Random's Workshop

read my lips:

2008-07-19T05:23:00.002-06:00

This morning I was scratching my head over a technical problem and took a minute to google the alt.smokers.pipes group. It seems that people have the wrong impression:

mark tinsky wrote "If one was to be a pipe carver or in any type of business I think you d find that to be succesful you d have to make what your customers wanted. All else is pretty much is secondary. I think Random is a good example of someone who did exactly as he wanted."

Thank you, Mark. I do what you said, exactly as I want. But I am not a one man pipe factory grinding out whatever turns up then sorting and grading it, I'm just a one pipe at a time carver. I don't have deals with retailers who buy my pipes at wholesale and jack the prices up. I try to keep it simple. I make what I want to make, I offer it, if it's what a customer wants they can buy it. Easy-peasey.

Nick wrote "Where's Random when you need him??"

I'm right here buddy, busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest, but right here.

Yoseph wrote "...not random and not the countless others you have insulted and driven away..."

JtN is a guy with an attitude. I pissed him off way early. Maybe someday I'll post his initial email attack against me and my response to it. I don't have time for the guy. I don't have time for much of anything these days. One day I'll have something to thank Jim and google for, a self-moderating discussion group where people can 'vote' and whack jerks like JtN.

Bigiron wrote "Random's stems were "Ultem" and unbreakable? That sounds remarkable. Amazing that the pipe world has lost him."

No pipe stem is unbreakable. The ultem stems I made are difficult to break. The more recent polycarbonate stems I've made are even harder to break. The pipe world only wishes it had 'lost' me. <g>.

It's going to be months more before I get back to making pipes. I owe a couple to folks. I could use a couple more myself. And dang it, I enjoy making the things.

the bad thing about summer

2008-07-16T02:04:00.002-06:00

The bad thing about summer is that it's only so long and then you better be ready for fall and winter.

Last year I didn't make a single pipe. No heat in the van, pondering the stem situation, trying to stay warm and dry and sane, doing the work on the house that could be done.

If this summer doesn't kill me fall might, but if they don't then winter might see us living in a house rather than a tiny trailer. I have to get around to swapping the trailer's heater for one I can use in the van so when winter comes it'll be possible to work there. Along with the other zillion things that have to be done before winter.

I'm hoping for some time to get back to pipes this coming winter. This is the first time I've even looked at this blog since nearly forever. Building codes make everything simple into a big deal.

See you later. Really.

summertime

2008-01-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

There's some old song that says in the summertime the livin is easy. Dang.

Blogger says that I last posted on Oct 18. I guess that must be right, it's a computer and all.

Of course the main reason I haven't posted is blogger itself, it has all the usability of a rubber crutch.

And then there's the fact that although making some pipes has crossed my mind, it hasn't happened, and it's not likely to happen for a while yet. I refuse to use tools that are covered with ice.

Sooner or later, something or other. One of these days I'll find a source of threaded stainless steel tubing. One of these days I'll get back to making pipes.

Summertime, yeah, that's it.

baby it's cold out there

2007-10-18T06:09:00.001-06:00

When checking my web-server this morning I found that someone new had signed up for the mailing list. Decided to check the blog here and found a couple comments waiting for moderation. Figured it to be about time for another blog entry.

Things are still moving forward. The batteries have been moved from the van to the power-shed and the new power system is fully operational though still without solar panels. Things work worlds better now than they did before. Running the generator for about 2 hours a day gives us plenty of electricity for running computers, lights, water-pump, and refrigerator, and I get to choose when to run the generator (daylight is a big favorite).

We've done the roof and wall-sheathing on the house, will need to wait for a county inspection before going too much farther with that. Yesterday we had fun putting housewrap on, a 9-foot wide strip of plastic-stuff about 150-feet long, wrap that around your house in 30mph winds for a good time.

Hope to install the windows today, at least some of them. We'll need to get the siding on before installing the doors since they have moldings on them.

The van's electrical system has been reconfigured after removing the battery bank, and the amount of space available for a heater is known. Obtaining one and getting around to installing it still have to be done, but since I can't get near my lathe for the appliances in front of it, that's not a high priority at the moment.

Life goes on. Presumably someday I'll get enough house-stuff out of the van to be able to work in it again. That makes me think. I don't see other carvers talking about their questions... are they doing a good thing by making pipes, or just creating problems, is their work good enough, stuff like that. I guess my head's broken, no surprise there.

Stay well y'all.

This morning...

2007-09-17T07:02:00.000-06:00

...the body woke me at 2am, more or less the usual time for me to start a day. But man, am I ever tired. The past two days have consisted of fairly constant physical effort, but now we have the roof trusses on top of the house and I have to find a way to avoid getting around to doing the hard part, putting on the sheathing. Probably should have gone for a flatter roof... oh well, onward and upward. That's a joke.

For some reason I decided to poke around this morning, and see what's been happening with other pipe carvers. I was surprised that a number of makers' websites have disappeared, but perhaps they've just moved and my bookmarks are out of date. I was pleased to see that many are still around and truckin'.

I have hopes that in another couple weeks I'll be able to move my offgrid battery bank from underneath the floorboars of my van (aka workshop) into the official "power shed". The nice thing about that is that it'll enable us to use our 12v refrigerator instead of getting ice for the cooler every couple days... but the really nice thing about it is that once that batteries are out of their current location, I'll have a physical location suitable for an authentic heater for the shop. That will be heaven when the snows begin, if it comes to pass.

I am somewhat (pleasantly) amazed that people still visit my website and even occasionally sign up for the mailing-list. It has been too damned long since I've made a pipe, and that is going to be dealt with one of these days, though until we qualify for a "certificate of occupancy" for the house that will remain my top priority. It's amazing the things governments will do to you for your own good.

To everyone reading: Stay well, stay happy.

it's alive

2007-08-30T05:31:00.000-06:00

I might post to this blog more often if I didn't so much mind staring at the "Waiting on www.blogger.com" message at the bottom of my browser. You'd think... ah, nevermind.

Life goes on. The carving withdrawl symptoms continue to worsen, but there is too much else that has to be done at this point.

The power shed is nearing a state at which I can install the batteries and other stuff. I've been able to move enough appliances out of the van so that I can at least -see- my lathe, but that just makes the withdrawl symptoms worse. The house is continuing to progress. Fall is here, we're waiting for roof trusses. The race between completion and snow is getting closer.

I look at the time we've spent on this house and think about the pipes I could've carved, the other things I could've done if not for the house project. But when you want something and have a chance to do it, you just go for it. Now it's becoming more and more clear that we're likely to enter winter with a dried-in structure that isn't a house, and nothing much going on... at least once the power shed is ready I'll be able to get the batteries out of the van and free up space for a proper heater which will make carving in the winter more feasible.

All of which is probably of complete uninterest to anyone, but it's the big deal in my life right now.

And my gawd, every time they add some "improvement" to blogger it gets slower and slower even when you think it couldn't get any slower...

Industrial Revolution

2007-07-01T05:03:00.001-06:00

Everybody knows what the Industrial Revolution was, right?

Before then, everything was pretty much handmade. The parts of a rifle were individually fitted for that rifle. The good part of that is the quality aspect of the thing, whether a rifle or a silver bowl, or whatever. It was as good as a particular craftsman could make it. Of course that varied from individual craftsman to craftsman. People developed a name based on their skills and their integrity, on how much they put into their work and how good their work really was.

The bad part was that if you had a rifle with some part that broke, it needed to be specially made because not all hammers, for example, were mass produced. Because the parts were specially made you couldn't just order a new flotchit and install it.

The Industrial Revolution changed all that. Machines and factories made thousands of identical parts, more identical than even the best craftsman could make them. The parts weren't necessarily all that great, but they were interchangable. Armies thought that was pretty swell, it allowed them to keep more guns working and kill more of the enemy.

As time passed the individual craftsman was pretty much shoved aside. Factories can make a thing faster and cheaper than an individual craftsman could make it, and if factory products weren't as good, they were a lot more affordable. The "masses" could own things that they couldn't have afforded before the Industrial Revolution, which is a good thing.

A few people like Ned Ludd didn't think the Industrial Revolution was such a great thing. It's unclear whether the Luddites were far-thinking individuals or simply a flock of lunatics. Today they're mostly considered to have been lunatics. As an individual craftsman I tend to side with them regardless. Factory-produced goods are now the standard, farm-boys flocked to the cities to make easy money in the factories, and people in general enjoyed a new higher quality of life. Of course these days the individual farmer is an endangered species, corporate farms produce more for lower cost, and individual craftsmen of all sorts are people who live on the edge.

I remember watching an old Jimmy Stewart western, about a fellow who won a rifle in a shooting contest. The rifle was a "one in a thousand" rifle. All the parts fit together just right, and it was a dream to use. I guess the Industrial Revolution was fairly well progressed, at least in the area of arms manufacture, by that time. Before the Industrial Revolution they were all pretty much that way, parts having been hand-fitted by individual craftsmen, they were either very good or very bad depending on who made them.

Factories brought a new vision of quality. Parts were churned out by the thousands, or millions, and then sorted and graded. Some made the cut as first-level, others were sold as seconds, and some were thrown away (or recycled these days).

I reject all that. I don't want to be a one-man pipe factory. I don't want to churn out pipes by the dozens, then sort them and grade them. I'll be throwing away my primitive grading system before the next time that I offer a pipe for sale. I make them one at a time. I put everything that I have into the creation of each one. It's the process of making an individual pipe, of seeing what can be done to turn a block of briar with a unique grain pattern into the most beautiful and useful smoking instrument that I'm capable of making, that makes it worthwhile for me.

