(2) Use a horse shoe rasp to square and taper pipe blank - FIG 2 & 3
(3) Mark centers on bowl & shank - drill 1/4" pilot holes - enlarge with 1/2" drill bit. Pipe bowl - enlarge to bottom of pilot hole & shank 1 1/4" for stem.
(4) Make and fit stem to squared pipe blank.
(5) Round the pipe bowl using the horse shoe rasp. Remove deep scratches of horse shoe rasp with 1/2 round file and smoothing file. Sand pipe bowl with sandpaper - course/medium/fine. 400 wet/dry - for a glossy finish.
(6) Polishing with Beeswax
Put 1/4 to 1/2” of water into an old fry pan and place over stove burner.
Place pipe in the fry pan and turn on heat. When you touch the bowl with wax and it readily melts at any point on the bowl, the proper temperature is reached. (Be careful at this point it gets hot!)
Turn heat off. Take bowl out quickly using a cloth. Use a cloth and beeswax to quickly cover the entire bowl with wax. Immediately place the bowl in cold water to set the wax.
Dry and buff with a soft cloth. Make sure any patches of extra wax are removed from around the bowl entrance.
Stem: Your choice of wood – stem length is usually three times the length of the pipe bowl. My choice is sumac – the soft core is burned out by using a straightened coat hanger wire. Heat the end of the wire until it is red hot and burn out the soft core. You need to keep bringing the wire out and reheating. Once it is burned through do it again to make sure the airway is cleared.
Other wood: 1” thick and split in half – groove down the middle of one side and glue back together. Shape to your choice.
