pipemakersforum.com

Dry ingredients first, then enough water to make it into something like a crumble. Then add waterglass slowly until you get about the right consistency. Then a little acid. Let it sit overnight and if there's any water sitting on top, pour it off. Stir it and you're ready to go. TJ Thanks tried add...

aspen like white poplar? very soft wood i've worked with burl like that and you can use it. right now its green maybe 50% mc let it dry slowly in a paper bag or a box with saw dust for a couple months, then you could leave them on a rack or use a fan/heater to finish drying it. anything faster will ...

thought it might be ratio. the last few batches i mixed it as thick as possible, just mixed it by consistancy think the ratio must be around 1:1. too much carbon and it gets so hard you can't stir it, too much water glass and its runny. not sure how thick it was for the pipes with the discoloration,...

is there something easy i can just swap out the sodium silicate for and keep the carbon?

I came across a box of pipes that were unfinished but had the bowls coated, they sat for at least a few months. the coating has patches of white/very light grey that appeared, instead of a uniform dark grey/black. I used lab grade sodium silicate mixed with carbon. Procedure I used to apply it was: ...

the way I use this board is to read almost everything and post only if there's something I think would add to the conversation and the archive. there's great value in the threads that are super critical and offer a variety of fixes and suggestions, like lessons on how to train you eye. I can read a ...

nice blast

haven't worked with sem ebonite but i've burnt vulcanite on the tripoli wheel and heat gun, bubbles the surface but never caused it to stink. maybe higher sulfur content? more sulfur also also makes the ebonite harder right

I keep a block of carnauba handy and touch it to the drill bit before starting then a few times during the hole after clearing the flutes. if it melts quick lets me know the bit is getting too hot.

what type of backing pad are you using? I tried this once with a 5" fiber disc and the backing pad was some type of rubber. when the disc was attached with a washer and bolt it left a small gap between the disc and backing pad and just didn't feel rigid so i've stuck with velcro.

I drill first and shape almost entirely on a 5" disc sander at least until 320 grit. i'll use just the hard backing with a disc for low grits shaping and add a foam padd after shape is close to finialized. its good to keep a few dremel tools with different burs at easy reach for hard to get to ...

I warm the stem holding the bowl with the heat gun on high (sorry George) I guess it depends on the make and model of gun. Mine is over 1000 degrees when set on high, and will boil the surface of acrylic in an astonishingly short time. People should definitely experiment with their own gear, starti...

merry christmas everyone.

this comes up occasionally where a new pipe maker asks about different materials, here's my 2c if your objective is to make high end pipes that demand a premium on pipe store store shelves, pipe shows or online sales etc then briar or less common morta, strawberry wood meerschaum are the options. th...

great website, I like your work

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. When it comes to starting a business in these terrible days of taxes, government regulations and legal action, the joy and passion can be blurred by the daunting task of becoming legitimate. I can't speak to the experiences of anyone outside of the US, but for us of ...

very nice pipe, always liked variations of this shape and first time seeing what its called. so is it a german shape or a japanese shape?

Thinking about trying a different wheel for rough shaping, up until now only used 60 or 80 grit 5" hook and loop velcro type on a 5" wheel on the end of motor arbor. it works but maybe its the brand of sand paper I use, the paper tends to tear off around the edges and some times doesn't ge...

Made the nail tool, it was fun. I enjoyed watching it tear chunks of briar out. I hit it with the wire brush afterwards and I feel it turned out okay. I was trying to search some final finishing techniques, but of course I feel left with more questions than answers. I dont think it will try melting...

Made a few visual improvements to the gallery page, new header and tighter image spacing, also the thumbnail photos change if there's a few photos for a topic there's a random one chosen on page load for the thumbnail, found it makes the page more fresh when browsing. any feedback or suggestions are...