Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1890-09-19
PIPES AND PIPE MAKERS.
Curious Things to be Seen and Heard In
Pipe Factory In Nassau Street.

| StuuI, 10 OullJ uOuOlt. lHcTc Is II row
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,
wnich front on small areaways and
old-time courts. Silverware, 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 ray of sunlight.
The man in charge of the factory was
born in Austria and learned the pro-
fession, which his father had before
him. He is man well along toward
so years of age with gray hair and
moustache. lie wears pair OF gold
trimmed spectaclcs, and when he works
he puts on gold-rimmed eyeglasses
over them. He is very proud of his
business.
my father lived in Vienna in the
old time" said he. 'He was genius.
He passed six examinations in his pro-
fession, in amber, mecrschaum. rub
Der, ivory, wood. and metals. At that
time man had to serve an appren-
ticeship for long term before he be-
came 4 journeymau; then he had to
travel around aad sec the world before
he was allowed to open shop. My
father had 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 II tool
handle in which William Birnbaum,
the man who has charge, had made
set of chessman. The box is one and
Il quarter inches in diameter by half an
inch in height. There is room in it
for the whole set. He has things which
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 magnify
ing glass has to be used to sec it in de-
tail. Another is a holder. whose
monk with 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 moral lesson is "A
skull and holds the wine bowl in place.
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 twincd about n 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 big 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 pride in
/ his work. He took the reporter in
his workroom and showed him the
raw amber aud uieerschaum. 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 iR pieces. and is worth from
two to fifty dollars n pound. Nicer
schaum TO make a ive-dOllar pipe
costs about two dollars and half.
The amber tips raw cost about one
quarter or one-half as much.
When IN order comes for pipe the
proprietor goes through the stock of
meerschaum to get piece out of which
the pipe can be- cut with rs little loss
as possible. Four-6fths 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 circular saw
into piece q little larger than the
pipe. If 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 n knife.
Then hole is drilled through it aud it
is turned with 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 chsel
and turning wheel. The chiSel is
sharp and razorlike. A clumsy oper-
ator would cut his fingers of with it,
An old operator takes the piece of
amber in his hand and rounds it with
the chisel the foreiinger of the left
hand serving as a guide for the chisel
to play. When it is rounded it is held
against the face of n roughened wheel
until it is turned to approximately the
required size. Then it is put in tho
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 Is cents. i. does
not take more than 4 quarter or a half
hour to finish one of these stems. A
stem for n more costly pipe will take
day. The shortest time in which
good meerschaum pipe can be made is
three days. That is for plain pipe.
If the pipe is to be carved that time
y 4