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Notes on straightening a blowpipe.

All pipes get bent. Even the super duty heavy wall steel shaft pipes can get bent. Sturdy pipes are more resistant to bending, but they are also harder to straighten as well as a burden to carry around for 20 or more years. Select blowpipes that best suite the product and process, and learn how to take care of them. As a professional glassmaker, you should know how to maintain your tools. If you can learn to make neat gathers and keep a gather on center, you can learn to straighten your pipes and punties. Paying a vendor to straighten and clean a pipe is a waste of time and money. Pipes can be checked before each session as the glory hole heats up. Pipes can also be straightened more or less on the fly with a piece attached if you should have a momentary lapse of consciousness and drop the pipe or let it roll off the end of the bench.

It is not assumed you will be straightening a pretzeled blowpipe every day. If a pipe falls over from a short bucket or gets dropped, it will have a single bend somewhere on the shaft. The bend might be localized as in the case of a hot pipe being dropped down onto the right arm of a standard bench, or an overall bend from end to end from falling over onto the floor. Either way, it will be a single bend and you will straighten the pipe before reusing it.

With simple tools and knowledge, there is no reason to use a bent pipe or to use a bent pipe and add additional bends. "S" bent pipes are not anticipated or accepted. Anyone causing a blowpipe or punty to suffer multiple bends is not working in a professional manner.

You do not need a dial indicator; you can use a soda can placed behind the pipe and look for relative motion up/down as you turn the pipe. You can also use a marking pen. Holding the pen, rest your hand on the table and slowly bring it to the turning shaft to leave a small mark indicating the high point.

The basic message is: You do not need clamps, hammers, or torches to straighten a blowpipe. You might need a wooden mallet fashioned from a 2x4 or maybe grandma's old rolling pin and some heat from the glory hole if you have a bad kink at the weld. Even bent welds can be straightened by hand provided you have the weight and strong wrists.

Turning the pipe on the rollers will reveal the wobble. Stop turning with the maximum bend at top dead center and press down using your hands. You will quickly become familiar with the amount of pressure required to cause the pipe to take a new set.

If you do not press down hard enough, the pipe will remain bent as before. If you press too hard, the shaft will simply be bent to the opposite side and you will repeat the process of finding top dead center and pressing down.

This process covers all pipes up to and including 7/8 inch blowpipes. Larger pipes require more pressure than simply pressing. You may need to sit on a heavy 1" pipe and whack the shaft with a mallet to realign the shaft.

Place the rollers 24 inches apart with the dial indicator mid way between.

As shown below, start with the weld on one roller to straighten the lower section.

Then shift the pipe 12 inches or to the point where the lower collar is near the roller.

Shift the pipe further to support the shaft near the mouthpiece. Depending on the handle placement, it might be necessary to place the mouthpiece on the rollers. Be careful not to damage the mouthpiece.

The last area to check is the weld. The head should first be properly cleaned of all glass and loose scale. It may be necessary to heat the pipe and whack the head with a wooden mallet or stick to fix a bent weld.

Repeat each section to check and fine tune. Also, place the pipe at intermediate positions. Removing a bend in one section may cause another portion of the pipe to go off axis.

Please consider this process as written and contact me with any suggestions to improve the process. Thank you for your time and best wishes to all.  Ed Skeels