Another Billiard

[kamkiel]

This is actually the first piece of briar that I drilled holes into back in November. When I finally got some stem material for it, I realized that the holes I drilled where all F'ed up. I recently came back to it, cut the shank off and replaced it with horn. I finished this in late April and started smoking it right away. It is probably the best smoking pipe that I have made to date. I don't know if it is because of the horn, or the drilling, or what... I wish I knew what I did right on this pipe because it really does smoke good! As far as shaping goes... I know that I still have got a ways to go, but all comments are welcome!

[kamkiel]

...

[sandahlpipe]

Nice shop pipe!

Are you using a stem blank for the stem? It looks like the taper to the stem isn't straight from the shank to the button. The button looks a bit thick. And for me, there is too much going on with the shank. You've got horn as a shank extension, then stem inlays. It draws the eye to all the bling on the shank and doesn't allow the eye to appreciate the whole of the pipe. If you're going to use horn like that, make horn the main feature and don't use other inlays.

Otherwise, the pipe looks pretty good. Now make another!

[kamkiel]

Thanks for your input!

Most of the pipes I have been working on lately have just been pieces I screwed up over the past couple of months. This pipe sat around the shop for quite a while before I decided to Frankenstein it. The stem was also from a different pipe that I broke while in the process.

I have been cutting my own stems from the beginning, which is probably why most of them(or all of them) look shitty. I used the horn shank extension because I had some horn lying around and I though it would be fun to spin down on the lathe. For some reason or another, I end up wasting a lot of time with a lot of the different materials I have lying around the shop. I should focus on just making a standard pipe and weeding out all the other stuff I play around with(shank extensions and stem inlays), but I find myself really enjoying spinning stuff down on the lathe and cutting them into inlay rings and what not.

I had worked with acrylic for a day and didn't find it as enjoyable to work with as ebonite. The ebonite I buy here is Japanese and that is because it is a hell of a lot cheaper than the German stuff. I am still not willing to pay so much for material that I am going to F up some way or another quite yet.

Sorry for the lengthy message, and I do appreciate your feedback!

[Yak]

Ditto the above : until you get back to the rings, it's a nice pipe. The stem's duck bill-ish, and you might want to collect some ideas from other pipes on where & how to waist/fishtail your stems (vertical view). Still, impressive for an early work. IMO.

[kamkiel]

Again, thank you Yak! I am really going to have to start planning out my design before drilling. The more I look at it the more I think it is like some 4 year old throwing a bunch of legos together and calling it a pipe. I hope one day I can get these stems day and look back on all of these pipes for a laugh (or cry)

[Yak]

FWIW, the bowl & shank are well within the Old Britwood ballpark, although they could be a enough more harmoniously balanced to notice (smaller bowl OR fatter shank). And the stem length as well. The rest is details.