You are currently viewing 414. Thoughts on the Mark Twain Pipe, Revisited

414. Thoughts on the Mark Twain Pipe, Revisited

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

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Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
4 months ago
Reply to  Mark Irwin

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.

Nate Lynn
Nate Lynn
4 months ago

I need to get some of my old Mark Twains retrofitted this way.

Chris Streeper
Chris Streeper
4 months ago

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.

Al Jones
Al Jones
4 months ago

This result should be the definition of “a Craftsman-like appearance”. Thanks for sharing the details of this job, what an incredible Peterson!

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
4 months ago
Reply to  Al Jones

Hi Al, and thank you for the compliment. I’m glad that you enjoyed the story.

Marlowe
Marlowe
4 months ago

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.

John H. Schantz Jr.
John H. Schantz Jr.
4 months ago

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 »

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
4 months ago

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 »

John Schantz, CPG
John Schantz, CPG
3 months ago
Reply to  Gary Hamilton

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🙂

Matt
Matt
4 months ago

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 »

Matt
Matt
3 months ago
Reply to  Mark Irwin

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 »

John Schantz, CPG
John Schantz, CPG
3 months ago
Reply to  Matt

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 »

Nevaditude
Nevaditude
3 months ago

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.

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
3 months ago
Reply to  Nevaditude

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…

Rick Myerscough
Rick Myerscough
3 months ago

I love all the engineering feats of strength you do….
Blessings…

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
3 months ago

Hello Rick, and thank you for the compliment.

Martin
Martin
3 months ago

Great addition and nice to see how someone tackles a real upgrade or at least cool to me. Thanks!!!

Gary Hamilton
Gary Hamilton
3 months ago
Reply to  Martin

Hi Martin, I’m glad that you enjoyed the story, as this one did challenge me about how to accomplish the task.