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i was looking at the hand cut stem photo essay and had a question about how any of you start your shank.

do you turn (if using a lathe) the shank down to the same diameter as the stem stock will be so they mate up perfectly before starting to shape the stem?

I usually turn about a quarter inch to a similar size, then match everything up perfectly during sanding. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get a perfect match, or a decent finish, using a lathe and trying to turn to final diameter.

android wrote:i was looking at the hand cut stem photo essay and had a question about how any of you start your shank.

do you turn (if using a lathe) the shank down to the same diameter as the stem stock will be so they mate up perfectly before starting to shape the stem?

I do the opposite.

I turn the end of the shank round if it's a curved shank, or the entire shank, if it's a straight shank, then turn my stem to fit the shank.

I do this just so I have a round end on the shank to start out with.

You're going to be doing a lot of sanding anyway, and it's easier for me to keep something round if it starts out round.

Rad

I don't turn stummels on a lathe(don't have a wood lathe) so I'll offer a no-lathe perspective.

On my metal lathe, I'll turn the rod stock down to nearly the diameter I intend it to be. I then insert the stem into the shank and with a pencil, trace the diameter onto the shank face. This way I can shape the shank without having the stem in the way. When I've matched the line I've traced on the shank face, I insert the stem and begin tweaking the shank and the shank/stem junction with files and/or sandpaper to keep it all nice and neat.

thanks for your offerings.

let me ask this. do your stems end up as such that they can be rotated 360 degrees and be flush with the shank the whole time or do they only line up properly where they're intended to? if it's a round one of course.

android wrote:thanks for your offerings.

let me ask this. do your stems end up as such that they can be rotated 360 degrees and be flush with the shank the whole time or do they only line up properly where they're intended to? if it's a round one of course.

I've only done that once, but that is what I was trying to do just to see if I could. Up 'till then, I've never done it. I would always add a slight bend in the stem which tells you the orientation of the stem in the pipe - some use stem dots, etc.

I will admit, I found it a bit tricky. Sand the stem/shank together, rotate the stem 180 and do it again, and repeat. Took a few times to get it, but it worked.

I'd be curious if there is another way.

Android... it can be done, you just have to pay special attention to it if you don't have a lathe to make things perfect. A way around this is to purposely design your shank so the stem can ONLY fit one way to begin with, or as kkendall mentioned, design your pipes so they require a bend of some sort to them.

i was mostly curious to see how others did it. the first few stems i've altered around the shank/stem junction definitely weren't perfect on the 360, but i figure it doesn't really matter because you don't want the stem in any other position anyhow. i just didn't know how perfect y'all got them and wanted to make sure I wasn't headed down the wrong road with stems. i look forward to trying my own again as the prefab ones don't seem to have a very straight surface where the stem meets the shank and i don't really have any way to straighten it since i can't mount it in any of my chucks.

android wrote:i look forward to trying my own again as the prefab ones don't seem to have a very straight surface where the stem meets the shank and i don't really have any way to straighten it since i can't mount it in any of my chucks.

If you have a metal lathe, it can be done, it's just a bit fiddly.
You can also use the "sandpaper on a wood block with matching tenon size hole" method.