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I received a call from a fellow a few weeks ago regarding a pipe he is trying to buy. For reasons that will become clear, he is unable to find one to meet his needs. He is trying to replace his favorite pipe, and he was two criteria -- capacity and price. He doesn't care what it looks like and he doesn't seem to care how much it weighs. He just wants a huge cheap pipe. I told him I would post here and see if anyone was willing to make one for him.

First, capacity, he wants a chamber of 1 1/2" diameter or greater. (That is NOT a typo...an inch and a half or greater!!) He is a farmer, and he smokes on his tractor. I guess he is only willing to reload at lunch and dinnertime. He likes a several hour smoke.

Second, price, he's willing to pay roughly $65.

It doesn't have to be finished. A pre-formed stem is fine. He even offered to send the stem in his current pipe to use in the new one. He just wants aligned holes in something that looks sort of like a pipe.

If anyone wants to practice on a huge freaking pipe, let me know and I'll put the two of you together.

He sent me a photo of his old standby that has a 1 1/2" diameter bowl. It's seen better days:

I think the biggest block I have right now won't even fit that kind of diameter without having ridiculously thin walls, so I'll pass.

I've a big lump of Paperbark Cherry that would do the job but I'm not sure if it would stand the heat well.

Wow is that Gorilla Snot holding the thing together ???
Wish I had the briar and a bit that big. I'd get satisfaction knowing every ounce of use would get wrung from it.
If he hasn't found what he needs in another month, I'll do it when my shop is up.

Edward wrote:Wow is that Gorilla Snot holding the thing together ???
Wish I had the briar and a bit that big. I'd get satisfaction knowing every ounce of use would get wrung from it.
If he hasn't found what he needs in another month, I'll do it when my shop is up.

Edward,

I see you are from Dallas?

So's this guy! (or at least somewhere in the metroplex area)

Tyler, I'd be happy to take it on if he doesn't mind waiting probably 4-6 weeks for me to round up a big chunk of briar and the rest of the tools I'm looking for (new chuck, french wheel, belt sander etc.) The price is not a problem, its enough to cover the materials and thats all that matters to me.

I sat down last night and tried to draw out some ideas for that sized bowl. The best I could come up with looked like a smokable tea cup That's just a massive bowl.

Whoever takes this on needs to post the pic when they're done. I can't imagine what a good looking pipe with that diameter bowl will even look like. I thought I'd take it on as a challenge... and for the $65 bucks, but I think I've already failed at the drawing stage...

Brian.

I'm thinking it'll probably take more than $65 to get a 1 1/2" drill bit for the bowl. Do any of you guys actually keep one around?

Rad

RadDavis wrote:I'm thinking it'll probably take more than $65 to get a 1 1/2" drill bit for the bowl. Do any of you guys actually keep one around?

Rad

You're not helping.

RadDavis wrote:I'm thinking it'll probably take more than $65 to get a 1 1/2" drill bit for the bowl. Do any of you guys actually keep one around?

Rad

My bits run from .0005" all the way up to 5" by thousandths. If you have anything less than that you're just not a pipe maker.

Tyler

Does the bowl have to be round? or just connected holes... somebody could make an oval shaped tobacco chamber.. seen one from an italian maker.. just a thought...

on a side note.. man that's a serious smoke..

james

jogilli wrote:Tyler

Does the bowl have to be round? or just connected holes... somebody could make an oval shaped tobacco chamber.. seen one from an italian maker.. just a thought...

I think Rad was just messing around; you don't need at 1.5" bit. A boring bar would make that an easy task.

Just buy a cheap spade bit at the hardware store and grind it down to the right chamber shape. Drill out the chamber with sequentially larger drill/forstner bits until you're at 1-1/4" and then use the spade bit. Works for me for normal sized chambers...

ditch the drill and use a small bowl gouge and turn like a small bowl

regards
dave

frazeeg wrote:Just buy a cheap spade bit at the hardware store and grind it down to the right chamber shape. Drill out the chamber with sequentially larger drill/forstner bits until you're at 1-1/4" and then use the spade bit. Works for me for normal sized chambers...

I did just this and apparently don't know how to sharpen well enough. I ended up burning the bowl instead of cutting it. I did eventually get a nice bowl done and would have had a decent pipe, but I messed up on the shank and ended up throwing it out. It was going to be so ugly though. That size bowl will just about fit a golf ball in it.

Growley wrote:

frazeeg wrote:Just buy a cheap spade bit at the hardware store and grind it down to the right chamber shape. Drill out the chamber with sequentially larger drill/forstner bits until you're at 1-1/4" and then use the spade bit. Works for me for normal sized chambers...

I did just this and apparently don't know how to sharpen well enough. I ended up burning the bowl instead of cutting it. I did eventually get a nice bowl done and would have had a decent pipe, but I messed up on the shank and ended up throwing it out. It was going to be so ugly though. That size bowl will just about fit a golf ball in it.

The trick is to tilt the spade bit a bit when you hone the final edge so it scrapes better. Now, I haven't tried it on briar but it worked well for my testing on black cherry and the coffee burl pipe I tried to make before snapping the shank off (unrelated to the spade bit).

Using a bowl gouge would probably work fine as well. Not that I'm an expert in pipemaking, but it's probably what I would do instead of ruining one of my spade bits.

frazeeg wrote:The trick is to tilt the spade bit a bit when you hone the final edge so it scrapes better.

Just like if you were sharpening a scrapper.

Todd