This is how a tractor pipe results...

[Slowroll]

Started working on a big stacked egg, got part way thru the bowl turning, and this huge briar  fault showed up. After a few 4 letter anglo-saxonism, I decided to keep going for practice and finish it, smoke it on my tractor.  Too bad, it would have been a nice pipe. First pic is the flaw after I filled it, the next 2 are it sitting on it's  smoking home. Sandblasting it was a pain. Hope I don't  have to do many like that.

 

[Sasquatch]

Yup, sometimes you just get unlucky and find a big old run like that. :x

 

[Lonecoyote]

What a shame, but it happens sometimes. I would finish the bowl with my Dremel and use a small etching bit and do some type of rustication and finish with a two different color stains. I do like how you blasted the briar!! But I bet that pipe smokes well.



KEEP ON PUFFING!!!

 

[Slowroll]

What a shame, but it happens sometimes. I would finish the bowl with my Dremel and use a small etching bit and do some type of rustication and finish with a two different color stains. I do like how you blasted the briar!! But I bet that pipe s,ones well

Oh boy, rustication with my dremel sounds like a lot of work, and I'm not so sure of my artistic ability to make a dremel rustication look properly irregular. I may build a nail tool for that. Wonder what it would look like if I ran it thru the lathe with my knurling tool?

It does smoke well however. Holds a lot of tobacco.

 

[SpeedyPete]

What a shame, but it happens sometimes. I would finish the bowl with my Dremel and use a small etching bit and do some type of rustication and finish with a two different color stains. I do like how you blasted the briar!! But I bet that pipe s,ones well

Oh boy, rustication with my dremel sounds like a lot of work, and I'm not so sure of my artistic ability to make a dremel rustication look properly irregular. I may build a nail tool for that. Wonder what it would look like if I ran it thru the lathe with my knurling tool?

It does smoke well however. Holds a lot of tobacco.

Noooo!! Don't fiddle with it anymore, Nature gave you a one and only pipe that looks like that :bounce:

No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to make it look that......lots of character there, wish it was mine......wish it was mine

 

[Lonecoyote]

As long as it's a good smoker should be all that matters. Also, I like the look you gave it.



KEEP ON PUFFING!!!

 

[Blackhorse]

I like it as is too. I like the aspect of carrying through with the project even though the block was flawed. It's about accepting things the way they are and making the most of what you have. And if it's a good smoker...that's a great testimony to the above.

Looks like a two hour pipe to me.

 

[Slowroll]

Thanks for your comment men. Speedy pete-- no I won't mess with it any more, fooling around with it was done when i blasted it. Just considerations for the next one that goes south. It is one of a kind :shock: Blackie -- Yeah, after all said and done I kinda like it. It is a 2 hour pipe if i'm careful, but not so often--I tend to be a freight trainer quite often; I like those big gales of smoke. Guess that's why I like stacks--lots of tobacco. tuff a pound of tobacco in there and heave away

 

[huffelpuff]

I'm a firm believer in the beauty of nature. Sure its a big ol flaw but over all I think it adds more character to the pipe than a perfect finish does. In the end what matters is how it smokes. As long as the engineering is spot on she will be a champ.

Jim

 

[Blackhorse]

Yeah, I guess. But you gotta admit that's just the biggest, ugliest, most stunning gash you've ever seen. It's like a...a...Frankenpipe! Oh, oh...you should carve some "stitches" across the gash! That would be EPIC.

 

[Slowroll]

Yeah, I guess.  But you gotta admit that's just the biggest, ugliest, most stunning gash you've ever seen. It's like a...a...Frankenpipe!  Oh, oh...you should carve some "stitches" across the gash! That would be EPIC.[/quote

And maybe a hex bolt head on either side too.] :lol!:  yeah, it is one ugly gash, it goes into the bowl too. I had to seal it up with a charcoal mix in the bowl. I was happily slashing away on the lathe and saw this long black mark arise and said WTF is that it does smoke well tho. .

 

[Lonecoyote]

Slowroll
Glad it's a good smoker, that's all that really matters!! I would coat the inside with a good pipe mud. I make my own pipe mud from high quality cigar ash and water. Make it the consistency of a thick cement, not to wet.
I use this method on all my Cobs before smoking, they last for years.



KEEP ON PUFFING!!!

 

[Slowroll]

Slowroll
 Glad it's a good smoker, that's all that really matters!! I would coat the inside with a good pipe mud. I make my own pipe mud from high quality cigar ash and water. Make it the consistency of a thick cement, not to wet.
 I use this method on all my Cobs before smoking, they last for years.

Yep, that's good for the bottoms of cobs and to raise up a bottom. In this case, I wanted to fill a small thru hole with something impervious. I used fine charcoal and a little maple syrup to fill just that area, and baked it on. The rest of the bowl I left bare, since I prefer that.

 

[KevinM]

You could call it your Crack Pipe. Or you could call it a Big Cracked Egg. Or a Hard Boiled Egg, since they usually crack, for me, anyway.

 

[Slowroll]

Cracked egg, I like that. That's what it is alright.