Saturday, May 25, 2013

Pipe Making

It's raining today so I don't have enough power to do much in the workshop, and can't work on my other projects outside ... so I tried my hand at something new. Pipe making, as you may have guessed from the title.

From some scrap wood I had laying around I was able to carve out a decent enough pipe. Certainly not bad for a first try. So I'm going to go back to the University of Youtube and see if I can't learn a little more on how to do this, and then find some pipemaking supplies online and see what's available.

It uses all the tools and skills I already have and handcarved pipes would be a nice addition to my shop, I think.

Here's to expanding your base!

6 comments:

Liam said...

Dow you just carve the bowl, and buy the stem? How well does your first attempt draw?

Ernest said...

It draws really well, but I used a quarter inch bit. :) The bowl is about an inch in diameter and a half inch deep.

Yeah, it doesn't look like it's too crazy difficult to do them. You can buy a dozen stems for about twenty bucks.

Seems like it's worth doing. Don't know that there's enough pipesmokers left in the world though.

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

I read that pipe smoking is making a comeback. I think it's a great item to try out!

InvalidID said...


Not to encourage bad behavior... But there is a pipe market out there you may not have considered... They generally are anti-big business, anti-establishment, and very much pro-craftsman. Just a thought.

Ernest said...

There's an enormous selection of glass pipes for sale on Etsy. :)

I've never heard nor seen tobacco smoked in a glass pipe before though.

InvalidID said...


This is true, but glass pipes aren't the only pipes those guys like. If you made something unique and 'adult' it would likely appeal to a very large subset of the glass pipe market.

Those glass pipes really are for kids. Trendy or whatever you want to call it. They break, can't really be cleaned, and are generally a PITA. (I was young once too...lol)

https://www.google.com/search?q=wooden+pot+pipe&client=firefox-a&hs=37d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=IyeiUYiBGIa0iwLhuoGgCA&ved=0CEgQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=638

This will give you an idea of what's going on out there. Stash boxes and such would likely be popular as well. I'm of the mind that if those folks are making money and keeping it together... Why not grab a piece of that pie?