Creating Pipes From Morta: Difference between revisions

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'''Creating Pipes From Morta, by [[Trever Talbert]]''', from his [http://talbertpipes.com/mortacreation.shtml website], and used by permission.
'''Creating Pipes From Morta, by [[Trever Talbert]]''', from his [http://talbertpipes.com/mortacreation.shtml website], and used by permission.
== Finding and Harvesting Morta ==
== Finding and Harvesting Morta ==
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This area is roughly 16 miles across, and it is a trackless wasteland of marshes, fens, and open moors dotted with ancient standing stones. It is a vast area to search, and for most of the year it is inaccessible because the water levels in the crisscrossing aquaducts rise high enough that the open areas cannot be walked for morta. During the Fall, however, the water levels fall and during a narrow window from September to November one can (with wading boots) traverse through the moors. The morta lies under the moist surface packed in peat and mineral-rich clay, and can be 4' deep or more. It is found in the form of huge logs in the process of petrification due to the lack of oxygen required for the wood to rot, which it normally would have done long ago.
This area is roughly 16 miles across, and it is a trackless wasteland of marshes, fens, and open moors dotted with ancient standing stones. It is a vast area to search, and for most of the year it is inaccessible because the water levels in the crisscrossing aquaducts rise high enough that the open areas cannot be walked for morta. During the Fall, however, the water levels fall and during a narrow window from September to November one can (with wading boots) traverse through the moors. The morta lies under the moist surface packed in peat and mineral-rich clay, and can be 4' deep or more. It is found in the form of huge logs in the process of petrification due to the lack of oxygen required for the wood to rot, which it normally would have done long ago.


The morta is found by walking the soft earth and "poling" - driving a long iron spike into the peat in prospector-fashion, to see if it strikes the hard log of a tree. Once a tree has been located and identified by repeated spiking to confirm that it really is a tree and not a random rock, the area is marked and the search continues. Once several trees have been located, the digging begins and it is a hard and laborous process. The earth must be dug out to reveal the black logs and make it possible to remove them, and they must either be sawn into movable pieces or lifted out with a portable crane and chains. This requires the rental of a truck for transporting the large and heavy sections of wood, plus a lot of hours of labor carrying the stuff across the marshes.
The morta is found by walking the soft earth and "poling" - driving a long iron spike into the peat in prospector-fashion, to see if it strikes the hard log of a tree. Once a tree has been located and identified by repeated spiking to confirm that it really is a tree and not a random rock, the area is marked and the search continues. Once several trees have been located, the digging begins and it is a hard and laborous process. The earth must be dug out to reveal the black logs and make it possible to remove them, and they must either be sawn into movable pieces or lifted out with a portable crane and chains. This requires the rental of a truck for transporting the large and heavy sections of wood, plus a lot of hours of labor carrying the stuff across the marshes.




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== Design Work ==
== Design Work ==
[[Image:mortacreation-design2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Morta pipe design]]
[[Image:mortacreation-design2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Morta pipe design]]
Design work for morta pipes is really little different from briar design, except that often the blocks are so much smaller that the range of available shapes is very limited.  One unique challenge of morta is the length of the blocks - often they are quite short and square rather than longer than they are wide, as with briar blocks. This can produce a very "shankless" look if one isn't careful, and can also put the tenon tip too near to the tobacco chamber without very precise drilling and fitting. [[Image:mortacreation-design.jpg|thumb|250|Morta design]] I expect to produce a large number of morta pipes with bamboo shanks or other types of shank extension for the higher grades, to help overcome this visual stylistic limitation. Below I am holding various stem styles to the block to help visualize the look of the finished pipe, and thereby finding a shape that I think will look good and smoke well.
Design work for morta pipes is really little different from briar design, except that often the blocks are so much smaller that the range of available shapes is very limited.  One unique challenge of morta is the length of the blocks - often they are quite short and square rather than longer than they are wide, as with briar blocks. This can produce a very "shankless" look if one isn't careful, and can also put the tenon tip too near to the tobacco chamber without very precise drilling and fitting. [[Image:mortacreation-design.jpg|thumb|250|Morta design]] I expect to produce a large number of morta pipes with bamboo shanks or other types of shank extension for the higher grades, to help overcome this visual stylistic limitation. Below I am holding various stem styles to the block to help visualize the look of the finished pipe, and thereby finding a shape that I think will look good and smoke well.




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Next you see the pipe ready for the drilling of the tobacco chamber. I always drill the airhole first and drill down to it with the chamber bit in order to get it perfectly level with the bowl bottom - I've never been satisfied with the inaccuracy of "aiming" to try and get the airhole bit to hit the bottom properly. In the picture below, the bowl and shank have been turned on the lathe and tweaked with files, to no great result as the surface is too chipped to use without serious sanding by hand on the wheel.
Next you see the pipe ready for the drilling of the tobacco chamber. I always drill the airhole first and drill down to it with the chamber bit in order to get it perfectly level with the bowl bottom - I've never been satisfied with the inaccuracy of "aiming" to try and get the airhole bit to hit the bottom properly. In the picture below, the bowl and shank have been turned on the lathe and tweaked with files, to no great result as the surface is too chipped to use without serious sanding by hand on the wheel.
[[Image:mortacreation-drilling3.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Drilled and Ready]]
[[Image:mortacreation-drilling3.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Drilled and Ready]]


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