Popular Science Montlih/ 



383 



expert cutter to know how to rut such 

 with minimum amount of waste. Skilled 

 meerschaum-cutters out of a job are not 

 easy to find. 



Cutting the meerschaum — the tir>t 

 ste[) in pipe manufacture — is done with 

 an ordinary saw. A good workman can 

 cut the forms for perhaps two dozen 

 pipes from the raw material in a single 

 working-day. As cut, these rough forms 

 are thrown into cold water to soak. In 

 the water they are left until the supph- 

 desired is cut up and the man ready lo 

 go on with the jjipes. 



Rudeh' resemt)ling the ultimate pipe, 

 each form is taken in hand and a hole 

 drilled into the pipe-head. Into this 

 hole — the future "bowl" of the pipe — a 

 plug, on a nearby lathe, must fit. With 

 the embryo pipe mounted on this, 

 "shaping" is begun. 



Meerschaum pipes are shaped from 

 the stem end on. Different men require 

 varied t>pes or forms of pipes; though 

 the so-called "Bull Dog" shape and the 

 blunter "Hungarian" pipe, and again, the 

 egg-shaped bowl predominate. The 



base of the pipe is cut off by hand 

 because it does not fit to the lathe. 



That we of to-day should still hnd 

 use for the rush of the wayside-ljrook is 

 indeed interesting. For the next step 

 in the process old-fashioned rushes are 

 used — cut into slits and employed for 

 polishing the pipes. Usually the rushes 

 are moistened for such use. The\' 

 impart a polish which, it appears, 

 cannot be other\vise obtained. 



Neatly shaped and polished, your 

 meerschaum pipe must be subjected to 

 still another process. The pipe is boiled 

 in common bee's wax, because no piece 

 of meerchaum in the raw state will 

 "color" as smokers require. 



After this boiling the pipes are per- 

 mitted to cool. Then they are given 

 another polishing — this time with cotton 

 flannel sheets and prepared chalk. Even 

 that does not suffice. There must still 

 go to that pipe a final hand-polishing, 

 done with alcohol. 



From the time of starting a pipe until 

 its completion, a half-day's steady labor 

 of the most skilful workmen is required. 



A Good Workman Can Cut tJie Forms of Perfiaps Two Dozen Pipes from the Raw Material 

 in a Single Working Day. These Forms Only Rudely Resemble the Ultimate Pipe shape 



