Another Newbie Here, With Pictures

[TimGeorge]

Gentlemen, newbie here with many thanks for your forum and willingness to share your craft. I have only been smoking pipes for a year or so, but I quickly discovered that handmade pipes were the best and, in a testament to how my mind works, thought "hey, I can do that." Whether I can or not is still up in the air, but I offer pipe no. 6 for your consideration. This was my first attempt at a shank extension, using the cheap way-far-apart-knuckles-bamboo, and steel rod connections. (I am still lathe free by the way). Next I may need to learn photography, as it seems to look better in person. I am aware of at least some of the flaws (like uneven staining), and they really stand out in a mere two dimensions.








By the way, I doubt this effort is going to save me any money on handmade pipes, since now I want to see your creations up close and personal ...

[kbadkar]

The rough sketch of the pipe looks great! Really! You just need to work on air hole/chamber alignment, fit, finish, and flow details for it to work upon closer inspection. If I blurr my eyes, I like. If I focus, everything needs fine tuning. You have the right idea, just patiently work on all those little annoying details that take forever to get right, ESPECIALLY WITH BAMBOO SHANKS!!!

[Frank]

Kurt posted a thread on bamboo shanks. Perhaps someone can post a link since I can't seem to find it. It gives excellent advice on shape and proportions of shank vs bamboo vs stem, etc.

Work on getting those joins smooth and flowing. You need to shape those areas so that they flow smoothly together.

[pipeguy]

nice shape and color on the bowl like the guys say work on your joinery and be selective in your choice of what section of bamboo to use its not all good great effort Bob Clark

[TimGeorge]

Thanks, guys. I am encouraged enough by your replies to keep trying. I suspect the joins would be a lot easier with a lathe so I am even now coming up with some justifications for the expense.

As far as the bamboo shank goes, do you use the 5/32 interior diameter stainless steel? I used that here but that adds steps to enlarge the 5/32 draft hole through the delrin and stem to the OD of 11/64 or 3/16. Seems like it would be easier to use 5/32 OD, but then you have a draft hole which changes dimensions slightly. The other issue I had with this one (other than the annoying details, of course) was keeping the pipe to a reasonable length while using enough bamboo to make it look nice. Even with a stubby shank on the briar and a very short stem, I still cleared 6 inches.

Anyway, thanks again.

[Nick]

Why use any tube as a liner at all?

[FredS]

. . . I suspect the joins would be a lot easier with a lathe so I am even now coming up with some justifications for the expense.

You don't need a lathe, you just need to leave everything togather for the entire rough shaping, finish shaping/sanding and buffing process.

[kbadkar]

Seems like it would be easier to use 5/32 OD, but then you have a draft hole which changes dimensions slightly.

It is easier to use the 5/32 OD. Don't worry about the slight reduction in diameter of the tenon parts of the draft hole.

[TimGeorge]

Nick, I was just following the advice here as far as using the tubing:

http://pipedia.org/index.php?title=Bamboo_Shanks