Houten Part II

Another Saturday spent with Wayne in the shop.  Work progressed well and I am getting closer to completion, but wait, what happened this week to get me to this point?  I will tell you tales of tragedy and triumph.

The still squared off hunk of briar went with me to my workplace to be fiddled with on breaks and lunches.  Using a small disc sander with 180 grit paper, I roughed in the pipe shape I had drawn on the stummel.  Only having minutes at a time, the shaping progressed very slowly, but progressed nonetheless.  Such beautiful grain revealing itself as I work with this wonderful piece of briar!  Every pass on the disc brought me closer to a first class, top notch pipe, or so I thought.

Thursday rolled around and I had planned on having a close to final brandy shape on the stummel.  Wayne has written me earlier in the week to keep me from gluing the extension into the briar as we had planned because I still had to drill the mortise to receive the stem tenon.  So I rounded the white acrylic portion and set it aside until I could drill it.  Afternoon break rolled around and I began to remove more briar from the stummel hoping to get the main shape done before the end break.  Dust was floating about, piling up on the bench and the pipe was finally taking shape, but, what's this?!  As I sanded down the left side of the bowl, a (large) defect began to appear!  Nooo!!!!  Such a beautiful block to have this huge flaw!  I hoped to sand a little more and have the flaw disappear, but this would not be the case.  The more I removed the larger the  fissure.  So I stopped for the rest of the week, until I could show Wayne and get his input.

So, this morning I ventured to Wayne's and showed him the flaw.  He reminded me the possibility of defects is pretty common when dealing with briar and he has had to deal with it himself.  As has every other pipe maker.  So I thought to myself I have joined the ranks, but in order to be a good maker, I have to salvage what I can and still make a great pipe.  We discussed ways to work around the flaw, as with even more sanding, the defect made itself clear it is going nowhere.  Bouncing ideas back and forth, I decided to try a rustication (and possible additional sandblast) finish most similar to a pair of Svendborg pipes I own.

I had originally decided to use a colored stem of some sort, to be a bright accent to the dark finish and black and white extension I had implemented.  My ideas now shifted slightly with utilizing a rusticated/blasted technique, I will use a less bright, but still colorful cumberland stem.  To highlight the cumberland stem, I thought it would be nice to use a dark black or bright reddish finish on the stummel.  Another brainstorming session with Wayne helped me decide an orangey base stain (the same orange color found in the stem) and then covering that with an ebony.  Then the ebony will be removed on the high points of the rustication to allow the orange to show through, mirroring the effect of the cumberland.  Genius!

I drilled the extension and glued it to the stummel to be shaped later.  I finished what I could of the secondary bowl sanding and will shape the shank and extension after the extension glue has cured.  I was also able to drill the cumberland rod stock and turn a tenon to fit the extension mortise.  I am quite happy with what was accomplished today.

Having not stopped last Saturday to have a smoke, we began the day with a pleasant one!  I think that is what really facilitated our progress today!  Wayne worked on a couple pipes, a nice billiard with great bands on the shank and a bent egg shape.  I can't wait to see both of them in their finished state!  Until next pipe....

Houten

I have begun work on my first pipe, made completely by myself.  No drilled blocks.  No preformed stems.  A chunk of raw cut briar.  Some ebonite rod. A piece of acrylic.  From raw form to finished polish, I will be making this one from start to finish.

I got up late Saturday morning (7/24) and headed for Wayne's house to begin work on my next pipe.  Fought oddly insane traffic for a Saturday morning, but made decent time and was only a half hour late.  The Wayne I speak of is Wayne Teipen who has made quite a few fantastic artisan pipes.  He has opened up his shop and knowledge to me and I jumped at the opportunity!  I am blessed to live so close to a pipe-maker who is willing to assist me as I begin this journey into the art.

Wayne was gracious even though I was a bit behind.  We chatted for a little while and then headed for his shop.  He had already been working a little one of his newest creations when I arrived.  He asked what I wanted to make so I pulled out my drawings of the pipes I hope to make.  I showed him a bent acorn I wanted to be the first venture into making my own pipes.  He liked the shape and told me to transfer it to graph paper, then draw the chamber, draft and tenon holes.  A cool looking pipe, a little less cool to make.  You see, my stem shape and size didn't allow for the straight draft hole.  So, a few pages later and the both of us messing with how to arrange the pipe to fit, we decided to tackle that one later.  I also had drawn a straight brandy/volcano shape pipe with a nice extension and a military style bit.  He thought that would be a good starting place.

After tracing out my design onto graph paper and altering it slightly to make it look a little better, I cut out a template from which I would transfer my design to the block I would select.  With some sage advice, he helped me select a nice block and orient the grain properly.  Using the template from before, I drew the design onto one side of the block.  Next I drew out the differing holes and centerlines.  Now to the drill press.

Beginning with the draft hole, I lined up the block in the machine vise and drilled, having already faced of the block to give myself a flat surface with which to start the hole.  Slow and steady, running the drill down to the depth mark I had made.  First cut done, on to the next, the extension tenon hole.  More lining up and placement, then brad point bit cutting through the briar.  Now the chamber hole.  Reset the block and faced it using the same forstner bit from the draft hole.  Change out the forstner for a 3/4" spoon bit and here we go!  Augered out the briar, keeping the bit cool with compressed air which also removes the briar chips so you can visually check your progress.  Near the breakthrough point where the draft hole meets the chamber hole, the compressed air is applied to the draft hole.  When the auger breaks though, the air will be allowed to pass through from the draft hole which blows out the debris.  This is done to avoid drilling the chamber hole too deep, which can make for a poor smoking experience.  All drilling done, I had just missed the centerlines of the chamber and draft holes slightly, but nothing too horrible.  All-in-all, I am pleased with my first attempt at briar drilling!