Ned Ludd may very well have been a lunatic. For that matter I may very well be a lunatic. But I don't like having my purchasing choices limited by what the world's most profitable factories are making. I don't like working in a factory environment even if it does consist of sitting in a cubicle and raking in the fat dough.

The average Joe is used to factory-made goods. He works in a factory, of some sort. It dictates much of the structure of his life. I'm against that kind of life, I prefer more freedom than can be found working in a factory. Factories and cubicles push me to the brink of sanity, and I just don't like any of it.

Maybe handcrafting each pipe from raw materials makes me a Luddite. Maybe that's okay.

pipes, carvers, prices, patooey

2007-06-12T05:13:00.000-06:00

The pipe world seems to me unique in some ways.

The pipe world has a class system of sorts, which is not something I've observed in other fields. Categories of makers. The elite, the well-known, the known, the unknown, it goes on and on. Each seems supposed to have its own characteristics and its own prices.

I sometimes wonder about things, I tend to be that way. It's not that tough to take a pipe that doesn't cost much and tune its internals to make it smoke well... ream it out a little here, reshape a little there, and voila you have a $35 pipe that smokes like a champ. Well, except for the taste, the wood determines that unless you want to accept the pain of ignoring the taste until the pipe is "broken in" (which sometimes I think means that your tastebuds have given up and become resigned to the pipe). I know there are others who are capable of doing that, but I haven't seen any hand-tuned Grabows (for example) being offered. I guess there's no profit in the work.

High-end pipes are a lot of work. It's one thing to slap some stain on a rusticated pipe, another thing to stain a smooth pipe so it'll look decent, and something entirely different to stain a beautiful piece of wood so that every filament of the grain is clearly visible under magnification.

In earlier times, I dreaded making smooth pipes. There seemed so much danger of making a tiny mistake that would ruin the hours put into the pipe. In later work, it seemed that all the engineering and shaping was just prep-work for the fun stuff, staining and finishing. Not that I'm some finishing guru, but I really enjoy seeing the detailed patterns in the grain emerge as I bring it through the finishing process. Every time I see the details come out, it either confirms something I already know about briar grain, or it teaches me something new. The time I spend finishing a smooth pipe is time that takes me away from life's cares, takes me to a world that is even smaller than my workshop, a world that consists of the pipe and a few feet around it.

For artisan carvers, selling pipes seems to be a big deal. Building a following seems to be a big deal. I don't understand it all. I may not understand any of it. It doesn't matter how many times you tell people that your work is priced on the low end, that doesn't change what the numbers on the pricetag are. It doesn't change what the pipe is.

From time to time I've thought about things. Sometimes I think the best thing I could do would be to change my pipe guarantee to one that says "take your chances" and jack the prices to the moon, so that only people who have dropped a $1000 bill on the ground and have to make a conscious decision about whether it is worth the trouble of bending over to pick it up can buy them... basically to put them out of the reach of the working man who would have to save up for them. When you have to save up for something, disappointment really hurts, and that's not someplace that I want anyone to go. Buy it with pocket change or move along, that seems safer for everybody concerned.

Sometimes I think none of it will ever be a real thing to do anything about, it seems like this house building project is going to kill me off before I ever have a chance to get back into my workshop.

I'm very lucky that I get to make so few decisions in this life.

time marches on...

2007-05-20T06:31:00.001-06:00

... and I wish I could keep up with it.

It looks as if the snow season might finally be done (knock on wood). We managed to make our way through the process of creating drawings and getting a building permit. Have been levelling the area where the cabin will go, burying water lines and electrical lines. Looks like today I need to take down a couple trees that could fall on things if the wind comes from a direction it hardly ever comes from, but the only place to stand and cut them is right in their most likely path. Maybe I'll chicken out and start digging out the area where the drain lines need to go. With luck we may be able to pour the foundation in around 3 weeks.

My pipe shop is totally buried under house parts. I can't even get close enough to reach over and touch the lathe. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them all.

What a mess. I'm hoping we'll get the place ready to live in before the winter snows start up again. If we don't run out of money first. I feel like a little kid mommy is taking for a walk, getting tired of walking but too big for mommy to carry, just have to suck it up and keep going.

I think about cutting down trees and wonder where I'll put the things once they're down, all the flat spots are reserved for building. I think about digging more holes... my gawd the dirt is hard, my pick has a few inches worn off the business end. I think about going back to the city and making the easy money sitting in a cubicle and decide maybe I'll just get another pick when this one's worn out instead.

Whoever's reading this, y'all stay well.

Chicago noshow again

2007-04-11T02:09:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted here. Things have been going on, big things for me that are probably insignificant for other people.

The pipe shop has been idle all winter, unheated, calling to me but getting no response besides "Ugh". The winter snows have almost melted, so of course there is a forecast for more snow.

There are things that I want to be doing in the shop. I've obtained some specially sized stainless-steel tubing, which I hope to use as my tenon material instead of brass. I need to make some modifications to the tailstock of my lathe in order to get threads to come out just right, it's remarkably easy to get them crooked. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be wise to get a second tailstock before hacking on the original one, not that I've had time to do more than think about it.

Most of the winter has been spent working on software. There are a couple of reasons for that. First off, the little heater I have for the shop is just not up to the job of keeping it warm. By "warm" I mean 40F or higher, I refuse to work with tools that have ice on them, even if that makes me a hopeless wussy. Then, there are new features that I want to add to my website. I am not at all impressed by blogger and will write my own forum/blogging software thank you, at my first opportunity. It would be swell if someday the software side of things started kicking a few bucks into the bottom line. But as my wife says, "It's software, it's never done."

Since the first of the year though, a large chunk of my time has been spent designing a house. A very small house. Call it a cabin, that sounds nice and mountainy. Of course hardly anything about the cabin will be done in the usual way. Hopefully we'll soon have the plans finished and will be able to apply for the building permit. As soon as the application is turned in, I'll start building the power shed, which will house the battery bank, hold up the solar array, and give the generator a place to run that's out of the weather. Assuming that I can figure out how to keep the generator from setting off the hydrogen that batteries emit during charging, which I probably can figure out. I hope.

Once the plans are approved, I get to begin digging the foundation. The ground is very much like concrete, every shovelful has to be loosened with a pick. We'll be doing every bit of it ourselves, from the foundation to the roof -- well, we might get some help with the roof, since I tend to fall off ladders taller than a 5-gallon bucket, I have really terrible balance for high work. And we'll get someone to pour the concrete and do that smoothing-out thing they do. But all the framing, siding, interior finishing, plumbing, electrical, and propane will be done by yours truly. Of course it all has to be done according to "code" which means there's a lot of research involved in every aspect. Most of our appliances will run on 12vdc which means we've had to dig a bit to find code-compliant appliances. Everything seems to have several aspects that need to be researched, and each of those has three aspects, and on it goes.

Soon the weather will shift into its summer pattern. I hope. In the summer, it's usually clear and cool in the morning, clear and warm midday, and then in the afternoon it clouds up for a thunderstorm. What I'm expecting is that my days will begin very early, before dawn, with a few hours working on software. Then work on the house until the afternoon storm. And what I'm hoping is that I'll have enough energy left by that point in the day to work in the pipe shop until dinnertime.

Not much time in the shop. I could go out there right now and work on some stuff, but the outside temperature is currently 13F and the shop is unheated. Once the weather shifts into its summer pattern, the temperature won't be a problem.

So again this year I will miss the Chicago show. Well, it certainly won't be the first time I've missed it. Maybe next year.

what other makers do

2007-02-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a misunderstanding going around.

I've heard it said that I think other carvers are taking the easy ways out. Wrong!

I'm not in the pipe business just for the money. I'm not in the pipe business just to make friends and be a nice guy. I am in the pipe business for one reason and one reason only. When I am carving a pipe, there is something going on that I have never found anywhere else. It is something very special, and very hard to explain. The few people I could probably explain it to already understand it, and the rest will never get it. It's a spiritual thingy, a feeling of being at one with the world, that everything is as it should be. That's why I make pipes, period.

I make pipes the way I feel they should be made. Other carvers make pipes the way they think they should be made. The fact that they think they should be made one way, and I think they should be made another way, really means nothing. It adds a little variety to the market, a little spice to life.

A few people have expressed puzzlement at the way I price my pipes. Not everybody on the planet understands everything. I make pipes the way that I make pipes, and it takes the amount of time and the materials that it takes. I am not going to sell pipes for less than a price at which I think that I can make a profit, period. I'm not some rich guy operating a charity. If people think my prices are too high, they won't buy the pipes. If they don't buy the pipes, well I have a very very small rotation.

One thing that really gets my goat about pipes is when the humidity makes a stem fit tighter or looser. That really gets up my nose. I go to a lot of effort to try and make that not happen with my pipes. I also don't like it when a stem breaks, or gets all droopy if you leave it in the sun. I don't like pipes that don't draw well. Maybe there are dozens of other makers who are doing the same kind of hand-shaping of the bowl interior that I'm doing and I just don't know about it. But as far as I know, I'm the only guy in the business putting that level of detailed effort into the airway.

Whatever. I do things the way I think they should be done, I set prices where they need to be to make a profit, if pipes sell they sell and if they don't they don't. But I do NOT think other carvers are taking any easy ways out just because they're not doing the same things I'm doing, they're doing what they feel is right, for their own reasons, and I respect that. What they do is up to them, what I do is up to me, what pipe buyers do is up to them; that's what "free will" is all about.

what happened to random?

