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jwh784
Sep 22, 202113 min read
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,...
315 views2 comments
jwh784
Sep 8, 20215 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...
202 views3 comments
jwh784
Sep 1, 20214 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...
124 views0 comments
jwh784
Jul 7, 20215 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,...
172 views8 comments
jwh784
Jun 9, 20213 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...
232 views3 comments
jwh784
Jun 2, 20212 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...
112 views2 comments
jwh784
May 26, 20211 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...
94 views1 comment
jwh784
May 19, 20212 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....
111 views0 comments
jwh784
May 12, 20211 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...
80 views2 comments
jwh784
May 5, 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...
83 views1 comment
jwh784
Apr 28, 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...
102 views3 comments
jwh784
Apr 21, 20215 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...
134 views2 comments
jwh784
Apr 14, 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...
153 views2 comments
jwh784
Apr 7, 20217 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...
116 views1 comment
jwh784
Mar 31, 20218 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,...
112 views0 comments
jwh784
Mar 24, 20213 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...
107 views2 comments
jwh784
Mar 17, 202113 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...
231 views2 comments
jwh784
Mar 10, 20216 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...
159 views3 comments
jwh784
Mar 3, 20217 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...
166 views2 comments
jwh784
Feb 24, 20214 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...
126 views2 comments
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