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Ok this is the way I have been drilling my chambers, the idea is to put the draft hole as near the centre bottom of the chamber as possible.







David.

you want the chamber bit to drill until it hits the bottom side of the draft hole. you are stopping when you hit the top.

David there's people who drill for the bottom, lots of German pipes do this (I suspect it's a holdover from the clay tradition). The argument AGAINST doing so is that a mis-pack, one stray leaf even, totally fucks up how the pipe will smoke.

So I think a more "English" approach (as seen in Dunhill and Peterson) is to try to hit the bottom of the chamber with the bottom of the drill bit, which you seem to be doing more of in your bent pipes.

In a straight, it presents bottom corner:




In bents, it starts to creep up the wall a little, but a bit of finesse with a dremal or a gouge, and you can get a nice result even on a steeply bent pipe (drill just a hair low, as you do, and then open things up a bit on the wall/floor so you don't get that trough):




I'm not saying it's "right" (obviously I feel it is) but having had pipes with the center-trough drilling, I would now avoid those if purchasing. Other guys feel differently and you can certainly find expensive handmade pipes with a centered draft hole technology.

I'm going to suggest that you can build your pipes however YOU like to build them. No matter what you do, someone is going to like it, and someone else is going to prefer bigger, smaller, rougher, smoother... something.

SAS & fuchi_jeg would that mean a flatter bottom to the chamber is needed/better because if I drill for a side entry the bottom of the chamber ends up below the airway, with the bit shown it would be about 4mm.

David.

I don't think so - I have a bit shaped very much like your first one and I hit the bottom of the airway with it, and the hole is where it should be. All that's really being said is that in the case of the billiard you posted in the gallery, you could drill the chamber deeper.

So I'm not making a silly mistake, which is what is worrying me.

All we're suggesting is that if you get to choose between a pipe built like A or a pipe built like B - B is probably preferable for smoking.

Thanks, I need to think about this one.

David.

I agree. Some of my early pipes were drilled like "A" in Sas' drawing and I find that they are more difficult to smoke because the draft hole has a tendency to get plugged at the bottom of the chamber.

Since I switched to "B" I have not had this problem. I drill all of my pipes this way now.

Todd

David you're using a drill press, right? what do you use to clamp the wood while drilling the bowl?

A cross axis vice.

David.

DMI wrote:A cross axis vice.

David.

Photo?

For me it is much easier to drill the draught hole first and then use the chamber bit to "find" the draught hole. If you drill the chamber first you will be guessing how to adjust to be dead center in the chamber which has never worked for me.

some of you guys have probably have done this but I put a bamboo skewer in the draft hole and when I drill the tobacco chamber I can tell when I hit the bamboo shewer

I saw a video by askwith where he drilled his tobacco chamber after the airhole, and then checked depth by putting an airhose on the airhole and popping some air in, when he broke through the air came out the tobacco chamber. Then he just adjusted his depth. That is what I do now.

rev

DMI wrote:

just got me one of them xy / cross sliding vises. shes great! i used to freehand drill everything and it was a bitch on the drill press. i mangled my hand several time. i now preshape most of the pipe, throw it in the vise and then drill like B in sas' drawing. when you freehand drill its hard to get it like that everytime. it smokes way better if its drilled like B.

the rev wrote:I saw a video by askwith where he drilled his tobacco chamber after the airhole, and then checked depth by putting an airhose on the airhole and popping some air in, when he broke through the air came out the tobacco chamber. Then he just adjusted his depth. That is what I do now.

rev

Yeah thats pretty much how I do it. First I measure the depth on my layout lines, this gives me a good approximation of the drilling depth. I have fitted a DRO to my tailstock so I use this to check my progress, once I get close I stop and blow some air into the shank, it chips spray out i know I have hit the airway, if not I advance another mm and try again. Once I do get chips, i slide back the taistock and shine a torch in there to see my progress, from this I adjust until the airway makes a nice teardrop shape at the bottom of the chamber.

Yeah it would be tough to use a bamboo skewer in the draft hole while she is spinning around on a lathe, plus I don't keep my compressor running and handy, I was mainly referring to drilling with a press, I always pre-check and mark my bit but I like the skewer as a back up, I stuff it in the draft hole and while I'm drilling the chamber when I see it start to bounce I know I am getting to it..... yeah i'm kinda of a little OCD about some stuff

I use the air on a drill press, haven't got my lathe completely set up yet. Though I will be drilling my stems on it now.

rev