One thing to watch for, if you're going to do that, is that you don't have the airway expading as the stem heats up. You can something akin to a driveshaft hump going from one end of the bend to the other if you're not careful. This is esecially true as you start making pipes with thinner and thinner stems.marks wrote:Ben I always stuff as many pipe cleaners in the stem as I can get in there to keep the airway open. Don't know if it really makes a difference, but I do it anyway.
-perhaps. ] Maybe, except you wouldn't be able to insert it into the tenon end and have it pass all the way through the button. I don't know about anyone else, but my button has a slit that's only about 1mm high, while the airway is tapered from 5/32 at the tenon down to a flat, wide cone near the button. The cone is the same height as the slit - so only 1mm.magruder wrote:Hey Kurt/anyone,
I always thought it would be great to have a rod that could be inserted in the stem to preserve the airway dimensions during bending.
Such a rod would have to be smooth, heat resistant, flexible and thin enough
to maintain the thin stem airway.
Whoa! While typing this I had a brainstorm - flatwound Elec. Bass strings!
Being flatwound, they are smooth and I'll bet the right guage exists to do the job.
Same here. Lucite, Ebonite, Cumberland etc I've never had a stem narrow to the point where I'd be worried about airflow issues.RadDavis wrote:I never put anything in the stem when I bend.
Rad
Although it was a very unique and cool pipe, I doubt that he'll ever make any for sale judging from the look that was on his face as he showed it to me. This causes me to ask who bends their stems before final sanding and who does not and why ??Good points guys. When I made my original post in this thread, I was thinking of how I bend stems that are not yet finished (I have not worked with premade stems in some time). When I bend a stem, I still have a lot of shaping to do after the bending, so I run little if any risk of creating a ridge along the center of the stem from any cleaners in the airway. However, I can see how that could occur when re-bending a finished stem or bending a stem that is very near the final thickness.
Steve I've only recently started bending my stems before final sanding (and sooner sometimes) because its allows me to tweak and adjust the lines and flow. Before, when I did the bending last, I would end up where the stem didn't follow the lines of the pipe like I wanted them too so I ended up redoing them.magruder wrote:This causes me to ask who bends their stems before final sanding and who does not and why ??Good points guys. When I made my original post in this thread, I was thinking of how I bend stems that are not yet finished (I have not worked with premade stems in some time). When I bend a stem, I still have a lot of shaping to do after the bending, so I run little if any risk of creating a ridge along the center of the stem from any cleaners in the airway. However, I can see how that could occur when re-bending a finished stem or bending a stem that is very near the final thickness.
Thanx,
-Steve
