I Carved A Non-Tipping Desk Pipe From Canadian Arbutus ??

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canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,862
15,355
Alberta
A friend of mine that lives in BC on Vancouver Island digs out arbutus root burls that grow there, and cuts, boils, and ages them for pipe making. He sent me a couple blocks a while back and I finally got around to doing something with one of them.

Arbutus is very similar to its cousin briar, but somewhat less dense, and the grain is more chaotic. I carved this with an Olfa knife and the stem is a cheapo acrylic Dunhill imitation that I bought a bag of off Ebay a couple years ago.

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Toast

Part of the Furniture Now
Feb 15, 2021
662
1,331
UK
I haven't smoked it yet, but the other arbutus pipes I have smoke great. It is a little more porous and less dense than briar. I drilled it with a fairly open draw, so it should work well.

@shermnatman I was thinking of honeying the bowl as I have done that in hardwood pipes with some success. ??
Fingers crossed this smokes the same!

One of these days it's something I'd like to have a go at. I'm sure it won't look anywhere near as good.
 

canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,862
15,355
Alberta
It's the making of the stem that deters me. You probably do need a lathe for that.
There's a large variety of premade stems available.

I have an old Craftsman lathe that an uncle have me years ago, I almost have my wife convinced that it's a good idea to set it up in the basement. My main purposes for it would be making large (8-10") chess pieces for backyard chess sets, but I'm sure I'll try to make some pipes with it too.
 
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