I was thinking, when that shank shattered, why not glue up some other material and shape it back to what you wanted. Like Savinelli does with the NonPariels. That would be a novel approach and add some length back to the shank.
I recently got a sizable bonus from my work place, and am starting to build up a Carving shop myself. My wife recently called our marriage quits, so I have two room in the trailer that are empty. Perfect for setting up shop, I think. I used to work for a Furniture Re-finisher, and wood craftsman, many years ago. So I have some Lathe Working experience, and general wood working knowledge. I've started gathering tools. I have a double wheeled, cloth buffer coming, and an ancient but working Craftsman Metal Lathe w/ 3 & 4 Jaw Chucks, and all the other things, like cutters and what not. ($50 from a friend, can you believe it?) I have tools from PIMO coming, now I need to get me a bandsaw, and a sanding / shaping wheel. I already have a small bench press drill, and other odds and ends. I've also got a 2lb block of Carnuba and Red Rouge in the post. Now all I need is some briar, bits, lucite rod stock and dyes, and I should be able to start the ball rolling. With the wife gone, I need a hobby. I work from home via Telecommunication, so I hardly ever leave the house any more, and my shift work is so slow (I barely take 3 or 4 calls a month.) They are mission critical calls though and a lot of money rides on their resolution, hence the reason my company forks over the dough to keep me on at nights. I work the "graves" three days by thirteen hours. That leaves me four days a week at my leisure. I live in BFE South Carolina, in a town with barely 2000 people. A dying Mill town, with basically the only population left is the Pensioners, that have no reason to flee this dying place. So my days are long and quiet. I am in the Computer Industry. I work for DELL in a support role for Enterprise Software. Which is a fancy way of saying I support a Product for the migration of thousands of machines from old Operating Systems to New ones, and the setup of their networking, and whatnot. It can be a real pain when you've got an Onsite Technician bogged down with 50 machines not Migrating, for some odd reason. I mainly deal with the over Seas Customer base.
Anyways, sorry to run off on a tangent. Back to my earlier thoughts. Maybe you could incorporate some exotic woods into the shank, like purple heart or Cocobola, or better yet Zebra Wood. That would give your work a really distinctive look, or you could try using a synthetic material, like lucite or Delrin. Using lucite would make the mortise / tenon less prone to expansion / shrinkage while hot from smoking. Or you could incorporate brass, or aluminum, something soft but still carve-able / machinable, that would add a really nice touch. I know you're done with the pipe now, but keep this in mind for the next "OOPSie" moment.
Anyways, I look forward to your future work, and picking your brain, when I get the ball rolling myself.
(), mailed a block to Kyle which got lost and we are now trying to track down, leaving me two of these stunning blocks left. I've got a small order of much cheaper briar on its way to me, so I may knock that stock out making some pipes and save the transcendent wood for after I'm able to refine some of the technical aspects further.
