Enlarging an Out-of-Round Chamber

[J2design]

Hi all - I'm looking for advice, tooling recommendations, etc. for essentially boring or redrilling a tobacco chamber. Typically, I chamfer the rims and sand the chamber of pipes in a similar state, but I would like to able to widen and true chambers which are in especially bad shape. I have access to a drill press and hand tools, no lathe. I am only interested in widening chambers where there is sufficient briar to reinforce the chamber walls. The pipe pictured has a nearly 1" diameter chamber, so I'm looking for large tooling recommendations for this task. I've looked at spoon bits, chucking reamers, etc. but was curious about others' experiences. Thanks!

 

[Chasing Embers]

You could bevel the rim.

Breathing Life into a Stunning Charatan Mountbatten Royal Made in London England 209 Pot

The Mountbatten Pot shape on the worktable came to me in December 2018 when my son, Josiah, came upon a lot of pipes for sale in an antique shop in St. Louis where he was studying. He sent me a pi…

thepipesteward.com

 

[xrundog]

That one is burned pretty bad. It also has a crack. I’ll try and save almost anything. That one would get discarded.
Something I’ve been using for mild out of round and knife hacked inner rims is a $9 cone shaped bracelet stand with the felt taken off and sand paper wrapped around the pointy end. It re-rounds an inner rim really well.

 

[ssjones]

That one is burned pretty bad. It also has a crack. I’ll try and save almost anything. That one would get discarded.
Something I’ve been using for mild out of round and knife hacked inner rims is a $9 cone shaped bracelet stand with the felt taken off and sand paper wrapped around the pointy end. It re-rounds an inner rim really well.

That's interesting - can you show me a picture of your tool? I'm missing something like that.

 

[Sigmund]

Ive thought about that too on a couple of pipes but my brain could not figure out a way to hold the pipe securely at the proper angle without damage. The out side of the pipe wasnt in bad shape at all.

 

[craig61a]

This. Chucked in a lathe. Of course it takes a little skill to do if the chamber is wider than 3/4”, but I’ve been able to remove material and keep the chamber reasonably round.

It would be nice if you could get something like this in various sizes, but 3/4” is the largest Ive found,

 

[ssjones]

This. Chucked in a lathe. Of course it takes a little skill to do if the chamber is wider than 3/4”, but I’ve been able to remove material and keep the chamber reasonably round.

It would be nice if you could get something like this in various sizes, but 3/4” is the largest Ive found,

View attachment 338977

I don't have a drill press, and I'm not sure I trust myself to do it by hand.
I did find this 7/8" stone, modestly priced:

Norton Abrasives 61463616464 Resin Mounted Point, 7/8 X 2In, 30G | eBay

NORTON ABRASIVES. Resin Mounted Point, Abrasive Material Zirconia Alumina, Bond Type Resin, Overall Dia. 7/8 in, Overall Thickness 2 in, Shank Dia. General Purpose. and Enclosures. Electrical Boxes.

www.ebay.com

 

[xrundog]

That's interesting - can you show me a picture of your tool? I'm missing something like that.

One of these. It's less about getting a bevel than simply enlarging the rim opening. I'm sure there's a mathematical formula for how big a cone needs to be to get a good 45 degree bevel and it must be pretty big.

 

[ThermionicScott]

Hi all - I'm looking for advice, tooling recommendations, etc. for essentially boring or redrilling a tobacco chamber. Typically, I chamfer the rims and sand the chamber of pipes in a similar state, but I would like to able to widen and true chambers which are in especially bad shape. I have access to a drill press and hand tools, no lathe. I am only interested in widening chambers where there is sufficient briar to reinforce the chamber walls. The pipe pictured has a nearly 1" diameter chamber, so I'm looking for large tooling recommendations for this task. I've looked at spoon bits, chucking reamers, etc. but was curious about others' experiences. Thanks!

If the chamber is already 1" wide, you may not want to enlarge it too much in order to make it round again.

Have you tried smoking this pipe yet, to determine if it's one that you enjoy enough to put in the work?

 

[BrightDarkEyes]

Here are two estate pipes from a similar era. A Vauen Dr. Perl 3288 is on the left and a Vauen Luxus 3284 on the right.

The model number is very close as are the dimensions of these pipes. The 3284 has a shorter bowl height than the 3288.

The 3288 arrived in a barely smoked and nearly new condition and the other was professionally restored.

As you can see, the chamber of the 3284 is considerably larger with much thinner walls. I don’t know if the pipe was periodically over reamed or it was smoked too hot and the burnt briar was taken out with the reaming.

Your pipe doesn’t seem to be as extreme as this example but I can tell you that the smoking characteristics of these pipes are totally different due to the larger chamber and thin walls in the 3284.

Your pipe is a nice shape. I can see why you’d like to restore it. It might be worth considering that it could be a totally different pipe after the restoration whatever you decide to do to it.