Newb pipe maker - experienced wood worker

[gurnie]

Hello everyone,

I have a lot of questions so i hope i can have your patience with some of the answers. I have been lurking for awhile, so i have some basic knowledge. My goal is to make a few nice pipes to supplement my small business that is mostly wood working gifts for men. So i'd like to include a few pipes in my craft shows later this year

So i have a JET 1014 VSI mini lathe. which i use to do other woodworking items. dear husband has said no more big tools, which is a fair rule since we live in a condo - not a house, so i am not looking to get a metal lathe. From what I have read on the forum, it seems that I need a three jaw chuck system. This is what i have currently:

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/200576 ... nsert.aspx

AND

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200040 ... w-Set.aspx



My idea is to turn my first few stummles out of birds eye maple burl (which as i understand, if i am lucky enough on my first few tries, this wood can be used for a real pipe, although not as durable as the briar).

1. So, do i need to get another jaw chuck for my lathe? If so, can you please recommend one that doesn't use two Tommy bars? I don't want to wish i was an Octopus with 8 arms trying to get it all to work I read somewhere that i should get Nova Tower jaws, and when i do turn with the jaws, i should use just use two of the jaws. So, what should i get, the tower jaws or the 3 jaw set?

2. i am a little confused on what to buy for the mouth piece / bit and stem. I understand my options are: vulcanite, lucite, and Bakelite. I want something that is safe for something to put their mouth on, and chew on it if they choose to. I'd like to be able to turn the material on my lathe, and bend the material with my heatgun - and hopefully retain it's shape. Although i wouldn't mind buying pre-drilled mouth pieces and just turning the mortise / tenon connection. I'm familiar with Penn State turning industries - do they sell a material that would work for the mouth piece?

3. Is there a good book out there that I can follow along that has lots of pictures? i get the jist to be honest, i just want to make sure I am using the right size drill bits, ect. i was able to find a decent plastic pipe at a antiques store (they had a few expensive wood ones) just so I can study it.

thank you for your time

I also invite you to check out some of my work:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/cgurnham

[Ocelot55]

Welcome to the forum! Since I don't use a lathe I'll let some of the more experienced pipe makers here cover that. To address inquiry #2:

The two most common stem materials are vulcanite and acrylic/lucite. Vulcanite is most commonly used by the "high grade" pipe makers. It is soft on the teeth and easy to work with, however it will oxidize with time so more maintenance is required. Lucite and Acrylic do not oxidize. They can be a little more tricky to work with because they will melt. You can also get acrylic and lucite in a wider range of colours and styles.The rod stock for both can be picked up relatively affordable at several venders specifically geared toward pipe makers.

http://www.jhlowe.com/

http://www.pipemakers.org/

http://www.pimopipecraft.com/

In addition, pen makers often use acrylic or vulcanite blanks to turn pens. Be warned, however, that not all vulcanite is suitable for pipe stems as they may have small inclusions or be made out of inferior material.

Pre-fabricated stems are handy and affordable, but are usually made out of inferior vulcanite and are not always put together well. In any case they will need significant modification.

Hope this helps. Welcome once again.

[taharris]

Welcome to the forum.

Here is a link to a tutorial I did on turning a pipe on a wood lathe.

I hope it helps.

Feel free to post or PM me with questions.

Todd

http://www.woodturnersresource.com/extr ... _pipe.html

[oklahoma red]

