pipemakersforum.com

Olive wood is an excellent alternative to briar. Similar working characteristics and makes a good smoking pipe.

When you fellas are turning these tenons for caps and extensions and such, how are you measuring? Eyeballs and calipers? A 'turn-stop-measure-repeat' operation? Thanks I drill the cap first so i have a pre-determined diameter then i turn an oversized tenon (after a while you get very good at judgin...

I use something very similar to this. I like the design as it acts with a shearing action thats gives a very clean cut and no chatter at all. Can easily be re-sharpened aswell actually though it never cuts quite as good as a new one. When it starts getting dull i buy a new one (tho only on my second...

I never thought my post would be analysed so critically lol. Paul had some SEM rod sometime in 2009, possibly late 2008. Like other pipe makers noted the pattern was a bit muddy and the texture not quite right. He didn’t like it and I agreed thought my experience with ebonite at the time was limited...

I cant speak for this particualr product however I have made stems from an alternative Ivory and Alternative Horn rod in both bent and straight. The hardness was very similar to ebonite, maybe a tad softer. Filing etc to shape was pretty easy and it sanded well. I sanded to 1000 before buffing. The ...

Nope never heard of him. Would be happy to have some samples though

You guys mind posting or messaging me who these suppliers are. I'm about ready to order a bunch of ebonite, so... Also, who are some good suppliers you would recommend? I have a hard time finding the stuff sometimes (esp. in larger diameters--I haven't found anything more than like 1.25"). You...

Sounds like good stuff. I shy away from the epoxy because I just don't use it enough. At least that's my idea now. I've had several epoxy joints fail, and i suspect its because my epoxy was old. i used to buy the fairly large 235ml bottles however i only ever seemed to use a quater of the bottles b...

I have tried similar rustications but never got it to looks as good as that. Nice work

Two great suggestions there, thanks Dan and Todd. Im going to find a bit of scrap rod and try them both out tommorow

What do you use to groove the inside of the mortice? I groove the delrin using a peice of hacksaw blade and i just cut lots of diagonal slashes into it then hammer it into the mortice. But im not sure how to grove the mortice. I tried using a dental pick but it didnt really seem to do much.

Thanks for the info Kurt. I need to get some new epoxy (my other stuff is starting to take a long time cure properly so its probably a bit old now) so i think i might do a little destructive test with delrin and both epoxy and CA glue in ebonite stems. See just how hard you have to push them to get ...

I've never used this stuff. Sounds like more trouble than it's worth. I use Locktite 7-minute for plastics, J.B. Weld, and plain old 15-minute epoxy I get at the local hardware store. Mixing is easy. Measuring is by eyeball. I never do a test batch. I've never had a problem. Locktite for delrin ten...

a better question would be, has anyone wrecognized any kind of affects that wisible sandpits would have to the pipes smoking abilities? Well my best smoking pipe is my shop pipe. Its a cobbled together morta with a horn stem that i buggered up (cut it too thin and you can see the tenon inside the h...

You can use your tenon turning tool in the same way as you would for a pre-form. the only addition is that you need to drill an airway as well. Kurt posted an excellent tutorial on how to make hand cut stems. I would suggest you look at that and then use one of the pipes from your collection that is...

Probably cheaper and easier to buy a rod of ebonite and make your own. Then you have complete control over the shape and size.

Hey Fred, any chance of close up pics of the finishing engraving and the tools you are using. I just bought a pantograph and im undergoing a huge learnng curve. Love is helping me a lot but any info is appreciated.

Cheers

I can see me bleeding to death as the chuck rips my wrists apart. I've already lost most of 2 finger nails from the disk sander. Try wrapping electrical or masking tape around the fingers that seem to get hit most. I did this at first to save my nails. 40grit discs take bit bites lol. Now however i...

Expoy and heat definately dont mix. I have had quite a few dlerin tenons fall out. Usually if i am making a bent stem i will use superglue instead of epoxy as its hold up better when heating. Word of caution on fat, especially short fat stems. To get the whole thing soft enough to bend you can often...

Cheers Kurt. Im currently in the process of converting the whole thing to metric and making fullscale drawings for tranfering to perspex sheet.

This should be a fun and useful project.