Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-05-31
WHERE PIPES ARE MADE
CURIOUS THINGS TO Be SEEN AND
HEARD IN a FACTORY.

wonderful Specimens Of sLirifu, c.~v,.
great Care Required to Mako a Good
"eerschaum PIpe--it Il Dimc,,. .
Tell Real Meerschaum.
nassau street, between Beekr.n "a
Sedar, Is built double There il n r,,,v -
pnops and stores in front with i !. r.,...,
sinewalk and another row Of factor;a., ~
nina There are many curious tbings nod
" THESE factories, which front az sn..I,
areaways and oldtime courts. silverwara
canes, badges and small machinerv ~ Il,
Kings are made there. Besides thsra :.
several pipe factories. One of the p,ost i,
MreSeinR OF these pipe factories Is near
I'm street. II Is a room on the first floor
"sn.e'' ~ Two windows which never have
ray =. sunlight. The man in charge Of
.ns factory was born in Austria and learned
.ne profession which his father had before
nim. he Is Il man well along toward 20
years OF age with gray hair and mustac,e
ne wears pair Of gold trimmed spectaclez
anu when he works puts on gold rimmed
eyeglasses over them. re is very proud ~
his business. p''uu VI
MY father lived In Vienna in the old
Time" said he. "He was a penins ua
passed SIX examinations in his profession
III amber. meerschaum, rubber. ivory
WOOD and metals. At that time man
mao 10 serve an apprenticeship for a long
Term before he became journeyman: then
ne had TO travel around and see the ,vorId
before be was allowed to open a shop. Nv
iather had a natural genius for his profes.
sion, ana passed the examinations without
nav'hg 10 serve an apprenticeship. He
proVeo that he was net an apprentice"
QUEER CARVINGS.
There are many things in the hack room,
winch show that both the father and the
son were geniuses in their profession There
~ the cap OF a tool handle in which viii.
lam Birnbaum, the man who has CHARGE
mad made set Of ehcssmen. The boy ia
one ana quarter inches in diameter by
nan an inch in height. There is room in
u Tor the whole set. He has things which
ne made when he was Is, which show the
KIND Of an apprenticeship he went through
lie does not show these things to ali of
his customers. but he keeps them put away
IN cabinet with "A number of carved OBJ
lects One OF them is an amber skull. Ii
IL less than three-q uarters OF an inch high
put the bones and artIculations are dis
tlnctiy marked. The carving is so fine
that magnifying glass has to be used to
see 1t in detail Another is holder, where
monk with "A hollow head for cigarettes
is laughing. but in requires a magnifying
glass to see the lines of his mirth. The most
costly OF the pipes represents mermaid
holding a conch shell close to her breast
her sca!y tail is twined about d large
branch OF white coral, which will become
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 Central park.
though there is hardly half an inch of
meerschaum on which to carry the lines.
The man in charge had pride in his
work He took the reporter in his work
room and showed him the raw amber and
meerschaum, the half finished pipes and the
finished carvings
COST OF RAW MEERscHAUM.
The meerschaum comes from Turkey in
boxes. A box holds about fifty pounds and
is worth from $50 to 300, according to the
size and quality of the pieces. 1t looks
like plaster of Paris smoothed of and
rounded, The amber looks like becswax
or large pieces of resin. 1t comes in pieces,
and is worth from 81 to $50 pound.
Meerschaum to make "A s. pipe costs about
s2.50. The amber tips raw cost about one
quarter or one half as much
When an order comes for pipe the
proprietor goes through the stock of meer
schanni to get piece out of which the
pipe can he cut with as little loss as possible.
Four-fifths of the meerschaum is wasted.
though the chips are often saved and made
into imitation meerschaum pipes The
meerschaum is first cut on circular saw
into 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 hole is
drilled through it and it is turned with d
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 Il chisel and
turning wheel The chisel is sharp and
razor like A clumsy operator 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 forefinger of
chisel to play. When it is rounded it is
held against the face of roughened wheel
until it is turned to approximately the re-
quired size. Then it is put in the same
turning wheel and hole is bored through
it. This is for the more common and
cheaper amber stems, the kinds that are
put in briarwood pipes which sell for fifty
and seventy-fve cents. 1t does not take
more than quarter or half hour to finish
one of these stems
IMITATION MEERsCHAUM.
A stem for more costly pipe will take a
day. The shortest time in which a good
meerschaum pipe can be made is three
days That is for a plain pipe. If 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 amber dust is
melted and made into amberline. The
meerschaum dust is chopped up and work
ed into paste, from which imitation meer-
schaum pipes are made. 1t is common
idea that real meerschaum can be told from
imitation meerschaum by the fact that real
meerschaum floats on water, but imitation
meerschaum floats also. Imitation meer-
schaum can be made which will color bet
ter than real meerschaum does, though il
does not last so long and the color is likely
TO come in streaks, 1t is hard for mar
who is not IN the business to tell a rea
from an imitation meerschaum.
IL is hard to make an estimate of the cost
of pipe from the cost of the materials, as
so small proportion of the raw material
can be used To get a stem for big pipe
a whole box may be gone through without
finding any suitable piece The best quail
ity of meerschaum frequently has air hole'
and cracks in it.-New York Sun
Have You Met One?