ive been carving wood for a while now and decided i want to start carving pipes i was wondering if any one knew how well catalpa wood worked for making them. i know catalpa is a light weight hard wood that is almost completely rot resistant and i know because of its hollowing center it makes for a great stem but can you make the bowl piece from it
I made a lot of wood pipes in my experience it's the dust while working them that has any risk of toxicity (even then it's in the buildup effect of having worked with for years)not smoking anything through them Never forget Mr. Mackey "SMOKINGS BAD"
What are the best handtools to use.? I dont really want to use like drills or anything but carving a wood pipe is always something that ive been interested in. What type of wood is best to just go to home depot/lowes and get.?
The buildup would be with your more domestic strains. The exotic woods as well as some domestic stuff, can really fuck you up in a hurry. I got pink eye, skin sensitivity, and a nasty wheeze from working with cocobolo as a total novice and not knowing the dust can do that to you. I recomend anybody working with a wood they are unsure of or new to them they look at http://www.wood-database.com/
If you live in a major city, go to a specialty store and pick up a 5 dollar block of cherry or maple. I think oak would be the hardest/best wood home depot or lowes carries. I just don't trust that shit for some reason though edit- I'll come back in a few days with an in depth how to guide on how to make a pipe. You need a drill though, Unless you assemble something with a bamboo stem.
You can use cherrywood but I suggest you have the wood treated like the smoking pipes in a tobbacco shop.
from a quick internet search... One thing to check out, some exotic wood resins are poisonous, their resin is released as fumes, as the wood chars in being smoked and can be a seriously bad thing. Stick with the woods used by pipe makers, they use them for the very reason they are not inherently dangerous. If you want to use the exotic woods, consider laminating 'cheek pieces' to the 'safe' woods as surfaces to carve and shape for finish, and the burn to only take place in 'safer' woods. QUICK WEB SEARCH RESULTS; A. QUESTIONABLE WOODS Here's a listing of woods to watch out for; Alder: irritant/eye & skin, respiratory Angelico: irritant/eye & skin, respiratory/great/dust Arborvitae: irritant/respiratory Ash: irritant/respiratory Baldcypress: sensitizer/respiratory/small/dust/rare Balsam fir: sensitizer/eye & skin/small/dust/rare Beech: sensitizer/respiratory/great/dust/rare Birch: sensitizer/respiratory, nausea/great/dust, wood/rare Black locust: irritant/nausea/great/rare Blackwood: sensitizer/eye & skin/great/dust, wood/common Boxwood: sensitizer/respiratory/small/dust, wood/rare Cashew: sensitizer/eye & skin/great/dust, wood/rare Chechem: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin/great/dust, wood/unknown Cocobolo: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin/great/dust, wood/common Dahoma: sensitizer/respiratory/great/dust/common Ebony: irritant, sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/great/dust, wood/common Elm: sensitizer/eye & skin/small/dust/rare Fir: irritant/eye & skin/small/rare Greenheart: sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/extreme/dust, wood/common Guarea: sensitizer/eye & skin/extreme/dust/rare Hemlock: nasal cancer/great/dust/rare Ipe: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin Iroko: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin/extreme/dust, wood/common Katon: irritant/respiratory Kingwood: irritant/eye & skin Mahogany, American: sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/small/dust/rare Mahogany, African: sensitizer/respiratory/great/dust/rare Manzinilla: irritant/respiratory/dust/rare Maple: sensitizer/respiratory/great/dust, wood/rare Mimosa: irritant/nasal/extreme/dust, wood/common Oak, red: nasal/great/dust/rare Obeche: sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/great/dust/common Olivewood: sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/great/dust, wood/common Opepe: sensitizer/respiratory/small/dust/rare Orangewood: respiratory/rare Padauk: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin, nausea/extreme/dust, wood/common Pau ferro: sensitizer/eye & skin/small/dust, wood/rare Peroba rose: sensitizer/respiratory/great/dust, wood/common Peroba white: sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin Purpleheart: sensitizer/eye & skin, nausea/small/dust, wood/rare Quebracho: nasal cancer/great/dust/rare Ramin: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin/small/dust/rare Redwood: sensitizer/respiratory, nasal cancer/small/dust/rare Rosewood(s): irritant, sensitizer/respiratory, eye & skin/extreme/dust, wood/common Satinwood: irritant/respiratory, eye & skin/extreme/dust, wood/common Sassafras: sensitizer/respiratory, nausea, nasal cancer/small/dust, wood/rare Sequoia: irritant/respiratory, nasal cancer/small/dust, wood/rare Snakewood: irritant/respiratory/great/dust, wood/rare Spruce: sensitizer/respiratory/small/dust, wood/rare Teak: sensitizer/eye & skin/extreme/dust/common Walnut, black: sensitizer/eye & skin/great/leaves & bark/unknown<ul class=""><li>Willow: sensitizer/nasal cancer/great/dust/unknown W. redcedar: sensitizer/respiratory, nasal cancer/great/dust/common Yew, Europe: irritant/eye & skin/great/dust/common Zebrawood: sensitizer/eye & skin/great/dust/rare </li></ul>B. SAFE WOODS Among the many woods used for making pipes, besides the ever popular Briar wood (Erica arborea), are various tree woods, such as: 1. Maple (Acer) - Maple has been used for many years here in the States and both Sugar and Red Maples. Some of these get pretty hard for hand tools but still makes a nice pipe. 2. Cherry (Prunus) - Well everyone is familiar with Cherrywood pipes, Cherry allows one to carve some great figurals. 3. Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) - Other than briar, this is the wood to work with for its workability and excellent finishes one can achieve. Black Walnut does have rather large pores that allows tobacco juices to reach the exterior fairly rapid. 4. Oak (Quercus) - Most American oaks are brittle, they split to easily when making a cut and like Black Walnut, but only more so, it has large pores. 5. Olive (Olea) - Great wood for pipes. Back in the early seventies, pipe making businessES looked around for an unusual wood to catch peoples interest they build up a stock of briars. Considering Olive wood, checked many tobacconists but none who was familiar with Olive wood pipes. wrote several countries for suppliers of Olive wood, Greece, Israel, etc and never received an answer. Two years later all of the tobacconists, whom check with before, were carrying Olive wood pipes from both Greece and Israel. 6. Hickory (Carya) - It is okay 7.Never used bog oak simply because never tried obtaining any. I do like Trevors Morta (bog oak) pipes."
Can I like this post 100 times please? Edit- and from my personal findings. Bocote is going to be one of the safe exotic woods, and it has amazing grain and figuring. I highly suggest it to anyone tired of the same ol hardwoods.
Hand tools for making wood pipes Get a gimlet set The half-inch makes a great bowl size the quarter-inch makes a great stem size and your preference of carving knives for shaping. I like a hook knife a flush cut knife and a side-bent hook and as always my mora 122 Some sandpaper is so useful