Horn almost done

The horn pipe is much closer now to being finished. All that is left now is hand sanding the pipe to its final shape and finishing the stem.

The pipe will then be ready for stain and polishing.

All of this hopefully will be completed by tomorrow.

Horn pipe shaping up nicely

With the stem now attached, I have only to finish refining the shape.

Horn in Progress

I have a bad case of A.D.D and more than a few of my pipe maker friends know this. I have a hard time making one pipe at a time. This is not a good thing since now there are about 15 pipes ready to be finished sitting on my workbench.
Most of these pipes have only minor things left to be done. Some of these pipes need only to have a stem made. Some pipes just need a final coat of stain or an end cap attached.
I always know my mind has wandered again when I look up from the shaping wheel and see the unfinished pipes sitting on the bench.
I am shaping yet another pipe and the shame is overwhelming.

This happened again to me last night around five o'clock.

I was sitting at my work bench hand sanding a pipe when all of a sudden a block of briar laying on the table in front of me started to take my attention away from the pipe I was working on.
This block of briar was calling to me to make it into a horn. Without realizing what had happened at the time, I put down the pipe that was so close to being done and began to shape a horn.
After the pipe was roughed out on the shaping wheel I cleaned it up a little and took this photo.
I know this will make a beautiful horn pipe once the drilling is done and the shaping is refined.

But at what cost do I do these things?

When God gives you small blocks?

You make small pipes!

This block of briar could not have been more than 3 inches long by 2 1/2 inches tall. I almost put the block aside but the grain of this small piece of briar told me to start carving.
There is still much to be done but when it is finished it will make someone a nice " little" pipe.

Pipes in progress Nov 29, 2010

Blowfish in progress.
I love working with the cross cut briar. The blocks offer a great deal of choices for creativity.

Wyoming Snow!

The heavy snows have come early here in Wyoming.
This morning I trudged my way through over a foot of snow to reach my shop where I create my pipes.
Shoveling snow is almost an every day occurrence here and the snows build to over two hundred inches before winters end.

As I am digging my way to my shop door I wonder who will find my lifeless body sticking out of a snow bank do to a massive coronary.
It is funny how you never really know just how out of shape you are until you are knee deep in snow with a shovel in your hand cursing every minute.





Don't get me wrong, I love winter in Wyoming and it is something most people will only see in their favorite made for T.V. Christmas movie.



The photo's here are of my workshop and a photo of my driveway in the front of my house.
If you ever make it to Wyoming in winter you will find a winter wonderland that is one of the most beautiful places on earth.


Just prepare yourself to also find a crazy pipe maker sticking out of a snow bank, with one final curse word on his lips and gripping a much hated snow shovel!!

Pipe Maker held captive in Flight 2009

For a guy that rarely leaves his shop,
it is never easy leaving home to travel across the
country. I have pulled out of my driveway many times, leaving the seclusion of the mountains, only to find out the seasons have changed since the last time I went for a drive.

The trip to Nashville to see Todd Johnson would require that I fly, which in itself is a nightmare for me. Not that I am afraid of flying.
It is more of a problem of being locked up with strangers for several hours on a plane.

Remember I don't get out much.

From the time you enter the terminal you are basically treated like cattle moving you through a maze of ropes that herd you to your own demise. The first thing they do is tell you your bags are a half pound too heavy and that you will have to remove the extra weight or pay an extra hundred dollars.
Don't forget that you are already paying for your luggage to be transported in the first place.
They strip you down like you are going to jail, and the odd thing is, that the people in front of you that have traveled in the last decade, have already removed three quarters of their clothing. This is an attempt to not upset the swat team that is searching them for nail files and other weapons of mass destruction.
And tell me why it is that they always strip search the little old lady, that just turned a hundred years old and is in a wheel chair, when the guy in front of her barely gets looked at and he is so
big he would not need a weapon to kill everyone on the plane.

Just an observation of stupidity in action.

Then as you load the plane they are handing out face mask,
because Swine Flu is coursing through every living soul on the plane, and there
is no way in hell you are going to get out of this one alive.

I hope you can understand why, I naturally feel uneasy about traveling in this manner.
For the sake of the people reading this, I won't get into the discussion about the
people you sit next to on the plane. I am sure they feel the same way about the recluse
pipe maker from Wyoming sitting next to them.

As I am moving through the lines, I just have to remember that I am going on this trip
to have fun and maybe get some pipes made while working in Todds shop.
I don't know why I feel the need to gripe about the on going violation of my person in the airports of our great country.

Too much Caffeine?
Or maybe, I am still going through a mid life crisis and am less tolerant of stupidity.

No matter the reason, my love of flying still did not keep me from going.

I was looking forward to working with another pipe maker and sharing as many ideas about
our craft as possible.