How detailed are your notes?

[scotties22]

I was thinking this morning that I might want to start taking notes on the pipes I make....ya know, just in case one is actually worth repeating. How detailed do you get when you archive a pipe? Every measurement you can possibly get? I'm sure I know the answer to this, but I like to be a little exasperating. If I wasn't you guys would start to think that I really wasn't a girl.

And if you've never seen a Scottie (I was gonna say "Wiener in the wild....my maiden name is Wieners.) in the wild before.......this is what they look like.


Yup, that's me. In Mexico just after diving a cenote.....aahhhhhh, the memories.

In an effort to speed things along I tried to get this post off topic as quickly as possible

Scottie

[Tyler]

What notes? Only girls take notes.

Kidding...

about the girl part. Girls and Wayne take notes. I promise Wayne has notes. I don't. I'm organizationally challenged.

[ToddJohnson]

No notes, except the ones I scribble on my desk--part numbers, tracking numbers, etc. Generally speaking, I think girls probably do take better notes (no idea about Wayne's note-taking abilities). I studied from my wife's to pass all the classes I didn't show up for in college. I would also like to go on record as heartily endorsing girl pipe makers. I hope to have one myself someday soon!

TJ

[KurtHuhn]

In an effort to speed things along I tried to get this post off topic as quickly as possible

Well done!!

I do not take notes of any kind, though on my site I do archive the description pages that have measurements and stuff. Mostly because I never throw anything away, even digital stuff. Every once in a while I'll have someone send me a picture of a pipe I made a few years ago saying "I want one like this!" and I end up hunting down the measurements, but I'm not sure that qualifies as "notes".

[scotties22]

Maybe measurements is what I meant. I was just thinking how much easier it would be to duplicate something if I had something else to go off of other than a picture. I took tons of notes in college............and flunked out .

[jogilli]

As already mentioned.. Wayne has enclycopedias of notes.. OCD or something like that... me.. I just keep the drawings.. I have mole skin little notebook that has most of my designs in... I travel alot and draw/design when I'm on the plan or bored when sitting in a meeting somewhere..

James

[RadDavis]

I keep no notes at all, except what's listed on my website.

Rad

[SimeonTurner]

The most important things I ever write down are scribbled with a sharpie on my workbench (standard button width, standard tenon length, plans to take over the world). Other than that, I have a piece of paper that I keep track of pipe numbering on.

I hear Wayne takes notes about the notes he takes. Hard core.

[Growley]

When I was first starting out I had a bunch of notes on stuff that is 2nd nature now, like 5/32 airway, 1/16 at the bit, that type of thing.

Then as I started trying more complexed pipes with accent rings and such I found that I'd outline the process I needed to take to finish the pipe, meaning: Step 1. Draw pipe on block, Step 2. Cut block, and so on and so forth until I was finished. It helped me not forget simple steps like measuring for rings and so on. They can be really helpful when you can only spend an hour or two in the shop at a time. I've wrecked more than one pipe coming back to a project having forgotten "where I was" so to speak. I've even taped notes on my lathe that said, "Don't take block off lathe yet, you still need to....x,y,z."

Now, I don't use notes of any kind. I could see it being helpful if you came up with some awesome color or something by mixing, but oh well. No two are alike I guess.

If you're concerned with making more than one of the same pipe, then it might be worth it to keep templates of the pipe you drew on your block.

So, my wife = great note taker, me = great doodler....Hence her getting great grades and me ending up in sales.

[Sasquatch]

I keep notes on pipes that customers come back to me and say "Oh this pipe is crazy super good." I just sort of mark down briar source, cut, grain, etc. Anything funny I might have done to the pipe.

Also I keep templates of shapes I really like. I have a calabash, an Oom Paul, couple of billiards.... not that I make the identical pipe but it helps with layout and orientation.

[wdteipen]

Looks like I should weigh in here.

Yes, I "take notes" on every pipe I make. I journal technical details and "notes" on what I like and dislike, what went well and didn't go well, and generally things to keep in mind to improve on with each successive pipe. As for the technical details (and I'm going from memory here which obviously isn't my forte hence the journal) I log the following:

General Information:
1) Pipe number in succession (ie. pipe #50)
2) Serial number for tracking purposes (I've gotten a bit less anal about this one and haven't been stamping every pipe with the serial number)
3) A brief description of the pipe (ie Sandblasted Bent Apple w/ Antler)
4) Shape
5) Stain color and process including how many coats of what and in what order
6) Origin and type of briar block (ebauchon, plateaux, extra, extra extra, cirta, tassili, etc.) and who I purchased it from
7) Embellishments (ie shank adornments, rings, and whatever)
Price sold for
9) Purchaser if known
10) Stem material and type

Technical Info (measured with calipers):
1) Overall Length
2) Height of Bowl
3) Bowl Outer Diameter
4) Tobacco Chamber Diameter
5) Airway Diameter
6) Mortise and Tenon Diameter
7) Mortise Depth
Tenon Length
9) Stem Length
10) Tobacco Chamber Depth
11) Bit Thickness Behind the Button
12) Button Height
13) Button Thickness
14) Tobacco Chamber Shape
15) Weight

Now you all are probably reading this and thinking "no wonder he only makes 20 pipes a year" but the whole process only takes me about 15 minutes per pipe.

[Sasquatch]

15 minutes? That's a whole pipe for Rad.

[Tyler]

Clearly, number 8 on each list is very special to you and makes you cool.

And you are a girl.

[d.huber]

I wonder if Wayne is drawing a correlation between "tenon length" and the price his pipe sells for.

[ToddJohnson]

I wonder if Wayne is drawing a correlation between "tenon length" and the price his pipe sells for.

Everyone knows it's not about tenon length, it's about tenon diameter!

TJ

[wdteipen]

It's all in how well you use the tenon the pipemaker gave you.

[scotties22]

It's all in how well you use the tenon the pipemaker gave you.

AMEN BROTHER!!!!!!.....

Well, I guess I did ASK for this to get off topic. And am a bit dissapointed in you fellas. I throw you a great bone (really no pun intended) about my maiden name and not one of you bit.....sad, I say, sad.

Thanks for the insight. I knew there was someone out there like Wayne that detailed things way, way more than needed.

[wdteipen]

I've heard rumors that BDP is more meticulous about it than I am but that's unconfirmed.

[wdteipen]

And am a bit dissapointed in you fellas. I throw you a great bone (really no pun intended) about my maiden name and not one of you bit.....sad, I say, sad.

The conversation would have ended the same anyway.

[scotties22]

Yup, you are all stuck on Yeti boobies and tenon lengths....That's why I love it here.