Coachman Final

Many days have passed.  I had finally found and received 1/2" square aluminum tubing for the stem ring I had set out to make.  With a majority of the shaping done, I focused on the stem.  Got the basic shape done and cut the 'V' slot before attempting the ring.  After I was somewhat happy with that result, I made another template of the bottom of the bowl to mirror on the ring. After marking a datum line on the aluminum tube, I transfered the shape from the template and thinned the wall thickness as it was a bit bulky at .060". Finishing the work to the wall of the tube, I retrieved my Dremel and chucked up the slot cutter bit and roughed in the shape on the tubing. I finished the shaping with various needle files and finer grit sand paper.  With the ring near completion, I marked out the stem in a similar fashion and roughed it in with the Dremel.  This too I finished with needle files, an X-Acto knife (with a No. 11 blade of course!), and fine grit paper. Fitting and checking.  More fitting and, more checking. The process was a bit trying, but well worth the result.

With shaping of both parts complete, I glued the ring to the stem with CA glue and let it cure.  A little tweaking was required, but I got the ring secured and matched the shape to the stem.  But something was still not right. The whole thing was still clunky and awkward.  So, I grabbed a round chainsaw file and began to reshape the bottom of the stem to match the arc in a more fitting manner.  This changed the symmetry of the ring somewhat, but I believe the asymmetry is worth it!

I applied the base coat of ebony stain to the pipe and let it set to dry.  I wanted to go with another finish option, but could not get the result I wanted, no matter what avenues I ventured. I will figure it out one day, but for now, I stuck with a fairly classic 'contrast stain' color combination.  The stain dries quickly so I was buffing off the base coat in no time. With this method of staining, the dark base coat is almost completely removed, just leaving part of the grain a crisp dark ebony. Post buffing, I applied a special mixture I had made just for the pipe, mostly an orange hue. Two applications and it's ready for buffing.  A light touch with the white compound and a healthy covering of carnauba wax and look at it shine! I did the same buffing procedure to the stem after I was happy with the overall shape, slot and button.  

I quickly sent a message to the buyer so he could view his soon-to-be-owned pipe! He admired it, and thought a bit and told me something was missing.  He thought a bit more and suggested he would like another inlay of some sort on the stem. I told him I would think about it and get back to him with a handful of ideas. I tossed around  insert ideas in my head and came up with one in particular I really liked. Sent the buyer a message posthaste and explained my idea.  He didn't quite understand what I meant so I took a picture and mocked up my idea in a photo editor. 'I like those!' he said emphatically.  So I drilled the stem, cut pieces of aluminum tubing and glued them into their perspective holes.

My idea behind the pipe was to make a 'dress' pipe with classy elements that add sophistication. The ring on the front of the stem I made to mimic 'lapels' and the circle inlays on top, 'buttons'. I think in some ways it resembles a tuxedo.

Until the next pipe, happy piping!  Thanks for visiting!

Coachman III

I have been able to get a small amount of work done to Coachman so far this week.  Finished the external chamfer at the top of the bowl.  After a bit of consideration, I decided to also bevel the rim of the chamber/bowl.  I am done with the stummel shaping except a small amount to be done on the shank when I get the material I ordered for the stem ring I am doing.  Once it is in place, I will finalize the shank/stem 'square' and will finish the stem.  I have rough shaped the stem and am now just waiting for supplies.  Hope to have them Thursday.





I will be helping Wayne with his shop setup Friday.  He got some new tooling and needs a helping hand.  Then we and another friend are heading to the TSPTC Pipe Show in Fort Wayne on Saturday.  Promises to be a good time!


Until next time, happy piping!!

Coachman II

Whew!  Been a busy time since the last post.  Between my job, pipe repairs, restorations and my ebay pipes, I haven't had a lot of time to work on my own pipe fabrication!  But I did get a little shaping accomplished, roughing the briar closer to the pipe I have in my mind.

One feeling of relief I have with Coachman is the briar has cooperated far better than the briar used to make Houten.  No giant flaws or voids in this block, just a couple small sand pits and the like.  With a cooperative piece of briar, I have been able to keep fairly close to the shape I originally designed.  I have tweaked it as I work, but in large, it remains true to the original sketch.

With this shape, I intended on improving my bowl/shank transition and have been somewhat successful.  The square shank design of it made this aspect a little more interesting and more challenging.  Wayne has been complimentary of my transition and keeping the shank edges square.  But I reminded him, I am only part-way through the finishing steps on the stummel/shank and I have plenty of time to mess it up!  I also intend on 'slimming up' my pipes.  Making them look somewhat more sleek and balanced.  So far so good however, everything remains on course.

