Shaping Before Drilling

Shaping before drilling is a workshop method in which a pipe body is shaped before the chamber, airway, and mortise are opened. The usual order is the reverse: the block is mounted on the lathe, the three holes are drilled while the body is still rough, and the shape is then built around those axes. Because reversing the order changes both the design decisions and the workshop routine from the ground up, the method counts as a distinct specialty within pipe making.

Shape Led by the Grain

The rationale is the grain. Both the pattern of a briar block and the sand pits, cracks, and voids within it only become visible as the surface is opened up. If the holes are drilled first, the shape stays tied to those axes; working around a flaw that appears during cutting, or capturing the line where the grain looks best, is only possible within a narrow margin. When the shape comes first, though, the maker can choose a new direction every time the saw and sanding disc reveal a new surface. This is why the method is associated with freehand designs, in which the block itself determines the shape, and with the Danish school tradition. The cost is a narrower margin for correction: while roughing out the shape, care must be taken not to end up with a body that can't be drilled at all, and to leave enough material for fine shaping once drilling is done.

Achieving Alignment

The real challenge is drilling three holes that align with each other in a body whose shape is already finished and curved; since the body can no longer be mounted properly on the lathe, drilling is largely done by hand. In practice, the body is marked out first: a laser level stands in for a straightedge, marking the line that bisects the body across its curved surfaces along with the axes of the chamber, mortise, and airway. The points where these lines intersect become the anchor points for drilling; a small piece of briar or a drop of epoxy glued at each intersection both protects the surface and firms up the anchor. During drilling, the bit is chucked to the headstock spindle and turns while the body is held by hand; a sharpened guide pin fitted to the tailstock supports the body at the marked point to keep the axis true. The chamber is widened in stages with custom-made bits after a thin pilot hole is drilled first. Those describing the method specifically note that this stage is dangerous and should not be attempted without proper tools and experience. Once drilling is finished, the shank face is trued so it sits exactly perpendicular to the mortise; only then is the stem shaped and fitted to the body, with fine shaping continuing on both together. The parts and how they fit together are described in the pipe anatomy entry.

Names Who Passed the Method On

Todd Johnson played a large part in spreading the method through American workshops. Johnson began pipe making in the spring of 2000, learned the shape-first, freehand-drill routine from Tom Eltang in the winter of 2001, and then worked with Lars Ivarsson to deepen his understanding of Danish shaping. The method's workshop details were put into writing by Scott E. Thile — a piano technician in Murray, Kentucky, who began pipe making in 2004 — in notes transcribed to Pipedia in 2011; Thile states that he learned most of the practice from Johnson. The idea of using a laser level on curved surfaces is credited to Jack Howell, who began pipe making in 1999, sold his first pipe in 2004, and plays bass clarinet in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; the idea of gluing a piece of briar at intersection points is credited to maker John Crosby. The custom chamber bits used are the work of Brad Pohlmann, who comes from a four-year tool-and-die apprenticeship and makes most of his own tools.