River presented Argus with a pouch of tobacco and asked for help with his pipe. River was given a piece of pipestone by Dakota elder Chuck Derby, just before Chuck's death a couple of years ago. Chuck had asked River to hang onto it until he was ready to "make something good out of it."
Of course, Argus has said that he wants to be finished making pipes after mine, but he was very happy to help River get started. So Argus took river into his workshop and showed him how to file the pipestone, and then helped River with the hardest part: drilling the holes. River's stone is very small so Argus can't hand-drill the way he does with a very traditional pipe, so he used his drill press to create the holes and returned the stone to River. He also gave River an ash-wood blank stem to carve, and said that when River is ready to carve the "tang" (the part of the stem that enters the stone bowl) he'll help. So yeah, River is trying to start carving a small pipe of his own.
I have no idea how that'll turn out...pipe-carving is painstaking, and hard enough for an adult, let alone an 11-year-old with "ADHOoh, something shiny over there!" But I was really happy that River came up with this on his own.
Of course, Argus has said that he wants to be finished making pipes after mine, but he was very happy to help River get started. So Argus took river into his workshop and showed him how to file the pipestone, and then helped River with the hardest part: drilling the holes. River's stone is very small so Argus can't hand-drill the way he does with a very traditional pipe, so he used his drill press to create the holes and returned the stone to River. He also gave River an ash-wood blank stem to carve, and said that when River is ready to carve the "tang" (the part of the stem that enters the stone bowl) he'll help. So yeah, River is trying to start carving a small pipe of his own.
I have no idea how that'll turn out...pipe-carving is painstaking, and hard enough for an adult, let alone an 11-year-old with "ADHOoh, something shiny over there!" But I was really happy that River came up with this on his own.
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