"Poor Man" Tools

[Growley]

I find in pipe making, ingenuity is a must, not only in how you make pipes, but in how you build or find tools to do the job. I love finding tools that work well, and that are CHEAP!

I found this drill bit today that has a more "pipe-like" profile, it cuts excellent, and it was only $10 bucks at Lowes. It's 3/4 size. I haven't looked to see if they have other diameters yet, but check it out.

Do you think this profile is too steep?



Here's the link to it at Lowes: http://www.homedepot.com/buy/crown-bolt ... K1WbWl24ls

It's the WingIts Apache200. It's rated for 200 holes in ceramic, so I imagine it will make a lot of briar holes. It cuts very smoothly, just seemed to peel the briar off.

What do you think?

Brian.

[The Smoking Yeti]

Burn the data.

Rule #1 of pipemaking... Expensive is better. All affordable solutions MUST be abandoned.

[Tyler]

I think the profile is nice.

[e Markle]

For most applications I think it's too steep. I do think this is mostly just a preference thing though. Nothing keeping you from drilling to the draft hole then using something else to round out the bottom.

[the rev]

I love brian, cause he is cheap

rev

[wdteipen]

I agree with Ernie but I think, as he said, it's a preference thing. On another note: I found it interesting that your link to Lowe's took me to HomeDepot.

[Growley]

I agree with Ernie but I think, as he said, it's a preference thing. On another note: I found it interesting that your link to Lowe's took me to HomeDepot.

Ooops. I think I like Lowes a bit better and subliminally just added them in.

[RadDavis]

I think the profile looks great. I wish they had more than two sizes.

Rad

[Growley]

I think the profile looks great. I wish they had more than two sizes.

Rad

I didn't see the second size...1 1/4. That'd be a big 'ol bowl. If you like the profile, you should pick one up. I'm really pleased with how it cuts, and you just can't beat $10 bucks...you know, unless you can get it for $9 or something.

Oh, check this out...I just found this on Amazon. Looks like you can get one more size that would work - 1 Inch. Still a big bowl, but might work for some pipes.

http://www.amazon.com/WingIts-WA2005PCS ... its+apache

[Sasquatch]

Clearly too pointy, which brings out the bacon flavor in English Mixtures (though not so much in flake).

[Sasquatch]

PS I'm not convinced that ceramic is harder than briar.

[Growley]

UPDATE:

I just used this bit on a pipe and wanted to give a more in depth review. I cut about an 1.5" deep hole and it cut the chamber very smoothly. The one drawback for this style bit, is that after you get past about an inch, you have to clear your chamber quite a bit more often than a standard bit. It doesn't seem to have the ability to move out the wood very well past that first inch.

I ended up just finishing the last .5" by moving the tailstock and out loosly and by hand, meaning not by crank, but by pushing it in and out.

[somedumbjerk]

just bought one. had to go get a set of spade bits and a long drill for the stem anyway so i figured i'd try it. good post! thanks for the info.

[caskwith]

Interesting, always on the look out for new chamber bits. Bet I can't find them here in the UK though, haha.

[potholer]

chris

you are entirely correct, they only sell it in the good ol' us of a

though they are politely apologetic about it


regards

dave

[WCannoy]

I'm going somewhere with this... stay with me

Speaking of "poor man tools", I took advantage of Black Friday to pick up a cheap Chinese benchtop wood lathe, chuck not included. I have a buddy who works in a machine shop who said "Don't buy a chuck! I've got a few sitting around the shop, I could probably give you one". Well, turns out that the smallest chuck he had was suitable for turning telephone poles! I didn't even know they made 'em that big! So he offered to fabricate a two jaw briar holding chuck to fit my machine (now, understand, we've been friends since elementary school), and told me that when it's done, if I felt like tossing him a couple of twenty's for his effort, or not, whatever... it's all good.

Back to the original post: He warned that his co-workers in the shop would be interested in seeing what this was for, so I came armed with a couple of pipes to show. One of the co-workers, after examining the tobacco chamber of one pipe, dissapeared into a back room for a minute...

He returned with a "drill bit" that he fabricated for drilling a three-inch diameter hole with a rounded bottom.

It was literally a large, thick flat washer, welded to a steel rod, and sharpened on the edges.

He chucked it up in a giant drill press and proceded to drill a three-inch bowl out of a scrap block of aluminum to demonstrate!
I was left speechless!

[smokindawg]

What a waste of good aluminum. LOL Just kidding!

Interesting, I'll have to do some experimenting when I get back from this work trip to NC.

[BigCasino]

would a sharper profile make it easier to get the draft hole at the very bottom of the chamber? you know the direct center of the bottom? or is it acceptable for the draft hole to be centered but more on the stummel side of the chamber

[caskwith]

One thing you might consider which I never seem to see mentioned here is to use more than 1 drill bit. If you have a good drill bit that cuts really well but is a bit too pointy, and 1 drill bit that cuts badly/slowly but has a nice profile at the bottom, the use both to create the perfect chamber. I have a large range of homemade chamber bits of various shapes and sizes, many times i will use a combination of them to get the chamber I want. If you have a metal lathe you can do even better as you can make up boring bars for shaping the chamber.

[ronps]

Thanks for the tip on this bit. Bought it, used it and got good results.

FWIW, my local HD did not have this bit in the drill bit section; it was over in the tile tools.