What's on the burner

December is going to be a very quiet month on the website. I have requests piled up for the Talbert Briar Christmas Ghosts, enough to probably take up all my time right through January, so I don't expect to have many new pipes appearing on the site (except maybe for a new Goblin here and there). We did finish up this bamboo-shanked morta the other day for a request, but unfortunately the sale fell through and it's now sitting around until I can decide what to do with it (Options are to either photo & post it to the site catalog here, or send it over to Pipe & Pint, who have no mortas in stock now). I'm trying to finish up another Goblin in/around the Ghosts, and may photo this morta with it. Until then, if you're interested in this morta, just email me. Note - This pipe is now sold. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are ceasing production of the locally-harvested Briére morta pipes, of which this is one, and just using up the last of our morta stock until it is exhausted. Once it's gone, it's gone!

These three stummels are another running side-project. When I'm spending day after day doing detailed carving on complex designs, I try to stack up time-consuming work on the side, letting things dry, soak, boil, heat, etc, so they'll be ready to go when I can get to them. That's how it is with these three - I have a request for a billiard created with the curing treatment I discussed in a previous post, and I wanted to do several LB pipes this way and have them heating and drying alongside my regular daily work.

The two in back have already started getting their very-deep grain contrast staining, even at this stage with much sanding and shaping still to do. The front one is going to be a natural, however, and it shows off a nice side effect of this briar treatment process - the visual enhancement of the briar's natural growth rings, even on a smooth pipe. It's striking how visible the ring pattern is.