I enjoy smoking pipes. A dear friend of mine gave me his small collection of pipes he's acquired over the years and I've added to it.
I've always enjoyed woodworking, and decided to combine my interests.
Pipes begin their lives as blocks of briar (the roots of Heather plants) in Greece or Algeria. The pipes are bored and fitted with stems.
Then, I go at them like a maniac with all manner of hand tool - awls, rasps, files, saws, sand paper, and knives.
Stain them, then polish them up, and you've got a work of art that will bring enjoyment for a lifetime.
Above is the initial planning sketch I made for my first pipe. The straight lines indicate the angles drilled for the bowl and the air chamber. I've already gone at this block with a saw to chip away at the block and rasps to get a round shape started.
After much cursing, sanding, and filing, the shape is smooth and clean.
Briar is noted for it's beautiful, tight grain and intricate structure. The grain really pops even when you wipe it with water-as I did here.
The finished pipe with stain and polish.
It's got a chin like Kirk Douglas
The nobby top is actually a natural pattern that the outside of the root ball creates.
Two more blocks before I got to work. The block on top became a pipe for my father-in-law.
The lower block became one of my best smokers. It's a textured Cutty-shaped beaut.
After a lot of rasp and file work, this pipe is ready for many hours of sanding.
Nearly finished with sanding when I discover some pits on the face of the pipe. Pits form when Heather roots grow around sand or pebbles. Like divots in a golf course, pits distract from the composition of the pipe. There's only one effective way to salvage your work.
Closeup of the texture.
Textured with a tool I created to give more grip to the bowl and to obliterate the pits. All stained, polished, and ready to go.