2007-02-25T03:19:00.000-07:00

I noticed that my website was getting hits that originated in an ASP thread, so I went and checked it out (thanks for thinking of me, Mary). Sorry that I've not updated this blog lately, there have been a lot of things going on, mostly all at once... and I'm really not that thrilled with the way either the old blogger or the new one work, so it's a chore.

There has been a lot going on over the past year, most of it non-pipe stuff. Regarding pipes, here is the bottom line:

1) I'm not dead, I'm not out of business, I haven't given it up; pigheaded/stupid as ever.
2) There are some items being figured out, and some of them have been and some haven't yet.
3) Because of the amount of stuff going on, if I produce 6 pipes in 2007 it'll be a major miracle.
4) Future pipes will be more costly, we're talking $500 minimum and probably a good deal more.
5) Future pipes will use stainless-steel tenons instead of brass, and will probably use a delrin mortise insert. Polycarbonate remains my stem material of choice. The OnePiece may come back, or not -- if it does, it will come back for bents as well as straights.

When all you can get your hands on in the way of pipe tobacco is Prince Albert, it can really screw with your taste buds. Lane's bl/wb, there's the good stuff, hope my taste buds recover enough to enjoy it again.

The next pipe that appears on my site will be one made for Sean Chercover (now a published author and bona-fide Important Person) because he managed to purchase the fugliest pipe I ever made at a point when it made a big difference to me whether I sold a pipe or not. Then I have some replacement stems to make for a very good customer. Once that's taken care of, new pipes will probably begin to appear on my site for sale, occasionally. Very occasionally in 2007, because I'm busier than a 1-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

I changed my email when we moved the web server last September (the collection of ancient spam had become overwhelming), but the contact form works just fine.

cracked polycarbonate stems

2006-11-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have a report from one smoker that 4 of his pipes have cracked polycarbonate stems.

If you purchased one of my pipes, which has a brass tenon and a polycarbonate stem, please check the stem for cracks in the area where the tenon meets the stem. If you find a problem contact me asap.

The exact resolution of this problem is not yet determined. Apparently the tight press-fit of the tenon into the polycarbonate left unrelieved stress, and over time it can cause cracking. One possible solution would be to anneal the polycarbonate at 250F for a couple hours, but without precise temperature control there is a hazard of stem-face decofmation. Another possible solution is to use a larger drill and epoxy.

Once I figure out how to deal with the issue I will contact those who have reported problems. Since it is not entirely clear whether or not remaining in the pipemaking business is a good idea, if you have a problem stem let me know asap.

The rumors of my demise...

2006-09-20T01:11:00.000-06:00

If there are any rumors of my demise they are false. I live. I have not left the pipe business.

Of course I have not made any pipes lately, but that's another matter.

Unobtainium, that's the ticket.

Yesterday my wife asked, "If you had to make a pipe how long would it take?"

My answer was, "A week, I have to make a tool first."

The bottom line is that currently I have time for nothing that is not unavoidably urgent.

That's why I'm sitting here writing in this blog. Go figure.

93 projects, 24 hours

2006-08-26T03:51:00.000-06:00

I'm currently in the process of gutting out a very small (11 foot) very old (1967) camp trailer and remanufacturing it for use as a temporary residence. Once it's ready to go, we'll sell our current very new (2004) larger (20 foot) camp trailer, and hopefully have a few bucks with which to begin building an acutal house. That's my top priority right now for many reasons.

Next on the list is work on my software business (see the links section) which might if I'm lucky generate some actual income.

When I'm not doing either of those, I get to spend a few minutes in the pipe shop.

I finally found a source for the steel I need to make a new bit-opening thermaforming tool, and have started on that project. Once it's complete I'll be experimenting with some methods of applying a safe but constant heat to polycarbonate. Then it'll be time to make some new stem blanks.

Stem blanks are always the first part of making a pipe. I try to make up a batch of stem blanks so I'll have a few on hand. They're quite difficult to get right, and I've set up my process so that the things most likely to fail are done first.

I'm sure this is all fascinatingly boring.

I've made a bunch of updates to the website on my test system, but won't be updating the live site until the latest batch of software updates are ready to go.

Bottom line is, more pipes will probably be forthcoming, sometime that probably doesn't qualify as "soon", and they will be more costly than in the past.

It's Good to be Home

2006-08-09T03:09:00.000-06:00

Late in July, we received word that a close relative had passed away. Off we went to the city, to do all those things people do when someone close to them passes away. Finally we're back, have been back for a few days now, and are starting to return to our natural rythms.

We're into August now. Rat season will begin any time now. During rat season, the little bastards crawl up into the engine compartment of your vehicle and make a nest on your carburetor, or where the carburetor would be if your vehicle had one. Sometimes they chew through wires if they think them sufficiently decorative nesting material. Our first year here, I tried all kinds of methods to get rid of them. Simply clean out there nests and they rebuild. They're too fast to poke with a stick unless you get lucky. Shooting them with a regular gun almost guarantees damage to your vehicle. Finally I settled on a pellet gun, it's just powerful enough but not too powerful. Oh well, some things are just not much fun.

During our time away, I had plenty of time to think about what this pipe "business" means to me. Some changes are in order. Pipe carving can no longer be my first priority, it needs to take second or third place in the order of things. Hours that have been devoted to carving will shift over to software development or other activities. Pipe carving will be a fill-in activity, a meditation to practice while other things are being thought out.

It may be a very good thing, it is definitely an essential thing. It will suprise me if my future production goes much higher than 12-14 pipes a year, it will not surprise me if it sits at or near zero. Perhaps, doing other things, I will generate enough income to attend the Chicago show some year.

In any case there is work to be done in many areas.

Silly Ideas

2006-08-02T07:07:00.000-06:00

There are some people on this planet who are too full of themselves to listen and hear; no matter how many times you try to explain something to them, they still do not get it. I think it isn't because they are incapable of understanding, but rather because they are too busy patting themselves on the head to hear what you say.

One fellow that I know clings to the misconception that I threw away a successful and high-paying career in another field and immediately began making pipes fulltime. He is a bright guy, but apparently incapable of listening because he is too busy explaining how he became successful. It goes something like this...

me: This doesn't seem to be working out as well as I'd hoped, I may need to stop making pipes and move on to something else where I can make a living.

guy: Why don't you get a day job and make pipes on the side?

me: I can't get a day job, I'm unemployable.

guy: Of course you can, then you can make pipes on the side and build up your business. Why when I started out [insert lecture here]

me: Are you listening? I said, I'm unemployable. Getting a day job isn't an option.

guy: Anybody can get a day job. I had a day job when I started and I still have a day job [insert lecture here]

me: Hello, are you in there? I said, I'm unemployable. Don't you know what that means?

guy: You're in the middle of America, anybody can get a day job. I've built my business [insert lecture here]

me: Listen, I'm over 50 which is an important age in America. When you're over 50 and you've been successful in a career, you're in a difficult situation. You're interviewing with prospective employers who are in the 25-40 age range, they are hot rocket types who are on the way up. They see you as a daddy figure who will tell them how things should be done because you have enough experience to know what's going on. They see you as having higher salary requirements than their own. Do you really think that a 30-year-old manager is going to hire someone who knows more and will get paid more than himself, when he can hire a new college grad for less money and know that the college grad will be easy to manage? It's a waste of time from that perspective alone.

guy: You need to get out there and find a day job, there are millions of employers in America. It was tough to build my business but [insert lecture here]

me: Sorry man, I sat in a cubicle and gritted my teeth and did what I was told for as long as I could. You put me in a cubicle now and you have a loaded gun on your hands. The last two or three interviews I had, I couldn't even get through the interview without getting up in the middle and saying "This is bullshit, have a nice day" on my way out the door. As far as cubicle jobs go I'm completely dysfunctional.

guy: So get some other kind of job. I had a job as [insert lecture here]

me: Yeah, that's a great idea. I'll go apply for a job at someplace like WalMart. They pay about minimum wage. You have to put your salary history on the job application. So you're a hiring manager at WalMart and you look at a job application where the guy's last job was paying maybe 10 times what he'll make if you hire him. You're going to believe he'll stay for an instant longer than it takes to get a better paying job? I don't think so.

guy: Well there are plenty of other things you could do [insert lecture here]

me: All those other jobs go to people who have some verifiable experience and who seem like they'll be easy to manage. I don't have the experience they're looking for and I'm past the age of putting up with the bullshit that the Human Resources department dishes out, that went away a long time ago.

guy: Listen, you just need to get a day job and do pipes on the side, why when I [insert lecture here]

He's not a bad guy, other than being really thrilled with himself, and he's certainly bright enough, he just doesn't get it. There's another guy who likes to tell me about the Law Of Supply And Demand. That one goes something like this...

me: Pipes don't seem to be selling, it looks like I need to raise my prices.

guy: That's crazy, the law of supply and demand says that if products aren't selling you need to decrease your prices, not increase them!

me: That's fine if your prices have enough profit in them to allow it. The way my prices are set, if every pipe I offered sold within a day or so I'd be able to keep going. If only half of them sell that means I need to make a significant increase in the prices in order to keep going.

guy: The law of supply and demand says you need to decrease prices, not increase them.

me: So what, I'm going to lose a little money on each pipe and make it up in volume? I don't think so.

guy: If you increase your prices the law of supply and demand says that fewer pipes will sell.

me: I think the law of supply and demand is swell as long as it applies, but there's a higher law of economics that says if you're not making any money you're in a fix because everything you need costs money.

guy: You need to get a day job...

