@motie2 yes, I know what you mean. There have been times I have had to give the old S&A treatment more than once to thoroughly deghost a pipe. Sometimes I have added more alcohol as I let it sit 3 or 4 days...
Alright well I took 3 pipes to a customer today to chose from and one was straight grain and one was birds eys the last was a mix of grains and I just could not believe the one he picked mind you they were all the same price and here are the two I brought home.
The mixed grain was shaped just like the straight grain. I am just glad he purchased one and the funny part is when his wife came in his first words were here comes the wife let me hide this one.
@Corey562 You are truly an artisan. Such elegant looking pipes. I congratulate you on pipes extremely well done... As far as grain verses birdseye, if you love briar, what's not to love about each... I look more at craftsmanship and design...
@KA9FFJ I do as well there is nothing like the sweet lines of nicely crafted pipe but grain has its own beauty sometime I may have to stare at a block for a week or longer to just study the grain just to try get the max potential out of it. I dont always succeed but on these two I feel like I did and thank for compliment.
@Corey562 I thought I was the only one who can spend an enormous amount of time simply looking at all the intricate patterns in briar. That is one of the reasons I enjoy two-tone staining some of my pipes... Thanks for sharing your beautiful work. Post more pics anytime...
Yes, that was the third attempt to defeat a maniacal Latakia ghost from a lovely large Carey billiard via eBay. The third time was indeed the charm. Two salt and alcohol and one avec café.
@motie2 Great looking pipe! If that pipe is as big as it looks, I would label it a rocking chair pipe. That's a lot of briar to hold with your teeth. Of course, I'm not a clencher...
I really love a fine straight grain, but if a pipe is cut on a perfect cross cut they are also beautiful. When it comes to bird's-eye grain, at first I was not enthused, but then...even some bird's-eye is spectacular in some blocks. I dislike rusticated pipes, they seem as if someone is hiding something..like clowns and mimes, I don't trust them and they creep me out. At first I hated sandblasts for the same reason, then I saw a few that had contrast stains and deep sandblasts, again with the right grain and stain some can be spectacular. I have seen a few Radice silk-cut pipes that are amazing, others as well, they just don't come to mind at the moment.
@mfresa -- My first "nice" pipe was a rusticated Peterson 302. I still have & love this pipe even though today the majority of my pipes are smooth. I think my initial attraction to rustication was the rugged, gnarled, woody quality that I as a twenty-something really appealed to me. As my imagination soared I'd dream of adventures in the wooded mountains stopping from time to time to rest for a quick bite of jerky or hard tack as I wrapped myself in a woolen blanket in shelter from the snow listening to nothing but sounds of God's creation. As I finished my morsel and washed it all down with a canteen I'd then reach into my dusty pack to produce my rusticated, well-used pipe. I'd then methodically pack the tobacco, light up a match and draw deeply as the precious ember began to glow. It was then when I would sit back and produce copious amounts of smoke mixed with some well-defined rings and just abide in the moment.
@motie2@Corey562 You both are "right on" in my book. The patterns given to us through burl are, in my opinion, unmatched. Birds-Eye or Grain, both are beautiful in their own way...
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Third time was the charm.
BTW: Ham radio?
Huge Stone Studio Briar wood pipe
https://tinyurl.com/yce6bmug
Then I grew up. The End.
The answer is YES!
@motie2 @Corey562 You both are "right on" in my book. The patterns given to us through burl are, in my opinion, unmatched. Birds-Eye or Grain, both are beautiful in their own way...
I guess it's all in how you look at it.