I came up with an interesting little idea today while laying out the design for a new hiking-friendly leather pipe pouch I'm working on (a separate thread on that to come later in the week, I pinky-swear). Part of the design will involve a detachable carry case for a Zippo and a pipe tool--but there was the rub. I kept running into the basic problem that the average Czech Tool is long and narrow, while the Zippo is much shorter. They just don't jive very well when you're trying to make everything compact. I'm a huge fan of the standard Czech tool, but in this case the solution was obvious--find another tamper. I figured it didn't really have to cost anything, since I'd only really be using it on the trails--it didn't have to look good.
So while I was rummaging around for "found" items (nails, dowel, etc.) to do the job, I remembered I had a bit of bamboo lying around somewhere. Eureka! I realized that if I sliced along the node and then cut a taper, I'd have the perfect substitute--a flat tamper on one end and a shallow scoop on the other. So here it is, after about five minutes of work, and no cost.
I filed away the pokey bits, so it won't scratch the pipe.
I still think it could stand to be a little shorter. I have more bamboo to play with.
And if my new Peterson would ever get here, I'd finally be able to crack open this tin of Sixpence that's been taunting me so.
Any interesting pipe tools in your collections?
So while I was rummaging around for "found" items (nails, dowel, etc.) to do the job, I remembered I had a bit of bamboo lying around somewhere. Eureka! I realized that if I sliced along the node and then cut a taper, I'd have the perfect substitute--a flat tamper on one end and a shallow scoop on the other. So here it is, after about five minutes of work, and no cost.
I filed away the pokey bits, so it won't scratch the pipe.
I still think it could stand to be a little shorter. I have more bamboo to play with.
And if my new Peterson would ever get here, I'd finally be able to crack open this tin of Sixpence that's been taunting me so.
Any interesting pipe tools in your collections?