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You didn't mention the kind of lathe, I'm guessing a mini/midi wood lathe?

There is a thick, flat washer/spacer that goes over the spindle, behind the chuck. Not using that spacer can cause the condition you describe.

I'm a little surprised that an article on that topic was written by Rainer.
He never sold a pipe to a customer. He would only sell to his distributors.

you're holding the bamboo by hand? i've been using a fuller counterbore in a drill press and the holding the bamboo in a vise with some v blocks, do you find the bamboo is faced 100% square by hand? hairline gaps in the shank stem junctions seem hard to avoid but thats why i thought the bamboo was ...

2. - Facing also can be done by hand if you do not have access to the lathe with files, sandpaper and flat surface. I use an aircraft counterbore chucked in my motor to flush bamboo It has a piece of 3/16 drill rod intsalled in the pilot. While it's spinning, I push my piece of bamboo onto the pin ...

A better look at the stem ... Lots of things can be said... Light gap, scratches, waviness, button shape, button width, back side of button should have more of a crisp corner, thickness of the stem behind the button ... http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg293/penguinbriar/stem2_zps7a2155d3.jpg http...

I think Tyler is right - sour grapes. There are a lot of careers that rely on following "best practices" to be successful (the IT world is one example). There are other careers that rely on someone thinking outside the box to solve problems (in a former life I was a mechanical designer - a...

Most (if not all) folks will drill out the mortise in one pass... in and out and you're done. If you have a bit that consistently cuts a mortise slightly undersize for your delrin, I'd recommend that you run the drill bit in a second time, all the way into the bottom of the mortise. That extra pass ...

I'd recommend going to a numbered size drill bit just over the airway size - warming the tenon, then inserting the drill bit (shank first) all the way past the tenon so it is well into the meat of the stem. This will barely expand the tenon while keeping it straight at the same time

Those that turn their noses up at a pipe, just because of a delrin tenon, are pipe snobs. Biots.
They can go pound sand.

Sounds like a good idea to set a day of week & time
Those that can't make it one week might be able to the next, etc.

Should it be weekly? monthly?

Personally, I prefer week day evenings vs Friday or weekends (the wife usually has a claim on those)

Thanks for sharing that Ernie, I will try and follow that advice as perfectly as I can. One of the issues I have been dealing with is my first pipes were "weird" and I have a lot of people wanting me to make "weird" pipes for them. I feel like this allows me to get paid to learn...

I signed up a few years ago when I started making dust... for the whole year, every newsletter was packed (front-to-back) with pissing contests on the subject of fills in pipes. (and I do mean pissing contests between the writers of all the articles) By the time the 4th issue arrived, I didn't even ...

The shape of the bowl is great - well done! The shank gets larger as it approaches the stem. No matter what pickure you look at, or at what angle, you can't miss it. It should be sanded down a bit more right at the stem/shank junction. Then retaper the stem a little on the shank end. You're there. G...

Where I have problems is getting a good clean and properly centered cut with the circular saw blade and in the process of creating the funnel with the drill bit I often butcher the slot. Part of the trick is is to make sure the drill bit is NOT cutting anything as you insert it into the stem blank....

You can laser engrave it after the finish - that's fine. And, if you did do a touch of wax afterwards, a couple seconds with a heat gun will take care of any visible wax deposits inside the engraving.

I did try to fill the holes, but the one on the bottom was too big, even for rustication. So I just ignored them, finishing the pipe smooth and let the flaws show in all their glory. I figured with so many holes and cracks in it, the first dent won't matter. It will make a good shop or yard pipe. N...

My wife has made a couple pipes. A guy would have to surrender his man card if he was caught smoking a couple of her pipes ...

Good job. You're getting the poker style down quite well. Next I think you should focus on your stem internals. Since you've used a translucent lucite stem I notice that you really don't have much of a slot at the bit. Get some needle files and open that sucker up. I guarantee that will improve the...

UberHuberMan wrote:That pipe is going to have the most open draw ever.

I look forward to seeing your results!

Actually the other way around. 1/8" (.125 diameter) is considerably less than 5/32 (.156 diameter) -
A .156 hole is 56% larger cross sectional area of the airway than a .125 airway

I was told by a PIMO employee that the tenon diameter of the stem I want is 9/16-inch. I think the Pimo employee probably meant the tenon should be 9/32 and not 9/16. 9/16 would be huge. Rad They were probably just telling him that the diameter on the tenon side of the stem is 9/16 "as molded&...