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I need some thoughts from you guys. Several months back I made a trade with an artist named Justin Gerard. His work recently got picked up for the new Hobbit trilogy. They didn't use his work for the actual movies, but it will most likely be used for books or video games or something. You can see his work at http://www.justingerard.com/

Anyway, my wife really likes his art, so I made him a trade, a pipe for one of his pieces of artwork for her birthday.

I asked him to design the pipe thinking he'd do some crazy dwarf pipe or a cool viking pipe or something. (rookie mistake) Well unfortunately, Justin has absolutely "0" smoking experience and the only pipe that he's ever seen that made an impression on him was some sort of Eastern Hookah looking pipe.

So now I've got to try to make it. I'm thinking I'll chose some other wood and just turn it like a bowl, hollow the inside out, insert a briar sleeve, and make a sort of calabash system out of it. I have no idea how to make a stem similar to what he's got drawn up.

I'd be open for any and all ideas you think might work.

Take a look at his drawing.




So, what do you think?

Oh, and he doesn't actually care how it smokes. His main concern is that it's comfortable in his hand.

Ouch! That one will be a real bugger.

I think you are going to have to make it in two pieces.

Turn the bow and then carve a wooden shank separately.
You should be able to easily mount a bent stem on top of the shank.
You may even want to use a stainless steel tube for the tenon since the shank is so thin.

The rub is going to be how to attach the two pieces together with a strong joint and maintain the flow of the piece.

You want more than just a face joint there, you will need some sort of lap joint to ensure it doesn't fail.

Maybe only turn the bowl 3/4 of the way down from the top and leave enough wood to form a tenon so you can do a mortise and tenon joint for the shank / bowl junction.

Good luck,

Todd

Edit: I had another thought. Wallie has used rare earth magnets to hold his stems on instead of tenons. Maybe you could rig up something like that?

taharris wrote:Ouch! That one will be a real bugger.

I think you are going to have to make it in two pieces.

Turn the bow and then carve a wooden shank separately.
You should be able to easily mount a bent stem on top of the shank.
You may even want to use a stainless steel tube for the tenon since the shank is so thin.

The rub is going to be how to attach the two pieces together with a strong joint and maintain the flow of the piece.

You want more than just a face joint there, you will need some sort of lap joint to ensure it doesn't fail.

Maybe only turn the bowl 3/4 of the way down from the top and leave enough wood to form a tenon so you can do a mortise and tenon joint for the shank / bowl junction.

Good luck,

Todd

I am thinking about making it in two pieces. I'd love to turn the whole bowl just like a bowl turner normally would, and then find a way to attach the stem. The stem doesn't have to be exactly as drawn either. Thanks for the thoughts.

I have an idea how to do this with one piece construction, give me a call and I will explain it

rev

Get a hold of meathod. Looks like a pipe he would do.

Ocelot55 wrote:Get a hold of meathod. Looks like a pipe he would do.

Good idea!

first thing I thought of as well

rev

Ocelot55 wrote:Get a hold of meathod. Looks like a pipe he would do.

That's exactly what I was going to say! It does look like something he would create.

I guess some sort of bamboo shanked sitter is out of the question? The sketch looks like some kind of opium pipe or something, but the design could be made functional and still work well for baccy. Good luck and can't wait to see what transpires.

Brian, do you know a glass blower?

Rad

Yeah,...it kind of feels like one of those pipes. This may be one of those pipes I "forget" to stamp

Actually, it closely resembles the profile of the calabash in your avatar. Guess he didn't see that before sketching?

Yowch... I wish he had drawn up a dwarf/ viking pipe. My condolences go out to you and your loved ones.

Looks like a Meathod design! Go check out his website-particularly the 'craftsmanship' section-for a great tutorial showing some of his unique methods. I bet he could help you out on this one.
http://dmpipes.com/pipes.html

Man... every time I see this guy's process I'm so impressed. Totally different than most pipemakers.

I think I'd tell the guy he misunderstood what you do, and work with him on a design that is Growley-like.

he said talented and smart tyler

just saying



rev

Do you guys put screens in your pipes? Whats that for?

SchmidtN wrote:Do you guys put screens in your pipes? Whats that for?

to keep flies out

rev

It's doable as a one piece. Drill your chamber then drill ninety degrees from the shank then drill down the airway to meet up with the airway then plug the hole from the ninety sort of like what Walle does on some of his pipes. Sort of like Nate's steampunk pipes.