NASPC show preview

At right is a rather crap photo of some of the pipes I'm going to be taking with to the NASPC show in Columbus, Ohio. From top to bottom are 5 countrymen (3 billiards and 2 rhodesians), a bulldog, a giant sandblasted egg, a nice chunky dublin-esque pot, a zulu that's currently reserved, a volcano, and a bamboo-shanked number that doesn't have a name yet.

All of them, along with a selection of others will be at my table, so if you're near Columbus, come on by and take a look. I'm going to be taking photos of these before I leave, so in the event that they sell, I've got photos for the gallery.

If you see something you like, and don't want to wait for the show to see it (or can't get to the show) send me an email and I'll send you some better pictures.

For now, it's time to pack so that I can hit the road at zero-dark-thirty and get to Ohio before it's too late to socialize with folks. See you in Columbus!

Rings of irritation

Today's picture is brought to you buy the letter 'F', and the numbers 4 and 7.

F for 'frustration'.

4 for the number of attempts I made at this.

7 for the number of inches of material I used up in an attempt at making a shank adornment for a pipe I'm working on. It's supposed to be a ring, but as you can see, somewhere along the line it managed to explode.

This is the faux horn I use for stems, stem rings, and shank adornments on a few pipes, and it's actually a really nice material completely finished and and polished up. The grain and striations in the coloring look really nice, but I tell you, it's a cast iron ***** to work with on the lathe. It's incredibly prone to chipping out instead getting shaved off, especially if your tools are less than razor sharp.

Net result? It took me about an hour to complete the ring that eventually went on to the pipe. This just illustrates some of the time and effort actually involved in making pipes, and that even pipe makers can have a bad day at the office....

New drill press

Biz news: several new pipes are available, including two Seasonal Beers and a really nice egg shape.

In a previous post I said that my old $100 drill press was really treating me poorly. For a couple years it had become progressively worse until pieces actually started breaking off, like the power switch for example. All of that I was able to deal with, until I discovered that it would no long drill a straight hole, and I decided that I needed a new one. When I went to drill a 1.5-inch hole in a piece of pine and it started to bog down, I was dead set on getting a new one.

Now, the problem with running out and buying a new drill press is that, all of them are pretty much made in the same factory in China. Seriously, take a good look at the benchtop drill presses the next time you're in a tool store. Once you get past the accessories like laser sights, built-in clamps or drill-stops, and the size of the table, they all are virtually identical. Look at the main casting for the head - it's the same casting for Delta, Jet, Hitachi, Task Force, Rigid, etc. The spindle is the same, the pulleys are identical, and so is the quill. So now you're left with a problem - why is the Hitachi 40% more than the Task Force?

The answer lies in what the brand is willing to pay for. Some brands are willing to pay the factory for the top-specced parts for their products, while others haggle and demand lowest pricing. The folks demanding lowest pricing tend to get the parts that don't quite meet spec. Just look at what Wal-Mart does with their suppliers - it's so bad that some manufacturers won't even support the products sold through Wal-Mart.

Back to tools. I did a bit of research and found that some brands ranked significantly higher in user satisfaction than others - specific to drill presses. Hitachi, Jet, and Powermatic seemed to do quite well. Delta and Rikon followed closely behind, and then the various store brands behind them. On top of this, I have a friend who is a cabinet maker who is now buying nothing but Hitachi tools - and this guy really works his tools hard. Based on all of that, I decided on the Hitachi 10" drill press.

I've been using the new drill press for about a week and a half now, and I must say I'm very pleased. I'm using it exclusively to drill pipe kits for sale on eBay, and it's got none of the stability and off-angle drilling issue my prior press had. It came with a laser sight, but honestly, It's not worth turning it on. It changes it's location based onthe hieght of the workpiece, and the difference of a couple inches in height means up to about a quarter of an inch in slew from front to back. It's best to leave it off and go by feel - the same way that we've been drilling for hundreds (thousands?) of years with great results.

And just to add some incentive, when I did finally head out to the big hardware store to get my drill press, they had dropped the price by $30. Nice! That pretty much sealed the deal for me.

And just to make sure we've got pipe-related content here: I finally figured out how to drill a consistent hole for the factory-turned stummels for the Countryman line. It's stupid simple, and I feel like an idiot for not doing it before. Expect a couple more of these in a day or two!