Then there's this other guy who kind of gets the idea that a day job isn't going to happen, but thinks I can still make pipes part time. I guess he never started a business from scratch and doesn't realize that until you get going there is zero time for anything else.

It's funny how things work out. But they always do. It's an amazing world we live in.

End of an era

2006-07-28T05:52:00.000-06:00

Our lives pass through different stages as we progress to wherever we are bound. Some of these stages are brief, others seem interminable. To me, pipe carving seems like an era, though it has only been about four years.

Pipe 93 was offered, an email was sent to the people on the mailing list, and a post was made to inform those interested of its availability. Many, many people took a look at it.

It seems that, aside from one person who has most of my latest and best pieces, the market is simply not interested. Either my pipes do not appeal, or the prices that move me toward break-even and possibly a small profit, are too high for the market.

To do other than accept that and move forward would be foolish.

As I mentioned to a good friend, it is very likely that pipe 93 will be the last pipe that I offer. Not certain, but very likely. Further attempts to make a living from carving and selling pipes would be ridiculous -- not only would my pieces sit there to no purpose, I would be spending huge amounts of time that could be spent on other efforts that might perhaps bring some income.

When I look back at the very long four years that I've spent in the pipe carving business, I do not see failure. Before I began making pipes, I made a bookcase for my daughter. It was strong and functional, but there were places that one could insert a pipe cleaner between boards that should have been precisely joined. Now the expectation I have for the fit between the mortise insert and the stem is that it be invisible except under magnification. When I began making pipes, airflow and staining and finishing were all msyteries to me; now they are understood.

The craft has taught me many things, things that I doubt that I would ever have learnt elsewhere.

I have still not determined how things will proceed from here. The two remaining pipes will not sit on the site for more than another week or so. I will make major changes to the website, but their nature depends on whether I continue to make pipes at all.

Carving does bring something good into my life, something I cannot readily describe in words. It has become a form of active meditation. I am not certain that I wish to, or would be able to, give it up entirely.

Occasional periods of total confusion seem to be good for the soul.

Return

2006-07-25T05:26:00.000-06:00

I was away from the shop for most of last week, spending time with relatives in the city. Since returning things have been confused but now pipe 93 is approaching completion. Yesterday afternoon the 1000-grit sanding was completed, the marking was done, and the final stain applied. What remains is two grit-levels of sanding and final polishing.

For my own taste, if it finishes out as it appears, it will be perhaps the best looking that I've made. The lines are clean and crisp, the shape almost art-deco, both masculine and elegant without either giving in to the other. The grain is what it is, the bottom of the bowl has some of the nicest "swirlies" that I've seen in some time.

There are many carvers in the world. We all bring different things. Some bring speed, some bring shape, some bring finish, and then there are combinations of things. Smokers have many pipes to choose from. Economics enters into everything.

There are many things that I must do before winter begins, so many that I sometimes sit confused over which must be done first.

Our lives change in ways we could never guess, for reasons unfathomable.

Dumb

2006-07-18T20:53:00.000-06:00

Some of the comments I make could be taken in ways that are not intended. I readily admit that I think the pipe industry in general is doing a lot of dumb things. Standard drilling techniques seem dumb to me. Using vulcanite or acrylic for stems seems dumb to me. That's how I see it.

But that doesn't mean that I think people who use those techniques or materials are dumb. We all have reasons for the ways we do things. They would certainly be justified in thinking that I am dumb because I put so much work into my pipes and make so little money from doing it. I'd have to agree with them. People are used to certain materials and the results of certain techniques, and if you conform to their expectations they are more likely to buy pipes from you.

Money is a real pain in the ass. It drags us around by our noses and dictates the bulk of our lives. No man knows when he will die, if today is my last day do I want to spend it chasing after the dollar or doing something that feels useful and right?

Unfortunately I have no solution to the question of what people should do instead of use money. There should be something better though. It just doesn't seem to work very well.

Lots of industries do dumb things and make a lot of money that way. I don't get it, but that's okay. Maybe someday I'll understand it, or maybe someday a better system than money will be invented. For now I just do what is in front of me.

Someone mentioned my "unvarnished philosophy" in a comment, I think that was the term that was used. Maybe I need to varnish my philosophy. Then I could coat my varnished philosophy with wax and it would be very very shiny indeed. I don't even put wax on my pipes, ever... wax seems to me like a kind of fakery. I'll just leave my pipes smooth and my philosophy rough, people will take them or leave them as they wish to do. That seems the right way for things to be.

No resolve

2006-07-15T19:37:00.000-06:00

I was going to make the Belge into a Blackwood because of the twenty-thousandths of an inch dip in the tobacco chamber. I wasn't able to do it. I like the shape too much and I think it will be beautiful as a smooth. Oh well.

Blackwood Belge

2006-07-15T04:58:00.000-06:00

I've been up for an hour or two this morning. Things do seem different somehow this morning.

I suspect that later this morning I'll see about fitting a stem to the Belge stummel and completing it as a Blackwood. I hate to rusticate away fine grain, and the Belge seems to have very nice grain, but twenty thousandths of an inch pushes it past what I am trying to achieve for the Random line.

There are some advantages to the Blackwood stem finish. First, it doesn't pick up fingerprints. That's one of the things I personally find irritating about smooth and shiny stems, they seem always to be covered with fingerprints. Another advantage to the Blackwood stem finish is that if one chews holes in it, the stem can be repaired readily without the need for a replacement. As for it collecting dirt, a couple swipes with a toothbrush takes care of most of that, and it can be popped into the dishwasher along with the silverware, polycarbonate has a continuous use temperature of 250F which is well above boiling water.

In any case, I think that I'll get back to the shop today. Hopefully well before the insulation I put into the van last fall to help with winter cold makes it unbearably hot.

Oh, I've returned pipe #87 to availability in the store. The friend to whom I offered it never got back to me, I suspect that knowing my financial situation he's going to stay mum on it. Perhaps someone will like it, I don't think that I'll use the wraparound shank technique any more, a longer stem is probably preferrable.

Alien landscape

2006-07-14T19:30:00.000-06:00

I did not work in the shop again today. Yesterday I woke with a sharp pain in the left side of my head, I now wonder if it was a small stroke. We drove into town to ship pipe 92 and buy a few groceries.

As we drove through town, it took on a very alien appearance. All the business, bright colored signs shouting "Come In Here!" and "Buy Something!" with different wordings, the signs were everywhere. The cars were everywhere. People were everywhere. It was all about money. Grasping, shoving, feeding for it. It felt like being on another planet, but it was our own Earth.

I was glad to get back onto the mountain. I took a nap this afternoon, though the temperature was only about 60F outside it was very pleasant, the thin mountain air lets the sun beat through. Of course when we returned from town, the inside of the trailer was about 90F because it had been shut up during our absence.

I must have slept for 3 hours. I felt better when I woke up. My head hurts less, whatever it was seems to be healing itself.

Perhaps I am simply overtired again. I do tend to go in cycles. I'll be getting up at 3-4am and working on software until around 8, then going to the shop to work to around 7:30pm, then have dinner and go to bed around 9pm to do it over again. When I complete a pipe there is a release of tension, if it does not sell that turns into depression because things financial are difficult.

Sometimes I recognize fatigue. Usually I don't. Outside tonight there is a cool breeze and a nice sunset lighting the clouds to the west. Everything seems different somehow. I suspect it is largely because I am not so tired now. When I am tired I need to wear glasses to read the text on my computer, but when I am rested the glasses are unnecessary.

At the moment I'm reading without glasses for the first time in some weeks.

Tomorrow will be different than today, somehow.

Thoughts de-jour

2006-07-14T05:47:00.000-06:00

As mentioned earlier in this blog, I didn't want to create a blog simply to have a place to post photographs. I wanted rather to write of my thoughts and feelings about the craft.

Comments from people like Gunnar, who fancy themselves to be great artists and businessmen, could of course simply be rejected during comment moderation. Probably that would be a wise alternative. I have however always tried to favor virtue over expediency, for good or ill.

This morning I will shrug aside some concerns and simply write my thoughts.

First, the fallacy that pipe engineering is mysterious. That is a joke. Pipe engineering is relatively simple. The principles used in shaping a good tobacco chamber are identical to the principles used by NASA in designing rocket exhaust nozzles. Air is a liquid, it has the same properties as water. The properties most often ignored by pipe makers are viscosity and surface tension. They also forget that airflow at high velocities is not the same as airflow at low velocities, any more than waterflow at high velocities is the same as waterflow at low velocities. Normally drilled pipes contain an intersection where the airway meets the tobacco chamber which consists of sharp edges. That is just stupid.

The airway of a pipe begins at the rim and ends at the smoke outlet, and a proper airway is a single continuous tube that of necessity changes in configuration as it bends. Makers of musical instruments have understood basic airflow principles for hundreds of years, yet makers of pipes cling to the traditions of their teachers and propagate the myth that pipe engineering is mysterious by using what in general amounts to bad engineering. Pipes made with bad engineering slapped out by the hundreds will occasionally produce a decent smoker, thus propagating the myth that it is mysterious. It is not in the least mysterious.

However, producing a good tobacco chamber is costly, thus unprofitable. The profit motive is, for some, everything.

There are two methods of producing quality.

The common method is to produce quantity, then sort it according to the luck of the results. Make a dozen pipes in a day, sort them according to how each happened to turn out, and price them accordingly. Eventually the overall level of quality will rise with the practice level of the factory worker.

