Bearing in mind I'm still very much a novice, and I am without much of the automation in my shop as is custom for this era. I do have a drill press and a belt sander, but that's about it.
That being said, I can't for the life of me figure out how to stick pictures in here, so~ For those of you who have facebooks, I have all my work posted there. Just search PepperSmoke Pipes, my apologies for my ignorance.
First Post
Re: First Post
Copy the link (i.e in the address bar: http://yourpicishere) and surround it with these tags: *
Re: First Post
I checked out some of your pipes on facebook, so here's some comments from a fellow novice:
First of all I'd suggest to remove more material. Lots of it. I think you can easily remove another 20% of each pipe before getting close. As it looks now, in my novice opinion, they look more like blocks with rounded edges.
This one is a nice example of what I mean:
Secondly: I'm not sure all kinds of wood you're using are safe to smoke. Stuff like osage or oak might catch fire... or even worse, some kinds of wood are toxic. So please keep that in mind.
Furthermore: I saw the picture of your prefab bent stems. Did they come in bent like this? A normal bent stem has a nice curve to it, but these are just pinched into an angle.
As a last "negative" one, I'd suggest taking more time to sand everything smooth. Mainly the stem/shank transition, but sanding in general as well.
On the upside, your work does show a pretty decent increase in skill between the pipes on your page from early 2011 to some of the later ones from this year. So keep working on it, as your skills are improving.
Concerning the tooling: I made my first few pipes with a drillpress, a dremel and hand tools (files, rasps, sandpaper).
A year later I also got myself a bandsaw which is a huge help, and a motor with a sanding pad which is my main tool for now. This is enough to be able to make decent pipes, the rest is up to skill.
I've recently aquired a metal lathe, but that just adds possibilities and luxury.
Is my interpretation of your facebook page correct if I say you use freshly cut logs to start with? It might be a really good idea to order smaller blocks or - if the logs are yours - cut them into smaller blocks with your bandsaw and let them dry for at least a few months after boiling the icky juices out.
PS: I hope I don't offend you by being quite direct, but seeing as you're selling your pipes and have a business name for this, I'm guessing you want to get better and came here for comments like these.
First of all I'd suggest to remove more material. Lots of it. I think you can easily remove another 20% of each pipe before getting close. As it looks now, in my novice opinion, they look more like blocks with rounded edges.
This one is a nice example of what I mean:
Secondly: I'm not sure all kinds of wood you're using are safe to smoke. Stuff like osage or oak might catch fire... or even worse, some kinds of wood are toxic. So please keep that in mind.
Furthermore: I saw the picture of your prefab bent stems. Did they come in bent like this? A normal bent stem has a nice curve to it, but these are just pinched into an angle.
As a last "negative" one, I'd suggest taking more time to sand everything smooth. Mainly the stem/shank transition, but sanding in general as well.
On the upside, your work does show a pretty decent increase in skill between the pipes on your page from early 2011 to some of the later ones from this year. So keep working on it, as your skills are improving.
Concerning the tooling: I made my first few pipes with a drillpress, a dremel and hand tools (files, rasps, sandpaper).
A year later I also got myself a bandsaw which is a huge help, and a motor with a sanding pad which is my main tool for now. This is enough to be able to make decent pipes, the rest is up to skill.
I've recently aquired a metal lathe, but that just adds possibilities and luxury.
Is my interpretation of your facebook page correct if I say you use freshly cut logs to start with? It might be a really good idea to order smaller blocks or - if the logs are yours - cut them into smaller blocks with your bandsaw and let them dry for at least a few months after boiling the icky juices out.
PS: I hope I don't offend you by being quite direct, but seeing as you're selling your pipes and have a business name for this, I'm guessing you want to get better and came here for comments like these.
Website: http://www.massispipes.com
Instagram : http://instagram.com/massispipes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MassisPipes
Facebook: https://facebook.com/MassisPipes
Instagram : http://instagram.com/massispipes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MassisPipes
Facebook: https://facebook.com/MassisPipes
-
Raven LeBlanc
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sun Jul 24, 2011 6:21 am
Re: First Post
Nate, thank you for your help with the image posting. And no, Massis, I am not offended by your critique. I am grateful that someone took the time to give me advice, thank you.