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I am sure this has been answered on here before but I can't seem to find what I am looking for in the archives...maybe I am just searching for the wrong thing. When using files or rasps on a pipe how do you clamp or hold it? I have a 6in. bench vice but I am worried I will bust/crack the pipe.

I use my left hand.

Thanks Sasquatch. That's what I ended up using as well.

Sasquatch wrote:I use my left hand.

Yep. No reason to overthink it. Just push the files across the pipe and not your knuckles.

I also use my left hand but I use a piece of 4x4 clamped to my bench with strategically placed grooves, notches and dowels to steady the pipe. Mechanically more efficient, especially if you are not 7 1/2' tall and don't weigh 400lbs like the Sasquatch.
I can PM a photo if you want.
DocAitch

I use a Dorman rubber freeze plug, I can stick in the bow, then tighten the bolt the rubber expands and it holds the stummel. The handle is then held in my vise. Where the nut is, I have a piece of angle iron as my "handle that goes into my vise. They come in all sizes and you can find them at any auto parts store.

I have a 2x4 clamped to my workbench that has some grooves chipped into it to hold the stem steady for filing. Other than that, I use the same LH clamp as Sasquatch. When I'm hand sanding, I rarely hold the pipe in one place long enough to where a fixed clamp would be of use.

I have a tapered dowel I got from danpipe when I first began, I like to use it clamped in a desk vice for sanding the sides & bottom of a pipe (both stem & stummel) but it's no use for the top of the pipe, which I usually do with the LH clamp mentioned

For rough sanding the stem I put the button side in my desk vice and support the stummel with a piece of 2x4.

You can also use an adjustable reamer. The senior pipe reamer is a style that works. Just wrap some tape around the cutting edges so it doesn't mar the bowl and expand until tight. You can then clamp the handle in a vice and go to town.
-josh

I think the OP's question was about using files and rasps, not hand sanding. When hand sanding you can clamp the pipe almost any way you want, (tapered dowels are my choice) because the pressure and friction against the stummel is quite low.
With files and rasps if you just stick a dowel in the bowl and try to do some rough filling you will get chatter and very little cutting action because the pipe isn't stable enough. I either combine clamping the dowel in a vice with holding the pipe with my left hand (not very comfortable) or just use my hand to hold the pipe and firmly press the stummel into some kind of rest. I've made several filing workrests which are just a piece of wood with a V-groove cut into the end (the V can be made in different depths and thicknesses) and lined with leather, felt or rubber.

dogcatcher wrote:I use a Dorman rubber freeze plug, I can stick in the bow, then tighten the bolt the rubber expands and it holds the stummel. The handle is then held in my vise. Where the nut is, I have a piece of angle iron as my "handle that goes into my vise. They come in all sizes and you can find them at any auto parts store.

That's super clever. Fuck you! I hate clever people!

But truly, I use a combination of my bench, the shape of a couple of vises (more than the vises themselves), I push things up against the bottom of my lathe... whatever works to hold things still.

but I find I need to move the pipe around a lot to keep things looking the way I want, to control stuff, so I don't lock it into anything as I file.

Thank you everyone for all of the great tips! I have started working on my first billiard, so hopefully I will be able to post of picture of it soon.

Here are some photos of my filing block.
I do much the same as Sasquatch, but this keeps all the surfaces in one area and ensures that the surface that I am resting on or pushing against will not mar the pipe (not so important while working with rough shaping, very important when getting a couple of sneaky sanding marks out of a nearly finished stem or stummel)
This a piece of 4x4" fastened to a piece of 2x6" and clamped to the bench. It can be rotated through about 180 degrees.

I originally cut the holes to fasten a reloading press mounted on 2x6" to the bench. I plug the holes to keep crap from falling through when not in use


The face of the block has various holes and gouges to hold one end of the pipe while I hold one end in my LH clamp. I also have varying length and diameter dowels that I can place in in various orientations for file work. The dowels allow me to rotate the piece 360 degrees while working. I have a 100 watt lamp situated laterally to enhance the shadows on the surface of the piece.



I also started using Delrin pilots to hold the shanks of pipes which can be better worked a bit out from the block.


This groove, padded with some pieces of dog toy, is soft enough that it doesn't mar the surface of stummel or stem.

This block has just "growed"- I drill holes and cut depressions as I find them to be more convenient. Takes about 30 seconds to hog out a depression with a die grinder or drill a 5/16" hole for a Delrin pilot. I do turn the dowels on a lathe to make a 1/2 " tenon but you could use 1/2" dowel material and build up the diameter with tape.
DocAitch

That's cool, I should do up one like that....

So here is what I came up with...I combined suggestions from dogcatcher and DocAitch. I didn't have a 4x4 so I put two 2x4s together. I had a 3/4in. rubber sanding drum that I could expand in the chamber, then drilled some holes in my block so I can arrange the pipe as needed. Also added a cork stopper and dowel peg.

Looks good. Just about anything will work, and it's customizable.
DocAitch

Sasquatch wrote:

dogcatcher wrote:I use a Dorman rubber freeze plug, I can stick in the bow, then tighten the bolt the rubber expands and it holds the stummel. The handle is then held in my vise. Where the nut is, I have a piece of angle iron as my "handle that goes into my vise. They come in all sizes and you can find them at any auto parts store.

That's super clever. Fuck you! I hate clever people!

Lol sas



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Got some pic from doc a while agor showing me his trick (4x4) and now this 2x4 i need to move my fat ass and do one for myself as well