The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-07-31
PIPES AND PIPE MAKERS.
Curious Things to he Seen and Heard In
Pipe Factory in Nassau Street.

of shops and stores there in front with
a narrow sidewalk and another row of
factories behind. There are many
curious things made in these factories,
which front on small areaways and
old-time courts. Silyerware, canes,
badges. and small machinery of all
kinds are made there. Besides there
are several pipe factories. One of the
most interesting of these pipe factories
is near John street. 1t is room on
the first floor lighted by two windows
which never have raw of sunlight.
The man in charge of the factory was
born in Austria and learned the pro-
fcssion, which his father had before
him. He is man well along toward
so years of age, with gray hair and
moUstache. He wears a pair of gold
trimmed spectacles, and when he works
he puts on gcld-rimmed eyeglasses
over them. He is very proud of his
business.
My father lived in Vienna in the
old time, said he He was q genius.
He passed six examinations in his pro-
fession. in amber, meerschaum, rub
Der. ivory. wood. and metals At that
ticeship for Il long term before he be-
came Il journeyman; then he had to
travel around and see the world before
he was allowed to open shop. My
father had Il natural genius for his pro-
fession, and passed the examinations
without having TO serve an apprentice
ship. He proved that he was not an
apprentice"
There are many things in the back
room which show that both the father
and the son were geniuses in their pro-
fession. There is the cap of a tool
handle in which William Birnbaum,
the man who has charge, had made
set of chessmau. The box is one and
Il quarter inches in diameter by half an
inch in height There is room in it
he made when he was fifteen, which
show the kind of an apprenticeship he
went through.
He does not show these things to all
of his customers, but he keeps them
put away in Il cabinet with number
Of carved objects. One of them is an
amber skull. 1t is less than three
quarters Of an inch high, but the bones
and articulations are distinctly marked
The carving is so fine that a magnify
ing glass has TO be used to see it in de-
tail. Another is holder. whese
monk with "A hollow head for cigarettes
is laughing, but it requires magnify
ing glass to see the lines of his mirth
One of the best pieces of carving, which
also inculcateS a moral lesson. is
nj hn1 he
The wine bowl is followed out for
cigarettes. The most costly of the
pipes represents a mermaid holding a
cOnch shell close to her breast. Her
scaly tail is twined about a large
branch of white coral, which will be-
come brown when the pipe is smoked.
Each scale is perfect. The mermaid has
much more expression in her face than
have some of the biz statues in Cen
trail Park, though there is hardly half
an inch of meerschaum on which to
carve the lines.
The man in charge had a pride in
his work. He took the reporter in
his workroom and showed him the
raw amber and meerschaum, the half
finished pipes and the finished cary
ings. The meerschaum comes from
Turkey in boxes. A box holds about
fifty pounds and is worth from twenty
TO three hundred dollars, according
to the size and quality of the pieces.
1t looks like plaster of Paris smoothed
off and rounded The amber looks
like beeswax or large pieces of resin.
1t comes in pieces, and is worth from
two TO fifty dollars a pound. Meer-
schaum TO make "A tive-dolar pipe
costs about two dollars and half
The amber tips raw cost about one
quarter or onc-half as much.
When an order comes for pipe the
proprietor goes through the stock of
meerschaum to get piece out of which
The pipe can be cut with as little loss
as possible. Four-fifths of the meer-
schaum is wasted, though the chips
are often saved and made into imita-
ton meerSchaum pipes. The meer-
Schaum is first cut on a circular saw
into Il piece little larger than the
pipe. Ii the cutting shows holes or
cracks the piece is cast aside. Then it
is soaked in water for fifteen minutes
and cut the rough shape with knife
Then II hole is drilled through it and it
is turned with a half motion. After
the turning the stem is inserted. 1t is
smoothed off when dry, boiled in wax,
and polished; then it is ready to be
sold.
The amber is worked with chisel
and turning wheel. The chiscl is
sharp and razorlike. A clumsy oper-
ator would cut his fingers off with it.
An old operator takes the piece of
amber in his hand and rounds it with
the chisel, the foretinger of the left
hand serving as guide for the chisel
TO play. When it is rounded it is held
against the face of roughened wheel
until it is turned to approximately the
required size. Then it is put in the
turning wheel and a hole is bored
through it. This is for the more COM
mon and cheaper amber stems, the
kind that are put in briarwood pipes
which sell for 80 and 70 cents. 1t does
not take more than quarter or half
hour TO finish one of these stems. A
stem for more costly pipe will take
day. The shortest time in which
good meerschaum pipe can be made is
three days. That is for a plain pipe.
III the pipe Is TO be carved that time
has to be added. Workmen have
spent months on carving one pipe
The dust and chips from the amber
and meerschaum are saved. The an
Der dust is melted and made into am
berine. The meerschaum dust is
chopped up and worked into paste,
from which imitation meerschaum
pipes are made. 1t is common idea
that real meerSchaum can be told from
imitation meerschaum by the fact that
real meerSchaum floats on the water.
but imitation meerschaum floats also.
Imitation meerschaum can be made
which will color better than real meer-
schaum does. though it does not last so
long and the color is likely to come
in streaks. 1t is hard for a man who
is not in the business to tell real
from, ,p,ito