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Poker nose warmer?

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 12:27 pm
by MmmPeace
Hey, all. This is my first solo pipe, I did all of the drilling myself and made my own stem, I understand this is a learning process and they will get better with time, aka it's a little rough... Last night while fitting my stem I cracked the shank, it was only about a 1in. crack and I was able to trim it off and redrill the mortise to the best of my ability without rechucking the pipe. I couldn't face it though so now there is a slight gap between the stem and shank, this will be a shop pipe so I am not too concerned, but it is a bummer seeing as how I was doing well on this guy. I now have a short little stubby poker that I am going to finish this evening hopefully, is it too short though? I assume it will be a hotter smoke due to the short length...? Overall length is about 3in. I know this is a work in progress but if you have any notes/critiques I welcome them with open arms. I actually really like the short stubby look, hopefully it appeals to others as well :) Also is this the correct place to post this? I couldn't find a WIP section... Thanks!
pokerProgress.jpg
pokerProgress.jpg (139.15 KiB) Viewed 2415 times

Re: Poker nose warmer?

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:35 pm
by sandahlpipe
It's really hard to make out anything in the picture because of the shadows. From what I can see, the bowl walls could be half the size and still a bit on the large side. The button is protruding off the side of the stem. That's not going to be very comfortable.

There's no WIP section. Just a gallery. If you want the most valuable feedback, post in the gallery when you've fixed and finished everything you can on a pipe.

Re: Poker nose warmer?

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:49 pm
by DocAitch
I think the hotness of the smoke depends on your cadence much more than the shank length. I would be hard pressed to say whether my Canadians smoke any cooler than the shorter shanked pipes.

If you have a lathe, you can make a sander tool that will help address the shank face. Face a piece of 1" dowel and drill a hole in the end without removing it. Use an appropriate diameter pilot (5/16" or whatever fits your mortise) in the end to center it on your shank face. Cut some sand paper off various grits and glue it to the dowel face with contact cement (I use spray on stuff). This tool will sand down the shank face (with an appropriate grit) to give you a good fit.
You can also use what I call the "cut-the-shine" method where you rotate the stem against the shank face and carefully shave off the shiny surfaces ( which are the areas in contact with the stem) until you get a good surface, then use the above sanding tool. You can coat the stem face with magic marker and shave off the colored areas also.
This is how I did it in the 1970s.
DocAitch

Re: Poker nose warmer?

Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 4:56 pm
by MmmPeace
You two provide great feedback and advice, I will finish it up and post in gallery for critiques, thank you for your input!

Re: Poker nose warmer?

Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 5:54 am
by kamkiel
I have cracked a few shanks before too. It sucks, but we can also call it part of the learning process. I have yet to make a mistake free pipe. There is always something that could or could have been done better. So learn from your mistakes, take your time, and welcone to the (cracked shank) club.