okay, so you drilled it poorly, whats the next step?

[daniel]

the subject almost fully explains the question,

if the smokehole and the mortise align, but the smoke hole enters the chamber not centered but still the at the bottom, what will you do?
do you throw the block away or do you make a pipe of it?

the only real issue in these, according to me is that the pipes shank cannot
be "connected" to the bowl in right way, centered, or if it is, the junction of the shank and stem will form a curve or a corner.

for me this means that the block is thrown away, or used as a specimen.
and i surely like more to experiment.

but what do you do?

[KurtHuhn]

Strictly speaking, this is the type of problem that you should probably work through at this point. Depending on the severity of the mis-drilling, use it as an exercise. At a minimum you could use it as a learning platform for final finishing. If it's not that bad of a miss you can still make an acceptable smoker.

EDIT: I misread the OP and got it backwards. Blame keeping one eye on a running forge.

[Alan L]

I once misdrilled a Canadian so bad that the airway entered the tobacco chamber almost at a perfect tangent. The guy I gave it to says it smokes as well as any other pipe he has, and better than some. As long as the hole is at the bottom, it will work.

[Sasquatch]

Depending on the shape of the pipe, you could cheat the bowl with a bit of clever carving/dremel work... but many pipes just won't allow this.

[kbadkar]

make the shank wide or give the pipe a disease... punk it up.

[Sasquatch]

Oh no! Steampunk Vest-pipe (flattened front to back instead of side to side) coming up!

[FredS]

Finish it. Try a new rusticating/blasting/staining technique on it. Try a different bit shape or size. Use it as a tool for experimentation & learning.

Then smoke it yourself or give it to a friend.

My personal rack has plenty of pipes that smoke great, but have mis-drilled holes. Or bad blasts. Or gashes from an errant file stroke. Or a pinkish-greenish tint from a failed staining experiment.

[KurtHuhn]

Pinkish Greenish?!! Oh man....

[souljer]

the subject almost fully explains the question,

if the smokehole and the mortise align, but the smoke hole enters the chamber not centered but still the at the bottom, what will you do?
do you throw the block away or do you make a pipe of it?

the only real issue in these, according to me is that the pipes shank cannot
be "connected" to the bowl in right way, centered, or if it is, the junction of the shank and stem will form a curve or a corner.

for me this means that the block is thrown away, or used as a specimen.
and i surely like more to experiment.

but what do you do?

Hi,

If I understand correctly what you are saying, I don't understand your solutions. You make it sound like it's hopeless. Throw the block away? Is it really that bad? Did you drill out the side of the bowl or something?

Why would the shank/bowl connection be different than normal? If the draft-way is misdrilled at an angle and is not perpendicular to the bowl chamber you can still shape the pipe correctly. The mistake will be only noticeable by looking in the bowl and seeing the draft-hole off to one side. The bowl and shank should look normal and be aligned correctly from the outside.

Depending on how much wood you have to work with, you can even "correct" a misdrill by re-boring the tobacco chamber or grinding out part of it (making a bigger tobacco chamber) so that the draft-hole is brought over to center. This is radical though and not recommended. You probably would not want to sell a pipe that had this done, but if it bothers you so much you might want to give it a try on a pipe you plan on keeping anyway. The point is that almost anything can be fixed and solutions can be found once one starts to think outside the box.

Remember, inside the box is where all conventional thinking and solutions are. Outside the box is the endless universe where all the other ideas and solutions are.
You can quote me on that.

[daniel]

Why would the shank/bowl connection be different than normal? If the draft-way is misdrilled at an angle and is not perpendicular to the bowl chamber you can still shape the pipe correctly. The mistake will be only noticeable by looking in the bowl and seeing the draft-hole off to one side. The bowl and shank should look normal and be aligned correctly from the outside.

[/quote]

the shank/bowl connection can offcourse be normal, but if you do it so,
the stem will look like like it is, not following the straight line with the shank,
but curving either left or right, up or down wouldnt really matter.
ill post em pics of the latest, i wasn´t going to post em, but this is getting interests up.

[daniel]

well...
sorry,
a little sanding the shank near the stem was required, everything
else, it´s totally shaped with metal saw, rusticated too.
let me know.

[kbadkar]

I dig it!

Refreshing. I'm sick of pretty little prude pipes with perfectly prig finishes. Let more these guys out of the dungeon.

[Gerrit Jan]

Well, kbadkar, and all the others... I think it's time for a new wave...

[NateTheBookie]

Hey! Rivets! I like it!