Directions: Make Your Own Native American Catlinite Pipe

This step in the process of making your own pipe is applicable to only those of you who are starting with a piece of "stone" as opposed to a pipe blank. For those of you who already have a cut-out pipe blank, you can go directly to "Step 2".

If you have your stone in front of you, spend a little bit of time studying it to see how you want to lay out your pipe so that it looks the most proportional, and so that you waste as little of the stone as possible.

Once you've decided what the basic shape of the pipe is going to be, draw it out on the stone using a #2 pencil or a "Sharpie" type black marker.

You can then start to cut the pipe out using a hacksaw and blade like the one pictured. We've found that blades with 18 teeth per inch work very well on Sacred Pipestone or Catlinite.

If you have a bandsaw and a new wood blade, this will also work well, as long as you are working with high quality stone. We've found that blades with 4 teeth/inch work very well on Pipestone. Because a bandsaw can make "curved" cuts, you may be able to cut out your pipe and waste very little stone by doing it this way. In fact, if you're going to be using a bandsaw, you may want to draw out several pipes and/or other small crafts on your stone before you start to cut. This will give you a very good idea of what you'll be able to get out of your piece of stone.

After getting your pipe cut out, proceed to "Step 2".