Thanks everyone! Constructive criticism is always welcome! I am still not ready to start reposting at pipemakersforum since I don't feel that getting massacred by the professionals will benefit me this early yet.
randelli - Thank you! You are correct, I do not have a lathe. I am currently doing the rough shaping on a 5" sanding wheel at 50 or 80 grit, then I move to a bit more refined rough shaping on a 4" french wheel at 120 grit (both of these are using arbors that connect to the same motor, so I just change the discs depending on the step I'm on). I'm still working on symmetry and find that keeping a shank round is near impossible on the sanding wheel, at least for me it is at this point. I use hand files and 120 grit sandpaper to dial in the final shaping. Then to get it smooth I go from 120 grit, to 220 grit, to 320 grit, to 400 grit, to 600 grit. Then I'll buff with Red tripoli, then white diamond, then carnuba wax. For pipes that receive a stain, I set the stain with a thin cut shellac and denatured alcohol mixture. You wipe it onto the pipe, wait a few seconds, and then wipe it off while it is still wet. You do this after 600 grit and before buffing. On the stained pipe in the above photos you can probably see that it is a bit shinier than the natural, I think this has to do with that thin shellac coat. This process gets things pretty smooth, but I am still having issues getting all of the scratches out of the bite zone on the stem. Someday I'll learn how to properly do it. I've watched george d's video on it but have yet to invest in the tooling he uses.
