Albert.A wrote:...about the SS tubing, hat kind does one typpically get? on the pictures I've seen on bamboo pipes with SS tenons in the stem the steel itself seems to be very thin, i.e. the difference between outer and inner diameter of the tube seems to be very small.
Because it is so strong & tough, stainless steel makes an excellent tubing material in strength to weight terms. The walls can be surprisingly thin and still be up to the task.
And also what do you mean exactly by "...is to pin them"?
Look at a Dunhill "Wangee" pipe for an example. Because of the many hassles and considerations that gluing a pipe together entails, doing it reliably right in a mass production environment isn't as easy as most people would guess. Especially decades ago when today's high-performance adhesives weren't available. The solution for Dunhill---who had a reputation to maintain---was to side step the entire problem and just do a mechanical join. The stummel was given a mortise, a tenon was cut on the bamboo, the two parts were mated, a small hole was drilled through the assembly at the center of mass, and nickel pins inserted and staked. Attached forever. She no fall off. She NEVER fall off. The bamboo and briar can expand and contract independently all they want, and the corrosive goo can attack the joint to its heart's content, because there's no glue (or, more accurately, the substrate to which the glue is attached) to attack.
And I had to google the kenworth because I had no idea what it was, and that is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life!
But I get your point, and if I ever try to continue with this pipe design, I will most certainly use regular bamboo!
10-4 on the W-9. I drove one for a while. Fun times.
I think the board in general would love to see that design rendered in bamboo. You got the feel and balance exactly right regarding knuckle size and spacing---equal distance between the stem flare, the two faux knuckles, and the bowl---so would do a killer job with the real thing, I think.
