Some of the others

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:44 pm

So, you've been bitten by the bug, live on the other side of the Pipemaking World and don't have the cash for a new order of materials from over there (seems like shipping, duties etc. amounts to about 80% of material costs!). And all you want to do is make pipes! What do you do? You buy dirt cheap pipes from the cafe ("drugstore" I think you would call it) for stems; and beg, steal or borrow any wood that you think will remotely work for pipes.

Here are some of them:

#0708:

#0801:

#0802: Drawn and shaped by my wife!

#0804:

#0806:

#0808:

#0809:

#0815:

OK, so now all of you have been nice to me. Give me the critical truth, please!

Charl

flix · Post by **flix** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:12 pm

I like most of them. The pros can critique them better...

What kind(s) of woods are you using? I esp. like the wood on the one your wife shaped.

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:54 pm

No wait, don't tell us. Let us guess.

#1 Osage Orange is going to have to be my closest guess, though the growth rings don't look anything like the osage I've seen.

#2 Mahogany?

#3 Dead ringer for Osage Orange

#4 Something Brazilian. I'm gonna have to go with Lignum Vitae?

#5 At first I thought Cherry. But the growth rings seem too pronounced. I almost want to say it's stained spruce.

#6 Mahogany

#7 Cherry

#8 Color-wise, I would say Osage Orange again, but the texture's too smooth. I'm gonna have to go with Cherry, stained a little on the yellow side.

Otherwise, nice work.

There are plenty of nice woods that will make a good pipe, and if you're going to have to make a certain number of mistakes anyway, why not make them on $1 pieces of wood, rather than $25 pieces of wood.

And your wife seems quite talented. Definitely keep her involved with what you're doing.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:37 am

Robert, I think your osage orange guesses are probably incorrect. Remember, Charl lives in South Africa. To my knowledge, osage is an American wood.

Personally, I don't have a clue what types of wood they are, even though I lived there more than 1/2 my life.

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 5:57 am

Oh, wow. Yeah that changes everything.

But that definitely explains why I've never seen anything like #1.

Let's see .......................... Okay, I give up.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:50 am

Very nice pipes bud. Great job for some of your first. Much better than my early ones!

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:56 am

#0708: Iroko
#0801: Balau, with cherry stain
#0802: Balau
#0804: Iroko, with choc brown stain
#0806: Iroko, with cherry stain
#0808: Balau, with 1 layer each of choc brown and cherry
#0809: Curry (not sure how it's spelled), with cherry stain
#0815: Curry

Would love to get my hands on some wild olive, though...

Only problem I have now is: how to get rid of these! Not really good enough to sell to a tobacconist yet, all my pipe smoking friends have already been given a free sample pipe and I would also love to get my hands on cash for more briar!

And a lathe and stem material and .....and ...

flix · Post by **flix** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:05 am

Ebay should do it, old chap...

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:38 am

Not a lot of people in SA use ebay, unfortunately!

Tried selling some pipes at the local montly market here in the village, and sold one, at least!

Still waiting for some critique on the pipes though, if you can excuse the poor quality of the photos... Have other photos with different views as well, if there is somebody that would like to see more. I know there are LOADS of

Charl

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:39 am

Charl wrote:Not a lot of people in SA use ebay, unfortunately!

You need to broaden your outlook and think beyond SA. Millions of people all over the world buy & sell stuff on ebay. I've shipped refurbed estate pipes to England, France, Holland, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Switzerland, Philipines, and a few others I forget, all sold on ebay.

Your major disadvantage, at the moment, is using alternative woods. They don't usually sell for high prices in the classic shapes unless they have outstanding colour/grain. A few pipemakers like Elie http://www.eliesfreehandpipes.com/index.php have managed to find a niche with alternative woods, but as you can see from his website, his pipes are, in my opinion, art works. Nevertheless, you are getting good experience in pipemaking using those woods.

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:54 am

You know, Charl, you might want to get in touch with Johan Slabbert (Jobert Pipes). He lives in South Africa, and he seems to have had a fair amount of success using alternative woods -- actually become fairly well known for that.

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:53 pm

Thanks for the advice, Frank! I tend to forget that the world is getting smaller because of the net. Good example is this that I'm doing at the moment!

And jeez, Elie's pipes REALLY are work of art, hey! Beautifull!
A friendly neighbour of mine took some of my pipes to a local tobacconist chain yesterday, so the pipes will be send up to head office to be checked out. I actually think it's too soon: my work is not up to standard yet. Not nearly!
On the other hand, tobacconists here basically cater for 2 types of smokers: the really cheap smoker ($15-20 pipes) and then the more "discerning" smoker that go for Peterson, Kaiser or Savinelli (about $100-150).
Never know!

pierredekat: I know about Johan Slabbert, but I've never had a pipe of his in my hands. Somewhere I've read that his quality is not that good.
There is also a guy in Calitzdorp (Ebenhart pipes), who uses different types of indigeneous wood. His work is not really my style, though.

Charl

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:08 pm

Charl wrote:pierredekat: I know about Johan Slabbert, but I've never had a pipe of his in my hands. Somewhere I've read that his quality is not that good.
There is also a guy in Calitzdorp (Ebenhart pipes), who uses different types of indigeneous wood. His work is not really my style, though.

Charl, don't worry about other pipemakers quality and style. There are very few pipemakers in SA, so it would benefit you to befriend them, so that you can dialogue with them and find out where they obtain their materials, exchange ideas, etc.

If you're a fairly recent beginner and are serious about pipemaking, just continue until you find the style(s) that suit you. My advice to newcomers to this website is to read as many of the old posts as possible. You will learn more here than from any books on pipemaking. Also, browse through some of the pipemakers here: http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Main ... y_location . You will see some incredible pipes, something to aim for.

I know only too well how difficult it is to obtain certain material and equipment in SA, but remember the old adage "Boer maak n plan".

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:55 pm

Thanks again for your good advice, Frank. I really appreciate it.

And if you look at the professionals, you wonder how in hell you'll be able to get to that level! Really some amazing pipes out there!

By the way, where do you get the Afrikaans wisdom from?

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:33 pm

Charl wrote:By the way, where do you get the Afrikaans wisdom from?

Although I was born and raised in English speaking Cape Town, at puberty I became such a hellion that my folks sent me to boarding school in the country, boer country. I used to speak "the Taal" fluently, not so much anymore.