My First Pipe: In Process

[d.huber]

I need some advice on how to use a friggin caliper. LOL! I bought an entire set, but I'm having a really difficult time understanding how to use these measuring devices to ensure symmetry between all rounded sides. Okay, okay, I pretty much sucked in shop class in High School.

Hah! If you haven't already, I'd recommend getting a digital caliper. They're extremely precise and affordable and you don't have to waste time figuring out what the measurement actually is. This is mine, and it's fantastic.

I feel ya on the shop class comment. This is my first time really working wood of any kind. It's a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong process doing this all by hand. I'm coming up on 70 hours spent on this pipe. It's extremely rewarding and the overall process is therapeutic and hypnotic. I've lost hours upon hours working on this pipe and not even realized it. Awesome stuff.

[d.huber]

Totally agree on the digital caliper suggestion.

Martin, Harbor Freight has them, too, I have one, and it's ace.

[d.huber]

Big ole update! Shaping is pretty much finished! have a look in the video. I wet the pipe so that the grain would be visible. The whole pipe is sanded to 600 grit in this video. Woohoo!!!

http://www.youtube.com/v/mBaKYIg7Xv8

[Ocelot55]

I'm not gonna lie, that's really nice. Taking your time and absorbing all this information from the experts sure paid off.Are you going to stain it? I think that would look awesome with a contrast stain.

[d.huber]

I'm not gonna lie, that's really nice. Taking your time and absorbing all this information from the experts sure paid off.Are you going to stain it? I think that would look awesome with a contrast stain.

Thanks a lot! I'm currently tossing ideas around about finishing. I didn't really pre-plan finishing and have come upon another aspect of this that I don't know a thing about. I'll be doing a good bit of reading up on how to accomplish a good stain. I also wish I could blast this guy. The grain is really nice, but there's a few dark spots in the wood that make me want a rough finish, but not rustication. The ring grain in there is beautiful and I think it's a shame that I won't be able to even attempt to bring it out.

In any case, I am thinking of doing a contrast stain, like you recommend. Now I've just got to find out how to do that. On with the research!

[d.huber]

My lord, man, that's going to come out great. I wish I had your patience.

[d.huber]

My lord, man, that's going to come out great. I wish I had your patience.

Thanks!

Making this pipe has had so many lessons already and I'm sure there are more to come. One lesson is that even with a lot of patience, one can feel the trials of getting a pipe just right. There have been a lot of moments when I've been working on the pipe for 5 or more hours when my energy begins to wane and I start rushing, which is never good. I've had to learn to force myself to stop when I begin to feel like this, otherwise I could really mess things up.

This pipe, while I'm very happy with it, has a lot of little detail imperfections that I could fix, but am honestly afraid to because of the potential risk at this juncture of ruining some part of the pipe. For example: the curve on the top of the shank isn't quite right and needs some refinement, but the airway is pretty close to the low point on that curve and I'm nervous that I might penetrate if I try to correct it. Also, when I cut the slot on the stem, I messed it up by accidentally angling the slot up instead of making it perpendicular to the airway. That was a moment full of foul words, I can assure you! As a result, there's less material to work with on the top of the stem, so if I made it more narrow, I'd run the risk of penetrating the stem and after the nearly 30 hours I've put into the stem alone, there's no freaking way I'm risking that.

Other lessons include a profound sense of humility. Making a beautiful pipe is HARD. I think that, for a first pipe, this is turning out to be quite lovely, but the numerous imperfections are clear to me and I can only hope that my next pipe doesn't take me 100 + hours to complete by ironing out the details that didn't get ironed out in this pipe. I had a lot of respect for the craftsmen who make beautiful precision pipes before, but now I'm amazed by their abilities.

All that being said, I can't wait to put the finishing touches on the pipe so I can smoke it! It's a bit heavy for a clencher and the thick and wide stem makes it hard for me to hold in my mouth anyway (long canines). As such, this will be a great sitting pipe. It feels great in the hand anyway, so there it will stay.

Thanks again for the kind words, Kyle! Your constant support is invaluable.

Next up: staining and final sanding!

[d.huber]

My girlfriend has kindly allowed me to use her powered drill to buff the pipe once it's stained. Since I've got the drill now, I went ahead and ordered stain, arbors, buffs, tripoli, and carnuba from PIMO. More to come once those supplies arrive!

[andrew]

Pipe is looking nice!

[d.huber]

Pipe is looking nice!

Thanks!

I placed an order for a few Shellac samples from Shellac.net around 2pm today and they shipped it before the end of business! Man, I'm glad I learned about them through this forum. I snagged the shellac to attempt a contrast stain on this baby. We'll see what happens. Rest assured, whatever happens, you'll see it next time on...

My First Pipe: In Process! Process... Process...

[andrew]

Pipe is looking nice!

Thanks!

I placed an order for a few Shellac samples from Shellac.net around 2pm today and they shipped it before the end of business! Man, I'm glad I learned about them through this forum. I snagged the shellac to attempt a contrast stain on this baby. We'll see what happens. Rest assured, whatever happens, you'll see it next time on...

My First Pipe: In Process! Process... Process...

Looking forward to it!

[d.huber]

Just FYI for everyone, I've stopped copying and pasting posts from the thread on BoB. The two threads have taken on lives of their own so I'm finally letting them be their own entities.

[d.huber]

Update time!

I received my supplies from PIMO today and got to work staining. I did a test stain on a spare chunk of briar and I'm going with a contrast cherry stain which I think is going to wind up beautiful. I was only able to finish the first round of staining today, but take a look!

[wdteipen]

One thing to consider to get the briar to accept stain better is to start staining at 320 or 400 grit (I start at 400.) Once you hit 600, the briar doesn't accept stain nearly as well. It's looking good.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

Looking good! how did you get such a nice briar block for your first? I have never had a block with grain that looked good. Actually I just drilled a plateau that looked pretty good, only 8 to 10 fissures spots and splits.

[andrew]

This will look great when you're finished. The contrast seems to be coming out nicely.

[d.huber]

One thing to consider to get the briar to accept stain better is to start staining at 320 or 400 grit (I start at 400.) Once you hit 600, the briar doesn't accept stain nearly as well. It's looking good.

Hey Wayne!

I did the black stain at 300 grit, polished the stain off, then resanded with 300. Is there anything in the photos that you see that I could do better before I progress? I've still got another layer of staining to do and would love to know how to fix any problems you see now.

Thanks for the tip, btw!

[d.huber]

Looking good! how did you get such a nice briar block for your first? I have never had a block with grain that looked good. Actually I just drilled a plateau that looked pretty good, only 8 to 10 fissures spots and splits.

I bought 6 blocks of Tassili Mini from Pipe Maker's Emporium 2 years ago when they had a sale and have LUCKED OUT. I'm trying to figure out where I can get affordable briar of this caliber in the future so I don't have to backtrack. That's actually something I'm a little worried about. Since I can't really afford to expend $300+ on a high end batch, I'm currently keeping my eyes open for deals. Just haven't found them yet.

Anyone have some good advice on supplies? I'll be looking around the forum myself, but if anybody would like to shorten my search, I'd appreciate it.

[d.huber]

This will look great when you're finished. The contrast seems to be coming out nicely.

Thanks, Andrew! I'm planning to call this puppy DONE by the end of the week. I'm looking forward to it!

[d.huber]

Update time!

So I've got the final stain on the pipe and it's lookin' pretty good. Only step left at this point is to give it a healthy buffing! Check it out:







Next update will be of the finished product!