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My 7 th pipe please rip it apart. From the top view the chamber looks off but I assure you it's centered. Also I can't seem the make the stem/shank junction without a gap. Thanks for looking

Still working on getting pics posted

Excuse the double

Looks better than my seventh pipe.

What are you using to face the shank and stem faces?

Thanks!! I'm using a forstner bit. I just bought a nice expensive one that I will use on my next pipe. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Until you get a lathe facing the ends of material will be tricky. You've made the first step by buying a quality forstner bit. Make sure your stock is held down very securely and you take off only as much material as necessary to get a flat surface. I assume your using delrin tenons, which helps a ton if you only have a drill press.

That's the thing I am working on a lathe and you think facing would be easy.... Not so much

Forstners and good method should get you a crisp transition. Face with big bit, change to mortise bit, and cut the mortise (and drill the airway if you are doing the stem side). Never move the workpiece... it should all fall in gap free.

May just a little different sanding methodology as you finish?

Try facing and drilling without moving the tailstock. Use the tailstock ram to back the bit out enough to change to the next size.

Sharpen your forstner bit. Even expensive ones are only usually intended to drill holes, not face shanks. On the cutting edge, there are often spots where the edge is jagged right out of the package. Get a set of diamond hones and make it razor sharp. If you're getting any vibration while facing, your bit isn't sharp enough.

Or you can face with hand tools. That's what I end up doing. It's easier to keep the edges of hand tools sharp on the wood lathe, and it doesn't take as long as I would have suspected to figure out how to face with them.

Chamfer the tenon/mortise? I usually fail to get a good match-up until I put at least a decent dip in the mortise.

Thank you all for the tips. joe, I think right about not moving the tail stock, when my tail stoke is not clamped down it has side to side play.
Jeremiah. What hand tools are you facing with?
Pooka. Is a chamfer the same as counter sinking the mortis?

Thanks again!!'

I just use a modified scraper and a skew chisel for just about everything including facing. It does take some practice, though.

Why use Forstners when you have a metal lathe? In my experience the cutter is king for facing.

Dodson wrote:Thank you all for the tips. joe, I think right about not moving the tail stock, when my tail stoke is not clamped down it has side to side play.
Jeremiah. What hand tools are you facing with?
Pooka. Is a chamfer the same as counter sinking the mortis?

Thanks again!!'

Yep. Countersink. Because I can't ever get the shoulder on the tenon quite happy, I get the rim of the mortise a little rounded and that seems to solve my problems.