Freehand Pipe Build #1

[jwhite]

Good deal, the water based dyes do the same thing but color the wood real well and a quick rub with 400 cuts the grain back and once cut wont raise again and they don't lift with oil, alcohol or wax finishes that's why so many pro woodworkers use them, I'm talking dye not stain though. I haven't used leather dyes on wood but the ones I use regularly are more costly than the w/a soluble dyes so I reserve them for leather and bone. But what you did looks good and since you now have it you may as well use it.

[conroygc]

Beauty! The color of the stain matches the lucite very nicely.

[oc_in_fw]

I'm VERY happy with the color and the way the 2 shades of stain "popped" the flame in the grain.

You should be- it looks fantastic

[cb91710]

Beauty! The color of the stain matches the lucite very nicely.

That was a big concern when I opened the kit and saw the stem.
I was expecting black!

I compared it to the color that I was originally planning and it clashed because there was too much red in what I planned.
I almost just went with a brown base, sanded, to bring out the flame, but have a primarily "naked" look.

I'm glad I got the 12-color sampler from Tandy as it gave me the opportunity to experiment on the scrap and compare it to the stem.





BTW: Is there such a thing as PKAD? I just ordered another Plateaux kit. This time a straight stem block, plus I added a Churchwarden stem. Always thought Churchwardens were cool.

[cb91710]

BTW: Jim, would you mind changing the title of this thread to "Freehand Pipe Build"?

Once my new kit arrives it will no longer be my "new" pipe build

[Kentos]

Hmm a freehand churchwarden with a heavy bowl sounds really nice.

[rickcharles606]

The pipe looks great, you should be proud. I was looking at the pictures of it last night and the wife said to me, "you're not buying another pipe!" ahahahaha. So, I promptly explained that it was your project pipe to calm her down. So, in a way.... she just complimented your work, and rightfully so ;-)

[DeusVult]

Really nice work, especially the finish.

[global_dev]

that's impressive... looks like fun...

[cb91710]

It was a blast.

A little touch and go with the bandsaw here and there... and I still need to do some fine-tuning on the blade tension and wheel angle as I had it pop off a couple of times, but no risk to the fingers.... I worked in an aluminum foundry in college and Briar is one of the more forgiving things I've cut. Worst was an alloy called "Korloy" or "Corloy"... very high zinc alloy. Used for some kind of flywheel. The things were about 3" thick and 6" diameter, we couldn't stack the pallets more than 2-layers thick or the forklift couldn't lift them. Six castings would smoke a blade.

Anyways... I noticed whichever mod edited my title included "#1"... very funny
Really looking forward to getting my materials from PIMO. I still won't have a bench polisher, but I did order the arbor and pads, along with a cake of the proper wax.

First thing I'll do is polish up the old Hardcastle that I got on the bay a while back. I spent the better part of a week running salt and Everclear through it until I was no longer getting any staining in the salt. Also got the pleasant surprise that some heavy spotting on the side that looked like either water spotting or maybe damage from knocking it on a hard surface... they came clean, so now it just has a nice even matte finish.

I would like to replace the stem... this one has a "stinger", but it doesn't smoke wet.

[cb91710]

Oh ya...

I sent the links to "the man himself"
Now of course, I would expect Mark to be a gentleman.

His response, "Very nice shape compliments grain ! MT"

Mark, if you're reading, thanks!

[DC_MPA]

Your pipe looks quite similar to my Stanwell and I won't tell you what I paid for it and was glad to pay it. You will love that pipe! The briar will never get warm with those thick walls and you will never have to worry about burnout. Great job!

Mind telling us where you bought the kit in case others want to give their hand at carving a pipe?

[cb91710]

Your pipe looks quite similar to my Stanwell and I won't tell you what I paid for it and was glad to pay it. You will love that pipe! The briar will never get warm with those thick walls and you will never have to worry about burnout. Great job!

Mind telling us where you bought the kit in case others want to give their hand at carving a pipe?

That was one of Mark's kits from American Smoking Pipe Company
http://www.amsmoke.com/Services/PipeKit.html

It began life as the PK12 (largest Tableaux block), predrilled with a quarter-bend. I requested a medium bowl and got 3/4" diameter (small IMHO) by 2" deep... Both measurements bugged me, but the depth offsets the diameter and my first half bowl went almost an hour. Had it been an Ebauchon block, I would have enlarged the diameter and cut 1/2" off of the top, but being a freehand and I wanted the "natural" top surface (and I paid $8 extra for the Plateaux).

On a future project, I might cut down a Plateaux as I understand it results in a nice "birds eye" grain structure.

[Price]

Rich, you've certainly convinced me. I'm moving cross country this summer, so I'm going to attempt to hold off until I get settled in, but this is going on the To Do list.

[73mountaineer]

The pipe looks great & you should be well pleased with yourself - nicely done!

[oc_in_fw]

Rich, you've certainly convinced me. I'm moving cross country this summer, so I'm going to attempt to hold off until I get settled in, but this is going on the To Do list.

Hijack warning- where you moving? How many trucks will you need for the tobacco?

[Price]

Hijack warning- where you moving? How many trucks will you need for the tobacco?

HAHAHAHA! I'm transferring back to sea duty. Lovely, sunny San Diego. Uncle Sam is moving 95% of my stuff, but the humidor & the pipe stash ride with me. (The shave gear, too.) I used to have quite a lot of cigars (before I got turned on to the pipe), and I have a 100 qt cooler that I put some Spanish cedar shelves in for reserve storage. I've parceled out, given away, or smoked up most of what was in there, and the plan is to consolidate all the sticks into my primary humidor and transport all the pipe weed in the cooler. I have a grand master plan for storage once we get there, but I'll save that for a later thread.

[DC_MPA]

Very nice! Thanks for the info sir!

[cb91710]

HAHAHAHA! I'm transferring back to sea duty. Lovely, sunny San Diego.

Cool deal.
We'll have to get together for a beer some time.

I mean, I live almost 100 miles from SD, but my Tacoma gets much better mileage than my Suburban did.

[ThatPipeGuy]

It looks great! Good effort brings about good rewards :) I'd love to have a crack.. but the only power tool I own is a hand held drill!