Thread: Annealing rod for pins

I was following a thread recently that discussed peening without washers and I think it was Pixelfixed who suggested annealing the rod beforehand. As I know nothing about this I assume that he meant that this would soften the rod and make it less likely to crack the scales.

So my question is - how do you go about this, in a domestic environment? i.e. I don't have a forge or any other source of fierce heat.

I start my propane torch and have a cup of water handy. Take your sized pin with the ends dressed flat and hold in the middle with needle nosed pliers. Touch the end of the pin to the blue flame for 25 or 30 secs. Just the end. Quench immediately. Turn pin around and do other side. I seem to have to heat silver longer than brass to get desired results. A gas stove flame works too!
Good Luck!

You don't even need the water. Let it air cool. After heating the only way to harden brass is to work it. I use a small induction heater. You don't want to get brass glowing red because the tin will separate and burn off. If the pin looks like copper after heating you got it to hot. Won't really hurt for use as a razor pin but will be a bit softer.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I start my propane torch and have a cup of water handy. Take your sized pin with the ends dressed flat and hold in the middle with needle nosed pliers. Touch the end of the pin to the blue flame for 25 or 30 secs. Just the end. Quench immediately. Turn pin around and do other side. I seem to have to heat silver longer than brass to get desired results. A gas stove flame works too!
Good Luck!

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.

Brass can also crack if subjected to thermic shock.

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.

I heat the tips and quench as I don't desire to anneal the whole pin, just the ends. If you anneal the whole pin, it will bend easily. The needle nose pliers act as a heat sink in the middle of the pin to draw the heat away before quenching!

Nicely timed! I was just reading old posts on this and was wondering if it was still a recommended practice. I'll takes these responses as a yes

Hah. I wrote out a big long thing on the assumption (because I didn't read closely) that you were working on ivory scales.

Well, if you are, that's one thing... But honestly, with most scale material (bakelite excluded -- oh how I hate bakelite), the main benefit of annealing the pins is that you can get the job done faster. If that means you're less likely to crack the scales, then you're doing it wrong.

Still, working with annealed pins is definitely easier. I've used a lot of different methods, but really, you can just hold the pin in an open flame and cool it with some forced air (I've got a small fan that I use in my garage to keep *me* from overheating in summer, and it works fine to cool pins too).

Another thing -- polish your hammer. It'll keep the pins cleaner, and in the event that you miss, it won't make as ugly a mark on your scales.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Hah. I wrote out a big long thing on the assumption (because I didn't read closely) that you were working on ivory scales.

Well, if you are, that's one thing... But honestly, with most scale material (bakelite excluded -- oh how I hate bakelite), the main benefit of annealing the pins is that you can get the job done faster. If that means you're less likely to crack the scales, then you're doing it wrong.

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