Hey GC, I recently started making a pipe out of wood but had to stop. I'll start working on it again in a few weeks but I wanted to know what people thought and if they had any opinions of what I could/ should do in making it. I'll post updates when I end up finishing it 😋
I hope you drilled the stem already. Much easier to drill then turn. Hope you used a heat resistant wood too! I prefer bocote when making pipes. Lookin good though! Finish the outside with mineral oil first then some bees wax or carnauba wax. A screen is excellent in any wood pipe to help cut down on charring in the stem. turned this one last week, bocote with carnauba finish
Damn. That pipe is super sweet looking and yeah I drilled the stem. Thanks for the tips too, I wasn't going to use mineral oil or wax on it but I will now. Also I used white oak cause that's all I had around the house. Will that be fine?
my friend and i made wood pipes with a drill when i was 15. it was like 2am and my dad came out and was like wtf are you drilling and we were like oh we are making flutes and hes like ok and went back to sleep
I think oak would be fine for a once in a while piece, I wouldn't use it daily. It'll probably give off a really woody taste, but as far as I know it's pretty dense and heat resistant. Cherry is a much better option, or any fruit wood for that matter, apricot, apple, etc.
Finished the pipe today. Took forever to find any beeswax. I went everywhere in this little town and finally looked up online where to buy some and it turns out that thread conditioner for sewing is beeswax which I already have... Anyways I'm pretty happy how it turned out for my first one. First I turned the stem and mouthpiece down because I decided I wanted it a little smaller. Then I turned the piece around to round off the end of the bowl where I cut it off and then I matched the narrowed stem. When I was trying to round the bowl I accidentally went the exact opposite way I was trying to go. Luckily I stopped myself fast enough to only cause a minuscule amount of damage that I fixed with a file and sandpaper. I also put the pipe in the chuck sideways to drill the bowl (forgot to take a picture). That marked the sides of the bowl a little bit but hey it gave it more character ðŸ˜. After drilling the bowl I ground the edge of the bowl and the bottom of the pipe flat on the side of a cutting wheel. The pipe was a little charred from grinding it so I sanded the pipe down one more time then rubbed the pipe in mineral oil, let that soak in, then I rubbed the pipe with beeswax and coated the inside of the bowl with honey so the wood doesn't burn.
Here's what I made you. It's a joint holder. My dad is thinking about making you a one hitter or something that might fit in it. But it was super fun working with this wood.