pipemakersforum.com

In one of the threads on finishing, a few of you folks mentioned that you don't like/don't do sanding with strips as I've seen so many European carvers using...

I have used this technique in my last 5-6 pipes, and find that I get a much more refined symmetry and a nice defined roundness quicker with much less finger stress...

I also find that it's much easier to see the high and low spots... and is quite the stress reliver to boot

Any thoughts?

Random,

I'll post some pictures of what I'm doing tomorrow morning and you can get an idea of what I'm talking about... A vise is used yes, but the stummel if attatched to a dowel of the tobacco hole diameter (with a tad of sand paper for tight fit).

Tha dowl gets put into the vise and well, you then use the center of the pipes gravity for the labor of the sanding...

More tomorrow...

I do a lot of my final shaping like this. Insert a dowel into the bowl, clamp in a workmate, sit on a stool, and work for hours.

While I am totally inexperienced in this, I find that using strips of sandpaper very useful for those round parts that I can get to - especially the and upper portion of the bowl.

I too can 'feel' imperfections with my fingers even when they're not readily visible. While I do most of the sanding with my fingers, I can't think of a better way to do the stem and other round parts.

I normally use a dowel (also with some paper to tighten it up a bit), but also use some very thick leather on my vise jaws to keep from marring the finish.

I've always used strips, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Like you, I find it much easier to get symetrical curves that way. I don't like working with sanding discs. I don't know why, but it's just not a natural collection of movements for me....

I have always done the majority of the sanding with strips of paper while the pipe is impaled on a tapered dowel, held in a vise.

Not having a belt sander at home, I do all my sanding with paper strips. Not that I wouldn't mind using a sander, its just not gonna happen atm.

Random,

The dowl setup I use looks like this:
http://tylerlanepipes.com/modules.php?n ... 0046&pos=1