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Standard gallery post boilerplate: my self critique is below the pictures - I'll point out the specific things that I know I struggled with to let you guys know where I know I've missed the mark so you don't have to waste time repeating things - I'm deeply appreciative of everyone's time and help.
Anyway, felt inspired and carved this one sort of on a whim. Found a pair of small flaws in the chamber, so knew I'd be keeping this one. Appreciate any help/guidance as always - especially since I know this is harder to critique/less conducive to the process since it's not a classic shape (I am going back to practicing billiards in my next batch). Pictures are still bad, but I like to think they're getting better, slowly but surely (just like my pipe carving).











The Good:
1. I feel like I'm starting to turn a corner on shaping. I did this about 85% on the shaping disc and almost all the rest with french wheels/sanding discs - almost no file work or hand sanding. I really envy those carvers who do everything on the disc, so trying to learn that has been a priority for me.
2. My buttons are getting pretty consistent and I think they look/feel pretty decent. Though this one is almost certainly too thick front-to-back by a bit, and the slot needs to be cleaner.
3. Bite zone is right around 3.5-3.6 mm, and it's just stupid how comfortable it is.
4. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really like the look and feel of the rustication.
5. I did a better job on the tenon end on this one, though the glue line is still horrible (see below).

The Bad:
1. The smooth parts turned out redder than I'd intended, and honestly the finish on them looks worse than the last few pipes. I've been trying a few different things in the finishing steps/process (and taking copious notes) and just think I sort of whiffed on this one. Plus side, I probably need to buff it back out because I was breaking it in while shoveling snow yesterday, so maybe that will fix things a bit.
2. I'm just... not very good at stems. I don't cut them confidently yet, and this one has all sorts of misshaped badness going on with the shank end. I think I'll do a better job of that on the next one - or at least I think I see the direction I should have taken and need to work toward next time. This is my tenth stem, and I'm hoping that some of that improves with time and practice. At this point I'm relatively happy that it feels good and is as thin as it should be, although...
3. The stem sides still convex instead of straight/concave. I don't know if that's always damning, but I'm pretty sure that on this pipe it is.
4. Mortise/shank end looks super gross. There was CA glue involved with the extensions, so it wouldn't accept stain and it just got messy and bad looking.
5. Drilling between the mortise and airway is crooked. Block wasn't square and I wasn't careful enough getting it chucked. This is really obvious in the pictures from the front and top. Still passes a cleaner, but looks very off from some angles.
Honorable Mention: Dust... dust everywhere.

The Ugly (AKA things I think I need the most specific help with):
1. I still struggle mightily with getting the crease shiny. I think I actually got it cut relatively well in terms of material removal, but I'm not getting it polished like I need to. Need to either bite the bullet and invest in a couple tools and try to learn George's method, or figure something else out. I know that not everyone who makes excellent stems does it his way, and I'd love to hear more about what other people are doing for that process.
2. I can't seem to keep the glue line from being super conspicuous around the tenon, and I'm not really sure how to do that better.

Anyway, I think that's about it. In spite of all the flaws, on the whole I actually really like this pipe and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. Comfortable, smokes well, I like how it looks, feels good in the hand. Thanks y'all.

One question. Did you make the exact shape you set out to make?

sandahlpipe wrote:One question. Did you make the exact shape you set out to make?

Probably the closest I've come, which is I think part of why I'm relatively pleased:


Again, I know with a non-standard shape, subjectivity creeps in a lot so it's harder to offer critique - seriously appreciate it as always.

In that case, good job.

Two things I can offer as feedback. One is the flare of the stem appears to have ridges on it from buffing before all the tooling marks were removed. The other is the crease behind the button isn't as shiny as George would make it.

Thanks Jeremiah - I know it's not your cup of tea and definitely appreciate you giving me feedback anyway. That whole flare is a mess. I'm going to spend a lot of time looking at and dissecting some good pipes before I try the next one.

sandahlpipe wrote:The other is the crease behind the button isn't as shiny as George would make it.

I know and it killllllls me

Assuming you turn the flare on the lathe, make yourself a flare sanding jig. Take a scrap of wood as tall as your flare and then sand one edge of the scrap to the profile of your flare. Then wrap some 400 or 600 grit sandpaper around it and wet sand it on the lathe. The nice benefit of such a jig going forward is that you maintain consistency from one pipe to the next. You can also sand back and forth to reduce ridges. Then give the stem a good wipe down with denatured alcohol to check your ridges before buffing.

sandahlpipe wrote:Assuming you turn the flare on the lathe, make yourself a flare sanding jig. Take a scrap of wood as tall as your flare and then sand one edge of the scrap to the profile of your flare. Then wrap some 400 or 600 grit sandpaper around it and wet sand it on the lathe. The nice benefit of such a jig going forward is that you maintain consistency from one pipe to the next. You can also sand back and forth to reduce ridges. Then give the stem a good wipe down with denatured alcohol to check your ridges before buffing.

...beautiful. Thank you so much.