Your Thoughts on Pipe Racks

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DAL

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I'm hoping I might ask for your opinions on pipe racks.

Over the years I've accumulated several commercially made racks that hold a couple of dozen pipes; but, owing to my chronic, recurring PAD, I have two or three times that many briars deserving a good spot on a rack -- both for purposes of safe storage and, especially, to make it easy to find a ready pipe when I need one!

I've searched catalogs, ebay, etsy, and watched about every YouTube on the subject and have decided it is probably worth a DIY project. Here's what I've come up with as a starting point -- sort of a first draft, if you will.

pipera10.jpg


The idea is to be modular in two types of component pieces, a carcass and a rack. Here, obviously, just using two racks. The top piece of each rack is held in place by some pins so they can be removed to accept really long stems. The rack height and depth is purposely generous as I own several pipes "just a fuzz too wide/bent/long" to fit in a store-bought rack.

If I were to make this as a 3 shelf carcass, instead of two as in my sketch, and if I made a full-length rack to sit on top, I'd have room for about 55 pipes -- still not quite enough but close enough.

This design is based on 3/4" thick and 1/4" thick hardwood planks -- probably oak -- with something like plywood on the back of the carcass, painted dark green. I'd probably go for a simple stain and poly.

So, here are some questions:

1) Do you think the modular approach is worth the extra effort?

2) Given your own experience with your pipe collection, is 50+ pipe storage adequate? Way too much? Too little?

3) What are your thoughts about the "free space" left on each shelf -- either for a few 'baccy tins/jars -- or more likely, in my case, a place to put "special" pipes like my Meer's or a Calabash?

4) I've toyed with the idea of doors. But that may well be overkill. Thoughts?

5) Any and all other comments -- thoughts -- suggestions -- both positive and negative, are completely welcome.

Thanks, so much, for taking the time to read this post.

Yours,
 -DAL
 
I've had a good many commercial pipe racks. Some that hold 6 or 7 pipes and others that held 16-24 pipes. With the number of pipes I have they proved to be inadequate and there's another problem that I considered the worst of all. The pipes racks leave the pipes exposed to dust. It doesn't matter how great your housekeeper is there's going to be dust accumulating on your pipes and then you have to remove them all to dust the pipes as well as the rack. It's a never ending task and one that I despised. Dust if left to accumulate can damage the finish on the pipe and I like my pipes too much to allow this to happen. I resolved the problem by purchasing a machinist chest to keep my pipes in. I had to make a couple of modifications but it was a simple fix and works very well. Some of the drawers were too shallow for some of my pipes. They were only an inch deep. I just removed the bottom out of the upper drawer and glued the upper drawer to the one under it making two shallow drawers into one two inch deep drawer. I've got over a hundred pipes in my pipe chest and they stay dust free. Perfect! Here's pic of the chest I bought. :)

AJ

 
AJ:

ajn27511":klwry2zy said:
It doesn't matter how great your housekeeper is...
Housekeeper? That would be me!!!

What a clever idea. 100+ pipes! Outstanding!

The machinist chest I own is way too dirty and gross (not to mention, full of tools) to use for pipes -- but finding a new/newer/clean one for pipes is a really great approach. I'll have to give that some thought. It certainly would be less effort than building my own.

Part of the appeal of a wall mounted rack is how little foot-print it takes. A chest would need a home somewhere in the house. And, of course, it would need to be convenient. My 'baccy cellar is not very accessible but that doesn't matter since I'm only in there to grab the next jar or tin -- but the pipes need to be at the ready.

I hear you about the dust. That's part of my on-again/off-again argument about putting doors on the rack. If I add doors, then my wall mount options are much more limited to prevent interference with other things like doors and lamps and the like. And, it increases the all-up weight.

I like your solution, a lot. You've got me thinking.

Many thanks for your comments.
 
Answering your questions would require a treatise--one I'm not prepared to submit. I do have some random thoughts:

~ Racks are mostly for display, right? There is a practical element, but isn't it really mostly about displaying the pipes?

~ If you consider yourself a 50-pipe man, such as I consider myself, but nevertheless are prone to succumbing to the occasional PAD attack, I would go for a 100 pipe capacity. (Hey--just being honest about the depravity.  ;) )

~ The modular approach does have a more dynamic appearance, rather than a more static all-in-a-row display.

~ I prefer a silhouette presentation. I have a silhouette rack, but displaying pipes as B&Ms do on a wall with those little rubber things holding them seems a more practical way.

~ I'm somewhat sensitive about the insanity aspect of displaying pipes in large numbers. What are civilian guests (non-pipe smokers) to think of a large display of smoking implements in your living quarters? (Just a thought. Heh, heh. I can never forget my first thoughts about a guy who told me he had 350 pipes. This was back when I thought just having a couple of Dunhills was cool and all I needed.)

