Thread: Briar for scales

All right, I tried searching on here and found where guys had talked about it but nobody saying that they had done it. I have a huge block of briar, cabachon with plateau across the entire thing. it is a pipe kit I had made for me years ago and have never gotten to trying to make a pipe (this thing is seriously massive).

Looking at it I can safely trim 1/4" off one side, should be enough to make two scales right (or just a touch over to allow for blade thickness when splitting them in half). I'm not sure if I'm going to try this cut on the small benchtop bandsaw or go ahead and change the metal blade on the big bandsaw and do it there.

My question, has anybody done a set of briar scales yet? the wood is very hard, dense, would it be better for a first time scale job to try one piece instead?

thanks dudes.

Red

Noooo! Don't ruin perfectly good briar for scales! That's what hard wood is for - Briar is the root of pure goodness! Meant for caressing the luxuriousness and warmth out of succulent pipe tobacco - not meant to scale a razor. Cocobolo, oak, burled maple, Padauk, Chechen, Purpleheart...all of those are perfectly suited for razors - leave the briar to to fire gods!

Mark (aka aspiring pipe maker).

If you want, PM me and perhaps we can work out a trade (either for wood or a set of made scales and peening hardware).

Mark

Mark said it more eloquently than I could have. You have a massive hunk o' briar, make a massive pipe out of it.

< Homer Simpson mode > Mmmmm, massive pipes < /Homer Simpson mode >

~Rich, can't make 'em, love to smoke 'em.

I wouldn't rusr a bench top unless you have had success resawing on it in the past.

Briar is really not all that hard fwiw.

I figure it easier to do a wedged set; at least compared to my way of doing one piece which is more blade hugging than a 1/8 inch table saw kerf or parallel bandsaw kerf.

I don't think the guys read your post correctly- you are not giving up on the briar pipe;only sawing a scale slab off which reminds me it'd probably do better to take one scale off per pass at 1/8"+ than take 1/4"+ then resaw that blank imho

I saw a video once of a guy making pipes from briar and apparently when they cut the stuff there's a 50-50 chance it will crack and can't be used for pipes.

Yeah, this wouldn't ruin the pipe inside, I gotta take pics to give you a real idea how big this sucker is. I made on pipe, years ago (a volcano, subsequently gave it to a friend who loves it since it doesn't get hot on him even with his seriuos no rest style)

I got this one as a kit from Mark Tinsky at American Smoking Pipe company. I don't remember what I asked for, other than big, but remember it cost me about 75 bucks back then. I think it's about 2.5" wide, maybe 3, and about 7+ inches long, a big half circle that is flame grain on one. but there is a lot of cutting involved to get it into a pipe, I just never had the guts and creativity to try it. I'll get some pics for you guys when I get back to town. (fri).

I'd be interested in something MIlton. you got any pics of your pipes? what's your favorite shape.

Red

All right guys, here she is, you can see the size from the pics, this camera doesn't work great so sorry if the pics aren't great. I just stuck the bit and pen there to show the angles of the holes. the bowl of course needs to be enlarged in diameter, but it's almost 3" deep!!! that's a big chamber. I wiped it with a wet rag to show the grain. one top pic you see where I had circled an area where the peaks were missing from the plateau.







Red

two more

Anyone know if the scales were ever completed? I tried to do a search but nothing else came up.