Yeti Pipe #49 Troubadour

[The Smoking Yeti]

Hey guys! It's been a while since I posted in the public forum- with the crash happening and whatnot, I thought I'd share some of my latest work to start building up some new content. A big thanks to Kurt for diligently working to get the forum back up and running!

Anyways, this is a commissioned churchwarden, measuring in right around 10"

[Ocelot55]

Yeti, the bowl shaping and design are simply exquisite! I do find myself wishing there were slightly more bend to the stem, though. Excellent as usual.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Thanks I did spend quite a bit of time going back and forth with the bend. The undulating rim makes it somewhat tricky to decide how much the stem should bend to compensate- I ended up where I did after several attempts. However, you may be right about adding a couple degrees. It's one of those things which shall forever haunt me!

Cheers!

Yeti

[Ducksfan]

Alright, I'll be the one to ask... How'd you get it to stand up? Photoshop out the support after pics were taken?

[Yak]

Deleted as irrelevant.

[pipedreamer]

That is a professional looking pipe, The stem is magnificent, all is in the right place. It should bring a pretty dollar.Impressive Sir!

[The Smoking Yeti]

Alright, I'll be the one to ask... How'd you get it to stand up? Photoshop out the support after pics were taken?

I have to meditate for a few hours before photographing- only then can I achieve such balance.

[d.huber]

Sweet pipe, Micah and serious props for hand cutting a churchwarden stem!

2 things that I see:

1. I agree with Jessie that the stem could use a touch more bend.
2. I spy with my little eye a spec of light peaking through your shank/stem junction in pic #2.

And a question: at the junction is the stem the same height as the shank? It looks like it's a tiny bit uneven, like I'd feel a ridge there if I ran my finger along the seam.

[AldenW]

That is a beautiful pipe. One of the most elegant churchwardens I've seen.

[mightysmurf8201]

Love this one! Awesome job!

[LatakiaLover]

I'm going to be the lone dissenter, here, I think.

The bowl shape and execution is excellent, and the thinner 3/4ths of the stem looks to be spot on for a slenderized, Danish-y design.

What my eyes stick on is the "snake that swallowed a rodent" bulge that the shank and stem share. The slightly upward angle of departure of the stem from the shank also looks a bit off. (I suspect that you saw those things too, but couldn't do much about them without compromising the mortise/tenon integrity. That you discovered as the shaping progressed that the tenon was larger in diameter than you wished you'd used, but were stuck with it.)

[wdteipen]

Thanks a lot, George. I didn't notice it until you mentioned it. Now it bothers me.

(Still a very nice one, Micah.)

[The Smoking Yeti]

What my eyes stick on is the "snake that swallowed a rodent" bulge that the shank and stem share. The slightly upward angle of departure of the stem from the shank also looks a bit off. (I suspect that you saw those things too, but couldn't do much about them without compromising the mortise/tenon integrity. That you discovered as the shaping progressed that the tenon was larger in diameter than you wished you'd used, but were stuck with it.)

I swore a bit about this, yes. The issue came as I began to finalize my shape before drilling, I was quickly running out of wiggle room and had to commit to a point for the mortise, at which point I pinched on the shank ever so slightly. In the future when I do this style of stem junction, I'll probably shape slightly oversize, drill, and fit my ebonite before proceeding any farther.

I'm always learning.

Cheers!

Yeti

[bregolad]

There's always steel tenons...

[The Smoking Yeti]

There's always steel tenons...

True. But I loathe working with steel tenons.