Small Pot...

[JMG]

4 3/4" long, 1 1/2" tall. George gave me some great advice on this stem, but unfortunately I had removed too much material already and was afraid of sanding into the delrin tenon. My bowl/shank transition is a bit too crisp. Ok, make me better.

[sandahlpipe]

It’s pretty close to perfect from what I can see. The pictures are a bit dark. If you can take your pictures near a window in daylight or with full spectrum bulbs around the pipe, it would help with the presentation.

The one thing I think would improve the overall appearance of the actual pipe is a domed rim. It’s a nice pipe.

[Ocelot55]

A couple of things I'd like to point out. Overall things are looking pretty good, but there are some things you can implement to give it more of the classic look.

1. Your shank has a reverse taper. That's a no no on classic designs. The shank should fatten up as you go from stem up the shank to the bowl. Not by much, we're talking like 1 degree of taper.
2. You need to take more material off the stem all around. It looks a little chunky especially up by the saddle. Work the "blade" of the stem over more.
3. This may be an area of debate, but again I'm approaching this from the classics perspective. Your transition from shank to bowl is too sharp. This is natural progression and in fact it's good to over define the transition while you get accustomed to shaping. It's okay to have a larger radius and turn that "crease" into a more gentle definition.
4. Like Jeremiah said, you should do something with the rim. Some English marquees like Comoy's had a hard bevel on the inner rim that looks great. A domed top also adds an additional touch that says, "Hey look at me! I pay close attention to detail!"

[JMG]

A couple of things I'd like to point out. Overall things are looking pretty good, but there are some things you can implement to give it more of the classic look.

1. Your shank has a reverse taper. That's a no no on classic designs. The shank should fatten up as you go from stem up the shank to the bowl. Not by much, we're talking like 1 degree of taper.
2. You need to take more material off the stem all around. It looks a little chunky especially up by the saddle. Work the "blade" of the stem over more.
3. This may be an area of debate, but again I'm approaching this from the classics perspective. Your transition from shank to bowl is too sharp. This is natural progression and in fact it's good to over define the transition while you get accustomed to shaping. It's okay to have a larger radius and turn that "crease" into a more gentle definition.
4. Like Jeremiah said, you should do something with the rim. Some English marquees like Comoy's had a hard bevel on the inner rim that looks great. A domed top also adds an additional touch that says, "Hey look at me! I pay close attention to detail!"

Thanks Jesse & Jeremiah...I just checked the shank with my calipers and the bowl end measures .6425mm and the stem end .6365. However, it's the barrel that goes awry as it measures in at .6510. Blerg!

I did initially have a domed rim, and, like a dummy, got carried away with my hand sanding and took it right off.

I will be attempting one like this again and will try hard to put all this into practice. The first time I came home from PNG I think I made a bazillion dublins. So, the second time I swore to make any and all but. This time I really want to try to focus on honing precision. Really appreciate all the help.

[LatakiaLover]

You have a little "sag" on the shank behind the stem because of the hardness difference. (That line must be STRAIGHT)

One easy way to make it disappear from your workshop forever is as your final desired shape/dimension is approached, wrap the shank TIGHTLY with a single layer of Scotch "magic" tape (the frosty stuff you can write on, not the clear kind)

It stretches a bit, so use that---the tighter you make it the more abrasion resistant it is. It's absurdly hard to sand through with finishing grade paper, and if you do just replace it.

Result? The only thing that gets reduced in size is the stem. (the barrels of English saddles like yours are real shank-sag inducing bastards, too.)

Also, watch for "roll over" at the end of the barrel. You have only a teeny smidge, but it's there. The cure? Scotch tape again, this time one layer wrapped tightly around the last 1/8" or so of the barrel. Most of it will hang in space but that's OK. Just sand like it isn't there.

[RickB]

So huge rock of salt because I admittedly don't know the shaping particulars regarding pots (and it could be me working to train my eye to get billiards right), but it looks like this is drilled like a billiard but then the rim isn't perpendicular to the chamber - it looks to be a little lower on the front left and higher on the rear back portion - if this is me misunderstanding the shape then someone please correct me.
Only other thing that I noticed that I didn't see mentioned - I'm not positive from the pictures, but it looks like you might have a couple shop bear marks on the front of the bowl and bottom of the shank - chasing them out of the cross grain sections of ebauchon blocks gives me fits, so I've got a reasonable idea of what they look like there, but again, it might just be the pictures.
I'm highly envious of that underside shot of the bowl. I'll be real happy when the bottoms of my pipes look that good.
On the whole IAWPME (that's 'pretty much everybody') - nice looking pipe.

[JMG]

You have a little "sag" on the shank behind the stem because of the hardness difference. (That line must be STRAIGHT)

One easy way to make it disappear from your workshop forever is as your final desired shape/dimension is approached, wrap the shank TIGHTLY with a single layer of Scotch "magic" tape (the frosty stuff you can write on, not the clear kind)

It stretches a bit, so use that---the tighter you make it the more abrasion resistant it is. It's absurdly hard to sand through with finishing grade paper, and if you do just replace it.

Result? The only thing that gets reduced in size is the stem. (the barrels of English saddles like yours are real shank-sag inducing bastards, too.)

Also, watch for "roll over" at the end of the barrel. You have only a teeny smidge, but it's there. The cure? Scotch tape again, this time one layer wrapped tightly around the last 1/8" or so of the barrel. Most of it will hang in space but that's OK. Just sand like it isn't there.

I bought my magic tape today, George. As much as I hate to go back at this pipe since I've wrapped it up I may try to even out the barrel with the shank.

[JMG]

the tighter you make it the more abrasion resistant it is. It's absurdly hard to sand through with finishing grade paper

Pssh...hold my beer.

[LatakiaLover]

Lookin' good...

[JMG]

I still have some tweaking and a lot of finish sanding to do, but is this looking any better? It still comes in at .6425 at the bowl end of the shank and tapers down very slightly all the way to .6335 toward the bit end of the barrel.

[JMG]

Now that I posted those pics I can see that I've rounded the end of the bottom part of the barrel. Ugh.

[LatakiaLover]

Definitely much improved.

The slightly conical/expanding shank and stem barrel + the sharp (but clean) shank/bowl transition is only "wrong" for an Old School English pipe, not an Italian one. (Meaning a higher grade Italian piece, not a mid-line one... those can get pretty sloppy.) Looks like you have a bit of Italian blood in you.

All in all it's quite an excellent first swing at a difficult design. The best-cut first attempt at a standard design this board has seen in a long time, imo.

Though you could keep nibbling at it if anything less than perfection bothers you, I'd say you've harvested all you can from it in the learning sense.

In short, in the words of Rad Davis... now make another!

[DocAitch]

Well done!
It is a formidable psychological leap to pick up a “finished” pipe and have at it with a file and sand paper.
Just be careful, because that can get out of hand
I have a Celius and a Sven Lar which drove me crazy until I “re did “ them, thereby diminishing any collectibility they had (if any).
DocAitch

[JMG]

It is a formidable psychological leap to pick up a “finished” pipe and have at it with a file and sand paper.

Yeah, it's definitely a "make you throw up in your mouth a little" type situation.

[JMG]

Thanks for the advice and for pushing me guys. It's a long way from perfect, but I guess it's better than it was. I'm going to call it quits here.

[sandahlpipe]

I’m impressed you actually went back and tweaked it. It does look worth the effort to me! Nice work!

[Ocelot55]

As I like to say here in the shop, "mucho bettero." I think that's Spanish for, "hey, that ain't too shabby."

[JMG]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the kind words and the push to do better.