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I have a drill press and would like to know some of the ways to line up the stem in the drill press vise (I have a standard vise that I got at
home depot) so I can drill a straight hole to allow for derlin installation.
Also, the derlins I have are smooth on one end and threaded on the other end. I don't want to have to make a thread design in stem. I believe just drill a straight hole and then glueing the threaded end in stem would work.
The problem is getting hole straight using a drill press and standard vise.
Thanks!

For your run of the mill drill press vise, you might try using a couple pieces of maple and cutting a v-notch across the width of them to use as jaw padding. When they're put together, they should form a diamond or square. This will ensure the stem is held perpendicular to the vise jaws and reduce any marring from metal/plastic mating.

I believe they even sell such things for vises - though I haven't seen any recently.

Essentially you'd be turning your drill press vise into one of these:
http://www.woodcraft.com/product.aspx?P ... ilyID=4365

This little tutorial should guide you through making your own centre drilling vise jaws: http://www.newwoodworker.com/turning/mk ... ejaws.html

You might want to use a softer wood than oak.

Thanks for all the great replies... I guess I should have mentioned that most of the stems to be used are already finished. Like estate pipes with broken tenons. As long as the stem is not bent this vise holder should still work??

I don't see why not. For bent stems, you could try straightening them out and rebending once they're fixed.