The visit to Mimmo

Ligurian's Lanscape, land of the olives and.... briar

A briar tree and its burl

Even after beeing dug out the briar require care and attention

The cart is loaded with briar that will be taken up for cutting

It requires true expertise to cut the briar to obtain the most of it

The briar is so hard and may contain some stones inside that is why the saw blade needs to be sharpen even several times a day

... on the way to the tank

The tank full of briar and filled with water

... a briar's fire under the briar !!

Beautiful briar will make beautiful pipes, but not straight away ....

Just about 25 more years and there will be beautiful pipes from it ... ;)

A briar tree with the burl

ouah !!

The cutting with the circular saw. The blade of the saw is made of a special metal; hard with some elasticity

I hoped I could try to cut some briar myself... but as Mimmo told, it takes several years to learn and the first two/three monts of apprentice you are not allowed to cut any briar but you learn on different wood

The briar that had been cut in blocks and put into nets is ready to be taken up for boiling

Loading the briar to the tank which is filled with water through the hose

Grazyna can't resist to touch the briar before the boiling

...after beeing boiled the briar must be kept in humidity for about a month in the cellar before it can be taken up to dry slowly for about next 6 - 8 months. Only then it will be ready to be sent to a pipe factory or to some lucky pipemaker

The cut briar is boiled for about 12 hours - all the sap is removed