Turning Brass

[madwood]

My eldest son is an avid pipe smoker and has asked me to make him a tamper. He has requested a brass end on it. I am wondering just how to go about 1) affixing it to the tamper and 2) how to size it. Can brass be turned using HSS tools or should I grind/sand it to shape and then polish it. I kinda figured on using a brass bolt and epoxying it or threading it into the end of the tamper blank.

Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
John

 

[ahoiberg]

hey john, i made a tamper for myself a few months back. HSS tools could conceivably work, but i knew right away after trying that there had to be a better way. i ended up using a file to form a little tenon the same diameter as the hole i drilled in the acrylic blank. i think it was 5/16 or so. i also filed the tamping end to the approximate size i wanted it and turned the acrylic piece to a similar diameter. then i epoxied the brass piece into the chucked acrylic, let it cure and came back to finish the next day. i found out the hard way that acrylic doesn't like being filed, my piece melted, but i let it harden again and cut off the bad area on the bandsaw, which didn't leave me with much acrylic, but i ended up making a non-round shape using my belt sander and some sanding discs i have for pipe making. it actually turned out pretty cool. it was a lot of hand sanding though, so once you get that bottom area formed with the brass, use the lathe tools for the acrylic! good luck.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I use a roofing nail!

 

[rherrell]

I use an old 1/2" skew that I keep just for brass. Single cut mill file and silicon carbide sandpaper for finishing. Keep the RPM's down and take very light cuts.