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What stem material are we using,or is it open

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

afaik & afaic it's open.

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

Okay cool. Ebonite or acrylic were my choices.I was just asking because there was a brief conversation about acrylic early in the thread.

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

Atilanite?

PremalChheda wrote:

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

Atilanite?

I heard it was stanky.

PremalChheda wrote:

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

Atilanite?

If you can get your hands on it, sure.

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

How about Polyester?

Corn?

Isakowitch wrote:

mightysmurf8201 wrote:

Rshey wrote:What stem material are we using,or is it open

It should be kept traditional, ie. ebonite/vulcanite, acrylic and its variants, juma. No wooden stems or anything too unusual. I'm going to say no stems made of bakelite, briar, or horn as there are inherent issues with these materials for stems that only the more accomplished carvers are able to overcome. If there's something you're considering using that's outside the norm, run it by me and I'll make the call.

How about Polyester?

Yes, that is a commonly used acrylic variant.

Yes, that is a commonly used acrylic variant.

The stretchy kind too?

I'm going to try to use this thread to continue the conversation. Now that we've decided on author, maybe some
posts helping each other out would be useful.
Here's one I've got in progress.


A few thoughts, and then I'd love some feedback. (If this belongs in the gallery, I can move it there... but I thought it would be more useful keeping all PITH stuff in the same place.)

- I know it's over bent. This is my first crack at the shape, and I wanted to focus more on the shape of the bowl and the stem. I like more-bent pipes, so I went that direction, plus the grain on this block cooperated more with this shape then it would have with a shallower bend...
- I think the bowl tapers too much towards the rim. Should the sides be slightly more vertical?
- The stem needs to lose a whole bunch in the bite zone. Before bending, I had dead straight lines from just past the stem/shank juncture to the button, then took a bit more off the bottom to compensate for the bend. It's still too fat. With a stem like this, should you aim for a bit of a duckbill (ooh nasty word) before bending to get that nice elegant bite zone with the fat fat rest-of-the-stem??
- I recently read Scotties advice to have the shank wider at the bowl than the stem, and while I think my shank has a nice curve, it needs more taper. Dually noted.
- Is the chin a bit TOO upswept? Am I going with more Danish character than an author might normally warrant? (If so, I kinda like it....)

Okay, I'd love any pointers, direction or smack to the heads you have for me.
Pretty please.

Thanks,
Jeremy.


ps. GO AUTHORS!

I can't your picture

@Seamonster - can't see that image, but want to. Definitely agree on keeping this thread alive to help folks (specifically me ) out.
I haven't gotten beyond the sketching stage yet at this point, but hope to start before too long as I think this might take more than one try to get something I like.
Here's what I'm chewing on right now: as I mentioned earlier, I greatly prefer a saddle bit in terms of comfort but prefer the appearance of a taper on some pipes. Even if I draw the same stummel, I'm not sure an author looks right without that big tapered stem. What do y'all think? Does an author still read as an author with a saddle stem, or is that taper required to really accentuate the flow and nail the shape? In my preliminary sketching, it seems like making that flow look right without the tapered stem might involve actually tapering the shank a little harder than I would otherwise.
Also @Scottie, that pipe is amazing. Just so crisp and clean.

@RickB What about a half saddle? Leaving a taper on the bottom half so as to continue the bottom line but the put a saddle on the top half to thin the stem down?

RickB wrote:Also @Scottie, that pipe is amazing. Just so crisp and clean.

That's what 40+ hours of work looks like for me, lol. They take me less than a quarter of that time now, but that one was a killer. Well worth it though. I learned more making that pipe than I had in the entire year before. It was definitely a breakthrough for me.

seamonster wrote:I'm going to try to use this thread to continue the conversation. Now that we've decided on author, maybe some
posts helping each other out would be useful.
Here's one I've got in progress.


A few thoughts, and then I'd love some feedback. (If this belongs in the gallery, I can move it there... but I thought it would be more useful keeping all PITH stuff in the same place.)

- I know it's over bent. This is my first crack at the shape, and I wanted to focus more on the shape of the bowl and the stem. I like more-bent pipes, so I went that direction, plus the grain on this block cooperated more with this shape then it would have with a shallower bend...
- I think the bowl tapers too much towards the rim. Should the sides be slightly more vertical?
- The stem needs to lose a whole bunch in the bite zone. Before bending, I had dead straight lines from just past the stem/shank juncture to the button, then took a bit more off the bottom to compensate for the bend. It's still too fat. With a stem like this, should you aim for a bit of a duckbill (ooh nasty word) before bending to get that nice elegant bite zone with the fat fat rest-of-the-stem??
- I recently read Scotties advice to have the shank wider at the bowl than the stem, and while I think my shank has a nice curve, it needs more taper. Dually noted.
- Is the chin a bit TOO upswept? Am I going with more Danish character than an author might normally warrant? (If so, I kinda like it....)

Okay, I'd love any pointers, direction or smack to the heads you have for me.
Pretty please.

Thanks,
Jeremy.


ps. GO AUTHORS!

Still not able to see it?

You want your stem to almost look bent before you bend it. You have to really take a lot off the bottom line from about mid-stem to the button before you bend. That will really help with the lines after you bend. I shape my stem about 80% of the way and then bend it. After that it's all file work to get the lines to flow properly.

Also, you know that "spin the stem" trick while you are sanding to keep things round. I can't do that with my Authors. There is always more taken off the bottom line of the shank than the top. It's necessary to achieve that reverse S curve that you are looking for in an Author.

Here's a secret for free......I always bend my Authors 23 degrees. No more, no less.

seamonster wrote:Still not able to see it?

I can see it now - that's looking nice man! I think more taper (starting at the transition) would help it out, and the stem looks potentially a little long to me, but that might not be the case as much if it were slimmed down a bit. FWIW I like the bend amount (even if it's technically "overbent") and the shape of bowl looks pretty pleasing to my eye.
Obligatory huge rock of salt because I know I don't know shit