Ok guys, clean up your act as we now have a lady in our midst (about time). Sas, no cussin', fartin' or spittin' on the floor. Dang Yetis have to be house trained.
I would suggest that you dig real deeply into the tools and tooling page, two lines below "Stummels". There is a ton of info on lathe chucks. Kurt has also put up some very informative picture and video essays on stummels and stems (do be kind to him as we are on his server). The only book you'll find out there that I'm aware of is Pimo's. Most of the pros here have their own web sites and some of them have put up their own "how I do it" pics. Use the search function on this site. There is no better store-house of pipe making knowledge than right here.
The tower jaws are what you want and yes, you use only two. The same jaws (use all 4) will hold rod stock for stems.
For a beginner, making stems from ebonite rod (expensive stuff) can be a real challenge. I would suggest that to start use pre-formed stems in either vulcanite or acrylic. Choose them wisely because there is only so much modification you can do to them. As such they play a large part in the final shape of the pipe. In other words don't get some that are too large in diameter for the stem you have in mind. They are hard to hold without special tooling.
Start with your basic pipe shapes and go from there. One can sink a lot of money into pipe making in a blink but you do not have to in order to give it a go. You already have a lathe and are skilled at using it I might add from the looks of your esty page. That is half the battle.
Pimo, et al, sell modified spade bits to drill the tobacco chamber. Start there as those bits are relatively cheap. If you are a skilled turner you can do the chamber without a bit.
Definitely try using other wood beside briar to hone your skills. You will cry a lot less that way.
Good luck!
Chas.

[gurnie]

Morning Gentlemen.

Ocelot: Ok it sounds like it's a good idea to buy a pre-made stem, and being that I am new I think I will go with either a Lucite or acrylic (leaning towards former rather than the later). I appreciate the fair warning about pen products not being good pipe material.

TaHarris- I am a member of WTR so i actually have your guide printed at home. I am going to PM you about where to get the tower jaws because I can't find them (and i am hoping they fit my chuck).

OK Red - hahaha thanks for the welcome. and thanks fort he kind works considering my wood working skillz.

I am not a smoker myself, but I do want to make a nice product for prospective customers. I've looked at TaHarris and DMpipe's tutorial (actually that was the tutorial that got me interested) So I have a questions about a few tools. one is this one:

Combination Mortise Drill Bit & Shank-End Square
http://www.pimopipecraft.com/tools.html
Bores 5/16" Diameter Mortise Hole 7/8" Deep, Simultaneously Squares Shank End for Perfect Stem Fit

I'm not sure if i need this tool, although so this basically drills the mortise hole and squares the shank. Seems pretty useful, but i saw that the hole that it drills is 5/16th but I can't seem to find stems that who's tenon's are listed as 5/16" or 1/4".. is that because either size is industry standard when pertaining to tenons? (i say 1/4" because i assume ti has to be a little smaller than the mortise to fit)

you also mention using Rounded Drills for Boring Tobacco Hole. I assume the rounded end creates that "bell" shape in the tobacco pipe. Is there really a different in function between that shape and a flat bottom a Forster bit would create? Again not a pipe smoker so I wouldn't know if this affects the function.



and one last question - i saw someone on this forum cut a block in half, shape the inside chambers, and glue it together. isn't there some sort of risk with some of the glues and combustion? are there any safe glues to use? I have tight-bond 2 & 3, and lots of CA glue. i figured neither should be near a combustion chamber... but as a scroll saw user this could lead to some very interesting projects.

thank you!!!

[Sasquatch]

I could answer all these questions, but not without fartin', cussin', and spittin' on the floor.

[Ocelot55]

The combination bit for the mortise and shank square is handy but it limits your creativity. That tool limits the diameter of shank you can use. It's great for getting a nice stem shank junction though and saves some time. If you want to make anything other than simple english shapes you will need a nice forstner bit and then whatever size bit you want to drill the mortise. I use 5/16" for the mortise and a 1 1/4" forstner bit to square the shank.

As far as listed tenon size, it is generally understood that tenons need to be turned to the proper diameter. This is really easy to screw up. Unless you want to use delrin and find the appropriate bits, each stem tenon will need turned to fit its specific mortise. Microns count! Go slowly, take off less material than you think you need at first, and check the fit after every time. It took me forever to get my stems fitting correctly.

Tobacco chambers that are round are absolutely essential for a dry smoke. There are some interesting posts on this forum explaining all the sciency stuff; bottom line is that you'll get too much dottle at the bottom if the chamber is flat bottomed.

Cutting a block in half and gluing it together may be fine for an eighth grade shop project, but I don't think it will fly here. Trust me. Although, as meathod has shown us, it can be used in various other aspects of pipemaking.

