I was sanding away at a piece of German ebonite ( from PME ) for a a new pipe I'm in the process of making and ran in to what looks like a dovetail joining two pieces of ebonite together. Didn't expect this at all! Anyone ever see anything like this before??
I knew it too, and I'll explain why! I've got a veritable graveyard of stems that look just like that. Boy it sucks to see that delrin.
Here are a few things that will help you avoid this:
1. only sink your delrin 1/4" into the stem.
2. when cutting a saddle on your stem, be sure to measure a little past that 1/4" mark before you start cutting.
Yup, major "duh" factor! Well, I went ahead and finished using that messed up stem anyway. Stained a base coat of black, sanded it off, and then a coat of purple. Yes... PURPLE! Came out OK I guess. Not my best but it will do.
Here's the pics:
That sucks man. Stem practice is always a good thing, so hopefully you can see it as a learning experience.
And, I've got a full proof way of making sure you don't EVER run into this again. Skip the delrin and go with integral tenons I know, to each is own, and everyone has their reasons for using delrin. But if you don't use it, you don't have to avoid it.
Hear hear. As someone with a few pipes that I discovered used two-piece pipe stems, there's been some airflow issues with delrin tenons that didn't seat very well with the rest of the stem. Not sure if they drilled them independent of one another, but whatever happened, it was noticeable (Brebbia being one where I love their pipes, but I HATE their stemwork).
Thank you for all the good replies. After all my duh moments, it turned out just fine. Smoked the a break-in bowl (1/2 bowl of Sweet Kilarney) out of it yesterday. Excellent smoker. Got the airway nice and open and not a gurgle through the whole thing. Think I'm going to have to open up the airways on all my premade stems. Thanks again! More to come soon!