Thread: Drilling and Pinning New Scales

All the more usefulness, of the pin vice.

This is a great tip and will keep the scales from splitting, go slow when pinning and use lite taps.

Seen a few of these scales on the bay and most were bent or had issues

But hope they work out for you look forward to seeing the finnished items

Wow, this is so much great advise, I should of come here when I was learning to straight shaved, wouldn't of looked like I used a lawn mower on my face. Yes, Substance one of the scales was bent, other two are perfect. Guess buyer beware applies. Please keep the advise coming. I will go buy a pin vise today.

Just a tip.

I use rubber cement to keep the scales together while I drill the holes and do the finish sanding.

When shape sanding the scales is "almost done", I carefully open up the wedge end of the scales and mount the wedge using a 1/16 bolt(s) and nut.
I then finish sanding the scales and have the wedge end matching the wedge.

I then dismount the wedge and rub off the rubber cement and finish the scales.

I got the idea for rubber cement from Lynn in one of his posts.

Originally Posted by ControllerBob

Wow, this is so much great advise, I should of come here when I was learning to straight shaved, wouldn't of looked like I used a lawn mower on my face. Yes, Substance one of the scales was bent, other two are perfect. Guess buyer beware applies. Please keep the advise coming. I will go buy a pin vise today.

The split tip drill bit is important too You may find the pin vise a little frustrating without one.

One thing that might help, you can use a drill bit that is slightly larger than your pin diameter. This tiny amount of "slop" will make proper alignment less of an issue and allow for a slighty misaligned hole. It won't have a negative effect on how solid the pivot pin is, especially when the wedge is glued into place.
FWIW I use a pin vise as was already recommended.

If you have a Dremel, they make a workstation which is a mini press. You vertically mount your Dremel in it and you have yourself a baby press. They are only about $40. Save yourself a lot of heartache and trouble and pick one up. You can also rotate it 90 degrees, get some small buffing wheels and use it to buff blades as well. I used on a lot when I moved to a new home and my wood shop was in storage.

Dremel Workstation, 220-01 - Walmart.com

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

One thing that might help, you can use a drill bit that is slightly larger than your pin diameter. This tiny amount of "slop" will make proper alignment less of an issue and allow for a slighty misaligned hole. It won't have a negative effect on how solid the pivot pin is, especially when the wedge is glued into place.
FWIW I use a pin vise as was already recommended.

I went 5/64th drill for 1/16th pin. A 1/16th drill hole can be too tight and scale splitting can result from the over press. I hold my scale together with bands of cellophane tape. It can protect scale if needed and give more to hold on too.