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Stone Pipes

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran


That's the first pipe. Nicely loaded with some Phoenix Lights. Pretty meds for a pretty pipe.

Tough too. I dropped it from about four feet high onto concrete and it didn't break. it bounced a foot high, landed right on the end on the bowl.

But this thread isn't about showing this pipe. It's about making this pipe. well, mostly about making other pipes, but this one too.

12 have now been completed. Here's a few pics to kick it off, then over the next few days or so I'll bring it up to date.



The red one has just been cleaned from lots of use. I just use hot water. cleans it like new.
Never use vinegar or anything acidic on your stoneware.
I don't like any kind of solvent either that might soak into the rock. Water works perfect.

These are the last ones i've done. Soon they'll be given away.
 

weedtoker

Well-known member
Veteran
Subb'd, looks rugged. Having been "haunted" by stone pipe images for the last two weeks, specially volcanic ones and now end up here lol. Care to elaborate on this matter, or any kind of advice for folks who still don't have a "glass" culture around and have to try their own hand at things?

Cheers :tiphat:
 
M

moose eater

Is the red pipe pipestone, from Minnesota?

Other stones used?
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Hopefully not soapstone or asbestos-free. If soap stone, it'd break falling as mentioned. They look great!
 

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran
I'll start with a rock

I'll start with a rock



I'll hopefully answer any questions that have been asked or will be asked as I go. I still haven't thought through the best way to format this thread.

I found the rock above, cut it and what looked like just a rock, was a nice uniform brownish, looks black when dry, brown - red when wet. layered, my guess is a mudstone. like sandstone but with finer particles, so it takes a polish.

here it is with the basic shape drawn on it.



Got a new blade for the water saw. I installed tile and stone in a previous life, so I have a Target tile saw with a 10" blade.
 
M

moose eater

So we're talking just a basic 10" tile and stone saw?

Cool! (*I got my wife a saw of that sort with laser for her birthday last year. Like many 'gifts' I get for her, she may come home one day and find me using it now. ;^>) ).
 

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran
blueberry bud

blueberry bud

i had a duplicate post. couldn't delete it so here's a bud to keep this all cannabis related.
 
Last edited:

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran
black pipe

black pipe


this is the one that had the bowl marked out rough shaped with the bowl drilled.


i use a 5/8 diamond sintered hole saw, then a 10mm hole saw, then a 5mm hole saw to drill out the middle. it's easier to pop out the chunkswith the extra drilling. the 5/8 plug is to big to pop out without breaking the edge of the bowl. so i break it out from the center.


Then i use a burr to grind out the chunks left. That^^ is a diamond sintered burr. I was using a worn out 5mm bit, but it took all day to grind out the bowl bottom, the sintered burr only takes an hour.

Sintered means that the diamonds are bonded in the metal, so as it wears new diamonds are exposed. the diamonds on the small 5mm diamond hole saws are electroplated on. but they cut beautifully till they wear out on the end.

here's me using a plated burr to round the bowl edges of a different pipe. i'll show you that one later, it is sweet.

on the right, that black/brown pipe all done.


What makes my pipes different than cheap Mexican pipes from Nogales or Chinese pipes from Amazon?

Mine are freehand cut and polished.

I polish the stem bore as good as i can for the tools i currently have.

I polish the inside of the bowl as good as i can for the tools i have currently.

that groove in the bottom. Mine.

The idea is that the stem hole should not just be drilled into the side of the bowl but under the bowl so it draws through the bottom of the bowl, so i ended up with the groove. it's a feature!

Hand made, with my grinder and drill press.

I have a 10" Wen drill press. cost me about 125.

I have assorted burrs, bits, hole saws, and flat lap discs.

On the tile saw i use a 10" granite blade. If you use a cheap ceramic tile blade a hard rock will kill it. must use granite blades.

I drilled the stem hole off center in that pipe above. oops.
so the groove is angled.

more to come
 

weedtoker

Well-known member
Veteran
Seems that you've found more than a past-time or hobbie for yerself, specially after the health mishap, it's what we do of situations, you seem the livin' proof, everyday one more "step". :biggrin:

I will give it a try for fun at the workshop, for sure, I'm too good at breaking my glass constantly, seems I use it enough lol, If they end usable that's a win for me already eh?:laughing:

Cheers, and happy festivities @paper thorn
 

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran
Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Thanks for all the rep and great comments and questions fam.



Drilling the stem on a white onyx pipe. I use a 3/16" (5mm) diamond plated hole saw. I hold the pipes by hand, because I have to stop and reach into the stem with a little screwdriver to break out the little core every 1/6" to 1/8" of depth. PITA. other wise the core will break off inside the bit and sometimes is impossible to remove without drilling it out with a skinny bit or burr.



I use this 5/8" (16mm) hole saw with a water swivel to drill the bowl. I just have a coffee can with a 1/8" valve with a compression fitting into. It has a 1/8" pipe thread on the other side that i screwed right into the plastic container. a tube brings the water down to a 1/8"(not a compression fitting, the tube just pushes into it) to 1/8" pipe thread then ther's a 1/8" brass elbow and a 1/8 to 1/4 brass reducer, a 1/4" galvanized nipple and another 1/4 to 1/8 brass reducer, then finally into the water swivel.

The hardware store didn't have any 1/8 fittings that weren't brass, and no long nipples in 1/8" so hence the work around.:biggrin:

The swivel has a 10mm shank and I have a 5mm bit on it in the pic above, but shredded it the first time i used it. i have a 3/8 (10mm) hole saw and a 5/8" that i use with the water swivel. then i drill a hole down the middle with a 3/16 bit.
 

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran


the white one. i polished into this teardrop shape on the flat lap. i have 150, 400, and 1200 grit discs. so it's shiny. but i ended up shaping it into a spoon.

I think i like the spoon shape for the way it feels in my hand better. I'm pretty sure that most people do as glass pipes are almost all like that. Glass is the standard to measure by, because they hit nice and look nice.



not smoke, just dust under water.
 

paper thorn

Active member
Veteran
Did i show this pic?

Did i show this pic?


oh well, i might repost a pic or two because they are not really in any logical order in my album. This is most of the first dozen I've made. my poker/stem scraper is a piece of plagioclase drilled out with a piece of a brazing rod epoxied in it. I love using brazing rod for stem cleaners. I'm thinking about making one for each pipe I make.

or maybe stone bowl poker/tampers or stone dab tools.:woohoo:




Assorted scraps from bowls and stems. you can see a couple stem cores way longer than i shouls attempt to drill at a time, but sometimes you get greedy.:biggrin:

the flat stemmed green one is going to a good friend who lives out in BFE. reminds me, i need to call him to see when i need to go over so i can get it to him before Christmas. Think i'll throw in a sack of Blueberry buds for him to break it in with. lol.
it's green jasper with manganese oxide dendrites. (the little black tree/fern like inclusions.) Found the rock at the VA in Tucson, lmao. sweet, sweet rock.
 
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