Straight/Bent Dublin With Bevelled Rim

[shikano53]

For critique please - thanking you in advance

[seamonster]

It would help to have some context here.
How many pipes have you made before this one?
How many hand cut stems?

[shikano53]

I've made quite a few pipes, maybe forty of various forms. This is about my fourth hand cut stem.

[seamonster]

Okay. First, I think your proportions are a bit off. The bowl is definitely too large for the shank diameter, and the length of the stem. With a longer (even twice as long) stem, you might pull off the bowl. If you are looking to make a little stubby nosewarmer, I think a stouter shank would balance it out. As is, it looks like you were just squeezing out whatever size/shape pipe you could fit with whatever block/rod you had on hand. Do some cruising on smokingpipes.com or other site with tons of pipe photos, and do some comparisons. Notice the proportions of the pipes on the site.

A longer stem would really help the issues you have with this stem. The bite zone looks way too thick, try and shoot for just over 4mm. If that's what yours currently measures then try to taper the sides of the stem to give a more elegant, thin profile. This would allow your button shape to be more ovoid, or point on the sides. The buttons seems a little thin to me, especially for such a heavy looking pipe, and your slot needs some tuning up, shoot for straight and consistent. Your bent looks too abrupt. I suspect that you heated a very narrow portion of the stem, which gave you more of an elbow, rather than a long graceful bend (your stem isn't really long enough to achieve this). But try to heat up more of the stem, and bend a much wider radius.

I think you could change this pipe to something a little more proportionate. You have plenty of meat around the chamber, so you could bring that bowl in quite a bit, that would help take some of the visual weight off. If it were me, I'd take the plateaux off, and shorten the bowl some too.

[seamonster]

Sorry...

Sent from my bloopty-bloop using hooty-hoo.

[shikano53]

Thanks seamonster! I will do exactly as you suggest and rework this pipe.
I'm going to print the changes you made and use it to try and sort this out!
I'll post once I'm done the changes.
Thank you again.

[wdteipen]

When you're looking straight at the airway at the button, it should look like the shape of Stewie's head except more narrow.

[Maddwarf69]

I'll never see a button the same way again...

[Sasquatch]

One of the stranger posts on this board for sure. Congrats Wayne on setting a new bar.

[shikano53]

Wayne, thank you so much for your comment. It's very kink of you to post a selfie to illustrate your point!
lol
Just teasing!

[seamonster]

The hardest part about shaping buttons is the EARS.....

[shikano53]

seamonster,
Here is the re-take remaking the pipe as per your suggestions.

Well, I took the advice of the folks on the PMF and totally redid this Dublin. I cut off the Plateaux, cut the size down considerably and tried with my Dremel tool to make it look something like a blast. I also re-bent the stem as per your suggestion. I don't have a blasting machine so I did this using a medium Dremel cutting tool.

[seamonster]

Yes! I'd say you have a much more well proportioned pipe! Nicely done. I also think the shape is much more interesting now. Good for you for talking a drastic second whack at it, it payed off.

Sent from my bloopty-bloop using hooty-hoo.

[JMG]

I tough to go back to a "finished" pipe and start hacking at it. You made some good improvements with this. Well done.

[DocAitch]

I like it better as well. Still needs a bit more stem.
I am not sure what you finished the surface with, but I find that the dull areas deep in the recesses of the surface after using carnauba on a wheel can be polished out by heating over a heat gun and using a fingernail brush with shortened bristles (for increased stiffness) to vigorously brush the surface.
If this is residue from polishing this should also work.
If it is a polymerizing oil or thick shellac, it may make a worse mess.
DocAitch

[wdteipen]

Massive improvement over the original but you forgot to Stewie your button.

[Maddwarf69]

Massive improvement over the original but you forgot to Stewie your button.

It might not be legal to "Stewie you button" in some states....