Crab Apple

[scotties22]

I apologize for all the pictures. I have a lot going on here. This is my first, finished, hand cut stem. I broke a file tip off in the slot....rescue mission complete, but now the button looks really ugly (good thing this pipe is for my mom and she will love it anyway...I figured she would be a great canditate for my first stem ) I am right at .19 behind the button, I know it's a bit thick, but the slot is extra extra wide and I don't want to risk sanding into the airway. I need to hit the stem again to get out a few scratches and I need to even out the button.

This piece of briar was very, very soft in the cross cut grain. The birds eye seemed fairly decent. So I thought I would have a little fun. I've had a mini sandblaster for a while (I bought it to do some glass etching that I never got around to) and thought I would try it out on this pipe (again, thought my mom would be a great victim). I didn't have enough blasting media to do the whole thing, so I thought I would just do the cross cut grain. It's not a very deep blast and I'm really plus-minus on the way it came out...but it was a learning experience non the less. And my dad would be horrified at my masking job....not even, at all (good thing I was raised in a body shop, huh?? )

And to top it all off I have something in one of my wheels and scratched the shit out of it while I was buffing it.....GGGRRRRRRR, guess I will be doing that again before I ship it off to mom.

Any and all comments and critiques welcome.

Length: 4.71"
Bowl Height: 1.60"
Bowl Width: 1.64"
Chamber: .75"
Debth: 1.17"
Stem: German Ebonite





















Thanks for looking

Scottie

[wmolaw]

I apologize for all the pictures. I have a lot going on here. This is my first, finished, hand cut stem. I broke a file tip off in the slot....rescue mission complete, but now the button looks really ugly (good thing this pipe is for my mom and she will love it anyway...I figured she would be a great canditate for my first stem ) I am right at .19 behind the button, I know it's a bit thick, but the slot is extra extra wide and I don't want to risk sanding into the airway. I need to hit the stem again to get out a few scratches and I need to even out the button.

This piece of briar was very, very soft in the cross cut grain. The birds eye seemed fairly decent. So I thought I would have a little fun. I've had a mini sandblaster for a while (I bought it to do some glass etching that I never got around to) and thought I would try it out on this pipe (again, thought my mom would be a great victim). I didn't have enough blasting media to do the whole thing, so I thought I would just do the cross cut grain. It's not a very deep blast and I'm really plus-minus on the way it came out...but it was a learning experience non the less. And my dad would be horrified at my masking job....not even, at all (good thing I was raised in a body shop, huh?? )

And to top it all off I have something in one of my wheels and scratched the shit out of it while I was buffing it.....GGGRRRRRRR, guess I will be doing that again before I ship it off to mom.

Any and all comments and critiques welcome.

Length: 4.71"
Bowl Height: 1.60"
Bowl Width: 1.64"
Chamber: .75"
Debth: 1.17"
Stem: German Ebonite





















Thanks for looking

Scottie

Stem is very good, love the way it flows.

the blasting? Welll, as you say, your mom's a good victim! I would either do it all, or redo it with none. But, hey, total newbie here who doesn't have time to do a fricking thing lately!

[archaggelosmichail]

You're a quick learner for sure.

Nice work there, I love the half-saddlle stem and it's not easy to fit one on a pipe succefully.


Well done

[JMG]

Blasting the entire thing will help this pipe a lot. Also, I'd recommend taking a little more material off of the heel. Not a bad job at all, however, overall. Glad you were able to salvage the stem...looks good.

[scotties22]

Yeah, the more I look at it the more I see that I need to blast it all. I am going to go down in a bit and sift my media and reload my mini blaster. It's not bad, but it's 220 grit and is going to take forever to blast it all. Oh, well...guess I have a weekend project.

