Stem bending methods

[The Smoking Yeti]

Hey folks!

I'm about to bend a stem, and I'm not sure I want to boil my nice fitting integral tenon in water (which is my standard bending method) and I was wondering if a propane torch would work for heating and bending?

Help!

[wmolaw]

Hey folks!

I'm about to bend a stem, and I'm not sure I want to boil my nice fitting integral tenon in water (which is my standard bending method) and I was wondering if a propane torch would work for heating and bending?

Help!

A propane torch? Wow. I use an heat gun. Some others just use an alcohol flame. I guess a torch would work, but keep it well away, doesn't take a hell of a lot of heat to make it bend.

Not that I'm an expert, but just from what others have said. Note also, many have said it is a good idea to put a pipe cleaner all the way through the stem just in case it wants to collapse when you bend it. Some have said that's BS (I think Rad said that), but it seems to me that one can never be too careful if you have a lot of time in the stem!

My two cents, and now homeward bound.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Yeah, I know the pipe cleaner trick. And yeah, I know Rad tends to gripe about stupid things, doesn't he?!

Alcohol flames you say? Interesting idea...

[LexKY_Pipe]

I use a small alcohol flame. Learned the trick from Tim West. Works every time and you have lots of control. Just don't let the stem get to hot, but direct the flame where you want to make the bend.

[d.huber]

I just light a candle and slowly move the stem over it until the stem is warm enough to be pliable.

[andrew]

Bending in water will work ok, but you really want to get it hotter than that (hence heat gun or open flame). You'll run into a problem with thicker stems.
Oh, and unless you are doing some pretty dramatic bending you shouldn't need to worry about collapsing the airway. The candle will work, but I prefer the alcohol lamp. Flame is a little cooler and more controlled with a good lamp.

[Massis]

when using a candle, don't forget to also heat a wide enough section of your stem. If you only heat the exact part where the bend will be, you won't get a bent stem, you'll get an angled one.

[pereu]

Hi Yeti,
I'm using a hot-air gun. I use it also to heat my stamp: Description (sorry in Geman)
This works very well and I can adjust the heat by buttons an can control it by an digital display. It's a super luxus solution.
Regards
Peter

[caskwith]

Candle, alcohol lamp, heat gun, propane torch, gas ring, electric hob . They all work and the best thing to do is find the method that suits you best, experiment on some scrap material.

Personally I like a heat gun with a wide paint stripping nozzle, it gives me a wide heating area in one direction, and narrow one in the other so I can heat the stem evenly across it's width but also control where i want the bend.

[jogilli]

I use a heat gun also... a cheaper version that the one peter showed as mine only has 3 positions.. off, low, and high ... low is what I use...

james

[prosmoking]

I use a heat gun. You can get a small one for not to much money from a hobby / craft store.
And yes, I use a pipe cleaner in the draft when I bend stems. While not all stems require it, it only takes a couple seconds to be on the safe side.

[caskwith]

Well I use mine on high, I like to live dangerously! haha.

Forgot to say about pipecleaners. use them if you want to, personally I don't like them and find they make it harder to bend, plus i have had an airway collapse without one. YMMV

[kkendall]

Bo used a candle, Nana uses a heat gun ... I've used an alcohol lamp and heat gun. Doesn't really matter, just don't try to hurry it.

[Sasquatch]

I just light a candle and slowly move the stem over it until the stem is warm enough to be pliable.

This.

[wdteipen]

Heat gun on high. That is all.

[Tyler]

I use a heat gun also, but I've used my Old Boy lighter a fair number of times too.

Rad is right about the pipe cleaner.

[Sasquatch]

Rubber stems act different than acrylic though - I keep a cleaner in the acrylic stems if I am doing a big bend. Acrylic goes from hard to very soft over a very short temperature gradient - there's no happy in-between - it's super bendy or it's hard, and because of that, airway crushing is a little easier in acrylic.

[Tyler]

Rubber stems act different than acrylic though - I keep a cleaner in the acrylic stems if I am doing a big bend. Acrylic goes from hard to very soft over a very short temperature gradient - there's no happy in-between - it's super bendy or it's hard, and because of that, airway crushing is a little easier in acrylic.

Ah, OK, good point. I've used acrylic twice, I think, so I never think about the possible differences.

So, Rad is right about vulcanite.

[Sasquatch]

Rad might be right, but there's no need to say it publically.

[dgerwin11]

I was once told by a supplier who also makes some amazing pipes not to use a candle as it would leave soot on the stem. Since my procedure is sand, bend, buff, that advice seemed useless. Sometimes I use a candle, sometimes a heat gun. Always a pipe cleaner. One thing no one has mentioned is immediately after bending to run it under cold water to "set" it.