bark finish poker

[Massis]

First one I've done in well over a year since renovating my workshop. Furthermore this is the first filtered pipe I've ever done.

I'm rather happy with it, didn't have to cheat anywhere, the fit is nice and solid.
Even better, this is the first one I've managed to get a perfectly round shank on

As always, critique is welcome and can be brutally honest.













dimensions:
weight:56 gr
length: 110mm
width: 37 mm
height: 52mm
chamber diameter: 19mm
chamber depth: 40mm

[Massis]

96 views and not a single point of critique? To be honest, I did expect a bit more response on all the things that are probably still wrong with this pipe.

[BigCasino]

I like the shaping, and the rustication, I know this is a filter pipe, but your tenon is incredibly long and almost looks as if it will be in the bowl, and the bite zone looks looks pretty thick, and you your slot needs polished, and from the top view your bowl looks out of round, and your stain looks uneven

[Massis]

I like the shaping, and the rustication, I know this is a filter pipe, but your tenon is incredibly long and almost looks as if it will be in the bowl, and the bite zone looks looks pretty thick, and you your slot needs polished, and from the top view your bowl looks out of round, and your stain looks uneven

The tenon is quite long indeed. It never really occurred to me until just now that it might be better to make a short tenon and a mortise in 2 steps (1 part accomodating the tenon, the second accomodating the rest of the filter).
Luckily there's still ample wood between mortise and bowl.

As to the bite zone, I find it very comfortable at this thickness, but I haven't measured it yet. I'll check tonight how thick it is exactly and see if it's me or the pictures

The bowl is in fact round (or pretty damn close), it's just a play of lights & angle in the pictures that make it appear slightly oval.

Finally: any tips on how to polish the slot in the stem would be greatly appreciated. I feel that's one of the bigger hurdles I need to take... I've searched around on here but haven't really found anything that I've managed to apply succesfully to my pipes.

Same goes for the stain. I find it hard to see if the stain is even, though that might be caused by my being colourblind (difficulty telling the difference between red/green/brown hues)

[sandahlpipe]

To polish the slot, fold sandpaper into a long thin triangle and sand 220 grit, 320, 400, 600, and 1000. Maybe even 2000 if you want.

As for stain, make sure you're sanding in good light. Make sure you have sanded evenly at whatever grit you're staining after. If you've got some 120 grit spots and some 320 grit spots, stain will soak in differently on each. Personally, I like to sand to 400 or 600 grit before I stain so it goes on even. Then you can heat up the briar before staining to let the grain open.


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[BigCasino]

find some thin cotton string, I found some long very thin shoe laces at a shoe store, maybe for baby shoes I dunno, but I slip them trough and then put the polishing compound on the shoe string, and then slide the stem back and forth a few times, I have also just udes pipe cleaners with compound on them works well enough

[sandahlpipe]

find some thin cotton string, I found some long very thin shoe laces at a shoe store, maybe for baby shoes I dunno, but I slip them trough and then put the polishing compound on the shoe string, and then slide the stem back and forth a few times, I have also just udes pipe cleaners with compound on them works well enough

You can also put some compound on a pipe cleaner and do the same thing.


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[d.huber]

96 views and not a single point of critique? To be honest, I did expect a bit more response on all the things that are probably still wrong with this pipe.

The lack of feedback is your feedback, I'm sorry to say. Harry and Jeremiah gave you some good tips but they're just scratching the surface. I'm not going to lay out everything that I see wrong because it's a lot.

Seeing this pipe, my first thought is: you need to make more pipes.

On your next one, focus on the things that have been mentioned and, if your next is a poker, create a wider angle between the bowl and the shank.

[Massis]

To polish the slot, fold sandpaper into a long thin triangle and sand 220 grit, 320, 400, 600, and 1000. Maybe even 2000 if you want.

As for stain, make sure you're sanding in good light. Make sure you have sanded evenly at whatever grit you're staining after. If you've got some 120 grit spots and some 320 grit spots, stain will soak in differently on each. Personally, I like to sand to 400 or 600 grit before I stain so it goes on even. Then you can heat up the briar before staining to let the grain open.

The good light might currently be an issue as all I have is a window (not much use at 11pm) and a single fluorescent tube... I still haven't found the right transfo for my dentist light (need a 240V => 24V transfo which can handle 150W) so no focus light yet.

I usually sand to 320, then add the base stain (usually black) and then move to 400,stain a first layer of colour and then after 600 add the final stain before buffing.
I also heat up the briar, maybe the difference in temperature on certain pieces of the pipe might let it soak in differently?

