Not happy with this one

Well I don't know why, but I can't don't like this pipe. My wife likes it but something about it just doesn't appeal to me. I reckon it may be the fact that I've been trying to work on it over the past 2 weeks. And in those 2 weeks I worked 12 hours everyday but 2 in which 'i was lucky enough to get 8 hours days. So it was 5 minutes here 30 minutes there. And I just don't like trying to work on things when I'm working at my job like that. But anyway here are the pics.











Thanks for looking. I hope someone else can find something appealing in this one.

Nice grain, from what I can see. If I weren't such a polite bastard, I would say that the shape sucks, but I'm too polite. So I'll just say, "Is it expecting?"

Seriously, that pipe has potential. Set it aside and come back to it later.

I was going for a different shape. I thought i would like this shape. I'm not sure if in fact it's the shape i don't like or what it is. The grain is nice and it has nice birds eyes. I just don't like something about it. But I appreciate you taking the time to look at it.

I like it!

Hi Millerman, nice pipe you have going there! The grain looks great and that birdseye looks fantastic. Viewed from the bottom is has the African gourd shape to it, very nice. As to what does not look right, my vote would be on the bit/shank junction. When you look at the early freehands no-one quite got it right. The bit-shank continuity was just off a bit. Some were better than others but all in all it took a few years for everyone to 'get it'.

Your pipe is all flowing curves and yet at that junction it suddenly hits a sharp corner. In plane (side/profile) view this makes too hard a visual break. So much so that the bit seems tacked on. This was the same thing that happened to those early freehand carvers. They'd make a cracking stummel but then go...oh yeah...I need to add a bit...WHACK...there, fixed. Later on the bit and the stummel became a single unit and the pipe was planned as a whole that flowed together.

So what to do? IMHO you need to either create more curves or more angles to balance the design. There are three points on a stummel that create a visual cue for the bit. These being the heel, the visual line of draw (where you would expect the draught/airway from the bowl to bit to be) and the curve of the shank. If you can get all three of these to work together then peanut-butter-jelly-time. If you can get two out of three, then it's still cracking. But only one can be problematical as the stummel and bit start to feel disconnected. Now with your design you can't follow the line of the heel as that lovely egg shape would bisect your airway at too acute an angle and too close to the bowl. That means you need to work with the visual path of the airway and the curves/angles of the shank.

Option 1: Reduce thickness on the vertical axis. So remove material from the top and bottom of the shank. The aim being to create a flowing (and greater obtuse) angle at the point of intersection between shank and bit.

Option 2: create flat surfaces on the shank that run into the bit (so there is a common edge on both shank and bit thus creating a visual link).

Option 3: Cut the shank at it's widest point and convert your bit to a military mount.

of the three the first option IMHO would be best. I did a couple of mock-ups for you (just ideas obviously) they could either be rounded or flat top and bottom (giving you the flow in side view and the wonderful gourd shape top and bottom + a shared edge between shank and bit).

Thanks Hobo. I think you hit on something there. At one time I was planning on a different stem that was round on the end where it joins to the stummel. But for one reason or the other I went with the straight. So I do agree with you there. I really like your ideas and appreciate you taking the time to lend your opioin and expertise. I really like the second mock up you gave me. This is only my fourth pipe, and I've been doing everything by hand. I recently got a used lathe but haven't got a chuck or turning tools yet so everything has been done by hand. Again I appreciate you taking the time to help.

Hobo Hoot wrote:

That's pretty much where I would have suggested, makes it look rather more pleasing to the eye that way, if I had the funds mate I would have made a play for it looking like the image above.

I like it the way it its. I'd just put a shorter bent freehand stem in it. Maybe in blue swirl.

I was originaly thinking about a stem like this one. What do yall think. I'm still not opposed to whittling on her some more. But this is what I had in mind in the begining. Not sure why I changed my mind.



Thanks

I like that one better for that pipe.

Yeah, you could change it, and make it look "normal," but I kind of dig the shape. Especially from the bottom-up view, it kind of looks like a gourd. Continuing that general shape into a continuing reduction into the stem would tie it all together. It'd end up having a "snowman-effect" where the base (bowl) is biggest, the middle section is half the size of the base, the bulb(s) on the stem are half the size of the middle section...

...*shrug* I think it's workable without drastic alteration. Let your creativity guide you.

Kyle Weiss wrote:

Yeah, you could change it, and make it look "normal," but I kind of dig the shape. Especially from the bottom-up view, it kind of looks like a gourd. Continuing that general shape into a continuing reduction into the stem would tie it all together. It'd end up having a "snowman-effect" where the base (bowl) is biggest, the middle section is half the size of the base, the bulb(s) on the stem are half the size of the middle section...

...*shrug* I think it's workable without drastic alteration. Let your creativity guide you.

i think he nailed it. try the other stem first, hell you can always take more wood away later.

Hobo's second pic looks good to me as an adjustment. Maybe moving the center ridge on the shank either closer or farther from the bowl may change the appearance to be more appealing to the eye to you?

You have a beautiful pipe there mate, can't wait to see what you do with it!

Well again thanks to all that provided words of encouragement, pointers or who actually liked this pipe. I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought. This morning I decided to take it to work to show it off to some of the guys that know I'm making pipes, because I was telling them about how I hated this one and they wanted to see it. Well, I was showing the thing to someone and another guy saw it and had a fit over it. This guy doesn't even smoke a pipe. But he had to have it. I tried to tell him to let me try a different stem in it, but he wasn't having it. He loved the birds eyes in it, and the goard style design. He asked me how much I take for it. So I gave him a low ball figure of 60 bucks. He threw three 20 dollar bills at me and snatched up the pipe. So I'm not going to be able to do anything else with it. He was happy and now I've got a little cash to buy more briar with. So all in all that's what it's about for me. I enjoy my new addictive hobby. Again thanks to all that responded.

Hahaha, cool. If it made someone's day, then I guess that's that.