The other method is to produce quality at every step. This method is costly in terms of time, which as we all have been told, is money. Eventually the speed of the practitioner will increase, but if perfection is a consideration the time saved will be used to root out and address finer and finer imperfections.

The market for quality is a small one to begin with. Few people really care, if it looks like it was made in a factory that is good enough. Moderns generally have no real concept of what handcrafted means or what to do with it.

Beyond that, modern distribution and marketing methodologies come into effect. In general, price is doubled at every level. That is called "keystone" pricing. Pipes that you buy from a retailer will generally cost twice what the maker received for them. I do not have any retailers who are actively marketing my work, in part because they wish nothing to do with a radical such as me, and in part because I consider the concept of keystone pricing to be an abomination.

Today I should probably decide what to do with the Belge stummel. Should I spend a week turning it into the best smooth pipe I can make, knowing that the tobacco chamber is off by twenty thousandths of an inch, or should I spend a day turning it into a Blackwood knowing that it will outsmoke 99.99% of all pipes on the world market, or should I simply let it sit there knowing that my time would probably result in a product that sits unwanted in any case?

Yesterday I smoked the Blackwood, #89. All my pipes seem to smoke the same. The stem feels like the test stems that I made before offering the first Blackwood.

Finances make it increasingly difficult to ignore them and create beauty for its own sake. To choose the next briar block and begin the process of turning it into the best pipe I can make from it is at conflict with basic survival. There needs to be at least some expectation that after putting all the effort into a thing of beauty, someone will find it desireable enough to purchase. I have just about lost that expectation.

Feels strange

2006-07-13T19:21:00.000-06:00

It feels very strange not to have worked in the shop today. I keep trying to guess the outcome of all this. It is not possible, one can only wait and see.

Decisions evolve

2006-07-12T21:28:00.000-06:00

I have removed pipe #89 from the site because I wish to have a Blackwood to smoke myself. It was an embarassment to admit that although I made a number of test pipes before offering the Blackwood, they were all taken apart to verify their construction and I was too poor to take one for myself. I will smoke it in a few minutes.

I have also removed pipe #87 from the site. It will be offered to a good friend who I owe a pipe, if it does not call out to him I will smoke it myself as a souvineer of my pipe carving days.

That leaves exactly one pipe on the site, pipe #91. I will never again make a pipe of its quality for such a low price. Should pipe #91 sell, I will endeavor to make at least one pipe to replace it.

Beyond that, I leave some decisions to Fate.

Gunnar's attack

2006-07-12T18:21:00.000-06:00

For those of you in Europe, the following is the kind of "help" that I receive from my so-called colleagues. Frankly I am sick of their arrogance.

Here is my conclusion. I will make no more pipes until something sells from the website. If a pipe sells and I am still in the pipe business, I will make another pipe. The price will be higher. If I run totally out of money before anything sells, which will be around the start of the weekend, I shut down the pipe business permanently and my customers can buy from Gunnar and his ilk. The following is from Gunnar:

"Hello Random,

I sent you an email in early June, I believe, explaining my interest in your work and what I thought was a major -at this point it sounds fatal- misunderstanding you harbor about your pipes and the world of artists and collectors in general.

As a fellow artist there are some benefits to producing good work. One of which is commentary and critique from people who like your work.

Consider this you free Bitch Slap. Extras will cost, so I suggest you straighten up.

First off stop whining in your blog. It sounds pathetic and, well, whiney. No one like a whiner.

You wrote:

It had been my hope that the Blackwood line would be met with more enthusiasm. Granted most will prefer a smooth stem, but the stem can be replaced for a low cost and the result will still be an outstanding smoker. I could have chosen to make a lower priced line with factory stems. But because of the stench of sulphur present when working any kind of vulcanite I will not touch it with a stick, and acrylic is an open invitation to breakage. A quick polycarbonate stem with good internals is much better in my opinion.

This paragraph explains more of your extreme lack of understanding -something you readily admit to. That's good. If you know and accept you don't understand maybe you will now be willing to listen.

First off as I said in the email, the Blackwood line MUST be stamped with your name. People can buy no-name pipes at shops for $40 something. Pipes with no names are basket pipes. Why should they buy yours for $100 something. Collectors what to have something they can share and talk about. A no-name pipe is not one of those. If the maker thought it was so good why is there no name of any kind? And now you say you've never even smoked one yourself?? That is insane. How can you sell something that you don't even know how it will feel in the mouth after an hour of smoking; how it will look after a week of smoking? I believe one reason bits are smooth is for cleaning purposes. How is one supposed to clean those groovy (tee hee) bits after a month

Now you think it's about the rough stem -which is in fact the whole reason you gave that line the name- and you suggest that for a low cost it can be replaced. That is sooooo backwards and inside-out it's not even funny. The whole point of the thing is it's made from special materials, has special internal engineering, has a special tenon and is made by Random. In that one sentence you just took away all the reasons to buy your pipe. I like the way you finish off the paragraph by insulting not only every-other pipe maker using vulcanite or acrylic but also every pipe collector who has pipes with vulcanite or acrylic (and that's pretty much all them). Yet you just said to replace your original bit. With what?

That brings us to your second very real problem. Power (gasoline) v. Money and Time. If you are finding that you do not have the time/power to complete your pipes to get them on line and sold, you must figure out a way to make them faster so you are using less power per. That brings us back to the Blackwoods. They must be stamped by an artisan in order to sell for artisan prices. Simple hypothetical: Two Blackwoods of about equal size. One is stamped "Blackwood by Random" one is not, no name whatsoever although in the text/advertising it is stated. Which do you think will sell for a higher price in store, at a show or on ebay? How about if they are estates of 5 or 10 years old?

So to sum up; One: You must add nomenclature to the Blackwoods to make them more valuable to the collector and casual smoker. Two you must figure out new or different techniques to make all pipes faster. If it means to stay in business you must use a sanding disk, or something similar, than that's what you'll have to do to keep doing this. What's more important to you? Your elaborate and time consuming techniques or making and selling pipes? At this point, at least for now, it sounds like you can only keep one.

I really like your work and am very interested in your materials and techniques, as I said in the email. I am saddened to hear of your frustrations in the blog. However you really need to hear this and accept whatever you can from it.

I imagine we're talking, pipes in hand, as we walk through the surrounding forrest...

Good luck,"

Guillaume's comment

2006-07-12T10:04:00.000-06:00

"You do not discourage. All people whom I know which has one or of the pipes of you are charmed by it. I would like to buy this Blackwood, but my banker will not agree, the period is not easy. Good courage. Guillaume"

Thank you for the encouragement, Guillaume.

I received an email this morning that said "Do not stop the manufacture of pipes, you are one of best." I appreciate the sentiment expressed, but I am only the best that I can be, I try not to measure myself against my colleagues. It does not matter; when the gasoline is gone, it is gone.

It is a thing I have thought about much. It seems that mostly people buy pipes for the way they look and pray that the pipe which has stolen their heart will be a good smoker. Americans seem to buy whatever is touted by authorities. I do not understand people, I will probably never understand people.

What I understand is that in a few days it will be the end. I see no purpose in spending the few days remaining making pipes to sit unsmoked. For over three years family has come to our aid again and again. I can ask them for no more help.

But slowly I learn. There have been people who asked for a less expensive line of pipes, what they really wanted is free pipes. Even at $400 plus per pipe I am barely covering expenses if every pipe offered sells immediately.

The pipe making business seems evolved to favor those who happily make 6 pipes a day and then grade them by the luck of their results. I think that I have been insane not to leave it to them.

Probably no future

2006-07-12T05:54:00.000-06:00

Pipe #92 is spoken for, paid for in advance many months ago.

It is time to begin on the Belge. But I am puzzling over whether it is worth the effort. The tobacco chamber on that stummel is twenty thousandths of an inch lower than the airway. Trivial, not nearly enough to prevent it from being a world class smoker, little enough that bottom cake will quickly eradicate the imperfection. But not perfect. Shall I turn it into a quick Blackwood? The Blackwood line does not promise to be any kind of solution. Pipe #89 is priced at a ridiculously low amount considering all things, even if its stem is less than I would have it be.

I had hoped that another pipe, #87 or #91 would sell, so that I could pull #89 and smoke it myself. Another smoker asked me if I smoked a Blackwood pipe, and I was embarassed to admit that I have none in my personal collection, simply because I have not been able to take one for myself.

It had been my hope that the Blackwood line would be met with more enthusiasm. Granted most will prefer a smooth stem, but the stem can be replaced for a low cost and the result will still be an outstanding smoker. I could have chosen to make a lower priced line with factory stems. But because of the stench of sulphur present when working any kind of vulcanite I will not touch it with a stick, and acrylic is an open invitaiton to breakage. A quick polycarbonate stem with good internals is much better in my opinion.

A year ago I was hearing comments from people who said they were waiting for a partically rusticated pipe, yet now two partically rusticated pipes sit unwanted.

At the moment enough gasoline remains to power the generator, thus my shop, for another 2-3 days. There is little money, about enough to ship pipe 92 overseas, or to buy another 3 days of gasoline.

Before making the Belge, I should make a new smoke outlet forming tool, the one that I have could be much improved and a stem will be needed for the Belge as its first order of business.

Can I spend the remaining time making the Belge, or should I work on something besides making pipes? The market for my pipes seems indifferent at best.

