These tube-style snake pinners are a modification of a design by Paul Rowley of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His are made of PVC pipe cut in half and connected to a piece of dowel with steel L-brackets. Photographs of his original design can be seen here.

This modified form is based on the observation that the standard broomstick thread (in the U.S., at least) fits perfectly into a standard 1/2" PVC threaded pipe. This lets you build removable heads and not have as many handles cluttering up the place. And have different lengths of handle, and whatever. You also have fewer sharp hard objects near the business end where a snake can do something unexpected and hurt itself.

The thread sockets are 1-1/4" tee pieces, because that was the largest size that Home Depot (a large US DIY chain) had with a 1/2" threaded tee. They were cut in half at Home Depot using the large PVC cutting shears they make available for cutting pipe lengths. It takes four cuts to do it, two from each end. The midline to cut along is marked by a seam in the moulding the tee is made from, so it's easy to keep straight. In fact, except for the tee used as a small pinner directly, they are all cut slightly above the midline so they are less than 1/2 a circle.

When you do the cutting, angle the cuts slightly up in the middle so the resultant top half has concave surfaces and will stand its the four corners. This will sit stably, while a convex cut will rock and provide poor support. The pipe is cut in half with a PVC cutting saw, also available for use at Home Depot. It's easiest to cut down the middle of a long piece (minimum purchase size was 5'), and then cut the split part off. It's easiest to do most of the cutting with the saw at a steep angle, and only flatten out at the end to get the splits even. Doing it freehand, you'll end up with one piece that's slightly more than a semicircle and one piece that's slightly less. The piece that's slightly more is used to make the pinner. (If you have a table saw or bandsaw, you can probably do a neater job.)

Once you have your two pieces of PVC cut in half the long way, trim and file them smooth. Bevel the edges of the tee-piece to give a decent contact area with the half-pipe. Then glue the half-tee to the back of the half-pipe. The purple in the pictures is the primer for the glue. Once the pieces are sticking together reasonably well, drill a couple of screw holes through both pieces (from the top is usually easiest).

Countersink the screw heads in the inside of the pipe so there is no rough surface. Better the screw head is a little below the surface than sticking up above. Bolt the half-pipe to the half-tee to hold it together permanently. The glue prevents rattling, while the bolts provide the major mechanical strength.

Then the whole thing is wrapped in foam rubber. This was an el-cheapo sleeping pad found at a a camping store. The "better" ones were too stiff. It turns out that hot glue sticks to the stuff wonderfully. You just cut a strip a little wider than the pipe is long, and wrap it around the pipe.

This is best done in stages. I did one side of the outside, then a bead on the bottom edge, then the inside (in two pieces for the wide pipe) then the other edge, and then the last part of the outside. Find a cylinder of suitable diameter to hold the foam firmly agains the inside of the pipe while the glue cools. Note that because foam rubber is a good insulator, it will take longer to cool than you might think.

You can cut the foam rubber piece off the "main supply" when you've far enough donw you have an accurate length estimate. The foam is wrapped around the outside of the pipe to avoid hurting the snake's mouth if it strikes at the pinner while it's coming down. When this is done, add a little extra glue to any spots that you can lift up from the pipe, then trim the ends and seal them with more hot glue. (Best done in four steps - squeeze some glue in and pinch with your fingers.)

Summary of ingredients needed:

- Threaded broom handle
- 1-1/4" by 1/2" PVC tee, with threaded takeoff, cut in half.
- Piece of PVC pipe (I used 1-1/2" thin-wall, 2", and 3"), cut in half.
- PVC pipe primer and glue - 1" flat-head machine screws, with matching washer and nut.
- Thin foam rubber padding
- Hot glue - (optional) thread-locker (e.g. Loc-tite) for the bolts.

Tools required:

- PVC snips (can be borrowed at hardware store)
- PVC saw (can be borrowed at hardware store)
- Sharp knife (e.g. box knife, plane) and coarse file/rasp for smoothing edges
- Brushes for PVC glue
- Drill, with bot to match screws
- Countersink bit for drill
- Hot glue gun
- Cylinder of suitable diameter to hold foam inside pipe

Summary of steps:

- Cut tee in half
- Cut pipe in half and to length
- Smooth edges
- Bevel edges of tee to match curve of pipe
- Glue together
- Drill holes, countersink inside
- Bolt together
- Cut foam to width
- Glue foam on
- Seal edges

Disclaimer: Handling venomous snakes is dangerous and can result in serious injury or death. No book or web page alone can teach you how to safely handle venomous snakes. If you are not an experienced professional, don't try any of this stuff at home.