Pipe #3

[PhilipMarc]

This is the third pipe I've made. I constantly have trouble trying to get a nice flush fit between the shank and stem (using precut stems with a pimo tenon turning tool), and I'm still experimenting with contrast staining (any tips on good contrast staining techniques would be appreciated). Be honest; brutal if necessary. The shape is sort of "elephant's foot" inspired, but obviously quite different. The grain of the pipe seemed to lend itself to this shape.

Here goes:











I apologize for the pictures being a little bit blurry. Shame on me.

Philip Marc

[JMG]

Are you shaping the shank with the stem already in place? If not, you will want to start doing so. That will help a lot with the stem/shank junction. Other than that try to ensure that your forstner bit (or whatever tool you use to face the shank is nice an sharp. Nice third effort, btw.

[PhilipMarc]

I am, yes. One of the issues I have is that the precut stems never seem to have a very flat surface to begin with (little casting edges and things), and if you start attacking them with sand paper you might make it slightly better, but it's still far from a perfectly flat surface, which causes some parts of the stem face to make contact with the shank face just a HAIR before the other parts, creating tiny light cracks. I'm trying to think of ways to combat this, but without some type of turning tool, like a wood lathe or metal lathe, I'm not sure how to do that. The Pimo tool is pretty nice for fitting the tenons, but it lacks the facing capabilities of a lathe. I guess that's what you get when you spend $69 instead of $1200. I've been visiting tooling sites and drooling on my computer screen as I at the 9x20 metal lathes.

One day, my sweet metal lathe, one day...

[andrew]

This is a good looking third. Red hues are some of my favorites. The proportions on the pipe are pretty good.

The pimo tool is capable of facing the stem for you. It typically needs a little "tweaking" to do it correctly though. The shank can be faced with one of the mortise/facing tools that pimo sells as well. You can make some really good pipes without jumping to the metal lathe right away. In fact, it will benefit you quite a bit in the long run to spend time learning to use the tools you already have. When you are sanding, just make sure you are sanding the pipe with the stem inserted into the shank. And when you are sanding, use some type of sanding bar/block so your fingers don't start to dig into the stem/stummel junction.

[PhilipMarc]

Andrew,

THANK YOU! That's great advice. I will definitely try that next time I'm in the shop!

[JMG]

Andrew "em i tok stret." What he said is right. You can face the stem with the PIMO tool (it's what I use as well.) Just run the stem up the guide pin with a little pressure and let the diamond tip cut away at the face. However, I found that some stem's airway was a good deal bigger in diameter than the guide pin and this causes far to much wobble on the guide pin to get a straight cut. You can somewhat deal with this problem by wrapping the guide pin with just a little tape (though this doesn't work that well as many tapes get too hot and melt.) However, if the stem fits snug enough, then just push that sucker up the guide pin and it will do a pretty decent job of facing the stem...hope that makes sense.

What are you using to face the shank?

[PhilipMarc]

Right now I am using a cheap Ryobi Forstner bit to face the shank. I will try the Pimo tool in that way, thanks for the tip!

[Ocelot55]

Right now I am using a cheap Ryobi Forstner bit to face the shank. I will try the Pimo tool in that way, thanks for the tip!

Nice looking pipe. It kinda reminds me of a Stanwell.

If you think about buying the PIMO forster and mortise combo consider that that limits the size of your shank. If you like thicker shanked pipes you will need a different bit. On the positive side the PIMO tool does seem to face the briar very well.