pipemakersforum.com

Here's the final product:
http://www.pipemakersforum.com/photo_es ... cut_stems/

My daughter Mackenzie took the photos while I wrestled with the stem.

The entire process of shaping the stem and getting it ready for final sanding took less than an hour.

Nice job, Kurt. And Mackenzie, wow, she really did a great job taking pictures! Two thumbs up!

This is great, Kurt!! Thank you and your daughter for the time you took to do it! It's a huge help to see the full process. This should help a ton. Question for you... what are Abralon discs?

hazmat wrote:Question for you... what are Abralon discs?

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/cgi-b ... y=934-3001

Abralon discs are great!

Thanks for the procedure Kurt. Now I know what my next tool buy will be. I have a 1" belt sander but it can be tricky to work with. A wider belt would be very useful.

David

Kurt

Thanks for taking the time. Very, very helpful.

That belt grinder is what I do all my rough shaping on. It's a MultiTool on a Jet 1HP grinder:
http://ausmultitool.com/Item/MT362TG.htm

The belts are 2x36 and are growing more and more popular. It's on a 3640RPM grinder and works well, but I do want to put it on a 3/4HP 1725RPM grinder to cut down on the aggressiveness a little. That width really does help keep tapers and saddles straight.

I have a 1" belt as well and could see quicly how much a wider belt would help. That price is a bit salty for me at the moment.. hmm.. but I do have a birthday coming up.

That is awesome Kurt, thanks for taking the time to document that. I see some things I can change in my procedure.

Oh and great photography, very nice!

Thanks Kurt,

I have not yet had time to go through it but I am certain there are many good pointers in there. I would like to know it if you have slightly ground a couple of hairs off the T-199, At least I think that is the number of a slot bit.

Excellent tutorial on stem making.

The multitool attachment looks like a handy device, but if you want a 2" belt grinder/sander that also includes a buffing arbor, this works great: http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1015
The motor runs at 1750 rpm, ideal for buffing both stems & briar without scorching.
I've had mine for about 15 years now, nary a problem.

Thanks Kurt, and thanks to your photo helper.

bob gilbert

That is a nice guide. FWIW, I see you are hand-holding your stems to file them. This can cause carpal-tunnel problems over the years. I have found my Taig lathe to be the handiest stem-filing brace I could want, FWIW.

What I do is, chuck up a tapered drill bit that matches the airhole, in the Taig headstock.

Then I chuck a drillbit that fits the bit airhole size in the tailstock chuck.

Stick the stem onto the tapered bit and slide the tailstock in to hold the bit end, and you have a handy rotating stem brace that will hold the stem for you while you file. It's particularly useful for making the bit thin, because you can leave a little of the bit drillbit exposed, and have a handy instant reference for just how close you are to the bit hole - just rotate the stem sideways and compare the OD of the stem bit to the size of the ID drillbit.

This avoids the wrist tension of hand-holding the stem. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways as well - I've also seen numerous variations of stem braces used, for instance.

ckr wrote:I have not yet had time to go through it but I am certain there are many good pointers in there. I would like to know it if you have slightly ground a couple of hairs off the T-199, At least I think that is the number of a slot bit.

That's the one. I just use it as-is. The nimonal depth of the slot comes out to around 1mm more or less. Perfect for most pipes.

Frank wrote:The multitool attachment looks like a handy device, but if you want a 2" belt grinder/sander that also includes a buffing arbor, this works great: http://www.grizzly.com/products/G1015
The motor runs at 1750 rpm, ideal for buffing both stems & briar without scorching.
I've had mine for about 15 years now, nary a problem.

I looked at that one when I was considering a belt grinder, but I had no idea if Grizzly tools were at all decent. I opted for the multitool since I'd seen them in use at fabrication shops where they ran pretty much 10 hours per day with no problems.

That said, I've been seeing a lot of positive reviews of Grizzly equipment recently. I'm considering buying their "ultimate 14" bandsaw" with a riser block to increase max cutting height so that I can make humidors and other large boxes.

TreverT wrote:Stick the stem onto the tapered bit and slide the tailstock in to hold the bit end, and you have a handy rotating stem brace that will hold the stem for you while you file. It's particularly useful for making the bit thin, because you can leave a little of the bit drillbit exposed, and have a handy instant reference for just how close you are to the bit hole - just rotate the stem sideways and compare the OD of the stem bit to the size of the ID drillbit.

This avoids the wrist tension of hand-holding the stem. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways as well - I've also seen numerous variations of stem braces used, for instance.

This awesome, Trever! Thanks! I'm going to try that right now, on a few stems I need to file down.

I'm considering buying their "ultimate 14" bandsaw" .....

Dammit Kurt! Now I want one.
If you do get one, let me know what you think of it. I'm really tired of my mickey mouse 9" Ryobi that won't cut parallel to the fence.

Very nice tutorial Kurt. And very generous of your time and skills.

Trever, thanx for the filing tip. A great idea.

Best,
Steve Morrisette

This has really saved me, I have been struggling making my own stems. A huge help.

wow how could i forget about these pics kurt!! they are great! thanks

Thanks for sharing this. Its good to know I'm doing about the same process as you when making my stems. Lovely work.