Vertical Grain Tends To Split Myth?

[mlaug]

I watched an eBay auction for a nice Preben Holm Delight end last night. I had considered bidding, but the auction was an "as is" affair and I was put off by the description.
The pipe hadn't been cleaned, but reamed. The seller stated that upon removing the cake he uncovered vertical splits in the chamber. They didn't go all the way through the bowl. He also didn't include any pictures. He stated that on the old Danish freehand pipes featuring vertical grain wood this was a common occurance. The wood tended to split along the grain line.
I call BS. Has anyone else ever heard of this?

 

[papipeguy]

This is a new one to me. Considering it is a Preben Holm pipe I'd be shocked if this was an inherent flaw in the wood.

 

[briarbrian]

That staement is exactly what you had said in your title...a myth. They obviously didnt know what they were talking about. Having made about 1000 pipes or more in the past 10 years, I can honestly say I have never seen a vertical crack inside a bowl that was casued by the grain.
The reason that pipe had the cracks in it was because it was smoked hot. It still could be an excellent pipe, you just need to rebuild cake up that will fill in the cracks and you shouldnt have any problems with it after that, as long as they arent through to the outside of the bowl.

 

[seakayak]

I have about 20 pipes in my collection. Most are in the 40 year old range. Straight grain or not, I've never experienced a split inside or outside the bowl. The is no reason, short of abuse, that should cause that pipe to split. Yes, it is a myth.

 

[mlaug]

I suspected this. Most all the pipes I own are Danish freehands, most all with vertical grain and I've never seen splits in or out.
Heck, with that reasoning cross grain pipes would also risk splitting and birdseye would just explode. 8O
I also found it curious that he couldn't take a picture of the inside of the bowl.
The outside of the pipe looked really nice. The stem was lucite and still wore the PH stamp, but I suspected it was abused.
Either way....it sold too rich for my blood.

 

[collin]

In my very limited experience...the only "splits" I've ever seen inside a bowl were in burned out areas.

They appear after reaming the cake out. The charred area's are soft black areas that can be easily scraped out to see how deep they are. While removing the char I have seen these "cracks" or "splits" in the char itself, I assume this is similar to what we fire-fighters refer to as the "aligatoring" of wood framing members in a house.

 

[kcvet67]

I have dozens of Danish pipes, many of which date back 50 to 60 years and I've never seen anything like that in any of them.