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Well, I'm working on a cheesy little post about some design woes (actually changes I had to make during progress due to pits) I have with this pipe.

That's not ready yet, but these pictures are. So here goes......

Very cool, I like it. The stem shank junction is very unusual. A very different take on a rhodesian/bulldog.

Wowaweewah! This one rocks! I'd call it a squat bulldog...

Sweet. I too like the stem/shank junction concoction... very original and elegant.

Nice one!

That's really cool. Shape and grain working very very well.

Nicely done, Chris!

I like that pipe a lot. Very cool.

Rad

Supercool, I like it lots.

Thanks Guys, for the kind words. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.
I do have a couple of things I wanted to say about it that I thought might be helpful, but I need to scan a couple of drawings and such. I'm just having a little lunch break now (1 o'clock west cost time) but I'll get it done this evening.

The jist of it is that, since I had to "lower" the pipe in the block after I drilled it, the air hole is too high to fit the original design. In profile, the shank should actually taper almost as much as it does as seen from the top.
(Don't worry, that wouldn't make any sense to me either if I hadn't just typed it.) Illustrations forthcoming.........

Thanks again,
chris

Sweet

nothing cheesy about this. it's a fine looking shape, very original. nice work.

I understand what you are saying, Chris, and I guess this is why lots of guys do a large amount of shaping before they drill. You find those nasty pits or whatever, and work around them, and then you can drill where you need, and the shape doesn't suffer, right?

As it is, you still have a very unique pipe in many ways, and while that little piece of design misery bugs you, it isn't likely to be noticed by the majority of people who look at your pipe. I mean, this is a really fussy lot, around here, and no one said much of anything about that, for instance!

I am curious about how you did that transition between stem and stummel. I asssume that the stem was round off the lathe, and you filed it into final shape with it "plugged in"?

Well, for reasons way too boring to get into (involving the twirling beachball of death, for you Mac users) I can only get this drawing posted now.

It does give an idea, I hope, of what I mean about the taper in profile. It's not a big deal, really, since I'm pretty open to changing ideas and perspectives. (Hence, the nickname loosewatches I use on other forums)

I drill, (again, for reasons too boring..) on a milling table I made for my pocket sized mini lathe. It's not great, but it works. That lathe is so incredibly tiny, that I can't really drill by hand with the tailstock. I don't have the skills now to do it any other way. I have a wood lathe but I'm still lacking funds to finish making my jaws for it.

You're right, though, sasquatch, that would be the way to it.

I drilled it on my little milling table and then shaped on a disk sander. The only thing I did on the lathe as far as shaping was clean up the outer circumference of the bowl, (The place where the rings would be if I didn't chicken out.....) and clean up my sloppy rim shaping with 150 grit. I did this by making a wooden taper to fit in the headstock, and turning the business end to fit the tobacco hole like a pin gauge. I guess pictures would help, here, too.

It's nearly impossible to turn anything bigger than a key chain sized pipe without destroying it on a mini lathe. (OK this pipe fit on there. Without the stem it's 3 and 3/4 inches.) I have to turn my compound slide 90 degrees and use that, and though it works, I wouldn't recommend it. Nerves of steel (which don't have) are needed.

I decided that since I couldn't get the "pinched" effect I was looking for in the profile, I'd pinch the whole shank in side to side. Actually, and I know isn't exactly logical, it seems to me to be wearing bell bottoms. (Flared trousers for you Brits.) Logically, were it more pinched in profile it should look More flared, but. O well.

Too much coffee this morning, I do think. And I'm off to a birthday party full of family and five-year-olds. Yay!

(And I still haven't even mentioned what that "moving of the shape" did to the ass end of the pipe. More on this later ......if I can get my pikturz up)

I think I like your actual "field result" better than your drawing.

Sasquatch wrote:I think I like your actual "field result" better than your drawing.

I agree, smoking a drawing would be difficult.

Wow! That's a beautiful pipe. I love how the shank pinches real narrow on the underside. Very cool.