Things were going well...

For discussion of the drilling and shaping of the stummel.
Post Reply
User avatar
LittleBill
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Jun 13, 2013 11:09 am

Things were going well...

Post by LittleBill »

Sort of. I usually try to stay away from tools on Mondays, because things just seem to go wrong. I was seduced by the sight of this piece of briar calling out to me, and I succumbed. I got it all marked out the way I wanted, got it onto the lathe, and started drilling and cutting. I got the shank turned, and then installed my brandy new Pimo tenon tool in the Jacobs chuck. I am not sure I am going to like this tool. It did a good job of cutting a square shoulder and gave me a nice mortise in the shank, but it has these spurs that cut the shank down to 1/2" like it or not. So I turned the rest of the shank down to match.

I got the smoke hole drilled, also with a long bit I bought from Pimo. This is an 11/64" bit. That went easy enough. Fitting the stem was my first problem. I bought three stems. One I gave to a young man in our pipe club who is using my tools to make his own pipe. The next one suffered a fatal flaw (at least for now) when the tenoning tool I bought ended up cutting the tenon just a hair too small. Notice how I blame the tool? :oops: So I got out stem No. 3, a church warden. I figured I was going to make it sooner or later, so it might as well be now. I got that fitted successfully and turned the stem and shank to match.

Then disaster struck. I got the briar blank rotated around to start the tobacco chamber. I got it all lined up properly, moved the tool rest in, and being a highly skilled woodturner with many years of experience, gave the handwheel a spin to make sure the wood cleared the tool rest. It didn't. :evil:

I went ahead and hollowed out the tobacco chamber anyway, and discovered my holes met up perfectly. I am going to finish shaping the piece just for practice, but I am assuming that gluing the shank back together really isn't a good idea, as least for looks. What about smoking characteristics? Will the heat degrade the glue? I am not too worried about being poisoned.

If anyone has any suggestions on tools, techniques, improvements or changes I can make to improve my process, I would be glad to entertain them. I do not mind anyone telling me I bought a tool I should not have, but if you do, please be kind enough to suggest what I might use instead and why it is a better choice.

Image
wdteipen
Posts: 2817
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:05 pm

Re: Things were going well...

Post by wdteipen »

Is the tool you are referring to a counterbore? The one PIMO sells is too small. You can buy bigger ones that don't cut down your shank so small. www.wlfuller.com sells them in bigger sizes. I have various sizes and occasionally use them for various tasks but I don't use them anymore for facing the shank and drilling the mortise.
Wayne Teipen
Teipen Handmade Briar Pipes
http://www.teipenpipes.com
User avatar
andrew
Posts: 1407
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:40 am
Location: North Idaho

Re: Things were going well...

Post by andrew »

Just use Titebond III. Takes 24 hrs to dry, but is incredibly strong and will take moisture abuse.
LatakiaLover
Posts: 3120
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:29 am
Location: Kansas City, USA
Contact:

Re: Things were going well...

Post by LatakiaLover »

LittleBill wrote:
I went ahead and hollowed out the tobacco chamber anyway, and discovered my holes met up perfectly. I am going to finish shaping the piece just for practice, but I am assuming that gluing the shank back together really isn't a good idea, as least for looks. What about smoking characteristics? Will the heat degrade the glue? I am not too worried about being poisoned.
Snapped off shanks are a common repair, but rarely done right.

Do NOT just glue it. The joint will fail eventually no matter what sort of glue you use. Even if tougher than the wood---and all the space-age stuff is---you can't win, because the constant heat and humidity cycles of smoking will soften the wood itself to where it will just tear away, fibers still embedded in the glue.

The solution is to shield the joint by sleeving the shank with a thin-walled stainless steel tube. (McMaster-Carr has a good selection of lengths and sizes).

Fight the urge to ream each piece to tube O.D. size independently, though, and "slip fitting" the tube between them. That will prevent the joint line from mating perfectly 100% of the time. Absolutely guaranteed. The way to do it is glue the pipe together first, then ream to a few thou over. Not loose, but not so tight that significant pressure is required to seat it. Texture the outside of the tube with a Dremel, file, or similar, coat both the airway and the tube with a thin layer of G-Flex epoxy, and slide it home in a single motion. Clean up the overflow/excess (no biggie with an unfinished pipe, anyway), and yer done. Literally stronger than before, a virtually invisible seam, and no performance or taste artifacts.
UFOs must be real. There's no other explanation for cats.
caskwith
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 am

Re: Things were going well...

Post by caskwith »

George has it covered. I repaired a couple of mistakes this way and smoked them myself for a long time before giving away to friends who wanted "one of my pipes". Never had a problem with the joint failing and no taste problems either. On very thin morta shanks I routinely add a piece of tubing for strength even if they may not need it.
wmolaw
Posts: 585
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:50 pm

Re: Things were going well...

Post by wmolaw »

caskwith wrote:George has it covered. I repaired a couple of mistakes this way and smoked them myself for a long time before giving away to friends who wanted "one of my pipes". Never had a problem with the joint failing and no taste problems either. On very thin morta shanks I routinely add a piece of tubing for strength even if they may not need it.
What about just facing the shank and putting on an extension, to which you then fit the stem?
Post Reply