People have said to me, "I don't see you having any problem selling pipes, there are only 2 on your site!" They do not understand that my only income comes from selling pipes, so 2 pipes sitting unwanted represents in some cases as much as a month without income.

I will work on something other than pipes today. I can not continue to spend the time and effort to make pipes for an indifferent market.

Finally

2006-07-11T21:27:00.000-06:00

Pipe #92 was completed today. One of the preliminary pictures is below. It will be grade "standard" because of several pinpoint flaws in the briar that are visible if you look for them at normal reading distance. It will price at $595.

As long as it takes

2006-07-10T20:55:00.000-06:00

Today I completed 320-grit sanding and 600-grit sanding. I could, if nothing happens, actually finish this pipe tomorrow.

Taking this long to make a pipe is ludicrous, and I am surely insane for continuing to do it. There are makers who turn out 6 or more pipes in a single day.

There is a famous yellow-and-black stain, and another famous red-and-black stain, both done by famous carvers. They seem very popular looks.

I want my pipes to look as if they are made from... wood. Briar, in fact. I'm a sucker for birdseye and flame and transitional grain. Straight grain just doesn't do that much for me. It's probably a bad thing for a carver to come out and say that he doesn't much like straight grain, but it's the truth. A perfect straight grain pipe is, to me, boring. If I wanted straight-grained pipes it would be much easier and less costly to make them from oak, or pine. It's the swirly patterns in briar that give it character to my eye.

When I am finishing a smooth pipe, I take huge amounts of time to do it. Part of that is because I am making minute shape adjustments down to the 1000-grit sandpaper level. Not that my shapes are perfect, but they are the closest that I can get them. But most of the time comes from wanting to see every hair of the grain, clearly. I spend a lot of time sanding under a loupe.

I also keep my finish colors on the light side, for two reasons. One is so that the grain patterms are more defined, the other is because the minute a pipe begins its useful life as a smoking instrument, its color darkens. If I make it the perfect color before it is smoked, it will be too dark later. I want the pipes I make to get better with age.

But I am clearly insane, or I would be spending my time making large gobs of money instead of sanding briar under a loupe. I rather like it though.

Sometimes 2 or 3 days...

2006-07-09T20:06:00.000-06:00

This "hook" shaped pipe is definitely one of the more difficult shapes I've made. Today I managed to get through 220-grit sanding, and partway through 320 sanding. Not much accomplishment for a full day, one would think.

I continue making shape adjustments through 600-grit. This morning at 220 things were fairly obvious. This afternoon at the 320 level it became a bit more subtle.

Take a bit off the shank to make the curve look right, then the stem looks wrong. Take a bit off the stem and then the shank doesn't look quite right. All the time the airway is getting closer and closer to the surface, somewhere in there.

One of the good things about shaping the stem after it's bent is that it teaches you some stuff about shaping. One of the bad things is that it's very easy to lose track of where the airway is.

It takes as long as it takes.

Clueless

2006-07-08T20:59:00.000-06:00

I have no clue what I did in the shop today. I forget what state things were in when I started this morning. Maybe my brain has a limited amount of fuel and it's all used up.

At least I know what I'll do in the shop tomorrow. Tomorrow I start sanding and finishing the hook-shaped pipe. That seems to take me about a day and a half. I may not be good but at least I'm slow.

Wanna see a picture?

Invisible day

2006-07-07T20:44:00.000-06:00

Today was a long day, but looking back I'm not sure where it went. Errands and chores ate up a big portion of it.

I found that I only had one stem blank made up and two stummels ready for stem fitting. I had three pieces of pre-drilled rod but couldn't get the heat right on any of them. Polycarbonate is easier to work with than Ultem, but it still has its quirks. Then I realized that I didn't want to make up more stem blanks with my current forming tool and didn't have the materials to make another. Finally I decided just to pick one of the pipes and go forward with the existing stem blank. I chose the hook shaped pipe.

From a stem blank to a fitted stem there are several steps. First the blank has to be cut to length and its end faced off, then it needs drilled to the proper size to accept the tenon, then countersunk. Then the tenon needs to be made, and inserted into the stem with a press. Finally the tenon's length needs to be adjusted and its corners rounded to prevent scarring up the inside of the mortise insert when it's put into the pipe.

What I call a stem blank is a piece of polycarbonate that has had the bit outlet formed and the first half-inch of the mouthpiece partially shaped. Just enough for me to judge its quality. I'm currently using 5/8" diameter stem rod.

So after the tenon is added to the stem and fitted to the stummel, the stem is bent. It's bent at its full 5/8" diameter. Once polycarbonate is raised to the right temperature it becomes flexible like rubber. I use a piece of teflon rod to prevent the airway from squeezing shut when the stem is bent, teflon has a melting point of 500F.

Once the stem is bent, the pipe looks very ugly. The bend is seldom in what appears to be the right place, and it's just a bent piece of 5/8" diameter rod. At that point I begin shaping the stem with a rotary grinder. It's an interesting and enjoyable procedure, though it can be challenging to work the stem from a fat bent rod into something that looks like a stem without shaping through the airway.

That's about all I got accomplished today for some reason. Tomorrow I'll continue on the hook-shaped pipe, things should speed up from here.

Short day

2006-07-06T17:08:00.000-06:00

I once read an article about how Bo Nordh works. As I remember, it said that he never hurries. I try to follow that example... when I hurry, I mess things up bigtime. Yesterday I thought the Belge that I've been working on looked pretty good -- but this morning what I found was that another hour or two of filework was needed to get it as far as I can take it at this level.

Today I brought the Belge and the hooked-shaped stummel as far as I could at the filework level. Next is fitting them with stem blanks, then shaping stem after bending it, then finally finishing.

Guillaume, I've spent an hour putting together a couple pics. There's time today for me to fit the stems and bend the bent one, maybe even start shaping them. But I prefer to wait until morning for that, in case they don't look right after a night's sleep. Plus, when all your electricity comes from a generator and you are your own plumber and landscaper and everything else, there are plenty of things that need doing.

Here is the Belge that I've been going on about. The airway dips twenty-thousandths of an inch just outside the draft hole, but the airflow is fantastic. Wall thickness is about 3/8" or perhaps a little more at the heel, and about 1/4" at the rim.

This is the hook-shaped pipe at completion of filework. There is shape-adjustment needed for both stummels, but it's too delicate to perform with files.

The airway on the hookshaped pipe is absolutely perfect as far as I can tell, which is not easy with a bend that radical.

Blogger continues to drive me nuts, this time with its goofy handling of keystrokes, I need to disable most of their keyboard shortcuts. More tomorrow I guess.

Now able to read comments

2006-07-06T04:23:00.000-06:00

I have downloaded the new Opera 9 and now I can view the text of comments instead of simply guessing at what they might or might not contain. A small victory but still a victory!

Shaping

2006-07-05T19:55:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I was able to get into the shop and accomplish some work. The straight Belge is now ready to have its stem fitted and the shaping of the stem done and then the finishing.

The deeply bent hook-shaped pipe is halfway through intermediate shaping. The outside contour of the stummel is done, but I decided to wait until morning to do the shank/bowl transition because I am not yet sure how it should look.

Working from the block's grain to a basic shape, then from there to a more refined shape, and finally to a finished pipe is a true joy for me. Unfortunately I tend to lose my enthusiasm for going into the shop when I feel that I am making pipes simply to make them.

Perhaps tomorrow things will look less bleak to me.

About your comments

2006-07-05T19:44:00.000-06:00

So far there have been 2 comments. I have rejected them both. Why? Because the blogger software is such crap that I am unable to read the full text of the comments. You are supposed to be able to expand them by clicking on a triangle next to the first few words of a comment. It simply does not work and I have tried it with 3 browsers.

I will mull over possibilities for resolving this.

The latest comment was from FdP, who said that an occasional photograph would be welcome. I apologize, although photographs would be welcome, my camera is also a piece of crap. Once I dig the thing out from a bag which is stored under the bed, the only place I have to store it, it's a matter of a couple minutes to snap a photo. But then I have to take out the little memory card, and stick it into a floppy disk adapter, then wait several minutes for the thing to slowly load the files onto my hard-drive, then use a pair of forceps to get the damned card adapter out of my computer. If photographs are required for the blog, I will simply delete the blog. A new camera would be welcome, the Nikon D100 is a mere $1000US. A purchase once in a while would be welcome. At this point I am making exactly two pipes. Once they are made, there will be no more made until something sells; when something sells I will see about making another to replace it. I realize that pipemakers should not have this attitude. Unfortunately carving pipes is my only source of income aside from begging off relatives and it is unfair to expect them to support me. Pipes will sell or they will not be made. I cannot do otherwise.

I apologize for the rant.

Rough day in the shop

2006-07-04T20:43:00.000-06:00

I had an absolute blast in the shop today -- it was roughing day.

I roughed out the straight Belge, and I'm very pleased with the shape. It's ready for either file-work or stem fitting and sanding, depending on how the shape looks tomorrow.

I got the mystery-shape half-roughed. I'm not sure what it's going to look like yet, other than that from the side it'll probably look like a hook. Very deeply bent, curved rim that flows up into the shank. I tend to work from the givens to the whatevers. That seems to make it more fun.

Hot time in da city

2006-07-03T18:19:00.000-06:00

The three epoxied blocks were done curing yesterday afternoon. By the time I got to them I was tired from moving dirt -- get away from it for a few weeks and you're out of shape all over again.

