328. “Simply by Luck”: A View on Birdseye
Time for your routine Sunday morning reality check: what’s your favorite grain pattern on a Pete? o Straight o Mixed o Any If you answered straight you’re surely in the majority. If you answered mixed, that shows you’re a very well-adjusted pipeman, because that’s mostly what we see. If you answered any you’re obviously not a fan of the Heritage stain. Ouch. Rosslare B10, HM 2003 (first year issue) Back in 2004 I came across this Rosslare B10. The line had only appeared the previous year with it the debut of the B10 and B11, as near as I can tell. The shape was wonderful, the beautiful sterling band with its deep twin rings was wonderful, the faux-spigot sterling mouthpiece was wonderful. But what made it almost unbelievable was the birdseye, which I’d never noticed in such profusion before on a Peterson. Since then I’ve come to realize that from my own kappnismologist’s point of view—as someone who’s loved the brand for over 40 years and has studied it with the best of them—as far as grain goes, what says “Peterson pipe” to me above all is birdseye. What conscientized me to it was this fantastic engraving from the 1945 and 1950 catalogs, which you’ve seen in an earlier post: To begin at the beginning, let’s review Kurt Hahn’s distinction between plateaux and ebauchon briar blocks from Pipedia: “The two main shapes of briar blocks, as they come from the cutter, are ebauchon and plateaux. Ebauchon blocks are largely rectangular, are cut from the burl to maximize the number of blocks that can be created, and, as a result, usually have fairly random grain patterns. Most of the pipes that have ever been made from briar have been made from ebauchon blocks. They’re typically very economical, costing much less than plateaux blocks, and they’re easy to work with, having been squared by the cutter so that they’re easy to clamp in a vise or chuck. Plateaux blocks are cut from the outer portion of the burl and still have bark on the outer edge. They resemble a quarter of a circle, by and large, and are usually quite a bit larger than ebauchon. These are typically cut to maximize the grain orientation, and so there are usually fewer garnered from a given burl. Because of this, they’re also more expensive than ebauchon. Pipes with striking straight grain are almost always made from plateaux.” All Petersons (apart from the seldom-seen Plato) are made from ebauchon. That being the case, while there are an infinitesimal number of ebauchon straight grains and a few more flame grains, there’s a lot more birdseye than either one. It goes without saying that the vast majority of ebauchon blocks are mixed grain and some are even no grain (which are perfect for ebony pipes). WHAT IS "BIRDSEYE"? If you take a a straight grain pipe (vertical grain on each flank) and look at the top of the rim and shank and the bottom, you’ll see end…