Making My Own Clay Pipes

[yuda]

As I have recently moved out of the People's Republic of California and acquired a decent plot of land with my friends, I am determined to start some projects while I waste time at college thanks to my GI Bill. The project I am presently most concerned with, as this title suggests, is making clay pipes.

Once spring starts, i fully plan on harvesting my own clay from the land, but until then, I will need to source some good clay through retail or wholesale means(preferably the latter). Most guides I have managed to find online have suggested polymer clay, since it seems to work best in everything from a kitchen oven to a kiln. My perhaps over-hyped concerns about toxicity might be blinding me to cheaper or just better alternatives, as smoking anything comes with toxins(so does living in this plastic world in general, for that matter). Right now, I figure anything that is popular with schools and such is a good choice, because anything that is safe around kids and their tendency to put anything in their mouths ought to work well for a clay smoking pipe.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to get some pics and updates to you all soon.

 

[adui]

I would avoid the polymer clay and go with good old earthen clay; especially since you intend to harvest your own anyhow and will therefore need access to a kiln at some point.

 

[yuda]

@adui
I am still looking around, and I think the local college I plan on going to will have kiln i can use till I can afford to either buy a small one myself or build one. most websites I have looked at just talk about selling earthenware clay products as opposed to selling earthen clay, so I guess I either need to keep looking or suck it up and try and harvest and dry clay in the middle of the Montana winter. I have certainly done more foolish things in my time than that!

 

[DavidT]

I second adui's advice.
Polymer clay is actually poisonous.
It's used to make the sealer I used to seal my deck, so probably shouldn't smoke that . That stuff is for art pieces that will get glazed or painted and put on a shelf.
Clay pipes that are intended for actual use aren't glazed or painted.Just kiln fired naked clay in all it's porous glory.

Amazon has earthenware clay in 50 lbs blocks. White Earthenware clay is the safest and most common type used for smoking pipes and food contact surfaces.

Unless you are going to freehand them, you might want to track down molds.
A "Gin Press" would be cool aswell, but not really needed for basic stuff.

Clay pipe Gin Press.I want one of these.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/6c/8a/e56c8ab85d4c6213dd164997ced802d4.jpg

 

[yuda]

good to know about the polymer clay, now it just comes down to tracking down cheaper earthenware clay. when it comes to molds, well I can cheat a bit and buy a clay pipe and mold some sort of clay around it, then use that more or less as negatives to make further molds out of wood, iron, or whatever 3D printer additive i decide I want to use. Nothing will be as good as a gin press, and I would certainly like to make my own one day.

 

[yuda]

something I learned, if I can't afford a kiln or don't feel like going and dealing with people, I can also mess around with a pit fire kiln, which I can just make out of bricks and other such stuff. Hell, I made a basic forge with my buddy out and it got hot enough to melt steel for around $30. Half the point of this whole venture is to see what we can't make by ourselves, after all.

 

[DavidT]

yeah, I've seen those guys on youtube living the "primitive" life make kilns out of mud and grass that can forge iron, so clay shouldn't be a problem.