1st Horn

[Flygare]

So. I made a horn. Really don’t know how I did. My thought was to try and do a classic one which tapers smooth all the way to the button.

I feel like that the stummel sort of held the lines but that I might have lost them a bit more on the stems curvature/bend?

Still having a challenge to know how thin I can do the button without breaking into the airway. (It is my 3rd stem so I need to get more mileage).

All comments and suggestion on how I can improve are very welcome!
Included in the next batch is one classic straight billiard among some more experimenting with other shapes.










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[UnderShade]

I’m still under 20 pipes and have never made a horn, so I don’t feel qualified to critique. If you could provide a closer-up profile, I’d like to see a better shot of your shank/stem transition. Your curve looks good from far away though. Very pretty.

[Flygare]

I’m still under 20 pipes and have never made a horn, so I don’t feel qualified to critique. If you could provide a closer-up profile, I’d like to see a better shot of your shank/stem transition. Your curve looks good from far away though. Very pretty.

Thank you for taking the time to comment UnderShade. It’s my pipe #25-#30 somewhere and I am probably not qualified even to make a horn. But one of my briarblocks had a nice curve and I went for it...

Here is a higher resolution picture cropped down a bit.





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[UnderShade]

Like I said, the curve looks good. It looks like the transition between your shank and stem might not be completely flush, and if it were me, I probably would’ve tapered the bite zone down a little bit more. Also, your chamber hole doesn’t look entirely round. I really like the pipe though. Beautiful grain and a nice finish. I’m sure that if George ran it through his software, he could give you a more detailed critique of your lines.

[n80]

I'm also at about 20 pipes. I have made one horn. (So consider my inexperience here). I like the form factor of horns and how they highlight a good piece of briar but I'm not sure they are the most practical pipes in the world and a lot of them that I've seen, including the one I made, seem a little bulky. There are really elegant horns out there and they are real gems to look at.

For this pipe I think the curve in profile looks really good. Maybe a little less material from the stummel about a half inch forward of the stem would help but that might just be a trick of the light. In the view looking down the bowl it looks like there is a little angle on the sides at the stem-shank transition that could be more fluid. I did the same thing on mine.

The stain and finish look really good to me. The dark flame pattern on the sides is very nice. It looks like the button could use some refinement. Most of the pros here usually say the button should be thinner (front-to-back).

Overall I think it looks great and would be happy if I had made it. If I get a chance I'll post pictures of mine.

[Flygare]

I'm also at about 20 pipes. I have made one horn. (So consider my inexperience here). I like the form factor of horns and how they highlight a good piece of briar but I'm not sure they are the most practical pipes in the world and a lot of them that I've seen, including the one I made, seem a little bulky. There are really elegant horns out there and they are real gems to look at.

For this pipe I think the curve in profile looks really good. Maybe a little less material from the stummel about a half inch forward of the stem would help but that might just be a trick of the light. In the view looking down the bowl it looks like there is a little angle on the sides at the stem-shank transition that could be more fluid. I did the same thing on mine.

The stain and finish look really good to me. The dark flame pattern on the sides is very nice. It looks like the button could use some refinement. Most of the pros here usually say the button should be thinner (front-to-back).

Overall I think it looks great and would be happy if I had made it. If I get a chance I'll post pictures of mine.

Thanks n80!

I agree that there is some issues in the lines where stem meets stummel seen from above. It was hard to know how to design it since the stem is the same width all the way. As it is now its a bit abrupt.

Have you heard any measurement recommended for the front-back button? I have seen that the thickness should be 3,8 mm and the width like 18-19 mm.


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[n80]

I do not know a specific criteria. I just know that it is a frequent critique from the experts and on a lot of high end pipes I notice that the thickness is often very thin, and much thinner than production pipes.

The experts say it is a comfort issue and I have no reason to doubt them. However, among the various pipes that I smoke the button depth seems to have no impact at all for me......but I suspect I'm a fairly non-discriminating pipe smoker.....I'm happy with almost anything that will stay lit and dry.

It would seem that this sort of thing would depend entirely on the individual smoker, how he holds the pipe in his teeth, what his mouth and teeth are shaped like, etc. I'm guessing, though, that thinner must be more comfortable in general.

It was hard to know how to design it since the stem is the same width all the way.

Agreed. Similar issue with mine. I plan on spending a little more time studying horn shapes but it will have to be from pictures as I know of nowhere where I could see/hold high end hand carved horns.

[RickB]

Disclaimer that I've been at this for about 2 1/2 years and have made zero horns, but the two things that jump out at me are that it looks a little too meaty and the stem/shank junction looks jarring from the top view - I think you would have been better off starting with a wider diameter piece of ebonite and followed those lines along the side, tapering all the way down like you did for the profile view. Rather than going almost conical for the stummel, you could flatten it out some, top-to-bottom. Still though, it's a good effort and a nice enough looking pipe that you should feel good about.

I've read that the thinner button (in terms of depth) makes it so that when it's clenched, your teeth land where the bit is thinner closer to the bite zone. That's one I've been playing around with and I've landed at maybe 1.5-2mm being the sweet spot for me, with every button being 17mm wide and 7mm tall, with the stem having a relatively flat profile through the bite zone, cut to about 3.5-3.7mm. Keep playing around until you find something you like and do them all that way... there was a pretty exhaustive thread here maybe a decade back that you can find with some digging that even included a link to a database (in French, mind you) of the average button sizes and bite zones from a good number of makers.