Winegums' Woodcraft

[Winegums]

Here's what I have for steel core blanks at the moment. I picked out some figured claro walnut and I'm really loving the wood so far. @little maggie @Prolusio

And here's a few more body size blanks.

 

[ArthurJ]

Dude you're killin me, I really like that top left piece of wood.

 

[Winegums]

I decided to keep one of my slim pieces and tried it out condenserless and WOW. What a difference it makes to diffuse the vapour into a larger space. It cools it down to a much more bearable temperature and doesn't burn my lips anymore. You can actually feel the amount of heat the stainless tube pulls from the vapour because the stem gets fairly warm when you're using it. Sure it's going to drop out a little more vapour on the walls but that's a worthy trade off for me.

 

[scalescliffs]

Thanks, @Winegums! Awesome service - you were so patient and cool throughout the whole process and made and shipped my order really fast. Already looking forward to what we can come up with next. The steel liner makes this so much stronger than my stock blackwood body that was already showing cracks after a week.

 

[Winegums]

Hey guys, three slim steel core stems are up in my Etsy Store now. I'll have some more time on the lathe tomorrow morning and will get a couple of the body length pieces done.

Slim means that it will fit into a Dynastash, and the plastic tubes they ship out with.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/517279115/slim-steel-core-stem-1-for-vapcap-uni SOLD

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/517279239/slim-steel-core-stem-2-for-vapcap-uni

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/517279407/slim-steel-core-stem-3-for-vapcap-uni SOLD

 

[Jen]

These are beautiful! I just ordered my Omni over the weekend, it'll be my first vapcap. I'll be looking to pick up a piece from you soon! Thanks for posting the pics.

 

[Winegums]

Wow, I'm surprised all those slim stems are already gone! It hasn't even been 8 hours. I'll get to work shipping them out on Monday for all that ordered. I'm really happy for all the business from everyone, it has gone beyond what I ever imagined would come out of making these. I'm having a lot of fun so far and will continue to improve my products as I have more materials and tools available.

 

[duff]

Wow, I'm surprised all those slim stems are already gone!

You shouldn't be. Beautiful work that folks are proud to own.
By the way, I love that you have a store to browse. That makes it much easier for dopes like me.

Now please go post mine!

 

[Winegums]

I was able to finish two more stems this morning and will have some more done tomorrow after I've shipped out the pieces that have sold. The smaller one is a body length and the other is made from the same Claro Walnut as the other slim stem I posted yesterday. Only this stem is all heart wood and lacks the white and black contrast, it makes up for it with beautiful streaks running through the wood.

 

[ArthurJ]

I like that walnut!

 

[The Beagle]

How stubby are you looking for? Minimal size piece for 14mm?

If you can give me a minimum amount of wood you want sticking out of the glass joint I can make it.

Hi, I'm still interested in a stubby Vapcap WonG with ss lining, the shorter the better. It should stick out from the glass joint just enough to allow enough room to operate the carb hole. But now the question is: can you drill a carb hole into a steel lined stem? I guess it should be possible using two different drill bits.

 

[Winegums]

Hi, I'm still interested in a stubby Vapcap WonG with ss lining, the shorter the better. It should stick out from the glass joint just enough to allow enough room to operate the carb hole. But now the question is: can you drill a carb hole into a steel lined stem? I guess it should be possible using two different drill bits.

Drilling a carb hole is no problem. What size of glass joint?

An 18mm vong is pretty stubby at the body length.

A 14mm vong body might be able to lose a bit more length.

Either size you go with I can make a minimal length.

 

[Winegums]

So I've got an idea for some stems that will split apart in the middle with two magnetic halves. This is to slim down what you need to carry in your pocket and also to remove the cap while it is hot. I found it an issue yesterday when I was at band practice and I didn't have any magnet on hand. It'll be really nice if it works out how I'm thinking. The parts are in the mail so that won't project likely won't start until next week.

Arriving this week is some titanium and nickel plate that I'll hopefully use as accents. I'm still working on how to incorporate metal rings in my designs and it's proving harder than expected. It would be a lot easier if I had a bigger lathe to do my machining on. I've got some other ways of doing things but it's not going to be the easiest of tasks. In the end I feel it will be worth the effort as the rings are really beautiful when polished.

 

[Jah1975]

Dammit.....every time I'm ready to order something you mention another new cool thing!

I have to break the cycle and grab the next thing I see!

 

[Winegums]

Here's what I came up with for a prototype of the metal rings. It's really really hard to make these and it takes about 3 times as long. I'm keeping this as a prototype and will not be making these bronze and copper rings unless it is a custom order. There's just too much work involved to do it as a regular thing.

