Wood Stems

[MadTinker]

1st off I am not trying to sell my pipes. And please excuse the Question if it is too much outside the box for most. O.K. with that said. I ordered some DELRIN for Tennon Work. I want to do some Wooden Stems for my personal use. Is any wood fair game since it is not in direct contact with the heat? Please only serious answers.

[TRS]

You might want to still shy away from some of the more irritating exotic woods, since the smoke will be in contact with the inside of the stem, but your typical hardware store wooden dowels should be fine. I'm using poplar and oak for my attempts at wooden stems.

[Dixie_piper]

Delrin doesn't adhere very well to wood, can't remember exactly what is recommended though. I think steel, maybe? Delrin will adhere pretty well to most acrylics.
I could be wrong, but I don't believe so.
No idea about the toxicity of stem woods

[MadTinker]

I thought I read somewhere about attaching Delrin Sleeves into the Mortise with Glue. Man their is tons of Epoxies out there, sometin has to work.

[MadTinker]

You might want to still shy away from some of the more irritating exotic woods, since the smoke will be in contact with the inside of the stem, but your typical hardware store wooden dowels should be fine. I'm using poplar and oak for my attempts at wooden stems.

Any progress worthy of PICS?

Look down into the Section that says Glue
http://www.downiepipes.com/faq.html

[Sasquatch]

The idea of gluing delrin to anything is basically the same - you need to make a mechanical joint, so if you rib the delrin, for example, the epoxy will have something to grab.

As for actual material on a wood stem, as mentioned, some woods just are not good to be in contact with for flavor or safety reasons. Oak tastes pretty strong, maple doesn't. Cocobolo is pretty poisonous and spruce isn't.

Same issues apply to all wood stems - how well does it stand up to chomping, how well does it stand up to moisture?

[TRS]

You might want to still shy away from some of the more irritating exotic woods, since the smoke will be in contact with the inside of the stem, but your typical hardware store wooden dowels should be fine. I'm using poplar and oak for my attempts at wooden stems.

Any progress worthy of PICS?

Look down into the Section that says Glue
http://www.downiepipes.com/faq.html

No, nothing worthy yet. I will post pictures if I ever get something done though. As for the Downie page mentioning gluing woods, I believe he's mostly referring to shank extensions and using delrin as a sleeve material. Using a smooth delrin rod in a wooden stem for something that takes as much punishment as a tenon is probably going to fail pretty quickly. Check out jhlowe.com. Tim's got threaded delrin tenons for sale that offer a lot more bite into the wood.

[MadTinker]

The idea of gluing delrin to anything is basically the same - you need to make a mechanical joint, so if you rib the delrin, for example, the epoxy will have something to grab.

As for actual material on a wood stem, as mentioned, some woods just are not good to be in contact with for flavor or safety reasons. Oak tastes pretty strong, maple doesn't. Cocobolo is pretty poisonous and spruce isn't.

Same issues apply to all wood stems - how well does it stand up to chomping, how well does it stand up to moisture?

These Wooden Stem Pipes will be for a "SIT and Puff", so no chomping and if the stem does not sit in the mouth then I think the Moisture levels would greatly decrease, I could be wrong. I will post up some Updates when I get some progress done.

[MadTinker]

You might want to still shy away from some of the more irritating exotic woods, since the smoke will be in contact with the inside of the stem, but your typical hardware store wooden dowels should be fine. I'm using poplar and oak for my attempts at wooden stems.

Any progress worthy of PICS?

Look down into the Section that says Glue
http://www.downiepipes.com/faq.html

No, nothing worthy yet. I will post pictures if I ever get something done though. As for the Downie page mentioning gluing woods, I believe he's mostly referring to shank extensions and using delrin as a sleeve material. Using a smooth delrin rod in a wooden stem for something that takes as much punishment as a tenon is probably going to fail pretty quickly. Check out jhlowe.com. Tim's got threaded delrin tenons for sale that offer a lot more bite into the wood.

As far as Punishment on the Tenon, I do not see it if you are just sitting and puffing on the pipe as compared to changing the oil in your car and chomping and puffing away.

[MadTinker]

Just an update. I received my Delrin today. I threaded the end that will go into the Wood Stem. I also Tapped out the Wood stem and screwed them together. With No Epoxy I could not move them or pull them apart. The stem was in a Vise and I was pulling with Vise Grips. So with an Epoxy and Tapping and Threading I do not see why this would not work. Hope to get some Pics soon.

[bornagainbriar]

Just an update. I received my Delrin today. I threaded the end that will go into the Wood Stem. I also Tapped out the Wood stem and screwed them together. With No Epoxy I could not move them or pull them apart. The stem was in a Vise and I was pulling with Vise Grips. So with an Epoxy and Tapping and Threading I do not see why this would not work. Hope to get some Pics soon.

I know I'm bumping an old thread, but I'd sure like to see the fished product on this MadTinker...