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How am I doing so far, inasmuch as the blade shaping? Any tips on a fairly quick way to get the top and bottom radii? I used my pippin file, painfully slow process. https://imgur.com/a/3eebdlS

Been there, tried that. For cabinetry where most surfaces are flat, an expertly used & properly cut/prepped scraper indeed womps ANY type of sanding. On pipe stems, where (almost literally) NO surface is EVER flat, scraping creates a shit ton of teenie weenie parallel ridges. Curved scrapers he...

Actually had a legit thought the other night too - less sanding PERIOD might be helpful- scrapers do a nice job on stems and aren't likely at all to leave an uneven surface. Speak to me of these scrapers, I can't picture being able to keep the button/bite area good enough to polish without at least...

Here's how I do it, Doug --- Do everything you're doing now, then lightly---but throughly---sand the stem again with 1200 or 1500. Use something that's rigid and flat and has two layers of average electrical tape on it, or one layer of hockey tape (SOME cushion is needed). If you sand under magnifi...

So, broadly speaking, the answer here is over-polishing. When you are dealing with a rod (or a wood) that has two different surface hardnesses, and you go through a sanding process, generally what happens is that the soft stuff is removed more than the hard stuff, and this is exacerbated by two fac...

Thanks John and Jeremiah. So Jeremiah, in your opinion should I have angled the stem more up?

Finished this one up this weekend. Critique welcomed.
https://imgur.com/a/4tkDwVt

Thanks for the input guy's, that'll help me on the next one. I thought I should have just finished the shank face instead of leaving the plateaux. Not sure I could pull off the flare on the stem at a angle yet.

Finished this one up for myself, anything you'd change stem-wise?
https://imgur.com/a/EaUfOo8

Ok I got the new Menzerna stuff in and re-sanded the stem to 1500 so I started with the H0813 compound. It is better, but still not 100%, could be user error/technique with this product although I could probably live with the result. Will see what the next try reveals. Here's some pics , but I still...

I agree with Ratimus on the stem, including the shortening. As far as the stummel, I like the setter aspect and wouldn’t want to lose it. You can make a new stem and incorporate Rat’s syggestions, including the length if you are feeling particularly masochistic.:) DocAitch Yea, I'd hate to lose the...

Alright I bit the bullet and got all 3, we'll see if it helps

It might be a bad batch of cumberland. I use mostly SEM, not NYH, but I haven't had this issue. If you can get rid of the ripples by sanding to 1500, that makes me think either heat buildup or perhaps something with the compound could fix it. If you're not already using Menzerna, I highly recommend...

does it look like there might be a density difference in the two colors? One color seems to be dipping a bit lower than the other? I'm not sure that there would be an actual difference. But if there is a minute one, then one of them dipping a bit might signal that you are buffing overly aggressivel...

Ripples could be a few different things. The last step of sanding (for me, it's usually 400 or 600) should be in the opposite direction the wheel hits the spot. It could be grit or dirt stuck in your buffing wheel (try a buffer rake if that's the case) or it could be something in the compound itsel...

I'm having trouble getting clean looking polishing done on this stuff. I've only done a couple stems with this stuff and it always looks wavy at the swirls after polishing, even with a light touch on the wheel. I go back and re-sand to 1500 and try again to still have these ripples/waviness. Is this...

Thanks guy's, in doing this shape I did run into the problem of the airway vs mortise vs stem coming all together, if that makes sense. when it came to doing the stem I did a reverse bend (upward) to try to combat this problem, just didn't do enough I suppose. A longer stem may have helped with that...

Merry Christmas All!

Finished this one up the other day. Balance could be better, if a fly landed on the stem it'd tip.
https://imgur.com/a/WHDb1xA

LatakiaLover wrote:My eye wants to lose some of the flare-doo-dad's bulk by steepening the front-to-back cuts.

On the blade side?