Several very large flaws in the little ebauchon made this one a good candidate for a first rustification effort. Actually, what you see here is the second effort at rustification. The first one looked so terrible I did it over with a different technique. I like this a little better, but I’m still not happy with it. In general I like sandblasted pipes better than rusticated, and hope to eventually get a blasting rig.
These little ER1 ebauchons from PIMOS are great to learn on, but so small that by the time I get the shank the size I want relative to the bowls, they are WAY too thin for the size of the tenon and mortise. This one cracked. I was trying to flatten out the shank on the top and bottom to make more of an oval shape. Just not enough room… I should have reduced the size of the tenon and mortise. I super-glued it back together and kept going for the experience. It will no doubt fail completely at some point. If you look close at this bellow you can see the repaired crack in the shank:
I like the design of the ivory inserts with a section of vulcanite between them, but I did not implement them well. Not even as well as the first pipe (in the avatar and also posted here in the gallery under “Ok, I’m hooked”. Partly I think the ivory I’m using is just not holding up well. Seems to get little splits in the edges when filing and sanding, and then I’m not getting the fit just right either. I have some ideas for next time gleaned from some tips on the forum here.
I enjoyed a smoke in this with GLP Odyssey this afternoon. It seems to smoke pretty well considering. Cooler to hold than the first little pipe (I think because of the rustification) and it was a nice cool and flavorful smoke. Sure fun to smoke one’s own creations!
Any constructive criticism or suggestions are welcomed. I felt like I took a step backward with this second pipe, in part due to the severely flawed ebauchon.... but wait, I also ruined my third pipe! Hope to post some pics of that tonight too. Learning lots, and ruining lots of briar and vulcanite in the process.
Thanks for all the help and suggestions, Scott