pipemakersforum.com

I have few questions...

- how many of you guys sand down your tobacco chambers, and to what grit of sand paper?

- after you stain your pipes, do you sand "spills" of stain in your chambers and when? How do you do this so you dont damage bowl rim?

Thank you for your answers!!

I sanded the fist one I made rather smooth, don't remember what grit. It refuses to build a cake on the walls. Now I just pass 150 grit around it a few times just to clean off any excess wood fibers that are stuck to the sides.

I sand off any stain I've slopped in there, and make sure the area where the air hole sits has no loose pieces or stray fibers. But it is best left somewhat rough, so I do it with 120 or 180 and go no further.

I've read opposing opinions from pipemakers. One says a ruff surface (150 grit) is not that beautiful but cake builds up much much faster than on smooth pipes. Others even polish the bowls from inside to high gloss and say that's the best.
I prefer something between these, aka 240 grit...

tritrek wrote:I've read opposing opinions from pipemakers...

I sand the inside with 180 or 220, depending on what's readily available on the workbench. Since I'm coating the bowl anyway, I'm only roughing up the surface to allow the coating to adhere and to remove any stain that may have leaked past the stopper I use to plug the bowl while staining.

The very last thing I do when making a pipe is sand the inside to about 220 grit. I wait until after staining, buffing, and waxing so that the sanding removes any stain/compound/wax that has made its way into the top of the tobacco chamber. Having it rough does make it build a nice cake more quickly.

Please, how do you sand stain spills in the end, after staining and polishing, so you dont damage or scratch the rim of the pipe bowl? Do you use some special technique or some gadget for sanding?

Wrap some sort of rod with sandpaper and chuck it in your drill press. Bring the bowl hole up over the rod and sand away.

Rad

RadDavis wrote:Wrap some sort of rod with sandpaper and chuck it in your drill press. Bring the bowl hole up over the rod and sand away.
Rad

I do this, but on my lathe. I chuck the pipe on the rod when the lathe is off, turn it on just for a few secs and then turn it off without removing the pipe. This is to avoid scratching the rim.

So simple! I thought it would be something like this. Thank you guys, very much!!