Better, Faster, Cheaper…Pick Two
Some of my favorite tools are files, and I am always looking for more. There are good and bad files to be sure, but for the most part even very inexpensive files can be sharp enough to do rough shaping…
Category Stems
Perfecting the Tenon Replacement
One of the most common repairs I’m asked to do involves a snapped tenon. Most of the time the pipe arrives with the tenon stuck in the mortise and the stem in otherwise perfect condition. It is always possible to…
A Challenging Replacement Stem
In my opinion, diamond shank stems are the most difficult to match. When making a pipe with a diamond shank, the stem and shank are shaped together as one piece allowing for a seamless fit. However this can not be…
What is a pipe Part 4: Design of the Airway
In the last installment we looked at the abstract geometry of the tobacco chamber in order to gain some understanding of how bowl diameter, height, and shape impact on the performance of the pipe. We now turn to to other…
My Love-Hate Relationship with Stem Patching
When confronted with the choice between repairing a heavily damaged (ie chewed through) ebonite stem or making a replacement stem, I will always lean towards making a replacement. This is because I have yet to find a satisfactory method of…