[Phaeton]

I'm carving a new pipe out of Plateaux Briar for one of my old Peterson stems, it's really a beautiful wood but that briar is HARD!!

I still have a lot of work to do on it before cutting it away from the part I'm using to hold it, I thought you may like to see the briar and maybe offer some tips on working with this stuff...lol.

I was looking at carved pipes for ideas and noticed there were no hobo pipes so the inspiration for this pipe came from Rick's "faces" page

HaPPy Trails
Bill
^v^

[Blake Lunsford]

Hey Phaeton, great pipe!! Love the color of the wood! I was wondering, where can I find information on carving pipes?? Any information would be greatly appreciated!!

I'll be interested in seeing the finished product!!

Blake

[Phaeton]

Hi Blake, Thanks)
This is my first pipe carving (it has Old English lemon oil on it to see how it would look when finished), I think I'll try the pipe blocks that are prebored and fitted with a stem next time but I wanted to use one of my Peterson tips so I just got the block from this first link (American) but drilling the bowl and fitting the stem may be a disaster.

The only help I can offer is to sharpen your tools really good because this briar is really hard, I roughed it out with a power carver and a coarse typhoon bit first.

http://amsmoke.com/Services/PipeKit.html

http://www.pimopipecraft.com/prebored.html
http://www.jhlowe.com/briar.htm
http://www.pipeland.com/

Here are some carved pipes for ideas, I like the skull from payless (I get my tobacco from Tim at Payless pipes).

http://www.paylesspipes.com/items.php?deptid=2
http://www.nationalguild.com/ZIGGYST...ved_Pipes.html
http://www.thepiperoom.com/pipes/mee...eerschaum.html

HaPPy Trails
Bill
^v^

[Thor]

Very clever design for the pipe. I hope you'll post more pictures as it progresses.
The big guy standing behind the pipe is pretty awesome too.
Thor

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Well, not into pipes, but I have to say I really like that caricature behind the pipe holding a pipe!! he is great!

[Phaeton]

Thank you Thor, the pipe was fun and I'm looking foreword to doing more.

The caricature is a neat design by Steve Prescott it was his "Fatboy" roughout, I have really enjoyed working on it but the hardest part was carving the inside of the hand and the area between the hand and the head.

There is enough wood on the roughout to carve an awesome Santa, I can see a bald Santa holding a pipe and wearing a short blue and white smoking jacket with a scene like the one below on it.

HaPPy Trails
Bill
^v^

[Lindy]

Great Thread! Thank you for starting it Bill! That is a nice looking pipe. Over Christmas my brother wanted to know when I was going to carve him a pipe so this is really timely. I have some mahogany that I was thinking of using and then going to a pipe place to get the stem and whatever else I needed. I'm wondering if mahogany is a suitable wood and if it is possible to buy a bowl to fit into the pipe or if the wood itself will can handle it? I have no idea what "briar" is or where to find it.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Phaeton]

Hi Lindy,
I'm not sure if mahogany could handle the heat without some sort if insert like bamboo or corncob, most pipes are made of briar or meerschaum (more expensive).

There are some links to briar suppliers in post #3, the pipe kits look like good carving projects.

I've been side-tracked from my pipe project. My Aunt went back home from a care center and she asked me if I would carve her something, she has a great sense of humor so I decided on a blockhead "boxer", she'll get a kick out of that.

HaPPy Trails
Bill
^v^

[Callynne]

Bill, darn it, now look what you've done, given me yet another thing to add to my 'have to try carving that someday' list! I'm going to have to live to be a hundred!!

I really do love that pipe!! Very, very nice work!! Deborah

[Colin_Partridge]

Nice job on the pipe and the roughout holding a pipe behind him look forward to seeing the completed pipe.
Colin