Next step was to make the extension which will be glued to the block later in the process.  I decided to use and ebonite extension with a white acrylic accent band.  Chucked up the ebonite in the lathe and turned the tenon to the same diameter I drilled earlier in the briar.  After that, I finish-drilled the draft hole in the extension to match the one in the block.  A couple of slight adjustments to the tenon diameter and it was ready to go.  Now the acrylic band.  Marked out a small piece and began to drill.  A little too much pressure on the acrylic and....snap!  Just as the drill passed through the thickness, the small piece broke in two.  Wayne grabbed another piece, and with a little lighter touch, I had my extension piece.  De-burred the acrylic and glued it to the extension.  Figured that would be a good stopping point for the day as I had to head back home to finish my Ebay sales.


A great day's work complete, I was pretty pleased with the progress.  I can't wait to get back in the shop and do more!

One Czeque That Won't Bounce

I decided a while back to make my own pipe.  Just short of doing the whole thing myself, I bought a pre-drilled/stemmed carve your own block from my local pipe shop, The Pipe Puffer in Greenwood, IN.  The block was in pretty rough shape having a square shank and bowl.  Of course I started work, forgetting to take a 'before' picture. The poor drilling of the stummel made final sanding difficult as none of the holes were true to, well, anything!  I had been speaking with a full fledged pipe maker, Wayne Teipen, during the whole process, bouncing ideas off of him.  He was most helpful throughout the process of design.
The block took its first cut on a smaller disc sander, a Delta 6" setup with 120 grit paper.  As I roughed in the top of the bowl, the pipe began to direct its shape.  Starting as a general looking 'poker' style pipe with the shank still remaining square, I flattened both top and bottom in parallel.  To leave the fore and aft bowl faces unparalleled seemed to give the pipe an interesting look.  I partly borrowed the idea from a Danish inspired bent 'brandy' shape I had recently seen.  At this point I roughed in the shank the best I could with the disc.  The rest of this part would be done with my Dremel at home.

The shank was probably the hardest decision of the pipe shape.  I wanted to utilize a form that complemented the bowl but was still sleek, as I could envision the shape being almost aerodynamic. I used my Dremel tool, fitted with a flex shaft and a cone shaped carbide cutter, to give form to the shank.  I hoped to mimic the curve of the stem and continue it to the shank, which proved to be a bit tricky.  After the basic form was made with the cutter, I changed it out for a 1/2" fine grit drum and accomplished the final curve I was seeking. I was able to obtain a decent symmetry all around the pipe with only minor nuances of asymmetry.
After shaping the stummel and getting the basic shape of the stem done, I decided I would give sand blasting a go.  I decided on a partial pattern on the stummel/shank to accentuate the pipe's shape.  I learned a great deal during the process and the absolute necessity of precision masking before blasting.  The final result was well worth it though!
I asked Wayne to help with the finish and he told me to take a trip out to his shop.  We put the finishing touches on my pipe there and enjoyed a smoke together.  He showed me the finer points of 'contrast' staining, starting with a very dark base stain, applying it 3 times.  After the base application, over to the red tripoli buffing wheel to remove the dark stain and obtain the desired level of coverage.  I left the blasted sections darker than the smooth surfaces to accentuate the unique blast.  Completing this step, we went back to the stain selection and I picked and orangey-red color for the surface stain.  This took only two applications, then back to the buffing wheel.  This time the white diamond wheel which only polishes and does not remove any finish.  The gloss had begun to shine now and the detailing touches were applied to the stain before giving the pipe a high gloss with the carnauba wax wheel. The stummel looked fantastic! The only part left was the stem.
That night I worked with a piece of white pearlescent acrylic Wayne had given me to use as an insert in the top of the stem.  I decided to install a dot and drilled the stem to accept it.  Completing the final size hole in the stem, I moved to the small piece of acrylic I cut earlier.  Using a drill I spun the outside diameter of the insert to the correct size with a drill bit as my spindle.  Glued the insert in the stem and cut small pieces of aluminum and brass tubing and a small brass rod, to finish off the look I wanted.  Glued those into place and filed the whole lot flush with the stem.  Went through the process of sanding the stem, then a polish and finally a nice coat of carnauba wax.  I decided to name the pipe according to its shape and attributes, the check-mark.  Having come up with the general name idea, I let a good friend come up with an interesting spelling.  Czeque it was!  I will be smoking it with friends for the first time tomorrow in celebration of our great nation's Independence Day!

I am pretty pleased with the result of my first attempt at pipe making!  I am looking forward to the next venture and actually drilling my own block and making a stem from solid rod stock.  Until then...

*Edit 07/04/2010* Wanted to add, I smoked the pipe for the first time today with Peter Stokkebye's Luxury Bullseye Flake, and it was great!  Nice draw and cool smoke, had one small gurgle mid-bowl, but it went away with a little reverse puff.  Turned out to be a great smoker!

    Czeque

• Style: Mod. Poker/Tankard
• Material: Briar
• Stem: Vulcanite
• Finish: Smooth/Partial blast
• Group Size: 4
• Length: 5 5/8"
• Height: 1 9/16"
• Bowl Dia.: 1 3/8"
• Chamber Dia.: 13/16"
• Chamber Depth: 1 1/8"
• Weight: 40g