Randy Wiley Feather Carved Bent Billiard Estate Briar Pipe, American Estates

Description

Beginning his career as a pipe maker in the 1970s, Randy Wiley was a key figure in the new wave of American artisans in the late-20th century pipe scene—and still is today, five decades later. Though he does make some “traditional” pieces, he is, arguably America’s greatest living carver of “freehand” pipes, comparable to Denmark’s Preben Holm or Erik Nording in their prime. And, like Holm and Nording, Wiley has an array of signature finishes at his disposal, resulting in designs that occasionally border on the figural.

Randy Wiley’s Feather Carved series is comprised of pipes that, true to their name, include one or two small feather motifs around the bowl. It is one of Wiley’s signature finishes, though it derives from a practice with roots that are a little older than Wiley’s work. Essentially, the Feather Carved is an example of spot-carving a technique used predominantly by freehand carvers when a bowl is found to have excellent grain, save for a small, cosmetic imperfection in the briar. Rather than rusticate or sandblast the bowl entirely, these imperfections are instead worked into something more visually appealing. In Wiley’s case, he uses fine, and slightly ornamental, feather carvings, hence the name. As one can see from this pipe, the briar used was clearly excellent, allowing Wiley to effectively wrap the bowl in closely-knit straight grain. A small sandspot on the shank will likely have presented itself at some point while the bowl was being turned, but rather than abandon a smooth finish entirely, Wiley all but preserved it in his signature fashion.

The condition is fair. Some inner rim charring, chamber over-reamed, and a couple of slight scratches on the bowl.

Details:

Length: 6.2″ / 157.4mm

Bowl Width: 0.97 / 24.63mm

Bowl Depth: 1.78″ / 45.21mm

Weight: 1.9oz / 54g