I have done a little more work beyond these photos, but not enough to warrant another set of pictures.  I am still deciding what finish I will apply to it.  I may try a dress black style or a brown contrast finish.  I am also working out in my mind how to accomplish the band/insert I hope to meld into the stem.

More to follow!  Until then happy piping!

Coachman

I have begun working on my second pipe, a bent acorn.  Got a promising piece of briar from which to shape its form!!  I am 2 days into it now and so far so good!  The block showed approximately 75% straight grain in its raw form.  It has kept fairly true as I have made dust out of it.
Had Friday off, so traveled out to Wayne's shop at about 9 in the morning.  Shot the breeze a bit when I got there, talked about restorations I was doing, stems I was making/refitting, and looked at new pipe projects.  I had been discussing this particular pipe with Wayne for a few weeks now and dove right in!  Made my template and transfered the shape to the untouched briar block, making a couple corrections to my original design.  Drilled the draught hole, and I was committed now!  Faced and drilled the mortise to accept the stem, yet to be made.

                          

Next step was to drill the tobacco chamber, and for this shape a conical bit must be used.  I had previously purchased 2 spade bits and ambitiously ground them to a conical shape and checked their hole-making ability on a good 'ol 2X4.  Worked like a champ on the soft 2X4, but as I began to drill the briar, it wasn't looking as nice.  I could see on the bit where it was cutting and where it wasn't.  So, over to the disc/belt sander to 'touch-up' my 'Nate-Made' bit.  Just a little touch here, and one there.  Back in the drill press, and fired it up.  Worked perfectly!  Made a really nice, smooth chamber!  Only thing left is to get the depth of the chamber right.  I grabbed the air nozzle and applied pressure to the mortise/draught hole, a tip made known to me by Wayne.  This is done so you don't 'over-drill' the chamber too deep and is a big help!  Air pressure applied, I removed more briar and as I was pulling out the bit to remove a bunch of briar shavings, I heard a horrible sound...the sound of the bit tearing the wood away from the top of the chamber!  Turns out I don't know my own strength.  I had pushed hard enough on the block with the nozzle I had tipped it slightly in the vise.  Fortunately, the damage was small and will be easily fixed later.  I finished the chamber drilling, starting with a puff of dust, to the last pass perfectly lined up with the draught hole and at the proper depth.  I am pretty sure I did the happy dance after that process was complete!

Now to the lathe.  Cut off a chunk of ebonite rod and chucked it in the meaty jaws of the Rikon lathe.  Next I drilled the draught hole with a tapered bit and finished with a straight 1/16" bit.  Next in the process is cutting the tenon.  Wayne had recently purchased a high quality turning chisel for use with his Rikon and this process.  I messed around on with the procedure a bit, fiddling with spindle speeds.  I found the right speed where the chisel cut nicely and began.  Unfortunately, the razor sharp chisel cut too nicely and I turned the tenon on a taper and far too small.  Okay, start over.  This time with more caution. Tada!!  A nicely cut tenon.  And fortunately, Wayne was able to use the chunk I had ruined for my pipe.  He removed the junk tenon and made a new one, and voila, a stem for the rhodesian he was making!

So now, drilled stummel and fitted stem, next is rough shaping.  To the belt disc sander I traveled.  First section to be removed was the forward of the bowl.  Then I roughed in the shank.  Bowl sides up next and some fine tuning (if you can call it that) of the rough shape.  Done with that, I needed to shorten the tenon as I had made it slightly on the long side, so I buzzed a little off.  Still too long, buzzed a little more.  I'm not sure when I realized the tenon was getting pretty short compared to its origin, but I soon realized I had 'buzzed' too much off.  Arrggghhh!!!  Well, I will just shorten the shank a bit, easy enough right?  In theory on paper it's easy, but in practice it takes forever and if you want a nice stem/shank fit, it can be painful to accomplish.  But I persevered and re-attained a nice stem/shank fit with the proper mortise/tenon fit internally.  One for the books and never to do again! I was done for the night.
On Saturday I went back in the afternoon.  More conversations, discussions of pipes and the like and nearly every other subject in between.  More shaping to Coachman and more work on the replacement stem I was making.  I think I left around 9:30PM and I am sure Wayne was happy to get rid of me!  I can't wait to get back and work on more epic pipes! Until then, happy piping!

Houten - The Finale!

After base ebony stain, ready for final stain and finishing

Worked this week to complete Houten and finished on Saturday evening.  I will most likely give it a proper buff at Wayne's but for now I am happy enough with the results to post pictures.

