Thinking of trying to make a pipe.

[ontariopipeguy]

Soon as I am back from my camping vacation, ill start carving out a pipe, and get myself some stems

 

[shimrra]

now i know why green wood is not used, it's like herding cats . just used a hand auger, and it went though like butter, but it left the edges hairy as heck!

 

[ontariopipeguy]

hopefully it doesnt crack being still green

 

[shimrra]

ok, so i said f$@* it to using only hand tools and broke out the band saw (scary as hell as it has never been used in my life O.O but i have a rough, heavy, pipe in my hands!

 

[ontariopipeguy]

right on, are you taking pictures of your progress?

 

[hippie]

Sounds like it's going well

 

[shimrra]

pretty good, i sanded down the inside of the bowl and some of the gnarly corners (yes, CORNERS) and right now, it's kind of the mother of all poker's, but it smokes pretty good! i think i'm going to leave it for about a week, give it time to dry out some more before i start to give it any kind of finished shape. i do know though, that i'm going to go a little sideways of normal pipe making and give it a flat spot to sit on

 

[hippie]

Let's hope it doesn't crack as it drys

 

[shimrra]

with how thick this thing still is it would really surprise me. there is at least 3/4" of wall left

 

[mukihr]

regards,

first of all - great that you would like to make your own pipe... that's great..

..

mostly everything was said above - i would just like to add this link for further reading...
Why Briar is the best pipe wood
...of course you can use any wood that has low toxine levels in it and that is at least a little bit hard - i tried cherry wood for my first pipe but was not happy with it - briar is completely another story... however, i got very nice results with lemon wood, bog oak and olive wood so you might consider them in future too (after you make that birch pipe you are curently working on)...

regards

daniel

 

[smoker]

I have been interested in making my own pipe too and i made one just for practice to see how it turned out. I made it from 4x4 fence post it has defects on it which for my 1st attempt i've been told is pretty good, however it does sound hollow and not really good for smoking as i would probably burn the pipe more than the tobacco hahaha. I made it using a cross saw, chisel, rasp, hole saw in a pillar drill and sandpaper. It was done without measurements and is aprox 1-2mm out all over if i can i'll post a picture of it so you can se what it looks like.

 

[hippie]

I love to see people so interested in making pipes there just something so pleasing as about enjoying a smoke out of smoething you made with your on hands :puffpipe:

 

[rick777]

Have fun!

My first one was from a hunk of briar I got in a box of junk on ebay.
Personally, at one point I was considering using oak or something like birch for the first time.

Them I saw a list of toxic woods. Made me think.

http://www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member_Docs/Toxic_Woods_Chart.html