Thread: Annealing rod for pins

Originally Posted by UKRob

Thanks Tom. I guess that's a good enough reason to buy a propane torch. Maybe I could get away with buying one for my wife for Christmas and telling her it's for caramelising sugar when she's baking.

Actually she'd know that's a lie because she never bakes.

I am not sure if it would get hot enough but I have a gas soldering iron that has a heat gun style attachment, and a soldering iron is always useful.

By chamfering the hole in the scale a bit by using the flute of a larger bit, the rod has a good place to fill as you peen without putting undue stress on the scale. Also, keep in mind that pins swell as peened, so be sure to oversize the hole a bit as well. Doing this has cut down on the cracks immeasurably for me.

Originally Posted by Lemur

All you need is a candle/oil lamp and a plastic straw if you want to go all MacGyver over it.

Melt the tip of the straw so you only get a very small hole, when you blow at your hand with it it should tickle.
You can now use that thin air flow to blow thru the flame of the candle, when you do it right you will get a blue pointy flame.
Hold the pin you want to anneal with an old tweezer or such.

I fused a wedding ring at the local pub like that, cleaned it in boiling water and baking soda, held it with a snail plier, the whole pub gathered around to see.

That takes me back a bit, Lemur - nearly 40 yrs to when I was learning basic silversmithing. We had ' blowtorches' that were just like that, a feeble gas flame at one end and a mouthpiece. If you wanted more heat you had to blow harder.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by UKRob

...
On the subject of washerless peening, you see lots of old ivory scales with fractures which suggests to me that it is inherently risky. However, the very fact that hundreds of thousands of razors were produced this way is counter to my argument, so it suggests that there is safer way to do it. I look forward to being educated on the matter.

Rob

Definitely risky, but I doubt that cracked vintage ivory scales had much to do with poor peening, they were luxury items then and would never have been sold in that condition, obviously.

IMO it has more to do with swelling and shrinking over the years and poor maintenance. I have a large box full of ivory scales that cracked at the pivot and wedge. Not only do we have the natural propensity for ivory to take on and lose water vapour, swelling and shrinking as it does, but there is also the different coefficients for this in the steel of the blade, brass pis and lead wedge.

Most scales in that box, though not all, are cracked on the back. Indeed I have a 7 day set all bar one with cracks on the back. There has to be a reason, and I think it has something to do with laying the razor on its side after shaving without having dried it properly, or in sunlight.

Both cases would cause one scale to move at a dii
fferent rate, the lower scale would get wetter in case 1 and swell more than the top. In the 2nd case the upper scale would become warmer. This could cause it to swell, or lose water vapour and shrink.

Most scales that I have that are badly affected show signs of neglect, like rust stains and green stains from brass friction washers, plus severe discolouration caused by over oiling. All these suggest water as the agent that caused the crack.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by UKRob

Actually the question was aimed at working with ivory and totoiseshell - I did try a washerless peen on a piece of ivory and it broke at the pivot hole - despite using minimum pressure with my (very shiny) peening hammer. I would appreciate any tips on how to avoid this i.e. 'you're doing it wrong' reference above.

On the subject of washerless peening, you see lots of old ivory scales with fractures which suggests to me that it is inherently risky. However, the very fact that hundreds of thousands of razors were produced this way is counter to my argument, so it suggests that there is safer way to do it. I look forward to being educated on the matter.

Rob

As far as doing it yourself, I've done a bit of collarless peening on mostly ivory and some horn with success. I always make the hole in the scales larger than the diameter of the pin, maybe somewhere in the 0.2-0.5 mm range. The pin will expand when you peen it, so giving it room avoids this (as long as you don't hit the scales with your hammer of course).

Two thoughts:
The last of the apprenticed UK knife makers (Stan Shaw) says to use a tapered hole in the scale and a slightly larger through hole. His specialty was MOP and Ivory scales!
A cheap brulé torch works well, some available at less than $10 US.:

~Richard

Neil, That takes me back a bit, Lemur - nearly 40 yrs to when I was learning basic silversmithing. We had ' blowtorches' that were just like that, a feeble gas flame at one end and a mouthpiece. If you wanted more heat you had to blow harder.
Regards,
Neil

Yes Neil, I remember those days!

Originally Posted by Geezer

Two thoughts:
The last of the apprenticed UK knife makers (Stan Shaw) says to use a tapered hole in the scale and a slightly larger through hole. His specialty was MOP and Ivory scales!
A cheap brulé torch works well, some available at less than $10 US.:

~Richard

Yes Neil, I remember those days!

Ah I'd forgotten about that. Do you have a link? I'm curious about what exactly his setup is.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Ah I'd forgotten about that. Do you have a link? I'm curious about what exactly his setup is.

He wrote a wonderful book about Sheffield cutlery as he knew it.
One source is:
"Stan Shaw, Master Cutler"
Stan Shaw Masater Cutler, The Story of a Sheffield Craftsman Book
~Richard

Originally Posted by UKRob

Actually the question was aimed at working with ivory and totoiseshell - I did try a washerless peen on a piece of ivory and it broke at the pivot hole - despite using minimum pressure with my (very shiny) peening hammer. I would appreciate any tips on how to avoid this i.e. 'you're doing it wrong' reference above.

On the subject of washerless peening, you see lots of old ivory scales with fractures which suggests to me that it is inherently risky. However, the very fact that hundreds of thousands of razors were produced this way is counter to my argument, so it suggests that there is safer way to do it. I look forward to being educated on the matter.

Rob

I think between Neil and Richard, you've got the info you likely need... But yeah, my comment about 'doing it wrong' was aimed squarely at cracking *non-ivory* scales. Cracking ivory scales... Well, yeah. What Neil said about it. There's a reason horn is my favorite scale material. Every set of ivory I've re-pinned, I've always drilled out the holes so the rod wasn't snug, and that's likely why I've had the extraordinary luck of never cracking a set (while putting them ON... taking off is a whole 'nother matter).

Also, I have annealed with a creme brule torch. It works great!