![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
I am super excited because I just got my new stamp from Paul at A&M Steel, and it looks fantastic. I immediately set to work experimenting on some of the scrap pipes from my pipe graveyard (sad how many fatally flawed pipes there are in that box...LOL). I found it moderately difficult to get a good clear stamp on the first try, but after an hour or so of monkeying around with it I felt confident enough to take it to a real pipe.
I started with a few of my old pipes which I have made and kept for myself over the past few years. They are all good smokers, and moderately well made, but not good enough to have sold or gifted. Perfect for "practice" stamping. I cracked one in my vise (I kinda figured it was too fragile for a vise, but took the gamble....live and learn), and the other shattered under the pressure of the stamp in my press. BAH!
So, my question is this: can anyone offer me somme good suggestions for getting clear, full imprints of a stamp onto the shank/stummel? This seems especially hard given the rounded surface in place on most pipes. I tried using only my own hand strength, as well as the pressure from my drill press with the stamp mounted in it, but even then the stamp was not always really clearly defined in the wood (and I killed one of my favorite beater pipes...)
I did go on to semi-successfully stamp 5 new pipes I have recently made. I say semi successfully because several of them required multiple stamping attempts (with grouchy sanding sessions in between each failed attempt), and a couple of them have a "final" stamp which I am not 100% satisfied with because it is not as clearly indented as I would like.
Any suggestions you guys have in this area would be most appreciated. It appears that stamping, as every other pipe making skill, has a steep learning curve. LOL
Thanks in advance!