A new reamer

[Wet Dottle]

...well, new to me. Some time ago I came across this:

http://www.finepipes.com/view_item.php?pipeID=1548&refer=/accessories_center.php?

It is a clam knife that was transformed into a reamer. It seemed an interesting idea so I got one. I actually got mine from the local Williams Sonoma (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/cu077/index.cfm?pkey=ccutchs&ckey=cutchs).

For 8 bucks you get a solidly built knife that was designed for kicking around. The finish is unrefined, but you really can't complain for such a cheap artifact. Taking the example from the folks at Fine Pipes, I tried to polish the handle in my modest home buffer, but there was no improvement--I should just have left it alone, I don't know anything about knives. After living with it for a couple of months, here is my commentary.

The good: the blade is long and works easily in all my pipes and the handle is large and confortable, better than any other reamer that I've used. The tip is rounded to prevent damage to the bottom of the bowl (well, not by design, it's a clam knife, but you know what I mean...) and can be equally used in conical and in straight bowls. This tool has potential...

The bad: The blade is too wide and too sharp. It's easy to damage the pipe, specially in smaller bowls. It's width is unwieldy and does not leave much room to jiggle the thing around the bowl. I dulled the blade with sand paper and that made things a little better, but I end up reaming mostly with the back of the blade (the unsharp edge where the thumb usually goes). But the blade is still too wide. If I had any skills, I would grind it up by perhaps a third of its width. Then it would become a great reamer. That, plus the dulling of the sharp edge of the blade.

Bottom line: I still use it regularly, but only for evening out the cake as it builds. It's very good for that. But the PipNet is still the tool to use for serious industrial reaming.

Did anyone else use one of these knifes for reaming? Perhaps another model? I certainly would like suggestions to make it more usable. Maybe I need to look for a knifemaker to implement some changes...

 

[Wet Dottle]

By the way, I didn't know under which category to post this, so I did it here. I wish there was a section for pipe maintenace...

 

[Natch]

Do you know the diameters (in mm) of the four reamer tips? I've got a Senior pipe reamer and it doesn't ream past about 20 to 21 mm or so. I've got some larger bowls it doesn't work well with. This puppy might be a better option?

Natch

 

[regor]

The senoir reamer does adjust to fit almost any size bowl that I've seen. Its the thing on the end that turn and watch the blade like metal edges move. It does take time and parience to use correctly but they are good. Even tho I still want the other kind as well. I don't need it, I ust want it LOL :cyclops: :sunny:

 

[Wet Dottle]

Do you know the diameters (in mm) of the four reamer tips?

Natch, the old PipNet's reamers were approximately 17.0, 18.7, 21.0, and 23.0 mm (measured near the largest width, near the top of the bits). The new version is from Castleford and has bits with 16.6, 18.8, 20.8, and 22.4 mm. Unfortunately, the narrower bits are not long enough for some of my pipes and the handle scratches the bowl. I had to modify it to fix this problem.

 

[Mr_Houston]

I borrowed a reamer from my local shop that worked well. Picture that same knife with 2 intersecting blades, or think of it as a 4 edged knife. If you were looking down at the point it would look like an X. Then think of the edge of each blade like the back of the knife shown above - So not sharpened, but flat. So instead of cutting, you are scraping as you rotate it. I would buy one if I could find it.