The Obligatory Billiard

[Literaryworkshop]

All the stuff I've seen written to novice pipe makers says, "Start with the fundamentals! Make a billiard!"

Challenge accepted. Here's the obligatory first billiard from this novice. Tell me what you think.

















A few specs: the bowl is 7/8" in diameter, and the wood is cherry. It's really just a prototype. I'm getting confident enough at the drill press now to drill my own holes, so I think I'm ready to start drilling some real briar now. This is all shaped by hand with rasps and files--no lathe. The billiard form is really best suited to a lathe (one small cylinder intersecting a larger cylinder with a dome on one end), so I didn't enjoy making this one as much as I've enjoyed some other forms I've tried. But it's an apprentice piece, so I'm glad I tried it.

It's not a perfect pipe, and I could give my own critique, but I really want some experienced pipe makers to tell me what they see in this one.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

That's exactly what I would expect a first billiard to look like. Actually it Gains a few points for being done without a lathe. The premolded stem is the major part that sticks out. The stem fits pretty flush, which most first timers miss, but the whole stem needs to be sanded and refined. Otherwise it looks pretty good. The bowl dips below the stem line and the bowl needs a bit more of a curve to the walls rather than being a straight cylinder. Your next one will improve some of these, and each additional pipe will be better yet.

[wdteipen]

pot.....not your work; the shape.

[Literaryworkshop]

Yes, a pot. The billiard shape does have a certain simplicity about it, which I can appreciate, and it's exactly that simplicity of form that makes them a challenge to perfect.

Anyhow, what specifically should have been done with the stem? Should it be narrower in the middle when seen from above, perhaps?

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

It isn't the shape of the stem that needs work, it is the finishing and the refining of the button I was referring to.

[Literaryworkshop]

Reshaping the button is pretty easy with a smooth file. Not being much of a pipe smoker myself, I'm not sure what works and what doesn't when it comes to the button. I'll have to let my pipe-smoking friends tell me how to make the button more comfortable.