Processing Bamboo for Tobacco Pipes Inserts and Shank Extensions

I'm excited because I finally won a W.O. Larsen Pipe on eBay for a reasonable price.  It is a W.O. Larsen Double Black with a slight bend in it.  I was glad to see that is was in really nice shape, probably smoked just a few times.  Came with the original box, pipe sock, and pamphlet.

I have a sealed tin of W.O. Larsen Signature pipe tobacco in my cellar that I have been saving, maybe I will try it in my new Larsen pipe.  This fellow on YouTube says has the same plan with his W.O. Larsen Double Black Billiard.  The video shows a straight billiard and the pipe I bought was sort of a 1/4 prince- anyway very Danish looking and I am happy to finally have a pipe from such a famous shop.



This week I finished off a lightweight poker with a natural finish that is heavily rusticated and also a smooth poker sitter with some selective rustication.  Here are some pics of the pipes in progress.

This past weekend I also retrieved a bunch of running bamboo roots that I left outside under a cover for drying for a few months.  

As you can see, it is really kinda nasty stuff to pull out of the ground.  Anyway, this stuff was pretty dry and ready to be processed into smaller pieces for tobacco pipe stem inserts and shank extensions.

The next step is to cut off all the little roots from the main root to be used for pipes.

Then I used a new band saw to zip the bamboo pieces into 4 inch lengths.  Once the pieces were in similar size I used a belt sander to take off and smooth all of the smaller root sites on the bamboo.  When I got to use a piece for an actual pipe I will perform some more detailed cleanup and sanding.

Here is the end product.  I think I will be set for bamboo for a long time considering I do not use it a lot for pipes.  This of course is larger diameter bamboo than the Wangi bamboo from China that is small diameter with close set node sites that is most commonly used in pipe making.