Replica Gandalf Pipe From Lord Of The Rings Movie

March 7, 2024

Replica Lord of the Rings Gandalf Pipe

Full video at the bottom of the post along with Product links.

This was a friend request for a movie copy of Gandalfs longbottom leaf pipe.

After months of research and looking at clips and other replica I decided that I was ready to give it a shot.

Research said that briar wood is most typically used for pipe making but cherry is also used. Having some cherry on hand it's what I used.

I used 2 pieces of 5/4 stock about 3 x 14 in size. A better option would have been some thing thicker, split in half to book match the pieces. If I make a non functional replica the splitting / piece method is not needed.

Looking at images online I tested out some rough sketches of top and side profiles until I found one I was happy with.

Using double sided tape I combined together the pieces after making sure they were exactly the same size.

I made the bowl hole too big in hindsight. Should have done ¾in instead of 1in and not as deep. This ended up giving me a very thin spot on the wall later on.

At the bandsaw I cut out the top and bottom chunks first, being sure to keep them as whole as possible since they are needed to make the side cuts.

Taking the cut offs and taping them back on gives the top view cut lines. This also gives the piece stability during the cut.

This gives us a rough shaped pipe. Like maybe something you would see in early n64 video games.

I don't know what I originally planned to do to round everything over but when it came time to do so I tried everything I had available. Chisels, rasps, and a block plane. Then it came to me that there was a belt sander in the garage; which did the trick for the bulk.

To get the true shaping I tried some chisels and rasps again before pulling out my dremel with a carving bit. Which also did not quite work like I wanted. But the sanding drums for the dremel worked like a dream.

It was back to the chisels to get the valleys in where the bowl meets the stem.

I did some of the final rough sanding before separating the pieces back in half.

Once in half I marked out where the air hole would go. Back to the dremel with a carving bit did the work this time around. Here I will also make the hole bigger if I was to make a functional replica again.

The glue up had me worried. I had to be careful to put in a Goldie locks amount of glue other wise it could seal up the hole I just made.

And finally the last sanding up to 400grit paper and some steel wool.

I used some of my mineral oil and bees wax to seal the outside of the pipe.

For the inside of the bowl I charred it then added honey and activated charcoal. I had read on a couple of sites this protects the bowl from burning up.

This was a project I was dreading for a whole but once I got started I enjoyed the whole process.

Now that I have made this one I would like to make a couple more for myself and some friends.

I have a good idea of some ways to improve the build such as using thinner stock and making sure it is booked matched if I'm putting the hole in it. The stem hole needs to be bigger for if someone wanted to use it functionally. The bowl is also to large and I would use a smaller bit

Fun fact the pipe in the movie slides into the top of his staff

Thank you for reading, if you wish to watch the build below is the youtube video for it.