Everyone does it differently. I drill mine at 300 or so. I believe Todd Johnson used to drill at 1200. Do what is comfortable and safe for you.
I drill a pilot that is around 5/16. I go just far enough to nick the top of the draught hole to make sure I'm on center. If you are off center, then you can adjust in the final drill with the spoon bit. After I drill the pilot, I go straight to it with my final size spoon bit. I don't use a tailstock for this operation, but go freehand. This is a personal feel thing for me. Again, do what you are comfortable doing.
If you could ask Todd, Jody, Brad, Tonni, or me how we drill using spoon bits, you'd likely get different answers from each of us. We've all learned some basics and modified the process to one we feel most comfortable with. For that reason, I really think that it is wise to plan what you are doing, know the basics (I believe there's an entire thread here with the whole process explained), and then carefully explore the method. In fact, you'll probably get excellent results from experimenting and then bouncing your successes and failures off one another in this forum. Eventually you will all, or most of you will, feel comfortable with the process that you've developed.
Essentially what I'm saying is that pipemaking as a whole is a fairly relativistic endeavor. There are very few hard and fast rules. Most of it is individualistic, hand drilling included. I might sand to 600 grit and someone else to 30,000. If both of our results are functional and beautiful, the steps in between really do not matter.
Best of luck gentlemen. I'm off to stamp a pipe and coat its bowl.
Best,
Jeff
Spoon Bits, photos from the first batch
I have heard about these spoon bits and the wonders they create for quite a while. I could not imagine what the true value was until now.
I cut three pipes so far. Some times I will make a pipe and in the attempt to get the perfect contour I get it too thin. This can happen regardless of the shape of your bit. With the spoon bit you get the shape the way you want it and then put the smoking chamber only as far in as needed. Out of the three pipes I have done this way all of them are thicker than average at all points. In our store nothing sells slower than a thin walled pipe.
I thought that the advantage to the spoon bit was being able to cut a block in a different direction than the saw mill intended. Now I see that it is a bigger deal than that.
They are fantastic!
Thank you Brad.
Skip
I cut three pipes so far. Some times I will make a pipe and in the attempt to get the perfect contour I get it too thin. This can happen regardless of the shape of your bit. With the spoon bit you get the shape the way you want it and then put the smoking chamber only as far in as needed. Out of the three pipes I have done this way all of them are thicker than average at all points. In our store nothing sells slower than a thin walled pipe.
I thought that the advantage to the spoon bit was being able to cut a block in a different direction than the saw mill intended. Now I see that it is a bigger deal than that.
They are fantastic!
Thank you Brad.
Skip
