Thread: Tighten Up a Pivot Pin

Small ball peen is the way to go. The biggest issue is people tapping too hard and tightening the pins to much. If you have an older razor and tighten it too much you can crack the scales. Just tap lightly and put it on something hard, any scrap of steel, head of another hammer or sledge hammer, vice, etc...

Remember you are NOT smashing the center of the pin. You are mushrooming AROUND the pin.

what about pins that don't have washers/collars ?

Originally Posted by boostdemon

what about pins that don't have washers/collars ?

Be more careful

But still the same principle

Originally Posted by boostdemon

what about pins that don't have washers/collars ?

halve the pressure of the hit of what you thought were the light taps with the washers should work LOL

Originally Posted by boostdemon

what about pins that don't have washers/collars ?

There are a few additional bits of advice when pinning without washers - although they obviously don't apply to a situation of tightening loose scales unless you want to go to the trouble of removing the existing pin.

Firstly the pin hole can be chamfered slightly to accomodate the peen. Neil Miller even considers a method of tapering the pin hole in order to take up any potential bulge in the rod.

A few people recommend annealing the very tip of the pin - when cut to size, so that it's easier to peen.

It's a difficult decision when you have loose scales - on the one hand it does make stropping very difficult, but there is the added risk you run when tightening them. Personally, I've always gone the route of tightening - but not as far as I would with less valuable material.

Originally Posted by Chevhead

Remember you are NOT smashing the center of the pin. You are mushrooming AROUND the pin.

So I am presuming the hammer is being applied to the right side (as opposed to the "show" side) of the razor? Or do I have it backwards..or does it make any difference at all??

I have a small vice that I use to pre-peen one end of the rod first. You tighten the jaws of the vice together with a card or something similar that is a tiny bit thinner than the rod. Then you use a drill the same diameter as the rod to drill down the card, leaving a cupped hollow on both jaws of the vice.

Now carry on with as much rod protruding from the tightened vice jaws as you would have with pinning. You can anneal it if you like - it anneal better like this, as conventionally when you get that rod up to cherry red heat the colour flows down the rod as quick as you like, and all the rod ( the length you will be using, not the whole rod!) gets annealed and therefore very soft, so much so that it can buckle in the tang when being peened. This does not happen with the vice - only the head gets cherry red, as the mass of the vice conducts heat away from the base of the rod.

Remember to let the pin get cool, or quench it in water (makes no difference) before touching the scales with it.

By the time you have finished peening, the end of the rod will be work-hardened again. You can turn it around and anneal the other end if you like (if the jaws are small enough, on a proper sized vice they will have too much depth to them).

Personally, I hardly ever bother with annealing - I buy fully annealed rod.

I find this method helps, especially with collarless pins.

Regards,
Neil