THIS MORNING STARTED OUT INNOCENT ENOUGH, AS MOST MORNINGS DO..... I had decided to attempt to get a good cross grain Pristine pipe for Mike Rothenberg; he had asked me to make one for him months ago. I was given a couple of shapes to use and decided to go with a 1/4 bent dublin. I ve been setting blocks aside for this project and once I started it was a just a matter of choosing between a whole bunch of acceptable blocks. I started out with two and after the initial cuts showed they had the grain I was looking for , I turned down the bowls and both looked good. Mikes pipe, the Pristine is a little wider in dia. in shank and bowl where UB 331 is a copy of the #1 catalog shape. They both came out well. I finished Mike s pipe up immediately and e mailed him a pix and he was happy with it. UB 331 is on the web site:
Pristine, Size 4, One Star
UB 331 , Mocha , Size 4, 2 Star
The day was not as young when I moved to the next pipe on the special order list and found I was working on a set of pipes, one of which was done previously ( a billiard with silver band) and I had to make 2 more to match. A prince and a straight dublin. Both needed to be Pristine 1 stars at minimum. I elected to chase the Dublin.
This time I went thru 40 blocks, rejecting most out of hand and makeing some exploratory cuts into others. Towards the bottom of the box my I found one that I knew was right. I m often fooled by briar but I felt this would yield a clean pipe. After a couple cuts on the bandsaw I saw a beautiful tite straight grain. Very fine and consistent. I carefull shaped the pipe only hit one sandpit the whole way! The pipe speaks for itself:
Pristine, Size 5 , 3 Star
PREVIOUS TODAY S WORK
| 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 | 10/23 | 10/26 | 10/27 | 10/29 | 10/30 |
| 10/31 | 11/3 | 11/11 | 11/14 | 11/17 | 11/20 | 11/21 | 11/22 | 11/25 | 11/27 |
| 12/2 | 12/8 | 12/13 | 12/14 | 12/17 | 12/19 | 12/21 | 12/22 | 12/25 | 12/29 |
| 12/30 | 1/2 | 1/3 | 1/4 | 1/5 | 1/8 | 1/9 | 1/11 | 1/12 | 1/13 |
| 1/14 | 1/15 | 1/16 | 1/17 | 1/18 | 1/20 | 1/21 | 1/23 | 1/25 | 1/26 |
| 1/27 | 2/2 | 2/4 | 2/5 | 2/7 | 2/8 | 2/10 | 2/12 | 2/15 | 2/16 |
| 2/17 | 2/18 | 2/20 | 2/22 | 2/23 | 2/28 | 3/9 | 3/13 | 3/15 | 3/17 |
| 3/20 | 3/22 | 3/23 | 3/24 | 3/26 | 3/27 | 3/28 | 3/29 | 3/30 | 3/31 |
| 4/1 | 4/3 | 4/6 | 4/7 | 4/8 | 4/9 | 4/10 | 4/11 | 4/22 | 5/28 |
| 6/7 | 6/15 | 6/19 | 6/20 | 6/24 | 6/28 | 6/29 | 6/30 | 7/3 | 7/6 |
| 7/8 | 7/13 | 7/17 | 7/19 | 7/24 | 7/25 | 7/26 | 7/30 | 8/2 | 8/4 |
| 8/13 | 8/16 | 8/18 | 8/20 | 8/21 | 8/22 | 8/23 | 8/29 | 8/30 | 9/4 |
( THIS E MAIL WORKS)