[the rev]

I think you are so talented, I hope I can learn half as fast as you

rev

[oklahoma red]

Nice job for your first ebonite stem.
A few general suggestions: find yourself a jeweler's loupe or a linen tester (fancy name for a small magnifier) and use it to put the eye on your sanding and buffing steps. When you think you're there, put a thin coat of stain on then sand it off. If you still have scratches this will help them show up.
Get yourself some Abranet for sanding. The stuff is not cheap but it is SOOO much better than regular sand paper. Work thoroughly at each stage of grit. If you try to jump ahead too quickly you'll not get the scratches out and have to go back down a step.
To clean your buffing wheels try double-face taping the coarsest sand paper you can find to a block of wood and use it on the wheels. Careful, it will grab. This will clean them and get rid of some of the fuzzies.
IMO, you should have 4 wheels, one each for tripoli, white diamond, wax and then a very soft one that never sees ANY compound and use it for the final polish.
It may be anal but I have two sets of wheels, one for the wood and one for the stems.
Patience is a MUST in the sanding and polishing stages.
Keep up the good work.
Chas.

[scotties22]

I actually have 5 wheels...I like to buff before and after waxing and have a wheel for each. It's time for a new tripoli wheel. I am using one from Lowe's and need to break down and buy a good one. I didn't think it was quite this bad, but the proof is in the puddin' as they say. I sand at 220 until all the scratches and tool marks are gone...don't stop till they are. Then I sand at 320 before I put my first coat of stain on.

I just got a big bar of green buffing compound for my stems, so hopefully that will help with the really fine scratches....gotta buy a wheel for that too. I knew I had some more button and slot work to do on the stem and didn't give it a good go while I was finishing the stummel.

I got my mini blaster all loaded again and should be able to get this pony back on the road tomorrow. I will post pictures once I have it all blasted and the stem tightened up.

[Mark Beattie]

You're really soaking all this in quickly! Way to go. I don't feel I can comment on your piece because I'm about as new to this as you, but I will say that after the first hand cut stem that you complete, they get a lot easier. You'll get a good feel for technique and the material after a couple. The shape comes a little slower and nailing the design aspects does as well but your first looks really good. Keep it up.

Mark

[Sasquatch]

Green buffing compounds usually contain a fairly toxic metal mixture, chromium being part of most of them. Which is to say, if you are using this on a pipe (and I recommend you don't), you have to make sure that EVERY molecule of that shit is washed off before someone puts it in their mouth.

Better off with a standard tripoli/white diamond buffing. Get two good wheels from PME and your life will change, I kid you not.

[Sasquatch]

PS you took out a little too much material on the bottom (possibly due to the half blast) of the shank, and the result is that the shank and the stem look like they run at slightly different angles, and there's a slight bump right where they meet. Smooth curve on the bottom of that pipe would go a long way to cleaning up the presentation.

[scotties22]

Hhhmmmmm...good to know. Thanks, Sas. I got the green from Mark Tinsky and didn't think about it being toxic. If I decide to use it I'll make sure I wash my stems before I send the pipes on their way...

There is a little bit too much taken off the bottom of the shank. My husband likes to "test" my new tools and I couldn't convince him to do it on a piece of scrap. He got a little carried away in that one spot. Hopefully I can even things out when I blast the rest of it...We'll see.

[Sasquatch]

See, I knew it. Mark Tinsky again. How many men have died because of his green compound??? When will it end???


Seriously, that stuff (if it's the "usual" green honing compound) cuts like hell and leaves a super nice finish. But... it's a toxic bar. I don't think there's any problem washing it off the pipe with alcohol, but I also think that there's basically no need to use it. Also, one runs a slight risk of jamming green compound in the pores of the pipe, and that's just ugly. Shamrock Shakes are bad enough.

Anyway, get better wheels and your whole finishing procedure will change overnight. It is, as was mentioned in another thread, pants-poopingly better with upgraded wheels.

[Sasquatch]

Material Safety Data Sheet on Chromium Oxide:

http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9923471

[oklahoma red]

See, I knew it. Mark Tinsky again. How many men have died because of his green compound??? When will it end???


