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shank extension question

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 6:01 pm
by seamonster
Hello folks,
I'm looking for some advice on shank extensions. I've got it in my head that I want the mortise to be briar, so I'm imagining something like this drawing, with a long section of stem inside the extensionImage
The stem would have a long saddle that would be mostly hidden, so the tenon could reach the briar mortise.

Am I thinking about this wrong? Do I need a briar mortise? Or if my extension was olive, or boxwood, say, would those woods be dense enough to provide a stable mortise? Or would some stabilizing steps on the olive extension be in order?

Part of me likes the "hidden" stem as a design element, and can picture some accents that you would only see with the pipe disassemble...a little surprise. But maybe I'm coming at this from the wrong direction....

Thanks in advance,
Jeremy

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 8:01 pm
by andrew
As long as you can ream it when you're done. You will be better off if you don't have much if any contact between the stem and shank extension. Let the mortise in the briar take the torque.

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 11:36 pm
by wdteipen
I really like your sketch. It's a good looking design. I agree with andrew that you will want to undersize the saddle. If you don't you'll have too much surface tension and it will be difficult to twist. An even better option would be to attach the shank extension to the stem instead of to the shank.

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 4:22 am
by caskwith
I'd just make that briar tenon extend through the shank extension then you can have a shorter stem and less chance of problems down the line.

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 7:57 am
by wdteipen
If you extend the briar shank through the extension like Chris suggests you'll have to make some adjustments on your airway drilling.

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:53 am
by seamonster
Thanks for your replies fellas!

andrew , good tip about stem and shank clearance... I'm assuming a very small space, just enough so there's no touching.

Chris and Wayne, my original reason for the shank extension is because I have a very tiny block which appears to have some radical grain... but it's too small to have the broader tenon much longer than what you see in my drawing....

initially, I had set this block aside for a bamboo shank, then the little block would work just fine, but after 5 or so practice rounds for the PITH2015, I'm going to take a bamboo-brake...

I thought I'd give a wooden shank extension a go.... I'm going to try it and find out.... that's a thing, right?

Re: shank extension question

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:26 am
by andrew
I like Wayne's suggestion. IAWW.