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Drilling
The example below will show the lathe used for drilling, but we
actually have several different drilling methods that we can use
depending on the requirements of a specific design. In this example,
the stummel is chucked into the lathe using a heavy-duty two-jawed
self-centering chuck designed for pipemaking, and a forstner bit is
mounted in the tailstock to flatten the end of the shank off. We can
turn the shank or the bowl round if we want to, or leave this shaping
to be done by hand later. Morta is much more difficult to turn smoothly
than briar is, and it wants to chip quite badly. Thus far I have found
it easier to simply do the bowl shaping later by hand, using sanding
discs, though that method also has some unusual challenges with morta.
Below you see the pipe ready for the drilling of the tobacco chamber. I
always drill the airhole first and drill down to it with the chamber
bit in order to get it perfectly level with the bowl bottom - I've
never been satisfied with the inaccuracy of "aiming" to try and get the
airhole bit to hit the bottom properly. In the picture below, the bowl
and shank have been turned on the lathe and tweaked with files, to no
great result as the surface is too chipped to use without serious
sanding by hand on the wheel.
The chamber has now been drilled and checked for a good relationship
with the airhole, and the pipe is ready for its detail shaping. The
interior of the chamber is inspected with a magnifying lens once again
to ensure that there are no hidden flaws which might compromise the
durability of the material during smoking.
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Talbert
Morta 
