Maple(?) Magnum Poker

[Draagha]

My neighbor trimmed his trees today, and I think they are some sort of maple, I'm not sure(until I do figure it out, I am not going to use it),

I figured I'd post my progress on here and maybe see if someone can identify the wood.

Here is the bowl and the stem/mouthpiece(one straight piece) as of now. I've added rustication already, although I'm sure I should have done that after fitting the stem. I am a hands on, learn as I go type of person so I kind of just threw myself at it.
The only tools I have to work with right now is an incomplete dremel set and my widdlin knife. Stem was done with knife, bowl with dremel.




(Please excuse my wreck of a workshop/office. )

 

[dshpipes]

I figured I'd post my progress on here and maybe see if someone can identify the wood.

So is that a quiz or do you not know?

If you don't know what the wood is, I would try to figure it out before you put it in your mouth and smoke it. Some woods can be poisonous and cause some nasty skin issues. In some cases, those qualities aren't activated by touch alone but by heat.

I'm not exceptionally knowledgeable about woods, but the take home message here should be, "Be careful of using woods you find around your home unless you know what you're doing." Kinda like picking mushrooms.

 

[AJ]

Another word of caution. If its maple and from the branches you may have a problem with it forming cracks as it continues to dry. I learned by making some handle replacements for some kitchen utensils. The wood came from a maple tree branch that I had pruned about a year and a half before I made the handles. After about a year they all had cracked and split. Of course this may have been just Murphy's Law which has a history of applying itself to much of my life.

AJ

 

[pepesdad1]

Aj said: "Of course this may have been just Murphy's Law which has a history of applying itself to much of my life." I knew we were related!

 

[Draagha]

Ajn that actually already started to happen so I could he right.

And as I said before, I don't know what it is so I'm certainly not going to be smoking it. This was more of a trial attempt so I could begin learning, as I am a hands on learner.

I am currently trying to learn how to identify different wood types as well. Thank you all for the words of warning though.