 

[duff]

I found it an issue yesterday when I was at band practice and I didn't have any magnet on hand.

That's what the top of my amp was for back in my day.

The prototype of course looks stunning.

 

[Winegums]

Thanks @duff

Dammit.....every time I'm ready to order something you mention another new cool thing!

I have to break the cycle and grab the next thing I see!

It's hard for me to even make anything for myself because I know something cool is coming. So I tell myself, I'll wait until I have the parts for the next thing then I'll finally make one for myself. Then what ends up happening is I have a stem that doesn't make the grade and end up keeping it. The prototype I just made is full of flaws that bother me enough that I won't sell it. I think I'm getting close in my innovations that I'll actually make something for myself.

The magnetic stem that splits in two might take some design work but I think it has some huge potential. It would allow me to offer a stem with different mouth pieces for 14mm, 18mm, or even a nice slim mouth piece. I'll sketch something and post it soon.

 

[Winegums]

Here's the magnet concept with a standard condenser in the middle.

 

[scalescliffs]

I'm good with the wood!

Fresh application of a beeswax face/lip balm (ingredients beeswax, propolis (bee parts! ew!), and a little olive oil) has this stuff looking really lustrous and nice. The WonG body needed it after I gave it a real nice cleaning - it was looking ashy and dry. A little run of the stick across the body and a big of massaging and now it looks, well, PRETTY AWESOME IN MY BOOK!!

 

[Winegums]

I'm good with the wood!

Fresh application of a beeswax face/lip balm (ingredients beeswax, propolis (bee parts! ew!), and a little olive oil) has this stuff looking really lustrous and nice. The WonG body needed it after I gave it a real nice cleaning - it was looking ashy and dry. A little run of the stick across the body and a big of massaging and now it looks, well, PRETTY AWESOME IN MY BOOK!!

That looks great with the cocobolo!

Over time it should need less and less wax to keep it looking good.

 

[Winegums]

Hey guys, I've got another batch of slim stems going up in my store tomorrow.

The three on top are body size and the bottom stem is African stink wood that was salvaged from ship beams. The grain is extremely fine and the wood is hard as rock. The white flecks are tubes that run the length of the wood, they're still full of sap that dried.

These are not VonGs if anyone is wondering, I will always specify if they are designed to fit a glass joint.

 

[phattpiggie]

@GreenHopper I did a mock up instead of drawing.
If you imagine the SS sleeve being 2 pieces with male and female threading. The 45' tapered ends fixed to the SS.

Load up the cork and metal rings and screw it all together. The cork would be under compression which should give it a bit of extra strength. As long as it isn't screwed up tight you'd be able to undo it all and swap out the cork when it was past it's best.

This kind of work is beyond me with my current tooling but I'm more than happy to share ideas.

 

[GreenHopper]

@GreenHopper I did a mock up instead of drawing.
If you imagine the SS sleeve being 2 pieces with male and female threading. The 45' tapered ends fixed to the SS.

Load up the cork and metal rings and screw it all together. The cork would be under compression which should give it a bit of extra strength. As long as it isn't screwed up tight you'd be able to undo it all and swap out the cork when it was past it's best.

This kind of work is beyond me with my current tooling but I'm more than happy to share ideas.

Hi ya bud, nice mock-up and great idea.

It might be possible to get SS tubes pre threaded maybe .

How did you do your mock up, is that just a threaded bolt to concept the idea or did you actually use 'tap and die' to thread the SS tube?

 

[phattpiggie]

@GreenHopper You'd need to get a piece of 10mm with a thick wall.
It would need a bit more investigation but I think a 10x1 or 10x0.75 thread would do it, with a 10 x 1.5mm wall tube.
My picture uses a threaded sleeve and tube which are too big, the SS is 12mm OD.
The threaded piece is steel and from an old light fitting. Just mocked up to prove the concept.

 

[GreenHopper]

@GreenHopper You'd need to get a piece of 10mm with a thick wall.
It would need a bit more investigation but I think a 10x1 or 10x0.75 thread would do it, with a 10 x 1.5mm wall tube.
My picture uses a threaded sleeve and tube which are too big, the SS is 12mm OD.
The threaded piece is steel and from an old light fitting. Just mocked up to prove the concept.

Cool, thanks for sharing your mock up, the cork design is currently on the back burner while @Winegums is working on the fretboard design.

I'm after one of those beautiful 'Indian Summer' with 'Blackwood' ends from yourself @phattpiggie so there is plenty of time to figure out the cork design and come back to you.

Thanks again.