I started a new tamper tonight. This one is black walnut and will be capped off with a .44 Magnum brass shell casing. Walnut is a great wood to turn. While considered a hard wood it is softer than oak or hard maple and for that reason it machines wonderfully. The grain is even textured without hard and soft areas between rings and the spindle looks like chocolate when spinning in the lathe. I'm enjoying this one.
I grind a slight convex shape onto the cutting surface of my skew chisel. When presented to the wood to carefully smooth off straight edges a worm of fine wood dust will build up right in the center of the tool width... If I'm holding the chisel at the perfect angle. Once my edge is dead center I slowly push or pull the tool along the rest working a very smooth and continuous cylindrical surface into the spinning wood. If Handled well the skew chisel will form a surface requiring only a minimum of finish sanding.
I've prepped the casing by cutting off the excess length and cleaning out the inside of the base with a bristle brush in the Dremel. Originating from an old school design the .44 Magnum is a rimmed cartridge. The huge rim measures a whopping .500" across. There is an interesting feature that I think makes the .44 mag shell a great tamper tip. Because the rim extends out beyond the case wall it creates a slight shaving edge that could be gently drug up the bowl's internal walls during smoking to dislodge unburnt tobacco and help maintain a smooth cake surface. (Don't know this from experience but it sounds good. :idea:
I grind a slight convex shape onto the cutting surface of my skew chisel. When presented to the wood to carefully smooth off straight edges a worm of fine wood dust will build up right in the center of the tool width... If I'm holding the chisel at the perfect angle. Once my edge is dead center I slowly push or pull the tool along the rest working a very smooth and continuous cylindrical surface into the spinning wood. If Handled well the skew chisel will form a surface requiring only a minimum of finish sanding.
I've prepped the casing by cutting off the excess length and cleaning out the inside of the base with a bristle brush in the Dremel. Originating from an old school design the .44 Magnum is a rimmed cartridge. The huge rim measures a whopping .500" across. There is an interesting feature that I think makes the .44 mag shell a great tamper tip. Because the rim extends out beyond the case wall it creates a slight shaving edge that could be gently drug up the bowl's internal walls during smoking to dislodge unburnt tobacco and help maintain a smooth cake surface. (Don't know this from experience but it sounds good. :idea:
