shaping the top of a billiard etc.

[timthorpe]

hi everyone, it has been a while! hope everyone is doing well. not sure why i am asking this question 3 years down the road. when it comes to shaping a bowl and the stummel i do it by hand. so for the top to get a perfectly round top i have use a patteren made out of metal, sometimes it moves around if i am not careful. so what i am asking is it there a tool or compass to use on the top after i have drilled the chamber to trace and make the nice round top.

thanks,tim

[KurtHuhn]

Before drilling the tobacco chamber, I flatten the top of the briar with a Forstner bit. This aids in preventing the tobacco bit from wandering, but it also leaves an incised witness mark concentric to the tobacco chamber. Before I got a lathe, I would use that witness mark as a guide while freehanding the top of round pipes. You can see what I mean here:


My pipe kit customers also use that witness mark while freehanding, which is part of the reason why I keep drilling the way I do.

[Sasquatch]

Cool idea Kurt

One of the reasons I do some sanding with foam backed cloth is that it tends not to depress exactly into features - if I bend it round, I can get a very round shape sanded quite easily - sanding to a mark like Kurt's kit has becomes pretty easy. You can also use a file to get close to the round, but it is probably easier to go too far.

[kbadkar]

One simple way to re-trace the outer bowl outline is to plug the bowl with snug fitting dowel rod, then "roll" a pencil-lead and spacer around the dowel.

[Charl]

I do the same. Well, it's the same principle. Except my "dowl" is my thumb in the bowl.

[RadDavis]

Before I got my lathe, I just used to eyeball it. Just go slow and steady, and it's not that difficult to get a nice looking round rim.

The more you can do without being dependent on machinery/jigs, etc., the better.

Rad

[bluesmk]

When I first started carving I used a fostner bit, but for the longest now I use these.
Hope you can see it alright. I keep three on the bench. 2 with circles and one with ovals,
the ovals have three diferent profiles on them. You can get these at any art and drafting store.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

[ToddJohnson]

Before I got my lathe, I just used to eyeball it. Just go slow and steady, and it's not that difficult to get a nice looking round rim.

The more you can do without being dependent on machinery/jigs, etc., the better.

Rad

I agree with Rad wholeheartedly. There's nothing wrong with machinery or jigs, but the more you can train your eyes and hands to do without other aids, the better you'll get at at bringing your ideas to life in briar.

TJ

[bluesmk]

I pretty much use those to set up, 'till I'mm a third of the way into shaping those pencil marks are gone and I'm on auto-pilot.
Best
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes......in other words I agree guys

[FredS]

. . . so what i am asking is it there a tool or compass to use on the top after i have drilled the chamber to trace and make the nice round top.

thanks,tim

As a matter of fact, a compass will do exactly what you want. Just hold the pointy leg against the inside wall of the chamber and move it around the diameter to draw a circle that's centered on the chamber.



There's a tool called a hermaphrodite caliper (or odd leg caliper, or jenny caliper) that works even better, but most guys don't have one in their toolbox.