Thanks for all the feedback brothers, it really does help to keep the efforts going :
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@OTD-I did get in a bunch of different woods to start practicings with, all just blocks, cubes, etc. which I free-hand drill, this was a painful part of my pipe-making quest/experience...went through so many blocks of incorrect drills...now after a few months, I'm happy to say I can do it without even thinking about it, getting perhaps 90% correctly drilled. I do get pre-made stems at this point to focus more on my pipe-making basics of drilling and carving, but also cut tenons by hand, heat and bend (by candle).
I also want to thank all the great pipe making masters out there such as Mark Balkovec, Jake Hackert & Tom Eltang who have helped me on my way and inspired me to "keep at it" :worship:
@Paul & CK~ I would love to make you guys some pipes (shoot me a PM), again I'm just starting out and do everything by hand so it does take me longer to get end product, but those smaller flake-pipes above only took an hour each from block-to-smoker, so I guess I'm making good progress and work fast/but enjoy every second of making/smoke'in them.
