Finished the next few steps on my pipe. Stummel filed/shaped and sanded, stem filed/shaped and sanded. Now to staining and finish. The dang ebonite stem has some air bubbles in it. I will have to fill them with “Superglue” and polish them out.
I liked the looks of the polished off black contrast stain, so I just left it natural. I was thinking about over-staining with an orange, yellow, or green, but this look just does it for me. All that is left to make is the “Grand Slam” type device (which will be easily removable if desired), then laser engraving my makers marks. I wish the stem inlay of spalted hackberry would have stood out more....oh well.
@KA9FFJ Thank you, I will let you know how it smokes. I can’t wait to smoke this one, nice little stubby nose warmer, just my size. I guess that is a benefit of crafting your own pipe😬
Here is the “Grand Slam” type device for my pipe. The smoke has to travel into the “reverse calabash” chamber before it can get to the bit. There is NOT a straight path through the tube center. The smoke paths were drilled with a tapered point bit. There are (4) 1/16” holes on the bowl side and (2) 1/16” holes on the stem side. I put the “fins” on it because they look cool (and might help cool like a heatsink?). The theory is that the moisture will drop out in the cooling chamber and there should be no way for a gurgle to happen. Well, I guess if the chamber has enough moisture in it to be sucked up into the stem-side holes. That would be nasty😖. We will see. I can always just remove it if no benefit or a detriment is noticed.
Sitting around thinking....I have a lathe....I have some pieces of briar.....hmm🤔. I can make a briar insert for my new pipe and then it will function like a “normal” briar pipe. This little briar tube taper fits into the shank and stem mortises I made for the aluminum device. Now it can run with the aluminum “compartmenting device”, or the briar tube, or without either as a reverse calabash. I think I’m finished with it, next step, smoke it.
By the way, with the briar tube in place it smoothly passes a pipe cleaner stem to bowl, and since the ends are taper fit and the smoke hole in the tube is exactly the same diameter, the smoke can pass the joints with very little disturbance to airflow.
Comments
Like I said...prolific😀
😁.
Waiting for a follow up on how she smokes...
Thank you, I will let you know how it smokes. I can’t wait to smoke this one, nice little stubby nose warmer, just my size. I guess that is a benefit of crafting your own pipe😬
Nice. I especially like the last two, looking forward to the color.