1st billiard attempt

[calsbeek]

I worked up the courage to do my first billiard, my first hand cut stem and my first rustication, but then I sanded through the bottom of the bowl into the airway.

I started to practice rusticating on the front of the bowl but then I thought someone here might be kind enough to offer me feedback to this point so I can better understand the shape before I throw this away. My measurements tell me everything is about right, but it looks pretty wrong.

thanks in advance.

[calsbeek]

I just put a little JB weld on the hole and sucked it into the void, smeared a little more on the outside and so I'm planning to finish this out.
any input still very welcome (including: is it safe to smoke a pipe with JB weld pulled into a void below the tobacco chamber?).
cheers

[sandahlpipe]

I wouldn't sell a pipe with JB weld anywhere on it.

As for the pipe, you're not quite in the billiard ballpark yet. From the middle picture, the bowl looks like an acorn. From the profile view, the back of the bowl looks right, but the front looks like an egg. The taper on your shank is too much, and you can still take off quite a bit of material between bowl and shank.

Still, I've done a lot worse than this. Keep working on it and you'll get there.

[calsbeek]

Hey thanks Jeremiah
Not selling for sure. No one is going to buy my junk right now anyway. But I do want to improve my skills as does everyone here and more importantly, I don't want to die from smoking JB weld. Is it ok?

and so more like this?

[sandahlpipe]

I haven't read msds info on JB weld. Should be pretty informative to read. I wouldn't smoke anything where there is a fill in the chamber from any kind of glue or epoxy. On her outside of the bowl probably won't kill you, but better to check the msds than wish you had.

For what needs to be taken off, compare yours to a factory pipe. Most of what needs to be removed is on the shank, not the bowl. Walt Cannoy has a video on his YouTube channel which demonstrates how to shape a billiard. I'd watch that a few times.

[calsbeek]

Now a shop pipe