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Brothers of Briar

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Yeah, it's getting close. Time for me to stop procrastinating. :)

I worked on my pipe this weekend a good bit. Just finished the final sanding with 600-grit sandpaper this afternoon. I'm satisfied with the results, although I could probably keep tinkering with it until I sanded it into a pile of red dust.

I almost screwed up last night and lost the whole thing. I was doing some final shaping with a sanding wheel and tried to put a creative flair-type shape on the lip of the bowl. In the end, it didn't look right, so I sanded it back down and ALMOST took off too much wood. I caught myself right before I did it. It would have ruined the pipe. I was getting tired, it was hot in the garage and I wasn't thinking straight, and the area I was about to start sanding did not have the thickness for the pressure I was about to apply. Whew! :shock:

Today, I was out trying to find some alcohol-based stain. I read online that Hobby Lobby has leather dye, so I figured I'd try there. All I saw on their online store was water-based leather dyes, though. Anyway, after driving all the way over there, I was stunned to find that they're closed on Sundays. What the hell, seriously? I would think Sundays would be PRIME TIME for people relaxing with their hobbies. With brick & mortar stores struggling these days, I can't believe it would be good for business to shut down during half the weekend. Anyway, I said screw it and ordered some alcohol-based stain and intensity reducer from FurnitureKnowledge.com.

The only things I have left to do are stain the stummel, tripoli and polish the stummel (I have some carnuba wax I bought with my kit), and then finish the stem work. The stain should be in this next week, so theoretically I should be able to finish it by next weekend.

It's definitely been an experience, and I have a newfound respect for pipe crafters and the prices they charge.
 
Oh, and I meant to post some pictures of my setup earlier, but it slipped my mind. Here goes:

My corded drill, clamped down and chucked with a 5" sanding disc.
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A closer shot of the drill/disc. This drill has a locking trigger so I can lock it in the "full blast" position. That sandpaper is 40-grit. Excellent for taking off massive amounts of briar in a few seconds.
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Here's the sanding wheel I bought. I think it was less than $10, and came with a few different grits of stick-on sandpaper. I went ahead and bought a few more packs of sandpaper just in case.
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Here's a 60-grit flapper sanding wheel I also bought. It's about 3" in size, and about 1" wide. I wasn't sure which would be better - the flapper wheel or the disc, so I got both. Both actually worked great, but I think overall I preferred the 5" sanding disc once I learned how to control it.
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And here's the drill chucked with a buffing wheel I got as part of a 3-piece kit with tripoli compound. Here, I've loaded up the smallest buffing wheel with carnuba wax and buffed my Savinelli pipe with it. It put a nice shine back on the pipe, which lasted for almost two smokes. Now it looks dull again. Why does smoking dull a pipe so fast? Eh, that Savinelli smokes pretty hot, so I bet that's a big part of it...
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Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics. Sorry about the disaster zone that is my garage floor. :oops:
 
Thanks for showing us pictures of your sanding/polishing rig SingleMalt. It shows how you can use readily available equipment for those of us that don't have "proper" machines. This is what it's all about,,,learning from each other. Anyone else with any tips please feel free to share.
 
@SingleMalt - carnauba wax is not heat resistant... she will lost it's shine the minute you start smoking it if the pipe is hot - there is no cure for that if using carnauba... it will happen sooner if the pipe is hotter :) cool smokers will have a longer shine :)
....
 
Oh, man, that takes me back...! I worked for years with a similarly crude tool setup, in a freezing garage to boot. This is one of those things that boggles my mind about some of the hobby guys, who will go out and buy a $1000 lathe before making their first four pipes. Work with some basic tools and see if you enjoy it first, and get a feel for the work, before really sinking money into tools.
 
TreverT":jp2n2q4z said:
Oh, man, that takes me back...! I worked for years with a similarly crude tool setup, in a freezing garage to boot. This is one of those things that boggles my mind about some of the hobby guys, who will go out and buy a $1000 lathe before making their first four pipes. Work with some basic tools and see if you enjoy it first, and get a feel for the work, before really sinking money into tools.
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can't agree more... :) !!!
 
@tNd - thanks for the explanation on the caranuba wax. That makes sense. I guess I won't really worry about polishing my pipes much then, since I intend to smoke them. :)

On another note, the guy from FurnitureKnowledge.com called me about my order. Turns out neither the alcohol stain nor reducer is in stock. GRRRR! Then why did you let me order them ?!?! [string of expletives deleted] :x

So now I need to find some stain. Anyone know of a reputable place to get alcohol-based stain?
 
SingleMalt- A lot of makers use fiebings leather dies- they can be found at a leather shop like tandy's. Thats what I use. They come in many colors and work great mixed together.

Trey

 
Just finished my pipe tonight! Woot! Only thing left is to take pictures and send them on.

Btw, the alcohol based stain worked great.
 
Hey craftsmen, friendly reminder--September 1st is the deadline for the BoB pipemaking contest. Look earlier in the thread for details, and don't forget to tell me if they're from setup kit or from scratch!
 
Doc needs you to PM him with the link to your pictures,,,,
 
Yes, links only, please. The Private Message inboxes are very small and it'll fill up too quickly with attachments (which means other guys' entries won't get through.)

Sorry for the inconvenience with that; it's the only fair way I could cook up with our tech.
 
Just submitted my pics. Looking forward to seeing everyone's work!

Now it's time to fire up my new pipe! Ahh, what to smoke first...

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Doc Manhattan":7kxvmhnw said:
The deadline is SEPTEMBER 1, 2011. I'll take those links up until the end of day, Pacific time (0300 Sept. 2 Eastern).
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Just a reminder we're getting close to the deadline.



The lathe I ordered arrived missing several key parts,,(carriage gibs) ,back it went, so I'm hacking away with a nail file, a cork screw, and a pair of Fisher Price left handed scissors in an effort to chip out something resembling a pipe before the deadline. Good luck to everyone.
 
...and a supplemental announcement from your friendly photo wrangler:

Even under ideal circumstances, I will be super-busy on and around the deadline.

In the less-than-ideal 100mph circumstances bearing down on us, I may be super-busy and without power and/or internet.

So, you may not get a confirmation PM back from me if you enter from now on. If last-minute entries are heavy and I'm without computing, my PM inbox may even fill up before I can check it.

To make completely sure I know who I should have entries from, please post an "Entry sent" message in this thread after you PM me the link. If I didn't get it through some SNAFU I'll ask you to resend it.

All the entries will be assigned an order at random in the final "judging table", so no worries about letting everyone know when you entered!
 
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