How Do I Stop Making War Clubs?

[ScoJo]

Okay, something has been bothering me and I have to ask. I am working on my 4th briar pipe. I just got my first plateaux briar (I have been working with ebauchons from Mark Tinsky - including this 4th one), and I was struck by the fact that a couple of the pieces of the plateaux that I got were quite smaller than the average ebauchons that I have been working with (although a heck of a lot lighter and with much better grain!). Then it hit me - the thing that has been bothering me most about my pipes so far:

The are big and "clunky"-looking. I joked with my wife that I was making very clumsy-looking war clubs. I have been struck before about the apparent lack of elegance in my pipes and now given my new briar I am thinking that apparently I am too afraid of removing too much wood to make something that really looks "refined".

Have any of you had this problem? If so, how did you get over it? I would appreciate any advice as I am getting tired of making pipes that look like they could be used for self-defense.

This 4th one is pretty huge too. I am also thinking that on the underside of the bowl where it meets the shank it still looks a little square instead of nice and round - you could say it still looks to have the shape of the block under there...

:think:

-Scott

[Nick]

I would think its just a matter of finding your own style. Go ahead and screw up a piece of two. Its all a learning expirience.

[alexanderfrese]

Nevertheless you're still on the safer side. You still can take something off. Imagine you would be fiddling with too tiny pipes…
From my usual design works I do for a living, I use one technique: I let it sit overnight and look at it the next morning. I know it's hard to stop, when you're in the middle of it, but I did it with the second pipe I did (also from some prebored stuff). Next moring it still showed, I had taken the right direction, but – guess what – it felt rather big. So I started to think (!) about the right places to take something away. No planning by any drawing, just plain old turning it in your hand, letting the eye have a look at the grain and the fingers search for the parts, where it doesn't seen to fit smoothly.
So I went on. It became more beautiful. I decided to flatten the upper side of the stem. It made the thumb feel somewhat more comfortable round the bowl. Only thing I forgot to remember was, that I was working on a block with a mortise for 9mm filter (hard to get others here in Germany). I became more and more excited about the possible rather beautiful outcome for a piece of crappy hobby block until I sanded it down to the tenon.
8O

Nice piece of wood to exeperiment with weird staining now. I even tried the shoe polish. Sure gave it a nice odor…
Anyway, just give yourself a chance to feel, where it might be wrong before yu start copying any design. We all copy any given design more or less to start with something. But to get to your own style, you have to develop your eye and the eyes "on your hands". So go on. I have to buy some new blocks myself to screw ’em up to learn.

[jeff]

Scott,

I remember when a friend and pipe collector/retailer looked at my first "real" batch of pipes and provided some much needed criticism. Some were okay. They all needed a little help with their lines. But overall, he said that they were good shapes, but... (What he told me has really stuck with me.) ...I hadn't found the pipe in the wood. That is what I ask myself when working in the shop these days. "Have I found the pipe?" That means not being afraid to remove more wood. "But the grain is so nice right now, what if I hit a pit?" Well, that's just the way things go. I'd rather have a great rusticated shape than a clunky piece with great grain. Hell, if you want great grain, just buy plateaux pre-drilled kits and stain & polish the sides. Everything has to come together in a great pipe. Just keep practicing, remove the wood, make mistakes, throw the blocks across the room, and keep at it! You'll find the pipe in the block if you look hard enough.

Best of luck,

Jeff

[LexKY_Pipe]

In the current smoking environment, war clubs may not be all that bad!

[bscofield]

Here's my $.02:

Draw something on the block that is elegant & refined and don't stop sanding, grinding, filing, yelling/screaming, throwing, the block of wood until you are there. Draw what you want on the block and be disciplined in not stopping until you have arrived at that shape. As far as getting over being afraid to take too much off... well, just buy a bulk order of briar and tell yourself that you can just pull another off the pile if you mess up.

[ScoJo]

Ben,

That's what I tried for this 4th pipe. The drawing was really nice, too. Unfortunately it didn't take too much sanding before the drawing was obliterated, and somewhere in the shaping process the vision was lost.



-Scott

[alexanderfrese]

There's a joke around here in Germany at the moment. I think it works as well in English:

Way back when they simply called you »forgetful«, when you could not remember names as good as you used to.
Now they call it »Alzheimer« – and there you go with another name you have to remember.

Maybe make a quick digiphoto of the drawing on the pipe? Put it on a copy machine? Or simply a rough copy on a piece of paper held against the flat block?

