Daddy needs another pipe cabinet

During my recent layoff from work, the honey do list was quite daunting, with one of them being making an oak plywood cabinet for the wife.

Well, beings I had scrap pieces left over, I’ve decided to make myself a pipe cabinet of my own.

Not all of the pipes I own are resting comfortably on a stand, rather laying on their side on the shelves. They need a proper home.

I’m designing this to be a 24 pipe rack that will have a lift top storage at the top and acrylic view windows framed in oak plywood.

Here’s where I’m at so far…

Box frame front view for pipe cab.

rotated front view

Vintage Kaywoodie Display Case Conversion

Vintage Kaywoodie Display Cabinet with fixed front

I scored a Kaywoodie Vintage Display Case from eBay some time ago. It has a fixed front and a small light fixture in the top and the wires were cut.

I debated for some time whether to leave it as it for historical purposes, or turn the front into a hinged door and put some cove moulding in it to use as a pipe rack.

Well, the second option won over and this is what I ended up with. I put a new light fixture in the top and the picture does not accurately reflect the soft ambiance of the light as it shines down on the Kaywoodie Pipes in the rack, but I’m happy with it none the less.

Reworked Display Cabinet with hinged door

What does it take to leave a forum?

I am proud to be a member of www.my-pipes.net – a grand, if not folksy online pipe forum.

It was started a few years ago from some folks that wanted something more from traditional pipe sites. What we have become is an extremely tolerant, self moderating site with members from all over the globe consisting of both men and women and people of all denominations.

The site offers insight, knowledge sharing and more than it’s share of humor.

We have had some long time, upstanding members leave our site over posts on religion and politics, and to be quite frank, they are sorely missed.

So I thought to myself, what does it take personally to get me to leave a forum that I’ve contributed to regularly and am considered ‘one of the crew’?

Maybe I’m extremely tough skinned, but I see each member as unique, and as long as they don’t intentionally attack other members, or post hurtful content, then I go with the flow and respect their rights to their opinions whether I agree or not.

Some folks follow some untraditional beliefs and values, but who am I to even make that determination? It’s my opinion. These folks have joined the site to share their love of pipes, tobacco and sometimes the comraderie of the forum.

Am I too shallow? Should I give enough of a shit on certain things to walk away if I find a member to be abrasive or making statements that go against my moral fiber? To each his own I guess.

I may be looking at this from the wrong side of moral ethics or allegiance to what I believe in. I certainly respect those that make a stand and decide to walk away. I just find it a shame when folks that I see as good friends walk away.

There – I got that off my chest and thanks for stopping by.

Timberwolf pipes 9-001 and 9-002

I had taken a break for a while from making pipes as I was getting frustrated with not providing a ‘perfect’ pipe. With the rudimentary tools that I’m using, I struggle with getting a seamless transition from shank to stem and am really struggling making my own stems.

Last week I decided to just focus on doing the best I can and the rest will come to me.

Timberwolf pipe 9-001 is a briar pipe with a cherry stain. The lesson learned on this one was to be patient and apply the stain, let it set, then sand, shellac, etc… I rushed it and you will see some light spots on the one side. The grain on this pipe is fantastic and I was able to work a little burl into the top of the chamber.

Timberwolf Pipe 9-002 is an Olivewood Billiard. I have seen, on other pipe sites, olivewood pipes and the grain just enamors me.

This pipe has a draft hole that is drilled just slightly off center, and a hairline crack on the top of the shank as I got a little too aggressive trying to get the stem tenon to fit, but it is glued back together and has an effortless draw.

The Olivewood pipes are stunning, but tend to smoke a little hotter than briar as they are not quite as dense.

Pipe refurb #3 of 7

Well, here is part 3 of my 7 part saga in which I took “The Nasty Seven” under my wing and am in the process of giving them some TLC and taking them from toads to princes.

I previously have not gone into how I refurb these pipes as much as I don’t have quality photo equipment as the wifes Nikon D50 (of which I dropped) is in the shop for a fix and I am providing grainy cell phone pictures at best.

I will attempt to describe my process the best I can and then, once the Nikon is fixed, I will document the process in pictures.

