Im New Go Ahead Grill Me....

[darjones]

Hello Everyone! I started smoking a pipe back in December, and then about 6 weeks ago or so decided to try my hand at making pipes so heres a recent one out of black walnut... so grill away (FYI I have a dremel, drill, beltsander and thats it..)

[Literaryworkshop]

A unique shape as far as I can tell. I wish I could see a profile view from one side.

[darjones]

does that help?

[Literaryworkshop]

Sure does.

I'm new here, myself, and I've made only a dozen pipes now. It's hard to critique an original design, especially one that's no to my taste. (Almost nothing is to everybody's taste.) I wonder what it might have looked like if you had made the stummel more defined in shape with a sharper transition. Aesthetically, you'll find that pipes with a bowl that dips down below the stummel like that are a hard sell. It makes a pipe look droopy, somehow, and it also makes them heavier. If you look at traditional bent shapes, you'll notice that the lowest part of the pipe is typically at the joint between the stummel and the bowl, rather than just below the tobacco chamber, as on your pipe. It's not a rule, just a convention.

Make a couple more and see what you're drawn toward.

[darjones]

Thank you for your input I will get to carving and see what I can come up with!

[Ocelot55]

First of all, welcome to the forum. What number of pipe is this for you? Early pipes almost don't need to be critiqued. At this stage you just need to make more pipes. Develop a process; focus on the engineering. After that we can start to focus on the aesthetic details.

If you're serious about continuing the hobby, I strongly suggest you buy a drill press and a cross slide vice. Both are relatively inexpensive as far as tools are concerned, and will allow you to do just about everything just as well as someone that has a lathe. I used a drill press for a loooong time.

Keep, churning them out! I look forward to seeing the next one.

[darjones]

Ive made around 30 I have lost count but honestly the first ones well lets just say they dont count lol here is another one where I was playing with rustication. This one is cherry and a bit crooked...

[Ocelot55]

Let me give you some advice. I don't know what your personal "style" is, ie whether you're a Wallenstein crazy or Dunhill classic when it comes to what you want your pipes to look like. I will say that when a carver first starts, it really helps to make the classic English shapes as best as you can to train you on how to manipulate your material and hone your eye. Study up on what makes a classic billiard a billiard and then grab a hunk of wood and try to replicate it exactly. Since there is a vague agreement on what a billiard should look like we'll be able to give you critique on how to improve. Make some more classic shapes. Once you start getting comfortable making them start venturing out into what you want to do. I guarantee your pipes will look 1000% better once you learn about the classics first.

[darjones]

Like this one?

[Alden]

Dar, I can tell you what you want to hear, or I can tell you what you need to hear to get better.
Which would you like ?
If you just want the nice stuff, I'll just say keep making them. Eventually you will work out some of the issues on your own.
If you want to hear a real critique......

[darjones]

Go ahead and hurt my feelings its ok that's what I joined for I was running out of reasons to cry myself to sleep anyway..

[Ocelot55]

Like this one?

Ok, here goes!

First of all, this pipe has WAY too much meat left on it. You need to clearly separate the bowl from the shank visually. The tobacco chamber looks like it is drilled perpendicular to the draft hole. This makes you pipe look like the bowl is leaning backward. Next time cant it forward a few degrees. Too much meat on the bottom and on the chin also don't help. Your stem shank junction also needs work. It should feel seamless when you run your fingers across the joint. You can get a great fit with a drill press, but doing it with just a hand drill can be a challenge.

To me this is a great example of a billiard to reference:
http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/a ... _id=115554

Nathan is a member of this board as well. Excellent pipe maker.

Anyway, fix those things in the next one then we'll see what else we can improve on.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Go ahead and hurt my feelings its ok that's what I joined for I was running out of reasons to cry myself to sleep anyway..

I like that attitude!

When I began pipemaking, I followed a similar route as you, I did a lot of experimenting with shapes of my own invention. There is nothing wrong with experimentation, it can really be fun! However, for a moment, think of pipemaking like painting. All the great painters had to learn basics first, they learned color theory, technique, and painted a lot of still life, portrait, and landscape before they broke rules and made a master-piece.

If you just make pipes as a hobby, and just enjoy fiddling around, then keep at it! There is nothing wrong with that at all.

However, if you're interested in learning to make damn good pipes, then it is worth going back to "the basics" as it were. Copying classic shapes is a great exercise. Don't try to do anything to crazy at first. Find a shape you like, and try to replicate it.

Some obvious things I see from your work so far(looking at the last photo you posted) is you need to work on your shank-stem transition, there is a gap. I also think you aren't taking enough material off, the pipe has some great direction with the lines, but more needs to be carved away. As is, it's a bit amorphous.

However, I see no reason why you cannot improve your pipemaking and do some beautiful work, just keep at it, study the work of the classics, the lessons you learn from those pipes will improve your own unique creations one hundred fold.

Also, you should consider working in briar, there are some pretty cheap sources out there, and the material is wonderful!

Let us know if you have any questions too, we're more than happy to answer them.

Cheers!

Yeti

[darjones]

Thank you for the tips and what not I will give it a go with some more classic shapes. I am trying to work something out about actually using briar so hopefully soonish I can make that transition. I attempted to make a poker if you guys wanna take a crack at that one too.

[Alden]

Ok Dar,
Basically the focus of this forum is learning to make fine pipes. If you want to keep making rough rustic style pipes, I'm not saying you can't. But if you want to improve your work and move towards a higher quality of pipe, you need to refine just about everything.
The first thing you need is definition. The pipes you are making are basically shapeless lumps. Even Freehand shapes follow rules that separate good ones from crappy ones.
These pipes don't seem to follow any plan, no direction in shaping finishing or fitting a stem.
I'd say your first place to start is to make an actual shape. Ocelots advice is spot on.
You should find a billiard, any billiard. Kaywoodie, Dr. Grabow, Dunhill, doesn't matter who made it. Just find a pipe somewhere thats an actual defined shape, and then make your pipe look just like it. Make it curve where the other curves, make it fat where the other is fat, make it skinny where the other is skinny. That is going to make the difference between a shape and a lump.
After you improve your shaping in general, you also need to improve your stems. The one flush fit stem you posted is a big improvement but it needs sharper shaping and a better fit to the shank. The rest of the stems don't really work at all, even though they are probably much easier to do. It just looks like you crammed a piece of acrylic up your pipes ass...
If you want to keep making pipes like these posted, thats probably ok. There are guys who will buy them I'm sure. But if you want to make a pipe thats worth more than $20-$30 you need to spend a lot more time planning your work, and practicing not just making pipes but making *better* pipes.

[darjones]

See thats the kind of stuff I need to hear! Thank you guys very much!!!! I still may cry myself to sleep tonight

[Literaryworkshop]

Okay, you've made more pipes than I have, so take this for what it's worth. I agree with the others who have suggested trying your hand at more classic forms. I've been doing that a bit myself, and it's helped refine my skills already.

I think that poker was on the right track, but a lot more needed to come off the bottom, and something else needed to happen with that stem/stummel transition. If you want to keep doing that kind of stem, don't bother with a stummel at all. Use the corncob form as your inspiration and make the stem and bowl absolutely distinct in both shape and materials.

[darjones]

I made a second poker today and you are right I need to work on my transition not super sure how to go about it buuuuuuuut gears are turning and grinding and smoking in my brain so we will see what comes of this. Thank you for your feedback it truly does help.

[Alden]

Its hard to critique, because so much is going on here that needs to be changed.
The main thing, the same critique as before, the shaping is not defined.
I'll start with the bowl. The walls should be basically straight, and the pipe should be at least a little bit wider on the bottom of the pipe than the top. The front side of the bowl is pretty straight, but the back wall (around the shank) is way way off. It gets really fat around the shank, and then tapers the wrong direction below the shank. Really I think you're doing it too fast, slow down and concentrate on shaping the back wall of the bowl better around the shank.
The shank itself is way too fat, and its too high up on the bowl. Drop it down, make it skinnier.
The stem still looks wrong. I don't know what is going on with the tenon, but I'm assuming you are just sticking it into the hole in the shank ? You're not turning an actual tenon on the end of the stem right ?
How much of the stem is going into the shank ?
I dont think your stems will fit well after using these pipes for awhile.
Heres a sketch trying to show the changes I mentioned...

[Traveling Wilbury]

I kinda dig the crooked cherry one.... I'd like to see the same shape with a bent stem and the shank at a 45.