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Up until now I have taping off a small ring of the shank as you would do when blasting a normal pipe but I would like to try a more blended look on a bamboo pipe I am working on as the shank and bamboo are very thin. What's the best way to go about this? I have few ideas in mind but to save me screwing up and faffing around I thought I would.

To clear up what I am trying to do here are pics of pipes with the kind of finish I am looking for.

I back my pressure off to under 80 psi, use a small nozzle and ultra fine glass bead.

andrew

Are you blasting with the bamboo attached?

I'm curious to know if you can just move the nozzle away when blasting near the shank to soften up the blast. But I don't know much about blasting yet.


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Yes you can, but I want to know how it's done without damaging the bamboo but also without leaving the crisp line of a piece of tape.

My current thinking is to put a plug in the end of the shank, blast the bowl on it's own then fit the bamboo and gently sand the two flush.

I blast with bamboo attached. The bamboo gets taped, no tape on the briar.

andrew

caskwith wrote:Yes you can, but I want to know how it's done without damaging the bamboo but also without leaving the crisp line of a piece of tape.

Good on you.

This technique is something I've seen done by only Europe's Finest, and have come to equate with world-class work.

It's either absurdly difficult to do well, or only a handful of Danes---and me---think it looks good.

You are not the only one who thinks it looks good. Mike Lindner and Adam Davidson as shown in the above examples also seem to think it looks good and I agree. I have wanted to do it for a while but have never really made enough bamboo pipes to experiment so always took the "easy" option with tape. I want to make more however and I want them to look good.

I've been playing around with this recently, and I think the technique is to back the hell off when you blast the shank. If you leave the shank slightly oversized (by slightly, I mean a noob couldn't spot it), then only blast the shank lightly and from across the cabinet. That way, you account for some dimensional change, while leaving just enough to let you sand it lightly with a high grit without changing very much of the dimension of the shank. Primarily, a file has been my shaping tool of choice for this, abandoning my beloved wheel.

Same technique applies to doing a blast all the way to the stem, without wrecking the profile of the pipe. Just go real easy on the shank, tape off the bamboo. Or tape of the shank too, then blast it carefully after.

Excuse my fancy photo technique here.

I am talking about blasting right up to the bamboo. No ring is left. Tape is for protecting the bamboo.

andrew

Just like Todd said.

andrew

Sasquatch wrote:Same technique applies to doing a blast all the way to the stem, without wrecking the profile of the pipe. Just go real easy on the shank, tape off the bamboo. Or tape of the shank too, then blast it carefully after.

Excuse my fancy photo technique here.

This blast fade thing comes in varying degrees of impressiveness. While I think your example is infinitely preferable to a mask stripe, the sort that I was referring to earlier that only a few pipemakers seem to be able to do is where the width of the transition zone (meaning from full depth blast to zero) is only around 1/8" to 5/32". AND it has an almost clearly defined edge when it fades to zero.

I bet you could get this effect by using different kinds of tape in varying layers. Like masking tape in one layer and then several layers of electrical tape where the stem or bamboo starts. Then some of the media would penetrate the tape and give it a faded look. I don't know. It's just an idea.

sandahlpipe wrote:I bet you could get this effect by using different kinds of tape in varying layers. Like masking tape in one layer and then several layers of electrical tape where the stem or bamboo starts. Then some of the media would penetrate the tape and give it a faded look. I don't know. It's just an idea.

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I've tried that, the slow unwrapping, and found it harder to control than I expected, and I didn't love the results. It's not that hard to just kind of go easy on the shank for most shapes. The slow unwrap, you wind up with a line you have to blast out each time, and by the time you get to the "top" you may have blasted more than you want. I'm sure it's do-able, but I won't bother with it anymore.

Tape idea v2.0: There must be some substance that's between rubber cement and thickened epoxy in blast resistance that can be built up in layers/coats, or even applied in a single layer of user-controlled varying thickness. Preferably soluble with something easy, cheap, and safe.

Next idea. Turn off your compressor and let the pressure run down. Low pressure should get the result you're looking for. Then you can tape up the bamboo only and blast with low pressure up to the tape.


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I'm gonna make a wild and crazy assumption that everyone here using a blaster has a pressure regulator controlling the pressure coming out of your tank . Just turn that down. No need to drain your tank.

andrew

That totally explains why my tires exploded the other day.