Shaping with files. A dowel in a vise is your best friend

[scotties22]

The thought behind this ties into the article Sas posted the other day. This is all about learning the basics and developing your eye. Yes, there are people here who do 99 percent of their shaping and sanding on a disc, wheel, or what have you. If you are just starting out I would advise against this. You will ruin more briar (and rodstock for that matter) doing things above your pay grade, so to speak. This is the way I shape my pipes and it has helped me immensely.

I got this little trick from Quinton Wells. If you don't know who Quinton is, he runs the GKCPC carving contest and is one hell of a great pipe maker.

Be warned there are 3 different pipes I used in the pictures. The first is a billiard the second two are both apples (and are very similar). These are what I have onhand at the moment and what I grabbed.

I start out with a block I have drilled and turned on the lathe.



I use an 80 grit abralon sanding disc running at about 1400 rpm to remove the excess material. Yes, it takes about 10 minutes to knock off all the extra material. That's not the point, I have tons of control and room for error. I also don't have the fear of sanding one of my knuckles to the bone. If you know me, you know my tag line is the truth, not just something funny.....I really am Calamity Jane




Notice That I have not taken the bottom line of the bowl or the bowl/shank junction any where near final form.

Next I take the stummel to the dowel. If your chamber is 3/4" get a 3/4" dowel (I know I shouldn't have to say that. But, I am a blonde so I assume everyone else is too)




The first thing I shape is the profile of the pipe along the bottom line (the chin, if you will). I still have not touched the bowl/shank junction (it's actually one of the last things on the bowl I shape). (sorry I didn't take a picture of this, but hopefully you can follow). From there I start working my way around the bowl, on both sides, towards the shank. The easiest way to do this is to put your file to one side of the chin (right where you stopped turning if you used a lathe), grab the shank and turn the pipe on the dowel towards the shank. The file will knock off all the high spots from the disc. Slowly work your way around. Move down the bowl and repeat the process until you have reached the bottom of the bowl. Move the dowel around and you can reach every part of the bowl with ease.

How do I check my progress? Pinch the wall of the pipe with your finger and thUmb (finger in the chamber, thumb on the outside) and SLOWLY spin the bowl around your finger. As you develop your skilz you will be able to feel the high spots, low spots, what have you.






From there I move to 80 grit sandpaper to hone the shape and then I'm ready for final sanding.



This last picture is at about the 2 1/2 hour mark. That includes turning the tenon on my wood lathe (another thread entirely) and roughing the stem on my 80 grit disc. Is that slower than some? Sure it is. But the feel I have for the lines of a pipe has improved greatly since I concentrated more on accuracy than on speed. Because let's face it.....there's only two things power tools do for us......they make pipe making faster and a little more accurate and give us the ability to make bigger mistakes faster.


Disclaimer: THIS IS THE WAY I SHAPE PIPES. WILL IT WORK FOR YOU??? WILL IT HELP YOU DEVELOP YOUR SKILZ??? TRY IT AND FIND OUT. I'M JUST SAYING THAT I LEARNED THIS FROM THE GUY WHO'S ESTATE PIPES SELL FOR $700+!! AND IT HAS BEEN VERY BENEFICIAL FOR ME.
http://www.thepiperack.com/search.php?s ... ls&x=0&y=0

If you actually read all that I will give you a hug, or headlock.......your choice, if we ever meet in person

[wdteipen]

Nice. As you progress your skill, work towards doing the majority (98%) of your shaping on the disc. It's tough at first and you'll likely mess up some briar but with practice and the right set up it's far superior to hand tool work from an efficiency/time standpoint.

[Joe Hinkle Pipes]

great post Scottie. it illustrates that you have to know what to remove and where before power tools will help you. The file and sandpaper approach helped me figure out where the shape lies. Once you know that you can start taking your pipes further and further on the shaping wheel. Unfortunately none of this will help you if you nick the finished shank with the wheel like i sometimes do. ( or someone else that knocks the entire shank off the stummel. lol )

[d.huber]

Cool tutorial, Scottie. Thanks for taking the time to lay this method out.

If your stummels are coming off of your lathe looking like that billiard, I'd suggest sharpening your tools.

[scotties22]

Cool tutorial, Scottie. Thanks for taking the time to lay this method out.

If your stummels are coming off of your lathe looking like that billiard, I'd suggest sharpening your tools.

You would pick up on that, hahahaaa. That has been in my reject box for over a year now. It has a huge flaw on the other side. But, yes....it helps to turn to the next cutting edge when one gets dull

[BigCasino]

Nice Scottie, this is kind of how I do it to except I still don't have all the tooling to cut the stummel on my lathe, so I rough shape of the sanding disk then use rasps and file to finish shaping, altho I dislike using the dowel and vise method and prefer to hold the pipe in my hand while I file and sand, yes, I have a lot less skin on my knuckles now

[dogcatcher]

You can also drill a hole through the dowel then split one end into 4 sections. Take one of these.
http://www.hilti.com/holcom/page/module ... eId=-10947
Remove the nut and the expansion part then put it in the hole. Replace the nut, when you tighten the nut the cone end of the bolt will cause that end to expand. It will literally lock the stummel in place. When finished, loosen the nut and remove the dowel.

I make these to hold duck call bands while I give them the hammered look. This expands in reverse of the above combination. The above expansion bolt is opposite of the lug bolt I use on this one. The above is called a blind mandrel.





I hope all of this makes sense, if it doesn't I will see if I can find an expansion bolt and make one to show you.

[PremalChheda]

Adjustable Pipe Reamers with some tape around the blades work great.

[baweaverpipes]

Adjustable Pipe Reamers with some tape around the blades work great.

YEP!
Buy the old style, they have a softer curve on the blades. The new one's have too much of a bend.

[PremalChheda]

Adjustable Pipe Reamers with some tape around the blades work great.

YEP!
Buy the old style, they have a softer curve on the blades. The new one's have too much of a bend.

Klean and Reams are the good ones. Stay away from the Senior pipe reamer. I wish someone would make the Klean and reams again. Quality product.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Where can I get one of these?

[baweaverpipes]

Where can I get one of these?

They come up on eBay quite often. Search Kleen Reem.

[PremalChheda]

Where can I get one of these?

Micah! It is not a rectal tool!

[dreadroberts]

Thank you scottie! I have been working with a various set of clamps and vise setups. I'm going to give this a shot. This is why I love this forum.



Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[BobR]

Where can I get one of these?

They come up on eBay quite often. Search Kleen Reem.

There are quite a few on eBay right now.

[Sasquatch]

Where can I get one of these?

Micah! It is not a rectal tool!

Not specifically, anyway.

[baiguai]

Thanks so much for the dowel in the clamp! It makes life much easier.

[lancefisher51]

One of the best step by step instructional guides I've seen.

Lance

[Literaryworkshop]

Good idea with the dowel, there. I'm going to give it a try next time around and see what happens.

That's a nice set of files you have there, too. Is that a pillar file you're using to shape the bottom of the bowl? I guess that safe edge might come in handy. I have a couple of those myself, though I've often thought them too narrow to be much use on the pipes. I was probably wrong about that.

[scotties22]

Yes, it is a Grobet pillar file 00 cut. I think it is 3/4" wide. I use it and my vulcrylic file more than any other files I have. I like the narrower files for stems...feel like I have more control. Since I have them that's what I use on stummels too. They work really well for me as I don't make too many large pipes.