Step #1: I start with the stem. These stems have heavy oxidation and residue at the end of the stem. I used a sharp knife to lightly scrape the residue off of the stem. I would then take a 120 grit sand paper and scrub the stem lengthwise up and down the stem taking special care to take out any bite marks and clean up the detail on the button. Once I am satisfied that the scuzz and the stem is smooth and bite mark free, I then use finer and finer sandpaper 300, 400, 600, 800 and finally 1200 grit sandpaper making sure that each successive grit of sandpaper has done it’s job in eliminating scratches from the rougher sand paper. Now, before I buff the stem, I clean the inside draft hole of the stem by soaking pipe cleaners in denatured alcohol and scrubbing the draft hole until the gunk is gone and the pipe cleaner comes out clean. Sometimes, with very dirty stems, you will need to either boil the stem, or plug one end of the stem with a pipe cleaner and fill the stem with a medicine dropper with denatured alcohol and let it sit for a few days and then scrub it with a pipe cleaner. You’d be surprised the gunk that comes out. Nothing worse than tasting some other dudes ghosting…

Step #2: Reaming the bowl. Nows the time to make a big mess and I urge you to purchase a paper mask to cover your mouth and nose. As you will see with many of thse refurbs, the bowls are extremely well caked. If you have a pipe reaming tool, give the bowl the business and scrape out as much of the carbon as you can without gouging the wood. If you don’t have a pipe reamer, use great care with a stout, short jack-knife and remove the carbon but again, I caution you to not gouge the wood of the tobacco chamber. Ream it within a 1/16″ to 1/32″ thick carbon. If you can find a small diameter drum sanding bit that fits into a power drill, use that to sand the inner walls of the smoke chamber. You need to find a way to get the carbon off the bottom of the chamber at the draft hole. I simply Gorilla taped sandpaper to the end of the mini drum sanding bit and sanded it down as far as I could. Once I was satisfied that most of the carbon was removed from the bowl, I used a drill bit that was slightly oversized than the original draft hole in the shank and re-drilled the draft hole which, in turn, removed the carbon from the shank.

Step #3: Denastying the bowl and shank. There are many ideas on how best to removed the rest of the carbon and the ghosting of smokers past from the pipe. What has worked the best for me is to get some sea salt (not table salt), plug the end of the shank with cotton, fill the bowl and draft hole with sea salt and then saturate the salt by filling the bowl with denatured alcohol (most folks use vodka or Everclear). Prop the pipe up so that the end of the shank is at about a 45 degree angle and is higher than the bowl so the mixture does not leak out. Now patience, grasshopper, patience. Let it sit for about 5 days, periodically adding more alcohol to the bowl as it evaporates. After 5-days, dump out the nasty remains and swab the inside of the bowl again with alcohol soak and wear out a dozen or 3 pipe cleaners in the shank. You need to let this dry a couple of days as you will be getting the bowl pretty darn moist.

Step #4: Turning the exterior from ugly duckling to a swan… Many times I am given a pipe that looks like it has been drug behind a truck going down a gravel road for the last 100 miles or so. Chunks of briar missing, gouges, nicks, and a less than appealing visage. I look at the pipe and see if there are things that can be done to clean up the appearance. I find the most opportunities are at the rim of the bowl. They are normally charred and caked from years of use. If I can lightly sand the rim to smooth it out, and then apply carnuba wax, then great! In the case of “The Nasty Seven”, each of the first (3) had rims in such tough shape, it took sanding down the height of the bowl to certain dimensions until the glaring flaws were gone were in order. I try to avoid it at all costs, and I think it’s important to leave some of the flaws as if you think you will take these and make them look fresh out of the box, then you are kidding yourself. In any case, see what you can do without totally reshaping the pipe. For me, sanding the rim smooth, then applying carbuba wax from a buffing wheel to the assembled pipe bowl, shank and stem, will 9 times out of 10 make the pipe look like darn near brand new.

Whew, I think I have typers cramp…

Below are pictures of a meer-lined Whitehall large apple with a thick shank as it looked when gifted to me. Warning: These pictures are not for the faint of heart…

And some “after” pictures. This pipe is one of my favorites as it turned out to be a large “pot” of sorts and is a pleasure to smoke as I almost feel a bond with the individual who last owned and smoked this pipe. You can tell by the before pics, this pipe has been there and done that. I would hope to get a fraction of the serenity and wisdom this pipe has witnessed.

Thanks for stopping by.

March 2009 Tobacco of the Month (TOTM)

The website community that I belong to (www.my-pipes.com) has developed, through hard work by Rick Piatt, a Tobacco of the Month selection and the criteria this year was “tobacco’s you want to try, but haven’t yet”.

