Thread: Drilling and Pinning New Scales

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.