Frist bamboo shank, Yikes!

[sethile]

I struggled through my first bamboo shank using Tyler's great instructions. Bamboo adds a whole new twist to my usual struggle with aesthetics. Shank angle and relative size to the stummel are a huge challenge. I figure heading those things off will just take time. I also had a great deal of trouble keeping the bamboo clean, and really struggled with shaping the transitions to be flush and neat without getting into the bamboo. I masked the bamboo for the rough work, and that went OK, but the fine work after I took off the tape was a mess! These show my issues pretty well...


OK, now the really bad one!:

By this point I felt I was up against diminishing returns. I can likely clean some of this up, but it won't leave the shop... I'd mostly like to be ready for the next opportunity.

As near as I can tell, the bamboo wants very little if any sanding, but the vulcanite has to be sanded flush with it somehow. How have you managed this? I was trying sandpaper around round files, figuring backing it with a flat file would cause me to hit the bulge in the bamboo at the transitions (I obviously hit it anyway). A huge problem area for me was flowing the groves in the bamboo into the stem and shank without digging into the bamboo. What have you found effective for that?

How do you prevent or limit glue discoloration? I think my joints are tight, but I could not keep the squeeze out off the bamboo and other material, or figure a way to clean it effectively afterwards (either before or after curing). How do you finish and buff? I got a lot of discoloration, even though I was using white compound on a clean buff. The bamboo still picked up some of the stain off of the stummel.

I've seen some of these issues in bamboo shanks, just not near as bad, and some of them are really clean--I'd love to be able to do that. Any thoughts?

Here what's left of the pipe:


Another giant step backward!

[kbadkar]

I've only made 3 bamboo shanks, so my experience is limited. For the groove, I used little round riffler files. The curve slips in the groove nicely. Also a little dremel cutting bit works, WITH A STEADY HAND. I finish with some fine grit sanding wands. They have a sharp end that fits right in there and I have up to 1000 grit. To polish I use a little dremel felt tip thing.

I haven't used vulcanite rings for the bamboo which gives you more leeway and play, I imagine. Don't sand the bamboo at all is my suggestion. I think the trick is to do as much shank/bamboo junction as you can before you glue it up. I keep the bamboo with SS tenon in but separated from shank when getting close to final fitting. Push it in to check, pull it out a bit to sand. I use very thin sanding strips near the end, kind of like how a shoe shiner buffs your polished shoe with a cloth. When the shank is flush by eye, but the finger can feel the minute lip, I let the white diamond finish the junction after the epoxy dries. Pull off the epoxy "squish out" with a sharp pointed tool just when it sets up, but isn't hardened, like in a thick tree sap state. It seems to just peel off and not leave any residue behind. For staining, the thin epoxy layer is a good barrier. I use a fine paint brush to get right up to it. If you mean that the buff transfered the stain to the bamboo, maybe the stain wasn't dry enough? Or because you sanded the bamboo, it became more porous and the stain and compound residue lodged in the tiny pores. Maybe a solution would be to seal the bamboo, perhaps just a quick layer of carnauba wax on the bamboo before compound buffing would solve that. I try not to buff the bamboo at all and use only white diamond (no tripoli) next to it. I only wax and final clean flannel buff it.

[sethile]

Thanks, Kris, these are excellent suggestions. I've been meaning to get a set of small riffler files--would have really helped with those groves. I've done the epoxy peal technique before and can't imagine why I didn't think of that here. I did a good deal of fitting before glue up, but not near enough in hindsight

The stain should have been dry. I buffed the stummel with tan rouge first though, and it may be some of that transferred to the white diamond wheel off the stummel, and then onto the bamboo.