Zack,
Thanks for taking the time to make some comments regarding my questions.
After reading through all the admonishments regarding the using of alternative woods (especially the Rosewood family) vs briar for fabricating tobacco pipes, seeing this thread piqued my curiosity. Thanks for your warnings about making pipes using exotic woods. I still wonder just how well this Ebony pipe stood up to smoking over time.
Your last few lines are also very interesting regarding the low shrinkage rates for dry briar vs these oily, dense, exotics. Good information. After reading this, I now must wonder if it's shrinkage, and not heat that causes so many of the pipe bowls made from exotics to crack and check? Or perhaps, it's a little of both that causes this kind of failure. This factor makes briar the logical choice.
The thread and photos are still very interesting.
Frank
Thanks for taking the time to make some comments regarding my questions.
After reading through all the admonishments regarding the using of alternative woods (especially the Rosewood family) vs briar for fabricating tobacco pipes, seeing this thread piqued my curiosity. Thanks for your warnings about making pipes using exotic woods. I still wonder just how well this Ebony pipe stood up to smoking over time.
Your last few lines are also very interesting regarding the low shrinkage rates for dry briar vs these oily, dense, exotics. Good information. After reading this, I now must wonder if it's shrinkage, and not heat that causes so many of the pipe bowls made from exotics to crack and check? Or perhaps, it's a little of both that causes this kind of failure. This factor makes briar the logical choice.
The thread and photos are still very interesting.
Frank