Okay, final update! Exciting!
African blackwood for the mouthpiece, roughly turned
I ramp up the lathe speed for using hand tools to define the final shape
After shaping with hand tools, I drill the mortise
Sanding smooth
Cutting the mouthpiece off with a fret saw
I use the disc sander to shape and smooth the end
Close up of the tenon and square hole, which I think looks pretty neat
This glue is inert when dry, and perfectly safe for using on the mouthpiece
While that dries, I plan out the hinge assembly
Here is half of the hinge, starting as a rough piece of copper
After a bit of initial hammering
Annealing
Using some water to cool down the copper after Annealing
More hammering and filing
After annealing, the copper sometimes turns this bright pink colour if you quickly submerge it in water
More hammering and annealing
Using some files to refine the shape
Using a center punch to mark where I will drill a tiny hole for a saw blade
And the hole is drilled
After inserting the saw blade, I cut a groove for the hinge assembly
I use a flat piece of brass to hammer the groove flat on the inside, and get it to the correct width
Sanding down the other half of the hinge
After some filing and sanding, they are almost ready to be pinned together
Drilling the hole. It takes great care to get the hole just right, I tape the hinge onto the lid so that I know it will fit perfectly later on. There is no room for error in this step, If the hole is 1mm off, I would have to make the hinge assembly all over again...
Came out good!
I put a piece of music wire into the vice, and use a hammer to mushroom one end of it, this will be the hinge pin
I insert the rough pin, and make some marks with a sharpie so that I know where to solder the hinge to the lid
The glue had dried, so I took a quick break from metalworking to finish the mouthpiece
All the parts, ready for assembly
After some refining, it all fits together nicely, ready for soldering
This is a method that jewelers use for delicate soldering jobs. A sliver of solder is placed between the joint, and acid flux is applied to the copper surfaces
Here it is after I used a propane torch to evenly heat the two halves and melt the solder
A quick bath in acetone to clean off the acid flux
I used a hammer and anvil to delicately mushroom the other end of the hinge pin, this secures the pin in place so that it won't fall out
And the bowl is done
Some final sanding on the amboyna wood, I intentionally left this rough earlier, because during the crafting process the wood picks up a lot of dirt and oil from your hands, and you would have to sand it at the end to get rid of that anyhow
Here it is after I sanded it to 1200 grit
Here is my buffing system, for this pipe I am only using two wheels with progressively finer polishing grits. The first wheel uses tripoli compound, and the second uses white diamond compound
First I use a coating of linseed oil to darken the wood and give the grain a more 3D look
Here is the pipe after the polishing wheels
Here is the bowl, ready to be glued in.
After gluing the bowl in, I heat up a bowl screen to darken it, and get rid of any residue from the manufacturing process
I insert the screen, and the pipe is complete!
Check my website tomorrow for more detailed photographs of the pipe if you like,
www.dmpipes.com
Anyhow, Thanks for watching! I hope that you all enjoyed the journey!