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I've had these for years, but I only use them to turn metal. I can't imagine a reason for using them on briar or ebonite, but that doesn't mean there isn't one, I suppose. I grind zero relief tools out of German or American HSS and "sharpen" them with a handheld diamond hone. This takes ab...

No One told Me My pipes were turds but I told Them I was hoping to get $60.00-$80.00 per pipe. I now wonder if I said I wanted $300.00 per pipe They would have said stop making turds. You mentioned I've reviewed a pipe of yours, and I apologize for not remembering. (I lose track switching back and ...

Well Scottie, you may have to try a different approach. Maybe a switchblade beard comb that is hidden in a 3rd calabash chamber. Or maybe you could inlay the PBR logo into a premolded stem. I can think of at least a dozen would-be pipe makers whose third chamber I'd love to shove a switchblade into...

Guys, for the record--and I haven't even bothered to look at website or video--a spoon bit that is properly made and hardened should never have to be sharpened. I've been using the same set for over a decade, and they still cut curls. I wouldn't let the inability to sharpen these things dissuade you...

But not Scottie - she just goes around the bowl again and again... This is turning into the best thread of 2015...keep it going! Scottie, I think you're really on-point with a lot of what you've said. The actual mechanics of it are something like this: In ten easy steps you just need to: 1. Get an ...

thought it might be ratio. the last few batches i mixed it as thick as possible, just mixed it by consistancy think the ratio must be around 1:1. too much carbon and it gets so hard you can't stir it, too much water glass and its runny. not sure how thick it was for the pipes with the discoloration...

the market seems to be littered with hastily wrought $400 pipe-turds of late. Sadly, it seems to take a maker a while before they can train their eye to the point that they recognize a pipe-turd when they see it. I know I made my share of turds back in the day, and didn't even realize I was doing s...

If it's turning white after a little while, y'all are mixing it in the wrong ratio--basically too much Sodium Silicate to whatever else you're adding. You can use water to cut it and get the right consistency, but then you have to spit in it to neutralize the chlorine from the water. I guess you cou...

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

sandahlpipe wrote:I think "Flush the pipe turds" needs to be the new PMF tag line.

"FTPT"!

Or at least an Instagram hashtag. #IamFTPT!!!!! I just decided I'm getting a giant tattoo of a toilet flushing a wagon-wheel "blowfish" on my forearm.

TJ

Hey Guys (and Gals) Below is the Briarworks pipe-story in a nutshell for anyone who's interested. First, to answer Oklahoma Red's question, yes, we started a factory in China to produce pipes specifically for the Chinese market. After about a year and a half of traveling to and from China, I realize...

A much better thread starter would have been something like: "What features do YOU think are essential for a pipe to be considered well designed & well engineered?" And a list compiled. Then, once such a list had been created by pipe makers, it could have then been refined by those wh...

BTW, if you're using 3/16" stainless tubing, you can get an Alphabetical or Wire Gauge bit that's maybe .005" bigger than 3/16 and sleeve almost the whole shank (stopping about 1/4" from where the draft hole enters the bowl.) That way you can slide the tubing all the way in without a ...

Can you schedule it right before or on the heels of the IPCPR show? You'd probably get 10X the response if you did. Sounds fun.

Roll Tide,

TJ

I just took a look at it again and I don't think I hit the bowl above the shank with the blaster. It was good before the blast. I actually started with a shorter stem on it and didn't like it. I do however tend to make my stems longer than they should be and probably should have left it alone. You'...

Tyler, One of the questions I would ask is "how capable is your repair man?" I've done quite a few repairs over the past 15 years--many of them on $10K+ relics--and I think most of the discussion here is completely irrelevant. When the back of the mortise is notched, you have a ring coveri...

Mmmm . . . kale salad.

Hope this helps,

TJ

Idk George, I'm starting to think you just piss people off! :D Keepin' it real often has that effect, I've discovered. The thing is, when you do it isn't you they're pissed about. Usually they're just mad about some fact or other that's inconvenient to them, and they take out their anger on those w...

Um, yes, I did. Not just the pipe, in fact. Don't you remember modeling it for the camera? :lol: Nope, that piece went to Greg Gelvin--who's not Chinese--and he paid $1400 for it, not $4500, and that was in Kansas City, not Chicago--where a similar pipe did sell to one of my Chinese collectors, but...

LatakiaLover wrote:
Todd Johnson beat you to it, I'm afraid.

And sold it to some Chinese Guy for $4500

(Not a rumor, I saw it with mine own eyeballs)

No you didn't.

TJ

Why bother to learn from a master when you can pay the same price to learn from an upstart instead? Sure, the technique you'll learn is just as the sloppy as the pipes it produces, but I've heard it can make you a genuine Instagram super star.

TJ