Starting out

For the things that don't fit neatly into the other categories.
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Sasquatch
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Re: Starting out

Post by Sasquatch »

I came into making pipes as a fully experienced wood worker with hours and hours of carving experience. I mean, I had lots of tools, lots of "game". And you know how much help it was?
None, pretty much.

I was able to make ugly pipes pretty fast, and make them technically well - ugly good smokers. 5 years later, I make pipes that look half decent most of the time, and I've struggled like hell to do it. (I sound like fucking Cristopher Walken in Pulp Fiction: "Five years he kept that pipe: up his ass....")

I have a pretty large IQ myself, reasonable acumen on acoustic guitar and know the building code for barrier-free (read:handicap accessible) construction. Helps none with pipes.

Everyone makes pipes differently here. There is literally no one who uses the same exact tools in the same exact way. Jesus some of the stuff I do with a skew chisel would make Richard Raffan puke. Good! Pussy cuts soft-ass wood in the first place, screw him!

What's the point Sas?

Point is this: making pipes that don't look like grade 8 shop projects is pretty tough. You (anyone - I'm not intending this as aimed specifically at any person here) have a basic choice of listening to advice on this forum, trying techniques and developing your own as you go, or .... or what? Or not having any idea what the hell a pipe should look like because you're so caught up in the rapture of making them in the first place that you can't see your work for what it is.

One of the things I had to learn was that for whatever mystical forces being applied, when Todd Johnson, Rad Davis, or Brute Weaner gave me advice about pipes and I followed it.... my pipes immediately sold. I am not cutting an artistic swath, I am not cutting new ground. I make the simplest pipes in the world. I love to do it, feel priveleged to participate in this community in all the ways I have. My success as a pipemaker comes from learning fundamentals about pipe shaping from people who are better at it than me. And I'm very handsome.
ALL YOUR PIPE ARE BELONG TO US!
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TRS
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Re: Starting out

Post by TRS »

Sasquatch wrote:I have a pretty large IQ myself
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
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SchmidtN
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Re: Starting out

Post by SchmidtN »

Nah, I've chatted with Todd. He uses some purdy dang big words that he must have learned in college. I can also attest to his street cred, dude spells it "dawg."
Hello, I'm #1312.
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Alden
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Re: Starting out

Post by Alden »

Sasquatch wrote: "Five years he kept that pipe: up his ass...."

AHA ! You got Sas all worked up, and he slipped......now we all know the secret.
Keep getting under their skin, eventually we'll find out how they sandblast.
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Sasquatch
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Re: Starting out

Post by Sasquatch »

Try the Chili.
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waznyf
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Re: Starting out

Post by waznyf »

Well said Jeff!
Truly helps me to read things of this sort because I am so impatient.

Regards,
Frank
"Without music, life would be a mistake." -Friedrich Nietzsche
the rev
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

So did Kenny ever make the billiard?

rev
"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

the rev wrote:So did Kenny ever make the billiard?

rev
:lol: :lol: :lol:

I may be wrong, but I don't think he ever did. Not like my attempt looked any better than the one he didn't make. Billiards are a lot harder than one might think.
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

I am pretty close to being done with the pipes I promised to make for others, so I can start working on classic shapes and getting ripped by the pros, sounds so fun :)

Is there something magical about the billiard? If I were to make 12 Dublins would that create the same effect? I am just asking because I don't really love the Billiard. I would prefer the brandy, or Dublin.

rev
"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

I think the problem with those shapes is that they both allow for a more open interpretation than the billiard does. If you make a billiard, it's a billiard or it isn't.
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Sasquatch
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Re: Starting out

Post by Sasquatch »

I think if you make 12 dublins, you'll gain a lot of ground for shaping.

Billiards.... the thing with them is that tiny changes bring out radical shaping differences. Dublins.... well, you have a basic V shape and you can make it bigger or smaller.

I've cut three roughly billiard-based pipes very recently - I'll post 'em all right here, right now.

