Crazy Finger Pipe Tamper - How I Made It.

[hmhaines]

I'm a welder and glassworker; typically, if I can't melt something, I don't work with it. Still, I had some scrap wood and a coin, so I decided to make a pipe tamper.

My great-grandfather left a cedar board in his workshop many years ago. I'll sometimes take a piece to make something, this scrap was left over from a previous project. It looked like the perfect blank for a tamper!

Roughed out the shape with my angle grinder. Originally wanted to put on some finger grips, since that'd look neat and stop me from trying to make the thing perfectly round.

I thought the thing kind of looked like a finger, so I decided to make it more like a finger. Carved in a nail, added some bends/ridges, etc.

The tobacco-end of the tamper is an old dime that is nailed and epoxied to the wood.

The finished piece, with a light rub of Danish Oil and a bit of burn, courtesy of my MAPP torch.
I'm thinking of making myself another tamper, so if anyone wants this one, I'm happy to trade it for some tobacco or something.

 

[hmhaines]

Just looked them up, very cool! The pens are a great idea.

 

[derfatdutchman]

A really nice looking tamper!

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

I like that. Looks like it would be comfortable in the hand, and I especially like the old dime. Very nice.

 

[hmhaines]

It does feel pretty nice. The wood is light and smooth, I tend to sit and hold the tamper in hand while I smoke. I like to feel the hills and valleys, as well as the flow of the grain.

 

[pagan]

Cool, really nice looking

 

[hmhaines]

Thanks, Pagan.

 

[ejames]

Cool piece !!

 

[dottiewarden]

Cool!

 

[hmhaines]

I'll get right on it...

 

[crashthegrey]

That's unique, and great. I too tend to hold my tamper the whole time. My go to in my pocket metal one isn't great for that, but so it goes. I don't always carry my nice wooden ones. This looks like it is nice to hold, and will definitely catch someones eye should they look too long.

 

[agnosticpipe]

Well, as long as this got brought back, and speaking of fingers, here's a tamper I made to go with a Meerschaum Olie Sylvester Zombie pipe.

 

[hmhaines]

Orley, yours wins the Crazy Finger prize....

 

[eduardovieira]

:clap: