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WOW Love, that is a very cool machine. Thanks so much for sharing the photos of it.

I'm going to have to put some thought into this engraving issue.

Back to work now : )

John

Hi Love, Do you like the darker stain effect in the engraved name more than the lighter bare wood effect? I assume that when you stain after engraving, that the engraved name will absorb more stain and show darker than the smooth finish of the pipe. I have wanted to try engraving my name. It's more ...

It sounds like Rad's solution of having the stamp made into a convex curve so it can be impressed by hand would have been the answer. But you already have your stamp and I take it that it did not come with a metal shank covered by a slip-on wooden handle, as A&M's stamps do. For a new handle, sn...

Does anyone stain their stamp to get it to stand out? Stain it black, and then sand off so that just the lettering is black? The design and workmanship should be what stands out. That's what you spend you time creating, and that's what the customer buys. The signiture or stamp should be descreet. Y...

Well, if it's anything like an airless paint sprayer (something I actually know about), the static charge is from the material sqeezing at velocity through the orifice, so Yeah what you say makes sence--ground the gun.

John

I used the drill press because my name is so long. To stamp by hand over that length is imossible, and to wrap it around perpendicular to the shank (so I could do it by hand) would be too much of a wrap for my liking. The problem was never having a flat surface for the height of the stamp, but to ha...

I originally got a very nice stamp from Paul at A&M. It was a "script" font. Paul did a fantastic job and he was the greatest person you could ever want to deal with--no bull. Buy from him if you want a stamp. But do you know what? I got tired of fiddling with the positioning of the sh...

Well, duh on me! John may be right. Now that he mentions it, I've run into two identical problems with floor-mount drill presses that were slightly off. The solution seems crude, but was effective: to whop the spindle with a very large leather or wood mallet to straighten the travel. Okay John. We ...

Hey here's a thought. Check your drill press (I think you said you used a press). I have a Delta mid sized press and it is pretty poor. I had to fiddle with to correct the issues. First issue was that the clamp screw to secure the table in position changed the angle ever so slightly. Secondly, the s...

I use the Freud forstner bit also and find them well made. Of course the best bit in the world isn't going to perform well if the chuck holding it is not also high precision. A precision chuck is a must.

John

Until about a week ago I had forgotten about this forum, and never seem to get much time to chit chat, but I was just going through some threads here. I don't blast, but my belt sander builds static charge. I just run a copper wire from the metal of the table to the nearest good ground. A ground can...

Good day to you, For the adventurous among you, I am offering more briar blocks for sale. These are select Algerian plateaux. They are the same blocks that I use to create my pipes. They are not my discards. These are blocks that I feel will produce excellent pipes. I have cleaned the bark from the ...

Hey Tyler, I haven't been around for a long time; just too busy I guess. I sure wish you good fortune with your decision. Time is precious, and what you do with it--even more. You have the right priorities. The best creation we can accomplish is planting the seeds of effectiveness, and goodness in o...

Yup, that's Juam's briar--lots of cracks and pits. If you like to rusticate, his prices on bulk are good, and the briar has great smoking qualities. His extra/extra grade plateaux is very good grain, at least in my experience with 75 blocks. It's the pits and cracks that create major problems.

John

That happens to me occasionally too, and I've started putting a bevel on the end of the tenon with a file while it's spinning in the lathe. This eliminates the sharp edge on the end of the tenon, and no more ridges form when I'm test fitting. Rad Thanks Rad, I always do a bevel on the tenon, but af...

Hi Brendhain, Sorry for leaving you hanging. I get mixed up with these threads and forget which one I was on. Yes, I did end up paying $2 US for shipping per block. It arrived very fast after Yazid finally used UPS. A few weeks went by before that where I had heard nothing. Finally he responded to m...

The purpleish color of the understain you describe goes away because of the yellow content of your highlight stain. Remember yellow and violet mute each other; that's why the purple disapears with the overstain. You know, in painting, very few artists use black paint in their mixes. I don't own any ...

Like anything, when you understand the mechanics or chemistry of it, you can play with it more and have fun with it. Color theory is based primarily on the interactions of color, when mixed together, and when viewed beside one another. If you get a "color wheel" from an art store, it will ...

I should have indicated this is now sold. A few folks have enquired needlessly.

Thanks,
John

Hi Random, I have used an almost black. I might mix up some extremely dark reddish/brown. It looks almost black, but interacts with the over-stain better in my opinion. Some color theory goes a long way to working with color over color. When you put the highloght stain over the black, you'll get a t...