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Thanks Massis but that went right over my head. I'll do some more research.

If a pipe is for my own use (verses a new pipe for a customer) will simply smoking it a few times do the same thing?

Thanks guys. I'll give it another try. Kurt, I'll check into the Abralon products too. I'm still working out the sanding-buffing-polishing workflow. I know everyone's workflow is different but I wonder if there is a data base that ranks papers, buffing compounds, etc in order of their relative 'abra...

Can someone explain to me about coating the bowl? What do you use for this? I see some high end pipes in which the bowl looks a grayish color.

Ebonite and vulcanite are the same thing. I wondered about that. I saw rods on line called ebonite of different grades and origins but semi-finished stems called vulcanite and assumed they were different. Good to know. Getting the stuff to TRULY shine is a minor art form, and (probably) no two peop...

I'm a beginner. Not making my own stems yet. Ordered some unfinished vulcanite stems from Vermont Freehand. Working on one now just to see what I can do. Sanded all the mold lines off of it. Sanded down to 1000 grit and them buffed with some unknown generic yellow buffing compound. It shined up okay...

To answer my own post: I cut some slabs of the black locust on the band saw and then cut a cylinder out of it with a hole saw. I cut this cylinder in the long axis of the grain, in other words, in the same axis as the log lengthwise. I sanded it to 1000 grain, buffed it, put some tong oil on it and ...

When my son-in-law found out I was starting to make pipes he brought me a nicely dried log of black locust. So far I have only made pipes in walnut simply because it is what I had. I've got some briar on the way. Anyway, my main reason for wanting to give the locust a try, besides its excellent hard...

Thanks guys. Will see what I can work out. If I do this it will be in antler. It is much more like bone. Polishes to a deep shine but is never perfectly white. Unfortunately I do not have a lathe which may make this idea impossible.

What do you mean by unstable? Does it oxidize or split or change dimensions? Anyway, what I have is antler which, I think, is different from horn. It is very hard and seems very stable in all aspects......but I could be wrong about that. It is very hard to work with though so I might look into the s...

I'm a (very) new pipe maker. Exploring some options. I like the idea of a horn ring on the shank with the stem inserted like in this Geiger: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/27/59/78/2759783e9ab16e8dd08b36934a5999e8--geiger-counter-pipes.jpg I have a good bit of antler lying around but I'm not clear how yo...