511. “Condenser Work on Your House Pipe,” A Letter from Gary Hamilton to James Walsh
Last Call! THE MOTH DEMONSTRATOR see end of post for ordering Photo by Dan Chasin PPN's limited edition “eclipse”of Moth Demonstrators has almost flown. Thanks everyone for your patience. As she approaches her second retirement, Gigi's work as a librarian has been intense, and she didn't begin sending out invoices until this past Friday. US Price: $15, which includes shipping. If you order more than one, Gigi will combine shipping for you. Outside of the US Price: $20, which includes shipping. If you order more than one, Gigi will combine shipping. DEMONSTRATOR MOTH ORDER FORM One of the benefits of going to a pipe show are all the folk you meet and become better acquainted with. My friend Gary Hamilton you know, of course, from his many posts on the blog. At some point during the show, he and James Walsh connected and Gary agreed to make a condenser for one of James's beautiful House Pipes. I don't know anything about it except that Gary said it's from the Early Republic era, which in and of itself makes it a remarkable piece as I don't think I've ever seen one dating this far into the 20th century. But I'll let Gary tell you about it. CONDENSER WORK ON YOUR HOUSE PIPE by Gary Hamilton CPG Hi James, Thought I'd give you a quick update on the condenser work on your House Pipe. I was able to identify the existing threads in the stem's tenon as being metric, a M9x0.75 configuration. It turns out this is quite an anomaly in the metric thread system. Typically for such a large thread diameter, being 9mm, the thread pitch would typically be 1.0 or 1.25mm - but in this case it turned out to be 0.75mm, which in looking at some of my old machinist and engineering books was classed as a fine, or extra fine thread, as based on the larger 9mm diameter. As luck would have it, we have an old (established 1960) hardware store here in Kerrville, and they have always had tons of neat old hardware and tool items. Their inventory was superb back some 25 years ago when I first moved here, and it still is great, but as times change so does the inventory. Anyway, I stopped in and asked about some metric taps and dies...Wow! Success, they had this obscure metric set...I was all smiles at the checkout counter. So, here is where I'm at on your pipe work. The threads in the stem's tenon have been recut / reconditioned and I've tried to capture that in the photos attached. (I'm not the greatest at photos) Also shown in the photos is the start of the work on the condenser. The threads are cut, and it makes up into the stem like butter, really smooth. I was surprised with the threads being really fine like they are. I measured the diameter of the draft hole at the base of the threads inside the tenon,…