You might know the acronym "DIY" (which stands for "Do It Yourself"). More and more popular in recent years, doing things by yourself is booming. Why should you buy something when you can make it? A lot of people are becoming followers of this "way of life". Some people love to decorate their house, and some will even... make their own handmade pipes!
Making your own pipe?
Yes, it is totally possible! Romain shows us that it can be made. He contacted us a while ago to buy pre-drilled ebauchons (big enough). Why pre-drilled? Because the drilling of the tobacco chamber and the shank are the two most difficult steps when making a pipe. The wood can then be sculpted to make the pipe of your dreams. We had the chance to talk with Romain (self-entrepreneur of "Le charmeur d'échardes", "The splinter charmer") to know more about his project!
What is "Le charmeur d'échardes"? Can you explain your job and why you like wood working?
"Le charmeur d'échardes" is a personal project that was born following disappointing experiences when working temp jobs. I was tired to chain job after job in woodworking and in factories, there was no human side to it and no place for creativity. I therefore had the idea to be a self-entrepreneur, so that I could find these values in my professional life. The challenge is big, but it becomes more and more achievable year after year!
Romain, Le charmeur d'échardes
How did the idea to make a pipe come? Do you smoke the pipe? Is this the object that gave you the idea to take on a new challenge?
As a non-smoker, I am still fascinated by wood working, and more specifically precise sculptures on wood. I mostly use power tools, which is perfect to make this kind of work on different materials (wood, horn, metal, stone...). Briar being a relatively dense wood, it is perfect to create small details! I like sculpting briar pipes for many reasons: the challenge, because the sculpture has to be as thin and detailed as possible, while allowing the pipe to be smoked (the bowl therefore has to be thick enough). The search: the density of the wood allows me to try different things, whether it is about the details, the textures, the size... And I obviously love to sculpt an item that can be used, and not stay on a shelf, collecting dust.
Romain, Le charmeur d'échardes
What are the different steps to make such a pipe? What tools do you use? Are there any particular difficulties?
I begin drawing a sketch of what I have in mind on the wood, which allows to know where the different elements are going to be carved, and to know if I will have enough wood to make the sculpture (to make the horns of the dragon for example). Then I use a saw to remove the big pieces of briar that I won't use. After that, I take a milling cutter to get rid of other pieces of wood, allowing to be more delicate and precise, always trying to remove as much wood as possible. For the details I use different milling tools that I mostly find through jewellery suppliers. The main difficulty is to allow the tobacco chamber to be thick enough. For the dragon, I wanted to put as much details as possible on the jaw, but I soon noticed that if I kept carving the wood, this pipe could not be smoked.
Romain, Le charmeur d'échardes
Did you ever work briar wood before? How much time did it take to make this magnificent artwork?
I came to Saint-Claude a while ago, and brought back with me some ebauchons a craftsman kindly gave me. I therefore trained a little bit and, to make the dragon pipe, it took me about 34 to 40 hours to make it from A to Z.
Romain, Le charmeur d'échardes
Customize a briar pipe?
Making a briar pipe yourself seems too difficult? Even for a handyman, this is not easy and it can take a lot of time. We have a solution for you: on www.pipeshop-saintclaude.com, you can customize a pipe with the name that you want!
How to get your customized pipe?
- Choose a pipe model via the following link: https://www.pipeshop-saintclaude.com/customize-your-pipe-36
- Put the text that you want to be engraved on the shank of the pipe in the dedicated field.
- Finalize your order (shipping address and payment)
- And... that's all, we'll do the rest to create your unique pipe!
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