pipemakersforum.com

First of all, if someone can help me rephrase this question to keep the thread from going downhill fast, please do so...

Anyway, before all the giggling starts.. I'm curious what diameter rod stock most of you find yourself using to cut stems. I realize that it depends on the pipe, but my hunch thus far and for what i have worked with it tends to be 20mm and 22mm. I suppose it also depends on how much to you typically cut down the stock from. Do you tend to buy larger diameter to leave more room for mistakes?

I use almost exclusively 20mm (comes in at 20.2mm or so). I keep 25mm on hand in black but rarely need it. Have some oddments from old commission in various sizes including plate stock.

I keep a bunch of different diameters in stock, but for the average pipe, I can get away with 18mm. I have a rod of what I believe is 50mm in stock that I use occasionally. If you have the option, a variety of different widths makes for less waste. I make the stem blade pretty close to 16-17mm wide, so anything over 18mm just involves more machining.

As for making mistakes, if I do screw up a stem, it's scrap, not something that a larger diameter would have fixed.

mistakes are usually made in the final step (sanded just a bit too far...) so larger diameters won't help. 90% of my stock is 20mm, have some odd pieces in 18mm and 22mm.

thanks everyone. It sounds like I was on the right track. I have been stocking up a little each order with 20mm and a little bit of 22mm but haven't needed anything outside of 20mm yet.

sandahlpipe wrote:I keep a bunch of different diameters in stock, but for the average pipe, I can get away with 18mm. I have a rod of what I believe is 50mm in stock that I use occasionally. If you have the option, a variety of different widths makes for less waste. I make the stem blade pretty close to 16-17mm wide, so anything over 18mm just involves more machining.

As for making mistakes, if I do screw up a stem, it's scrap, not something that a larger diameter would have fixed.

what would you use a 50mm diameter for?

Every once in a while, I have the urge to make a stem with some wild and crazy saddle/stem treatment. I suppose I could stock ebonite plate for that purpose and laminate it together, but I have the rod, so I don't need to. I've probably used just over 1/3 of the rod in like 5 years. The last stem I made filled up about a full gallon bucket full of shavings from turning the rest of the stem to final diameter.

Bluesytone wrote: what would you use a 50mm diameter for?

This sort of thing:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10931

I use a lot (relatively speaking) of 25mm, but I'm also still using Japanese ebonite at this point, and that outer millimeter or two is sometimes garbage.

LatakiaLover wrote:

Bluesytone wrote: what would you use a 50mm diameter for?

This sort of thing:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10931

Amazing work there!

Nothing smaller than 25 mm. Everything else just breaks.