Enough blabber. Critiques and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.
Bamboo Volcano
Bamboo Volcano
Hi everyone. This is my first attempt at a volcano, and I'm sure there are plenty of things I could do better. This was just a left over piece of wood from a bigger block so I added the bamboo. I also tried adding some acrylic beads into the bamboo since I was experimenting. I ran stainless steel tubing through the length of the bamboo and did one of those reverse mortise tenon connections for the stem. Originally a saddle stem was going to be used, but I couldn't get it to look the way I wanted it and ended up just doing a tapered stem. The bottom line on the stem is kind of crappy...something to work on(think I say that everytime). There is also a fatal flaw where on the shank near the bowl. It is a really skinny crack that goes from top to bottom on the right side (driver's front right).
Enough blabber. Critiques and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.
Enough blabber. Critiques and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.
Re: Bamboo Volcano
Interesting pipe. It is generally attractive and puts me in mind of an opium pipe.
Understanding that you were limited in your options by the fact that this is a piece of scrap briar, I still have a couple of comments.
1) The shank appears to curve to the right on the bottom view
2) the bowl rim treatment looks 'kinked' with a relatively sharp upward sweep that I think would look better if it were smoother (less sharp)
3) I think that this would look better with less bamboo, perhaps only two knuckles
4) I agree that the stem has something going on, but I am not exactly sure what that is. It looks like you continued the groove from the bamboo into the acrylic, and that affected your profile, but I am not sure. I am also not sure I like those beads at the leaf joints, seems like something that will be quickly lost.
DocAitch
Understanding that you were limited in your options by the fact that this is a piece of scrap briar, I still have a couple of comments.
1) The shank appears to curve to the right on the bottom view
2) the bowl rim treatment looks 'kinked' with a relatively sharp upward sweep that I think would look better if it were smoother (less sharp)
3) I think that this would look better with less bamboo, perhaps only two knuckles
4) I agree that the stem has something going on, but I am not exactly sure what that is. It looks like you continued the groove from the bamboo into the acrylic, and that affected your profile, but I am not sure. I am also not sure I like those beads at the leaf joints, seems like something that will be quickly lost.
DocAitch
"Hettinger, if you stamp 'hand made' on a dog turd, some one will buy it."
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
-Charles Hollyday, pipe maker, reluctant mentor, and curmudgeon
" Never show an idiot an unfinished pipe!"- same guy
Re: Bamboo Volcano
Thanks DocAitch for taking the time! You're right about the shank coming out towards the right of the bottom. That piece of bamboo isn't drilled in the "center" either. I followed center dot on the bamboo and let the drill bit do the rest. As a result the shank is thinner on the left side of the pipe. I think that it is what also messed me up on the stem. When I was going for the original saddle cut the stem looked even more off center.
As far as the other design choices/experiments go, it was also an experiment to see what others thought. With this pipe, I wanted to see how other pipe makers felt about them. I did three knuckles on the bamboo because its a small piece of wood, and I didnt want it to appear too "stubby". The mini holes around the knuckles was to exaggerate that texture, and the beads(more like the shape of the top of a hamburger bun) were for the fun of it. I am not worried about those falling out. They are in there pretty good.
The pipe won't be smoked because of that fracture around the shank stemming from the flaw. I have a friend who runs a tea shop out here and he likes to collect and display all kinds of knick knacks. I will probably just give him the pipe to put in his "neat stuff" case.
Thanks again!
Kiel
As far as the other design choices/experiments go, it was also an experiment to see what others thought. With this pipe, I wanted to see how other pipe makers felt about them. I did three knuckles on the bamboo because its a small piece of wood, and I didnt want it to appear too "stubby". The mini holes around the knuckles was to exaggerate that texture, and the beads(more like the shape of the top of a hamburger bun) were for the fun of it. I am not worried about those falling out. They are in there pretty good.
The pipe won't be smoked because of that fracture around the shank stemming from the flaw. I have a friend who runs a tea shop out here and he likes to collect and display all kinds of knick knacks. I will probably just give him the pipe to put in his "neat stuff" case.
Thanks again!
Kiel