The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1896-12-17
THE FRENCH BRIER.
WHERE THE WOOD COMES FROM
AND HOW THE PIPE is MADE.
The Raw Material In Blocks Comes Hero
In Bags-Pipes Are Made by High Grade
Machinery How the Patterns Are Used
, ~ Guides Holes Filled with Cement.

Machinery-H How the Patterns Are Used
, ~ Guides Holes Filled with Cement.
The brier used In the making of brier
pipes comes chiefly from France and
largely from the region II the Pyrenees.
1t Is said that the very est brier comes
from Sicily. Only the root, or that part of
the wood that grows L lderground, Is used.
1t is sawed into oblc Z blocks, which have
no semblancc TO 10 form Of pipe, but
each Of sufficient timensions to permit the
fashioning OF pipe from 1t. The sawed
blocks are sonl'ad In salt water, dried and
seasoned. ,ey are imported into this
6ountry IT, rge bags.
In the factory here the brier blocks
are sor' ,ut in sizes for larger and small
o. p' and then II necessary they are
trin / down before going to the ma
oh that are actually TO shape the pipe
u - slabs or bits may be sawed of the
ick to bring 1t down close to the size Of
no pipe that Is to be cut from it, but not
much needs to be cut Off, for the blocks
are sawed originally so that there will be
as little waste as possible. Then the brier
block goes to the borer, the first of the
machines employed Ia the actual fashion
ing OF the pipe.
The boring machine haa three knives,
~ In tho Same plane. The middle knife
'boCes out the bowl Of the pipe. The two
~utsr knives cut away the wood on the
outside and form the shape of the pipe.
These knives set In a lathe, make moro
than 1000 revolutions a minute. The
middle knife, which bores out the bowl,
II longer than the two outside knives,
~hax ha ha astto bo
pipe out Co its full depth The cutters, In
the case of an egg shaped pipe, dig down
% the point Of the pipes greatest circum
ference In making wood pipe OF Che
bulldog shape an additional side tooi 10
used to shape the bowl for q little space be-
Ibw It's greatest circumference. In making
m egg shaped pipe the knives are made to
turn. In making a pipe Of bulldog shape
the block is revolvcd. q,
As the brier block comes from the borers
II is still a brier block, with the pipe bowl
bored down into one end OF 1t and the out
gide Of the pipe bowl shaped down for half
tts depth. The ,block with the pipe thus
partly cut IN 1t goes then to a lathe simi-
lar to tha latbes used In cutting gun stocks
and other irregular forms. The cutting
tool used with this lathe Is circular like
circular saw. 1t has peculiar, knifelike
teeth. Its revolyed, like circular saw, at
high velocity The brier block, with the
bowl partly shaped out. Ia secured upon
the lathe, to which has already been at
tached metal pattern Of the shape that it
Is desired to cut the block. This metal
pattern Is made to turn against a smooth
edged wheel attached To the lathe. The
brier block turns with the pattern and Is
brought into contact with the cutting
wheel In precisely the same manner that
the pattern Is brought into contact with
the smooth wheel. As the pattern Is turn
I'd the center line of the block is brought
near TO or IL recedes from the teeth of the
cutting tool, and the teeth cut into the
wood deeply or lightly accordingly. Wheth-
Or the stem Of the pipe Is round, oval or
square makes no difference. The QUITTING
wheel cuts away the wood SO that the wood
that Is left IL shaped In accordance with
the pattern.
The work of the irregular lathe IL done
very quickly, and the pipe comes from It
with bowl and stem completely shaped
out The tobacco bowl has been bored out,
but there is as yet no hole through the
stem. The stem here spoken of is the brier
stem continuous from the bowl, and not
bit, or mouthpiece.
\ The pipe Is then rough finished and fine
finished on wheels covered, one with coarse
and the other with fine sandpaper, and
subsequently is further fine finished by
polishing it on wheel with ground pum-
Ice stone.
After the first fine finishing the pipes
are assorted into firsts and seconds. Firsts
are pipes without a blemish; seconds are
pipes that have any outside defect.
The hole through the stem is bored with
. steel wire having cutting tip and turn
ing rapidly in lathe. Fine pipes arc CEN
tered, go that the hole through the stem
may be bored exactly in the center; ordi-
nary pipes are held against the wire borer
by hand, but pipes thus bored are almost
without exception bored squarely in the
center.
Then the pipe goes into another machine,
which cuts the thread in the end Of the
stem to hold the bit, or mouthpiece Then
the bandit it is to have one-around the
wood stem where it is joined by the bit or
mouthpiece is put on, and the bit is at
tached to the pipe.
Most brier in it's natural state is Of rath-
or light color. II the pipe is to be finish
cd in natural color, 1t is treated with lin
seed oil, which brings out the grain and
the beauty of the wood. The oil also makes
the pipe slightly darker in color, and 1t
grows darker in smoking Some buyers
prefer n dark colored pipe, and so some
pipes are finished artiflcially Of a darker
COLOR Some pipes, having what is called
hard varnish finish, are finished very dark
and are highly polished on leather buffers.
A brier pipe with the least outside de-
feet is classod as second. AZ wholesale
seconds are sold at 90 to 40 per cent less
than 1rsts. Any hole or other opening In
the outside of a pipe Is filed up with
paste or cement made for tho purpose and
colored to match the wood. 1t may hide
the defect or it may not, but It makes the
pipe practically as nearly perfect as posi-
BILE. A second that is defective on the out
side only may last as long as a perfect
pipe, and it is just as good to smoke
New York Sun.
Insects and Cold.
uceocto xp hicb creud the rnaior nortion Of