Craftsman in the Dawn: Ben Hamerl (’19)

Benjamin Hamerl (’19) is a sales manager at Bisco Industries by day, a husband and father at all times — and a precision craftsman at dawn. “Thanks to Thomas Aquinas College,” he laughs, “I enjoy the balanced life.” Now through his pipe-making business, Hammer-Stein Pipes, he is helping others enjoy the same balanced life with style.

“I started making pipes in high school,” recalls Mr. Hamerl, adding with a laugh, “though I didn’t do a very good job back then.” Pipe-making was one of many ways he exercised his curious adolescent mind. “I was always interested in philosophical topics,” he recalls. This interest led him to the College, but he never lost his love for craft, especially pipe-making. “I always had the idea that once I graduated, I would start making them again.”

Life would delay that start a few times. Mr. Hamerl and his wife, Mary Bridget (O’Hara ’17), wed in late 2019, and the couple has since welcomed three children. They settled first in Arizona, but moved to the outskirts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year. In early 2021, he had the time at last to found Hammer-Stein Pipes.

Now almost two years in business, Mr. Hamerl has embedded pipe-making into his daily routine: “I find time by waking up early, when everyone else is asleep.” He spends his morning twilights plying this slow, precise trade. At dawn he can be found shaping Grecian briar into pipe bowels with a wood-lathe, dyeing shaped bowls with many shades of leather dye, sealing them with Indian shellac, or giving them a final polish with Brazilian carnauba wax.

“You have to be patient,” he explains, “because you’re at the mercy of the briar. Some imperfections you can deal with, and some you can’t.” Such imperfections have yet to stop Mr. Hamerl from producing pipes of the highest quality, and customers have yet to leave anything but five-star reviews. On the contrary, demand has only increased. “I’ve always had a pipe to make since I started!”

Mr. Hamerl’s quiet mornings in the workshop also include prayer, meditation, and reading, which continues the measured, contemplative life he began at the College. “I’m happy to have that intellectual background,” reflects Mr. Hamerl, “to be a married person trying to raise and support his family, but also to be liberally educated and able to read and discuss topics on a high level. It’s really rewarding.”