Please help me with a wood working project

[datter]

Not long ago, I took several odds and ends and built myself this pipe of the smoking variety. I like the way it looks, but the fact that it's largely made out of metal makes it feel rather mechanical, despite the cloth tape I wrapped it in for a nicer texture. What I would like to do is craft something similar out of wood so basically, I want to make a Gandalf pipe. I believe a hard wood (cherry or briar) would do for the bowl and that is easy enough to sort out. What I am stumped with is how to make the stem.

Any suggestions as to how best to make a long, curved tube out of wood? Someone suggested drilling out a dowel, then steaming and bending it but that seems likely to fail. I thought about taking a stick of hard wood and gouging a trough into it, then attaching a flat piece over the trough to seal it up giving me a rectangular stem. The problem being fixing the two pieces together would require glue, and that plus heat likely isn't good as this needs to be a functional pipe.

My googling hasn't given any helpful answers so I am open to suggestions.

[Houngan]

Not long ago, I took several odds and ends and built myself this pipe of the smoking variety. I like the way it looks, but the fact that it's largely made out of metal makes it feel rather mechanical, despite the cloth tape I wrapped it in for a nicer texture. What I would like to do is craft something similar out of wood so basically, I want to make a Gandalf pipe. I believe a hard wood (cherry or briar) would do for the bowl and that is easy enough to sort out. What I am stumped with is how to make the stem.

Any suggestions as to how best to make a long, curved tube out of wood? Someone suggested drilling out a dowel, then steaming and bending it but that seems likely to fail. I thought about taking a stick of hard wood and gouging a trough into it, then attaching a flat piece over the trough to seal it up giving me a rectangular stem. The problem being fixing the two pieces together would require glue, and that plus heat likely isn't good as this needs to be a functional pipe.

My googling hasn't given any helpful answers so I am open to suggestions.

Three ways come to mind.

1. Core a dowel. Pretty labor and machine intensive. for something that thin you would want to core a larger dowel then chuck it into a lathe and turn it down. Then wet, heat, bend, and pray it doesn't split while drying.

2. Route it. Cut a dowel lengthwise and route a half-channel in each interior, then glue back together.

3. Buy it. Something like this: http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchan...de=833-000-000 and then you chuck it, sand it down, wet it, bend it, pray, stain it and you're done.


The methods you mention are about all that is going to get you there with wood. Have you considered switching to bamboo/reeds? Much easier to bend, already hollow, and you can stain them fairly well.

[CLWheeljack]

I can't really help, but it always blows my mind that you can wet and bend wood, ever since I saw somebody make chariot wheels out of wood on TV as a kid.

[datter]

Three ways come to mind.

1. Core a dowel. Pretty labor and machine intensive. for something that thin you would want to core a larger dowel then chuck it into a lathe and turn it down. Then wet, heat, bend, and pray it doesn't split while drying.

2. Route it. Cut a dowel lengthwise and route a half-channel in each interior, then glue back together.

3. Buy it. Something like this: http://www.crazycrow.com/mm5/merchan...de=833-000-000 and then you chuck it, sand it down, wet it, bend it, pray, stain it and you're done.


The methods you mention are about all that is going to get you there with wood. Have you considered switching to bamboo/reeds? Much easier to bend, already hollow, and you can stain them fairly well.

• Coring a dowel isn't something I'm set up for, and strikes me as something I would fuck up anyway.
• Routing it would work, but I am worried about the glue considering there will be at least a certain amount of heat applied through this thing.
• Buying it is right out, as I really want to have something I made completely myself.

I had not considered bamboo or reeds at all, and that is a pretty appealing idea. Craft shop for that sort of thing?

[mouselock]

• Coring a dowel isn't something I'm set up for, and strikes me as something I would fuck up anyway.
• Routing it would work, but I am worried about the glue considering there will be at least a certain amount of heat applied through this thing.
• Buying it is right out, as I really want to have something I made completely myself.

I had not considered bamboo or reeds at all, and that is a pretty appealing idea. Craft shop for that sort of thing?

There should be reasonably little heat away from the bowl, so I'd suggest what you want to do is make the bowl in one piece (and it's big enough to work with drills/rasps, etc..) and then make the stem in two pieces that attach to the bowl..

