School me on Birdseye

[Briar Lee]

I was way grown up, and away in college before I ever even heard or read about birdseye.

Even now I think a true birdseye grain pipe is the rarest of all.

How dey do dat?

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[TheIronMonkey]

Think of straight grain—you’re looking at the tops of that. An analogy: Imagine a bundle of straws and looking at the holes. That’s the birdseye.

 

[Briar Lee]

Think of straight grain—you’re looking at the tops of that. An analogy: Imagine a bundle of straws and looking at the holes. That’s the birdseye.

Thank you, and I’ve always heard that birdseye was just end cut straight grain.

But back when a I was a kid, whenever Wilda Mae and Harry Hosterman’s children all pitched in to give Harry a nice pipe for Christmas, they wanted to buy him a straight grain or flame grain pipe, that looked like this side of my best birdseye pipe.

View attachment 166751Which sorter led me to believe most birdseye pipes are accidents.

 

[Waning Embers]

Thank you, and I’ve always heard that birdseye was just end cut straight grain.

Any type of grain. It's just the ends of the wood's xylem and phloem.

 

[mikethompson]

Birdseye grain can make a nice pipe wonderful.

 

[didimauw]

Birdseye's are my favorite. Can stare into them for hours. Kinda wierd actually.

 

[jndyer]

But back when a I was a kid, whenever Wilda Mae and Harry Hosterman’s children all pitched in to give Harry a nice pipe for Christmas, they wanted to buy him a straight grain or flame grain pipe, that looked like this side of my best birdseye pipe.

Just a matter of personal preference.

 

[Alejo R.]

Straight grain on side and birds eyes at 90°

 

[jiminy]

Birdseye's are my favorite. Can stare into them for hours. Kinda wierd actually.

I agree. I only have a couple of them, but they are my favorite to look at

 

[nolan613]

Grain of the wood is to me a matter of individual taste. I prefer a tight burl grain to anything else. Just my 3 cents worth...

 

[Papamique]

On a smooth pipe I prefer Birdseye. I wish I could find a pipe with 360° Birdseye!

 

[OzPiper]

On a smooth pipe I prefer Birdseye. I wish I could find a pipe with 360° Birdseye!

360degree straight grain - yes.
360degree Birdseye - never

Think of the bundle of straw - you can only get the end grain only at both ends of the bundle - never 360degrees.

Back in the mid-1970s I chanced upon a pair of Lorenzos in a B&M.
One had beautiful Birdseye on both flanks but was almost twice the price of its much plainer "twin".
I bought the cheaper "plain Jane", being an impoverished student at the time.
To my regret, even till this day.

That was the very first time I was aware of grain in a pipe.
Even as a novice my eye was drawn to the beauty of the Birdseye.

 

[Waning Embers]

Meh, blast the shit out of it.

 

[Hillcrest]

Straight grain on side and birds eyes at 90°
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Straight grain on side and birds eyes at 90°
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Straight grain on the sides and birdseye on the bottom is the artistic pinnacle for every carver in the old days. Its supposed to represent the heart of the briar root dead bottom center just below the red heart of the briar root and reflect how the briar grows in the ground. In the eighties carvers began to go with horizontal grain on front and back and birdseye on sides. I prefer the old pattern as above for traditional reasons. I was told this by the carver at the Owl Shop in Worcester, Mass When he took me on a tour of his workshop and gave me a quick lesson on briar and pipes when I bought my first pipe from him. I was very lucky and fortunate. I still have that pipe - a Peterson Aran smooth 68 with a military stem from 1981. It was the one I found that was closest to the mix of birdseye and straight grain in my price range. I don't smoke it often but keep it for sentimental reasons. I always look for pipes with the above pattern first before other considerations.

 

[Waning Embers]

Straight grain on the sides and birdseye on the bottom is the artistic pinnacle for every carver in the old days. Its supposed to represent the heart of the briar root dead bottom center just below the red heart of the briar root and reflect how the briar grows in the ground. In the eighties carvers began to go with horizontal grain on front and back and birdseye on sides. I prefer the old pattern as above for traditional reasons. I was told this by the carver at the Owl Shop in Worcester, Mass When he took me on a tour of his workshop and gave me a quick lesson on briar and pipes when I bought my first pipe from him. I was very lucky and fortunate. I still have that pipe - a Peterson Aran smooth 68 with a military stem from 1981. It was the one I found that was closest to the mix of birdseye and straight grain in my price range. I don't smoke it often but keep it for sentimental reasons. I always look for pipes with the above pattern first before other considerations.

I find the contradiction of a cross straight grain with the birdseye on the sides fascinating.

 

[Waning Embers]

360degree straight grain - yes.

 

[Hillcrest]

I find the contradiction of a cross straight grain with the birdseye on the sides fascinating.

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Assuming you hold the pipe on the front and back with thumb and forefinger, that pattern would be theoretically cooler to the touch when lit, if my research on heat transfer and wood grain is correctly understood by me. I agree its beautiful to behold. That pattern would be my second choice in style and is actually the same pattern as the Aran I mentioned above that was my first pipe --- I couldn't find one with 360 straight grain so went for the horizontal on front and back with birdseye on sides. I was a kid at the time and only spent about $48 plus a few bucks for tobacco --- which I bought based on smell !!! I was just a newbie like everyone else at one time. Turns out i bought a mild aromatic english so not bad in end. The pipe you show seems very celestial to me like a hubble photo !

 

[Hillcrest]

Meh, blast the shit out of it.

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That looks like Ostrich skin ... I have a pair of black Nacoma dress boots in that pattern !

 

[OzPiper]

That looks like Ostrich skin ... I have a pair of black Nacoma dress boots in that pattern !

Strawberry wood

 

[Alejo R.]

Meh, blast the shit out of it.

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Looks like ostrich leather. Great