Unfinished (but functional) manzanita branch pipe
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:37 pm
This isn't a normal pipe - not crafted from a block, no lathe involved at any point. I cut a thick branch off a large manzanita bush and channeled the pith out, then backfilled with clay. It's 12" long; the branch is spiral shaped. Kind of a show piece, but I'm definitely going to use it.
Materials: A manzanita branch, disposable pipe cleaners and a candle (for molding the channel), polymer clay, and sadly, a little superglue I'm ventilating this pipe for the next week or so. Afterwards, I'll be comfortable smoking from it myself, but I'll never consider selling one of these unless I can figure some alternative to superglue.
Tools: sandpaper for de-barking and surfacing, drill, dremel.
Manzanita is notorious for hiding imperfections under the bark. If you try to drill out said imperfections they just spider cracks everywhere. I resorted to drilling a well into cracks, strengthening them with glue and then filling the well with clay. Again, an unacceptable choice for anything to be sold.
It was difficult to get the clay to set this way in a small channel, but possible. This took considerable experimentation, and I'm actually surprised I didn't split the branch. Baking the clay failed 4 times.
I'd love to perfect this method, because I think this pipe is very cool. Does anyone else have experience working manzanita and some suggestions on how to prevent cracks from spreading with non-toxic materials? I hunted in the sonoma hills for hours until I found a branch with an interesting shape and perfect bark. This turned out not to be good enough - there was still rot in the pith and drying the branch started several cracks that had to be reinforced. Also, I need to find information on how to attach a standard stem, but I suspect I can find that by digging around this forum.
Thanks for your input!
-Aaron
Materials: A manzanita branch, disposable pipe cleaners and a candle (for molding the channel), polymer clay, and sadly, a little superglue I'm ventilating this pipe for the next week or so. Afterwards, I'll be comfortable smoking from it myself, but I'll never consider selling one of these unless I can figure some alternative to superglue.
Tools: sandpaper for de-barking and surfacing, drill, dremel.
Manzanita is notorious for hiding imperfections under the bark. If you try to drill out said imperfections they just spider cracks everywhere. I resorted to drilling a well into cracks, strengthening them with glue and then filling the well with clay. Again, an unacceptable choice for anything to be sold.
It was difficult to get the clay to set this way in a small channel, but possible. This took considerable experimentation, and I'm actually surprised I didn't split the branch. Baking the clay failed 4 times.
I'd love to perfect this method, because I think this pipe is very cool. Does anyone else have experience working manzanita and some suggestions on how to prevent cracks from spreading with non-toxic materials? I hunted in the sonoma hills for hours until I found a branch with an interesting shape and perfect bark. This turned out not to be good enough - there was still rot in the pith and drying the branch started several cracks that had to be reinforced. Also, I need to find information on how to attach a standard stem, but I suspect I can find that by digging around this forum.
Thanks for your input!
-Aaron