Briar Spirit
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2012
- Messages
- 2,660
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BSP - NDP12
The block for this pipe was originally put aside as scrap as it has really bad sandpits on the surface of the block and I mean they were really bad, just seemed pointless even looking into this block at all so in the box of scraps it went, this was very frustrating of course as these larger Plateaux blocks are expensive and are used to make more expensive pipes so the loss of yet another block hit home pretty hard.
Needing something to fill my time and get my head out of the turmoil for a spell I decided to have a look inside the block to see what was in there, I am so pleased I did so for the sandpits stopped quite soon into the block, well, sort of, this was originally a pretty big block of Briar and it has yielded a quite small pipe in the end, not too small of course as you can see from the shots with the standard zippo lighter for scale purposes.
I've had a few people asking me to put silver bands on pipes and each time I have said it was something I was unable to do, this has irked me each time, putting a band on a pipe by hand filing the Briar is a task of pure insanity, drove me bonkers with the almost endless removing of tiny bits of Briar until the band could fit the end of the shank. Annoyingly I discovered that putting on a band was even more complicated than I suspected and as you can see I made more than the one mistake. Getting the shank shaped nicely should have been done before I fitted the band, something I still didn't learn even on the second try which I include below.
The band on this pipe is solid 9ct Gold but the hallmark is inside the band as it is in fact an old gold ring I had, meh, I couldn't just nip off and order a band so I had to make do with what I had to hand.
BSP - NDP13
This block has pretty much the same story as NDP12 except this one was rejected because of the flawed grain as well as having some nasty sandpits on the surface, again I am pleased I took the trouble to see what was inside, not as pleased as with NDP12 but still pretty pleased.
The band on this one is White Gold, yes another old ring I had to hand and yes, I failed to allow for the shaping of the shank before fitting the band, trying to shape the shanks better after fitting the bands ended up causing too much damage to the bands so I had to settle for 'good enough'.
The block for this pipe was originally put aside as scrap as it has really bad sandpits on the surface of the block and I mean they were really bad, just seemed pointless even looking into this block at all so in the box of scraps it went, this was very frustrating of course as these larger Plateaux blocks are expensive and are used to make more expensive pipes so the loss of yet another block hit home pretty hard.
Needing something to fill my time and get my head out of the turmoil for a spell I decided to have a look inside the block to see what was in there, I am so pleased I did so for the sandpits stopped quite soon into the block, well, sort of, this was originally a pretty big block of Briar and it has yielded a quite small pipe in the end, not too small of course as you can see from the shots with the standard zippo lighter for scale purposes.
I've had a few people asking me to put silver bands on pipes and each time I have said it was something I was unable to do, this has irked me each time, putting a band on a pipe by hand filing the Briar is a task of pure insanity, drove me bonkers with the almost endless removing of tiny bits of Briar until the band could fit the end of the shank. Annoyingly I discovered that putting on a band was even more complicated than I suspected and as you can see I made more than the one mistake. Getting the shank shaped nicely should have been done before I fitted the band, something I still didn't learn even on the second try which I include below.
The band on this pipe is solid 9ct Gold but the hallmark is inside the band as it is in fact an old gold ring I had, meh, I couldn't just nip off and order a band so I had to make do with what I had to hand.
BSP - NDP13
This block has pretty much the same story as NDP12 except this one was rejected because of the flawed grain as well as having some nasty sandpits on the surface, again I am pleased I took the trouble to see what was inside, not as pleased as with NDP12 but still pretty pleased.
The band on this one is White Gold, yes another old ring I had to hand and yes, I failed to allow for the shaping of the shank before fitting the band, trying to shape the shanks better after fitting the bands ended up causing too much damage to the bands so I had to settle for 'good enough'.
