It’s counter-intuitive but straight grain produces ring grain blasts. Another reason that ring grain is more typical on higher end pipes - bc the block has to start as straight grain.
Question for Sandblast Lovers
- Thread starter Briar Lee
- Start date
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Makes sense. My Parker would have not been straight grain, or else it might have been used for a Dunhill.
Only a tiny fraction of pipes are true straight grains.
I’m not sure since I’m going on memory but I think Parker was still its own brand in the 20s.
As i mentioned, the blast rings run perpendicular or opposite to the grain. If the grain runs up and down the bowl, the blast rings will run around the bowl and not up and down. Your Parker has the blast rings runnung up the front of the bowl meaning the grain on the wood would have run oppisit that pattern, being a cross cut. It probably has a similar blast pattern on the back side of the bowl.The sides of that Parker would have been birds eye. On a straight grain,a good,well placed straight grain, the piece would have grain up and down the bowl with birds eye on the top and bottom of the bowl. For example, if you zoom in on the pipe in my avatar and see the grain pattern running right to left. If I blasted that piece the blast rings would run up and down, not right to left. However, there would only be "rings" where the grain is visible, the birds eye has a completly different pattern, as the sides of the Parker will show.I love it that it tastes Algerian, zesty, spicy, one of them there gooderns!.
When you say cross blast, to me it looks like it was a straight grain and blasted.
Also, it’s heavily stained.
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When I refer to straight grain I mean grain running up and down the bowl and not right and left which would be a cross cut. Your Parker could have very nice grain, but full of pits, which is why it was blasted. When I refer to straight grain I'm referring to grain pattern, not the cleanliness of the wood
Sorry. Confused Parker with Hardcastle which was its own company before being bought by Dunhill. That’s what I get for going from memory.
It seems to me like the American makers, Kaywoodie, WDC, LHS, Marxman, Weber, Lee, etc. didn’t do as many blasts as the Brits.
Dunhill held the patent for a certain number of years, I suppose.
A lot of makers choose to fill their pipes instead of blasting. Some have to fill and still rusticate.
No, they patented a multistep process, not sandblasting pipes per se. That’s why many companies in the UK & US were able to make and sell sandblasted pipes from the early twenties on without being sued by the notoriously litigious Alfred Dunhill.
The Dunhill patent is not a “basic patent”. It’s easily found (I have it somewhere but believe it’s on Pipedia too) and the specific claims and references to prior art are clear.
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Dang, whomever did the sandblast on those pipes has a really nice touch.
This right here.
Some blasted pipes just look better. Better grain structure, deeper blast, cross grain, straight grain.....
Nobody knows how some companies grade their briar so silly. I have some higher grade blasted pipes that look pretty blah. Then there are cheaper ones that look great. Take this Comoys Gold Bark for instance.
It's a lower end line from the 1990s, but in my opinion, has a great looking and feeling blast. And great birdseye on the rim.
Killer blast!
Great example of a cross grain and straight grain show-off piece, @Briar Lee.
This is a great blast in my opinion.
Another one I like is my Celius Root Pawn. Nowhere close to a high end pipe. But made with great briar and craftsmanship.....in my opinion.
Another lovely blast. I do not care for the stem here but the blast on that stummel is beautiful!
No. The sandblasting patent is much earlier. 1870 or thereabouts IIRC.
I believe Axel Celius used these pre-formed stems on all of his pipes. He was more known for his good briar and freehand "Fantasy" shapes.
He was trained by Poul Rasmussen and was one of the first Danes to send Freehand pipes to the US.
Celius and his pipes never reached the glory of other carvers trained by Rasmussen (Tom Eltang, Former Nielson)....., but he still has a cult following. All of his Fantasy pipes and Chess line had plateau rims. So this one was obviously chopped off at one time. Personally, I prefer the flat top.
That's about all I remember about Svend Axel Celius.
All this talk of sandblast got me to win this Parker.
Can it be dated?
Can it be dated?