Briar pipe

[Chris Fournier]

I have no aversion to working wood with equipment, none whatsoever. However there are times when I walk into my shop with no agenda and I simply sit down and appreciate the quiet. After several minutes I start to look around at the wood that I have squirrelled away and a handtool project comes to light. I buy wood often times for no other reason than it inspires me with the possibilities that it represents, like a canvas coaxes a painter to pick up her brush.

One of my favourite wood purchases is briar burl. What's not to like? It's figured, exotic, shaped like a bowling ball and like a present you don't know what treasures it witholds until you saw it apart - could be socks, could be Scotch. To make it all the more intriguing I like to run one bandsaw kerf into the centre of the burl to prevent degrade, then I tuck it away in sawdust to dry until I almost forget about it -delayed gratification!

So back to my quiet shop. While I'm in these quiet moods I like to smoke a cigar and sometimes a pipe. I can't make a cigar but I should be able to make a pipe...

Over the years I've made several pipes and I'm sure that I'll make several more before I'm done. The pipe below is one that I made for my fly fishing kit. Small in size for packing into the bush
with a stem that won't easily be broken.

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The only drawback to this pipe is that it's short and smoke gets in my eyes. The bonus is that smoke stays close and keeps the black flies and mosquitoes at bay.

To make the pipe I square up a block of briar and draw out a pleasing shape that will suit the stem blank that I have chosen. I lay out the tobacco chamber depth and then draw another line to represent the air hole. The drill press barely make a sound as I drill these two holes. Sometimes I'll chuck the drilled blank on the lathe and rough out the shape, machine time is measured in minutes. Usually I just go to town with rasps, riflers and files as I'm in no hurry and not client is tapping toes waiting for completion. The real treat is watching the briar figure come to the surface of the pipe. I also get a lot of joy making sure that the pipe is symmetrical. Slow, quiet satisfying work.

Once the briar is shaped I blend and bend the stem to the briar. Everything gets sanded and sometimes I add colour before I immerse the briar in mineral oil for a day or so. Polish, buff and then break in the bowl. Frivolous and fun and I now have another pipe to choose from for my next quiet shop moment.

[Don Orr]

Beautiful!

[Chris Fournier]

Thanks Don! I will get small chunks of briar when I break out the burl that won't make pipes so I save it and turn drawer pulls. Surprisingly it turns like butter, I thought that it would be ornery, not so.

[Chris Griggs]

Chris, are you by chance a David James Duncan fan? I'm not a fishermen by any stretch of the imagination (though I grew up around both bait any fly fishermen and my brother started tying flies when he was a pre teen), but Mr. Duncan is one of my favorite authors. Your love of fly fishing and the way you write about the briar, the quiet in your shop, and your quite moods reminds me of his writing.

Anyway, lovely pipe!. I love little builds like this. Useful, satisfying, and a lot of gratification without a lot or sweat or a lot of noise.

[Chris Fournier]

Chris, I've never heard of DJ Duncan but I'm gonna check him out! I agree that these little builds pay back big. I don't force them but when they come along I'm all smiles - with my yellow pipe smoking buck teeth.

Yesterday I went to my shop and enjoyed and little build but it was all J/P and shaper -picture frame stock. It was not quiet but it did make me smile nonetheless. Thanks for your post Chris.

[Steve Voigt]

The figure on the burl is gorgeous, and the shaping is lovely. Well done!

[george wilson]

That looks like accurate work,Chris. Many years ago,I found several briar pipe blanks washed up on the beach. I have no idea where they came from,or how they got there. I made a pipe out of one,but have no idea what happened to the rest of them.

[Chris Griggs]

Chris, I've never heard of DJ Duncan but I'm gonna check him out!

