Pipemaking stand-off?

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:06 am

I'm eventually back from the DRC for good, moved into a new house and now looking out for a new job. The new place have a nice big garage with lots of space for my workshop stuff and I also received some really nice blocks of wild olive from family friends. My hands are just itching to try them.

But, and this is the problem, I really do not want to make pipes with inferior cheap stuff stems, anymore. (Some of you might recall that I used to buy cheap drugstore pipes just to get my hands on stems). As money is quite low, and work here in SA scarce, I can't splash money on a lathe now or even fork out $150 or so to import premolds.

Am I wrong in being hesitant? Should I maybe just rough shape a couple of stummels so long? Or am I just being too much of a perfectionist to not go on with cheapie stems?

pierredekat · Post by **pierredekat** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:50 am

There's been a lot of times where I had more time on my hands than money, and I'm guessing you're in that boat right now, yourself. So you might give a little thought to rigging up some sort of homemade lathe, and see where that leads you.

How my home made lathe works

Building Your Own Lathe

Wood Turning - Inexpensive home made lathe pictures

Post by DRIFTER_016 on Quest Outdoors

Building a Lathe from Scrap (I like this one because he employs the "bottom bracket" from a bicycle -- cool...)
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Building a Woodturning Lathe

Home made lathe

Google Search for "homemade lathe"

Google Search for ""home made" lathe"

Yeah, several years ago, I thought about building a bandsaw out of a bicycle. If you crack open the case on a store-bought bandsaw, you'll quickly see the logic. A bicycle is already a bandsaw -- it just needs a blade.

A little bit of welding, splice together a few chains to situate your pedals wherever you want them, and you're ready to rock and roll. Now imagine getting a nice, leisurely workout while you rough-out a block of wood. Sounds like a win-win deal to me.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:39 pm

If you live near enough to drive to an industrial area, try bumming old non-working, but repairable equipment from the factories. They often toss out stuff that can easily be repaired. As Robert pointed out, with enough bits and pieces you can cobble together some working equipment.

It's a pity you didn't mention your stem needs sooner. About 118 assorted premoldeds from Vermont Freehand sold on ebay for around $50. That's a steal. I would happily have bid on your behalf if you don't have an ebay account.
Have you tried researching the availability of ABS in SA? It's not as nice as ebonite, but better than nothing. Also, contact these guys and see if they can supply you with a few premoldeds: http://www.wesleys.co.za/refurb02.html

I repeat "Boer maak n plan".

Vermont Freehand · Post by **Vermont Freehand** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:12 pm

I have another auction going for the same batch of stems. They are going cheap, so consider bidding.

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 3:57 am

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Really appreciate it.

Decided to make the plunge and hope for the best, only live once after all!

So I went to Maizey's and bought 1m of 20mm round rod. It's sort of like with Henry Ford: You can have it in any colour you want, as long as (in this case) its clear and not black you want! Not crazy about the idea of having see-through stems, but hell, it's something at least.

Acrylic is only available in clear for round rod. Other colours are available, but then you have to buy a whole sheet which they will cut into square rods for you.

ABS are only available in thin sheets, and only in white. So unfortunately no luck there.

Teflon are available in rods and in quite a variety of sizes, but again, only in white.

Vulcanite (the guy that helped me called it vescanite, don't know if it's the same thing) is also only available in white.

So, it seems as if the route for me to go would be to import stem material, unfortunately. I will also, when I have a chance, go and speak to other plastic suppliers, just to make sure. Although Maizey's is the biggest company here, I might get lucky.

In the mean time, I have 1m of "Henry Ford" rod to play around with. My brother-in-law has a lathe that he said I can use. Just have to wait until he has time.

Will also have a look at e-bay. Sounds like a very good deal to me.

Thanks again for all the help and ideas.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:11 am

Here's the ebay link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=024

Charl · Post by **Charl** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:49 am

Thanks Frank!