Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by petercp4e

When it comes to boats, I've had more than my share.
No truer words have ever been written or spoken.

Only one boat still does it for me...

Donzi

Pete <:-}

Kinda goes with your choice of razors, Pete. $$$$

Something from a few days ago. Had a Dovo come in for honing, for a new member. Its his only Razor, so I cleaned up n honed a nice vintage razor sent by JP5, to send back with it.











Now were on to another for, Tjh

Hard to imagine you got the Lees as clean as you did. Nice job. Cant wait to see the oldie come back to life.

What all did you do to the Lee's Warranted Mike? Look a lot better.
Hope it honed easier than the Dovo!

Mike, Nice work, love the toe on the Lee’s.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I look at it as any metal which has been ...snip...
Annealing relaxes or normalizes the metal so it can be worked.
As you tap on the pins, they are getting work-hardened.

Why some seem to get to a point they won't go any more and we get pissed and bend the pin/bust the scales. Best to start off with a pin correctly sized and annealed to a softer state at the ends.
As-forging, normalization is often a first step, I understand.
...snip...

Thank you Tom, you explain it quite well. Even with the explanation, without the experience of getting pissed off at bending pins in the middle even after thinking I was doing everything right, I still probably wouldn't get it.
It totally makes sense now!
So, I had annealed the pins on the tips and not the middle, so that the tips were softer than the middle.
BUT I didn't file the pin down enough. This is critical I now know. Because as you said, the pin-head became "worked" enough that it no longer was weaker/softer than the middle... And the middle bent!
I'll be pinning several razors soon, and am glad for this info.
Thank you Sir!

So I've got 6 shorties ready to be scaled, and my Reaper rescale, and 4 other blades needing scales.
I've prepared all these blades over the last month or so, and am waiting on a pinning hammer and a Japanese pull saw.

Alas my work is delayed, I've got the funeral of my best friend from military academy to attend this coming week and have been asked to be a pallbearer and give a eulogy.

So I'm appreciating the great posts here to take my mind away.
Remember to give a call to a loved one, you never know.
Cheers Gentlemen!

According to the last knife maker in Sheffield, filing the hardened end of a pin with a smooth file will re-annealed the pin end It works for me.
YMMV
~Richards
PS. The guy what wrote the book is Stan Shaw. Fund him on YouTube also.

More honey horn, Mike!

MikeT:
I don’t bother annealing pins unless it’s ivory or mother of pearl, for extra safety. Pin length is critical for nice pinning job and no bending, sounds like you’re figuring that out on your own.
I cut my pins long like at least a 1/4”, stick it in my anvil on my vice and done it over, just a bit more than necessary to hold the washer on and be flush with it or just a bit taller depending on how much “dome” I want, pay attention to that heightabove the washer you chose on side you domed first, you’ll use that same height plus a tiny bit like less than a 1/64” after you’ve filed the second side flat. Once I assemble pin and all the washers I just peen the second side until it matches the first then start switching back and forth every 10-20 taps. Do not hit the center of the pin until you’re done, just hit the center to even out the dome and to get en even finish.

One other trick I’ve found works nice is rocking the pin on the anvil while tapping the other side, seems to keep things nice and even. Hammer in circles too constantly checking that you’ve got an even lip all the way around.

Well said!
~Richard

I see, so the annealing is not as important as the amount left after filling.. This does make sense.
The rocking feels the most comfortable way so far for me.

Come to think of it, the nickel silver pins with too much left for a dome are the ones I had issues with.

Thanks for the suggestion Richard, the smooth file I'll try.