Smooth Billiard with Boxwood (Silver) Tobacco Pipe

Peter Heding is an ambitious carver. By that I mean, of course, that he seems to always press the boundaries of the Danish shaping canon, creating truly organic and fluid compositions while following the natural grain patterns in each block. Every now and then, however, that same ambition that urges him to create things like his Kois or Ramses leads him back to something a little more classic. Be it a traditional Danish Brandy or a minimalist Billiard, as seen here, he shapes each with the meticulous care with which he forms even his most complex designs.

In this "Silver" grade Billiard, for example, notice the slight forward cant to the bowl, the clean, easy lines of the shank and stem. Observe the balanced proportions, the slight protrusion to the aft. And then take the grain: neat columns of cross-grain down either flank, with a bold canvas of deep-set whorls of birdseye falling perfectly down the center.

Like I said, Peter Heding is an ambitious carver. and one who certainly knows just how to deliver.

- Andrew Wike