Tim - those are nice Charatans, good on you for the gifting too!
Charatan could put out a mean blast, and I love how most of them were tan,
they did the classic ring grain like yours, but also examples of brutal crag.
I tend to get all nerdy and desire a typology classification system,
like a field guide to sandblasts...
...ring grain we all know,
but beyond that what else?
spiderweb
craggy
honeycomb
What is the term for a crosscut blast?
Is that the one that makes mostly vertical rings with honeycomb sides?
What could be a term for the trademark Bruce Weaver technique,
tiled?
shingled?
stacked?
DocWatson said:
"Personally I look for the craggiest, uneven, random grain blasts I can find."
...me too, or at least I prefer them, but it's still difficult for me to turn down a beautiful ring blast --- it's just that nowadays the wood is so good and people know what they're doing that it becomes a bit too predictable, dare I say boring? No. I shan't. A good ring grain lights my fire --- but back in the old days when it was more random and chaotic definitely provides a special sort of magic.
A lot of those chaotic blasts are still being made,
Michael Parks is a master of doing them like that, seemingly on command, and that ain't no easy trick I'd reckon or everybody would be blasting to that intense degree aesthetic awe --- and that's only one trick in his vast bag, I'd call him the king and my dreamblast would be etched by his hands.
I do actually own a dreamblast,
the Ryan Alden pictured above.
It defies words and I cannot convey the tactile experience and visual pleasure,
it has quickly become my favorite pipe --- the fact that it smokes like a champ is just icing onna very creamy cake
of utter delight and complete satisfaction.
:!:
I would not know how to describe the style of blast except to say
spiky cragg'd ring grain
:
: