Discontinued The Okin by D.M. Pipes

[Dan Morrison]

Been busy in the shop, went a few days without taking photos. oops.

I think I've finally settled on the final patina process.. It starts with a 2 day rusting process, then stripping back the rust with boiling vinegar, then dipping into hot green tea to darken the finish.

Here is what the steel looks like part way through rusting.

Three different examples of steel finishes. On the left - Bare metal, no rusting, etched in vinegar, dipped into green tea, repeat twice. IMO, this finish is too uniform, appears un-authentic.

On the right - Prototype tip that has been naturally aging for months. Started off looking a lot like the steel on the left, but not as dark. Over time it has really darkened up, and the tip closer to the charcoal has a really nice dark brown thing going on.

In the middle - This is the finish that I have settled on. Rusted, vinegar boil, green tea. The finish appears very aged, and will only get better with time.

I may do one last process to make the tips even darker, and add a bit of colour... I'll post some photos of my tester tomorrow.

Turning the cocobolo stem blanks!

Super nice grain!

Some bocote stems on the right. They will appear darker after finishing.

Drilled and faced the mortises for the mouthpieces.

Mouthpieces glued in. The two stems in the foreground are Brazilian teak, It's got some really cool grain upon closer inspection.

 

[EmDeemo]

Absolutely stunning Dan. Thanks, as always, for sharing. The close up of the cocobolo grain is amazing

 

[VegNVape]

Ahhhh! what a pleasure it is to wake up to such fine morning wood!

Beautiful.



Dan, will you marry me?

 

[EmDeemo]

Hang on, does this mean the first 10 or so are pretty much made?

CHRIST, THAT'S EXCITING!

 

[Dan Morrison]

Hang on, does this mean the first 10 or so are pretty much made?

CHRIST, THAT'S EXCITING!

Yep! Very close. The next batches will go faster now that all the tooling is in place.

 

[Madcap79]

Looks like mine might arrive by fall!? It'll be a perfect time to relax with it on the back deck!

 

[caphector]

Yep! Very close. The next batches will go faster now that all the tooling is in place.

I bet the answer is no, but is there any chance order #34 would be done & shipped before the 23rd? Would be amazing to have for my vacation this month.

 

[stickstones]

love the middle look you have settled on, Dan. And those stems are gorgeous!

 

[Dan Morrison]

@caphector , definitely not, sorry!

Drilling out the air holes with a super long drill bit! Unfortunately going into end grain a drill bit like this will pretty much always wander. Even after the most careful alignment, it will still come out the other end off-center. But, that's why we start with an over-sized diameter

For the next operation I needed a special tool to hold the stems on center. These blades were made from O1 tool steel.

...and fitted into a brass arbor. The brass pin fits into the center hole drilled into the stems, this keeps the hole perfectly on center so that the outside diameter can be trued up. The blades bite into the end-grain to drive the rotation.

Here, a stem blank is held on the arbor and turned to a smaller diameter. Now the air hole is perfectly centered in relation to the outside diameter, nullifying any drill-bit wander.

Here is the final step in the patina process, heating to form an oxide layer.

I shoot for the temperature range that gives me a combination of golds, purples, and blues.

Once you touch this oxide layer with your fingers, most of that vivid colouration disappears. The final result is a darker patina, with hints of colour. Here is a before and after. Now the patina is complete!

 

[Dafni]

Coming along nicely! Thanks for the updates!

How will you deal out those different steams among us first lucky 10??

cheers
Daf

 

[Dan Morrison]

This is my version of the poor mans CNC machine. This duplicator machine allows me to turn a stem from a rough blank to it's final shape.

The first thing to make for the duplicator is the brass template. It must be a perfect replica of the stem profile. A stem was placed on a piece of paper in the afternoon sun, the shadow was traced in pencil. Surprisingly this is a very accurate method.

The paper template was glued onto a plate of brass. The brass was then worked with hand files.

Here I am adjusting the position of the brass template, moving it in an out in relation to the center of the lathe spindle will adjust the final diameter size of the cut stem.

Here is a test stem, one of a handful that I turned from maple, just to get the settings dialed in. Once the position was set, I hammered some brass registration pins into the template and wood base to make it simple to reset if I ever wanted to use different templates in the future.

The wooden base clamps onto the dovetails of my lathe, so that it's also positioned exactly the same each time I use it. The wooden top surface must be perfectly flat and smooth.