March’s selection is Cornell and Diehl “Captain Bob’s Blend” blended by our very own Captain Bob.

Captain Bob’s Blend
A blend of Virginias and Burleys with just a dash of Latakia and Perique and finished with a refreshing flavor.

Now Captain Bob has suffered through some good natured ribbing as he has a “grape” flavoring lightly added to this mixture, but by the reviews as of late, it is sure to be a mainstay of many a pipe smoker.

I will be providing my own reviews of each TOTM.
Thanks for looking.

Pipe refurb #2

I have recently completed refurbishing pipe #2 of  The Nasty Seven.  This pipe is an Olde London with a carved bowl.  My first opinion of this pipe is “that bugger is so ugly, I’m not sure I want to salvage it”.

It goes to show that anything you put work into earns a spot in your heart as it is one of my favorite smokers as it’s draw is effortless and it has a relatively deceiving large bowl.

A few ‘before’ pics:

Now the ‘after’ pics:

As you can see, I had to ream the bowl just a little bit bigger and had to take approximately 1/8th inch off the top of the bowl.

I like the looks of the top rim of the bowl as I sanded it down and just added carnuba wax with a buffing wheel.

This pipe has earned a spot in my daily lineup.

I learned a lot from this exercise. I learned not to judge any pipe by just it’s looks. Clean it up, fire up a smoke, and then make your decision. These pipes were in such tough shape as they were VERY well used – and for a reason – they are exceptional smokers!

My next entry will be my recovery of a meer-lined Whitehall straight apple that too has become a favorite smoker.

Thanks for stopping by.

A brief thought on the online pipe community

As you may have noted on earlier posts, I am fired up about the online pipe community.  They are a special breed that share information, enjoy playful banter and are generally folks I’d spend time with.  Now I hear that some sites are a little more predatory and inclined to flame folks, but like anything else, it is your choice to stay or go.

When the day is dragging on, it is a real lift to the spirits to access a site and read the posts and info sharing.  What a relief!  What a neat option to reinvigorate your day.

Keep it up guys, I feel fortunate to have found such a crew.

“On Topic” I’m gettin fueled UP!!

I normally do not make too many commentaries that have nothing to do with the enjoyment of pipes and pipe smoking, however, I need to vent for a minute and I hope you all bear with me.

I am a man that works probably too many hours, but at every chance I get I spend time with my family as I truly value them and want them to grow up to understand the value of “family”.

I had a choice when I first got married.  It was to either have “money” or “kids”.  I opted for the “kids” route as I came from a big family and I have gotten so much out of the family unit, that I wanted to continue on the quest for the rest of my days.

With a large family (5-kids from 11 to 1.5 years old), there is not a lot you can do as a family without taking food from the table.   We don’t get to do too much away from home. 

My youngest brother has a heart of gold and has offered repeatedly for me to pack up the family and make the trek 1 hour north to his cottage on Lake Superior.  No strings attached, don’t have to pay for a thing, all the food, drinks and fun I can handle.  I’m a man of integrity and will never take a free lunch and will always commit to bring and share whatever I have.  As I said, he has a heart of gold and wants to spend time with me and the family.  He knows that I will share anything I have with him at any point.

To get to my point, I have this Sunday off from work and I may have to turn down coming up to spending time with him, becuase I cannot afford (1) hours worth of gas each way to take the kids up north to have some fun.

I need to reserve the gas for getting back and forth to work, and the wife getting the kids back and forth to summer camp.

I’m mad, frustrated and all that.  I’m carpooling during the week, but it still is too much.

Thanks for reading…

I’d go kick a dog, but theirs none close… (Disclaimer: “no dogs or any animal has been, or will be hurt as a result of this rant”)

Signs of life

After rejoining my beloved www.my-pipes.com, reading all the posts will shake even the most rigid “pipe blah’s” to their very foundation.

Two nights ago, I put some Peter Stokkebye Luxury Nave Flake into my first born Grabow Freehand and was encouraged that it tasted really good.

Yesterday, as I was cooking ribs on the grill, I put some Waccamaw from www.smokingpipes.com into my Stanwell Zebrano Bulldog #32 (my favorite pipe aesthetically)  see attached

 and again, it tasted really good.

Stay tuned!