Bending

[buster]

When is the proper time to bend the stem. Before finishing, after, in the middle... I think I messed up. I tried to bend one after it was completely finished and it messed up the finish. It had a bunch of little scratches on it anyhow, but now it really looks like garbage. Thank you very much.

[Sasquatch]

I bend after the first tripoli polish usually. If everything looks good, I continue on, if things need touch-ups for shape, I can do it then.

[buster]

By touch up of shape do you mean filing and or sanding some more?

[Nate]

By touch up of shape do you mean filing and or sanding some more?

You are correct buster.

[KurtHuhn]

I bend after the first tripoli polish usually. If everything looks good, I continue on, if things need touch-ups for shape, I can do it then.

Ditto this.

Sometimes a bent stem needs tweaks to make it "right".

[The Smoking Yeti]

True that Kurt. Speaking of making it right, can I get a picture of your finishing tooling bit?

[buster]

I did notice after bending a slight bulge in the top of the stem that wasn't there before, and the stem looks a little longer now, like I should have made it a little shorter.

[caskwith]

I sand up to 320 grit before bending, that means the stem is straight for the majority of the hard sanding used to shape and get the deep scratches out but I can still tweak things if needed. Once I am happy with the shape i then do the final finish sanding and buffing.

[taharris]

I bend after sanding to 220.

Another trick is to stick a fluffy pipe cleaner in the stem before bending to support the smoke hole and keep it from collapsing.

Todd

[caskwith]

I bend after sanding to 220.

Another trick is to stick a fluffy pipe cleaner in the stem before bending to support the smoke hole and keep it from collapsing.

Todd

I found on the few occasions I tried this I was unable to get a smooth curve so I stopped doing, never collapsed an airway yet

[taharris]

I bend after sanding to 220.

Another trick is to stick a fluffy pipe cleaner in the stem before bending to support the smoke hole and keep it from collapsing.

Todd

I found on the few occasions I tried this I was unable to get a smooth curve so I stopped doing, never collapsed an airway yet

You must be a better bender than me.

In truth, I have never noticed a difference in how the stem bends with or without a pipe cleaner. You must be using the industrial strength ones.

Todd

[The Smoking Yeti]

I like me some HSS pipe cleaners!

[RadDavis]

You're not going to collapse the air way as long as you don't fold the stem somehow. Even a full bent pipe isn't bent enough to collapse the airway. Just use your thumb and finger like a tube bender.

Also, if you shape the stem right while it's straight, you don't have to shape it after bending.

Rad

[Sasquatch]

Yes and no. If you make a stem perfect and perfectly symmetrical wrt top and bottom, and then bend the hell out of it, the bottom side, the inside of the curve will appear thickened. So you have to take more out of there for the same appearance, which is kind of tough to eyeball pre-bend. It can certainly be done, but lots of times a stem that looks "good" straight will look awful really bent.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Luckily for Sas his pipes are SUPPOSED to look awful!

Naw really, I've had that same problem Sas- it absolutely tortures my ocd.

[wdteipen]

Depends on how bent for me. If it's just a slight bend I'll sand all the way to 600 then bend, sand to 1200 then buff. If it's a bigger bend on a taper stem it does like Sas describes and the material scrunches up and thickens on the bottom side. I usually end up using a round file to reshape the bottom so it's pointless to sand past shaping grits (ie. 180, 220.)

[RadDavis]

Well, you guys are the experts. Pay no attention to me.

Rad

[Sasquatch]

Yeah I'm talking about significant bends in fairly fat tapered stems, which seems to be on, uh... well, uh, all my pipes.

[wdteipen]

Well, you guys are the experts. Pay no attention to me.

Rad

No we're just not as awesome as you. This thread goes well with the recurve thread on SF in the Common Sewers. Besides, what fun would this forum be if us newbie jackholes all just agreed with you and Todd and kissed your asses all the time. We're entitle to do things wrong if we want to. This is 'merika after all.

[buster]

Thanks again for all the help. This discussion brings up another question. I notice some of you sand your stems to 400-500 then buff, and a lot of others go to 1000+. From what I have read on here I though it was pointless to go past 400-500 because the tripoli is a similar grit. Personal preference? Confused again.