Zulu help

For the things that don't fit neatly into the other categories.
Post Reply
KelderKing
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:09 am

Zulu help

Post by KelderKing »

I have a friend that wants me to make him a zulu. I have done a few pipes. All kits. But I've never done a dublin, and I've definitely never done a zulu.

He's not in any hurry.

I'm planning on making 2 or 3 Dublins drilling everything myself before I move on to trying a Zulu. Just wanting to get some clear definitions of what a Zulu is. My knowledge of a Zulu is that it's a Dublin with a canted forward bowl and a bent oval tapered stem. Does that cover the differences or are there more nuance than that? I plan on pumping out a half dozen weird looking failures before I end up with something that I'm actually willing to give to him.

Please pummel me into the ground with knowledge bombs if need be. I'll take all the help I can get.
JMG
Posts: 1185
Joined: Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:28 pm
Location: Mississippi

Re: Zulu help

Post by JMG »

Just make a Zulu. I don't know that making a dublin first is going to really help you all that much in regards to a zulu. My advice would be find a zulu you like and try to remake it in every way possible. If you had made 20 dublins first, this would still be my advice. Preferably, get you hands on a zulu to study. If you can't then google image search the shape and look at it from all possible angles and go from there. Good luck.
"No reserves, no retreats, no regrets"

"When you're dumb...you've got to be tough." - my dad
DocAitch
Posts: 1111
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 12:44 am
Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Re: Zulu help

Post by DocAitch »

Besides the forward cant and the oval shank/stem, there is a major difference in the transition from shank to bowl. Whereas the Dublin has a crisp small radius transition that keeps the bowl and shank geometrically defined as much as possible, the Zulu transition is much more gradual and “organic”, making it difficult to pick out a point where shank becomes bowl.
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
User avatar
Sasquatch
Posts: 5147
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:46 am

Re: Zulu help

Post by Sasquatch »

Yeah, zulus are a "flowy" shape - there's a great picture of Einstein with a zulu pointed straight down out of his mouth, but it's a great example of the shape and you can see a lot of detail in it.
ALL YOUR PIPE ARE BELONG TO US!
User avatar
Sasquatch
Posts: 5147
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:46 am

Re: Zulu help

Post by Sasquatch »

A zulu is like, half dublin, half horn.
ALL YOUR PIPE ARE BELONG TO US!
KelderKing
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:09 am

Re: Zulu help

Post by KelderKing »

Thanks guys. I am hoping to get some shop time tomorrow. Will update with progress pictures as I go.

Wish me luck.
Post Reply