Making a Pipe

[Jack Straw]

Well today I got started today on making my first pipe. The briar block is from ebay, and I got some preformed saddle bits from J.H. Lowe, along with a spade shaped drill bit to do the bowl.

It did not go 100% as planned, but I didn't completely ruin it, so I'm chalking it up as a success.

I did the drilling today which was a bit dicey as I only have a hand drill. Briar is really hard stuff! I really had to put my weight into it to get anywhere, and I had to stop periodically when the briar started smoking from the heat every 10 seconds.

It was a lot of guesswork and eyeballing, but I only made one mistake. Well, two. The first was that I drilled too close to the edge of the briar, so I'm gonna have one slender pipe. This happened because the spade bit "walked" towards the edge of the briar when I started and I only corrected for it but so much. I had read that pilot holes were hit or miss when using these spade bits on briar (meaning they don't really guide the bit at all), but in the future I will get the hole started just a little bit with a regular bit and follow with the spade.

Second mistake was that I tried to round out the edges of the draft hole inside the bowl with a drill bit, and took a little chunk out of the briar. I don't think this will cause a burnout, if it was higher up I'd be worried.

Monday I am going to get started in cutting off chunks and start shaping.

Anyone have any comments on the shape/proportions?

 

[Frost]

I'm curious as to how you went about your drilling with just a hand drill?

I have been considering giving it a shot, just for fun. I kinda figured I would have to get a press, so I am curious as to what you rigged up.

 

[Jack Straw]

Well, what I did was draw a lot of lines on the briar, and try to line up the drill bit with one eye closed. Started slowly, stopping every so often to check the angle by putting something straight in the hole, and correcting as needed. Keep in mind that when you start the hole, you have a little leeway because the first half inch or so is going to be drilled out wider for the mortise.

The key is to drill the draft hole before the bowl, and worry more about the 'x and y' axis than the z axis, when thinking of the draft hole as lying on the y axis. So double and triple check the angle respective to 'z' as you are beginning the hole, but keep your eye on the x/y while you are drilling to make sure that is dead straight. This way, if the hole ends up a little above or below where you intended the bottom of the bowl to be, it's not going to ruin anything because you can just drill it deeper/shallower when you do that part. The end of my hole wound up slightly to the side of where I intended, so I drilled the bowl keeping that in mind.

On the other hand, drill presses are cheap at harbor freight. :lol: If I wind up enjoying the rest of the process I plan on adding a new tool each couple of attempts in the future.

I say go for it, I'm guessing pipe makers 150 years ago didn't have electric lathes or drill presses! One thing that helped was to do a LOT of reading at pipemakersforum.com.

 

[Frost]

Nice. Thanks!

 

[Jack Straw]

Well, it's 90% done. Just have to finish sanding/shining the stem.

Went to my uncles to work on my car, and took advantage of his really nice woodworking vice. Started by cutting away the fat with a saw, then shaped it with a few files. The filing probably took a good hour or so. This was the result:

Then, I did the drilling and the sanding. Unfortunately, I caused a hairline crack in the shank, which was disappointing but what can you do.

So, came out pretty good. All in all I learned a few lessons in the shaping and drilling, hopefully next time will be a bit smoother. I am pretty damn pleased with the overall shape. The process of filing down the stummel was really fun.

After sanding, I applied some Dark Brown Fiebing's Leather Dye and popped the grain with some wet/dry paper.

Behold, epic birdseye:

It really is one beautiful piece of briar. I am happy with it. It's a short, light pipe, which is what I was after.

 

[gandalfpc]

Looks like a fine start - love that birdseye

Doesn't look like any risk of burnout to me by the way...

I have had good luck using a standard 1/2 inch spade bit before using the rounded version to finish the bowl - saves wear and tear on the rounded bit and makes for an easy bore - just keep the depth to about 2/3 the desired depth with the standard bit.

 

[mark]

Great birdseye,,,and a pipe to be very proud of,,,

 

[Justpipes]

Looks to me like you executed that billiard shape spot on! Very nice!

 

[Jack Straw]

Thanks guys and thanks for the tip Gandalf!

 

[Rad Davis]

For a first pipe, that is an amazingly well executed billiard!

Great work!

Rad