Alternative Woods Used For Pipe making: Difference between revisions

Hickory,

Mountain Laurel,

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Another material of particular interest may actually be considered a stone rather than an 'alternative wood.' Morta, or partially fossilized wood, has been used to a limited extent in the making of tobacco pipes. The substance is formed when timber submerged in an anaerobic environment such as a peat bog is unable to decompose along normal lines. Instead, the wood begins the long process of petrification. In addition to his briar pipes, carver Trevor Talbert produces a line of pipes that uses 4,500 year-old oak morta from the marshy regions of north-western France. In comparison to briar, morta presents its own set of challenges; first and foremost of which is the process of acquisition. Morta must first be located and extracted from the partially submerged soft ground in which it lies. The process of "poling" uses long iron rods to probe the earth for the hard logs. Once identified, the material is arduously extracted in great quantity. As with briar, a great deal of raw morta must be gathered due to the fact that after removing damaged or flawed material, little usable wood remains. The morta is then carved into pipes by a process described in great detail [http://www.talbertpipes.pair.com/mortacreation.shtml here] on Trevor Talbert's website.

[[Image:mortacreation-finish4.jpg]]