Huber Style.......Need help with a little shaping

[scotties22]

I am attempting my first blowfish. I thought it would be a good exercise in getting lines to flow. I really like the profile I have on this pipe, but I'm not too excited about the top view. I think it's still a little too square (straight?) on the sides. I can't get rid of the flat part that runs from the bowl to the stem as it's already cut too deep on the shank and I have no wiggle room or I'll be into the mortise.

I think it is coming along nicely and pictures really help me see where I need to tighten things up. Any suggestions would really help.

I find that if i line the edges with pencil it helps get ride of any obstical illusions going on.

[The Smoking Yeti]

I think for me the issue with this pipe is that you have such a wonderful panel and angle on the front(looking top down) but it doesn't reflect on the back of the bowl or through the rest of the design. I'm also not entirely sold on the swooping prow on the front of the pipe. I appreciate that it accentuates the flowing line running stem to stern, but finding a way of breaking and ending it sooner would be wise.

An interesting concept I've been thinking a lot about lately, is how do you build a pipe from a single "rule" as it were. Good blowfish designs can have an incredible variety within an individual composition, but when the composition is done well, all the different angles and surfaces are unified into one single piece. Just worth thinking about. I haven't made a blowfish yet though, so maybe I'm not the one to be offering critique!

Cheers!

Yeti

[Ocyd]

Can you sketch in the spaces where the mortise and tenon are? It looks like you have a little more material on the left side (looking from the top view) that you can get a curve out of if you can avoid removing any material from the outside of the side wall but it's still going to be kind of shallow. I really like the shape an lines on the profiles.

[BigCasino]

I'm with yeti that swoop seems off some what, but the blow fish is a tough one for me as I have OCD somewhat and the sides not being asymmetrical tend to throw me off

[d.huber]

Micah hit on some of my thoughts as well. An important aspect of an asymmetrical blowfish design is that the whole thing needs to have asymmetry or it feels wrong, IMO. Right now, this pipe appears to be a paneled apple that has a snaggle tooth. You've got plenty of meat on the shank. My advice: try to make the entire pipe look like it's making a left turn (from the smoker's perspective).

Also, look at pictures of fish swimming. I find that really helpful when I'm imagining a blowfish.

[Yak]

Deleted as irrelevant.

[scotties22]

Micah hit on some of my thoughts as well. An important aspect of an asymmetrical blowfish design is that the whole thing needs to have asymmetry or it feels wrong, IMO. Right now, this pipe appears to be a paneled apple that has a snaggle tooth. You've got plenty of meat on the shank. My advice: try to make the entire pipe look like it's making a left turn (from the smoker's perspective).

Also, look at pictures of fish swimming. I find that really helpful when I'm imagining a blowfish.

I see what you and Micah are saying. I think its doable. Would it help things if I ran another panel up the front of the shank and towards the right (from above) of the bowl to mirror the one that runs around the bottom?

It's actually the underside of the shank that I don't have any wiggle room left (got just under a quarter inch). The rest of the shank is about a half inch.

[d.huber]

Micah hit on some of my thoughts as well. An important aspect of an asymmetrical blowfish design is that the whole thing needs to have asymmetry or it feels wrong, IMO. Right now, this pipe appears to be a paneled apple that has a snaggle tooth. You've got plenty of meat on the shank. My advice: try to make the entire pipe look like it's making a left turn (from the smoker's perspective).

Also, look at pictures of fish swimming. I find that really helpful when I'm imagining a blowfish.

I see what you and Micah are saying. I think its doable. Would it help things if I ran another panel up the front of the shank and towards the right (from above) of the bowl to mirror the one that runs around the bottom?

It's actually the underside of the shank that I don't have any wiggle room left (got just under a quarter inch). The rest of the shank is about a half inch.

Mmm,,, maybe. I could tell you what I'd do, but then you'd just be heading toward my aesthetic. I think the best advice I can offer you, for what it's worth, is

1) Make it turn

and

2) Intentionally break symmetry. This will help you with #1.

