Tom Howard Inspired

[fireground_piper]

I make most of my own pipes since I prefer 6mm filtered and there's not a lot of interesting 6mm pipes out there (to me). I've had this Tom Howard sitting on a shelf for a bit but never use it because it's not filtered and the bit is just a few millimeters wider than my widest preference. Just finished this yesterday with the goal of making it 6mm and with a bit width more to my liking. I also kept the bottom more round and straight flat top, but the overall shape stayed the same.

Smoked it today, pretty happy with it.

 

[ofafeather]

Very cool. I like the flat top and the rustication. Guess the shape is like a bull-pot.

 

[saltedplug]

Good job!

 

[fireground_piper]

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm not too sure on what the shape is really called. I know the general style was pretty popular among the Custom-Bilt/Tom Howard/BP Jum/etc., group of pipes. Not usually the style I go for, but the history behind Tom Howard I always liked.

 

[gamzultovah]

Quite the talent you have there.

 

[shanez]

I really like the smooth to rusticated juxtaposition. It's like the contrast of using boxwood or something but instead it's a single piece.

I wish more carvers would (or could) pull this off as well as you did.

 

[ofafeather]

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm not too sure on what the shape is really called. I know the general style was pretty popular among the Custom-Bilt/Tom Howard/BP Jum/etc., group of pipes. Not usually the style I go for, but the history behind Tom Howard I always liked.

The original might have been a bull cap or bull pup. I like you’re variation. I wasn’t familiar with Tom Howard but looked him up. Very interesting.

 

[fireground_piper]

Quite the talent you have there.

Thank you. I keep trying and focus on at least 1 detail to improve from pipe to pipe. It's been about 2 years and maybe 30ish pipes to get to where I'm at currently. 25 or so of those pipes sit in a bucket as I progress. The latest few finally resemble a pipe internally and externally without too many things I wish I could do over.

I really like the smooth to rusticated juxtaposition. It's like the contrast of using boxwood or something but instead it's a single piece.

I wish more carvers would (or could) pull this off as well as you did.

Thanks. It takes a while as I do the rustication without any machine aid. I get better control over what I'm doing that way. Even by hand, I've slipped and gone too far on some. This block had really strong grain but was riddled with pin sized pits over most of it.