Dave Atherton

Picture Gallery

Blowpipes

My blowpipes are made to last. Typical brass-lined blowpipes do not work. They almost always end up cracking the wood. This is because the wood moves due to moisture content, and the brass does not. This puts a lot of stress on the wood and the blowpipe ends up cracking. My blowpipes are made with seven parts. The parts are; the wood, a brass tenon, a brass tube (which never touches the wood at any point) an aluminum tip, two O-rings, and the projecting mount. The blowpipe ID is .375. The bore through the wood is .422.

In this picture you can see the African blackwood blowpipe before the brass and aluminum is fitted. There is a 24 tpi thread on the mount end, and a 30 tpi thread on the mouthpiece

Close-up of the 30 tpi thread that will accept the aluminum tip and thread.
An O-ring is also installed under the tip and around the brass tube.

The other end of the blowpipe with a 24 tpi thread that accepts the threaded brass tenon. The mount is threaded on the OD of this brass.

Close-up of the brass tenon threaded on the wood.

The brass tube doesn't touch the ID of the wood. An O-ring fits over the brass tube at this point and the aluminum tip is then threaded into place. Everything is then glued together for a lifetime fit.

The aluminum tip with 30 tpi external thread. The brass can be seen on the ID of the aluminum.

The full assembly before the projecting mount is installed.

The final step. Threading and gluing the projecting mount into place. This making of these blowpipes are labor intensive.

View of a Castello Boxwood projecting mount on a blowpipe.
The picture shows the clean facing of the mount with the brass tenon.

A finished projecting mount made from Castello Boxwood.