MORE INTEL ON THE 2024 PIPE OF THE YEAR
First, an apology. In case you missed my correction and apology in the previous post revision and its comments, I misread Andy Wike’s drop dates. The POY2024 does not drop tomorrow. Andy Wike, Vice President of Marketing at SPC writes, “The POY will be available for purchase at Smokingpipes (and other retailers) beginning Tuesday, August 20th at 6:00pm EDT.“
I’ve had several people ask if I know what finishes will be available. Stephen Mawby, Director of Sales at SPC, writes, “We have them in Rusticated, Sandblasted, PSB Rua, Ebony, Heritage, Terracotta, and Natural finishes, as we as having some with silver caps in Rusticated, Sandblasted, PSB Rua, and Natural finishes.”
Next Sunday I should have more to share with you about the POY2024. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if something doesn’t appear early this week on the SPC Blog as well.
Larry Gosser, with whom I collaborated on Of Pipes & Men, sent me an advance of one of his newest creations that goes up for sale on eBay tomorrow–you can find it either at his shop’s page or in the daily Peterson listings. What’s really cool, you’ve just noticed, is that Larry employs the Peterson Tankard Rustic:
Rustic Tankard photo courtesy SPC
Wow! I feel like I’ve just been to an industrial engineering/ philosophy lecture way above my pay grade and come out marveling at what science hath done. An achievement of narrative worthy of all those great old Popular Science magazines I loved as a kid in the 1960s and 70s. I wonder if Jonathan will smoke this masterpiece? I’m sure Charles Peterson is looking down with hope and expectation!😜
Geez I miss those old Popular Mechanics and popular Science magazines from our youth. They were sized perfectly to be hidden within our stack of school books, so when class was boring, you could always find something interesting in the latest issue of Popular Mechanics.
I need to get some of my old Mark Twains retrofitted this way.
Not that I was questioning your intel, but I had a good conversation with Stephen yesterday at the SPC booth in Columbus and he mentioned they hadn’t even photographed the POTY’s yet. I figured something might be off.
Speaking of,.we had a nice Meetup at the show. I’ll send you pics and more tomorrow.
This result should be the definition of “a Craftsman-like appearance”. Thanks for sharing the details of this job, what an incredible Peterson!
Hi Al, and thank you for the compliment. I’m glad that you enjoyed the story.
I am always amazed at these modifications. They are far beyond the scope of my ability – although I did do a very good job of “systemizing” my SH Watson. I don’t even have a buffing wheel, (I keep threatening to get one) and some pastes to keep my pipes looking new. I send them occasionally to Charles Lemon for a good clean up.
Thanks for the very detailed write up on this MT tenon adventure. I love to see the tooling you use. Now I need another apron/cross slide/compound/base to clamp my lathe milling vise to my drill press. By the way, what piece is the lowest part of your drill press/mill vise setup (besides the thick block), is it specifically made to mount the mill vise on a drill press? Is the whole base combination an accessory? I have been smoking pipe after pipe trying to figure out how to hold the original stem for my Killarney 268 that will enable me… Read more »
Hey John, so all of my accessory equipment that you are asking about is all old vintage stuff made by Atlas from back in the 50’s & 60’s, and it all is interchangeable with my 1964 Atlas 12″ lathe. The bottom part is an X-Y cross slide table, with the table top removed. In place of the table I have mounted an Atlas lathe milling attachment. The milling attachment is actually designed to take the place of the compound rest on the lathe. But since the mounting post is the same on both, I was able to mount the milling… Read more »
Thanks for the information Gary. My lathe is an Atlas/Craftsman 101.21200 6×18. I have the milling attachment, and noticed the compound and cross slide you were using. It seems I need an “X-Y table base”, if they make one in my size.
P.S. Machine tools/tooling/attachments are always “spendy”……as you well know🙂
Great article and incredible engineering. I can’t help but say, the collector/preservationist in me shed a few tears seeing the alteration of such a beautiful, important pipe. It took me back to recalling a former job I had in numismatics, when we’d have a collection come in, and the customer proudly told us they polished the coins to a lovely shine…. This isn’t to take anything away from the great article, the owner’s personal decision to alter the pipe and the brilliant ingenuity used in its re-engineering. It’s just in my simple mind, perfection had already been attained back in… Read more »
Hey Matt, if it’s not too late, I wanted to respond to your comment. I’ve always held that the pipe smoking community, esp. the Pete Geek community, is a “broad church” one, viz., we can hold a diversity of beliefs and opinions about our favorite marque. And I totally understand your belief that Jonathan’s MT should not have been altered. I had a friend who felt the same way about cars. He collected MGs, and when he drove up one morning in a faded blue MGA 1600 with cracked leather seats, I asked him why he didn’t paint the car… Read more »
Thank you, Mark! I hope my post wasn’t taken as being heavy-handed or condescending. If it was, my sincerest apologies. There are aspects of my personality I wish at times were not so crystallized towards the ardent collector and traditionalist, that would allow me the freedom and creativity that could come with endeavoring to re-engineer a beautiful pipe, such as this MT! I can at least admire those capable of such feats and appreciate the enjoyment that it brings them. I could’ve done a far better job highlighting this however, in my original post. You’ve created a forum for a… Read more »
Ehh, I am a collector, smoker, preservationist, but sometimes restoring/modifying items so they can be used, or make them better for use is warranted. The Peterson MT’s may be collectible, but there were literally thousands made. They are not exactly one-offs. I bought one of the L.E. Gold MT pipes for around $20 shipped a few years ago. It was in decent smoked condition, but definitely used. However, someone, I believe, dirty b@$+@&d, scrapped the gold band. I cleaned and polished the stem and stummel and I may have stained it as close to the original color as I imagined… Read more »
Yikes! – MISTER HAMILTON, Gary, THANK YOU for the care taken in the prose you compose, the photos you chose & the engineering education you bring to Peterson pipe smokers. The ‘can-do’ spirit is noted & MUCH Appreciated!
Mark, again, THANKS for this place where CPG’s can learn & share.
Howdy Mark! Hope all is well in the land of “Nevaditude”. Thanks so much for the compliment on the article. I really had fun with this one, and I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. Stay tuned, there’s more to come…
I love all the engineering feats of strength you do….
Blessings…
Hello Rick, and thank you for the compliment.
Great addition and nice to see how someone tackles a real upgrade or at least cool to me. Thanks!!!
Hi Martin, I’m glad that you enjoyed the story, as this one did challenge me about how to accomplish the task.