The "percage circulaire" or "percage courbe" is likely the technique that was used to produce the great LCs of the past, although some LCs were made with a straight drill. Those LCs do not have the same elegant curved shank, in my opinion. Mr. Telfer of Sutherland pipes should be praised for his mastery of this technique which I assume he uses for his LC-like pipes.
I have read that Genod or other factories in St. Claude turned LC bowls for Dunhill using this technique, however I've also read that eventually Dunhill used a similar system in England with what Bill Taylor called a "pecker" drill. It was called by that name because of the pecking technique needed to get the drill through to the chamber,
Today, other than Telfer, it seems there are few artisans or factories using this technique. Both Genod and Butz stopped using this type of drilling many years ago. If Dunhill used this technique, it too stopped decades ago. To my knowledge, Viprati makes pipes occassionally with this curved drilling technique as does Uwe Jopp.I believe Pierre Morel has used it and Ser Jacopo may currently be using curved drilling on some of their shapes. It's been alleged that Barontini can do this drilling but I've seen no evidence of it. There may be others I've left out.
I'd be very interested to know if any American carvers, other than Telfer, are using this technique today? I suspect it's a slow process to do it correctly with a high rate of failure. Since time is money in pipe making, especially today, perhaps few artisans or factories want to bother developing or mastering the art. It's too bad, because curved drilling can produce some incredibly beautiful pipes.
