Hand cut stems photo essay.

For discussion of fitting and shaping stems, doing inlays, and any other stem-related topic.
wmolaw
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Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 4:50 pm

Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by wmolaw »

Am about to go into doing stems and this is a fantastic tutorial. I have an old craftsman belt sander which I am going to use. Should be interesting, to say the least. I suspect Vermont Freehand will be getting a bit more business from me re: rod stock!
JDwood
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by JDwood »

I just finished my first few hand cut stems and I was glued to the pictorial the whole time. Thanks
cmcclarney
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by cmcclarney »

Thank you so much for doing this!
SmokeyBert
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by SmokeyBert »

I learned so many things from going through this tutorial/pictorial, thank you so much.

I'll be rummaging through the threads to see what other gems like this I can find.

Is there a collection of links or posts that could be handed off to a 'painful level' newbie such as myself?

:hungry:
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sandahlpipe
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by sandahlpipe »

SmokeyBert wrote:I learned so many things from going through this tutorial/pictorial, thank you so much.

I'll be rummaging through the threads to see what other gems like this I can find.

Is there a collection of links or posts that could be handed off to a 'painful level' newbie such as myself?

:hungry:
On the board index, read through all the stickies first. A lot of that will be helpful for you. Then just make pipes and post one in the gallery when you think you're finished. When you have questions, search for your question on the forum and you'll probably find the answer. Pipedia also has some helpful articles if you're looking for reading material to get you started.
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
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sandahlpipe
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by sandahlpipe »

SmokeyBert wrote:I learned so many things from going through this tutorial/pictorial, thank you so much.

I'll be rummaging through the threads to see what other gems like this I can find.

Is there a collection of links or posts that could be handed off to a 'painful level' newbie such as myself?

:hungry:
On the board index, read through all the stickies first. A lot of that will be helpful for you. Then just make pipes and post one in the gallery when you think you're finished. When you have questions, search for your question on the forum and you'll probably find the answer. Pipedia also has some helpful articles if you're looking for reading material to get you started.
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
http://sandahlpipe.com
SmokeyBert
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by SmokeyBert »

sandahlpipe wrote:On the board index, read through all the stickies first. A lot of that will be helpful for you. Then just make pipes and post one in the gallery when you think you're finished.
TY, I'm in info overload right now hopping all over reading everything I can. I should just go through everything from top to bottom in order =)

I have a question for you Sir; is there any chance you have or would do a walk through on something like your twisted horn pipe here: http://sandahlpipe.com/pipe-gallery/?id=512581332198519

I wouldn't be surprised if that pipe involves trade secrets! And what an amazing piece. This is the type of wood work I do / am interested in, more towards the artistic side. I really enjoy really artistic or really rustic woodwork of all types.

And some day 40 years or so from now I may be able to make something as beautiful as that horn pipe of yours, maybe.
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sandahlpipe
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by sandahlpipe »

SmokeyBert wrote:TY, I'm in info overload right now hopping all over reading everything I can. I should just go through everything from top to bottom in order =)

I have a question for you Sir; is there any chance you have or would do a walk through on something like your twisted horn pipe here: http://sandahlpipe.com/pipe-gallery/?id=512581332198519

I wouldn't be surprised if that pipe involves trade secrets! And what an amazing piece. This is the type of wood work I do / am interested in, more towards the artistic side. I really enjoy really artistic or really rustic woodwork of all types.

And some day 40 years or so from now I may be able to make something as beautiful as that horn pipe of yours, maybe.
Thanks, man! There aren't really any secrets to it, just a lot of work by hand. The flutes are carved by a combination of sanding discs, rotary rasps, rotary sanding discs, and curved-blade carving knives. Then it's just hours and hours of hand sanding through all the grits. Anyone can make one, it just takes time. I think that piece took me about 33 hours to finish.

As far as the artistic side is concerned, I'm still learning what makes a graceful shape. I'm working on trying to become more nuanced than bold in my approach. I've tried hard to learn the discipline of making classics for the past year or so and can recommend starting with the simple shapes so you learn what to look for before branching out into the creative.
---
Fail early, fail often. Your success depends on it.

Jeremiah Sandahl
http://sandahlpipe.com
SmokeyBert
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by SmokeyBert »

sandahlpipe wrote:
SmokeyBert wrote:As far as the artistic side is concerned, I'm still learning what makes a graceful shape. I'm working on trying to become more nuanced than bold in my approach. I've tried hard to learn the discipline of making classics for the past year or so and can recommend starting with the simple shapes so you learn what to look for before branching out into the creative.
This sounds like great advice. I imagine after a few more glorious failures I will be able to force myself to back up and try some basics. :lol:

My best one so far: thinking I could free hand via dremel tool an angled countersunk stem joint hole in the side of the bowl material. (I don't have the technical lingo down well enough yet but I'm sure you get the idea)

I am too embarrassed to even post a pic and would prefer it never see the light of day.

P.S. Despite the free hand dremmel attempt I'm not completely insane btw, the pipe is my first and made from hardwoods I found walking out in the woods with the intention of a learning exercise and I had planned on making the entire thing by hand as an intentional rustic piece. Think: Tom Sawyer rustic. :wink: Hell if it actually works (attempting another spot on the other side of the bowl with drill bits) I may even post a pic some day.
RiverWader
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Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 12:47 pm

Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by RiverWader »

This is a really helpful tutorial. Wish I'd looked through it before jumping in and butchering a bunch of acrylic stock! :) Oh well, now I get to try another approach.

-Pat
CIIIgems
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by CIIIgems »

Really appreciate the detail of the pics and descriptions.
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BriarShrink
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by BriarShrink »

Using this today for my first shot at a tapered stem.

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"I have some friends, some honest friends, and honest friends are few; My pipe of briar, my open fire, A book that's not too new." ~ Robert W. Service
Quietfly
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Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:03 am

Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by Quietfly »

this was a great tutorial. the pictures really help to show the work and progress.
Bluesytone
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by Bluesytone »

This was great help. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.
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SLCarrico
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by SLCarrico »

Another Thank You. That step by step in photos is perfect for some of us. That's how I learn. Next best thing to having a live teacher. I actually like it better than a video too. I can study each step without it passing by to fast.
Old n stinky
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by Old n stinky »

The link to the photo essay is bad. No pictures :-(
Massis
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by Massis »

Old n stinky wrote: Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:18 am The link to the photo essay is bad. No pictures :-(
well this topic is TWELVE years old :lol: But Kurt probably has them somewhere...
LatakiaLover
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by LatakiaLover »

There's a bunch of video stuff on stem making here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWQlM1 ... /playlists
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KurtHuhn
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by KurtHuhn »

Man, that photo essay is trash. :lol: Good info, maybe, but that format sucks. It worked at the time, but relies heavily on code that's deprecated these days in favor of HTML5. I'll try to find some time to reformat it into something usable.
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Old n stinky
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Re: Hand cut stems photo essay.

Post by Old n stinky »

Thanks for the replys.
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