pipemakersforum.com

Newbie here. I finally found a discussion on how to upload pictures so I'm practicing here because I haven't made a pipe yet. Anyway I built this rifle from an old Mauser action. I polished the bolt raceway, lapped the bolt locking lugs, modified the feed ramp for longer cartridges and polished, new barrel chambered in .35 Whelen (30-06 case necked up to .35 cal.), set headspace, new trigger, cut, reshaped and rewelded the formerly straight bolt handle, reshaped the military trigger guard and I made the stock from a walnut blank. Steel grip cap, ebony forend tip. The only machine tools I used on the stock was a bandsaw to cut the rough shape out of the blank, and a drill press to drill the action screw holes and to hog out the magazine well undersized. The rest was rasps, carving tools, chisels, spokeshave, etc, general pipe making tools. Anyway I got all my personal guns restocked and I want to try a new hobby. So here I am. Please critique as you would a pipe. I need to start getting used to it. Thanks guys.
P.S. - I finished right before deer season which ends Jan. 31 in Alabama. After season I will checker or stipple the grip and forearm.

OK finally. But why is the screen so wide now? Do I need to resize the photos? I'm using photobucket for the first time. What size do I edit them to?

Update - I've made them smaller three times in photobucket and replaced them in the post with the smaller size but the size in the post hasn't changed at all. WTF?

Very nice. Do you use it to shoot pool?

Rad

Post look good to me. Love the grain on that stock- super sexy!

Thank you. It was cut from the crotch of a walnut tree. It's called feather crotch. I'm hoping some of the techniques will transfer over to pipe making. I got my new chucks and jaws on my lathe today. Still waiting on briar and ebonite.

RadDavis wrote:Very nice. Do you use it to shoot pool?

Rad

Nine ball left and right corner pockets.

Flat out gorgeous. Understand why you would want to checker, but it's a shame to lose the grain! Do you think it really provides that much better grip?

Love the caliber as well. I have a restocked 03-A3, and it shoots like a dream, but kicks like a fricking horse compared to the original stock. It was my dad's gun in WWII.

wmolaw wrote:Flat out gorgeous. Understand why you would want to checker, but it's a shame to lose the grain! Do you think it really provides that much better grip?

I do keep wavering back and forth about the checkering for that very reason. I really don't have a grip problem, it was mostly for ornamentation, but you're right, with this grain it may not need it. Thanks for the input.
As for the kick I named the gun Thumper. From both ends!

If you don't need the grip then leave it, looks beautiful as it is.

For what my opinion's worth, I figure that anyone who can do the intricate work on making a new rifle stock should have a leg up on the woodworking skills involving pipemaking. (I'm speaking as a guy who has to think a moment before remembering which side of a sheet of sandpaper to use.) I'm still in the kit stage of pipemaking -- and from the way things are going, I probably will be well into this decade -- so I'm impressed as heck with your abilities. I 'spect that you'll be uploading photos of your new pipes pretty soon.

I vote not to checker the stock. The grain is too beautiful and the extra grip you'd gain just isn't worth it. I hauled an M-14 around for a long, long time, all day, every day, and it didn't have an inch of checkering.

Never fired a .35 W. How does it compare to a 7.62/.308?

Good luck with the deer season.

Bryan

WOW! That's beautiful! But, where did you ever find a briar that large???

Duane

[quote=I vote not to checker the stock. The grain is too beautiful and the extra grip you'd gain just isn't worth it. I hauled an M-14 around for a long, long time, all day, every day, and it didn't have an inch of checkering.

Never fired a .35 W. How does it compare to a 7.62/.308?

Good luck with the deer season.

Bryan[/quote]

Bryan -
Factory Hornady Superformance loads
35 Whelen 200 gr.
2920 fps
3760 ft/lb muzzle energy

.308 165 gr.
2840 fps
2955 ft/lb muzzle energy

I have a Springfield M1A1 loaded that is a civilian semi auto version of the M14. It's a fine rifle and every squad should be issued at least one M14. Thank you for your service.
Wallace


Duane - Mimmo

Hey, Duane,

Thanks, but no thanks necessary. All I did was just show up. It's always just a matter of showing up. (And, yes, the Springfield M1A is a nice piece. I have a scout version, myself. As for the M-14, it does add an extra element to a unit's firepower, which everyone is for -- so long as someone else is hauling the heavy piece. Thank God I wasn't the M-60 gunner...)