~ If you have the wood-working ability, why not go hog-wild? I know this contradicts the above, but who really cares about civilians?

~ You can hang pipes from hooks. Just insert a pipe cleaner, bend the end, and there you go. I've actually considered hanging them from the ceiling. The Hoar House restaurant in Reading, PA (I think that's where it was) has paintings on the ceiling, so why not pipes?

~ Plenty more thoughts where those came from, but that should suffice to keep the ball rolling on this here thread thing. You're welcome.  :geek:
 
Richard:

<he he he> I like your comments. I will gladly consider all that you have time to offer.

About the purpose being for display -- hmmm, in my case, not so much. It's really about ease of access and basically having them all in, more-or-less, a central place. I suppose it IS display in the sense that I want to find the pipe for the next smoke simply and fast, and to have the majority of the smokables in one glance facilitates that. Your comments just helped me figure out what I really want in a good storage system. Thanks!

Speaking of PAD depravity: I am just going to have to give myself a limit -- say whatever my storage system eventually holds -- and follow a discipline of eliminating a lesser pipe to make room for a new one. OK, I'll probably be at 100 pipes anyway. Point taken.

I had a rack with the little rubber things; but, I found after prolonged use, it would react with some of my stems and leave a discoloration that was difficult to remove. I'm also a little suspicious of wood finishes for similar reasons. I think the best way to go is to get a good finish base on the wood for looks then several good coats of Carnauba wax over the final poly coat (or maybe skip the poly, completely). With that, I would hope the wax would protect both the rack and the pipes.

I'll have to give the silhouette style some thought. I like the idea that this way could reduce the depth of the rack and reduce the weight on the wall.

As to the riffraff thinking I'm insane with a large pipe collection... I suspect the antique film cameras, 100-year-old electric "engines", and the occasional toy-steam-engine has already done the damage. As you say, who really cares about civilians, anyway?

Thanks for your thoughts; all the best.
--DAL

 
[I am just going to have to give myself a limit -- say whatever my storage system eventually holds

It doesn't work that way. I tried it. When I bought the chest I set a limit of 100 pipes. Now I have around 175 and there are still many pipes I want to buy. There is no cure for PAD. Anytime you get a few extra bucks you'll buy another pipe. It's going to happen. Lord help you if you come down with a case of TAD in addition to having PAD. I've got more tobacco than I'll ever smoke and still buying it whenever I feel the urge. I've sworn a dozen times I'd never but another ounce of tobacco but if some new blend comes out and it sounds good I'll buy it. I think some tobacco companies would fail if I were to stop buying or maybe have to lay off some employees. I'd hate to be the cause of some child not having a cheerful Christmas because I refused to buy a few tins of his Daddy's tobacco. We as pipe smokers have a responsibility to keep the families of pipe makers and tobacco blenders well fed and educated. I can't do this all alone so forget about setting limits. It's un-American. :twisted: :twisted:

AJ
 
f you want to keep them relatively dust free but still display them when you wish, I would lean toward you modular design. I might approach it with mirrored plans facing each other and one side mounted, the other hinged to the mounted one so that it could be closed like a door. (Kind of like a refrigerator, shelves inside and shelves on the door. Then you could close it up when you aren't digging through it, and when you go hunting for the right pipe you can swing it open and bask in the glory of your ever growing collection. Add more as you need and viola'!

By the way, looks like your tin of PA is open...... :lol!:
 
AJ:

ajn27511":jbhnu16l said:
[Lord help you if you come down with a case of TAD...]
<sigh> Too late, I'm afraid. Much like my dentist, I have a feeling I've sent at least one tobacconist's kids to college.

Although I will say I'm a little better about the PAD than the TAD. Pipes are, to me, much like how I feel about firearms. They are more of a tool, or a means to an end, rather than an object of art. Not that I can't appreciate the craftsmanship of both, to be sure. But my trap guns have scratched stocks and worn-off blueing from years of great service.

TAD is a different matter; it's like ammo. I'm always buying more! "Oh this tin of English Mixture is sooooooo goooooood this morning -- I should order 50 tins, right away, while I still can!" Yes. Certifiable madness! And yes, I suspect I have enough on-hand to last me a very long time! Perhaps for the rest of my natural born days. But I refuse to actually estimate it so I can maintain "plausible deniability" to my sweetie. Luckily, she still spends more on ciggies than I could ever hope to spend on pipe tobacco.

