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Pipemaking Once I decide on the shape I’ll take the block to the band saw and cut off the excess briar.  After that I go to the 6 inch sanding disk with very aggressive grit and start shaping.  Once the shape is roughed out I’ll wet down the briar again to see the grain and make shape changes as needed.  From there I go to a 3 inch sanding disk on a flex shaft. And continue to work on the finer details of the shape. 
Once the shape is roughed out I draw a lateral line all the way around the briar. This is used as reference once I begin drilling. The next step is to mark in the points where I’ll drill the mortise, tobacco chamber, and draught hole.  Once these are all drawn on the briar I’ll add a drop of epoxy to each point that the tailstock of the lathe will rest on. This is to avoid the tailstock from penetrating the briar when the pipe is being pushed into the drill bit on the headstock.
The next step is to drill the mortise, face the shank, then drill the draught hole and tobacco chamber in that order. Drilling freehand on the lathe requires me to hold the stummel still with my hand while advancing the tailstock and stummel into the drill bit. The pictures below don't show this.    Facing the shank is accomplished by inserting a steel rod the same diameter as the mortise into the mortise. After that I’ll chuck the rod into my 3-jawed chuck and face the shank using the tool on the cross slide. At this point I can also shape the tenon round if I want to. Drilling in this way allows for very accurate drilling as well it enables me to orient the grain in the briar to the best possible effect. I’m not restricted by having to chuck the briar into a 2-jawed chuck or a vice on a drill press. I still use a 2 jawed chuck on occasion – mostly when I’m making classic shapes, but otherwise this is the way I drill my pipes.
At last the pipe is shaped and drilled the only thing left to do is to add a Delrin sleeve into the mortise. The pipe comes off the lathe; I score the interior of the mortise for better glue adhesion and glue a crosshatched Delrin sleeve into the mortise.
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