I hope I have answered you questions sufficiently. I still consider myself a rank amateur, so you may wan to hit up some of the more experienced guys for more technical info. Everyone on here is generally more than happy to help.

[oklahoma red]

Top o' the morning to ya lassie. (oops, a few days late for that).
Be aware that Lucite and acrylic are one in the same. The former being an old DuPont trade name and acrylic being generic. The other choices are vulcanite which is a granular material that is made into stems by compression molding. Ebonite and cumberland are rod stock. Vulcanite is prone to oxidation over time. Same for ebonite tho not nearly as bad. Most pen blanks are polyester. There has been recent lengthy discussion about this material's merits.
Pimo's tool works basically the same as the tool used to square up the ends of pen blanks. If you dig into the processes of factory made pipes you will come across a lot of "multi-tools". The logic is for speed and accuracy.
5/16" is a common mortise/tenon diameter. A lot of makers are using tenons made of Delrin which is a low friction (self-lubricating) engineering plastic. Again, much info on this site about how-to and why. It is not super rigid as is say acrylic. So a larger diameter as 5/16 versus 1/4 makes up for it having a bit of flex.
ALL pre-made stems will require turning the tenon to fit the mortise. Or they can have the existing over-size tenon cut off in the lathe and a Delrin tenon installed. There is a love-hate relationship on the usage of Delrin (or Teflon which is widely used in Europe). I personally like it. The material is made by an extrusion process and it tends to be very accurate in diameter at least in the 5/16 rods. I first drill the mortise hole with a 19/64 bit. I then use a micrometer on the piece of Delrin. I have three chucking reamers: exactly 5/16 and one a half thou. over-size and another a half thou. under-size. I'll select one that best makes the final mortise cut for that particular piece of Delrin.
It is difficult (but not impossible) to turn an integral tenon on a wood lathe due to the tight tolerances required. A metal lathe is the weapon of choice for this. Another tool (used widely used in pipe repair) is an adjustable rotary cutter. It has a guide pin that goes into the airway and the adjustable cutter spins around the O.D. of the tenon to trim it to size. Or the stem spins and the cutter does not depending on how you set it up. I mentioned yesterday that pre-mades are hard to hold for subsequent modification. Take a look at the huge variety of shapes available and you will see why this is so.
NO flat bottom tobacco chambers! Sludge pots.
I think what you are referring to about cutting in half and gluing back together was on meathod's stem for his Omm Paul pipe. Stay away from the hot end and stick with the poly vinyl alcohol glues such as Titebond or Elmers and you should be safe.
Charge on!
Chas.

[taharris]

Regarding bits that can be used to drill the chamber.

Your best bet is to take a spade bit of the proper size (usually 3/4" or 7/8") and grind the profile you want.

Since you are an experience wood turner I would guess that you have a grinder to sharpen your tools.

Set up the grinder the same way you would to sharpen a scrapper and put a slight bevel on the left side of the bit, then turn it over and do the same on the other (left) side.

And for $3.50 you have a bit that you can use to drill the chamber.

The surface it leaves is a little rough sometimes, but you can wrap some sandpaper around a dowel rod with the end rounded off and sand the inside of the bowl. (I won't tell you what most members here call that tool )

The tower jaws you can get here: http://www.woodcraft.com/product/200040 ... w-set.aspx

Todd

Todd

[The Smoking Yeti]

I love your shaving kits! Too bad I don't have any facial hair... damn genes...

[gurnie]

I am sorry I haven't written back. I've been out of town on business.

TaHarris - I actually don't have a grinder! I have one of those little grinding stones since i usually use my mini tool set to turn. I do have a larger lathe tool set but to be honest I haven't used them yet!

Would they sell the spade bit at woodcraft?

Lots of really good information posted here, and I really appreciate that. thank you all for your kind remarks. I am looking forward to working on a pipe project soon. I need to go to woodcraft and get those Jaws

[Ocelot55]

Would they sell the spade bit at woodcraft?

Not in the shape you need.

J.H. Lowe and PIMO have pre-gound spade bits. Check it out:

http://www.jhlowe.com/tools.htm

http://www.pimopipecraft.com/tools.html