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Hello guys. I havn't been active on here for a long time, I guess I ran out of questions that I couldn't figure out largely on my own.

Anyhow, now I have a question, and it's about dimensions in the canadian family of pipes. You see, I know that I have read that the shank should be twice the hight of the bowl, but I'm struggling with the definition of "bowl hight". Therefore I made a little drawing (see pic).

What is meant by "hight of the bowl" exactly? is it the "A" line in my drawing, or the "B" line? Cause if I make a canadian with a shank twice as long as the "B" line (which in my mind is the hight of the bowl) it looks super-duper-ultra to long, but you know, if that's the way it is supposed to be I will of course make it that way. That's the reason I'm asking.

To me it looks more correct if one sort of folds the "A" line down for a standard billiard and double that lengt for a canadian.

To take it one step further, what is defined as the shank? I guess from where the bowl ends, or is it from the centerline of the bowl or something.

Very basic questions for someone who has been making pipes for as long as I have, but there you have it!

Thanks.

When I make a Canadian I use the measurements that you have marked as "A".

Hope this helps.

I use a, but usually (not always) end up with closer to 1.5 times the length, not 2 for the Canadian family shank length.

This probably won't be helpful, but whenever I make a canadian I never even attempt to measure the height/length ratio. I just turn the shank as long as the block allows and then make a bowl to match.

W.Pastuch wrote:This probably won't be helpful, but whenever I make a canadian I never even attempt to measure the height/length ratio. I just turn the shank as long as the block allows and then make a bowl to match.

This.

I'ma draw a pitcher.

One way to approach this is to take the standard billiard proportions, of stem being basically same length overall as stummel ("A" in the diagram, which is controlled by the "b" measurement). Then just stretch out the shank and take from the stem, but leave the overall measurements the same. The shank will be thinner, top to bottom.

That leads to pipes that look like this:














You can throw all that shit out though and make things essentially as long and/or skinny as you like, just keeping an eye on how the stem versus the shank lenght needs to look to not be a joke. This pipe is modelled after an old factory pipe - not "ideal" in any mathematical way, but a nice long thin pipe.



The shank is real long and the stem even longer too, and it kind of ties up as a tidy package, as long as the bowl isn't too heavy, or super tall. I think it's easy to break whatever the rules are if you are pretty good at dialling in a billiard bowl shape, and keeping things sparse.

This one might be just a hair taller than normal.

Thanks for the insight guys, much appreciated.

W.Pastuch wrote:This probably won't be helpful, but whenever I make a canadian I never even attempt to measure the height/length ratio. I just turn the shank as long as the block allows and then make a bowl to match.

This is ussually what I end up doing more or less, but I always try to get a basic feel for the "correct" dimensions aswell, so I can come close to the "right" dimensions.

It's not that I don't see what looks good, but I wanted to know if there was a general consensus regarding the "a" or "B" lines.

But after seeing your replies I realize that the slenderness of the shank also plays a big role in the overall look of the canadian shapes. the longer the shank the slimmer the shank may be a good rule of thumb, within reason ofcourse, to keep the pipe looking elegant.

Because if one look at this pipe, and only measure it from the computer screen, the shank in this one actually is 2xB from my first drawing, and it looks good, so the slenderness seem to be important also, which may explain why I thought the 2xB dimension looked wierd. Maybe I make the shank to fat.

Anywho, thanks guys.

Everything affects everything on a billiard! Yes, the overall proportions of shank height and length vs the bowl height, vs wall thickness... all plays a part. Make it look nice, and it will look nice!

Sasquatch wrote:Make it look nice, and it will look nice!

Best advice ever.

sandahlpipe wrote:

Sasquatch wrote:Make it look nice, and it will look nice!

Best advice ever.

The legal concept of strict constructionism had sex with cartesian dualism in Sas's brain a while back, and Eureka! moments such as that one have issued forth semi-regularly ever since.

Of course, a few bottles of La Fin Du Monde might also have something to do with it.

LatakiaLover wrote:

sandahlpipe wrote:

Sasquatch wrote:Make it look nice, and it will look nice!

Best advice ever.

The legal concept of strict constructionism had sex with cartesian dualism in Sas's brain a while back, and Eureka! moments such as that one have issued forth semi-regularly ever since.

Of course, a few bottles of La Fin Du Monde might also have something to do with it.

both La Fin Du Monde and Maudite have played a major part in me making bad decisions.

Sasquatch wrote:This one might be just a hair taller than normal.

Damn, that's a great looking pipe. I LOVE stacked bowls!

It was really challenging to make it huge, delicate, and nicely proportioned and shaped, all at the same time. It's easy to make things huge. But getting the bowl right took about 12 drawings, and luckily I got it pretty good in real life.

How tall did that one end up being?

It's about 3" tall by about 7" long. And of that 3", of course, 2.8" is chamber! Totally ridiculous.

if you dont give the pipe a name you can make it any size you like. I carved some goofy looking pipes. THe one I thought was just stupid turned out to be the first one I sold. My boss loved it and I thought it looked like an upside down elf hat. He thought it was awesome.

I run into trouble if I make my usual 5/16" mortise, I am limited with how small I can go with the height of the shank.
Any future attempts that I make for Canadians will have 1/4" mortises unless it is a huge block of briar.
I generally follow W.Pastuch's method.
DocAitch