Image

Image

Image


A guy liked the first one enough to kick tires for a week. But he didn't want THAT pipe - he likes blasts, and it's just a little appley - maybe a "lark" rather than a "bing" if you will. A real subtle difference.

So, go cut the second pipe. Customer passes based on color and shaping - wants something a little taller, a little skinnier. This one is "pottish". Fair enough.

Third pipe. Not pottish. Tall and proud, with NONE of the appley shape of the first pipe, and in fact, maybe not enough curve in the bowl to be a billiard proper - this on drifting to dublin? It's not really, or wasn't before I blasted it.

The shaping differences, the amount of wood on these pipes... it's really subtle, and the visual effect is TOTALLY different pipes.

It's far easier to totally miss on a billiard, or rather, a small change MAKES for a total miss on a billiard.

I think if you go cut a dozen, Rev, you'll gain an appreciation for the shape - I did. I never looked at straight pipes at all, and now.... I like them, I appreciate them. Good ones, anyway. And the biggest thing is that if you learn to take off a little here, leave a little there on a billiard, and learn what affect that has to the overall pipe, then when you go to cut that dublin, or even that blowfish.... you'll find that your confidence and your overall presentation are a lot better.
ALL YOUR PIPE ARE BELONG TO US!
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bandkbrooks
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Re: Starting out

Post by bandkbrooks »

One of the best learning experiences for me lately has been to seriously focus on those classic shapes. I've made a couple of divergences from that path but always come right back to “make a billiard” or a closely related shape when the briar says “I don’t want to be a billiard”. Ok so you’re a pot or apple or another classic. I have also been trying to make two of the same shape at a time. Being a percussionist/drummer everything comes from muscle memory. If I am making one pipe and the step I just finished looks/feels right then I’ve got that second one to do immediately to keep it in my head and hands.

I still haven’t decided for the PITH to do a traditional cavalier or some “artsy” piece, but in the meantime, it’s classics only. I want to thank the guys that take the time for constructive comments. I wouldn’t have been able to move forward at all without them. I look back at early stuff and think “Please don’t let anyone go back and look at these”. Sas reviewed a couple of mine recently. One in particular was a train wreck and he rightfully let me know. It was a bent billiard that just “wasn’t ready for prime time”. So even recent ones get that “don’t look” reaction in my head. Bruce and Todd taught me about flowing lines that are even present in those classics and I am forever grateful. I don’t nail it consistently but those techniques and eye for detail are necessary in every pipe I attempt to make.

I can't thank everybody individually but as a community, this sight is invaluable.

I gotta go make a billiard now. Well... 2 or 3 at one time.
Brandon Brooks
__________________________________

"The voices in my head won't let me have any imaginary friends"
Brandon Brooks

Brandon Brooks Pipes
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the rev
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

Ok Sas, I will make a dozen billiards... will you buy them?

:)

rev
"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
the rev
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

the rev wrote:so is this who I copy? http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/s ... t_id=55720

rev
If you want a billiard in the Danish school, then yes.
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

http://www.dshpipes.com

"Strive for excellence, not for what someone else accepts."
-Tyler Beard
the rev
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

I am not English, nor Italian, I am f'n Danish. My name is Jensen. My ancestors raped and pillaged most of Europe. I am berzerker

Image


AARRRRRHHHHHHHHH

rev
"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

the rev wrote:I am not English, nor Italian, I am f'n Danish. My name is Jensen. My ancestors raped and pillaged most of Europe. I am berzerker

Image


AARRRRRHHHHHHHHH

rev
Then I think the Danish schule ist fur dir. ;)

Or is it "fur dir ist?" I can never remember.
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Re: Starting out

Post by the rev »

Ja den danske rør skole er for mig

rev
"but rev, isn't smoking a sin?"

well I suppose if one were to smoke to excess it would be a sin

"but what would be smoking to excess?"

Why smoking two pipes at once of course
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d.huber
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Re: Starting out

Post by d.huber »

the rev wrote:Ja den danske rør skole er for mig

rev
Wait a second, that's actually Dutch and not German. Well played, sir. Well played.
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"Strive for excellence, not for what someone else accepts."
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