Now to the serious part. For you, AJ, 100 was way too low a number. To Richard, 50 seems too low as well. I just did a count, I'm at 62 briars and about a dozen "others" that probably wouldn't be in a rack anyways. Only about 5 of them are either just not that pretty are aren't very good smokers for me -- I could give them away and be happy about it. That means, over my years of pipe smoking, I acquire about 2 pipes per year, on average. Hmmmm. Tricky to pick a number I could live with.

Would 300 be out of line? :shock:

Happy Puffing,
--DAL
 
Wiz:

Ozark Wizard":nwsmd622 said:
I might approach it with mirrored plans facing each other...like a refrigerator, shelves inside and shelves on the door.
Brilliant. Instead of doors I'd make a shallow carcass that matches the outer dimensions of the carcass mounted on the wall. Perhaps the "outside" would have a stained-glass door insert in place of the back-panel of the wall mounted one, so the prettiest of my little pretties might show through. To keep the "door" shelves thin, those racks could be silhouette orientated.

I'll have to sketch that up and see how it works out.

Thanks, Wiz! Great idea.
 
I made a few pipes racks in the past and they serve me well to this day but, I wish I had made them enclosed to prevent dust collecting because I have over 300 pipes. There is a solution to this thought and when I finally get around to it I'll add matching wood side panels and top and a piece of match veneer to cover the backs, or mirror and then put clear plexiglass doors that seal on the front. I think this is probably the easiest way, at least for me.
The one below is the first one I made out of 3 I made. The rests are spaced to accept larger bowl pipes and the other two I drilled the stem through holes at an angle so that they'd accept bent stems easier in the lower rests. These are all doweled and pinned construction using preform Ebonite stems as spindles and Black Walnut wood. Also I put Velcro strips at top rest to prevent unstable pipes from falling out and felt in rests.

 
Cartaphilus:

Very nice work! Elegant, even. May I ask how you cut the bowl rests? A router with some type of jig?

75 pipes in a very compact space. Most impressive.

Yours,
--DAL
 
DAL":0d8zrd4v said:
Cartaphilus:

Very nice work! Elegant, even. May I ask how you cut the bowl rests? A router with some type of jig?

75 pipes in a very compact space. Most impressive.

Yours,
--DAL
Thank you Dal, and your spot on about the rests, I used a bowl bit and made a jig.
Making the jig took longer then cutting all the rests out.
 
Cartaphilus

that's a good looking rack. I also love the chest idea, never knew they were so well manufactured, almost a centre piece of furniture
 
kitobi":oy8mqntm said:
Cartaphilus

that's a good looking rack. I also love the chest idea, never knew they were so well manufactured, almost a centre piece of furniture
Thank you sir, chests and racks are my favorite too!
 
hehe I'm not going there, bad influence not that I need much persuasion :twisted:

 
Cartaphilus":90rkq9cj said:
kitobi":90rkq9cj said:
Cartaphilus

that's a good looking rack. I also love the chest idea, never knew they were so well manufactured, almost a centre piece of furniture
Thank you sir, chests and racks are my favorite too!
:confused: Wait, no, what were we talking about?
 
Ozark Wizard":wusccjmy said:
Cartaphilus":wusccjmy said:
kitobi":wusccjmy said:
Cartaphilus

that's a good looking rack. I also love the chest idea, never knew they were so well manufactured, almost a centre piece of furniture
Thank you sir, chests and racks are my favorite too!
:confused: Wait, no, what were we talking about?
Guy stuff of course. ;)
 
Thanks, all, for the thoughtful comments.

After sleeping on it, I've started to refine the idea. I'm leaning towards a two-pronged approach -- a machinist's chest AND a wall-mount rack. It separates the concerns of 1) safe and dense storage of the lesser used or more fragile pipes; and, 2) the display and easy access to the "in-rotation" pipes. This also takes the pressure off of making a monster rack to hold a huge collection.

I did some very rough estimates of the weight that would be added by the fold-out "fridge-door" style and it would be pretty darn heavy; however, I do want to address the dust issue. It has plagued me in the past and I really want to keep my racked pipes dust free.

I was originally leaning towards simple wood doors or perhaps something with plexiglass. But given how much work this is going to be, I decided I want it to be more to my tastes. I'm probably going to make a simple frame door with a stained-glass panel insert. Something kinda like this...



Now that I'm getting closer to what I want, it will take many more bowls of deep thought and sketching to get a balanced set of dimensions, proportions and configurations (number of shelves, etc) before finalizing the design and collecting the materials.

Thank you, again, for all your help and suggestions.

If you have an interest in seeing how the project proceeds, let me know here, and I'll post updates as I go.

Yours,
--DAL
 

if display and storage was an issue how about something like this
 
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