You can also see the wooden holder for the lathe cutter and matching template follower on the left side of this photo.

Time to cut a stem!

Here you can see the cutter doing some cutting.

The cutter is paired to the matching template follower on the bottom. Whatever the follower followers, the cutter cuts.

The blank is cut to size, and only needs a little bit of sanding to clean it up.

Ten perfect duplicates. They were turned a tad over-sized so that I can hand shape/sand them to give each their own character. I don't like things to be perfectly round.

Anyhow, I'm very happy with the duplicator! It took a few days to make, and setup, but it's going to save me a ton of time in future runs!

Oh and I almost forgot... This grasshopper was crawling around the workbench and seemed to gravitate towards my open Okin box...

 

[Madcap79]

Awesome........Just AWESOME!

 

[sasNW]

I second that @Madcap79 , good god I love all the pictures. By far my favorite thread on FC.

All of your "poor man" workarounds(damn genius!) are so simple and impressive, makes me realize how much I take my CNC machines for granted

 

[EmDeemo]

I.... Just.... It's....

 

[EmDeemo]

Has anyone said 'funky cold patina!' yet?

 

[Wzfbaby7]

I love you Dan, please father my children.

 

[VegNVape]

I love you Dan, please father my children.

Oh not you as well?! Leave him alone.

HE'S MINE!!!

 

[Aezhenn]

Amazing work Dan!
It's so good to follow each step! Thank you!

 

[cawshook]

Grasshopper is like "you're stealing my customers bro"

 

[Fenton Mewley]

Grasshopper is like "you're stealing my customers bro"

Haha, not really. If the reddit threads on the Okin are any indication, lots of people are either really hesitant or disgusted with the thought of using coals.

The vaporents user base doesn't really like alternate heat sources. It's basically a lot of battery or nothing type folks over there. A small example is the VapCap. It was bashed over there, most called it an unworthy crack pipe, but it seems like there's a lot more enthusiasm for it, the Okin and other flame/butane vapes over here.


Anyways, thanks for the awesome pictures @Dan Morrison. It's always nice to see what's going on, especially with beautiful handcrafted works of art.

I'm wondering where/how you source the hardwood. I mean, I don't mind buying them but I would like to try to make my own too.

 

[stickstones]

@Dan Morrison that last post of yours is one of my all time favorites!

 

[Madcap79]

Haha, not really. If the reddit threads on the Okin are any indication, lots of people are either really hesitant or disgusted with the thought of using coals.

The vaporents user base doesn't really like alternate heat sources. It's basically a lot of battery or nothing type folks over there. A small example is the VapCap. It was bashed over there, most called it an unworthy crack pipe, but it seems like there's a lot more enthusiasm for it, the Okin and other flame/butane vapes over here.


Anyways, thanks for the awesome pictures @Dan Morrison. It's always nice to see what's going on, especially with beautiful handcrafted works of art.

I'm wondering where/how you source the hardwood. I mean, I don't mind buying them but I would like to try to make my own too.

F Reddit.

They don't know what they're missing. Both vapes you mentioned are elegant pieces of vapor equipment. Batteries are overrated.

 

[Ute]

Wow I haven't looked at the Okin in a while. Maybe 7 or 8 months. Got curious and came to check. Very nice work Dan.

My question is how much is it going to be and when could I pre-order one.

I'd gladly give you my money to be ahead of the queue.

Also I think the original posts did well on vaporents but that community has been going downhill the last 18 months or so.

 

[vapen00b]

So stoked. Dan, your truly are an artist... Everything is more than beautiful!
Even though I'm lurking here for a while and being inactive I love your work - and finally wanna say that! Artful pictures, I'm blown away - not to speak about the Okin itself. Amazing! Keep up your magnificent work - and thanks for letting us share the whole process, which is a lot of work also... Man, you deserve a lot. Thanks.

 

[Dan Morrison]

@Ute

Okin - $145 USD + $5 for painted box.

Maple Charcoal - $25 USD for 250 or $50 USD for 500

The pre-order for the first 50 Okins is already filled, sorry! But there will be more after that. PM me your email to get on the mailing list for updates.

So stoked. Dan, your truly are an artist... Everything is more than beautiful!
Even though I'm lurking here for a while and being inactive I love your work - and finally wanna say that! Artful pictures, I'm blown away - not to speak about the Okin itself. Amazing! Keep up your magnificent work - and thanks for letting us share the whole process, which is a lot of work also... Man, you deserve a lot. Thanks.