Pipe making... first attempt...

Came home to some mail I've been waiting nearly a month for

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Decided I wanted to give pipe making a try so I ordered some briar blocks and decided to give it a go tonight.

Screwed up early on by having my air hole too high on the chamber, oh well first try, bound to make some mistakes. Was nearly perfectly centered though so I just need to watch my depth a little better when drilling the chamber.

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Marked out the outline I wanted to go with and turned what I could with the lathe, wish I'd of ordered a 3/4 inch chamber bit instead of the 7/8 as it's almost a bit large for the size blocks I ordered, They'll be a bit thin walled but I'll survive.

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After the lathe I trimmed off a lot of the excess on the band saw

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A little bit of shaping on the sander and mounted the stem in to get it smoothed out. My 5/16 bit is slightly larger than the delrin rod so my stem is fitting a bit loose in the shank, did some reading and have heard clear nail polish will build it up enough to make it snug. Either way, next pipe will find a better fitting bit...

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Decided rusticating it would probably be my best bet for the first try, covers mistakes and slip ups better so I took out the rotary tool and got to work.

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Sanded up to 1200 grit. Still needs a little finish sanding in a few spots but coming along ok. Going to pickup some dye tomorrow and hit it with some black for inside the rustication and some light brown for the rest, should look good when done.

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Then I notice the little dark spot on the bowl near the stem seems a little open. Palm over the bowl and blow into the stem and I have air coming out of the crack in the bowl. Guess my first try might not be functional, but it was a good learning process and hopefully the rest of the blocks are free of this defect.

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Very well done! I have used only files and sandpaper for the majority of my pipe work, so I would have wept to find that flaw that you caught. In all actuality, I would have most likely learned how to do a fill and ran with it. Keep us posted with the rest! I have one that has been sitting and waiting for finishing - need to get on it.

Looking good!

Looks pretty good for your first try, well done.

That's incredibly cool, thanks for sharing. I hope you keep posting them up as you go - this looks great for a first try so I'm really interested to see how your skills progress.

Great first attempt! Thanks for sharing.
I look forward to seeing how things progress with this one and the rest of them!

I'm going to do some searching and try to find a way to fill it. Either way I'll finish it off, Hopefully I can at least try a bowl or 2 in it. I'll keep the thread updated.

Looks pretty good for a first attempt if you ask me.

As far as filling the hole, I'd just mix a paste out of some of your briar sanding dust and waterproof Titebond wood glue, then pack it in the hole. Since you're rusticating and staining dark I don't think you'd even notice it. You'll probably have to take an Exacto knife or something to V out the flaw back to solid wood and to make room for the paste. I'm sure this isn't the 'Official' method but it's what I'd do :p

You're becoming quite the craftsman Blake! Great first attempt. Can't wait to see more.

Good work, Blake!

Thanks all!

Well a little wood glue and some dust and I managed to plug the hole up pretty good. Asked the wife to grab some black and light brown leather dye today in the city but all they had was dark brown so figured I'd just try that out to see how it comes out.

Couple coats of dye applied

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Some 1200 grit sanding to lighten up the high points

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Then a couple minutes with both tripoli buffing wax and carnauba wax.

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Things I learned, Watch the depth of the chamber when meeting the air hole, chamber bit needs to be a fair bit smaller for the blocks I have in order to have thicker walls, and don't use the belt sander to shape the stem. The coarse grit on my sander made some nasty marks that are there for good on the stem. Over all I'm happy with the turn out. Helps keep the interest and definitely make me look forward to trying again.

Now to load up some PA or CH and give it a go

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bluenoser

Came home to some mail I've been waiting nearly a month for

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A month wait? Where did you order from?

ordered on Ebay from somewhere in Greece