The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1890-09-27
r:pss AND PIPE MAKERS.
Curious Things To he Seen and Heard n
Pipe Factory IA Nassau street.

Cedar Is built double. There Is "A row
OF shops and stores there In front with
a narrow sidewalk and another row Of
factories behind. There are many
curious things made ia these factories.
which front on small areaways and
old-time courts. Silverware. canes.
badges. aud small machinery of all
kinds arc made there. Besides there
are several pipe factories. One OF the
most interesting of these pipe factories
is near John street. 1t is "A room ON
the first floor lighted by two windows
which never have a ray Of sunlight.
The man Ia 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
90 years of age. with gray hair and
moustache. He wears a pair OF gold
trimmed spectacles. aud when he works
he puts on gcid-rimmed eyeglasses
over them. He is very proud of his
business.
MY father lived in Vienna In the
old time" said he. lie was a genius.
lie passed six examinations in his pro-
fession, in amber. meerschaum. rub
Der. ivory, wood. and metals. At that
time man had TO serve an appren-
ticeship for long term before he be-
came journoyman; then he had To
travel around AID Zee the world before
he was allowed 10 open a shop My
father had natural genius for his pro-
fession. and passed the examinations
without having TO serve an apprentice
ship. He proved that lie was not an
apprentice.
There are many things In the back
room which show chat both the father
and the son were geniuses in their pro-
fession. There is the cap OF tool
handle in which William Brnbaum,
the man who has charge. had made
set OF chessman. The box Is one and
"A quarter inches In diameter by half an
inch in height. There is room in 1t
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 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 iiue that a magnify
ing glass has 10 be used TO see IL In de-
tail. Another Is holder whose
monk with hollow head for cigarettes
is laughing, but il requires magnify
ing glass TO sec the lines of his mrth.
One OF the best pieces of carving. which
also inculcates moral lesson, Is
skull and holds the wine bowl in place.
The wine bowl is followed out for
cigarettes. The most costly of the
pipes represents mermaid holding
conch shell close TO her breast. Her
scaly tail is twined about large
branch OF white coral, which will be-
come brown when the pipe H. 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 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 carv-
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.
II looks like plaster of Paris smoothed
of and rounded. The amber looks
like beeswax or large pieces of resin.
IL comes In pieces. and is worth from
two to fifty dollars a pound. Nicer
schaum 10 make iive-dollar pipe
costs about two dollars and half.
The amber tips raw cost about one
quarter or one-half rs much.
When an order comes for pipe the
proprietor goes through the stock OF
meerschaum 10 get piece out OF which
the pipe can be cut with as little loss
as possible. Four-lifths of the meer-
schaum is wasted, though the chips
arc often saved aud made into imita-
ton mecrschaum pipes. The meer-
schaum Is first cut on circular saw
into piece little larger than the
pipe. III the cutting shows holes or
cracks the piece is cast aside Then il
Is soaked in water for fifteen minutes
and cut the rough shape with knife.
Then n hole Is drilled through IL and ii
Is turned with half motion. After
the turning the stem is inserted. IL is
smoothcd off when dry boiled In wax.
and polished; then. II Is ready TO bc
sold.
The amber is worked with n chisel
and turning wheel. The chisel Is
sharp and razorlikc. A clumsy oper-
ator would cnt his fingers off with IL.
An old operator takes the piece OF
amber In bis hand and rounds II with
the chisel. tho foreiinger of the left
hand serving as guide for the chisol