I believe if you really want to work it out there are probably "puzzle-box" ways to put it together as well where you get a good seal but don't have to use any glue. The tolerances would be pretty narrow toward the end (imagine fitting it, using 600 grit sandpaper a bit, fitting again, etc..) but if you're really about the craftmanship that might be the way to go. This probably isn't a quick project at that point, though. (You can probably find somewhere some long, then, flexible rasps as well that you could try to actually hollow out the interior.. I'm sure it's doable, but I'd be prepared to screw it up a few dozen times first.)

[Houngan]

• Coring a dowel isn't something I'm set up for, and strikes me as something I would fuck up anyway.
• Routing it would work, but I am worried about the glue considering there will be at least a certain amount of heat applied through this thing.
• Buying it is right out, as I really want to have something I made completely myself.

I had not considered bamboo or reeds at all, and that is a pretty appealing idea. Craft shop for that sort of thing?

Hmm, around here I would say "Drive out of town and look for a pond." but up there I don't know what grows. Were I you I would check with a garden store, somewhere that has a lot of large potted plants for greenhouses and indoors, they should have a bunch laying around. Get a recently-cut length (get several, for that matter) and run a coat hanger with a jagged tip (or a drillbit if you have one long enough) to break through the chamber walls, then bend it to the desired shape and set aside somewhere to dry. It shouldn't split but you might try doing a few different ones, one in the open, one in a dry towel, one in a damp towel, etc. just in case.

Once dry you just sand the ridges smooth and stain. Might look nice.

H.

[W Wiley]

How about making it out of two halves? Thats how they make blowguns. Use flat stock lay it out, rough cut it Make your stem channel, joint with a good glue from there it's all finish work. You can do it all with hand tools.

[Houngan]

How about making it out of two halves? Thats how the make blowguns. Use flat stock lay it out, rough cut it Make your stem channel joint with a good glue from there it's finsh work. You do it all with hand tools.

He's opposed to glue solutions.

H.

[Lunch of Kong]

So, you want to make a churchwarden stem...

i would instead ask on a pipe-making forum such as

http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum...hp?f=10&t=6317

[Houngan]

So, you want to make a churchwarden stem...

i would instead ask on a pipe-making forum such as

http://www.pipemakersforum.com/forum...hp?f=10&t=6317

You fool, what if he also needs sensitive medical advice while asking about pipes? Qt3 is the only source!

[Tman]

I don't know why you are assuming heat & glue, particularly heat from a pipe (which isn't that much) is a problem.

Wood glue creates such a strong bond that wood will almost always break in a non-glued location. It seems like you're worried about delaminating - but steam bending routinely uses glued up wood and steam is both hot & wet and doesn't present problems.

[datter]

Well, my main worry is smoking glue. I doubt it will get that hot past the bowl, but I somehow it strikes me as a risk not worth taking. Maybe I'm being over cautious? At this point I'm leaning towards bamboo for the shaft, but I haven't settled on anything.

Lunch of Kong> Yes, a churchwarden is exactly it. I'm new to this and don't even have a grasp on terminology yet. Will definitely check out that pipe forum so thanks for that.

[Jakub]

You want briar wood for the bowl. That's all I know, unfortunately.

[Houngan]

Well, my main worry is smoking glue. I doubt it will get that hot past the bowl, but I somehow it strikes me as a risk not worth taking. Maybe I'm being over cautious? At this point I'm leaning towards bamboo for the shaft, but I haven't settled on anything.

Lunch of Kong> Yes, a churchwarden is exactly it. I'm new to this and don't even have a grasp on terminology yet. Will definitely check out that pipe forum so thanks for that.

Depends on how you cut the bowl. With a longish tang the glue isn't going to be a player, that section of the pipe will never get hot enough to matter. Something else occurred to me, have you considered wrapping your steampunk pipe in laths? You'd have a woven look but it would be wooden.

H.

[datter]

Depends on how you cut the bowl. With a longish tang the glue isn't going to be a player, that section of the pipe will never get hot enough to matter. Something else occurred to me, have you considered wrapping your steampunk pipe in laths? You'd have a woven look but it would be wooden.

H.

I haven't given much thought to it once getting it to the point of being functional and not ugly. Not a bad idea though.

[prolix]

Well, my main worry is smoking glue.

[RichVR]

Just thought this would be appropriate here. Pretty cool.

[W Wiley]

Most wood glue is pretty nontoxic.