I get that. But this thread was supposed to have been about Ken Barnes' fine pipes, not your preferences.
Show Your Ken Barnes Pipes
- Thread starter jpmcwjr
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This copied from member bazungu, lifted from another post of his in this forum. The first Ken Barnes pipe!
Hello Embers.
To answer your question, no, I have never made a sandblasted pipe. When I first worked at Charatans in 1968 I watched the craftsmen hand-turning plateau and saw the smooth, clean straight grains that were in the finishing shop and I thought to myself that is what I want to do (when I grow up). I was 13 years old at the time. Along the way, I have seen a few really beautiful sandblasted pipes (glass blasted). Traditionally British pipe-makers sandblasted their 'B' bowls - 'A' bowls were clean briar 'B' bowls had one or two pits in the briar and 'C' bowls were usually more flawed which they would fill with mastic or putty. Sandblasting does have the advantage of creating a lighter weight pipe and is sometimes considered to smoke cooler because there is more surface area on the outside of the bowl which is said to absorb more heat than a smooth pipe. At James Upshall, rather than sandblast our 'B' bowls, we would leave them smooth and in a natural finish without using filler and call these Tilshead pipes which were the 'fallings' of the Upshall line.
I do know of one or two pipe-makers who sandblast clean bowls which I find difficult to relate to. Out of the 40 pipes I have made since taking up pipe-making again I have 8 pipes which either need sandblasting or putting in a box and thinking about at a later time, which is what I have done.
This time around, I am really privileged to be able to make what I want rather than 'having' to react to the dictates of a market via a distributor or importer.
I want to make smooth lightly finished fully grained classic English pipes. There are so many pipe-makers out there specialising in making some really fine sandblasted pipes and I respect them wholeheartedly.
Because we're not supposed to ask a simple question on whether he may or may not do blasts on a thread dedicated to his pipes? Seemed like a simple and appropriate question to me.
That being said, I prefer smooths myself (although a blast catches my eye from time to time).
I absolutely love the look of some of Ken's billiards, but they're a bit out of my price range at this time. I may have try saving up for one.
Thanks for the reply Ken, wasn't trying to demean your work, it was curiosity. The shaping of your pieces that I've seen is as near perfection as I would imagine possible, and am even eyeballing one of your bent dublins. Was questioning about blasting as some of the best grain covers some of the most interesting ring patterns.
In response to a request, I'm reposting images of two of Ken's pipes in this thread.
The first is an outstanding billiard that I very reluctantly sold at the WCPS:
The second is a rough top bent, one of only two K grades out in the wild. The other K grade is owned by some guy named Rick Newcombe.
The first is an outstanding billiard that I very reluctantly sold at the WCPS:
The second is a rough top bent, one of only two K grades out in the wild. The other K grade is owned by some guy named Rick Newcombe.
Yes, indeed: Wow!
I just started smoking the Apple Sitter I showed in the o.p., and it's off to the races! First smoke: as if it had been pre-smoked, i.e., already broken in. Can't say enough good about this pipe, and I got another one to be unveiled at a later date.
I just started smoking the Apple Sitter I showed in the o.p., and it's off to the races! First smoke: as if it had been pre-smoked, i.e., already broken in. Can't say enough good about this pipe, and I got another one to be unveiled at a later date.
Ken has a masterful command of traditional shapes. Not too many carvers have the ease and originality in those forms, or can do them. You can sense that he grew up with this artistry around him. That sense of briar and grain has to be built-in over long years to come out so naturally. He makes the extraordinary look easy. Huh.
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