Tapered Tobacco Chamber

[WBill]

I was wondering how I would go about drilling a tapered tobacco chamber or drilling a hole for a 'V' shaped bowl ?

On a billiard, brandy, canadian, etc. the bowl is more or less straight and you can use a standard stright drill bit and not worry about getting too close to the outside walls. Do some of you grind and shape a bit just for this purpose, if so what type of bit do you use ?

Thanks Bill

[JHowell]

Bill, look through some of the past discussions in this section. Some modify spade bits, others modify Silver&Deming twist bits, and still others use Danish-style "spoon" bits. I believe Kurt reshapes SDs and sells them.

[marks]

If you don't mind using spade bits, they are pretty easy to grind to any profile you desire. To check to see if you have the same amount of material on both sides of the bit, drill into a scrap piece of wood (a 2x4 for example), stop the drill press while the bit is still in the wood, and if both sides of the bit are producing shavings, you are there. If only one side is producing shavings, take off some more metal. (Paul Tatum taught me that trick). For final sharpening of spade bits, sharpening stones do a good job.

If you prefer to use a twist style bit, check with Kurt, as Jack suggested.

[WBill]

I have never drilled a pipe before, if it wasn't for Tyler's great videos on this website I wouldn't know where to start.

In the video of Tyler drilling a tobacco chamber he is using a standard type drill bit and I thought that was the type always used. If you can use spade or flat wood bits I shouldn't have any problem shaping one since I have a lot of experience grinding all sorts of tool bits for use with a metal lathe.

Is the drilling procedure the same when using either style bit ?

Thanks Bill

[bscofield]

Yes. Nothing changes in the drilling procedure. But if your going to grind your own bit I would suggest getting a prcative block of something cheap, like pine. That way you can test your "finished" product without ripping up a piece of good briar. What I would suggest is that you not use the bit until you are able to drill into a piece of wood (using the full cutting surface of your bit) with satisfactory results.

[LexKY_Pipe]

Great suggestion. In terms of practice blocks for pipe making in general, do you recommend any particular kind of cheap wood that at least mimics the characteristics of briar?

[bscofield]

Great suggestion. In terms of practice blocks for pipe making in general, do you recommend any particular kind of cheap wood that at least mimics the characteristics of briar?

I don't know about mimic'ing but if you use cherry, and have my same experience, then I can say that when your done you'll think working with briar is a dream. That, I would think, would have the same effect your going for, only instead of preparing you for briar you'd be working with something a tad more difficult (again, in my experience).

[Tyler]

I have never drilled a pipe before, if it wasn't for Tyler's great videos on this website I wouldn't know where to start.

In the video of Tyler drilling a tobacco chamber he is using a standard type drill bit and I thought that was the type always used. If you can use spade or flat wood bits I shouldn't have any problem shaping one since I have a lot of experience grinding all sorts of tool bits for use with a metal lathe.

Is the drilling procedure the same when using either style bit ?

Thanks Bill

Bill,

Glad the videos help!

The bit I am using is a standard drill, but the drilling profile was modified by Ken Lamb. So, in essence, it is NOT a normal bit anymore.

I probably use spade bits that I ground myself as often as I use those "fancy" ones from Ken, these days.

Tyler