Happiness From Italy

[zack24]

There's nothing I love more than coming home to find my shipment of briar from Southern Italy sitting on my doorstep...54 pieces of the good stuff... Just in time for the weekend...

 

[voorhees]

For a second there I thought you had mounted all that briar to the wall....LOL. Cannot wait to see what you make of them all.

 

[papipeguy]

Actually, that'd make a cool mosaic, but better to use them for pipes.

 

[cigrmaster]

Zack, third row down, fifth from the left is going to be an awesome straight grain Dublin. I would like a tapered cumberland stem with it please.

 

[soggycitybob]

A toast, to possibilities!

 

[tennsmoker]

Holy Toledo! I've never seen so many beautiful pipes in utero!

 

[zonomo]

wow... looking forward to seeing the outcome!

 

[tbradsim1]

Zack how did you stick them to the wall,or its trick photography?

 

[zack24]

Should be fun- I ordered some smaller blocks in the shipment to use on smaller group 2 pipes and for bamboo shanked pipes....I like to sand down a dozen or so, sketch on them and grab whatever appeals to me at the moment. It was a nice surprise when I opened the box- even the small stuff is really nice grain.
This weekend I'll be grinding a 5/8" taper bit I'll use for a loose interpretation of a 1950's Lady Dunhill...about a group 1 with incredibly thin shank
Harris,

I've already thrown them back in the box- setting them out on racks in the morning...I'll let you drool over them tomorrow afternoon...

 

[zack24]

Bradley,
That was actually shot in my driveway...I couldn't wait to check them out...

 

[brian64]

Very nice...I can almost hear the pipes screaming to be freed from their block prisons.

 

[boudreaux]

Scenario: Has the wife/gf come to you and said, "I have a great crackling fire going. I found these small pieces of wood out in the garage..." :rofl:

 

[zack24]

Trust me- my wife knows exactly what those little pieces of wood cost...

 

[jah76]

The mere fact that I enjoy looking at uncarved pipes...little pieces of wood blocks...means I have a problem.
I think.

 

[ssjones]

I can't wait to see what art is unlocked from those little blocks.

 

[cortezattic]

:laughat:

• 

Don't we all...

 

[gwtwdbss]

Wow, looks like a lot of potential there! Do you know how long they were aged for Zack?

 

[zack24]

Chris...Air dried for 2 years after cutting. Probably one of the biggest misconceptions is that really long aging times make a difference. Wood dries at a rate of 1" per year...and at the end of a couple of years stabilizes at a certain moisture content which varies according to the average humidity of a given area. Southern Italy is much drier than Florida..which is one reason my garage has a portable air conditioner that removes a gallon of water per day from the area around my briar.

 

[gwtwdbss]

I didn't know that. I always heard the older the better. That makes sense though. I can't wait to see the treasures awaiting inside those blocks!