Here is a picture of the out building that
houses my shop. It was originally built by my Grandfather as a wood working
shop for his construction business, so it just seemed natural to turn it
in to my pipe shop. It really is my home away from home, and this is where
Niko and I can be found most chilly winter mornings
Here is a good shot of the inside of the shop. It may look a little cluttered, but there is a place for everything, and (almost) everything in it's place actually this is the most organized it 's been in a while, as the shop gets pretty messy when I 'm working on pipes. On the right, you can see the end of the buffing stations, the staining bench, followed by my work bench. The center island contains two metal lathes, one for stem work and one for pipe work, and in the back you can see the Powermatic wood lathe that I use for turning bowls. It has taken a long time to set up the shop just the way I want it, and I dread breaking it down and setting up again when I build the new house
Here is my buffing set up, starting with the coarse Tripoli on the right, and working to the left with progressively finer buffing compounds, followed by a wax buff. The small grinder on top is also used for stem work, but mainly in the rough stages of shaping a stem. Outside of the grinder, all of the wheels are enclosed, and hooked up to a vacuum system. Dust control in any shop is very important.
Here is my finishing station. Coming up with the stains and finishes that will be used on the pipes, is one of the most difficult parts of pipe making, and one of the most important at least in my opinion. A pipe can be technically perfect, but if it looks like crap you 'll never sell it! I 've spent a lot of time developing my finishes and I am proud of them, but as any pipe maker will tell you, pipe making is one craft where you never stop learning or experimenting and a lot of my experiments take place right here.
This is a shot of my main workbench. To the far left, you can see the 36 grit wheel used for rough shaping the pipes after they are turned. Mounted on the bench you can see the French sanding wheels used to sand the pipes (along with a lot of hand sanding), and all of the tools that I use to establish the shape of the pipe and stem. Outside of turning the top of the pipes and fitting a piece of stem material, all of the shaping and stem making takes place at this bench with a variety of files and custom made tools. Mounted directly above my bench is a light box that I use to look at my pipes in silhouette while I am working on them. This helps assure that the pipe is symmetrical and that the shape is balanced properly it 's an example of a simple tool that makes a big difference in the finished product.
Here is another view of my main workbench. What is difficult to see, is the amount of hand tools that I have for shaping the pipes; the files, carving tools, knives, and custom made tools are mounted on the back wall and on the shelf above the bench.
This is the real workhorse of my shop the Powermatic Model 90, variable speed wood lathe. I searched for years for this lathe, and finally got one when a high school did away with its shop program. It is an extremely well made and heavy duty machine, and although it is almost as old as I am, it runs like new. It is fitted with a custom 2 jaw chuck, which holds the blocks securely for top turning and drilling operations. Almost all of my standard shapes are turned and drilled on this lathe.
Here is my main stem turning lathe, a South Bend 10 inch precision lathe. I did a lot of searching for this piece of equipment as well, and it was worth all the effort. This is an ultra precise lathe, on which I do all my stem and inlay work, as well as any fittings or bands I use on my pipes. It ensures a precise fit between mortise and tenon, and cuts a glass smooth tenon, which makes for a low friction fit at this critical joint. I like dedicating certain machines for certain operations, it saves time, and increases the precision of the work piece. For that reason, this lathe is dedicated to stem making only no wood turned here!
Here is a picture of the center island containing both metal lathes. The South Bend lathe is on the left, and my back up lathe, an Atlas, is on the right. I use the Atlas lathe for machining operations and it is also fitted with a two jaw chuck for wood turning of specific shapes. A belt sander and another drill press are mounted at the end of the island.
Enough about equipment, let's talk about materials! Here is the way briar is received from overseas (the boxes are full of briar from different countries). After sitting outside for a period of time, I bring it inside where it stays in the bags for at least a year, before being moved to the drying racks. This extra time in the burlap sacks allows the wood to acclimate and dry more slowly than if air was circulating around it. The wood cracks less, and the extra seasoning time helps immensely. These nice looking sacks contain Italian briar, they are double bagged and we never lose a piece. The sacks we get from Greece are usually full of holes, and lots of pieces are missing.
Here is the briar after it has been removed from the shipping sacks, sorted by origin and size, and put up in the racks according to year. I work the oldest briar first, and try to work briar from one year before moving on to the next. Of course this isn 't always practical, so I always have wood from various years on hand. I think I am still working some wood from 1994!
Here are some of the materials that are used to fashion stems in my work shop. The long rods are Cumberland from Germany, one of my favorite materials. Then, starting from the left, you can see my own Bonaquisti Hand Cast acrylic rods. I use this material to make those wacky swirl stems, as well as the Art Amber stems on many of my pipes. Next are rods of imitation Ivory and Horn, followed by ebonite rods, clear acrylic, and black, white and red Lucite bars (I use many different Lucite colors). On the right are a few woods I use for accents and godets, such as Boxwood and Kingwood, and in the back ground is bamboo, horn, and even a piece of a Lucite bowling ball no material is off limits!
This rolling cart contains blocks that have been cut on the band saw, and are ready to be chucked in the lathe and turned. It is not uncommon for me to cut up a few dozen blocks at a time, if I know what shapes I want to work on and already have a template made. I really enjoy turning, but don' t really like selecting, sanding and cutting the blocks as much, so I like to get this step out of the way.
Here is a large group of turned bowls of many of my standard shapes, and represents many, many weeks of constant turning. I don 't usually turn large groups like this, so it must have been an unusually productive winter! At this point, the top of the bowl has been turned, and the engineering is complete. The bowls and airholes are drilled, and the pipe is ready to be rough shaped. At this point, I will also make a decision about the type and style of stem the pipe will have. On the right you can see that I have started this process, and a few of the pieces have been fit with rubber rod.
Here the turned bowls are laid out for a better view. You can see many of my standard shapes in this group, such as Canadians, billiards, hawkbills, bulldogs, pokers, etc. It was a lot of work getting them to this stage, but this is only the beginning of the over 100 steps needed to make a Bonaquisti pipe!
This picture shows a pipe in four different stages of completion; after block selection, after cutting on the bandsaw, after being turned and drilled, and after the stem and bowl are rough shaped. After the shape is roughed out, I would then make a decision as to how the pipe will be finished, either smooth, sandblast or carved.
Well that's about all I have time for this year I hope you liked the tour of my workshop. I hope to add another installment of The Briar Workshop to the site in the next month or so, detailing more operations such as turning, carving, sandblasting and finishing. In the meantime, Niko here will be constantly reminding me that we need to get back in to the shop, there is pipe work to do!
I close wishing you a holiday season filled with much happiness, lots of family and friends, and the good times that only this special time of year can bring!
Happy Holidays!
Paul Bonaquisti