pipemakersforum.com

Hey guys.

I finished this pipe yesterday. This one has taken a long time to finish for several reasons. First of I had to make the tool for the rings on the bowl, and then I had to make a cut-off tool to make the decoration ring. And as if those time consuming tools wasn't enough, I then moved on to mess up three rings untill I got it right.

And finally to top it all of, I sanded the whole pipe and stained it, only to discover sloppyness in the shaping of the shank (asymmetry that wasn't supposed to be there). I was going to leave it, but then I came to the realization that if I want to constantly increase the quality of my work, I can't leave shit like that, so it was back to the sanding disk.

I learned alot doing this pipe (like really checking the shaping before finishing the pipe) and there are also alot of firsts with it (like the type of stem, style of shank, type of decoration ring, first pipe with "bulldog rings" etc).

In the end the pipe came out alright. I have noticed that as my quality increase (at least it does in my mind), so does my self critisism, so you guys tell me if its good or not.


Oh, and the decoration ring is made from tagua nut, and the stem is ebonite.

pics

pics

Looks pretty nice! It can be frustrating to go back and fix things. Eventually, your eye will catch them before you move to the next step.

The two things I see right off the bat are the stain on the rim of the shank side of the bowl appears to be a bit lighter than everywhere else. Also, the shank looks like it changes angles where the stem meets. If I were getting really picky, the shank looks a little small for the bowl, but that's really picky.

Now some others may tell you your button is too thin from slot to bite area, but I like it as it is.

Keep up the good work! It's paying off.

Not bad at all. Two things I see that would have really improved the overall composition of this pipe is that the line of the top of the shank curves more than the bottom line so they don't match. Given the positioning of your mortise drilling, you've taken too much briar towards the bowl side on top of the shank so it dips. Secondly, the angle that you drilled your mortise is on a different plane than your shank is on so it interrupts the flow from your shank to your stem. I think your button is a touch too thin and a touch too tall. I also think Jeremiah's are too so take his opinion with a grain of salt. On a positive note, the bowl looks really well done and so does your stem work aside from the button which is still acceptable (but the design is going to narrow your market a bit which is the number one reason to go more traditional here.) Your tagua nut shank ring looks nice. I gave up on tagua nut because it's so brittle when you thin it down. It's a beautiful material but a real pain to work with.

Thanks guys. You're right about the stain on the rim (buffing cockup, it only takes a fraction of a second). The shank does change angle at the shank face, this however is how I planned it during the sketching of the pipe because i felt it would actually improve the swooping curve of the shank and stem. Now that the pipe is finished I realize that my thinking was flawed and it would've been better of square.
The "pinching" of the shank towards the bowl is also intentional because I felt the shank would be to bulky if I kept it the same thickness over the whole length, so I made it smaller towards the bowl, both from the side view and from the bottom/top view.

And Wayne, you are 100% about the tagua nuts, beautifull when finnished, but a pain to work with. The friggin' internal void is a bitch!

I was asked to take a picture of the pipe with the stem upside down, so here it is!

Albert.A wrote:I was asked to take a picture of the pipe with the stem upside down, so here it is!

Ah yes! I see you've made an Ebay pipe. Always cracks me up when I see one listed with the stem upside down.

Albert. Do you notice anything when you look at the pipe with the stem inverted?

Solomon_pipes wrote:Albert. Do you notice anything when you look at the pipe with the stem inverted?

First thing that comes to mind is the uncontinous flow of the shank to stem arch. I'd bet that if this curve would've been continous the pipe would look better with the stem turned the right way.
Am I close to what you had in mind?

Bingo! It is also easier to see the mortise axis issue.