My first two pipes...

[Tomriker]

Well I decided I'd give it a shot, after doing absolutely no research I grabbed a piece of cherry, rough cut it them whittled it down to "roughly" the shape of a pipe... Kind of... I've smoked it 5 times now, seems like it works all right. I made them both one piece, not sure if that's the right way or not. But it seemed to work!

Now for the next one I used some black walnut That's been sitting on a shelf in our shop since the late 60s. (Anyone have any info on black walnut for pipe wood for me??) it turned out much better still have a ways to go. This one I used a belt sander to try and get it the shape I want. Again another one piece pipe.

dont laugh too hard folks

 

[DGBAMA]

not bad at all. and even better if you like the way it smokes.

 

[Knucklehead]

Very nice. I really like the walnut. Thanks for posting.

 

[Tomriker]

ill send you a few chunks to play with if you're interested, just let me know the rough size of each piece you need..

 

[johnlee1933]

I'm not laughing at all. Nice efforts, both of them. You got a start and you're smoking them, great. Now if you want to get more sophisticated the sky's the limit, -·-

 

[Knucklehead]

ill send you a few chunks to play with if you're interested, just let me know the rough size of each piece you need..

That's a kind offer but I have piles of aged rough cut walnut for furniture and a few gunstock blanks. Thank you kindly.

 

[Tomriker]

No problem. Does anyone have any thoughts on the use of black walnut for pipes? Durability/smokability or otherwise?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

My thoughts on walnut are: The roots are supposed to exude some type of toxin that kills nearby vegetation. This is why a lot of Ag people and/or gardeners say not to plant a garden near walnut trees. I have a dozen or so walnuts on my property and they all have plenty of vegetation growing under them so I really don't believe the poison thing. On the other hand black walnuts are used to (in country/folk medicine) expel intestinal worms. If it was me, I'd steer clear of walnut just to err on the side of caution. There are plenty of other non briar woods you can use such as olive wood, cherry, apple etc.

You could also buy meerschaum bowl inserts and put them into any type of pipe you desire.

 

[Knucklehead]

www.pipemakersforum.com has a header on other woods used for pipes besides briar.

 

[Tomriker]

Thanks for the info jitterbug, after I posted about the walnut i did a little googling, seems like lots of conflicting info wether to use walnut or not.. So perhaps if I ever find myself with a few intestinal worms... Ill light it up

 

[deluxestogie]

I like them. Good thinking outside the briar. If you're interested in a cheap, more comfortable bit, check the Missouri Meerschaum site for their replacement bits.

Bob