To carve my own pipe... Suitable trees?

[WilliamIam]

I'm wanting to carve my own pipe (nothing fancy) just for the heck of it and to pass the time.
I don't want to whittle from pre-cut timber, I'd like to use only a pocket knife, and I figured that a ~90 degree elbow would let me make a one-piece pipe.
Is there any suitable native wood on the Pacific California coast? Or anything I should avoid?
I've found at least 3 distinct trees near the state park across the street that could provide a nice chunk o wood.
One had recently been damaged in a storm and looked healthy. I pulled a suitable piece off, but can't ID the tree. It has leaves that look like aspen leaves to me, but has seeds like a maple. It might be a red maple, but I'm not sure. Similar (older) trees are about 60 feet tall, with about 15" diameter trunks and northern-oak looking bark.

Happy shaves

 

[thunderball]

I have little to no knowledge on this subject but I would think that the wood would first have to be dried and seasoned and it would have to be hard enough (like briar) not to actually burn along with the tobacco. I guess cherry or hard maple might do the trick...good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Chimensch]

I think you'd be better off buying a pre-bored pipe kit from a site like http://www.pimopipecraft.com/prebored.html

 

[Commander Quan]

You can carve one out of whatever you want, but I wouldn't smoke anything out of it.

The chunks of briar that are used to carve a pipe are first cured by boiling the sap out, and then seasoned which involves letting the wood dry out till the moisture is about 12% of the weight. This can take up to 2 years.

Sorry but I doubt that sourcing and carving a local wood is going to give you anything like a seasoned piece of briar.

 

[spindlecone]

In our neck of the woods you do have a good choice, Drive over to felton and find a shop that has a well seasoned madrone burl, stuff is like iron, I turn it and even with carbide tools is difficult to work.

 

[WilliamIam]

I have tried both, with poor results. The, "find a local tree and make my own" resulted in a pipe that would indeed smoke tobacco, but tasted like burnt wood. I used maple. I also received as a gift a pre-bored briar bowl with stem. Briar is extremly hard. Harder than Osage. A pocket knife was an exercise in futility. YMMV. I ended up having to use the dremel, even then, I got frustrated.

I have had success with corncob, but I looked like the hick I am when I smoke it.

I actually own exclusively corncob pipes. I like them. They're cheap and effective, though the bowls are very tall and I rarely smoke the tobacco at the bottom.

I appreciate the warning. It's more something than to do than actually make a grade A pipe. I'll be happy with C. I've read that boiling the wood for 15 minutes will draw out most of the sap, then letting it sit in a warm oven for a while (?6 hours to 2 days?) will dry it considerably.

I'm actually in felton, I just put santa cruz so people know where I am geographically. Where in felton?
That's a beautiful piece of wood and it will make a great pipe.

The corncob pipes I have seem to be coated with some sort of sealant to prevent the wood from lighting. Any idea what it is?

 

[bogey97]

I gave up pipe smoking 10+ years ago, but I recall that briar was really the only wood that would give you a decent smoke. It keeps the tobacco cool and doesn't impart other flavors and is hard enough to not burn along with the tobacco. I seem to recall that you can purchase blocks of briar to carve yourself.

 

[ouch]

There's a reason they use briar.

 

[Doc4]

I got a chuckle out of the thread title. I could just see you standing with your tiny whittling knife, in front of a huge 500-year-old tree, thinking "I'm a-gonna make me a pipe out-a this here tree ... " and whittlin' away the whole thing until you are left with a pipe.

You don't need the whole tree ... just a small chunk o' wood!!


(Yeah, I know you know that ... but still. Anyhow, good luck!!)

 

[WilliamIam]

Wait, what? No wonder it took so long to make that one toothpick!!

 

[BladeDE40]

A whole tree...that's one big pipe...by I noticed you live in Humbolt...come on, what's that pipe really for?...j/k...

 

[plexibass]

Actually folks, briar is not the only wood that you can safely make pipes out of. While I own about a dozen briars, the majority of my pipes are made out of Zebra-wood, African black-wood, African rosewood, cocobolo, olive-wood, oak. I get all my pipe made exclusively from www.pipecraft.org, MARK STEWART. Incredibly knowledgeable guy about the uses of alternative woods in pipe making and smoking. contact him with any questions that you might have and tell him Dave sent you. Super super nice guy, Mark ....not me.

 

[WilliamIam]

A whole tree...that's one big pipe...by I noticed you live in Humbolt...come on, what's that pipe really for?...j/k...

I'll be in Humboldt soon, but I'm in Santa Cruz right now... Wait, that's not any better :x
SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[WilliamIam]

And I've bookmarked Pipecraft's (Mark's) page. Those estate pipes look like they'd be quite a nice purchase and have some character without being in the hundreds of dollars range. Thanks for the link!

 

[plexibass]

And I've bookmarked Pipecraft's (Mark's) page. Those estate pipes look like they'd be quite a nice purchase and have some character without being in the hundreds of dollars range. Thanks for the link!

Awesome. Mark is truly one of the best!!! I own a few estates of his and he really does a great job cleaning them. Like brand new

 

[duotone]

This might help show you a few techniques. Heres a link to the website if anyone is interested. http://www.blakemar.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJN8HBOQoQ&feature=player_embedded#!

[YOUTUBE]5zDVhk80UBg[/YOUTUBE]

Jump to 8.30 where he mentions some of the woods for bowls & stem materials that his lastest purchased pipe, maker uses.

 

[Malaspina]

I have patterns for some really cool carved pipes that I wanted to make for my brother. That was until I discovered what kind of wood I needed to carve it with. I prefer hand carving rather than using the dremel and with all of those woods it was going to have to be the dremel so I put it aside for now.

There are some spectacular pipes out there!

 

[jwhite]

I have patterns for some really cool carved pipes that I wanted to make for my brother. That was until I discovered what kind of wood I needed to carve it with. I prefer hand carving rather than using the dremel and with all of those woods it was going to have to be the dremel so I put it aside for now.

There are some spectacular pipes out there!

Not at all. Rifflers, rasps, and files work really well on a variety of burl-wood. for final shaping and smoothing take a belt sanding belt and cut it into strips. I havent carved any pipes myself but with the exception of ripping and trimming large boards I use hand tools for a variety tricky woods in my shop.

 

[Argonaut]

Carving a pipe by hand from briar is a misnomer. It's more like filing and sanding. A coping saw and a variety of files, rasps and needle files come in very handy. A Dremmel is more likely to ruin a promising project due to how fast it can remove material (Trust me). A variety of sandpaper grits and a lot of patience will get the job done. I've made a few pipes, but I'm far from a craftsman. It's a nice relaxing hobby,.... like golf, if you don't care how you score, or how ugly your swing is, or how nice your clubs are, and why your wife wonders what the hell you're doing spending more time playing with a piece of wood than you are with her!