Seriously, that stuff (if it's the "usual" green honing compound) cuts like hell and leaves a super nice finish. But... it's a toxic bar. I don't think there's any problem washing it off the pipe with alcohol, but I also think that there's basically no need to use it. Also, one runs a slight risk of jamming green compound in the pores of the pipe, and that's just ugly. Shamrock Shakes are bad enough.

Anyway, get better wheels and your whole finishing procedure will change overnight. It is, as was mentioned in another thread, pants-poopingly better with upgraded wheels.

Sas,
Do you consider the wheels in the Beal package to be good or are there better ones out there? What widths and diameters do you prefer?
I recall some threads that indicated the compounds are not all created equally. Do you have a brand preference?

Chas.

[Sasquatch]

I haven't used the Bealle wheels, but they do look pretty good.

I started out with the skinny 6" wheels from PIMO and their tripoli, and then I got their little bar of white diamond. Got things shiny(ish).

Ran out of tripoli, ordered the big fat 8" unstitched wheel from PME and their giant bar of brown tripoli. Immediately got better results than I could have. Ordered the polishing wheel and the huge tube of white diamond from them, and immediately got better results than that.

So I'll just buy from them again when I run out.

[the rev]

thats funny I was just going to ask about the beale wheels, I bought their set for my pipes.

Can anyone give me an idea of how long they would work a pipe on each step of the buffing process? And you stop with the white diamond on the stems correct?

Doing the wood work at the house I am working at we find that sanding anything beyond 400 grit burnishes the wood and makes it resistant to finish, is this not the case with briar?

rev

[oklahoma red]

I haven't used the Bealle wheels, but they do look pretty good.

I started out with the skinny 6" wheels from PIMO and their tripoli, and then I got their little bar of white diamond. Got things shiny(ish).

Ran out of tripoli, ordered the big fat 8" unstitched wheel from PME and their giant bar of brown tripoli. Immediately got better results than I could have. Ordered the polishing wheel and the huge tube of white diamond from them, and immediately got better results than that.

So I'll just buy from them again when I run out.

Thanks for the input. I'm using the bars that came with the Beall wheels. I may try PME's for comparison.
BTW, congrats on your 2500 posts on this forum. I for one appreciate your sharing your knowledge, twisted tho it may be.
Chas.

[Sasquatch]

thats funny I was just going to ask about the beale wheels, I bought their set for my pipes.

Can anyone give me an idea of how long they would work a pipe on each step of the buffing process? And you stop with the white diamond on the stems correct?

Doing the wood work at the house I am working at we find that sanding anything beyond 400 grit burnishes the wood and makes it resistant to finish, is this not the case with briar?

rev

It is the case, more or less. Sanding finer than 400 you are no longer doing "open coat" sanding, but doing more like a polish, and at some point, depending on the wood, you start to close off pores and make it so that stain won't set as intensely in the wood - it just sort of sits on top.

There's people here who sand way beyond 600 and swear by their results. But the logic of doing so eludes me. Brown Tripoli is something like 800 grit, so if you are sanding to 900 grit and then going to Tripoli, you've backed up a bit in your progression.

My finish, and it's not like I get superstar Rainer Barbi finish, but it's all right, is pretty simple. I sand really thorough at 220, and really thorough at 320. Spend a few minutes at 400 and all the file/80 grit defects will show glaringly. Once they're taken care of, I probably spend 5 minutes or less with brown tripoli, and the same with the white diamond. If your prep is good, the thing will look shiny after tripoli, with maybe a few little marks at the surface. After the white diamond, you should be thinking "Holy shit that's shiny.". Which is to say, if you are using the wax to "bring out the shine" you are not doing things right. The wax is like a sealer, it brings out a warmth and even-ness, but it's not what makes the pipe shiny.

[Sasquatch]

BTW, congrats on your 2500 posts on this forum. I for one appreciate your sharing your knowledge, twisted tho it may be.
Chas.

Twisted?

Moi?