pipemakersforum.com

Hello Sirs,
I'm new here and extremely grateful to have been included. I've just started making pipes and have so many questions. I'm sure this is an anomaly here so please don't all rush me at once. I rigged a buffing ball up to a drill press to do my 3 step buffing. Hopefully I'll get the 3 wheeler deal soon, but I'm working with what I've got for now. Previously I was loading the buffing balls into a hand drill, so the press is a step up I think. I'm afraid I got some white diamond in the bowl while touching up some already finished pipes. How do you guys go about keeping compound out of the bowl? Any and all ideas are welcome and appreciated. I tried stuffing cut up fabric into the bowl, but this didn't work very well. Thank you again so much to all of you here willing to share and teach.

Just sand the chamber after buffing.

Fair enough. That's a simple solution that I think half crossed my mind, I was only worried that I'd gunk up my new buff.

Don't put anything in the chamber during buffing. Just buff and clean when you're done.

I'll do that... or not do that rather. Thanks.
As a side bar question, I noticed the grain sort of "popped" out a little as a result of the process... was I too aggressive? It's not a lot, but I didn't make the pipe, so I feel like I screwed up someone else's work.

Not sure what you mean by the grain popping out. Did it make a texture while buffing? Some briar is quite soft and could respond t heavy pressure. Also, what wheels are you using on your drill press?

In my final touch up box in my office I keep small squares of 150grit paper, about the size of a stamp. I use these to tidy up the chamber rim before coating.

After buffing and waxing, I wrap 220 grit around a 1/2" dowel rod that's about 4 inches long and sand the chamber. I rounded off the end so it gets the bottom of the chamber. I make sure not to stick my fingers in the chamber after that point unless I'm wearing clean latex gloves so I don't get oils in the chamber. Oil from hands can prevent the carbon bowl coating from sticking well and flaking off.

sandahlpipe wrote:Not sure what you mean by the grain popping out. Did it make a texture while buffing? Some briar is quite soft and could respond t heavy pressure. Also, what wheels are you using on your drill press?

Yes, you can now feel the grain texture when you couldn't before. I've got the Tripoli/white diamond/carnuba set of wheels designed for buffing inside bowls. Wheel isn't really the right word, they are baseball shaped and sized. I know this isn't the preferred way for respectable pipe makers the world over, it's just that they were cheaper and I couldn't sit still until I had some way of finishing.

wdteipen wrote:After buffing and waxing, I wrap 220 grit around a 1/2" dowel rod that's about 4 inches long and sand the chamber. I rounded off the end so it gets the bottom of the chamber. I make sure not to stick my fingers in the chamber after that point unless I'm wearing clean latex gloves so I don't get oils in the chamber. Oil from hands can prevent the carbon bowl coating from sticking well and flaking off.

Thanks. I didn't know that about the oils from your hands.

I think having the proper wheels will allow you to get shiny without having to apply pressure enough to make the grain stand up. Use the right tool for the job if you want to get good results.

Understood