couple custom orders

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:09 pm

I finished these last week, but only got a chance to photograph them today. I made them for a custom order, and made one slightly longer so that the customer could choose which he liked better - as luck would have it, he took both.

This one is about 9" overall, and sports a stag horn ring on the stem. The stag is actually countersunk on both ends to make the fit seamless.

This one here is longer, at about 11.5" overall, and has a synthetic ivory ring on the stem. Again, both sides are countersunk to make for a seamless fit.

flix · Post by **flix** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:48 pm

Kurt,
they're really nicely done. The last one somehow reminds me of a traditional Japanese pipe...

LatakiaLover · Post by **LatakiaLover** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:28 am

Unusual (and nice) finish. You creative thing, you.

Too bad the only reasonable option for long stems anymore is that standard molded one, because the ivory widget gives the pipe a Nobleman-y sort of vibe.

Cool that your customer took the set. That will happen more often than not---make two w/a slight variation whenever you can (when the shape is a reasonable one), and it'll pay dividends.

btw, were your working on the site earlier tonight, or is my browser getting finicky?

hazmat · Post by **hazmat** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:16 am

Good stuff, Kurt. I'm not generally a fan of the long-stemmed pipes but those two work well. What's the stem material? It appears as if there are light-colored flecks in it, but it could be trick of the images.. or is it?

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:39 am

Thanks for the comments, guys.

hazmat wrote:What's the stem material? It appears as if there are light-colored flecks in it, but it could be trick of the images.. or is it?

It's vulcanite. those light colored flacks are e not wiping dust off of it before snapping the photos.

sprangalang · Post by **sprangalang** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:36 pm

I like that finish! It almost looks ceramic in texture, but the grain makes it organic. Great effect.

magruder · Post by **magruder** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:00 pm

Absolutely great finish. What did you do, pray tell us please?

steve morrisette

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:56 am

Well....

Without giving away too much, it's a two-stage blast with lots of stain.

I've recently switched to glass beads after a couple years of using aluminum oxide, and that's the only way that finish was accomplished. Even at that, I had to play a *lot* with different media sizes and air pressures. All in all, it probably took me 3 days of full-time work on scrap briar pieces to get it where I liked it and felt comfortable using it on a pipe.