pipemakersforum.com

None whatsoever. Life kept getting in the way. When you're a pipe maker, people keep calling and expecting you to make pipes for them. Then there's that whole day job thing. :) One of these days though. I've got all the equipment I need, and I have some some spare time coming up in a couple months....

P.S. I blame Kurt, he made it look to easy in his photo essay. I'll take that blame. If I make it look easy, that must mean that I'm pretty darn good at it, eh? :D I'm working on a video project that I want to finish by Christmas where I take briar and rod stock all the way to a completed pipe. It'...

hazmat wrote:

I'm sure someone with a bit more knowledge in this regard will wander through and give you more useful advice than I can offer. Sorry!!

Matt

Your help is always appreciated.

You should be able to get a pretty flush cut with a cut-off tool. When you say "cut-off tool" are you refering to a lathe chisel or a a dremel bit? I've tried twice now with the lathe tool, and both times once I got close to center it would break off leaving an uneven cut. Although I'm dr...

Now that I’m making my own stems I realize that some of the things I thought would be easy and straight forward aren’t or at least aren’t as obvious to me as I thought. I thought I would put a deer antler inlay in on the stem and make my delrin longer. I chucked up the length of antler, I faced off ...

I have a 50 to 60 hour a week job with a 45 min drive home, a 4 yr old boy and wife neither of which seem to want to let me out of there sight for more then 2 sec. So trying to spend any length of time in the basement working on pipes is difficult I might go a week without having a chance to work a ...

just to tight with the 5/16th I imagine you have delrin for a tenon and it is not fitting well, it is common - even the same brand drills have some variance. If it is chucked up I just take a small dowel, wrap sandpaper around it, stick in the mortise and take a bit off the inner wall. If it can't ...

Well I read this thread over and over took all advice to heart had a plan of attack but just didn't put it in to practice.I had a heck of a time getting the stock in to the chuck and centered. I got 5/16, and 21/64 bits from the two brands that Lowes has. The mortise in the briar is just to tight wi...

thanks guys, I know I need to go through this but man your right when I mess up a stem I'll be pretty irked

Ok ordered some vulcinite which is already round and twice as expensive yikes

OK I’ve ordered some Lucite rod square, I should be able to round this on my wood lathe but it won’t be as precise as a medal lathe, should I cut it into manageable lengths and drill the center while it’s still square to make sure I get center?

Another question to show my ignorance to all this. When I follow the link to pipemakers emporium I see a location for stem pre-made Lucite and Vulcanite they have stock in Lucite and I’ve seen ebonite somewhere as well, which of these is best or is it a personal preference

Thank you Matt, I read Kurt’s sticky and it seems like even I can follow it enough to get started. The delrin is also suppose to be more durable from what I understand which I hope is true because I’m busting tenons all the time. It also seems as though it will lend it's self well to making inlays s...

• OK I’m looking to start making my own stems, I’ve read through this section to get an idea of how now I think I’m ready to start getting tools and equipment to do so. Since I don’t have a metal lathe to cut good tenons I plan on going the delrin route. Went to on line metals and found these option...

Well the Delta is here my Father who is a woodworker himself is going to get me a set of turrning tools so that's cool. I think I'm going to look hard at the Barracuda 4jaw kit, it seems like a good deal and folks who have like it. So I’m not to far off now from having my lathe set up for drilling. ...

Terrific considering no lathe very tuff shape without one.

Well I ordered the delta midi I plan on making chess pieces as well and I can't do that o the drill press....funny how something so thin can convince you to go one way or the other.

I think the metal vs. wood lathe case has been thoroughly explored. ROFL. This isn't the first time this issue has been raised on this forum, and this thread is already 4 pages long. There are still dozens of pipemakers out there whose opinion has yet to be heard. This is a topic that will never be...

hazmat wrote: And I'm still no further ahead in whether or not I should replace my soon-to-be-useless drill press with a new drill press or a wood lathe

What he said

Jack, I’m from upstate NY up in the hills. My father and uncle are auction nuts so I’ll have them helping me keep an eye out for deals now that I have a better idea as to what I’m looking for. Still on the fence as to what I’m going to do all I know is my pipe collection is getting larger because I ...