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There are some really interesting home-brewed and specialty tools in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL4chkrq9x0

Very interesting, I think my main question when I speak to other pipe makers is why do they do things that way. Many have seen the way I make pipes and I always enjoy watching others in their process. Every methods has it's own merits and restrictions but I am still always left asking why that way?

In other pipe making videos I like this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7bIiw8nDKA

For anyone wondering yes it is just as terrifying in real life, those saw blades are big, sharp and spin very fast. The "guards" are nothing more than cardboard to help direct the saw dust and the noise is just incredible, you cannot hear someone talking unless they shout in your ear, it's like a rock concert. Watching these guys work at those saws is amazing and a little sickening when they come so close to the blades (which by the way flex a huge amount also)
I was offered the chance to cut at the saw, I declined, I could easily see my short pipemaking career becoming even shorter!

Cool video. I really like the industrial bandsaw with incorporated blade welding tool- really smart.
I was surprised to see those belt grinders- I'd never seen pipemakers use a belt sander with solid backing like that. I guess it's a matter of choice and getting used to, but I think a slack belt sander is much more versatile in terms of where you can get in a shape.

About the briar cutting video- yeah... I've spent quite some time watching Mimmo work at the saw and it's really impressive. The funny thing is, you know that slight feeling of anxiety that you get whenever you watch another person do something potentially dangerous? With Mimmo I never feel that. You can see that he knows exactly what he is doing, that he's confident, extremely focused and that he's taking absolutely no risks at all, otherwise those skilled fingers of his would be long gone.
I have one of those saw blades hanging in my shop, I might make a clock out of it some day

I too regularly ask why when I see different methods. I would ask that question a lot with Tsuge. Wow.

Mimmo's method makes a little more sense to me, but maybe that's because I'm familiar with it.

I always cringe when I see airways being drilled that fast and all that smoke.

What I thought of when I watched it was what everyone has been saying, " you don't need fancy tools to make great pipes", and .001" tolerances don't matter.

caskwith wrote:
In other pipe making videos I like this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7bIiw8nDKA

For anyone wondering yes it is just as terrifying in real life...

What you're saying is Mimmo does the hand/fingers equivalent of this, hundreds of times a day:

http://i.imgur.com/4Jfi7NL.gif

You would think there would be a safer way to cut the briar? The thing is, over time it seems almost inevitable that something bad will happen. An involuntary muscle twitch, etc. I wonder if his family has a history of injuries doing this or is there some principle in the process that isn't obvious that does prevent injury (I don't see it).

There is no safer way.
It takes a very good hand-eye coordination and a lot of concentration, that's the difficult part- it's monotonous job, you're cutting wood all day, with the same movements, but you can never get into a routine and lose your focus. If you learn that you're relatively safe.
Mimmo and his father Filippo, who cut briar before him, have something like 60 years of combined experience in briar cutting, yet both of them have all their fingers - proof to the fact it can be done safely.

It is the best tool for the job, nothing else is as quick or as precise. I looked at all the hands at the workshop and I counted 10 fingers each including Mimmo's elderly father.

caskwith wrote:I looked at all the hands at the workshop and I counted 10 fingers each

Shit, ten fingers per hand, how did I miss that?! I guess that's what it takes to be a good cutter