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For any of you that might be buying Bakelite for the first time on eBay, etc. Make sure you are getting the color you think you are. My excitement over the giant rod of brown Bakelite that I acquired, quickly dissipated upon the realization, while facing the first stem, that it is purple...not brown. Purple. Barney the dinosaur purple. On the upside, my wife now wants me to make her a pipe. : )

Micah

You need to always ask the seller for a photo of the Bakelite cut exposing the end.
The surface coloration is pronounced on vintage Bakelite.

Thanks Bruce. That's good advice. I'll make sure to do that on future purchases.

Micah

Hey at least you can get bakelite over there. Never shows up ebay uk except for one guy who keeps posting the same bits, about 4" long 1" diameter and he wants $300 for it, that would be an expensive stem!

Chris, there is a lot of that over here too. I got lucky with the Bakelite I have, as I got it cheaper than ebonite. That was months ago and it hasn't happened since. I'm curious if there is a better way to get it than eBay...although I suspect sources wouldn't be divulged freely due to the limited supply of the material. I have one pipe with a Bakelite stem, and I really enjoy it...it's too bad it's not easier to get.

Micah

Yeah I would like to get my hands on some as well. I have a good supplier of polyester which does offer me the variety I want but nothing really compares to a good piece of bakelite.

Several years back I went to Stone Mountain Ga to look over the inventory of J. H. Lowe. They were selling as much as they could and what they could not sell was going to be bought in a lump by Tim West. You guys would not believe how much stuff was there. It was all neatly organized on shelves in a large basement. We are talking three large rooms full of cool stuff. His daughter was not particularly interested in the business and she just let me fish through.......for hours.
I bought a lot of fancy antique bands and those neat caps that you put on the top of the bowls ect. I regret it but I passed on the bakelite. The next week I called about that and they sold every piece to some one in the jewelry business.

He had a georgous old band saw and a very nice lathe. I did not need either. There must have been three old Atlas lathes. I did buy a boreing machine that I rarely use but it is very old and interesting. The stuff Tim bought did not include the machinery.