This Old Shop

I guess most are familiar with the term "dungeon" as I have been using it to describe my pipe making shop. When I started making pipes there was no plan or anything. I would just buy whatever I needed and drag it into the cellar, blow some dust off an area and set whatever it was up.

After a while, things started to accumulate, not only the tools but also briar, rods, chamber bits, drills, saw blades, wood stabilizer, epoxy, stain and dye, alcohol, dryer, shallac flakes, calipers, gauges, belts, disks, files, chisels, chucks and jaws, exotic hardwoods, brass/aluminum rods, motors, jigs and sheets/disks/belts of sand paper till they came, oh never mind. The accessories and material storage were not even considered at the onset and soon I was buried in mountains of sh*t. More time was spent looking for something than making pipes. Eventually though everything found a home and was easily located.

One of the biggest mistakes, well not really more like lesson learned, was a dust collector is an absolute necessity. Sanding blocks to square them, sanding stems from rod, sanding stummels makes so much dust I used to hang floor fans from the rafters to clear the air and eventually the entire cellar was a cloud of dust. There was so much of it I would think a single match could start some spontanious combustion and blow up the house. That is how bad it was, masks and beards are not a good combination and later I hould hack up some pretty disgusting shi*.

Having finished the kitchen with all the drawer pack screw ups and the old cabinets it was not long before I came up with another project to suck whatever free time I had up. But honestly, it was worth it and I won't regret it. The above shots are rather tame, I had already pulled two tables full of boxes of god knows what the day before I thought to take before pictures. I guess I was just in a hurry.

So on that note, here are some shots of the *new* dungeon, yes the name will remain the same. This shot is kind of peering into the area that is now all closed off from the rest of the cellar.

I guess that this tool is the heart of the operation and a lamp shade is on the vacume tube to suck up chips and dust. I use the lathe to do all my drilling, shaping and disk sanding. Usually this model and most mini's there is only 14 inches or so between the head and tail stock. The extension was only $59, the added weight cuts down on vibration when working with an unbalanced load and the extra distance between the head and tail stock is such a blessing I don't know how anyone can live with 14 inches. One pipemaker I know was pulling something from the head stock, it freed up and a six inch bit was in the tail stock that pierced right through his hand. Ouch, I get shivers just thinking about it.

A grinder is right next to it as the chisles require frequent sharpening to make cuts clean without any tear our. The griinder has two wheels course and fine but the chisels all have to hit a diamond hone stone before they are sharp enough to use.

This is a combination disk/belt sander. Delta tools are a good deal for the money, relativly cheap and get the job done, both exhaust jets are hooked into the dust collector. The disk sander is used to square the briar blocks before chucking it up in the lathe. If the block is not square after the mortise and airway are drilled and the block is turned chances are the chamber is not going to meet the airway on center.

Behind the combination sander is a band saw used to take the excess wood off the block making much less to sand, it's jet is also hooked in. Kind of focused on the hook up for the sander but what the hell.

Under the center bench are two cabinets, one on each side. This side is all hard wood, metal rod and blast medium on the floor. The other side is full of who knows what, basically odds and ends - spare motors, acrylic sheets,drill sets etc.

Working around the area is a stem work station. Almost every pipe I have made has had its stem come from acrylic rod, ebonite rod or an acrylic pen blank. I use a Taig metal lathe for drilling stem material. Both airways and mortise of the stems and the basic sizing of the rod. When not using delrin tenons it also cuts the tenon on whatever rod I am using. I also have risers and a tool rest for freehanding stems. It is a very useful tool and the percision is much better than my hands could ever do.

BTW: This area is also the sound station.

Still working around in the same direction. Next to the stem station is a drill press. Admittedly I hardly ever use it but for some things it is irreplaceable - I just can't seem to think of one. However, some pipemakers do drill all thier blocks on a drill press but lathes make the job much easier.

Hanging on the new wall is the top cabinet from the first floor kitchen. It is already full and I only have a vague idea what is in there. The open bottom shelf is great as I can easily find whatever bottle of gook I need. The compressor is right behind the wall and feeds the new blast cabinet I just got. I have a few alterations before it is really usable. One is the preformed legs are hollow and seem to be able to hold most of the load of sand. I need to stop them up so they don't steal all the sand when working. the other thing is to attach something to withdraw air and equalize the pressure as the cabinet top can not seal and hold when here is 110 psi blasting against a piece of wood. The aluminium oxcide is probably worse on the lungs than briar dust from sanding.

Opposite from the stem station is a donno know station. It is a scroll saw for working ith gem stone composites, ivory and other items that require fine teeth. There is also a foredom (dremel type)tool. The money spent on a dremel (IMO) was a total waste. This tool is controlled by a foot pedel, it is extreamly variable as slow as 50 rpm (just a guess) up to about 10,000 (just another guess) while a dremel has about 7 settings they are fast and faster, more like a range of 6000 to 10,000 and sometimes that speed can ruin a piece before you know what happened.

Top left is the switch to the dust collector located in the closet beind the wall.

Finally, the addition that I have yearned for ever since I started doing this. A dust collector, this one really sucks - it sucks big time - It has two intakes and can also handle my table saw, routers etc..

Is it finished, not quite. The new equipment is noisy and some insulation needs to be done since I am right below a rental unit. I will get around to it but other stuff has taken priority - As it is, I can at least make a pipe even if I have to schedule the noisy operations around any tenant.

So far I have been down there in the new digs for about 5 hours. With all the new drawers, cabinets and shelfs I can't seem to find jack when I need it. Eventually all things will find thier proper home and then it will be the more normal problem of remembering where I set something down that was just in my hand. Anyway, that it - new digs, clean air and it feels great so far.

Pipes forthcoming, friggin let's hope so!!!