Ok here it goes....at the begining of this year I started working on a few blocks of briar and made 2 very nice pipes.
it was a blast then my cheap version of a dremel tool died and work took over and I stopped.
well now work is....not so good so I bought me a new nice rotary tool and I still
have a few blocks that never made the bench till now.
here is some pics of work to date.

I turn this

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into this

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made this pipe also she is still new has a huge bowl

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my new tool and wood rasp bits

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my next few blocks

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the bottom pipe is a carving kit from the 40's-60's

yes I buy pre bored briar I am not ready to go there yet.
i use the rasp bits to shape it then sand drums to remove the rasp marks then hand sand and sand and sand sand sand sand.
I will be posting progress here and I will be glad to help anyone go down this slippery slope with me.....
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Wow that pipe came out super impressive! Very nice work.
I look forward to seeing your updates!
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What he said
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Nice work brother
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looking great Jason! I am actually headed down to Charlottesville tomorrow to spend some time with a guy learning about how to make pipes! I have attempted to make 2-3 pipes out of cherry wood but managed to break them all in 1 way or another. Cannot wait to see what you make out of those other blocks you have!
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Awesome! Great job!
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Very cool Jason. Who knew you had them skills? :-)
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the ruff form is cut in now to start the sanding process first with the rotary tool then lots of hand sanding.......
not sure how I want to do the top of the bowl right now its flat might stay that way or I might try to round it.....
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I like the top flat, maybe if you are gonna do anything concave the top of the bowl a bit, but it will be interesting to see what the grain looks like when your further along in the sanding process
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Nice job man. :-)
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That's a nice looking chunk of wood you have going there Jason:-) Lets have a look at the finished product when ready. Good work!
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100 grit is done got all the lumps out and well yea it kept getting smaller and i did bevel the top
this pic is with denatured alcohol to show some grain
a few tid bits 1 it is hard to keep it round and even up top and the stem to bit is a pain but so far I am happy in the direction it is going in
thanks everyone hard to believe its the same block
time to go relax and have a few.........

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Turned out great!
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looks great so far :-)
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pipe is done for the most part might do more buffs on it.
doing this type of stem was a lot harder and I could have done a little better on it but its very close.
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looks damn good Jason :-)
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Nice work. :-) Love to hear how it smokes.

What is the finish?

I see a couple little black dots, it is amazing how you won't see those until you are almost finished then POOF there it is. I just did my first one a couple days ago and laughed my ass off when the little "blackheads" appeared after all the removal of material, shaping & sanding.
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yea the dots suck but I have seen worse....
the finish is ANILINE DYE golden yellow with a buff of Tripoli and then cabana wax with 1 wheel
I need to get 3 wheels and add a white buff at the beginning but its what i have for now works good for 1 buff wheel on a drill.......
and yea I need to smoke it soon looking forward to it

this is up next
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I'm still learning to take more pictures of the progress as I do things. :-) I took pics of the pre-drilled block, then nothing until the final shaping & then after final sanding before stain/dye. I love the color you chose, if I ever get into making more than just a few I may expand past the few leather dyes I bought.

I'll end up staring my own thread so as not to hijack yours :-)

As for buffing wheels, PJ Toolbox has pretty good 4" sewn muslin wheels with 1/4" shank @ $4.00 each. :-) They have a website & sell on ebay. With limited resources in my little town, that is the way to go for me.

It is a P.I.A. way of doing things but Vermont Freehand on facebook has a HUGE selection of supplies. (one day he will build an actual website) Ordering the kits from him is better than a grab bag kit from anyone else. You can tell him the style pipe you want to make and what type of grain you are looking to end up with...he will go pick a block that will hopefully turn out...ya never know for sure until you start carving away. :-)
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Very nice work! I hope it smokes well for you.
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