Back to pipes. I've been thinking about what you said about checkering as applied to pipes. I don't want to hijack this thread (y'all let me know if this subject deserves its own thread), but I've been wondering about rusticating/sandblasting finishes. Is that technique usually called into play when the grain on a nearly-finihsed pipe just doesn't have an interesting enough grain or if it's just has too many flaws (sand pits, etc.)? Or is it something planned from the beginning?

Before people start yelling, understand that I'm coming at this as a pipe consumer, only just recently starting on pipe making. Pipe makers (like most pipe smokers) seem to be a live-and-let-live lot, by and large, so if someone wants to smoke or make a rusticated pipe, that's fine with me, but it seems like a waste of nice grain if the briar would show a beautiful pattern if left smooth. This loops back around to your rifle stock, Duane: It seems a pity to add decoration to what is already naturally beautiful.

Any thoughts? (He says, ducking quickly behind cover.)

My thought is, beautiful or not, if the cross-checking makes for a "better" rifle, ie one that you hang onto easier with mitts on, for example, or if your hands are bloody because you were skinning a deer and a cougar attacked and you need a shot.... well, that cross-checking makes it a better gun.

Cutting a button on the end of a pipe stem breaks up the flow, but removing it makes most pipes absolutely useless. They are better pipes because of it.

I'm a huge fan of rustication, blasting, and texturing in general, and also a huge fan of wood grain. Guys like Cooke who are blast masters admit readily to taking perfect smooth pipes and blasting them, and... getting awesome blasted pipes out. It's not "wrong".

Rusticating randomly over a perfect straightgrain is dumb simply because people will pay more for the straightgrain. Personally? I have one smooth pipe and about ten blasted/rustic in my current rotation.

PS nice crotch Alfa

Sasquatch wrote:PS nice crotch Alfa

Sasquatch - I'm not in the picture but I admire your intuition. Uncanny.

Bryan -
I'm Wallace not Duane. I was responding to Duane's question, sorry about the mix up. As for the grip\ornamentation Sas is right function should come before form on firearms. A stippling technique I've been using lately will transfer nicely to the rustication of pipes. I use a single blunted nail and a small hammer. The nail must be blunted or it will separate the wood fibers rather than crushing them, if only sepatated the wood fibers will close back up later with moisture. I use a bouncing method with the nail after the light hammer blow and it goes pretty fast. Take your time around the edges. Here is a photo of a stippled grip on a 257 Roberts I made from English walnut. The grain will also actually show through this finish to some degree. Actual hand checkering without the electric tool (I've never owned the tool) kills my eyes and I'm getting away from it. The beautiful figure is mostly in the butt on the first rifle, if I stipple, the grain flow on the grip and forearm will show through but the rather plain forearm will have some ornamentation and the grip and forearm will not slip.
Wallace

You know, I never thought about all this before. So, I lit a pipe and did an inventory: Of all my rifles and shotguns (Lord, that probably sounds scary to some folks), not a single one has any checkering. Only the single "black plastic" rifle I own has some sort of pebbly surface on the handgrip. When I checked my pipes (30 or so), only one is pebbled.

The odd thing is, I've always admired good texture on pipes and really appreciated different checkering on rifle/shotgun stocks, so I guess I'm not a complete barbarian. In fact, Alpha, the nail texturing you did on that one rifle stock is fantastic. Don't remember seeing anything quite like that before. Also, Sasquatch, I hadn't heard of someone sandblasting a smooth pipe simply because they prefer that texture (which answers my previous question).

So, I guess the answer to your original question at the beginning of this thread, Alpha, is, "Whatever you think is right." So long as you do it right, with good craftsmanship.

Well, solved that. Anyone for a beer?

This thread reminds me of one of my favorite pipes made by jogili:

http://jsecpipes.com/PhotoGallery/index ... e=80-5.jpg

I love that pipe!

Ocelot55 wrote:This thread reminds me of one of my favorite pipes made by jogili:

http://jsecpipes.com/PhotoGallery/index ... e=80-5.jpg

I love that pipe!

That is a wicked cool pipe. I would never have thought checkering would look good on a pipe, but it does on that one.

RadDavis wrote:Very nice. Do you use it to shoot pool?

Rad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_s6AtfO_Mk

Go to 5:15 and/or 8:51