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I see a lot of really old pipes, and many have developed the sorts of problems you describe. Think of the Big Picture and it is clear what's happening. Imagine what every pipe on Earth today will look like 5000 years from now. Dust, right? OK, then 1000 years. There will likely be a handful of barel...

Chops. I see chops on display, big time. Your sense of line and proportion is noteworthy, PierrePerkins. Both pipes are classic in feel, while progressive in actual shape. Nice trick. All the technical stuff looks to be well in hand, too.

Took only what, 40-45 minutes? Piece of cake. You could crank out a dozen a day, I'll bet.

You might try using a heat sink putty like plumbers use. It was intended to protect valve packing from getting melted when the torch is applied to the pipe. That was my first thought, actually, then figured a cylinder's heat transfer wasn't similar enough to a tube's to work. Thinking it through, a...

The problem is when using Lucite for thick, short, bent stems, similar to the one in the pic. Heat that short chunk of plastic enough to get a smooth bend, and the tenon is ALSO hot enough to bend. :x Lost a stem this morning from exactly that. All went normally and smoothly, but when eyeballing the...

I'm not entirely clear what you mean, Joel. A cylinder of brass---like a spacer---was inserted into a mortise that had been cut into the stem, but that was shorter than the mortise is deep? And which then had another cylinder of the stem material glued into the partially filled mortise, which served...

That new outfit Trever talked about in February... did it ever get off the ground? And if so, what's the status of the bulk purchase? Anyone..? Anyone..? Beuller...? Beuller..?

I just replaced the placeholder/welcome that was the first blog entry, with the first true blog entry. A refurb project tracked from start to finish. Lots-O-photos. (click 'em and they get big---beware if on dialup)

Here's the straight way in:

http://precisionpiperepair.com/BLOG/index.php

Posted because of how dramatic this one was. A very nice little Wally Frank cavalier that was well worth saving: http://img8.shareavenue.com/thumbnails/1/0/a/c/10ac29ce052193cda987c0681b3f9e8657619ad6.jpg http://img6.shareavenue.com/thumbnails/8/e/b/0/8eb0e4208886a363a90ea6feb9bac1e1782743ec.jpg htt...

The stems are definitely of interest to me, Tyler.

Please let me know what to do / who to contect next. (If you'd rather use email than post such info, the contact page on my site will make it easy. I check it several times a day.)

Thanks!

Is the French workingman's standby tobacco Caporal still made and sold there? It's supposedly so rough-edged and distinctive that no one ever succeeded trying to export it.

With the net knocking down borders and enabling niche markets, maybe there would be a demand these days.

My apologies. What timing. The server hosting the site went down (and has been going up and down like a yo-yo while they mess with it), just a few hours after I went live. First downtime for them in over a year. Lucky me.

Ought to be up in a day or two.

I wasn't sure if it was natural or added, then finally decided that its perfect placement argued against its being natural. It LOOKED natural, but I figured that anyone with your chops could pull that off with a Foredom... the position just seemed too sweet to be luck, though. Excellent maximization...

That's about as good as that concept can be done, I think. And like the other, the rustication adds to, rather than diminishes the piece. What's the overall size? The narrow chamber/thick walls would seem to indicate the pipe is either huge, or quite small. That it isn't clear which (if either---may...

It's in my sig now, too, so announcing it is pretty redundant. But making them is such hard work I feel I have to say something special.

All feedback, comments, and questions are welcome, either here or through the site's contact page.

Thanks!

Simply gorgeous. Your sense of line, balance, and shape is noteworthy. The little "rodent nibble" on the rim is incorporated so well that it would almost look funny if it wasn't there. Lovely color and finish work, too.

Five stars.

It's just traditional Chinese ivory carving done on a piece of briar. (I didn't mean "just" in a dismissive way, understand, the skill required is amazing. I only meant it has been around for thousands of years.) Pretty wild, huh? You should see an entire elephant tusk done like that. Ther...

...when you took over the shop? Or does the French govenment control it the way Turkey controls meerschaum and African countries do elephant ivory?

I did a fairly thorough search of the site, and couldn't find the type suitable for pipemaking. Anyone else get a "hit"?

In the Maria Callas box set, "La Divina," there is a bonus CD with various interviews. One interviewer, BBC, if I recall correctly, asked her about her preparation to sing a new role. Callas spoke at length about her practice to dominate the material technically, her score study, her hist...