Fess up

[Sasquatch]

All right. Who bought Jaume's Large #49?

You bastard.


I hope they're like swiss cheese.

[JMG]

Somebody give Sas a hug...I'm not doing it.

[KurtHuhn]

I'll give him a hug.

And a cookie.

[Sasquatch]

Thanks Kurt.


Do I have to, you know, do anything else, for the cookie?

[JMG]

Thanks Kurt.


Do I have to, you know, do anything else, for the cookie?

[mredmond]

Nothing is free, Sas...

[KurtHuhn]

Hugs and cookies are free.

Secrets of sandblasting require booze and a walk in the woods.

[mredmond]

Images of Ned Beatty just appeared in my mind. Yikes.

[Sasquatch]

Let's just say the dress code at Huhn's isn't overly formal.

[e Markle]

Do I have to, you know, do anything else, for the cookie?

Rad wants to know if you can squeal like a pig?

[RadDavis]

Do I have to, you know, do anything else, for the cookie?

Rad wants to know if you can squeal like a pig?

Rad doesn't want to know anything about this.

Rad

[ckr]

Rad doesn't want to know anything about this.

I hear you.

[Boekweg]

@sasquatch,

Is that Jaume's Large #49? Why yes it is. . . . . . . YOINK!!! you snooze you lose!

[Sasquatch]

LOL yup.

That looked like 3 good pieces to me. I bought 53 because I wanted that big ugly block in the middle for a big ugly pipe, which is what I tend to make.

[Mike Messer]

LOL yup.

That looked like 3 good pieces to me. I bought 53 because I wanted that big ugly block in the middle for a big ugly pipe, which is what I tend to make.

Honestly, I'm not hostile or being argumentative when I say this, I try never to hold grudges, if I get into a disagreement with someone, when it's over, it's over, as far as I'm concerned.
So, I am, truly, trying to point out something about your design thinking, I think I see, which may be affecting your pipemaking, and which may be helpful to you. You have been helpful to me at times and others, too.
This is my opinion, understand, and whatever I say, don't let it hang you up.
I think you are fixated on the notion that you make ugly pipes, and are rejecting the notion that you can do anything else. For the record, I, personally, am not especially hung-up on the notion that pipes have to be "Pretty." I prefer, "Cool," personally, which may or may not be "Pretty."
I think, the idea is, that if you get all of those kind of notions out of your head, then you can level-off and do better work. Which does not mean that you would be doomed to make "Pretty" (Yuk) pipes.

[Sasquatch]

I don't happen to share all of the design or aesthetics principles held by any particular maker - no one does, I suppose.

Personally, I prefer large pipes and I also prefer carved pipes over just about anything. But that's just my own predilection about what I like to smoke out of and hold.

The face I wear around here is one often enough of self-mockery, and that probably won't change. I do this stuff for fun. Compared to an average pipe smoker, my knowledge of pipe making is masterful. Compared to a master pipe maker, my knowledge and abilities are less.

I know where my skills are at. In the hundred or so pipes I've sold some WERE ugly!

When I feel like it, I can do delicate, and when I feel like it, I can do "artsy"








Pipes I make now are better shaped overall than pipes I made a year ago. That makes me happy.

But when I see a great big block of briar with crazy graining, I still get a hard-on and think "Wow, I could make a big ugly mofo of a pipe with that."

[KurtHuhn]

Self deprecation and self effacement are two activities I personally engage in on a regular basis. You just can't take yourself too seriously if your aim is to have fun at what you do.

[Charl]

And I suppose one of the general and hardest characteristics of pipemakers is perfectionism: no pipe is ever good enough!

[Mike Messer]

Self deprecation and self effacement are two activities I personally engage in on a regular basis. You just can't take yourself too seriously if your aim is to have fun at what you do.

..self effa-what?-ment is that?

Eating piles of wood dust, and ebonite dust, aches and pains...
I just washed some toxic epoxy hardener off my hands with some toxic methyl alcohol.
Are we having fun yet?
The fun, to me, is when the work is done, and I have a cool looking pipe to show.

I've been seeing Sas pipes for some time on a pipe smokers forum, before he recently came out of his Sasquatch pseudonym and launched his web site, and I didn't think they were especially ugly, except for this one pipe that he sold to Natch. The prices were ridiculously cheap, and I thought, "Damn, man, that's giving them away, and maybe he does think they are ugly, and that's why he's selling them so cheap."
So, when he launched his web site, I go look at his pipes, and by this time, I've heard him mention his "Ugly Pipes" so many times, he's sold me on the idea, and I say, Jez, he seems to know a lot about pipes, but, damn, his pipes are plain ugly.
Well, pipemaking is not exactly easy, but to the average person, it ain't rocket science, and, "How much do you need to know to drill a couple of holes in a piece of wood?"
I think it is more about refinement and appearance than about technicals, anyway, like Rad has said more than once, but I, also, tend to consider the technicals a lot, too.
I hope that helps.
M.M.

[Mike Messer]

...a big ugly pipe, which is what I tend to make.

This is what you said (and I've seen it before) and what motivated me to make the statement about "Pretty" pipes.
Maybe you've seen the Melanie Griffith movie "Cherry 2000." There was a cyborg girl in the movie which (who) used the term, "Pretty" in a way that reeked of superficiallity.
I think, maybe, you lean the other way, but no big deal, just a personality trait, I guess, like being humble, or not self-righteous and egotistical.

edit: spelling..reeked