With the stem complete, the last step was finishing the stummel.  I had the base ebony coat on for the contrast look I was trying to achieve.  After polishing and prepping for the actual contrast color, I mixed the red stain solution and donned my rubber gloves.  Wet the rag with the red stain and went to town on the stummel!  After it dried, another buff and then check the finish color.  Far too light, almost pink.  Bummer. Re-mix the solution with a touch more red, some orange and a bit of silver/grey.  Re-applied and the color started to come into hue.  Dried, buffed, re-applied.  I think I did this 4 or 5 times before the color was as I liked it.  But wait, what's this?!  I had a dent on the left side of the bowl I hadn't seen!  Ah, the aggravation!  I tried the 'steam' method to remove it, but that helped very little.  Grrr....  All that and I now have to sand the finish around the dent.  Oh well.  Sanded, reapplied the ebony and red stains and matched it up to the rest of the finish.  No harm, no foul.

Now for the final polish before applying wax.  I guess I should back up a bit.  I recently went to Harbor Freight and snagged a 'polishing kit' with two 3" buffing wheels that fit into a drill.  I used one to buff with the 'red tripoli' polish to prepare for stain and one to try out for applying carnauba wax on some other restoration pipes I am doing to check its usefulness.  I was very satisfied with the results for both wheels, but now had a problem.  I need a third wheel for applying 'white diamond' polish as a final polish before going for the wax.  So, I stopped my work for a while and took a trip to Menards.  Had a hard time finding any polishing wheels, but finally found an employee to direct me, to the hardware section.  Three aisles in, voila!  A flannel polishing wheel.  This one needed a separate arbor, and I was on my way.

Back home, I had promised to help a new neighbor move in after I returned.  That didn't take too long and I was back to pipe work.  Chucked up the new white diamond wheel, buffed, and how did the pipe shine!  Thrilled about the shine I went headlong into applying the wax.  Starting with my Dremel and a felt wheel I applied the wax, almost smearing it on.  Moved in sections around the pipe, applying and smoothing.  After the whole stummel was waxed, I took the wax buffing wheel I mentioned previously and 'dry buffed' for the final gloss.  And wow did it gloss!

I removed the little bit of stain inside the smoking chamber and final sanded it and wiped the whole pipe with a buffing cloth.  Now to the pictures!  These are quick snapshots I took to post on CPS and here, I will be taking better shots for my website after the final buff on Wayne's lathe.

I am very pleased with the color and contrast, I was trying to match the combination of black and red in the cumberland stem, and I think I got it!  The flame grain is warm and flows over the pipe nicely.  The birds-eye grain on the bottom of the bowl and shank is fantastic!  Two pipes in and I'm hooked!

Until the next pipe making experience, happy piping! 

Houten Part VI

Work on the pipe has slowed a bit.  Worked on the stem intermittently for a few days.  But, working on repairs, refurbishing and my own ebay has slowed progress.  Plus getting shop time with Pipin Teipen can be tricky.  Oh yeah, and there was a pipe show in Columbus on about the only day I could get shop time.  Oh well, the show was worth it!  Got to ride over with Wayne, which was a cool road-trip!  Got a couple pipes for ebay at the show and he got a great Peterson and we both got some pipemaking supplies.  Then in searching for a local pipe shop we stumbled upon a WoodCraft store.  For us, this was dangerous.  Let's just say we both got a few more pipe making supplies there.  Yeah, let's just say that...

Work on the stem proved to be quite taxing.  I did, however, learn what not to do.  First, do not fully shape the stem and then think you can easily install an insert.  Not going to happen!  Second, the slot and airway forming on a stem is far more difficult than it would seem.  I started with the standard, comes in every Dremel kit, round slot cutter.  Cut like a dream.  So far, a good looking slot.  Next up, the diamond burrs.  Started working with those, taking bit by bit to shape and before you know it, I had one huge slot, or so I thought.  The way it looked, I figured I had overdone it and ruined my nice stem.  I finished it off with a set of needle files, getting the corners as crisp as I could.  After this, I was done for the evening.  I would tackle it later.

It had turned into 'later' and I was feeling good about finishing the stem!  Fiddled with the slot a little more and left it until Wayne could check it out.  Moving on to the insert I mentioned before.  The one that should have been done about three steps ago.  Yeah.  Oh well, headlong I went.  Marked out the boundary lines for the piece to insert and took it over to the Dremel.  I tried to scribe the lines I needed, but that proved disastrous.  One slip and you have a large gash on your stem.  So I put a thin diamond burr on the MotoTool and began the cuts.  Unfortunately this did almost nothing except heat the stem.  So I changed out the burr for a thin cutting wheel.  Now that worked quite well!  A little too well.  The cuts were pretty wide, but I was committed.  With the pattern rough cut, I defined it with an X-Acto knife and no. 11 blade.  Again, any slip and a nice slice through the stem.

