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Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 9:52 am
by RickB
In designing and carving my two billiards, something that I find very interesting has jumped out to me - and I'm hoping maybe this might be of interest to others, so I'm posting it here.

Despite the bowl shapes not being perfect (a bit too fat, probably needing a bit more taper at the top of the bowl and perhaps a bit more meat in the transition between the shank and the bowl - I'm not great at shapes in PhotoShop), these all should be generally technically correct in terms of proportions and general shape: stem and stummel are the same length, bowl width is ~2x the thickness of the shank, bowl height is just over 3x the shank thickness, chamber to airway angle is 93 degrees.

These are all identical with one change - proportionally equivalent to a difference of 1/16" (which in this example would mean a 3/4" chamber, 2" tall bowl, and 6" overall length). To my eye the four silhouettes below present fairly substantial differences in terms of aesthetic appeal, profile, and general stance.

Image

I'd be eager to hear which of these silhouettes people think looks the most right/appealing - I know for sure which is my favorite. If this gets any discussion going, I'll explain exactly what I changed on each of these (though I'm sure it's pretty obvious to a lot of you). As I'm starting to plan my 3rd billiard, this is something I'll be paying attention to for sure - just another example of minor details making a big difference.

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:58 am
by Sasquatch
The lack of taper in the shanks on 1 and 3, particularly one, shows the glaring "knob" where the stem/shank interface occurs. Looks to me like 4 is a bit more canted? So I'll say 2 is the best pipe there.

Doing little subtle fiddles on billiards is a great way to learn to control pipes in general, when you know what the visual result of making something a little heavier here or a little more angled there... then you can take those ideas to other pipes.

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 11:14 am
by RickB
Sasquatch wrote:The lack of taper in the shanks on 1 and 3, particularly one, shows the glaring "knob" where the stem/shank interface occurs. Looks to me like 4 is a bit more canted? So I'll say 2 is the best pipe there.
So here's the fun part - #1 is the only one with no taper to the shank (and so I know it's technically incorrect but I wanted sort of a baseline). All the others are tapered by the exact same amount, and all four are 93 degrees, though I agree that #4 presents itself as more canted. I won't spoil all the fun quite yet though :D
Sasquatch wrote:Doing little subtle fiddles on billiards is a great way to learn to control pipes in general, when you know what the visual result of making something a little heavier here or a little more angled there... then you can take those ideas to other pipes.
It's amazing, it really is. I firmly believe that paying attention to (and obsessing over) stuff like this is helping me so much (as elaborated upon at length in my other billiard thread).

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 3:04 pm
by caskwith
Number 2 is best to my eye, the others don't look right at the shank/bowl junction along with general shank taper.

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:13 pm
by RickB
FWIW, it surprises me very little that number 2 is what you both prefer, given both of your tendencies to make stellar billiards in a very traditional... tradition. When I was studying to make my first one, I spent a LOT of time looking at y'all's pipes.

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:17 pm
by LatakiaLover
Here's the winner, I think (after some extra tweaks):

Image

#3, though, was dead out of the gate:

Image

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 7:34 pm
by RickB
LatakiaLover wrote: #3, though, was dead out of the gate:
Ding ding! Close enough for me to spill it - so #3 actually cuts straight to the button, before these were silhouettes, they were fully mocked with airways, etc., which made it much more obvious what I changed without the silhouette. Since we can't see the inside of pipes, I thought the silhouette might be more fun.

Anyway, #1 is no taper, #2 is an even 1/32" taper centered over the airway, #3 has the full 1/16" taper taken from the bottom line, and #4 has it taken from the top. I'll post the non-silhouette versions when I'm back on my laptop.

I think it's really interesting that pulling that taper from the top generally doesn't look bad (though not as good as centered), but pulling it from the bottom line is universally despised (in this small sample).
Thanks for playing everybody!

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:52 pm
by DocAitch
Very interesting. I could not identify what made them different until I read Georges post. It did help to have the entire picture available here on Pipe Makers, but that may be because I don't know how to manipulate photos on the FB page.
Thanks for the lesson. I am not sure what I would do with this new insight into the billiard.
DocAitch

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 2:53 am
by caskwith
RickB wrote:FWIW, it surprises me very little that number 2 is what you both prefer, given both of your tendencies to make stellar billiards in a very traditional... tradition. When I was studying to make my first one, I spent a LOT of time looking at y'all's pipes.

I think this just proves what we all know, Todd and I don't know sheeeet and if you are looking to us for inspiration you are more doomed than we thought.

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:24 am
by RickB
DocAitch wrote:Very interesting. I could not identify what made them different until I read Georges post. It did help to have the entire picture available here on Pipe Makers, but that may be because I don't know how to manipulate photos on the FB page.
Thanks for the lesson. I am not sure what I would do with this new insight into the billiard.
DocAitch
My pleasure - you guys have been (and continue to be) such a huge help and inspiration for me, I figure if I stumble on something sort of cool I'm obligated to share it. I should note that if you're doing your shank with some sort of taper on the lathe (or starting it, anyway), #2 is the only one you can really end up with - I think I only noticed this because I'd done the two I've done without one.

Anyway, here's the dissected version - in some ways, I think it's harder to see the differences to the overall stance when viewed this way, though it's easier to see exactly what changed on each:

Image

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:26 am
by RickB
caskwith wrote:I think this just proves what we all know, Todd and I don't know sheeeet and if you are looking to us for inspiration you are more doomed than we thought.
Be that as it may, I've watched your youtube videos a few times each (literally have one pulled up now in another tab) and have referenced Sas's "Dead Ordinary Billiard" thread a ton.
You're helping, whether you like it or not! :lol:

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2017 11:03 pm
by Sasquatch
It was pipe #2! Do I win a 7 day set or what?

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 8:53 am
by RickB
Sasquatch wrote:It was pipe #2! Do I win a 7 day set or what?
List of things you don't want:
1. A 7 day set of lumpy pipe turds hand carved by yours truly

How about "a smug sense of self-satisfaction?" :lol:

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:48 pm
by DocAitch
Sas has that in spades.
DocAitch

Re: Billiard Design Observation: Fun(?) With Silhouettes

Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:03 pm
by Sasquatch
Damn, I can't even argue. :filth-n-foul: