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I am brand new to the craft and have only made a few pipes with limited tools. My grandfather uses a lathe a lot and has offered to give his old one to me. Ive always wanted to learn to lathe, but was disappointed to hear that most pipe makers use a metal lathe instead of a wood lathe. Why is this? What separates the two in regards to pipe making?

For me, it's not an either or. I have both. A mini metal lathe and a nice wood lathe I turn and drill stummels on the wood lathe and do shank extensions and stems on the metal lathe. I hear that stem work is possible on a wood lathe, but it's hard to be that precise when thousandths of an inch count. Not to say it can't be done.

If you're being given a lathe of any kind, you can always start on it and work until you feel the need to upgrade. Just make sure you line everything up and off you go. I'm sure your grandfather will be able to help you get started with what he knows.


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I use both. A wood lathe on the stummel, a metal lathe on the stem.

Take whatever's free to start. There's not a whole lot that you can do on a metal lathe that you can't do on a wood lathe. A metal lathe is just easier, more efficient, and faster for certain tasks. Learn to use a wood lathe well first and you'll appreciate a metal lathe all that much more later.

sandahlpipe wrote:I hear that stem work is possible on a wood lathe, but it's hard to be that precise when thousandths of an inch count. Not to say it can't be done.

I know two pipemakers quite well who do this. Even with much practice, cutting tenons never gets easy on a wood lathe, and the lost-material/start-over rate is high. Both of them are moving to alternative methods as we speak. It's simply too unforgiving.

I make stems on a wood lathe. I think scottie and wayne do too. (Or did in the past) it's a bitch but it can be done. It takes hours of practice and several meters of Ebonite it to get the hang of it and even then you still have to part the tenon off and start over sometimes. I am finally to the point on my last few stems where the fit is good, there is a nice straight tenon with no gouges, it is polished, and the shoulder is straight and clean. All this leads to the key point of this whole thread. If you think you will be serious about making pipes in the future, start with a metal lathe.

Interesting. I realize that it's easier to do on a metal lathe, but I don't think it's that hard to cut a tenon by hand. 10 minutes against 3 on a metal lathe?

Really, you need a lathe and proper chucks, and all this other stuff takes care of itself with a few practice rounds. Figure something out and make it work.

I think a guy that has little to no experience with a lathe will have enough trouble trying to turn a straight tenon that won't either fall out or cracked the shank, let alone get a polished face and scar free tenon. It's just 5 other things for a guy to worry about added to the 50 frustrations of making a nice pipe. I think it's worth the extra $500 or so compared to a wood lathe. I'm looking at upgrading now. $400 on the wood lathe. $200 on chuck and jaws. $100 on turning tools. $150 on live centers and drill chucks that will be worthless on the new metal lathe. $850 wrapped up in a entry level 10 X24 wood lathe. Part of t his is my own fault not doing the research on what is truly needed, but you can buy a nice older Atlas or similar metal lathe for the same price.

I have a mini metal lathe I got for $600 new and I bought a $20 chuck for the tail stock and it's working fine for me. Since I do stummels on the wood lathe, I haven't felt the need to buy a bigger metal lathe yet. Plus, when you have two machines, you can still work on a stummel while you have some epoxy drying on stem parts on the metal lathe.

And not everyone has as much precision in their toenails as Sas...

The experience factor is something I tend to overlook. I forget not everyone has a million hours with certain tools in their hands.

Sasquatch wrote:The experience factor is something I tend to overlook. I forget not everyone has a million hours with certain tools in their hands.

Indeed. Most humans think you dudes don't even use tools. Ha!

http://www.bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp ... endly=True

I was going to say the same thing. You work with power tools for a living and I'm sure you could whip a nice tenon up fairly quickly. My twin brother was over today for easter. It would be amusing to send him to the shop with zero lathe experience and say "use whatever you find in the shop and make me a tenon for this pipe". Lol

Moral of the story: take the free tool, but your life will be better with the addition of a metal lathe.

Take the free tool and say thank you, even if you don't use it for turning bowls and stems it could still make a great buffing set up.

It is all about learning curve. You can do it on a wood lathe, but you have to be willing to put in the time and effort to get to the point where you have the skills to do so. A metal lathe shortens that curve, but it also can kill some skill development in other areas. It is sort of like the wood turners who buy an easy rougher gouge and never learn how to use a real one. There are pros and cons for both paths.

I can (and do) turn stems on my wood lathe. But, a small metal lathe is in the works for doing that simply because it will make life a little more relaxing in the stem department. I do not have the desire or the room for a monstrosity of a metal lathe in my already cramped shop.

Thanks for all of your replies. I'm also new to this post and i was surprised by all the responses I got. I know you guys are gonna be extremely helpful with the many issues I'm sure that I will face in the future. Thanks again.

I make all my stems on a wood lathe. I think down the road I would love to have a small metal lathe for stems only but right now it works just fine. I have to be careful and very precise but I've done just fine. It is definitely more dependent on the users hands but I kind of like that connection to the medium.


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Solomon_pipes wrote:I was going to say the same thing. You work with power tools for a living and I'm sure you could whip a nice tenon up fairly quickly. My twin brother was over today for easter. It would be amusing to send him to the shop with zero lathe experience and say "use whatever you find in the shop and make me a tenon for this pipe". Lol

Good point Solomon_pipes, I know a lot of guys/people if you handed them a finished stem and said "I want you to remake the pokey outey part, here is some rod" would not have a clue what tools to even touch. But, I have a precious few friends, that
With no pipe experience or interest, could make a half donkied attempt with out losing any digits.


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Use your wood lathe and find out what works.I turn tenons all the time on one, and finally found some easy ways to do it. If you are going to make pipes and want a metal lathe get it and learn all its' ins and outs. Either way start making pipes.Thats the key, just do it. Both lathes offer advantages in pipe making. Lucky is the man with both. I refer to two wise men. One said basically to get a chuck and a few tools and the rest will sort itself out, the other said I use both. Either way you win.

e Markle wrote:Moral of the story: take the free tool, but your life will be better with the addition of a metal lathe.

I concur with the Most Honorable Mr. Markle.