Speaking from my experience my wooden molds were not as good as the reproduction cast iron clay tobacco smoking pipe mold which I now have the pleasure of using. Seeking to replicate the process, I made my first molds from hard wood. You cannot buy a clay tobacco pipe mould in a store! Original clay pipe molds can occasionally be bought at auction but they are expensive and hard to obtain. Tinderbox Gin press for making clay smoking pipes, a mold is clamped in “chest” – a vice, empty.Ĭlay tobacco smoking pipe mold 2 pieces and stopper Mould Availability Alignment of stopper, mold and vice are critical to the satisfactory production of a clay smoking pipe. The gin press consists of a bench, a vice called a “chest,” bench mounted, a lever, stopper arm and a stopper. Therefore you have the opportunity to create your own unique gin press! You cannot buy a gin press off the shelf. Gin press clay tobacco pipe making – description I learned this: The mould or mold (both spellings are correct) needs point(s) of escape for excess clay. I have built two gin presses based on historical pictures. The gin press is a lever device that applies pressure to the clay, in the mold, through a stopper. The word ‘gin’ is defined as: ‘hoisting apparatus, kind of crane or windlass, machine for separating cotton from its seeds, a device’.
Secondly, the construction is relatively simple.
Because quite heavy pressure is required to press clay into a mold a device is needed and the press does this very well. Firstly, it addresses the challenge of pressing clay into a two- piece mold. The gin press method of clay tobacco pipe making is historically correct.
#HOW TO MAKE A SMOKING PIPE OUT OF CLAY FULL#
Visit the pipe page to see the full range of pipes for sale. Gin pressing is one of several methods Tinderbox uses to make pipes. The Tools for making clay smoking pipes The Gin Press: a tool for making clay smoking pipes. Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Pakuranga – a Maori word means the day the earth caught fire. But I had been making pipes for a few years by then. Pakuranga, Auckland, New Zealand was where I lived when I first made these pipes. I made my ‘Pakuranga Toastie‘ from ‘out of the ground Pakuranga clay’ – not bought clay. Moreover, the chances of failure are lessened. However, this is not to say that preparing a local clay is not possible or indeed enjoyable, but I would advise the beginner to start with proven materials. Where to buy clay.įirstly, purchasing clay from a pottery supplier is the easiest way to acquire clay for the making of my “clays” as clay tobacco pipes are called. Today prepared clays are available from pottery suppliers and have the advantage of being impurity free, a known firing temperature, desirable fired colour and are scientifically tested so that warpage and distortion are unlikely.
#HOW TO MAKE A SMOKING PIPE OUT OF CLAY MANUAL#
Historically pipe clay preparation was a manual process: removal of impurities, stones and twigs, breaking down with iron bars, slaking in water, part drying and working up to a ‘pressable’ consistency. Now people buy my Tinderbox clay tobacco smoking pipes online.Įxamples of pipes made by the gin pressed method – one of several method Tinderbox used to make pipesĬlean, well prepared clay – that is what is needed for clay tobacco pipes. Because I had not yet built a gin press my pipe was pressed by my own hand – difficult as it takes pressure to do. I had made a mold and pressed clay into a two-piece wooden mould of my own construction. First Tinderbox clay pipe.īy late 1995 I was ready. Because clay tobacco pipe making equipment cannot be bought off the shelf, this was a problem. However, I brought to the process the knowledge of a potter, the ability of an amateur carpenter, a degree of a lateral thought and willingness to learn – the last, in my experience sets one half way to success, that and patience and a small book (see footnote Recommended reading).
Researching the process and defining the equipment was slow but ultimately rewarding. Make clay tobacco pipes, How? How did they get the hole down the stem to meet with the bowl! And smoking pipes made of clay? Wouldn’t they break? In 1995, I set myself the task of learning how to make a clay smoking pipe.
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