Just started my first three pipes tonight.

NuViking · Post by **NuViking** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:21 am

It is to my understanding that african blackwood is a good alternative to briar. Hoping this is true I went through a lot that I purchased off ebay. There was numorous sizes most of which I will be using for knife handles.
I usualy find it easyer to work on three projects at a time as one tool is chucked up, why not save time and use it more. I done a fair amount of the stock removal with a 1/2 inch drill bit then cut out the angles that I had drawn with my band saw. After no major failures I drilled out the strummel. with a 7/8 inch bit. The leangths vary.
One pipe I am making for my wife is going to be a churchwardens pipe or close facsimaly considering they will all be freehand. Yhe second one is going to simular to a corn cob pipe. One of my favorite styles. As mentioned before I am a closet hillbilly.
Yhe third is drawn out to be a larger table top model. I am hopping my old unused geometry skills dont fail me on this one. As soon as I figure out how to post attachment here I will update you more.[/img]

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:27 am

Cool! Can't wait to see 'em.

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:13 pm

Right! I want to see some pics!
Are you making a corn cob too or is that one going to be Blackwood and make the finish look like a cob?

NuViking · Post by **NuViking** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:20 pm

Hi their. I am using blackwood on all three pipes. The corncob is going to be a smoooth finish. I will have to lathe a stem and epoxie it to the strummel. I hope I am using the right word there. I didnt know what it was called before. I may use a differrent wood for the stem but probably have to buy mouth peices to finnish the stem.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:19 am

Why would you epoxy the stem in place? It might be good to be able to separate the two peices to clean them.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:41 pm

Nick wrote:Why would you epoxy the stem in place? It might be good to be able to separate the two peices to clean them.

I think in this instance he could be referring to a shank extension.

If the blackwood ends up with a smooth finish, it will likely look more like a poker, basically the same shape as a corncob.

NuViking · Post by **NuViking** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:22 am

Thankyou for the advice. I am corrected as far as the stem being a shank. I had never heard the term poker before. This is great new lurnin experience.

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:14 am

This pipe shapes chart at aspipes.org is about the only way I keep all the different pipe designs straight. You will find a "poker" there, along with all the rest. There is also a good section on pipe parts there, as well.

Of course, most of us end up adopting these terms for the purpose of communication. It's a whole lot easier to say "tenon" than it is to say "that thing on the stem that pokes into the hole in the wooden part of the pipe."

NuViking · Post by **NuViking** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 4:05 pm

WOW what a great site. Thanx for pionting me that way. It appears that the corncob lookin one that I want to make is leaning closer towards the cherrywood style. But the peice of wood that I have choosen for that will not leave me enough room to sand in the shank. That is where I was considering epoxieng a different color wood shank on. Is this adviseable or did I drill a hole into a nice chunk of futer knife handle. LOL

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:03 am

NuViking wrote:But the peice of wood that I have choosen for that will not leave me enough room to sand in the shank. That is where I was considering epoxieng a different color wood shank on. Is this adviseable or did I drill a hole into a nice chunk of futer knife handle. LOL

Well, assuming you have just enough wood to turn some sort of barrel shape out of the blackwood, I don't see why you couldn't do it just like a corncob.

Rather than trying to epoxy something that close to the tobacco chamber, I would turn a little shank piece out of some kind of reputable hardwood, with a tenon on one side and a mortise on the other.

I'd poke the tenon side of said piece into the barrel-shaped blackwood piece. Then I'd poke a pre-made vulcanite stem into the mortise side of said piece, and work from there.

Round stems at PIMO.
Vulcanite stems at Vermont Freehand.

NuViking · Post by **NuViking** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 12:00 am

I beleive I am going to take your advice on this. May start sanding soon. I have been busy getting as much fall work done before snow hits the ground. We have had such a lovely fall I hate to loose a day of outside work whhen I have all winter to work inside.