Carving pipes from scratch

Also known as Osage Orange- I've used it for shank extensions. It should be fine for a pipe- biggest challenge is working it without discoloring. If you buff or sand it too aggresssively, it tend to burn,,,

I've used it for tampers and like working with it. I have two turning blocks of Osage Orange I bought just to make pipes from,as soon as the wood is dry enough to work. Do you have an Mulberry trees around? Mulberry makes a great pipe,I've made about half a dozen from it.The color is quite similar to Osage Orange,think the Osage may be a bit harder.

Why not just get hold of Tim West at J.H. Lowe. He has a website that's easy to find in a search, and he'll sell you a decent block of briar for less than ten bucks. I hear briar is great for making pipes! :wink:

I believe that Osage orange is a preferred wood for long bows as well.

" I hear briar is great for making pipes!" 8O
There's also a forum of pipemakers new and seasoned with a wealth of information:

http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum/index.php
Dan

Gabrieli Pipes

Look for briar stock on eBay, then head over to YouTube and check out the various 'how to' vids.

I hear briar is great for making pipes! [:wink:]

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I agree! Also hear that Morta,Olive and Strawberry wood make a good pipe. :D

Be careful. Some woods are toxic...like cedar which is used to keep insects away and should always be sanded with a respirator on. Other woods just don't taste good, are unstable (prone to checks and warping), burn out too quickly or are just plain plain and boring to look at. There is a reason briar is so highly favored. As said, olive, cherry, strawberry and morta(bog oak) can be used to make excellent pipes.

I've seen several pipes made from osage orange (aka hedge apple, aka bodark, aka bois d'arc... you get the idea), and I'm told they work well. The wood is dense enough for the work, anyway, and the color is just cool.
I say go for it, although you should dry the wood thoroughly first. If you cut a chunk of it out of a freshly-felled log, you should seal the end-grain (I like paraffin wax, which is just candle wax) so it doesn't split as it dries. Now the bad news: if you air-dry it, you should let it dry for one year per inch of thickness. If you try to work it while it's too wet, it will continue to lose moisture, and the mortise will distort, making the stem not fit properly. Plus, it may well crack in use as the heat from the burning tobacco will dry the wood out unevenly. There are faster ways to dry wood, of course, and you can look them up online. You'll find everything from solar kilns to microwave ovens. Most of them work as advertized. So if you're patient, you will eventually end up with a pipe from a log you cut up yourself. That's hard to beat.
In the meantime, a good chunk of briar isn't all that expensive.

I'm no pipe carver, so it's my two cents, but I think it would give you more return on your time to focus

on the different briars and learn those. You'd be most likely to get a first-rate pipe for all your work.

You were told about Tim West, another is Vermont Freehand on facebook. Steve is a really good guy to deal with. His prices are great and he takes the time to answer questions usually providing you with more than you asked.
There is a reason briar is so popular. I have read about a pipe being a sweet smoker. When you cut your 1st piece of briar the light bulb goes off. Its a very sweet smelling wood when you are cutting it. At least everything I have cut so far (which is not much), hence a sweet smoking pipe. I assume at some point I will have some wood that is not so sweet.