Bamboo Ripper - A Blast From The Past

[DiscoBiscuit]

I hate to be dirty minded, but seriously, what does that look like to u...?

Nice bong tho man, im jealous... Heres a simple tip, instead of just drilling a hole on the bottom of the slide/shaft where the smoke hits the water, just drill multiple smaller holes around the sides so that the smoke has more contact area with the water. This design, as well as ice catchers, and perculators, will improve your smoking experience! nice thread fellas.

I'm a little dirty minded sometimes, but ??? Thanks for the tips.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I was searching for something non-toxic to seal it with.

It looks like there are a few options:

mineral oil

tung oil

shellac flakes

soy based sealants

beeswax



I dont know which is the best though.



Edit:

So i searched some more. Tung Oil looks really good and here's a site that talks all about how to use it. It takes a really long time to cure though.

http://www.woodcentral.com/russ/finish6.shtml


Also I guess you can use most any sealer that is designed for cutting boards / butcher blocks. Here is a site talking about that and other options. ALso includes beeswax discussion.

http://www.ayais.com/en/finechem/cuttingboardoil.htm

They recommend food grade mineral oil to get into the wood then a beeswax coating over that.

Gr8StonedDragon, thanks for the info on oil and wax finishes. While I haven't used oil or shellac on bongs, I do have some experience with wood finishes in general.

Oils - Although they dry to the touch, oil finishes are not impervious to water. A glass of ice water allowed to "sweat" on an oil finished table will penetrate and leave a water ring in the wood. Low viscosity finish oils may penetrate cut sections in bamboo faster than the bamboo skin. Moisture variations inside the plant cells combined with expansion and contraction from frequent wet/dry conditions is what promotes cracks. Otherwise "dry" oil finishes might leave non-toxic residuals in bong water. I'm not sure about oils when it comes to bacteria.

Shellac - This is secreted resins from the Lack bug, used to make their cocoons. It is edible and used as candy and pill coatings, safe for kids, all that stuff. It is the ingredient in "Kilz" primer that prevents bacterial transfer and build up. Wiki says shellac is an excellent water "vapor" barrier. I'm not sure how it holds up submerged in water. More on marine varnish below.

Beeswax - Not the most durable finish. Wax is easily scratched, melted, etc. The reason it works so well for bongs is because it's waterproof below the water line. It is cheap, easily available and doesn't promote bacteria. Rinse a waxed bong with cold tap water, store in a cool place and it will last a long time.

Organic substitutes - Marine varnish is an example of an otherwise natural sealant with chemicals added to make it waterproof in submerged conditions. Due to possible gassing of these added chemicals, I wouldn't consider adulterated natural sealants for a bong. (A person more familiar with compounds might have more info on this. It might be safe when dry.) Acrylic resin has all sorts of nasty stuff coming from the fumes. Solid acrylic poses no heath risk and is used to make bongs.

Whatever you choose, let us know how it works out. Thanks again for the opinions and info.

 

[pontiac]

 

[disfunktional]

Congrats on makeing the icmag diy link o rama.....you're right i like that stamp also, lol.

I invite anyone and everyone interested in posting their hand crafted piece, whatever the material. I like the biggest and best, high technology, big bucks smoking tools out there. But I love then innovation and imagination of hand crafted smokers.

Sorry that Im late to the party. I cant believe that i havent found this thread earlier. Beautiful piece DB great craftsmanship bro. Heres a few shots of my home made(actually work made) bong. I made it out of 2" stainless steel tubeing. The base is a Swagelok 2" stainless steel union. To tap into the side of the 2" i drilled the hole perpendicular and thenslowly angled the tubeing to elongate the hole. Then i used a 1/4" NPT tap to thread the hole for the 1/2" tubeing to 1/4" NPT fitting. Iv been useing duct seal to seal the threads but that doesnt work so well. Im currently looking into a stainless steel epoxy for a more permanent fix. Anyways to finish it out i bent out a piece of 1/2" tubeing and put a 1/2" union on the end. For the bowl i used a 3/8" NPT FM thread to a 1/2" tube adapter so it can be removed for a carb. Well enough of my rambling heres the pics.

edit: Iv got to find where that i can find some bamboo so i can build one.

 

[2stoge]

pretty sweet

 

[the gnome]

great blast from the past discobiscuit!!

I made mine back around 73.
it was about 2" tall and maybe 3" in dia.
so when you took a hit your lips were inside the pipe.
I used a smaller piece of bamboo, 1"dia. for the stem like yours but didn't cut it at the node like yours.
I woul make bowls from alum-foil, that worked pretty good, in retrospect I wish I would have done it like yours.

I've run across old smoking friends in the last 20 yrs and just about everyone would ask me if I had anything as good as that killer pot I use to grow
and did I still have that big ass bamboo bong
they all told me how hi they got off that bong and have yet to smoke anything that compared to it, I bought a nice glass bong when they came out a few years later and as nice as they were they didn't hold a candle to the effeciency of my bamboo bong.

for as large as it was it was very smooth to pull on,
I put a 3/8"hole in it opposite the stem for a carb on it
and when you let go of it,..maaaan!!
using it was just like breathing naturally.
in one hit you could really pack the smoke in very deeply in your lungs with that thing.
usually 3 hits of what ever we had gave you a very satisfying
feeling.

 

[Rullerdennu]

NIce looking bongs. Never done a big bamboo bong, but i used the small bamboo to put in a cheap ass cola bottle bong when i was younger. i had som old shell casings that i cut for a bowl, It worked okay, but tastevice i wouldn't recommend it.

Was just wondering, do any of you coat your bowl with anything to prevent them from burning up?
My dad used to make pipes (for regular tobacco though) and he always sealed the wood (was some kind of root that he made them from) to prevent it from burning.

just a thought.

 

[Lazyman]

I'm gonna have to make one of these, I've got a long aluminum stem and slide I saved from an old broken bong that would work perfectly for this. Might have some fiberglass resin laying around too, hmmm...

 

[tristar27]

beeswax

beeswax

The form was extremely helpful although I'm curious to how to coat with the beeswax. Thank you in advance for replies