Duncan wrote The River Why which is about a 17-18 year old kid who after graduating high school moves out to middle of nowhere Oregon (or maybe Washington) to do nothing but fish. The character's name is Gus. The character's father was a world renown fly fishermen and his mother was backwoods highly proficient bate fisher-women, and as a result Gus is somewhat of a fishing protegy. The books not really about fishing. More of a quaint coming of age story that ties in nature, philosophy, love, and religion. DJ Duncan was only 28 when he wrote it. (Please DO NOT watch the terrible movie based in it BTW)

He has several books he wrote later on, some about fishing (Duncan lives in Montana and is an avid fly fisherman) and some not...some fiction some non fiction. My favorite book of his is a fiction novel called The Brothers K which happens to have nothing to do with fishing but a lot to do with baseball (something I also oddly am not interested in)

Definitely look him up. I bet you'd like him. Oddly, despite my distaste for actually going fishing or eating fish, I'm also a big fan of both the movie and book A River Runs Thru It. ​Good stories are told in the context of fishing I guess...or maybe its just the Minnesotan in me.

[Chris Fournier]

George, you gave away a briar ebauchon with each "surrendered" shop made handplane of yours, don't you remember?

[george wilson]

Surrendered for a small contribution!!:)

[Curt Putnam]

Sitting in the quiet shop listening to the snick of a sharp knife and thinking about smoking that pipe on a quiet stream with just enough riffle to provide a pleasant burble while the trout rise to the bug hatches is something that can only be beaten by actually standing in that stream, pipe nicely clenched while you bring in a nice little two pounder for breakfast.

Well done! From a 30+ year ex pipe smoker.

[george wilson]

When I was young up in Alaska,I'd spend many a day hiking about 10 miles uphill to the Ketchikan reservoir and fish my way back down to the ocean. My fishing pole was a broken off car aerial. Kind of handy,as I could retract it down short while getting through brush. My reel was a 50 cent used one I taped to the aerial. Today,I think that reel would still be worth about 50 cents.:)

[Chris Fournier]

Sitting in the quiet shop listening to the snick of a sharp knife and thinking about smoking that pipe on a quiet stream with just enough riffle to provide a pleasant burble while the trout rise to the bug hatches is something that can only be beaten by actually standing in that stream, pipe nicely clenched while you bring in a nice little two pounder for breakfast.

Well done! From a 30+ year ex pipe smoker.

"Little two pounder". That's just mean!

[Mel Fulks]

George, sounds like you did all the research work for the Popiel pocket fisherman!

[peter Joseph]

Looks like a nice little rhodesian pot shape. How does it smoke? What kind of tobacco are you smoking in it these days?

I have hundreds of pipes and pounds of cellared tobacco so I'm always excited to meet another woodworking pipe smoker.

Peter

[Derek Cohen]

That's sweet, Chris. I'm not a smoker, but if I was, I'd have a pipe like that. Very nice lines. It'd make anyone look sophisticated :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Randy Karst]

Chris F.,
Nice looking briar. I'm an occasional pipe smoker (mostly fall & winter) and an occasional fly fisherman (when opportunity permits); working wood seems a natural sibling to the afore mentioned pursuits (obvious prerequisites for philosophical or artistic endeavors). I checked out your website, nice looking nets; would enjoy a tutorial sometime here on SMC regarding your process.

Blessings,

Randy

[george wilson]

Mel,it was actually research for the Popeil Poor Boy's rod and reel. It did work,though!:)

[Curt Putnam]

"Little two pounder". That's just mean!

I'm sorry, did not intend to be mean. Still have the salt water mindset. Two pound mackerel get used as bait. I've taken the grandkids to the local trout ponds. Guaranteed success - which is what is required for a 5 yr old, but they had a knack for catching the larger (and more expensive) models.

[Tom Vanzant]

George, your Poor Boy rod and reel sounds like one I cobbled together at camp in the early 1950's. Mine was a peeled willow switch with a safety pin end guide and a borrowed $.50 reel, both held on with adhesive tape. Our group caught two trout... mine and another, both from the same hole. Improv trumped $$$.

[george wilson]

What!! YOU could AFFORD a willow switch??? I had to yank the aerial off a passing car. Made the guy mad as heck. He chased me for blocks!!:)

True story: A yankee stopped at a Wilkesboro,North Carolina gas station,and asked the guy to check his ERL. The guy said"What did you mean? Your radio ERL?"