Pipes aren't just for plumbers

T

Travis Fry

Well-Known Member
My 90 year old grandfather has been smoking pipes since his kids were born. I myself am not much of a smoker, but do enjoy a cigar every once in a while. Anyway, recently I was over at another knife maker's house, and saw his pipe collection. He said he wished he had a lathe so that he could make pipes himself. I thought to myself, "I have a lathe, and can make pipes MYself." I already make pens and knives, and after some research realized that I didn't have to buy any other tools to make pipes. So, I made one (or 3):

pipe1.jpgpipe2.jpg

This one is from pecan. The stem is acrylic, and the band is pre-ban elephant ivory. I turned and drilled the stummel and stem on the lathe, shaped the rest with my Esteem grinder and files, and rusticated it with a tool I threw together out of scraps. I won't say it was easy, but it wasn't as hard as making knives. They're fun, pretty fast (this one took about 4-5 hours total), and you can smoke them. Hard to beat that.
 
Thanks fellas. If you have a drill press and files you can make pipes. A grinder helps some, and a lathe helps alot, but it can be done without either. If anyone is interested in learning, there's tons of stuff on YouTube, and also www.pipemakersforum.com.

Justin, I'll see what I can do.
 
Here's my next one, walnut this time instead of pecan. This one smokes WAY better than the first couple, in part because I got some long drill bits and tapered them for drilling out the stem. Makes things flow better.

Pipe 3.0.jpgPipe 3.1.jpgPipe 3.2.jpgPipe 3.3.jpg
 
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