pipemakersforum.com

** Please read first **

I sure hope this thread goes well and folks understand why I posted it!

I'm just a hobbyist making a pipe on occasion - however I've been a hobbyist for a few years now and have been working hard this year. If the pipe I have in mind comes out correctly I will be entering this year's carving contest, if it doesn't I won't. Regardless the contest is pushing me as a pipe maker so it's already a win for me.

The following pipe was a practice pipe for the contest. I wanted to try a few different ways of doing things and learn\experiment with some new tools as well. I have no ego invested in the below pipe, it was made for the exact purposes stated above. There are several things I did on this pipe that I would NOT do on a contest pipe and one or two I would do. The fact that a friend on my mailing list purchased it is a nice bonus is all.

Ok, that said, here is an excellent opportunity for the senior pipe makers on here to edjumicate the not so senior ones. If said senior folks are willing to invest a few minutes of their time that is.

So here are those 4 important pics, and this will be my only post in the thread so please consider this a sacrificial pipe and have at it with no worries about bruising any one's feelings. What do you like? What do you dislike? blah blah blah?

6" Lovat






Cheers,
Bill

The blast is very nice and dia. of the shank seems correct to the height of the bowl, altho the shank seems thicker at the button then at the stummel junction, altho that might be an illusion.
The front of the bowl and the back of the bowl do not mirror each other, and the stem seems to swoop down in the middle and flair at the stem shank junction and at the button, in the picture of the front of the bowl there is more meat on the right cheek.
all in all not too shabby for me anyways

There are A lot of things I like about the bowl. In my opinion it could use A little more "body" at the waist of the bowl. Blast looks good, and I think the cheeks are more even than they look in the picture. The pipe is slightly tilted to the right in that picture, and combined with the angled ring grain makes it appear asymmetrical. The shank does look a little bigger at the stem than the bowl. Where I see the majority of the problems is in the stem. The saddle doesn't work for me. It is too short and square. I struggle in this area too, that's why you don't really see any of my pipes with saddle stems. lol The stem also looks a little flat. It could use more curve across the stem. I think this would eliminate the strange profile of the stem. Also the button seems very rounded. I prefer a crisper look to the button. Most of this is opinion based and others will most likely have different aesthetic tastes. I would say that if you are going to do this shape you have the stummel pretty well in hand, but I think your saddle stems need more refinement. A straight taper stem, while maybe not correct for this shape, would show A lot better in my opinion.

In my humble opinion.

The bowl is too big for the shank both in diameter and height, thus making the pipe look unbalanced.

For a standard Billiard I would try to make the shank diameter about 1/3 of the bowl height.
(This is not a hard and fast rule, but is a good place to start).

I think you can get away with a smaller diameter shank on a long shanked pipe, but I think you went too far.

Also, the stem is too thin and the saddle too abrupt.

All in all, it is a fine pipe.

Todd

Nice pipe. I find the balance fine.
Just two little things: The saddle ring should mimic the taped off area (same size) and the button thickness appears to be thicker than toward the center of the stem.

Mr. weaver is spot on . I would add a little more curve to the upper bowl if it were smooth.