So after they were done curing, I drilled the draft-hole and shaped the chamber of the first one, another Belge. I have a thing for the Belge shape, I like the flat top coupled with the canted bowl, it's kind of "art deco" and I am a big fan of art deco. The bottom of the tobacco chamber on that one is twenty thousandths of an inch below the draft hole, which kind of pisses me off, but the airflow is great and it passed all my airflow tests with flying colors.

I had time to drill the draft-hole and start shaping the chamber on the second block, a very bent variant of #73 I think it is, which in profile has kind of a scoop/hook shape. Finished shaping the chamber this morning, the chamber shape on this one is perfect as close as I can see, at first it was a little off in terms of pulling air straight down, but after a few minor tweaks it's pulling the air straight down and the draft-hole is dead in the middle of the bowl. It pulls as open as any straight pipe.

Drilling the third draft-hole, I lost the block. The drill was too acute, and the airway nicked the chamber. So it goes, next time I'll get a little different angle on it.

The rest of the day was chewed up by a trip to the city. But I did score a couple bandsaw blades, woo hoo!

Sometimes I wonder why I persist in calling this a "business". It's an addiction, not a business. In a business you make money, I've been doing this for three years and still haven't turned a penny profit. That will end real soon one way or another, no choice in the matter. Either the market will accept my work, or I'll close the doors, one or the other has to happen soon. Anybody who's waiting for a sale, there won't be any more reduced prices, ever; if I have to close up shop, anything unsold will go into my collection as a keepsake.

Enough of that depressing crap. Tomorrow morning I get back to carving, the part of the process that I love the most. There's nothing else quite like carving a block to its final shape, holding the grinder handpiece like a paring knife and going at it. I love it.

Three minus one makes four

2006-07-01T17:09:00.000-06:00

Drillbit problem solved, mortise inserts made up. Little plastic thingys over the flat ends to protect them during the next part of the process. Ready to glue them up.

Oops. Only two gluing clamps. Remembered that I sacrificed one to make a tailstop brace for my lathe, to keep the tailstock from sliding backward on the ways under heavy pressure. Did that right after reworking the tailstock to include a thrust bushing. Duh.

So three minus one makes four. The two original gluing clamps, my bench vise, and the lathe.

With three bored blocks epoxied and curing, I'm done with pipe work until tomorrow afternoon. Next time I can make up 4 blocks at a time.

Maybe I'll get some more dirt moved tomorrow before the epoxy is fully cured, it sure needs moved. The mountain-lion event has reminded me that what I really need here is a freakin' building.

Trip to the village

2006-07-01T10:32:00.000-06:00

So I tossed the most chewed-up gas can into the back of the truck, and we went off to the village. Town. Whatever you choose to call it.

Our first stop was the local cop-shop. I was told that the puncture marks were too small to have been made by a bear (which I had been puzzling over) that "bears go through plastic like it's not even there". The marks were made by either a bobcat or a mountain lion. Big relief, I guess. Still, anything that can poke its claws through a plastic gas-can deserves a little respect.

The local hardware store had a few drill-bits. I couldn't find a 3/16 brad-point bit, which they call "pilot point". I asked the guy who was working this morning, but he didn't seem to know much. I decided we were likely to need to promote the trip to the next larger "town", and was looking at the grinding wheels. The wife kept poking around and managed to find the bit I was looking for, somebody had put some other size on top of it.

Looks like time to get back to work.

A subtle hint

2006-07-01T07:46:00.000-06:00

This morning I slept late. Woke up with the intention of going into the nearby town, which has a small hardware store, for a 3/16" brad-point drill bit.

Went out to start the generator. Usually I do that around 4am. Last night I had left a plastic gas can near the generator with around 4 gallons of gas left in it.

This morning that gas can was laying on its side, empty. It had marks on the top, made by either teeth or claws. Something -- perhaps the bear, maybe a lion, who can know -- had bitten or clawed into it. Probably trying to get at water, it's been too dry here. So about 4 gallons of gas had spilled onto the ground. Looking around a little, I found that whatever it was had also bit into another of my gas cans, but this one remained upright.

So we're down 4 gallons of gas and 2 plastic gas cans. That'll cost about $25 to replace.

I'm sitting here wondering if I should replace it. I can keep fighting the battle, replace the cans and hope whatever it was has learned there's no water inside, keep doing my best to make pipes that will sit on the website. Or I can call it quits and go somewhere more civilized, get a job that pays enough to live on perhaps.

Something to ponder this morning, ain't we got fun.

Finger, finger, wherefore art thou?

2006-06-30T18:36:00.000-06:00

Today I finished pre-shaping the last of the 3 blocks, and bored the set. Almost lost the end of my right index finger to the inverted router... it seems I was putting pressure in a direction I was unaware of, and when I reached the end of the block my finger went for the bit. Took off about 1/16" of fingernail and a couple layers of skin, but didn't draw blood. Lesson learned, be very careful.

Started turning the mortise inserts so I could epoxy the batch and get on with things, and ran into a problem. I haven't yet figured out exactly what is causing it.

I use a 3/16" brass tenon, and the drill that I use is a 3/16" bit that I've reduced in diameter slightly to give just the right fit, and converted to end-cutting to give a flat bottom to the mortise for good seating. The problem is that the hole it's making is too large. It could be a number of things including heat-expansion of the polycarbonate during drilling.

I may have to reduce it in diameter a tad more, I'll figure it out in the morning.

This could be my last blog post for a while, it's starting to feel obligatory and I'm dead set against anything obligatory.

The last paper towel

2006-06-29T18:32:00.000-06:00

Things went well in the shop today. I managed to use the inverted router and my Foredom to pre-shape the second of 3 blocks for boring.

It seems to take much longer without the bandsaw. But I am not sure that it does overall. I am doing more shaping of the pipe's outer profile at this stage, which gives better insight to the grain, and it is work that must be done later in any case. Sandpits can be taken out without risking a predetermined shape since none has been set yet. And shaping the outer profile first gives the possibility of a more precise bore in better alignment with the pipe.

Also my nature is to be a slapdash craftsman, the precision found in my work is not a result of my innate nature so much as it comes from concentration and discipline; and I find that the more I have put into a pipe early on, the easier it is to continue putting only the best into it.

In a few days a trip to the city will be unavoidable, and I have hopes of picking up some bandsaw blades if finances permit. But at this point I do not expect that I will use the bandsaw in the same ways that I have in the past. I would almost prefer to purchase a more agressive cutter that I can use with the inverted router, something that would give speed in addition to precision.

After cleaning up most of the briar dust from the shop floor, I performed the dreaded Foredom shaft lubrication ritual. The manual says to do it every 50 hours of use, but I tend to put it off as long as possible. When the flex-shaft begins heating up while I'm working, it's time and it cannot be put off. It is an invitation to cover yourself with grease, since the sheath has to be removed and the inner cable lubricated it's like a greasy snake when you put it back together.

I grabbed a paper towel to wipe the grease with, and noticed that there is only one more on the roll, so I put it back -- I'll need it for use as alcohol wipes during staining. I grabbed a rag instead, I have a small pile of them. The reason I find this of interest is that I never experienced poverty before becoming a pipe carver, and life takes on a very different set of priorities. Poverty is not only the bad things, it also has some marvelous aspects. When one is affluent, things are easy and life is guaranteed. When one is poor, things are more difficult in many ways, but the miraculous becomes visible because it is a part of survival. I can't say that I'd recommend poverty, but it is certainly a thorough teacher of some things that affluence prevents us from seeing. Perhaps that is why many great spiritual teachers of the past have recommend a life of poverty, it removes the blinders of affluence to the miraculous.

In any case if things go as they should tomorrow, I'll be able to pre-shape the final block of the set then get on to boring. With the outer profiles of the pipes already established, rough shaping should go much faster than it has previously.

This is my first experience with blogging, and there are things that perhaps I should know that I don't. I don't want it to be a place to post photographs, in part because my camera makes obtaining a single photograph an hour's time spent, but mostly because I'd prefer it to be about the emotional/spiritual aspects of the workshop. The spiritual aspects of the craft are what makes it something other than just a job, what makes it worth doing instead of a daily drudge.

When pipemaking is a rich man's hobby it is one thing. When carving is a poor man's bread it is something different. At times one realizes that he is in the process of making a thing of beauty for its own sake.

I have not yet discovered any way to get blogger to tell me how many times posts have been viewed, if there is anyone actually reading this thing, and if you know of a way to find out how many times posts are viewed, I would appreciate knowing that.

Onward and, hopefully, forward.

Shapin' for da bin

2006-06-28T19:22:00.000-06:00

Today I spent most of the day trying to shape a block into something that resembled a pipe. Since the bandsaw has been out of commission I've been doing more work before boring, and it seems to help, maybe. Or, not. At first glance the block I shaped and shaped and shaped today looked like it was a throwaway, unless it possibly had a pickaxe in it -- not my favorite shape. After working on the thing, it turns out that I was right, it was a throwaway.

Good day though, strangely enough, as an idea snuck up on me that should save me a lot of work later on.

After posting about my troubles with our Dell laptop, I received an email from a colleague who has also had problems with Dells. Then this afternoon I ran across this, which brought a big laugh: exploding laptop

The new grind

2006-06-27T21:20:00.000-06:00

After mounting the router upside-down under the fold-up table, I needed to make a plate to cover the screw-heads holding the router to the table. A piece of 1/4" masonite scavenged from a "workmate" foldup workbench served, it was only a dust collecting shelf as part of the "workmate" anyway. That provided a decently smooth flat surface to move the block around on.

