From about 1911 until 1943, Clough was, both alone and in collaboration with others, particularly Fred Picknell, a prolific maker of Northumbrian pipes. The earliest dateable reference to anybody buying a Clough chanter is from 1911, while Clough generally played a chanter by Picknell, which he used playing for King Edward in 1906. Picknell died in 1943, and Clough's house was bombed in the same year and his lathe stolen – as pieces of pipes he was working on were also stolen, he must still have been an active pipemaker until this time. Clough also made reeds – there is a tradition that he made drone reeds from pieces of a bead curtain from the home of his wife Nancy's parents. This is corroborated by many of his surviving drone reeds having been previously painted black, including some in a set belonging to 'Young Tom', now in the possession of Chris Ormston.