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Variable speed is the single most useful thing you can have in a shop when shaping and buffing are the task.

Here's a full discussion of the subject:

https://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum/v ... hp?t=11772

Depends on what you are buffing and why.

I vary from 800 or so when lots of wrap-around is desired, to 3000+ when doing a final polish/shine on NYH ebonite.

caskwith wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2024 5:19 pm Clever!

Never got on with a French wheel myself.

I'd be surprised if you did. Renault? Citroen? Peugeot? They are hard to spell, never mind pronounce.

A true English wheel, on the other hand, is a thing of beauty:

Four jaw chucks are your friend.

It's one of those labor on the front end saves it on the back end situations. Abranet lasts a lot longer than paper.

Also, paper coarser than 120 or so cracks when bent too sharply, while this stuff doesn't. You can "go rougher" with it.

Ordinary sandpaper is a PITA to install on a French wheel, and open mesh stuff like Abranet can't be done at all (meaning without folds or lumps) unless tools are used to hold everything in place. It's springy, it's sharp, and takes tin snips to cut cleanly. It fights being wrapped around something ...

Thanks for the props, guys, but I just copy stuff. True pipemakers see shapes in their mind, sketch 'em on paper or briar blocks, and produce a three dimensional object of what they saw. Since they also get violently attacked by briar dust 24/7 and are engaged in an endless battle with the Briar Def...

Though repair work is my thing, I enjoy making a whole pipe from time to time. Why this particular one? I'm growing to like big pipes, but they are difficult to find in classic shapes, and swoopy, tulip-bowled freehands don't flip my switch. https://i.postimg.cc/tgz51Tmj/P1060797.jpg https://i.posti...

Truly serious carvers who have been at it a long time and shoot for perfection in execution return "work in progress" stummels to the shelf for several weeks (or even a few months) after every step that removes significant wood. The reason is because moisture in the block will redistribute...

Does this seem like something that would work? (you asked)...

Such squaring tools work fine in theory, but not in practice.

Here's why, as well as an approach that does:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waZaX9J ... x0&index=1

Calling Chris Askwith, calling Chris Askwith... Come in Chris...

...then I cut it a hair long, face it up on the lathe, drill in with 1/16" to an inch or so, then flip it back around, figure out how far I want the tapered bit to actually go, where it needs to end, and I drill that and hopefully shit connects. There's a way to work faster and more accurately...

Buy the best and cry only once:

https://builder.wescoboots.com/About.aspx

If I made pipes of my own---as opposed to matching texture(s) on repairs---I'd wonder what one of these applied to briar would do after sharpening the pins and cutting them to slightly different lengths. Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt Bzzzzzt https://www.eastwood.com/rockwood-pistol-grip-needle-scaler.html?gclid=C...

It looks like the inventors of the finish do chisel-gougey thing, then twisty-pointy thing, then wire-brushy thing: https://i.postimg.cc/wBWC89zK/Screen-Shot-2023-04-30-at-4-38-27-PM.png https://i.postimg.cc/6qZgvRvw/Screen-Shot-2023-04-30-at-4-39-28-PM.png https://i.postimg.cc/3R82pH0w/Screen-Shot-...

I see.

You understand I can never look at my Antiquari again without thinking of that, right?

May all your Moosehead and Molson go flat the instant the bottle or can is opened, forevermore.

This got me to wondering about Castello's approach since I didn't remember seeing a smooth band on my one and only Antiquari. So I walked all the way into another room (that's committment and determination, rat thar) and eyeballed the critter. Sure enough, they START with a masked area (you can bare...

Though you didn't ask for feedback, Imma gonna go there anyway. :twisted: The only "jumps out at me" thing is the smooth band at the end of the shank. I know it's more commonly done than not, and requires an extra step to eliminate (the Dunhill factory had several women who did nothing els...

Q #2 ---

Do I spy with my little eye the tool used for the first step of texturize-ification?

(i.e. before the bed-of-nails twisty thing)