Dunhill Controversy
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Don't I get a pass as the "machine" was myself??
I guess I'll have to look for a walking stick lying in the woods that's all ready for use.
Electricity seems to be the bugaboo here. Or gas or steam driven mechanisms. I've recently been looking at swords, mainly replicas of historical ones. Some are handmade, some not; but one brand that gets high praise, Albion, isn't fully handmade. Most (all?) handtools used are machine made, now, of course. No one starts at the beginning.
Just got an error trying to view that video, but if it's Discovery Channel's position that they're "machine made" just because a lathe was used, that would be typical of that channel's reasoning. I've found that channel to be in general of the poorest sources for anything sensible, much less factual - what they call "science" is at least as often not, and also its cousin History Channel is hysterically unhistorical.
The use of electricty is still a fairly recent addition to human culture, and the most amazing work done with all materials was done before that. So, if the use of electricity is cited as an issue with the claim "hand-maid", then do you think they all used only simple knives before such power came into use? They still could have used this gadget known as the mechanical, gear-driven crank, and with another on hand to operate that they could get a lot of things done.
The use of electricty is still a fairly recent addition to human culture, and the most amazing work done with all materials was done before that. So, if the use of electricity is cited as an issue with the claim "hand-maid", then do you think they all used only simple knives before such power came into use? They still could have used this gadget known as the mechanical, gear-driven crank, and with another on hand to operate that they could get a lot of things done.
Before electricity, factories relied on other types of energy, including coal, steam, water, and wind to power machines.
Saying that it can't be called hand made if it had any aspect of the process done by machine eliminates nearly all "handmade" items. A brace and bit is a machine. A bellows is a machine. Focusing on a practical definition (as Walt's example and video illustrate) its the human guidance in the individual product that matters. The human is making it with a machine, rather than the machine making it semi autonomously.
In the end, the distinction is unrelated to the quality of the product. There are very good machine made pipes and terrible hand made ones. The opposite is of course true as well. If someone wants an entirely hand made knife (that steel better not have been made using a machine), piece of furniture, or pipe (where did that vulcanite for the stem come from?) that's great! On the other hand (no pun intended) having an understanding in the industry of what the differences are is probably enough for most. Personally, hand made or machine made is secondary to the quality of the end result.
In the end, the distinction is unrelated to the quality of the product. There are very good machine made pipes and terrible hand made ones. The opposite is of course true as well. If someone wants an entirely hand made knife (that steel better not have been made using a machine), piece of furniture, or pipe (where did that vulcanite for the stem come from?) that's great! On the other hand (no pun intended) having an understanding in the industry of what the differences are is probably enough for most. Personally, hand made or machine made is secondary to the quality of the end result.
Hi All,
Reopening an old one here. It seems to be the consensus that, at least for smoking qualities, the keyhole method is the best way to drill a bent pipe. Is there anything intrinsically bad about the ramp method? Does it definitely lead to moisture collection? I just received a Calabash that was ramped so that it could pass a pipe cleaner and it seems to smoke pretty well.
Thanks, Dave
Reopening an old one here. It seems to be the consensus that, at least for smoking qualities, the keyhole method is the best way to drill a bent pipe. Is there anything intrinsically bad about the ramp method? Does it definitely lead to moisture collection? I just received a Calabash that was ramped so that it could pass a pipe cleaner and it seems to smoke pretty well.
Thanks, Dave
The smaller the open area in any tenon-mortise-airway configuration, the less chance of moisture collection. However, I don't see this as a real problem, whereas for some it seems to be a major concern, as is the supposed negative effects of turbulence along the airway.
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