Thought I'd just make this a thread on its own....
There's a million ways to bend stems, I'm sure. The process I'm using works very well for me and I thought I'd share it here.
I purchased a 5"deep by 7" diameter cast-iron pot, filled it with sand and heated it on my gas stove. After the sand reaches proper temperature, simply plunge the stem into the sand, wait a coupla minutes, remove and bend. It's a simple, cheap hot sand-box. After cutting off the flame, it held it's temperature for 40 minutes which, IMO, is plenty of time to get that stem bent the way you like.
Anyway.. just thought I'd share that lil bit of info..a $20 investment could save someone major time and effort...
Bending Stems... Redux
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Tyler
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What's the right temperature and how do you know when its to that temp.?
Tyler
Tyler
Tyler Lane Pipes
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
http://www.tylerlanepipes.com
From what I understand, the proper temperature is somewhere around 217 degrees fahrenheit.. I believe I read this either on the web or in the PIMO book.. can't recall... but it holds true. You get the sand up to, say, 220, and they bend nicely.. very easy, controlled bend. One thing.. have some heat protection on your hands... buggers are hot when they come out!!
A simple meat thermometer sitting in the sand tells you where you're at temperature-wise and so far, so good.. The only one I've melted was one I intended to melt in the first place.. I chewed clear through the bit on a savinelli stem and wanted the ring back for the new stem I'm fitting to the pipe.
As an aside, before I got the meat thermometer, I just kind of guess-timated where the temp of the sand was and still had excellent results. The thing I like about this set up is that it's super-handy. If you didn't get the bend you wanted correct the first time, just stick it back in and bend it again.
A simple meat thermometer sitting in the sand tells you where you're at temperature-wise and so far, so good.. The only one I've melted was one I intended to melt in the first place.. I chewed clear through the bit on a savinelli stem and wanted the ring back for the new stem I'm fitting to the pipe.
As an aside, before I got the meat thermometer, I just kind of guess-timated where the temp of the sand was and still had excellent results. The thing I like about this set up is that it's super-handy. If you didn't get the bend you wanted correct the first time, just stick it back in and bend it again.
I assume there is no pitting or marks left on the stem from the sand? This may not even matter to me since I generaly bend my stems earlier than the polishing stage...
John
www.crosbypipes.com
www.crosbypipes.com
John.. so far I've bent about 10 stems this way and no pits or anything were left behind.
Tyler, yes, this is the temp for vulcanite. There's reallly no way you can goof with this, though, so far as I can tell. The main thing, be sure whatever you're using to hold the sand(or salt, if you're so inclined, that works, too) is deep enough so that you don't ever touch stem to surface of the vessel. You'll definitely melt the material at this point.
Whoever mentioned the salt/oven magillicuddy, I've done that a couple times. It's the same idea, just a bit more accessible.
Tyler, yes, this is the temp for vulcanite. There's reallly no way you can goof with this, though, so far as I can tell. The main thing, be sure whatever you're using to hold the sand(or salt, if you're so inclined, that works, too) is deep enough so that you don't ever touch stem to surface of the vessel. You'll definitely melt the material at this point.
Whoever mentioned the salt/oven magillicuddy, I've done that a couple times. It's the same idea, just a bit more accessible.