Full pipe making pictorial, from block to finished pipe.

[meathod]

Not sure if anyone here is really interested in this, since... you know, most people here see this kind of thing all the time in their own shops...

But I've gotten some requests for this, so I figured I'd post it.

I also thought it would be a good way to get some pointers on my techniques, since I am still learning, and the knowledge on this board is a resource that I greatly admire.

I thought it would be a neat idea to update this as I went along. I want to be as detailed as possible, So I'll start at the very beginning.

Most of my pipes start with an idea, usually some sort of feeling that I want to recreate for the user. And I'm thinking that this pipe will start with the idea of high altitude exploration. Standing on a windy mountaintop, pipe hanging from mouth, one hand on your hiking stick, the other blocking the bright sun from your eyes... you get the idea. I found this image a long time ago, and I think it's a good place to start..



The pipe will need a bowl cover, both to hold smoking material in the bowl in windy conditions, and protect a half smoked bowl while you're hiking. I like the idea of a very compact hinge mechanism, since it is more robust. The rest I'll figure out later...

Check back for updates daily!

[meathod]

Day 1, short day.

Clean shop, ready for pipe making..



Woods to be used, Amboyna Burl, African Blackwood, Padauk, maybe some red palm...



Drawing the rough shape



Cutting it out with a fret saw



Some rough sanding





Putting it on the 4 jaw chuck and turning the bowl on the lathe











Putting the drill chuck on the lathe and drilling the bowl





Setting the boring tool, and boring the bowl out to the correct diameter







Turning the base of the stem



Drilling the mortise for the stem



Boring the mortise



Completed holes for eventual stem and bowl insert



Coffee break



Rough sanding with the 4 jaw self centering chuck, and padded sanding disc





Roughing the shape out some more with a detail rasp





Refining the shape with some detail files



Some Tools



Switching to a finer grit sanding disc to smooth out the shape a bit and get rid of scratches from the rasp





I lick the wood to check the grain pattern, lookin' nice!



My hand, for scale



Another view of the mortises and partial air holes, with my safety glasses in the background



Rough block of African blackwood in the chuck, this will eventually be the bowl insert



Turning the outside diameter and the face



Drilling a hole to make it easier to turn the inside diameter with hand tools



Custom made turning tool for the inside of bowls





Bowl roughly turned

[meathod]

Day 2

aaaand we're back!

Drilling out the air hole at the bottom of the bowl



Cleaning up the inside





Special tool for cutting a groove on the inside of the bowl for the metal screen





Sanded down the bowl a bit on the disc sander to shorten it before fitting the bowl insert



Super fine amboyna sawdust



Mixing the sawdust in water for something cool later on...



More tools



Measuring the bowl depth with a digital caliper



Measuring again to determine what the length of the bowl insert will be



Marking some guidelines



Using a parting tool for the rough shaping of the outside diameter



Determining the outside diameter that the bowl insert will be



More measuring and turning





Using the left hand cutting tool to square up the corners



Using a diamond point tool to turn the bowl details





Using the boring tool to turn the rim of the bowl that will eventually be fitted with a lid later on



This is how it looks after some fine sanding with 600 grit



Cutting the bowl insert off with a fret saw



Lookin' pretty good, this block of African blackwood has a lot of nice gray tones that I like



It fits!



Now time for something stressful, connecting the air holes



First hole at 90 degrees



Drilling the air hole to the stem at an angle after lining it all up and clamping it down



Didn't fuck it up!





Drilling the air hole to the bowl



Perfect, the air hole is offset so that moisture buildup and resin in the bowl will drop down into the larger hole where it can easily be cleaned out with a pipe cleaner. This is also important for a pipe of this design, because without it your pipe would make a gurgling noise when you use it.



The air holes from the bottom



After cleaning it up with a detail file



....

[meathod]

Having some milk, haha



Cut out a piece of copper with a hacksaw, this will be a rim for the bowl, and also hold half of the lid hinge assembly



Hammering it out



Annealing the copper with propane torch to soften it again. Hammering will harden copper pretty quickly, so this is a necessary stem when you're cold working copper.



Letting the copper cool on a bed of sawdust, the copper will react with the carbon from the burnt sawdust to create some really nice colours







Hammering it out again



After sanding on the belt sander



After more hammering, annealing, and sanding





Final hammering, going for a nice consistent pattern



Final annealing



After a light sanding with 600 grit to bring out the pattern



Bent into a ring to fit the bowl insert



Some colour experiments, using sawdust and heat



Testing the colour, nope I like the first version better



Hammering and filing out the shape of the hinge



Ready for silver soldering





Acid flux is applied to the sanded surfaces, and then silver solder slices are placed on the joint. I prefer this method of soldering to the traditional method of holding the wire in your hand because I'm less likely to overheat the copper. If I overheat the copper the color that I worked so hard to get earlier will be ruined and I would have to start over again.



All melted



Letting it cool in sawdust for no real reason other than it feels a bit like archaeology when I take it out later, haha



Lookin' good, but still rough



After some sanding and filing, I try out the fit



This angle shows the nice deep red coloring



Lookin' good!





And that was 7 hours in the shop, haha.

To be continued...

[taharris]

Fascinating!

Please keep doing this.

Todd

[TRS]

Fascinating!

Please keep doing this.

Todd

+1

[Ocelot55]

That seems extremely labor intensive. Fascinating to watch. You really have me curious to how this will turn out. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[d.huber]

This is fascinating! Please keep the posts coming. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[JonBood]

Good stuff!! Waiting to see the end results=)

[potholer]

outstanding and fascinating

a pipemaking soap opera

cannot wait to see more

regards
dave

[Tyler]

Very cool.

[andrew]

I have to say, I love watching copper incorporated into pipes.

[maxmil]

Extraordinary project, and work.
Best regards.
Félix

Extraordinarios proyecto, y trabajo.
Saludos.
Félix

[ND Pipes]

MAN!!! This is GREAT!!!.. like it - can't wait to see more.....

[bandkbrooks]

Ok. It feels like a cliff-hanger so keep the story going.

[HumblePipe]

Wow! This is one of the coolest things I ever seen, thank you for sharing and please continue to share more of this process with us!

[MonsieurLabo]

As a newbie with a Taig this really opens my eyes to possibilities. Thanks for sharing.

[caskwith]

I am hooked, next installment please! lol

Also really brilliant that you are showing just what can be achieved with a drill press and a small lathe!

[frazeeg]

This is incredible. I can't wait to see the rest.

[Alden]

Ok Sir, you have us hooked.... Time to finish the pipe and upload more pics !