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6" sanding disc on a motor (a bench grinder is a good source for a cheap motor) and a vacuum (or do it outside weather permitting) is the cheapest and fastest way to remove material. Belt sander is good too but cheap belt sanders are much slower at removing material and belts are a lot more exp...

I tried a pot on a similarly sized compressor and it was a pain in the arse.

A dremel type tool and a sanding motor and disc will be much more useful than carving tools.

Damn!

What kind of idiot makes 9mm filter pipes? Sheesh.

Well now you have to tell us how you did that.

Also, I dunno if it's just me or not, but does anyone else find that the buyers who want 9mm pipes are also often the buyers who are the most trouble? Like, the guy who wants to buy a pipe for a factory pipe price but then will sit and examine it under a magnifier for any little imperfection, convi...

Virgin finish, no wax, market it as a USP, move on with your life.

I posted this answer on the facebook post but I'll say it again here as some don't use facebook and it may be helpful in the future. Firstly, don't do 9mm filters, they are a pain in the arse and spoil a good pipe as you have to change the design to suit and it all ends up looking fat. If you want t...

Yeah George, I mean what an asshole, he said the same to me it's not like I was asking for much, I was quite happy to do the bowlcoat and stamping myself.

I even offered an extra 5 bucks!

It sounds like an asshole answer to say "remove all the wood you can until it's billiard shaped, and then stop" but that really is essentially it. There is no magic formula or set of instructions like you might get for baking a cake. You have to look at a pipe (or have a shape in your mind...

Oh and in that picture with the jaws closed you have a jaw out of sync, that's why they don't meet. You must install them in the correct order and correct timing on the scroll to get them to align properly.

Yep, turn them 180deg. You don't have a set of "external" jaws, Trent used 2 of them to make the pipe jaws (and presumably kept the other 2 for use on other chucks). You might be able to buy a set of external jaws for the lathe, ask Trent which model it is and where he bought it, you may g...

The ball bearing is an oiling point.

As I said, the jaws are not reversible, that's why you get two sets, an internal and an external set. If you try and use them the wrong way as you are doing you will damage the chuck and the jaws.
Trust me, they are NOT reversible.

Those aren't reversible jaws.

I am trying to visualize a 1/100” deviation and why you are distressed about it. I am pleased not to leave a significant dead space (1/2-1mm-0.02-0.04”) under the draft and to be within 1 mm (0.04”) of dead center laterally. I don’t think that you need better accuracy for smoking purposes. As I am ...

You spotted my plan! hahaha. As to how to remove the stem, I would cut it off and then put the briar cap in the lathe and bore it out. Before that though I would try the freezer trick along with some penetrating oil like WD40, see if that would wick into the mortice maybe? As to fixing the bowl, as ...

Airway drill bits wander given the slightest chance. Luckily there are 4 directions they can move and only 2 of them matter. Get a centre drill and a machine length drill (a stubby one), that should help, as will squaring the block well. If the deviation doesn't cause a problem though and is aesthet...

Carefully. There really is no trick to it, just be careful.

Yes Paul has had a career shift, he can turn his hand to so many different things and needed a change. We still get together regularly for a mess about in the workshop, chat etc. I didn't have space for any more equipment when he cleared his shop and he has kept some tools anyway as they are useful ...