Stumels and stems for practice

[jpmcwjr]

I wouldn't worry about the draft hole/heel configuration at all.
If it were mine, I'd try the glue and sprinkle briar dust on it, at least the outside.
Let us know!

 

[mso489]

Perfectly reasonable since you have the materials and time, and mostly the inclination. I'd take it easy and work on a few at a time, not industrial scale. There may be some processes where working on several at once will be efficient. Depending on your own psychology, you may not want to have the whole set in view all the time, or that could be a motivation, depends on your mindset. The most demanding part I see is matching up the stems and stumels. That could take some re-drilling, sanding down, filing, etc. I think refinishing the briar will be rewarding, uncovering some lovely wood under the old finish and patina. Eventually show us the results! I'd work on several without major structural problems while you consider the cracked briar; I think it would be prone to burn through, but I'm totally guessing.

 

[husky]

I filled up the crack in the billiard with CA and sanded it down from 400 to 1200 and gave it some mineral oil.

It looked natural when i sanded it but when the mineral oil came on it shows a red hue. Did I not sand deep enough to remove the dye or is it s natural colour of the briar?

The mortise on the billiard is too large even for a 9mm filter stem so that will have to be another project.

I understand now that the shortcut with getting finished stumels and stems is not really a great idea as it requires a lot of special tools (I think George may have mentioned this at some point). However I was lucky enough that with a little tweaking I got a light-tight fit on this rather bland EGEO JONIO pot so next is to make the stem-shank transition and then try some finishing. I really like the Peterson racing green but I understand that is not easy to accomplish but I might get some shellack and find out just how difficult?