Hey folks, I have been a bit busy and not too active, but I wanted to show what I have been up too and I am looking for some thoughts on these. I started making pipes here at home with some basic tools I own.

This first pipes is from a starter kit, I went with the tear drop design on a honey pot as an ode to the classic era when cars were customized with tear drops. I also made this a large bowl:

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After the tear drop I had a fire burning to make more, so I purchased some briar and a buddy gave me a drill press to use, so with the tools needed to drill out holes I made this churchwarden and rusticated where there was some large sand pits. This pipes smokes sweeter and sweeter every week:

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From there I had a friend ask me to make a straight pipe, so I drilled out this one and it has great grain:

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The briar used for a background in the straight pipe and churchwarden was used to make this beauty. The holes drill out perfect and I picked up a buffing wheel, so I am now able to apply a better wax coating. So far this one was the most intensive to carve, I was unsure of how this one would turn out. Yet in the end, I like it and probably going to sell it:

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awesome job! the first one is really interesting, never saw a pipe like that.
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those are some really cool pipes!

thanks for sharing
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Thank you. The tear drop was a big block of wood and I wanted to utilize as much of it as I could.
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Looking good there! Any ones up for sale now? :-)
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Wow, awesome job! Those look great.
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The fan like pipe I am selling, I am thinking $175 is reasonable. Took some real work to carve that one out.

I am going to be making about one a week right now. Something cool to share, Liberty Tobacco in San Diego is willing to put my pipes in their glass shelves to sell!! That B&M is great, I like those guys!!

I am thinking of doing a small contest here for the straight pipe, it did not turn out to well. Would anyone be interested if I did that?
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I would be, I like the straight quite a bit
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Absolutely!

I think I like the churchwarden and straight grain the best thus far. Truly amazing work! A contest would be wonderful (if you're wanting to do that!).
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Good luck with selling em! About how many hours did it take to carve one up.
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It takes me at least 12 hours to make one. I have a schedule set up right now so I can get one pipe made a week between work and home life. I am not all that sophisticated and own a lathe like many pipe makers, that would sure make it a whole lot easier to carve one out.

Here is a shot of my bad drilling work on the straight pipe, there is a whole lot of briar on each side and would smoke fine. I am just not pleased with it, I really did not finish the pipe because of it. The shank is not square with the stem either:

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I am thinking of a contest now, I will post a link to the contest in this thread.
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Here is a link to my contest for the straight pipe:

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...798#post223798
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:-) I love the 2nd set of pics!
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Beautiful job Sir!!!:-)
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Are you able to buy the stems separately? How does that work?
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I agree with Les....would you be able to give us some insight into how we can pick up this hobby of wood work?
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Great looking pipes mate!

I recently started getting in to pipe making myself. I scored a great deal on a variable speed grinder for sanding and buffing and my parents are giving me a wood lathe that belonged to my departed grandpa. WTB drill press! :-)

I have a small poker to be buffed right now and I am working on a volcano that is going along nicely. Of yours, I think I like the Churchwarden and the fan the best. The chruchwarden looks like a heavy SOB though. :-)

For those who were asking, here is some great info to get you started.

PIMO - Good resource for briar as well as pipe making supplies and a pipe crafting book.

Pipedia - The pages on pipe making have all kinds of great info.

Penguin Briar - My preferred briar supplier for kits. Great communication and you can order the kit drilled based on what pipe you want to make. Best price/quality ratio I could find.

Pipe Makers' Forum - Lots of good information and a great place to post your pipes for critique. Be forewarned, they are honest but VERY picky. A good deal of very reputable pipe crafters frequent the board (such as Rad Davis).

Pipe Shape Chart - Good reference for getting an idea of what kind of pipe you want to make.

Hope that info helps point in the right direction.

-Tyler
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