Problems Peening

Looking for some answers.
Have a newly finished set of scales that I'm trying to peen at the pivot but the my brass rod is bending every time. This becomes a problem because the scales wont line up properly. Had no real problem with the wedge. I tried different washers, shortening the length of the brass rod. To this point nothing has worked. Just as the rod begins to mushroom everything seems to go badly.

• :banghead:

I hope that some of the more experienced craftsmen on this site can offer some suggestions.
Thanks.

I've had the same problems. What I found out is my brass pin was a little too long. It really doesn't take a lot of pin sticking out of the scale. I would suggest getting some material and try some practice pins at different lengths. anyway that's what I did.

At what point is it bending ? By that I mean is it when you are preening the first side and the brass rod is long ? Are you securing the rod in anyway, such as in a vice ?

Without a picture of the issue I would guess the pin is to long and/or you are using to much force. I personally use a small 0.8 oz jewelers hammer. I have to hit it a lot more times, but with a little practice you can keep it going fairly fast.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Originally Posted by mike1011

At what point is it bending ? By that I mean is it when you are preening the first side and the brass rod is long ? Are you securing the rod in anyway, such as in a vice ?

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Initially I was keeping the rod a bit longer and working only one side to start mushroom and hold the washer in place. I would then cut the other side to length and work them back and forth. Then I tried cutting the rod to what I thought was the proper size and that didn't help. I'm using the anvil side of a vise. Beginning to wonder if there is a flaw in the scales that creates this problem.
Q: if the scales aren't perfectly symmetrical at the pivot (on side slightly thinner) would that cause this problem?

How big is the hole in the tang of the razor? If it is to big there is to much play and the rod will bend.

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Originally Posted by guitstik

How big is the hole in the tang of the razor? If it is to big there is to much play and the rod will bend.

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Thought about that but on previous rebuilds I didn't have problems. Using 1/16 brass rod. Are there other options?

A piece of brass tubing with 1/16 ID, drill the pivot so that the brass tube pits and cut it off and sand/file flush. One thing that I find helpful is to pre-peen one side so that I only have the other side to peen in the scales.

As mentioned without pics we can't be certain but about 1mm of pin probably to much to peen smooth,
And like most things with str8 you need to use a light touch only light hammer strokes with a small ball peen hammer, only hitting the sides of the pins slowly mushrooming it down,
I try not to hit the centre of the pin at all until pretty well finished.
Once the pin is getting tight if it looks to long just file it some more and peen the outer edges again until you are to the tightness you want.

i don't have a vice so I use a pair of vice grips to hold my pins so I can set the first side, then cut to length in place

The size of the pivot hole or the odd sized scales would make no difference I believe it is more to do with heavy handed peening, this what I found when i started,
do a test,
do a pin without the blade in so you can see the pin if you hit to hard it will bend.
I found this out trying to do a third pin with no tube as it took several attempts to not bend the pin, this is how I truly learnt that light hits are required

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I have another theory but will save that for another thread. Heading back out to give it another go.
Hopefully I will have some better results and pics to share.
Cheers!

Just a thought. I have one piece of rod that is simply too hard and does not peen well with the usual tap tap tap. A wap will bend it every time, so I haven't been using that piece. At some point I will try to aneel it. Length being just right is kind of a big deal too.

Every couple of years I'll get a piece of rod that is just to hard to peen into place. Unfortunately, it usually takes me about 3/4 of the rod to figure that out.
I'd try another piece of rod.

Try to make the pin shorter than you think will work. I start mine about 1 thickness of a washer at most. Try to hit everything BUT the middle of the pin. If that doesn't do it , get new pin material :<0)

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Originally Posted by 10Pups

Try to make the pin shorter than you think will work. I start mine about 1 thickness of a washer at most. Try to hit everything BUT the middle of the pin. If that doesn't do it , get new pin material :<0)

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Brass is often of inconsistent hardness. Google the WIKI about brass hardness.

Brass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I prefer to anneal my pin ends prier to peening. Ive also noticed if the pin material is too loose in relationship to all the corresponding holes in the scale, collars etc. it tends to give all the pieces a place to rack and shift. Ive bent many a pin because of to loose a pin in my scales. I would get done thinking I was finished only to find the scales are no longer perpendicular to one another. Although all that assembling and disassembling has made me very skillful in breaking down a razor without destroying the collars. A skill that people seem to disregard these days.

Attachment 174248

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Originally Posted by BWP1474

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I have another theory but will save that for another thread. Heading back out to give it another go.
Hopefully I will have some better results and pics to share.
Cheers!

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So this last time I really took my time and was able to get the pin in place without bending it. Still has some play but I think I can actually use it. I think I was getting too rushed to finish and was too heavy with the hammer.
I was also using custom brass washers and the interior hole was too large which required a really big mushroom at the pin. (More on that later.)
Thanks for all the advise.

BWP not sure on your plans or process,
but at this stage I polish my pins by rubbing on a coarse denim like cloth with the remnants of polish on it, doubled over on a hard surface,
this polishes the pins & washers & smooths out the peening makes, if light taps were used they will all smooth out completely to finish them off pretty quickly before final hand polishing the scales etc completed

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Originally Posted by Substance

BWP not sure on your plans or process,
but at this stage I polish my pins by rubbing on a coarse denim like cloth with the remnants of polish on it, doubled over on a hard surface,
this polishes the pins & washers & smooths out the peening makes, if light taps were used they will all smooth out completely to finish them off pretty quickly before final hand polishing the scales etc completed

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Thanks for the advise. At this time all I've done is work them a little with rubbing compound. The scales are finished with about 6 coats of CA glue. The pic doesn't show it but it really pops the wood grain. I purposely left a lot of photo details out because kind frankly my s_it ain't worthy, this being my first real attempt at scale building and finish.
I kind of feel like the guy who's bringing a mutt to the Westminster Dog Show.

There are so many guys here that do such stellar work it can be rather intimidating to show your work.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

There are so many guys here that do such stellar work it can be rather intimidating to show your work.

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Agreed. And they make it look really easy.