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Have any of you made many pipes with 'carved rusticated' finishes? I'm really liking the subtlety of the texture from pieces I've seen online, but I was wondering how it was done. Any ideas on tooling or methods would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks much - another fng

I'm a really big fan of the rustication on Wessex's Londoner line.



Ive tried (unsuccessfully) to do it with a 115 Dremel bit in a zig-zag motion. I've seen YouTube videos of people rusticating with Dremel bits, but it must be an art I haven't perfected.

I was thinking along something of the lines that Michael Parks and Jon Rinaldi use in some of there methods.

^ From Park's Pipes "Finishes" page

There are many more I've seen, but these two off the top of my head. It looks very simple and natural (which means it must be exquisitely complicated) and leaves a lot of the natural beauty of the briar to shine through. I do like the 'Londoner' above, and I wish my dremel work looked that good.

JK

Well it's not subtle, but I use a tool that I learned how to make on Tyler's old site. It is essentially some sharpened nails bundled together and placed in some sort of handle. You apply pressure to the stummel and rotate the tool. I like the natural looking texture it leaves behind. You can also vary the style of rustication depending on the size and space of the nails and the pressure you apply.

Castello utilizes a very similar tool and can be seen in an awful video on the Cup o' Joes site

I've done some similar rustication using a Dremel bit #118:

Lots of cool looking effects are a) not just one tool and b) sandblasted after they are carved. So a small tool, like that sharp dremel bit, might apply the first "macro" layer of texture, and then some other tool, or as I would guess in the case of the picture, a light sandblast, would be applied for the "micro" texture.

The key to almost every rusticated finish, the difference between making it good or mediocre, is completely texturing the surface, and not leaving a bunch of flat spots. The "Sea Rock" type of finish only looks good if it's absolutely complete, and the textured area gives no hint about formerly being smooth, and no real hint of what the tooling was - no big scratches or chisel-shaped marks.

Todd is right, euurgh did I just say that.
The key to good rustication is to make it look as un-manmade as possible. The best rustications comes from a combination of tools and finishing up with either a light sandblast or a wire brush. In the case of the Parks pipe he probably uses a dremel tool to create the lines and then wire brushes perpendicular to even the surface, but it could also be a sandblast however doing such a light blast evenly is very difficult.

I'm always right. My opinion is normative.

Thought you knew, Chris.


Hope this helps.

Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye. The best rustication is the one I like most.

Italian-style rustication is often achieved by nails and other sharp bits. It is craggy and nice to the touch. On the other spectrum, I had a very nice, monstrous Ben Wade with power tools mark all over, but it was gorgeous (as gorgeous as '70s freestyles go, of course.) My own rusticated pipes, on the other hand, are not that appealing to me...



For some reason, my customers seem to like them, so who am I to complain?

Hi Gents,
I have made a small photo series. It shows one of my rustications and how I make them (with DREMEL). Maybe this is helpful. The text is German, but the photos show it clearly.: (scroll page down) http://daskunstportal.at/artofbriar/?p=458

pereu wrote:Hi Gents,
I have made a small photo series. It shows one of my rustications and how I make them (with DREMEL). Maybe this is helpful. The text is German, but the photos show it clearly.: (scroll page down) http://daskunstportal.at/artofbriar/?p=458

What a great little pipe!

Thank God I have a day job... does anyone suggest a cheap-ish hardwood that mimics briar? I'm thinking practice makes at least mediocre when it comes to figuring out lathe and dremel techniques... I'd like to smoke the briar I've bought, rather than throw it in the fireplace.

jdkearns,

Briar is a very particular beast. It is hard, but it is easy to work with a sanding disk. Since its fibers are short and compact it doesn't tear. Imagine a very hard version of MDF.

Get some cheap ebauchon from PIMO or Pipe Makers' Emporium for your practicing. You may even end up with some nice shop pipe.

I agree. I've worked with lots of different hard woods and nothing even comes close to the way Briar behaves .

Todd