Wood Pipe tamper, what do you for metal end?

[mikedealer]

New here, hello all. I'm sick of using my old metal pipe tool, so figured I would break out lathe and carving tools and make myself something cool and custom for myself. Turned it last night, carving details into it soon.

My stumbling block at the moment (after trips to Home Depots, lowes and a Radio control/train shop) and coming up empty for ideas... I'm looking for ideas on what to use for a bottom metal end for the tamper. I looked at tacks, nail heads, different nut types with finished edges, thumbscrews, nothing looked really clean like I want
I'm good on lathe but can't turn metal with the harbor freight cheapo wood chuck mount, so can't turn own metal tube.. Although I'm tempted to get a chuck and try, I'm afraid if I use aluminum which would be easy to turn, but I'm afraid over time the aluminum would look crappy after heavy use. I'm not sure but would be willing to try if anyone else has any experience with aluminum end caps.

Ideally I would just like to order something from like McMaster but can't find anything that would work well there (massive site)

 

[raevans]

Not sure how wide your tamper will be, but possibly part of a used shell casing. You could always cut it down some and then fit it over the end of the tamper.

 

[cobguy]

Diamond burr bits work great and come in many shapes and sizes ... I like the concave bits.

 

[ejames]

What kind of wood are you using? A hard dense wood really does not need any metal to protect it. The tamper is not in direct contact with the ember long enough for it to get very hot. There's a great many wood tampers out there without any metal,especially briar tampers. If you want to use a metal tip, you might try brass. I know a guy who turns brass tips for his tampers on a wood lathe. A 1/4"-20 or even 5/16" brass bolt might be a good option. Grind or turn the head round and drill the tamper so bolt can be epoxied into it.
Edit- something I do sometimes is turn a tip out of briar if the material the tamper is made of is soft or an acrylic etc.

 

[mso489]

You aren't dealing with high, prolonged heat nor open flame, so I would think a brass washer might do the trick, held in place with adhesive or a flat-head screw wider than the hole in the washer. You don't want to add much weight, so I'd get as small as is practical.

 

[joshb83]

I agree with the plain wood tipped tamper. Like has been said, the end won't touch the ember for a prolonged time, plus I think you could really get some nice designs into you tamper if you chose as well as it would limit chemicals such as epoxy and other glues. No matter what you choose to go with, I think pictures of the final product would be awesome!

 

[igloo]

Small brass welch plugs or oil galley plugs from a good auto parts store work well .

 

[jkrug]

Lots of good suggestions. Post up some pics when you are done your tampers as I would love to see them.

I'm currently making dome from apple wood and 38 special brass.

 

[winton]

I use the case from a 45 or 38 shell. Recently I picked up 250 of them from a gun shop for about $25. A buffing wheel cleans them up, but I found that my rock tumbler is much easier. If you are only doing a few, ask your wife for some brash polish. Below are a Morta and an Oak tamper with 45s.

 

[bigpond]

Another vote for bare wood. Make is slightly concave and you're good to go.

 

[johnnyreb]

A small copper cap looks really sharp. You can get them sized down to a 1/4" at the hardware store back with the copper tubing. Easily malleable, you can shape the tip to whatever you like.

 

[huntertrw]

Titanium.

 

[mikedealer]

Great tips guys thank you very much. Bullet casing good idea, but after reading I may go bare wood, I usually don't stomp the tamper in the Pipe while lit like crazy so bare wood. I am using walnut hardwood so should standup just fine. Will get some pictures up here soon, can't upload with iPad and don't have computer at home at the moment.
Had couple ideas last night, now 3 friends want me to make them one too, so I'm working at 4 on one time now haha. Going to be a tamper at one end, spoon on other end, and inside going to have a metal rod pick that unscrews. Working on design today. Thanks for the ideas guys.

 

[mso489]

Remembering now that a golf tee makes a fine tamper -- I keep one unobtrusively in the kitchen -- wood works fine. Under a dusting of ash, it doesn't even burn off the paint.