Bamboo fitting.

[caskwith]

Been working on some bamboo today, slow work carefully filing to fit the bamboo without causing any damage.

While doing it I wondered if I was wasting my time since it seems to me that there are pipemakers out there who just sand it gung ho and don't worry about sanding through the "skin" of the bamboo.
I was under the impression that you never want to break through the delicate skin of the bamboo, am I being overly careful or are people just getting slack? (Some of the people I have seen doing this are in the mid-high end pipe bracket and are selling for prices much higher than my own)

[LatakiaLover]

It's a taste thing. Uber-pristine precise? Or a hint of rusticity?

fwiw, the earliest bamboo pipes were definitely sanded level, even the top quality ones. Not cutting through the "skin" came later with the Scandinavians. Here's a Dunhill from the late 40's:

.

[caskwith]

I can't see from the picture properly but I am assuming the darker areas are where they sanded through the skin?

[LatakiaLover]

Yes

[KurtHuhn]

I think this is something that developed over time, as tooling improved, and expectations were raised. Tod, over at Tod's Workshop, had a good video about medieval knives and swords and how the expectation of craftsmanship has grown over the years. Some of his examples are eye-opening, in terms of how we *think* historical knives and swords were made, and the reality of the situation. He contrasts this with reproductions, and the expectation of how they should be made - which happens to be a much higher level of expectation. It was a very fun and informative video concerning the top end of quality at different points in history versus now.

The video is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVL46CM9k80