Started on a pipe

[tombear]

A while back Toddy very generously handed out some wooden burl things. I intended to make a pipe bowl from one of mine, then promptly hid them.

At just after three I found them and since there was only important stuff to do started on one. Less working in the garden for a hour ripping out ivy and chopping up a dead tree with my mate Makita I've been watching TV and fiddling with it. I did use a power drill to make the smaller hole and a Dremmel to clear out the bottom of the bigger hole but the rest was hand done.

i rubbed a little walnut oil on it to show the grain but it still needs plenty of work. The walls are a bit thin but I prefer cool slow burning stuff when I do smoke so thats not so bad. I'm not sure how to finish it or what to make the stem from. In a perfect world I'd have a nice piece of amber to carve but is there anything else, not plant or metal, for preference, I could use?

Thanks again M!

ATB

Tom

 

[ol smokey]

Hi Tom, You've made a grand job so far, haven't had the courage myself so far. Re the mouthpiece, I do not know about now, because I gave up the pipe after 50 years some time ago, but you used to get a choice of replacement mouthpieces
in most good real tobacconists, of course, there are fewer and fewer of them left. If you have one near you, it may be
worth a try. You may of course, wish to make your own. There I cannot help you. Best of luck in getting or making
one that fits the bill. You will find that a slim mouthpiece which let's your teeth close more is better than a thick one.
I look forward to hearing how you get on. Cheers Stuart.

 

[Clouston98]

That's a beauty mate!

 

[Macaroon]

Apart from Amber and Soapstone, various woods and Silver are the only natural materials I recall being used for pipe stems; the usual stuff on commercially-made pipes is Vulcanite, which obviously works very well as it is used on even extremely expensive high-end briars. Replacement
stems used to be readily available in a variety of styles and sizes, and probably still are but that's no good if you want to make your own.........

Love the shape of the bowl you've made

 

[tombear]

Cheers for the comments! It never occurred to me to use soapstone! There's plenty of that in charity shops. The question then is, how to get a relatively narrow hole down the middle long enough to make a decent length stem.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

The wife found this place

http://www.jhlowe.com/


some lovely stuff.

atb

Tom

 

[ozzy1977]

Looking great so far. It is something I have wanted to make for a long time now but as I don't smoke it is a long way down the list of things to do.

 

[tombear]

Yeah, I hardly smoke myself theses days, normally just when I'm on holiday and last year that coincided with me having a sore throat so I didn't bother.

I need to do a bit of research on making the stem.

ATB

Tom

 

[Baelfore]

That's awesome mate. Coincidently I just took pics today of the first one I have made from Apple wood. (Pics to follow in thread tomorrow)

I made two wooden stems one from elder, with the inside cleaned out and hot beeswax poured through it. My tenon fit is
pretty long so the wax doesn't even get warm. The other stem, not sure what the wood is, has a harder plinth than elder, but stil thin and removable. Both these stems are working great. Brought them into Petersons and they saw no problem with either. They did rule out the third as the draw was too wide and he said it would burn the mouth off me!
Currently enjoying black cherry. Mmmm...

Hope this helps.

Ste

 

[tombear]

Cheers! I'll have to have a go with elder. At the mo I'm poking about the net seeing where I can get a long, say six inch 1/16th drill.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

For £1.85 today I picked up a pipe stem on the off chance it would fit.

Its pretty close

With a bit of metal tube and the face of the wooden bit made to fit it won't be much work to scrape the rest of the wood bit to fit. I consider myself damned lucky that the wood was bigger than the stem!

As to what the stem is made of. It really doesn't feel like any plastic stems I have come across, It could be horn but it feels denser, and when you rattle it on your teeth its almost like glass or soap stone, but not so heavy. Anyroad, it will do me!

atb

tom

 

[ozzy1977]

That going to be a cracker when its finished

 

[Nice65]

Looking good

Any idea what the burl wood is? And what tobacco are going to put in it?

 

[tombear]

Cheers! One thing is I made the walls of the burning chamber thinner than I like so it won't last as long as a properly made one. Is there anyway of way of thickening the walls. I vaguely remember something about smearing honey on the inside before you smoke.... Then again I could have been off my head at the time....

Sorry, missed your question, its embarrassing but I've forgotten what the burl is from. Toddy very generously dished out some that she had been storing, quite a while back. I normally smoke a mix of half American Cherry and vanilla and half Black Cherry by Gawiths.

ATB

Tom

 

[ozzy1977]

I imagine if you smeared honey on the inside it would have to be burnt in to put a layer of carbon down

 

[tombear]

Googling it, some say it works, some don't. As far as I can see the best way to build up the cake is to put plenty of Burnley through it, smoked slowly so it don't get too hot.

atb

Tom

 

[Nice65]

Googling it, some say it works, some don't. As far as I can see the best way to build up the cake is to put plenty of Burnley through it, smoked slowly so it don't get too hot.

atb

Tom

Well crack on chap. I think cake is going to be the only solution to the thin walls. Gentle puffs eh

For a first attempt it's excellent, if something goes wrong you've learned loads and could make another with confidence

I'm sure Chris Askwith would be able to offer you loads of advice. He's on BB as 'caskwith', ran a pipe building thread for members a few years ago. Very helpful man, and an internationally renowned pipe maker.

 

[tombear]

Refound the bits yesterday so found some tube to make a sleeve to go over the threaded part of the stem to enlarge it and then used the good old permagrits to fit the stem to the bowl good and tight so its now ready to start building up some cake. I may have to enlarge the hole into the bottom of the bowl if it proves necessary but that's easy enough and I'm loathe to do it yet.

I've applied some bowl polish but it will darken with use anyway. I'm pretty sure the stems amber now, having had the chance to examine some that definitely are and worked a piece.

Thanks again Toddy!

ATB

tom

PS been looking to see if anyone sells Boswells Cherry Smash in the UK and it seams they don't use middlemen. Very old school and I would normally approve but I can't bring myself to mess about paying tax, import duty etc so bum!

 

[British Red]

Sweet looking pipe our Tom

 

[Clouston98]

Nicely done mate! Looks a little cracker .