Bamboo Shanks: Difference between revisions

At this point we have a bamboo shank! Now shape the stem and complete the shape of the stummel, and you will have a wonderful smoking instrument. One pointer: shape the stummel almost completely before you epoxy the bamboo on. You do not want to lose all the work of preparing the bamboo because you find a killer pit in the stummel after you epoxied on the bamboo! You may want to insert a piece of the rod into the draught hole as you shape the stummel in order to serve as a reference for the angle the shank will enter the stummel. This should give you a reference for making a nice shape that matches the angle of the shank. Another note: using the method described above, there is no seperate mortise hole that allows for the stem to be on a different angle than the draught hole. This limits the angles that one can make and still end up with enough wood at the bottom of the bowl without having to have the shank enter the side of the pipe.