But looking hard – as Jeff said – maybe works better than beeing too dependant on a drawing.

Alex

[Nick]

Thats a neat critique Jeff. Thanks for sharing it!

[magruder]

I have a distinct advantage of having spent waaay too much money on really great pipes from various "Masters".

I study them and try and imitate and steal ideas and designs.
This web site has many great pipes: http://www.danishpipemakers.com/makerindex.html

I hope the above doesn't sound obvious, but if you really look at, trace with your fingers, and critically heft and anlayze a pipe you admire, it can some times trip a switch in your brain. Mentally doing that to a photo is a real cool exercise.

Try sketching a lot too. And for really far out ideas look at the pipe galleries of Arita and Tokutomi here:
http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/arita/gallery.cfm
http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/t ... allery.cfm
( click on a pipe and get more views )


As to revealing flaws, well as they say, "That's racing."


HTH :think:

[ScoJo]

Those are some interesting pipes. For the life of me I cannot locate the pictures of the pipe that Rolando won the P&PT contest with now, but this reminded me of it:

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/arita/Arita10.jpg

[magruder]

Those are some interesting pipes. For the life of me I cannot locate the pictures of the pipe that Rolando won the P&PT contest with now, but this reminded me of it:

http://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/arita/Arita10.jpg

Yeah, I noticed strong similarities too. :think:

What do you think of the "asymetrical symmetry" of the Tokutomi pipes?

[ToddJohnson]

When I'm finished shaping a pipe I want it to look like it's been stretched taut over a smooth frame. It should be cut to the bone. When you think you're finished, hold it up in front of you twisting and moving it around, holding it against a solid backdrop and letting your eye trace all of the lines. Only when you see that they're smooth, fluid, and uniform should you move on to the next step in the process. Don't worry with pits at first. Just train yourself to create the shapes you're trying to achieve. Once you can do this with some consistency, you'll be able to do it in a $50 block where you have to worry much less about the potential of hitting large sandpits. If you want an idea of what a perfectly shaped pipe would resemble, take a look at a Greyhound or a Thoroughbred, not another pipe.

Todd

[magruder]

If you want an idea of what a perfectly shaped pipe would resemble, take a look at a Greyhound or a Thoroughbred, not another pipe.

Todd

Or a Ferrari.

[ScoJo]

If you want an idea of what a perfectly shaped pipe would resemble, take a look at a Greyhound or a Thoroughbred, not another pipe.

Todd

Or a Ferrari.

Hmm. This 4th one I am working on now kinda looks like a Ford Excursion. I guess that's not what I am looking for...

[bscofield]

I'm partial to the ford fiesta :p

The drawing was really nice, too. Unfortunately it didn't take too much sanding before the drawing was obliterated, and somewhere in the shaping process the vision was lost.

There's plenty of people who actually keep "templates" in the form of a drawing (perhaps on some heavier # paper) and then trace it onto their blocks of wood. Maybe that's not necessary to do all the time, but the drawing could then be followed after sanding it off.

I have friends that come over every once in a while to try their hands at pipe making. When they get to the part where they need to sand off their drawing I tell them they've gotten to the "point of no return." If they haven't got the shape in their minds yet then they'll have a hard time finishing.

I recently did the template thing on a pipe shape that is my "Elanor" (that's from "Gone in 60 seconds") or my arch nemesis for those who haven't seen the movie. It worked out real well. I lost the shape, as I always do, and then put the tamplate drawing back up to it to recover.

[alexanderfrese]

I'm partial to the ford fiesta :p

Fiesta? Do you have these small ones over there? Might be a clue to the original question of how to make smaller pipes. Or is the Fiesta not a small Ford in the US? From my viewpoint – surely with a thick overcast of prejudice, like all Europeans – a Fiesta must be a tiny car in the States.

Beeing OT again. Hmm.
Midnight soon. I'm done for today.

Alex

[bscofield]

I'm partial to the ford fiesta :p

Fiesta? Do you have these small ones over there? Might be a clue to the original question of how to make smaller pipes. Or is the Fiesta not a small Ford in the US? From my viewpoint – surely with a thick overcast of prejudice, like all Europeans – a Fiesta must be a tiny car in the States.

Beeing OT again. Hmm.
Midnight soon. I'm done for today.

Alex

yeah, it's tiny. I was just making a pun about ugly cars.