pipemakersforum.com

So I've been doing pipe restoration for a bit, and as many of you know, the google can lead one down a very dangerous tunnel of knowledge.

I'm going to try my hand at making pipes. I know that a metal lathe is the best tool (and those PM 1236's sure do look nice) and I'm not against investing in tools for a hobby, lord knows my wife has rolled her eyes plenty of times arriving home from work to see me unboxing some gargantuan piece of equipment, however for the first bit I think it would be in my best interests to keep things low profile.

I know I'll need some rasps and files, my question is what are some quality brands to look into? And those of you who do work with lathes, do you still use your rasps and hand files?

Oh and P.S. Whats a good Bedazzling machine? I see you guys like pipes with fake rubies and emeralds on them. Where do you source your bedazzle jewels? Craft Store? Little girls section of Toys 'R Us? Is it creepy being a grown man in that section without a daughter? Just curious.

Steve

Steve, if you aren't busy tonight there is a GKCPC meeting at Cigars & Tabac at 8pm. Most people start showing up around 7. Come on down if you can. We'll talk pipes and tools for a bit.

Nicholson makes decent quality files/rasps for shaping. I use a pretty aggressive round rasp a lot, a half round rasp a lot, and a safe-edge flat rasp and file for stems a lot. There's about 1/2 a dozen files I use pretty often for most of my pipes. Some more specialized than others - I have an edge-cut ONLY Iwazaki plane-making file that is real nice for button work, for example.

scotties22 wrote:Steve, if you aren't busy tonight there is a GKCPC meeting at Cigars & Tabac at 8pm. Most people start showing up around 7. Come on down if you can. We'll talk pipes and tools for a bit.

DOH! I forgot to check the forum again yesterday. I could have made it. Damner man. When is the next one?

3rd Thursday of every month.

What part of town do you live in?

scotties22 wrote:3rd Thursday of every month.

What part of town do you live in?

I'm over in Waldo, you?

North...not too far from Parkville.

scotties22 wrote:North...not too far from Parkville.

Very cool. I actually did the stucco on alot of the houses in The Nationals development, as well as the stone work at Tuileries Plaza.

If you're interested in top-of-the-line rasps, you can't do much better than Liogier or Auriou rasps, both of which are handmade in France. Of course, the quality comes with a high price tag ($80 for a half-round model-maker's rasp, anybody?), so if you're interested in something that's more affordable, try these:

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... at=1,42524
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I have the 10" and 6" half-round rasps, and they are great. They cut pretty quickly, but they leave a much smoother surface than your standard Nicholson because the teeth are punched in a semi-random pattern by hand rather than in precise rows by a machine. I use both of mine on every pipe I make.

For files, I've been using new-old stock double-cut files, and they work very well. (A file card or something similar for cleaning them is indispensable.) When they finally wear out, I'll be replacing them with some Iwasaki files.

You can get a lot of mileage out of rasps and files if you occasionally have them sharpened. I've sent mine to Boggs: http://www.boggstool.com/ They do good work on these tools.

i only use Iwazaki but i make crappy pipes. i love the way they cut, and they cut fast. i bought a bunch from woodcraft when i was making more money at my old job.

It's strange that so many guys use rasps! The only rasps I use are 2 round ones, for saddles and sometimes the bowl/shank transition. I must add that they are really not aggressive cuts.
I found out the hard way, many years ago, that it is a pain in the butt to get those rasp marks sanded out.