All trimming done, I secured the insert with CA glue.  After it cured I filed the excess down.  Having over-sized cuts, I filled them with CA as well and filed just above flush.  The shape was close and all it needed was fine tuning, so I turned to 400 grit paper.  Using it I got the shape I desired and switched to wet 1200 grit followed by wet 3000.   All scratches removed by the 3000, I polished the stem to a nice shine, then waxed.  The finished stem looks pretty nice and I am pleased.  Although I will not make one the same way again!!

Until next time, happy piping!!

Houten Part V

Work on the pipe has slowed a bit.  More pipe restoration projects and my ebay have taken the front seat until recently.  I was able to get a bit more accomplished toward the end of the week.  Final stummel shaping and surface prep were up next.  That and some work to the stem.

I was able to get the rim thickness to a point where I was happy and the same for the bottom chamfer on the bowl.  These two elements were fairly tricky and I just wasn't happy with them.  But with a little patience and dedication I was able to get the result I was seeking.

I then turned my attention to the stem, still a fairly hefty block of ebonite.  I took my new belt/disc sander out to my patio, as I didn't want to fill my house with stem dust.  I flipped the switch, gave a manly Tool-Time grunt, and roughed in the basic stem shape.  After cleaning off the sander, returned inside and did some further shaping, getting my desired military bit/fantail form.  I am going to mimic the shape of the shank/extension in the shape of the stem.  I am still trying to figure out what insert I will incorporate in the stem.  I have a couple ideas, but am still undecided.


I just now completed the ebony stain on the stummel.  This is the first step of the 'contrast' approach of finish for the pipe.  I have applied the dark stain and will allow it to penetrate, then buff off the residue and unwanted portion.  After that I will apply a red stain to the remaining lighter areas of the stummel and in doing so, create a nice contrast.  This look will mirror the modeled appearance of the cumberland stem, tying the whole pipe as a congruent unit.  I am very happy with the nice grain throughout the pipe; from the flame on the sides to the beautiful birdseye on the bottom.  It will look great when the pipe is complete!

I can't wait to get out to Wayne's again to buff and finish the stummel and apply the last coat of carnauba!!  But for now, I will continue work on the stem.

Wayne and I will be heading to Columbus, OH next Saturday to the NASPC Pipe Show.  I can't wait!  After heading to the Chicago show in May, I am really looking forward to it.  

Until next time, happy piping!!

Houten Part IV

I am a stubborn man.  I often do things the hard way, and making this pipe, I stand firm to my obstinate ways.  If you remember, this particular block of briar has two large flaws in it.  As I wrote previously, I was just going to blast/rusticate it and move on.  Done deal.  Not a chance!  I decided to sand through the defects and forge ahead!  It brought a change to my pipe shape and size, but I think it will still be a fantastic pipe.  I think the new shape is a brandeggcano.  However it is classified, I like it!

Working on it throughout the week, I came to a stopping point after sanding through the defects. After removing the flaws I equalied the shape, making it symmetrical.  Well, mostly. The back of the bowl had been flattened a great deal, removing much of the 'brandy' curve I had on it.  The front retained its curvier countenance however.  I did get rid of the flaws too!


Today I spent a portion of the day with Wayne in his shop, finalizing the stummel shape.  The shank had been paid no real attention until today.  Chainsaw and needle files, sand paper rolled up and flat sheet and a pencil to mark the shape.  I took the radius of the shank to bowl transition down to a compact arc.  I know this is one of the defining points making a hand made pipe excellent or just average.  I also know Wayne is a stickler about it and that's why his pipes are some of the best I have seen.  I got the thumbs up from him as he took a break from one of his new creations to inspected my work.

We had a smoke together, discussing one of his latest challenges, building a stem system to fit a single German style stummel.  He will be using a nice piece of cherry wood he obtained from his own front yard.  It will look fantastic when it is completed!  He had some McClellands 2008 Christmas Cheer in a Mastro De Paja on which he had done a stem repair.  I smoked some McClellands No. 25 Virginia a friend sent me in my recently obtained Mario Grandi poker.  I am smoking the same as I write this.  I have learned the pipe is fairly tough on the 'ol jaw!  I think it will be more of a 'holding' pipe.  It smokes quite well and I am pretty happy with it.

Until the next post, happy piping!