I found that the cutter I had hopes for was too fine for use at 27000 rpm, it preferred to burn rather than cut. I tried a cheap chinese rotary rasp and found it barely usable, though a little scarey; I kept thinking about the thing flexing microscopically every time I pushed the block against it, wondering if would fatigue and snap off at that speed -- they're not the best steel. It took forever to get anything done, but I did learn something from the exercise. I think that my Foredom using my most agressive cutter would have been faster. Tomorrow maybe I'll try that instead. To use the inverted router to good effect, I'll need to find an appropriate cutter. Something longer, with at least 2-1/2" of cutting edge, and with probably 4 flutes. Until I find a better bit, I'll probably disassemble the booby-trap since it tends to be in the way.

Sometimes I wonder why it is that I do this -- carve pipes. It seems to be somewhere between a compulsion and an act of desperation. Maybe someday I'll understand it.

An interesting day

2006-06-26T19:11:00.000-06:00

This morning I applied the screwdriver to my wife's Dell again, this time removing the last screw holding the keyboard down (the plastic place where the other screw went was broken off). That, and some heavy paper between the keyboard and the motherboard to insulate what seems to have been an intermitten short, seems (I hope) to have done the trick.

In any case, my wife worked on cleaning up the pictures of #91 while I carefully pulled her vital data off the Dell and moved it to my Sony. Then I used it for a while, and it failed to fail. Back in business, but no more Dells for me.

She continued cleaning up the photos while I went out to the shop. Actually the cleanup took her most of the day, our camera is poor and the lighting abysmal, so the background was very difficult to remove with the airbrush tool.

First order of business in the shop was making an end-cutting drill bit to use in boring the true mortise, into which the mortise insert fits. The previous one was a little larger than my preference, the new one reduces the diameter by about .030"

Making an end-cutting drillbit is interesting. I start by whacking off the pointed end of a regular drill bit with a metal-cutting disk in a fender grinder. Then to get the end flat, I put it into the lathe spinning in reverse at 1400rpm and flatten the end with the same fender grinder. Then it becomes a hand operation done with a rotary grinding tool. The whole process takes perhaps 3-4 hours. When that was done I checked the edges on the other tools I'll need to bore the next set of 3 pipes. Why 3 blocks at a time? Simple, I have 3 gluing clamps.

That done, it was time to lay out and bore the next 3 blocks. I decided on one that has a Horn shape in it as my first, and got about 1" through cutting what will become the pipe's top with the bandsaw, when my last bandsaw blade broke.

Of course that puts my bandsaw out of commission until I get new blades. The closest place where bandsaw blades can be purchased is an hour's drive away, and the round trip costs almost $25 at today's gas prices, more than I can afford just now.

So it was pondering time again. After about an hour of thinking over what tools I had that could be made to fill in until I can lay hands on some new bandsaw blades, I decided on an approach. It's something that I'd thought of a couple months back in order to speed up the rough shaping process.

In my shop, I have a fold-up table attached to the workbench. It's made of aluminum, and had originally been a writing table when the shop (which is a 12-foot step van) had been used as a delivery vehicle. I drilled four holes in the table, and mounted my Bosch plunge-router underneath so the bit can project up through the table. I have a pedal-switch that I also use with the Foredom so it will be easy to control. The bit chosen to replace the bandsaw is an agressive hole-cutting drillbit, one of those intended to be plunged through a board and then used as a saw. It sticks up about 2" through the table. OSHA would not consider this a safe arrangement. It seems to work well enough though, surprisingly docile for a 1-hp motor spinning at 27000 rpm.

The only problem is that the 3 screw-heads that hold the router in place stick up above the table surface. In the morning I'll cut a piece of masonite to size and place it on the table to provide a smooth surface, then it's back to getting the next set of 3 blocks bored.

Assuming that the generator doesn't pitch a fit, and the creek don't rise.

One step forward...

2006-06-26T05:21:00.000-06:00

Pipe 91 was completed yesterday, and it turned out nicely. It's a lightweight, 31gm for a 6-1/4" pipe is what I'd call light. Slightly bent, Belge shaped bowl, canted a bit forard. Fascinating grain, lots of swirlies to get lost in. Rusticated shank. Nice thin bit at .132" (3.37mm for metric folks), nice open airway.

Took the photos, and did the initial cropping and color evening and moved the images to a floppy disk for my wife to clean up.

Then spent the rest of the day trying to make her computer work.

It's a Dell laptop. When we came up here 3 years ago we had my Sony laptop (which cost me an arm and a leg but has proven worth every penny), and her Dell laptop, and my Dell development laptop.

Her Dell laptop toasted itself some number of months ago, apparently the graphics card fizzled itself to death because the screen went bazonkers and it became useless.

So we moved her onto my Dell development laptop. It's an old one, that I paid $50 for then another $20 for a new backlight part when I then managed to get working in it. I had planned to use it to learn Linux. So it goes.

Now her current Dell is somewhere between sick and dead. Several hours with a screwdriver yesterday found an intermittent short between the keyboard and the motherboard, or whatever that thing is. But it still isn't working right. You'll be working along and then it'll start typing characters and beeping and there you go.

So today I have several projects. The first will be to get the vital data off her system. The second will be to zero her hard drive and attempt to put some software on it so she can edit the pictures of #91. I have the sinking feeling that I'll spend most of the day doing this software restoration then find out that the problem remains hiding someplace in the hardware.

I think that I will never buy another Dell computer if I ever have the money to think about buying computers. I've been amazed at some of the cheap manufacturing they use. I'm sure their CEO is happy with the profits.

Of course I could let her use my Sony to clean up the pictures. But is it a matter of Dell making cheap computers, or does she have the magic fingers of computer death somehow? If my Sony goes belly-up we are screwed.

Somehow it will figure itself out. Assuming that it does, I'll start on the next batch of 3 pipes this afternoon, hopefully I'll have time to get them bored and epoxied and set aside to cure up for the night.

Site-Feed Added

2006-06-25T07:15:00.000-06:00

A friend in France emailed me yesterday asking why there was no site-feed, and I explained that not knowing what it was good for I had disabled it. I still don't fully understand it, but it is enabled now and the url appears in the sidebar.

Finishing #91

2006-06-25T06:45:00.000-06:00

All of yesterday was taken up by sanding and staining the bowl of #91 at 4 grit-levels, since the first 2 levels were done the afternoon before. Today I hope to complete it, which involves the last grit-level of sanding, then polishing the bowl and stem. And the photographs of course, which must be cleaned up by hand before they are fit to display. Then there is my wife's computer, which is either infected with a virus or having hardware problems and needs to be set right before the photos can be cleaned up. With luck, #91 could be offered on Monday.

Some would call this an insane level of effort for a tobacco pipe. I would tend to agree. But briar is a funny substance.

Certainly you can use a belt sander or a disk sander to quicken the process. I find that mechanical sanding devices introduce a couple of additional variables to the process however, a level of uncertainty, to which I am unwilling to submit.

I have spent obscene amounts of time trying to make my carving process more certain, the results more uniform, and of a quality level in which I can take pride.

Anyway back to briar. What I find is that if the wood has average grain, it takes a good bit of effort to bring out its nuances and make it look its best. And if the wood has excellent grain, it takes a good bit of effort to bring out every detail and make it look its best. In other words, finishing takes a good bit of effort.

Luckily it is not onerous effort, it is more akin to opening a surprise package with many layers of wrapping. As one progresses, the object within becomes more and more clear, until finally... there it is!

Back in the saddle!

2006-06-24T07:13:00.000-06:00

I've spent the past few days working on a long-stemmed Belge. The shank is fairly thin and finely textured, the bowl smooth. I think it has the potential of being a real beauty, but at this stage the grain is just starting to come out so it's anybody's guess.

Before that, I spent a couple days on a Prince then lost it to a large sandpit -- an unusual occurrence, I've only been losing about 1 block in 20 to flaws in the briar.

And before that (shudder) I spent almost 2 weeks solid looking for the best way to reliably form and bend polycarbonate. I've tried a lot of methods from a heat-gun to a Frankenstein'ed toaster-oven, only to decide that without two digital temperature sensors and temperature control circuitry, the best method is a propane torch. Low light conditions help tremendously.

No doubt people wonder why I spend all this time and effort screwing around with "exotic" stem materials. The anwer to that is pretty simple, the traditional materials don't meet min-spec in my book. There's a lot of work that goes into making a decent hand-cut stem, and if I'm going to that much trouble I want a result that I can feel good about. Making stems out of vulcanite seems to me like carving a canoe paddle from soap, and making stems out of acrylic (though it is easy to bring to a glossy finish) seems to me like making a hammer from glass.

In any case, it's good to be working on the finishing stages of a pipe again. When I began making pipes, everything was a struggle except the shaping part (which I wasn't very good at). Now, though I still enjoy the actual carving/shaping activity the most, I also enjoy the finishing aspect. I think that comes from having gotten past the not-understanding-staining aspect and actually learning how to sand.

When I started making pipes, I didn't consider sanding to be a skill. I didn't realize there was anything to know -- you just rub the paper on the wood. Duh.

Well y'all have a great day, it's time for me to "sand and be happy" as one of my colleagues likes to put it.

About this blog

2006-06-22T06:48:00.000-06:00

Hi, folks. Welcome to my new blog. It seemed like this might be a good way to keep those who are interested informed about what's going on, without all the hassle of website updates. It also seemed like it might be a good way to find out what people think, and what people want, in an environment free of trolls. It may be a fairly active blog, or it could fizzle out. We'll see what happens. -r