| Home About Stefan Restoration Work Pipes for Sale Work Shop Good Places to See Contact |
I, like many us with workshops, think that there is never enough room. The pictures below show you the meat of it. I do all design work in my office surrounded by my pipe collection. Maybe someday I will show that here as it is part of the creative process. |
 |
Buffing Station: The two wheels on this station
are always the same. The darker wheel is for tripoli and is only used
for quick 'hard' buffing. The lighter wheel is used for a the white
polishing compuund. This motor runs at a higher RPM than recommended
but that works well for the polishing buff. I have found that slower
speeds with this particular compound ends up with a cloudy appearance
on the stem. I don't like that one bit, hence the preference for a
higher speed.
|
 |
Main Work Bench 1: In the centre you will notice a
variable speed lathe head with my waxing buff on it. This is my main
work station as I can change the working piece on the lathe head
depending on what I need to do. To the left of the head you will see
some chucks with different drill, counter sinks, reamers and rasps that
I use. You will also see a variety of sanding wheels, split mandrels
and one of many hard felt wheels used for staining and Brigham pinning.
No, you are not seeing things, there is rust proof paint on the shelf.
I will leave that to your imagination.
|
 |
Main Work Bench 2: The Foredom Tool: This is an indispensible piece
of equipment. Its uses are too many to name here suffice to say it is
used very frequently. My little compressor is just one of those you get
at any home supply store. I do not do sandblasting, so this size suits
my needs.
|
 |
Band Saw: Everybody needs one. This came
from the Brigham factory and is portable so it was wheeled around as
needed. They also had a bigger one, but this one fits better. To the
right is the beer fridge, but you probably already knew that. (I keep
the Scotch in my office).
|
 |
Machine Lathe: It may be small, but it is
mighty! This fellow has been used to turn bowls, replacement shanks,
tenons and stems. The bed is only 10" but this lathe is has proven
itself capable of great deeds. Craftex is the particular name of this
brand, but you can get the same lathe with a longer bed at many other
tool suppliers like Grizzly in the US. I am not particularly endorsing them, just an example.
|
 |
Drill and Tenon Presses: My drill press is
the second one I have purchased. The first was just too weak. This one
is more versatile and was on sale, and you can always win when things
go on sale. The vice that you see comes from Lee Valley and is designed
for pen making. What is great about it is the fact that it is self
centering and holds stem stock very well.
The tenon press is one of the custom pieces of equipment from the Brigham factory. It used to be an old drill press way back when. It probably died and was converted into this one function tool. The tenon is inserted where the chuck would be and the stem in the self centering vice. Just pull and in goes the tenon. |
 |
The Ultimate Behemoth: This picture does
not give you a complete look at this beast. I hade to make three trips
to the car when I brought it home. This was one work station in the
Brigham factory. In the days when Brigham produced tens of thousands of
pipes a year, it was used to bore and turn the shanks once the main
shape had been fraized (the work head on it here is for squaring and
mortise). That was when economies of scale required each station to
perform one step. This is essentially a vertical lathe (not a mill,
although I guess it could do that too). I use it for tobacco chambers,
Brigham system stem preparation, shanks and any other turning jobs that
may appear. They don't make them like this any more and I was lucky to
get it. A lot of open moving parts so you have to be careful when it is
going.
|
 |
Portable Workstation and Spares: This is my portable
work station that I use when doing promotions with local tobacconists.
As you can see it is a variable speed lathe head with motor and
light. It works very well but creates a great deal of dust seeing as I
do not have a portable dust collector to go with it. Hmmm.
You can also see some of my spares in behind (motor and lathe head). They would be put to good use if I had more room for another bench. |
 |
Everybody Needs Music: When I am working,
reading is out of the question, ergo, there is music. The digital
readout does not work anymore, so there are two presets that I use: CBC Radio 2 and JazzFM. Check them out if you like classical and jazz. Oh yeah, three presets. I forgot Q107 classic rock (to many commercials though).
|