2nd Briar Pipe - Bent Billiard

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

I have been planning on doing a pipe for Jim (Jimbo) for a while now, what with one thing and another finances have not been favourable. I would have been able to rally a few quid together just now and decided now was the time to look into getting a pipe done for Jim before the boat sailed kind of thing.

I looked into buying a pre-drilled kit in the UK and let me tell you the choices are none to why bother, things were not looking good. I wondered if it would have been too cheeky to ask Chris (Askwith Pipes) if he could make me a pre-drilled pipe kit with a stem for £30. I knew I was pushing my luck as Chris is a professional and asking him something like this just seemed like as cheeky as I could get, but I was in dire straights so I took the plunge, after all, the worst thing he would say would be no, so I PM'd Chris with my request.

I explained to Chris how I wanted to make a gift pipe for Jim as a sort of 'cheer him up' present as he's been through the wringer of late and I wanted to do something nice for him. Chris got back to me very quickly and would you believe his response, just you check this out. Chris said of course he would do me a pre-drilled kit with a stem and that £30 was more than enough as he would do it as a kindness due to the reason for my asking for the kit.

We had several interactions via PM regarding the block and stem, Chris has been fantastic, he not only selected a superb block for the kit, he fitted a gorgeous Amber coloured Lucite stem and he even pre-cut the basic shape for me to help me in my endeavour. The pipe kit arrived this morning and I have been working away at it like a mule all day, I have already spent over 8 hours on this pipe so far, it's a little ways off so far but it is nearly there, have a butchers at some piccies showing the kit as it arrived and some stages in the process....

This is how the pipe kit arrived, it was perfect.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Here I have cut away the excess briar for the shank.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Here I have cut away the excess for the bowl.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

The following are 3 stages of filing, this was the longest stretch of work, about 5 hours all together.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

This is the initial phase of finsihing off the shaping and the pre-cursor fine sanding.













The fine sanding is now finsihed.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

I have finished the final shaping, fine sanding and dying of the pipe.

This is the pipe after the final shaping and fine sanding










This is the pipe with the dye having just been applied (this is to really draw out the grain)














This is the pipe with the dye fine sanded from the pipe leaving a really heavily accentuated grain.










Further dye will be removed with tripoli on the buffing wheels, this is yet to be done.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

The first round of buffing with Tripoli revealed a horde of nasty little scratches all over the place on the Briar which weren't evident prior to buffing, so it was back to 400 grit sanding and through the fine sanding process again. An hour of fine sanding later and I was ready to go with no more nasty little scratches any more, don't you just love it when life gives ya a slap in the face like that, anyhoooo......


This is the pipe after it has been buffed using Tripoli and then Diamond White in readiness for waxing.










Now the pipe is waxed and ready to go.














Jim has his pipe and he loves it, thank the gods!

[The Smoking Yeti]

I rather like this billiard a lot- there are a few small things you can focus on with your next pipe.

With the shank, it begins to "pinch" or narrow as it approaches the stem, there is a subtle kink of line right at the junction because of this.

I think that is the biggest critique I have of this one- it is very nicely done for sure, and only your second briar pipe!

Cheers!

Yeti

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Thanks for your interest Yeti, can you show me on an edited copy of one of my piccies to show where you're seeing the kink please, I need some proper wood files to be honest, the ones I have are very old and don't work so well, after filing away all that wood my hands were seriously knackered mate, just wish there weren't so many files to choose from, I'm lost with it all to be honest.

[The Smoking Yeti]

As far as files go- I only use a couple- Nicholson has a great "flat bastard" cut file, which I use a lot for rough shaping. The other great tool, is simple 120 or 180 grit sandpaper wrapped around a cork board rectangle- any ol' cork board from a hobby store will do- the slight padding makes rounding edges/ cleaning up after files easy.

Here's an image pointing to the kink, and the erase marks(black) show where I would've taken off more material to smooth out the transition.



Cheers!

Yeti

[Sasquatch]

Yup - what shows is that a bunch of shaping was done without the stem on to see that the lines stayed true, so there's a fatness to the shank, the way it tapers, rather than a more tubular effect.

Good job though!

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

As far as files go- I only use a couple- Nicholson has a great "flat bastard" cut file, which I use a lot for rough shaping. The other great tool, is simple 120 or 180 grit sandpaper wrapped around a cork board rectangle- any ol' cork board from a hobby store will do- the slight padding makes rounding edges/ cleaning up after files easy.

Here's an image pointing to the kink, and the erase marks(black) show where I would've taken off more material to smooth out the transition.



Cheers!

Yeti

Thanks for your input there Yeti, I will look to such factors in the future, good of you to advise me there truly appreciated.

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Yup - what shows is that a bunch of shaping was done without the stem on to see that the lines stayed true, so there's a fatness to the shank, the way it tapers, rather than a more tubular effect.

Good job though!

Nah, the stem was attached throughout shaping Sas, what you're seeing there mate is my inexperience, with the favour of the gods this will improve in time, thanks for your input Buddy, really appreciate it.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Dude. When Sas says good job... it means he loves you. Deeply.

Congrats!

Yeti

[Kirk Fitzgerald]

Dude. When Sas says good job... it means he loves you. Deeply.

Congrats!

Yeti

To be honest Buddy I am way beyond flattered here, I figured I would get a whole bunch of "don't post crap like this again" kind of comments, I am deeply and profoundly moved by the love coming through here, I hope I get good enough at this in time to do the kindness shown me here credit.

[Rodneywt1180b]

Really nice looking pipe-especially for a second one. Your friend will be pleased. Thanks for the documentation of the build too. I think it will help other beginners too.
Rodney