pipemakersforum.com

2nd pipe. First time drilling my own.
I'm an hour in (+3beers) and I need some guidance. I started with a vision of doing a dublin/cherrywood/sitter.
Here i am.

questioning chamber wall thickness, the angle of the bowl taper to make the dublin shape, bowl height (should I cut it down?).

could someone help me along? Maybe draw some lines?
Early critique welcome.
I'd like to make some progress from my first pipe.
cheers
ryan

You are over-thinking it.

Find a pipe you like that's already made, then COPY it. All the critique, reference, angles, lines, etc. are then in one hand, while the pipe you are making is in the other. Shape, compare, shape some more. When they are the same, stop.

Keep doing that until you get good at copying, then start designing your own.

Musicians spend a lot of time playing other people's music before they start composing their own, right? There's nothing that should bum you out about it. It's the fastest way to learn.

It's normal to get stuck when learning a new shape. Take off what you know doesn't belong. Then take a break from shaping and take out a marker and draw on the stummel where you think more needs to come off. Take your time and turn it around from every angle looking for where to take material off.

For wall thickness, get yourself a caliper like this: http://www.rockler.com/igaging-digical- ... gQodQagAMg

You're usually pretty safe to go down to 1/4" thick on the bowl walls; maybe a bit more towards the bottom of the bowl. Seriously, at least measure your wall thickness a few times till you get the hang of it. You don't want to go too thin or you risk burnout. But most beginners take off too little for fear of not going too thin. A caliper will take out some of that guesswork.

ok fair enough
here is a little progress and I'm starting to see it a bit better
at least one question though: should I make the stem shorter? I'm thinking its about twice as long as it should be.

If so, do I simply cut it and drill a countersink?

other criticism welcome

Keep working on it. Especially try to keep the shank straight and tighten the radius around the bowl/shank junction. Remove any part of the bowl that extends below the bottom line of the shank.

I wouldn't worry about the stem length for this one. There's no good way to shorten the existing one unless you fit a new stem to the shank.