How about lighting alcohol-based stains on fire after applying? I saw this technique being used by BigBen in their factory and have been doing it since, but maybe it's a bad idea?

The lack of feedback is your feedback, I'm sorry to say. Harry and Jeremiah gave you some good tips but they're just scratching the surface. I'm not going to lay out everything that I see wrong because it's a lot.

Seeing this pipe, my first thought is: you need to make more pipes.

On your next one, focus on the things that have been mentioned and, if your next is a poker, create a wider angle between the bowl and the shank.

I interpreted the lack of feedback as this pipe being rather terrible, but I find it hard to see why, which is why I made that second post. I don't expect everyone to point out every little detail or to take an hour to analyse it. Just like I don't expect to be able to fix all of them in the next pipe (or even the next 50), but I did hope for some pointers on what to focus on first.
Luckily now that there's some response, I've got some focuspoints for the next ones.

I don't really understand the last remark though. The angle is now near 90 degrees (perpendicular is what I went for). Did you mean it would be preferrable to have the bowl canted forward, away from the shank?

[d.huber]

I don't really understand the last remark though. The angle is now near 90 degrees (perpendicular is what I went for). Did you mean it would be preferrable to have the bowl canted forward, away from the shank?

Bingo! 90 deg does not look like 90 deg. The bowl appears to pull backwards and the shank appears to pull upwards as a result. Cant the bowl away from the shank a little more and your results will be much better.

[Massis]

I don't really understand the last remark though. The angle is now near 90 degrees (perpendicular is what I went for). Did you mean it would be preferrable to have the bowl canted forward, away from the shank?

Bingo! 90 deg does not look like 90 deg. The bowl appears to pull backwards and the shank appears to pull upwards as a result. Cant the bowl away from the shank a little more and your results will be much better.

So the same concept as applied in billiards? Should've realised

[sandahlpipe]

For lighting, I probably have 20 different lamps in my shop. You can never have too much light. I get most of them cheap from Ikea, but really any light is just fine. If you want to bring out the true colors, you can buy full spectrum bulbs, but it's not truly necessary.

Burning off stain is fun, but probably not necessary. I usually apply several coats until the block is saturated and then one more and wipe off the excess.

When you see people doing things like burning off stain, ask yourself what they are accomplishing. Then determine whether you wish to accomplish the same thing in the same way or if there's a better way.


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[Massis]

I assumed lighting the stain would quickly evaporate the alcohol in it, setting the stain quicker and better into the wood, allowing me to continue sanding without wiping off all the stain with my sanding paper. Seeing as I haven't tried all methods on dozens of pipes, I can't really compare yet.

This is pipe no. 9 for me, so there's not that much experience to rely on (which I why I'm trying to learn as much from the info on this board).

[Red]

Massis, I think your rustication is really effective, and I like your choice of stain for the "bark". What did you use to get that effect?

[E.L.Cooley]

Massis, I don't know much about much, unless you'd like to rap about heating and cooling. But, here my input fwiw.
If you could post your pics larger, not giant but the next size up. I often am on a mobil and I could not expand them big enough to see.


Sent from my banana phone.

[Massis]

they're clickable and will then open up to 800x600 px, but I'll add a few big ones on here later today.

@Red, the trick is in a combination of different sizes of (brass I think) wire wheels (same I use for cleaning up plateaux) and some wood chisels, all used at different pressures.
The bark is stained nothing but dark walnut, but because of the way I polish, the valleys stay near black while the ridges clear up and show the grain.

[Massis]

Like promised, here are some bigger pictures. So I checked some of the remarks with the pipe in hand.
As to the angle of the shank: it's dead on 90 degrees. The upside is that it came out at what I went for, I just went for the wrong result. Now that I know better what to go for I won't make that mistake again

As to the top being out of round: both the inside of the rim and the outside are nearly perfect circles. I think the oval look is caused by the chamber not being 100% on center of the stummel, but slightly of to the front.

Finally, the bit thickness is around 5mm, so yeah, that's rather on the thick side.

[sandahlpipe]

Much better picture size. As for the stem, I usually shoot for 3.5mm. Most people Aim for under 4mm.

Also, the crease behind your button isn't very sharp. You can find a video on here on how to get a sharp crease. And the sides of the button look like they come out beyond the stem just a hair. They should be flush with the stem or slightly narrower.

Keep yo the good work! The rustication does look pretty cool.

[E.L.Cooley]

Yeah, the bigger pics really work better for me. Maybe I was alone on it? Looks great. Love the rustication job.


Sent from my banana phone.

[Massis]

The first pictures were the same size you know, you just had to click them I'll see if I can get them full size on here as well.

edit: adjusted the first pictures to decent size