Dremel Speeds

[matchstickman]

I have been interested in doing tamper making and maybe trying my hand at some home made rustication and possibly even getting one of the pre drilled briar blocks from pipesandcigars.com to try my hand at shaping a pipe. I've read that a lot of guys use Dremel Tools to do this, and I happen to have one laying around with a bunch of attachments for it. It is one of those small Dremels that is a single speed, and the speed is 35,000 RPM. I was wondering if this speed was too high to do any kind of sanding or rustication work? I would think that this is definitely too high a speed to buff with even though it has the little buffing wheel attachments, but I didn't know if I would harm the pipe by using a Dremel with this speed. Any advice from Dremel users is appreciated.

 

[tobakenist]

I used to use a one speed Dremel for buffing bowls and stems with no problem, as long as you keep it moving and don't put to much pressure on it, pactice on a old junk pipe if you have one, you will find that you have to be very light handed. I now use a buffing machine no but also have a multi speed dremel for hard to reach places now but still use it on farely high speeds because that is what I am used to.

 

[matchstickman]

Tobakenist, I have read that when applied at the speeds that my Dremel reaches, Caranuba wax melts a lot faster and has a lot less effect on the pipe, but as far as I know that could be someone blowing smoke. An old junk pipe was actually what I was going to try and rusticate, truth be told.

 

[tobakenist]

You will master it, a lot of us have to make do with the tools that we have and all have different ways of making them work, when I only had a single speed dremel I was determined to make it work, and it wasn't hard develop a tecnique, caranuba wax needs to melt a bit to apply, if you don't use to much friction it works fine, I also used to do a bit of pipe carving with my old dremel as my main tool and was great for doing rustication, here again, be very light handed. I found that to use a single speed dremel being light handed is the trick.

 

[buckeye]

i started with a single speed for rusticating.i had it for years and it worked fine.

i now have the variable speed and like it.i do like the lower speeds for rusticating

but it`s not a must.

 

[ichbinmuede]

Well if I were you (I never was actually you but I was in your position) I would get myself a little bit for my drill that would allow me to attach buffing wheels. Actually you could probably make one yourself with a nut, a bolt, and some washers. Best if you could get reverse threaded nuts and bolts but if not just remember to switch the direction on your drill and alter your technique accordingly. Much nicer for buffing and when you find the place that has it they may even have some brown tripoli and white diamond buffing compounds that you can put on your buffing wheels. Well worth it I would say.
As for rustication...pick your chosen engraving bit and have at it! One important caveat would be to use a light touch. You can take wood away but you just can't put it back.

 

[pentangle]

Force decrease reducing speed that happen with any electric motors driven by an electronic speed regulator.Dremel has very low force so at lower speed you can easily stop it with two fingers.The only correct use of a dremel on pipe making is to polish stems near the corners where a buffing wheel can't work.Dremel is a very nice tool to get fun in small works but not for a serious work.I own two one bought in early 80' and one bought some years ago, the first is better

Maurizio

 

[tobakenist]

I have done many a serious job on pipes using a dremel, yes great for stem buffing but if it is the only tool available they can be used for many more tasks.

 

[matchstickman]

I just started rusticating an ugly little pot shaped pipe that had a few fills in it using my Dremel. It actually worked really well and was not nearly as hard to do as I imagined. Now to find some leather dye. Pics to follow shortly.

 

[ichbinmuede]

Well since you missed my post in the other thread where you were asking I'll just paste it here as well.

You can also make your own black stain Mr. Novelist. Pour some vinegar over a piece of steel wool in a container of your choosing, seal that thing up, and leave it for some time (I've read that 12 hours is sufficient) and let that acetic acid eat that thing. I left mine until there was no more steel wool and just rust coloured vinegar but that's because I kind of forgot about it.

Once you have that you're going to need to introduce some tannins to the briar to get it to turn black as that's what this chemical you've created reacts with and briar loses most of it's tannins in the processing. You can get tannin from home brewing stores I hear but I used a strong brew of gunpowder green tea.

Paint the tea on and let it soak in and dry and then paint the other on and you should see results very quickly. I was astonished at how quick it was and just how black. Here's a Grabow freehand I rusticated with a dremel and stained with this very mixture.

Oh keep in mind...that is before carnuba.

 

[matchstickman]

I've found that I can actually get leather dye online very cheap, so I will probably just go with that. Thanks for the heads up though. Still trying to get pics uploaded.

 

[ichbinmuede]

Well yeah, but...then you're not doing any science...

 

[matchstickman]

All right fellas. Here are the pics. Be gentle and remember that this is a work in progress.

 

[tobakenist]

Keep at it but be gentle.

 

[iowamike]

Looks good to me. I would show you my pipe if I was not so computer illiterate.