[scotties22]

I think #2 is my biggest problem. I am sitting here looking at the thing and my mind is screaming "YOU CAN'T DO THAT........THEN IT WON'T BE SYMMETRICAL!!!!!" When I know that this is the point of the blowfish......................gggggggrrrrrrrrrrr. After this I'm going back to billiards

[scotties22]

It's like a puzzle box.......I HATE PUZZLES!!!!

[Ocyd]

It's like a puzzle box.......I HATE PUZZLES!!!!

Turn it on it's side and pretend it's side is the top.

[PremalChheda]

You are in trouble if you are going Huber Style (JK David)

The bowl shape looks good and with a little tweaking to refine the lines it should come out nicely. The thing that looks off to me on this pipe is that your angle and straightness of the shank is very English style when your bowl design is leaning towards Danish style. I am not sure how to explain this, but if you were to plan out a shape the angle of the mortise can be turned counter clockwise on the driver side view a little and then adjust the shank with a nice curve both on top and bottom. It is too late to do it on the blowfish, but just for future reference. Maybe put some paneling on the sides and top of the stem that are convex will help with the look. Here are some examples of the driver side view for curvature in the shank:

[The Smoking Yeti]

Damn that's an ugly pipe.

[bregolad]

Damn that's an ugly pipe.

Agreed

Blowfish are...tricky. It takes a lot of studying and research til you "see" the blowfish. Then getting your hands to obey you and do all those conex to concave panels and fins and shit. I've probably made 30 to 50 blowfish now, and I finally think I'm getting it.

[scotties22]

that does not inspire much confidence...

[The Smoking Yeti]

that does not inspire much confidence...

Oh just go make another pipe you goof.

[LatakiaLover]

Scottie, you know that the guy sitting about eight feet from you at the last meeting was the top blowfish collector in the world, right?

If you really want to understand the shape and kill that pipe, I'd say set it aside for the moment and start another. Then pick it up again after meeting with Dustin and seeing his collection.

[bregolad]

that does not inspire much confidence...

I didn't really mean it to, unfortunately. Blowfish are difficult in a way that billiards never will be, and visa versa. It's a whole different approach to lines, shaping, and thinking. Instead of seeing an ideal pipe in your head that you force the wood to conform to, you have to loosen your ties to that hard symmetry (symmetry is just as hard, but it's more an exercise in discipline) and let your hands and eyes show you that sweet ass pipe. It's a more evolutionary process. And hard to describe.

And if your really interested in making blowfish, then Dustin is your man. He has quite the collection.

So. If you like blowfish, keep making them, just be aware that it's a journey. And good luck!

[scotties22]

No worries, I knew what you were saying and thats the reason I'm making the damned thing. Symmetry I have down (well mostly). It's the flow (especially on the bottom of my bent pipes) that I am having trouble with. I thought this would be a great way to work on that. If things don't flow on a blowfish then it just looks like a, what is it, melted lollipop on a stick .

George, I didn't see Dustin......and I was looking for him (yes I am a REAL blonde and sometimes I'm not very observant). Did he have a beard and a hat?? I met him at the show and got to see his collection. It's crazy cool and he has some awesome pipes. I actually had this block in my bag to show him. He sent me an email a while back that if I ever decided to make a blowfish let him know. I am going to finish this pipe, for better or worse, and take it with me to the meeting next week. If I screw it up, I will at least lern something, and then I'll make another one......maybe

[d.huber]

Did he have a beard and a hat??

Would that actually narrow it down?

Something to consider for your first blowfish: there are symmetrical discus fish type pipes in the world. You're very close to having one of those. If you create a nice lower line and continue it all the way around the top of the pipe until it connects with the shank on the back side of the bowl (front to Tyler), you'll have a discus. This would mean knocking the snaggle tooth off, but it may be better for it.

Example:



You could do worse than emulate a Heeschen.