So lately ive been doing a fair bit of wood turning on my lathe(mainly bowls, boxes and goblets) I have wanted to make a bong for a while ive just been thinking of the best ways to go about, i finally decided how i wanted to do it and here is the first 2 bongs i made. Feedback and questions are greatly appreciated, i may do a time lapse vid of the process if there is enough intrest.
Those look good What did you use to coat the inside with? Some woods are toxic, well all wooddust is a carcinogen if inhaled. Are you going to try and make one with a taper joint for a glass stem? Like turn a joint piece with the proper taper and just glue it to the bong. Also this isn't helping my urge to buy a lathe...
Hi thanks for the questions, theese were the first ones so i have a couple of improvements to make if i make anymore. The inside has a coat of epoxy on it, yes it may not be non toxic but it seals the wood up extremely well and ive found it doesnt have any odour or taste once its cured. Majority of the wood is fruit trees and non toxic native trees to new zealand but i dont think you would have any issues with toxic wood as you arent drinking the water or chewing on rim for it to be a problem. One of my friends has started glass blowing so ive been trying to get some handmade glass stems off her the metal ones are just what i had around but a glass drop piece is ideal. These arent the most practical piece to use everyday but is a nice change once and a while, its mainly art that has a purpose to it. I highly recomend getting a lathe and having a turn, extremly satisfying making something from firewood here is a couple of pipes for more incentive for you
Looks nice. You sure that no mold will form on the inside from the water right? I used to have an untreaded bamboo bong. Mold got on the inside from the water and I had to trash it.
Using epoxy to seal the wood ensures water wont be absorbed, i make sure its dry and has no moisture already in there before sealing. This wont get rid of the issue 100% but definately prolongs the life of the bong, ive had myn 6 months use it everyday and leave water in it with no problems so far
I'm familiar with the food-safe epoxy, I use it to coat the in- and outside of the mitersaw mugs I've made. Once that stuff is cured it's pretty much as safe as it gets imho. I just wondered about the toxic wood, because for me nordic pine is the most readily available wood. But the resin in the wood is toxic. Hence I always work under the assumption that wood, it's resin, or dust, is toxic.
Post a picture i love seeing what others create, yea from all the research i did epoxy is the best and once cured is harmless. What part of the world are you in, i avoid pine as much as possible the results from hardwoods just isnt comparable plus pine(atleast the breed we get here radiata pine) is terrible to turn on a lathe
I'm in The Netherlands. About 150km from the old Zeeland that makes yours New A lot of hardwoods aren't easy to come by for me. Things like oak and birch are reasonably available, poplar to a lesser degree. But for fruittree woods or other hardwoods it's directly a specialist thing here, which makes it really expensive or even borderline impossible to buy because a lot of lumberyards here do not sell to non-corporate customers. So 6 pine 33x69x2100mm boards are under a tenner. Meanwhile a 33x69x2100mm board of oak or birch is 25+ euro a piece. The markup is insane. Things like meranti, walnut or other dark hardwoods, are way beyond my budget. Hence pine is a lot of what I work with, unless I can get my hands on hardwood furniture that people want to get rid of, or pallets made of poplar. And even then it's a guess because a lot of "hardwood" furniture is pine soaked in stain to make it look like it's walnut.
Haha the new is definatly better than old, i only found out the origin of the zeeland name a few months ago and its surprising to see someone who knows. If i could send wood for you to use i wood , the pricing between hardwoods and pine is similar here usually 2-3 times more expensive but im lucky enough to be able to find peoples 'firewood' they cut down or because of the earthquake a few years ago alot of old buildings are still getting torn down and are excellent sources of free hardwoods(the nails suck though). I have often thought about old furniture but i cant bring myself to destroy a nice piece just for the sake of it, we work with what we got and make the most of it atleast with pine mistakes arent too costly. I had a finished cycamore bowl 300x100 split in half at 1500rpm and smacked me in the chest, left a nasty bruise and hurt like a bitch