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Awesome Walt, thanks for taking the time to highlight this. Your pictures are worth a million words!

Jeremiah is an ankle biter? Damn. He is mentored by one of best in the business. Sandahl is one of the guys that offers his thoughts on nearly every critique. Thank him for spending time looking at your pipe. That’s time he could be spending with his family or his workshop or his pipes. Don’t ruin i...

Thanks Jeremiah! I am indeed anxious to get my lathe going. It is a Southbend 9A with a motor from the 1940s. With the existing drum switch I can only figure out how to make the lathe run forward so I am having an electrician figure it all out because I don't want to electrocute myself pr burn my ho...

Thanks Wayne!

Here is my 5th pipe, another straight billiard from a Vermont Freehand kit. I am out of kits so it's time to get my lathe wired and turning. When I look at my pictures I see that I could have removed more material on the bottom of the pipe to make the line straight. I swear my straightedge said it w...

Thanks for the feedback Kiel! I have one more kit to work on before I start drilling my own chambers. I will can't it forward when that time comes. I will continue to work on my shaping & keep checking with the straight edge. Thanks again.

Chris

Here for your critique is my 4th pipe, another billiard. The shank length on the ebauchon was a bit long so I had to cut some off, re-drill the mortise and face the end. I haven't hooked up my lathe yet so I just did it in the drill press. I'm still not thrilled with my staining (dark spots here &am...

Thanks again, I started drawing on my next block & will use all of the tips you have me. Oh yeah, straight edge by my side this time.

As you are shaping make sure to throw a straight edge on it. Oh wow, why didn't I think of that?? Lol. How embarrassing! The light bulb just turned on, thanks Scottie! I will move on & apply to the next one. The stem did come with the kit. After my next two kits I am going to start cutting my o...

Thanks Jeremiah, I very tempted to take your suggestions and keep working on this pipe before moving to the next one. Would you recommend that or do you think it's best to just incorporate your ideas in the next pipe? I guess my real question is are pipe ever really finished & is there a point w...

Here for your review is my third pipe - another billiard. Among (many) other things I am especially frustrated & need help with my finishing technique and button work. All of my kits so far & the next two in line have been pre-drilled kits with pre-molded stems. I've found it kind of tricky ...

You may find that you learn almost all the techniques you need by making a good straight billiard and then duplicating it 10 times. The rest of the skills and techniques can be learned on a bent billiard. Umm.... no? I come from a rather different perspective here, as I have never made a billiard a...

Real name: Chris Ritter Age: 36 Location: Bethel, PA Years a pipe smoker: 6 How you got into pipe making: I started smoking a pipe to annoy my mother-in-law as a joke. It turned out to be an enjoyable hobby so I stuck with it. As a tinkerer and guy who likes to get my hands dirty pipe making seems t...

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Here is how this one finished up. I tried giving the bowl more symmetry, a belly & a chin. I softened and shrunk the bit too. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it! On to billiard 3. Chris http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c219/houncer/57D236C0-A482-4A49-B631-7A3AB4255622_zps3bvvu07n.jpg h...

After looking at the stems on my other pipes it is pretty obvious! I will file this one a bit and round things over too.

Clickklick, how can I improve the bit? It is a premolded stem that came with the kit and, aside from sanding, didn't alter it at all. Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks Jeremiah, I will work on a chin & symmetry as you suggested and post photos again. By the way, I really enjoyed your interview on the Pipes Magazine Radio show!

Hello, I am working on my second pipe & second go at a billiard. This started out as a pre-drilled kit & would love some suggestions on how to make this a better billiard before I proceed. I can already see that in the front view I need to make the sides more symmetrical. I found the point w...