Today s work consists of some very special pipes. My good friend and fishing buddy, Bob Sholiton, who owns the cabin I ve been visiting on Penns Creek is ready to begin a new adventure. Along with his two friends, Dick Griffith and Hugo Melvoin he s taking a trip out West. To commorate this gathering he s asked me to make a pipe especailly for all three of them and his brother Stu who won t be going this year. It s an annual event, and I hope one year, if I m very very good, to be invited also ! I met Dick at the cabin and hope to get out to CO this fall and take him up on his invite to fish the San Juan with him. Here s some backround on these men and their gathering as described by Bob:
Hugo Melvoin is a senior citizen who has smoked a pipe since tobacco was discovered (he may have discovered it for all I know) and is one of the most accomplished overachievers on the face of the earth. He has a curiosity matched only by the likes of Einstien or Churchill. I couldn't begin to list his accomplishments and they aren't that important compared to his leisure now. He spends from late May to late Sept on the Henry's Fork each year where, presently, he will be the new President of the Henry's Fork Foundation, wh/is the org charged w/maintaining and preserving the Henry's Fork of the Snake River for fishermen and the general Public. Every fisher who fishes the West knows the HF and reveres it. His Fish Camp is just below the Box Canyon wh/is a well known landmark location just above the Harriman Ranch on the HF.
Dick Griffith is retired and lives in Durango, Co. He fishes more than 100 days each year (I try to help him) all over the USA and the World. His home river is the San Juan in New Mexico. He's presently in Scotland for a wedding where he'll steal a day for Salmon. His new passion is woodworking--remember the table he made for the cabin? I'll get him to make a cane rod soon.
Hugo, Dick and I were in New Zealand together in 1999 for a month and we have fished the HFA together for about 10 years now, always for the opening of the Harridan Ranch on June 15th of each year. We have likewise fished together in many, many places thruout the US, often as part of the Chicago Anglers' Club outings. The pipes are a remembrance of the fine times we've had together.
Stu has joined us at the HF over the years and, of course, is my big brother and needs to be part of the deal so he doesn't cry to my Mother.
Here are the four pipes:
( a long view)
closer up
close up of Bob s pipe
A word about the pipes. Bob and I came up with the design one rainy afternoon when Penns Creek had been blown out by too much rain. He came to my shop to work on the design. I followed him back the next day to fish. Bob likes 6 panel pipes as this is the style in which he makes most of his cane bamboo rods and we decided to incorporate this into the pipe. We felt the square shank tapered stem would compliment the design as well as the natural rough plateaux top . The pipes are light and comfortable to hold while fishing; the finish is natural with just a carnuba wax topping .
| 1/14 | 1/21 | 1/27 | 2/2 | 2/7 | 2/14 | 2/28 | 3/1 | 3/2 | 3/5 |
| 3/6 | 3/7 | 3/8 | 3/16 | 3/21 | 3/28 | 3/29 | 3/30 | 4/4 | 4/8 |
| 4/9 | 4/10 | 4/11 | 4/12 | 4/13 | 4/13 | 4/14 | 4/17 | 4/20 | 4/22 |
| 4/23 | 4/24 | 4/25 | 4/29 | 5/15 | 5/17 | 5/26 | 5/29 | 6/2 | 6/7 |
| 6/8 | 6/14 | 6/15 | 6/26 | 6/28 | 6/30 | 7/2 | 7/5 | 7/16 | 7/17 |
| 7/18 | 7/22 | 7/26 | 7/27 | 7/31 | 8/1 | 8/2 | 8/3 | 8/7 | 8/8 |
| 8/10 | 8/11 | 8/14 | 8/16 | 8/16 | 8/17 | 8/20 | 8/22 | 8/24 | 8/28 |
| 8/31 | 9/3 | 9/4 | 9/6 | 9/10 | 9/16 | 9/18 | 9/19 | 9/20 | 10/11 |
| 10/12 | 10/16 | 10/19 | 10/20 | 10/22 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 |
| 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 |