Teipen Sandblasted Bent Billiard

[wdteipen]

Finished this one up this morning. It's a sandblasted half bent billiard with a Cumberland stem. The tenon is integrated Cumberland and the pipe has a nice tenon fit with a Delrin mortise sleeve. Let me know what you think.

Overall Length: 4.89"
Chamber Diameter: 13/16"
Chamber Depth: 1.58"
Airway Diameter: 5/32"
Weight: 1.1oz / 32g

[TRS]

That is gorgeous and I love it.

[Sasquatch]

The most discharitable thing I can find to say about it is that I think the shape of the shank could match the overall feel of the pipe better.

How so?

The stem is chubby, even bulbous, clearly on purpose - a guy could have gone to a saddle, for instance, if he wanted to cut that down.

The bowl is chubby, and again, maybe not bulbous, but stout. A little more rounded than a real tight English billiard would be.

Curve up into the shank, and then it basically goes straight for about 3/4" before the stem transition - losing the pleasantly pregnant lines that the rest of the pipe has.

So I think the pipe would be improved by one of two things - either continue the curvaciousness and give us a swelled and curved shank, or knock a little of the bloat out of the stem, and give us the idea that the pipe is all one in terms of a shaping idea.

I'm going to post some pics of bent billies that exemplify some of these ideas.

Here's a "tight" version of the pipe, in a sense - hard edges abound on both pipes, but the top one particularly (stout stem but no "bloat" at all:





Here's a pipe where the shank curves into the stem curve quite seamless, not a billiard but the idea applies.


and another, more of a billiard




The English way to do a bent billy involves basically a straight shank that is set at an angle, possibly tapering:



More Italian seems to be this idea of curving the shank and swinging into the stem:

http://www.thebriary.com/index.php/ital ... lo-13.html





So.... a whirlwind tour of a very finicky little idea. But I find that this pipe sits right between these ideas, or rather, I guess, it presents both.

I like the spidery blast and the finish, and the proportions and bevel on the rim are very, very nice.

[wdteipen]

Thanks for the feedback fellas. And, you're exactly right, Todd. I ran into a bit of a dilemma because I couldn't make the shank any more slender because of the airway on the back face of the shank. I figured I'd give it a bit of a slope but by the time I realized it needed that I had already turned it down too much and didn't have enough briar left to shape it without creating a reverse taper. The only thing I could do was to go for short and chubby. It would have been better either with a curvier shank or more slender bowl and shank like you said.

[Sasquatch]

One of the reasons I make "simple" pipes as often as not, Wayne, is that they are just so incredibly hard to get "just right", and until I beat that challenge, I don't feel especially ready to move "up". Though when I do a freehand now, it seems pretty easy if I have a good concept for it, so obviously overthinking these simple pipes is having a positive effect on other carving applications.

[Growley]

Looks nice Wayne. Looking at this pipe tells me I still need to take a little more wood off the walls so to speak. You've got a nice narrow rim and it looks great.

[wdteipen]

Looks nice Wayne. Looking at this pipe tells me I still need to take a little more wood off the walls so to speak. You've got a nice narrow rim and it looks great.

Yeah, this one is a bit chubby as Sas notes. Less English and more Danish. Almost an egg or brandy but slender enough I think to still be considered a billiard. I would have tucked in the gut a bit more if I could have made the shank more slender.

[jogilli]

Wayne

That is nice.. the chubbyness fits.. and your sandblast I really like

james