Then for pipe four, I thought I would try to make a blow fish. I had to throw away the block. Wow I learned a lot. After speaking with a friend of mine he told me how this whole pipe making thing goes. A new pipe maker needs to learn the first basic principles of pipe making. So like I'm on lessons 4-10 and guys like Tyler Beard and Jeff Gracik are on lessons 900-1000. I learned the best pipe makers in the world are able to do what they do and use the materials they do because they don't have to think about things a new pipe maker has to think about. I have been humbled and I have learned to ask more questions and I have no desire to try to reinvent the wheel. I also believe in innovation. But the nature of innovation is that you have to have a level of basic understanding of the area of our innovation. I can not come up with a new and exciting way to bake a cake if I don't know the basic process and ingredients of making a cake. Anyway, these are thoughts from a newbie.
Great thoughts jayrob. I think you've got the right idea. One has to know the rules before they can break them.

It's tough to know when one has become a pipe maker. Everyone on this forum makes pipes for fun or profit, but where's the defining line? I surely wouldn't have the balls to call myself a Pipe Maker in front of anyone. Do I make pipes? Sure do and I love it. Am I a Pipe Maker? Eh... not yet. Maybe some day.

Well, that is precisely the spirit in which the original post was intended. I am trying to "innovate" every day, but after 13 years of making pipes, I have the know-how to isolate variables and determine whether or not method Y is better than method X. If you're a new pipe maker, master method X first. Then tell me why method Y is better, and you will have added something to the discussion. Good luck in your endeavors.

TJ

These words have new meaning for me after experiencing the "Stinky Ebonite" thread.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:18 pm**

The Smoking Yeti wrote: These words have new meaning for me after experiencing the "Stinky Ebonite" thread.

My ebonite smells like flowers and sleeping puppies. I assumed that was normal.

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 4:34 pm**

TreverT wrote:
The Smoking Yeti wrote: These words have new meaning for me after experiencing the "Stinky Ebonite" thread.

My ebonite smells like flowers and sleeping puppies. I assumed that was normal.

Which varietal is it, a Burgundy, or a Pinot? I find that ebodust from the Champagne region smells the sweetest, but it's cellared in Sherry barrels as far as I know, so it stands to reason, right?

TJ

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 5:57 pm**

It does if you put cotton in your ears.

Rad

Posted: **Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:21 pm**

RadDavis wrote:It does if you put cotton in your ears.

Rad

Rad, you're a douche, and I don't even understand what you're trying to say here.

Hope this helps,

TJ

P.S. "Look out mawma there's a white boat comin' up tha river . . . "

P.P.S. For putting the song in your head . . . ahem, you're welcome!

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2013 12:45 am**

Todd, I would gladly reply to your previous insult, but you're a guy who drinks raw milk.

So I won't reply to you at all.

Hope this helps.

Rad

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:09 am**

http://youtu.be/xCoD-TELD0A

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:14 am**

I think sleeping puppies smell like they gots worms.

Posted: **Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:21 am**

wdteipen wrote:I think sleeping puppies smell like they gots worms.

That's because you stored them in a sherry barrel

Posted: **Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:44 am**

Also depends on which pinot! Pinot noir, pinot gris, pinotage? Pinot noir, of course, is the bastard child of Todd and needs LOTS of attention.

Posted: **Fri Mar 01, 2013 5:05 pm**

Potatoes are very good fried in fat; the salad oil was not rancid. The oil from the grocer at the corner is better quality than the oil from the grocer across the street. It is even better than the oil from the grocer at the bottom of the street. However, I prefer not to tell them that their oil is bad.

Posted: **Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:23 pm**

thejayrob wrote:Todd,
I have to say your original post is right on. I'm a newbie. I wouldn't even regard myself as a pipe maker yet. I have shaped a total of four predrilled blocks with prefabricated stems. After watching a ton of youtube I did what a lot of newbies do. I thought my pipes were amazing and I plastered them all over the net. I made two more. Those two were amazing too. Im being sarcastic. Then for pipe four, I thought I would try to make a blow fish. I had to throw away the block. Wow I learned a lot. After speaking with a friend of mine he told me how this whole pipe making thing goes. A new pipe maker needs to learn the first basic principles of pipe making. So like I'm on lessons 4-10 and guys like Tyler Beard and Jeff Gracik are on lessons 900-1000. I learned the best pipe makers in the world are able to do what they do and use the materials they do because they don't have to think about things a new pipe maker has to think about. I have been humbled and I have learned to ask more questions and I have no desire to try to reinvent the wheel. I also believe in innovation. But the nature of innovation is that you have to have a level of basic understanding of the area of our innovation. I can not come up with a new and exciting way to bake a cake if I don't know the basic process and ingredients of making a cake. Anyway, these are thoughts from a newbie.

Gladwell says you need to practice for 10,000 hours to master a skill.. 5 years full time unless you make pipes in your sleep.

Posted: **Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:22 pm**

No matter what it is you wish to accomplish everyone needs to be a "grasshopper" before a "master".

Sent from my HTC0P3P7 using Tapatalk

Posted: **Sun Mar 02, 2014 2:21 pm**

A violin student once asked Heifetz how many hours a day he should be practicing to make good progress. The Heifetz answer : "One is enough."

When his questioner seemed incredulous, "Maybe two, if you're a little slow. If it takes more than that, you're not cut out for it."

True -- not everybody is a prodigy. But not everybody takes umpteen years, either.

Posted: **Tue May 20, 2014 10:10 pm**

I don't come here as often as most so consequently haven't really gained the knowledge of individuals AND certainly not the art of pipe making. I do know there are traditionists and experimentalists. I have asked questions about doing things and received answers from both. This has proven to be very interesting AND informative. Since joining this site my vision has deteriorated to the point where my GOOD eye is 20/400. I may never get any better and that saddens me very much. I came here looking to be a "grasshopper" but alas not to be. Those that can "do it" and those that can't listen and learn from the "can dos" . You can't make something new and innovative if you don't know the basic and proven. I have learned this from being here. I have to wear two pairs of reading glasses to do this. When this no longer works and my eye doc says no more can be done I'll say "good bye" and fade away. Be thankful for your abilities and faculties and create. Sorry for my whining so would someone bring the cheese and crackers and let's have a pipe party lol.

Sent from my HTC0P3P7 using Tapatalk

Posted: **Wed May 21, 2014 8:28 am**

Learn the basics and practice. My karate and judo instructors would have me repeat thousands of times every move. I found in time this was useful as it instilled discipline and made my movements second nature. When they saw this, a certain freedom to explore was given. In this freedom i found it worked or didn't.
A pipe is similar, as been said, make a beautiful pipe with correct engineering. Then look at it for days , if necessary and ask, did I accomplish my goals? Probably the most important thing to remember is to enjoy the journey. If you find you don't, then you aren't a pipe carver. If you do, the possibilities are endless.
Most will not become wealthy in pipe carving, Due to the state of problems in todays society, however you will be rich in the knowledge that you are among the elites of a craft that is most honorable and wanted by the brothers and sisters of the Briar. All the rest is just an ego pissing contest. So if you have a burning desire to create pipes don't let the fools pull you down. Make the pipes till hell won't' have it. Most of all enjoy the journey,it's yours. Most of the pipe makers, carvers of today got there the hard way, then put it all together. The new ones to the craft forget the forum is new. Listen to the ones that are willing to share their expertise.They are the means to what you want. Thanks for your comments todd.

pipemakersforum.com

Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"

Re: Pipe "Alchemy"