Thin Shanks

[d6monk]

Hi everyone, I was wondering how you go about drilling straight pipes with thin shanks. I ask this because I've heard that people like to keep the wall at the bottom of the tobacco chamber about 1/4" thick to prevent burnout.

So now, if I don't want my pipe to have a chin and I want the draft hole centered in the shank, that would mean I need a shank at least 1/4"+5/32"+1/4" = 21/32" which is a shank significantly over 1/2" in diameter.

So what do you do? Do you angle the draft hole up slightly or is there something I am missing?

Thanks.

[kbadkar]

You want a 1/4" at the bottom of the bowl, but it's not entirely necessary to have that much wood for the entire length of shank. Often the shank tapers, almost imperceptibly. Also, it's not unusual for a pencil shank to have a smaller airway - say 9/64" or even an 1/8th. I have an old Barling prince with a skinny little 3/8" shank with an 1/8" draught hole. She smokes fine.

[ToddJohnson]

Do you angle the draft hole up slightly?

Yep.

TJ

[d6monk]

Thanks a lot both of you, I really appreciate the answers to some of my questions that have been building up quite a bit lately on my pipe making journey.

[pierredekat]

If you can, pick up a "lot" of old estate pipes on Ebay.

Clean up and use the best ones, and then slice open a few of the ones that aren't worth salvaging.

I think you'll find that the vast majority have survived for years and years with a bowl that's a fair bit less than 1/4" thick.

For me, .200 inch (5 mm) is my absolute minimum wall thickness towards the bottom of the bowl.

But slice open some old pipes, and you'll be amazed at what you could theoretically get away with.

You will also learn a lot about drilling angles, tobacco chamber profiles, and so on.