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This pipe is designed to resemble the shape of a seed pod growing from the end of a hanging branch. The pod splits open in the middle to reveal a floating seed inside. The pod is made from a black cherry burl that I harvested in northern Ontario. The hinge and clasp is made from solid brass, machined on the lathe, and then hand worked with files and a saw. The clasp also incorporates the use of O1 steel for the spring clip. The clasp is held onto the black cherry sphere by 5 brass machine screws. The bowl is made from an exceptionally red piece of African blackwood, this colouring is quite rare in my experience. The stem is from cannary wood, with a padauk accent and African blackwood mouthpiece.

I really like how this design turned out, there were many challenges to overcome with this piece, mainly the hinge and clasp design. Something I could improve upon would be the gap between the two sphere halves. The cause of this gap was the wood warping after it had been through the final turning. I thought that it was fully stabilized, but sometimes wood acts in mysterious ways... oh well.

The bowl itself is buffed, and finished with carnauba wax for a gloss finish, this is mean't to contrast the matte linseed oil finish on the rest of the pipe. I wanted the "seed" within the pod to look a bit like a jewel, hidden within a rough exterior.









enjoy!

meathod wrote:This pipe is designed to resemble the shape of a seed pod growing from the end of a hanging branch. The pod splits open in the middle to reveal a floating seed inside. The pod is made from a black cherry burl that I harvested in northern Ontario. The hinge and clasp is made from solid brass, machined on the lathe, and then hand worked with files and a saw. The clasp also incorporates the use of O1 steel for the spring clip. The clasp is held onto the black cherry sphere by 5 brass machine screws. The bowl is made from an exceptionally red piece of African blackwood, this colouring is quite rare in my experience. The stem is from cannary wood, with a padauk accent and African blackwood mouthpiece.

I really like how this design turned out, there were many challenges to overcome with this piece, mainly the hinge and clasp design. Something I could improve upon would be the gap between the two sphere halves. The cause of this gap was the wood warping after it had been through the final turning. I thought that it was fully stabilized, but sometimes wood acts in mysterious ways... oh well.

The bowl itself is buffed, and finished with carnauba wax for a gloss finish, this is mean't to contrast the matte linseed oil finish on the rest of the pipe. I wanted the "seed" within the pod to look a bit like a jewel, hidden within a rough exterior.









enjoy!

Amazing, gorgeous. What are the dimensions? Is the bowl big enough to actually hold a good charge of baccy? Wow, just great. Haven't seen you post for awhile, and now I can see why, you've been working!

Wow

Brilliant, but not practical.
Best regards.
Félix

Genial, pero poco práctica.
Saludos.
Félix

Speachless.

Thanks guys!

Here is my hand for scale,



The bowl does not hold a good charge of regular cut pipe tobacco. I would smoke very fine cut tobacco, I actually really enjoy drum tobacco out of small bowls, I know I know... sacrilege!!

In any case, this pipe Is not designed for tobacco smokers in mind... sorry guys.

And yes, not very practical either, more of a special occasion pipe! The client this is going to likes to display them in his office.

A admire your artistry and imagination, sir!

What's your brain made of, sir?

Another awesome work, I'm a big fan of your inspiration...

Yowza... the blackwood bowl is STUNNING I've never seen any that red before.

When I opened up that blackwood block, and noticed that red colouring I was like... oh...my...god...

I've never seen that either, not in the hundreds of pieces I've seen. A rare find. It has held the colour perfectly for a few months now, so I don't think it will fade.

Amazing

The 5th pic down just blows me away! The front view with the globe open... Wow!

Is this pipe for sale? (As if I could afford to buy a pipe right now...)
Might be perfect for a taste of Black Shag, or Celebrated Sovereign...

meathod wrote:The client this is going to likes to display them in his office.

Just noticed this... Crap!
Am I going to have to make my own???

Looks amazing

amazeballs! You never fail to impress!

Very cool as usual. I'm curious though; why don't the halves of the globe match up grain-wise?

This is something that I originally wanted to accomplish, the matching of the grain..

But there were some things that got in my way...

First, the bandsaw kerf was wide enough to throw it off a tad.. Then once the over sized ball was turned to rough, the drying process began. The ball was turned in two halves, like two bowls, since the middle had to be hollow for drying, this would decrease the chances of cracking the burl and ruining this exceptional piece of wood.

Of course, drying it warps the two halves a bit, and once they were turned to the final shape, and the place where they meet was turned flat, the grain was off even more.

If I was to do this again, I suppose I would have to start with a fully seasoned block of burl, then it would be rather simple to line of the grain.

Alternatively you could mask the mismatched grain by running a band of ebony or something around the edge of each half, thus creating a nice black line where they meet.

Food for thought.

Yeti

You are my favorite pipe maker - hands down.

I love your creativity and the ways you incorporate unprecedented designs and tons of materials.

I'm a big fan of all your work and this is no exception. Well done.

Brilliant! You're a mad man! Love your work.