rotating the stem

[notow1]

A number of people at the Chicago show gave Me tips on rotating the stem when sanding to keep things even. I just finished My first pipe since the show and the stem fits exactly the same when rotated. I'm going to have a smile on My face for at least a Day. You Guys should have told Me this a long time ago. This and many other tips and advice have already started to help Me make better pipes. Thanks, Norm.

[sandahlpipe]

Can we see pictures? Keep up the good work, Norm! It was nice to see you at the show. Glad you're getting good results.

[E.L.Cooley]

Can you explain the
Process?


Sent from my banana phone.

[sandahlpipe]

Fit stem.
Sand flush.
Turn stem 180°.
Sand flush.
Repeat until it's flush all around.

[E.L.Cooley]

Thanks Jeremiah.


Sent from my banana phone.

[BigCasino]

I do 90's

[scotties22]

Oh yeah?? Well...I do 45s, so there!!

[LatakiaLover]

I do .00000000000005 degrees at a time. Takes a while, but the results are worth it.

[Sasquatch]

I don't bother with this kind of shit.

Be more careful when you shape.

[WCannoy]

I don't bother with this kind of shit.

Be more careful when you shape.

I do bother with this kind of shit...
I am also careful when I shape... so this kind of shit, for me, is about maintaining symmetry during sanding rather than making a correction.

[WCannoy]

A number of people at the Chicago show gave Me tips on rotating the stem when sanding to keep things even. I just finished My first pipe since the show and the stem fits exactly the same when rotated. I'm going to have a smile on My face for at least a Day. You Guys should have told Me this a long time ago. This and many other tips and advice have already started to help Me make better pipes. Thanks, Norm.

Norm,

I had to go back and look at the video that I made for you. Sure enough, starting at 23 minutes in, I stressed the importance of the stem fitting flush when rotated. Yup, I ran on about it for several minutes.

Well, apparently, in all my rambling, I neglected to tell you how to accomplish this, including rotating the stem while sanding.

I apologize for pointing out an error without offering a solution.

[Sasquatch]

I don't bother with this kind of shit.

Be more careful when you shape.

I do bother with this kind of shit...
I am also careful when I shape... so this kind of shit, for me, is about maintaining symmetry during sanding rather than making a correction.

Exactly.

And in saying I don't bother, what I'm really saying is, I work really hard to keep things round in the first place, because any deviation is going to show up in some way or another. Better to keep things reasonably symmetric the whole time if you can.

[PremalChheda]

If you want nearly perfect round do it this way:
sand
turn 180 sand
turn 90 sand
turn 180 sand
turn 45 sand
turn 180 sand
turn 90 sand
turn 180 sand

or if you are Bill Shalosky, just eye it and Wallah! It will be as close to perfect by hand as you can get.

[Thomas Tkach]

I have a question about this for a couple of kits that I want to do. The problem is, the tenon is off-center on the pre-molded stem, by a decent bit. The internals may be off-center, too, so that the tenon is off from the outside and inside of the stem. The good news is that the stem is oversized, so I'll be cutting it down a good bit. Should I still try to keep everything symetrical this way, or just eye-ball it to make the outside look as good as I can?

[sandahlpipe]

I have a question about this for a couple of kits that I want to do. The problem is, the tenon is off-center on the pre-molded stem, by a decent bit. The internals may be off-center, too, so that the tenon is off from the outside and inside of the stem. The good news is that the stem is oversized, so I'll be cutting it down a good bit. Should I still try to keep everything symetrical this way, or just eye-ball it to make the outside look as good as I can?

I think you should still be able to get the outside round and symmetrical by using the rotate method. If you're using a stem blank, you'll probably still need to use a drill bit to open the airway enough to remove the whistle. You will probably need something to turn the tenon around the airway like a tenon tool from pimo or a metal lathe and drill bit or pin gage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thomas Tkach]

The tenon is turned already, but doesn't seem centered. The molding is pretty messed up, too, so that complicates things (the two halves of the mold don't line up. I'm mostly worried about the button not being centered once I get the rest of it centered on the crooked tenon. Maybe I need pics of this mess.

[sandahlpipe]

The tenon is turned already, but doesn't seem centered. The molding is pretty messed up, too, so that complicates things (the two halves of the mold don't line up. I'm mostly worried about the button not being centered once I get the rest of it centered on the crooked tenon. Maybe I need pics of this mess.

That's one of the disadvantages of working with low quality stem blanks. You can do a limited amount of bending to one side or the other to try and center the button, but you won't get the same level of quality as with a hand cut stem. Sounds like your frustration level is going to have you hand cutting stems before too long.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Thomas Tkach]

No budget, time, space, or tooling for that . I guess this is what I have to work with for now. Maybe after I finish school, have a job, and pay off debt. In a few years, I'd love to try it!

[LatakiaLover]

That's one of the disadvantages of working with low quality stem blanks. You can do a limited amount of bending to one side or the other to try and center the button, but you won't get the same level of quality as with a hand cut stem. Sounds like your frustration level is going to have you hand cutting stems before too long.

Three things:

--- "Low quality" and "stem blank" are not synonymous (if that was what you meant). The very worst stem material I've ever seen by far was rod stock from a supposedly premium supplier; and there are German and English blanks that are consistently high in quality.

--- Staying "centered" and so forth is also not the exclusive domain of supposedly premium rod stock, either. I've made a number of stems from it that have bent after shaping, presumably because there were uneven internal stresses that were released (so to speak) by reducing the mass of the material.

--- Virtually every complaint about supposedly inferior molded stems becomes a non-issue if a significantly oversized blank is cut & finished to the desired size.


(Comments like this are when I think my darkest thoughts about the Internet. Too often people just repeat what they've heard or read, and after a while bullshit becomes accepted as fact while truth is ignored because no one wants to piss off the hivemind.)

[sandahlpipe]

--- "Low quality" and "stem blank" are not synonymous (if that was what you meant). The very worst stem material I've ever seen by far was rod stock from a supposedly premium supplier; and there are German and English blanks that are consistently high in quality.

I'm not disagreeing with you, George. I don't believe I claimed that low quality and stem blanks were synonyms. If I did, I apologize. I have dozens of stem blanks that I use for shop pipes. There are some of them which are indeed worthless as the slot is so off center that it's pretty much impossible to get a nice looking stem, no matter how large the blank is. I presume that the one in this kit was like that. I wasn't going off what I read on the internet, just my (limited) experience with low-quality stem blanks. I'm sure there are stem blanks out there with better quality, but I have no experience with those.

Do you have any brand recommendations for stem blanks for those who don't use rod stock?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk