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Moving Parts
Any guesses how much of that is true? When you buy a used vehicle you’re buying someone else’s problems. The gambler knows,...
jwh784
Sep 22, 202113 min read
Grinder and Paint
Grinder and paint makes me the welder I ain’t, goes the rueful old saw uttered by just about everybody who hasn’t practiced enough to...
jwh784
Sep 8, 20215 min read
One Bite at a Time
A hot, humid midwest afternoon. The highway patrol cruiser, LED lights lasering red and blue, is parked off the left shoulder of I-80...
jwh784
Sep 1, 20214 min read
Long, Strange Trip
Somehow, I expected the first concert back to feel more . . . different. Like my first rehearsal with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1996,...
jwh784
Jul 7, 20215 min read
Irreproducible Results
One of the reasons for this blog to exist is to offer a bit of my perspective on the pipe maker's craft, to expand on some detail or...
jwh784
Jun 9, 20213 min read
Strong Impressions
New Zealand is an amazing, unforgettable place. It is peculiarly habitable in many respects; unlike its larger and hotter neighbor down...
jwh784
Jun 2, 20212 min read
Shorts #3
The 2004 Chicago pipe show seems worlds away. There was a time when the adjustments needed to comply with antismoking regulations seemed...
jwh784
May 26, 20211 min read
Silent Service
Every so often someone asks about the Zippo in my pipe photos. Most photos of pipes for sale include something to give an idea of scale....
jwh784
May 19, 20212 min read
Shorts #2
For anyone interested in writing, I recommend Stephen King’s On Writing, and The Deer on a Bicycle by Patrick McManus as an interesting...
jwh784
May 12, 20211 min read
Shorts #1
Yes, I’m on break from blogging. But there is a new pipe, and I don't know how many people subscribed to the blog in order to be notified...
jwh784
May 5, 20211 min read
Pause
Mark Twain wrote, “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat...
jwh784
Apr 28, 20211 min read
The Cruelest Box
Casinos have never held any attraction for me, but I do play golf. And make pipes. I don’t know how many of you remember Psych 100 and...
jwh784
Apr 21, 20215 min read
Coveting My Neighbor’s Solo
This is something I wrote months ago when someone in management asked me to “write something about music” for a newsletter. "Maybe write...
jwh784
Apr 14, 20215 min read
Trucks
Interesting, how the US has so many pickup trucks while the rest of the world is largely able to manage without them. That thought occurs...
jwh784
Apr 7, 20217 min read
Warmed Over
Another firewood, score, and just in time. Too little firewood, too much maple, that was the issue. While I’ve got nothing against maple,...
jwh784
Mar 31, 20218 min read
Daylight
Perhaps I had forgotten how this felt. Last spring wasn’t much of a spring, what with the world coming to an end and all, and I can’t...
jwh784
Mar 24, 20213 min read
Not For Munchers
Somewhere, I read that half the value of an artisan pipe lies in the hand cut stem. Even if that’s off by some substantial percent, it...
jwh784
Mar 17, 202113 min read
Rust Never Sleeps
The anniversary will be slightly different for each of us, as the pandemic spread and shut things down. For me, it’s March 13. There, I...
jwh784
Mar 10, 20216 min read
More Commissions
Perhaps you’d be interested in seeing more pipes I’ve made on commission in the past few months. Maybe even in reading a little...
jwh784
Mar 3, 20217 min read
Choices
My dad used to say, “Life is full of choices.” This may be a slender premise for a blog post, but it can’t be any more slender than the...
jwh784
Feb 24, 20214 min read
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