Boring Bar for Making Tobacco Chambers

[KurtHuhn]

Gents - I finally finished editing the video of making a boring bar similar to the one used by Former in that video of him making a pipe.


It's not public yet, so you're seeing it here first. Please ask questions if you have them!

[oklahoma red]

"Video unavailable. This video is private"

[KurtHuhn]

Ooops. Try it now.

[UnderShade]

Great video Kurt! Thank you!

[kasperbunk]

So great Kurt. Amazing!


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[LatakiaLover]

You want a boring bar, just flip the TV to the World Croquet Championship.

[KurtHuhn]

Or, in my opinion, pretty much any professional sport. I was in a restaurant recently that had soccer on the TV. What an exercise in frustration to watch.

[oklahoma red]

Ooops. Try it now.

Works now. Good video!

[caskwith]

Great video. I think I should regrind mine and use it a bit more often, at the moment I only tend to use it for opening out drill holes as the grind doesn't do plunge cuts very well.

[DocAitch]

I would emphasize the fact that Kurt has a cup of water to the left of his grinder and you can see him dip the bit frequently as he grinds. You might get the impression that he grinds continuously around 4:19 of the video because the dipping is edited out.
The object is to remove material without over heating. When the steel hints at a straw color change it needs to be cooled, and preferably you can anticipate and prevent even the straw color change.
Once the steel is overheated, the hardness may be lost, so take care.
Kurt, may I ask where you purchased the tool blank? I have pretty haphazard in procuring these materials and never considered making a boring bar.
DocAitch

[KurtHuhn]

Good point DocAitch - having ground steel for years, I've developed a feel for when to cool it off. If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot. The nice thing about hardened tool steel is that heat doesn't migrate very quickly, well, as compared to unhardened steel anyway. It's really easy to keep cool.

I got these off of Amazon, believe it or not. I would usually grab these from Mcmaster.com, but Amazon had them at a better price. They are ugly, however, and have grind marks all over them from the scale removal process, but for my purposes they work just fine.

[Adui]

Can something like this be used on a wood lathe, or alternatively is there a wood lathe tool that will do this? The only deep cut Ive ever done on a lathe was for a 12+ inch salad bowl I made, so I really dont know what tool to use for a pipe bowl chamber.

[KurtHuhn]

This is definitely not for use on a wood lathe unless you've got one with a cross slide and compound. I have seen some turners do something like this with a fingernail gouge, but the hole is usually bigger. I did once see an old-school turner drill a hole in a lamp base he was making, but I don't know what kind of tool he was using.

[Adui]

OK< Well I have a 1/4 inch gouge, so I am good there anyhow. Also have a spade bit and a drill press so double good. (Don't yet have a Jacobs Chuck)

[caskwith]

I would emphasize the fact that Kurt has a cup of water to the left of his grinder and you can see him dip the bit frequently as he grinds. You might get the impression that he grinds continuously around 4:19 of the video because the dipping is edited out.
The object is to remove material without over heating. When the steel hints at a straw color change it needs to be cooled, and preferably you can anticipate and prevent even the straw color change.
Once the steel is overheated, the hardness may be lost, so take care.
Kurt, may I ask where you purchased the tool blank? I have pretty haphazard in procuring these materials and never considered making a boring bar.
DocAitch

FYI if Kurt is using HSS then he doesn't need to worry about the heat, you cannot draw the temper of HSS under normal circumstances.

For comfort though you will want to cool it otherwise you will burn your hands.

[RickB]

This is great Kurt - thanks so much!

[n80]

This is definitely not for use on a wood lathe unless you've got one with a cross slide and compound.

I have seen a wood lathe set up this way in a video. It took a bit of fabricating and jury rigging but it worked. Out of curiosity I looked up used x-y rigs (whatever they are called) and even the used ones cost as much as a good many wood lathes.

[KurtHuhn]

A lot of those x-y rigs are janky at best. Older ones that are robust can be found, but as you said, they cost as much as another lathe.

If you have the means, I strongly suggest a metalworking lathe designed for that type of work - if it looks like something you want to do. One is not strictly necessary to make pipes, but it does make some operations easier and reduces the learning curve.

A metal lathe also opens up other possibilities if you've got the hankering for them. I hesitate to tell anyone to run out and buy one without context, but (as I have learned over the years) they do come in very handy.

[n80]

I would love one but not in the cards right now. And this might be slightly off topic but when it comes to chamber boring I see all sorts of methods from the rig you showed in your video, large twist bits, spade bits and spoon bits.

I start the chamber with a Forstner and finish it with a spade bit from VF. The rig in your video is not an option for me,yet, but I'm wondering if there is any advantage to a spoon bit compared to how I'm doing it which sometimes leaves some very faint ring gauges in the bowl that are of no functional consequence but can be hard to sand out.

[DocAitch]

FYI if Kurt is using HSS then he doesn't need to worry about the heat, you cannot draw the temper of HSS under normal circumstances.

For comfort though you will want to cool it otherwise you will burn your hands.

I understand that carbide bits can be heated without losing temper, but not really sure that is true for HSS.
However, your point is good about comfort.
DocAitch