Thread: Smoothing peened over brass pins

Hey, how do you guys smooth out the peened pins? I get the rough edges along the peen and the actual top of the brass looks like a railraod spike (under a 10X loupe). I'm afraid to sand or file so close to the finished wood. Its only a cosmetic problem, but I know there's a way to do it. Boy, I'm looking forward to the mini nuts and bolts, I can tell you that!

Hmm, I don't have that problem when I peen.

What are you using to peen with?

I've got a very small ball peen hammer and I tap tap tap tap tap
essentially in circles. You can feel which way the hammer is peening.
It takes a few minutes to get a nice tight fit but my peens look nice.

There are a few things you can do to encourage your peens to develop nicely.

Definitely use a ball peen hammer, and make sure the peen is somewhat polished.

Drill a small, shallow hole in your peening anvil, and set the bottom end of the pin in that while you tap the top part. I used a 1/8" or 3/16" bit and drilled just deep enough to get the point of the bit into the steel. It makes a little cup. This goes a long way to refining the pinning job.

Shape your pins before you start peening. Cutters leave a point on the pin, and jagged edges. That might be where your roughness is coming from. Clip the pin to length, then file the top flat and chamfer the edges slightly.

Peen one end before assembly. I drilled a 1/2" deep hole in my mini-anvil, and I set the pin down in that and gently peen the exposed end. It's easy to bend a pin doing this, but it makes assembly much, much easier.

Good luck,
Josh

I will second the pin filing. When I cut the peen, I file it with a small fine toothed file to flatten out the top and smooth it out. Then I peen it with a very small finishing ball peen hammer that is probably older than me.

I hadn't even thought to mention that I file my rod off with a small diamond file and use my dapping block to hold the rod straight up and down. I guess I just got lucky.

-Bob

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Shape your pins before you start peening. Cutters leave a point on the pin, and jagged edges. That might be where your roughness is coming from.

I'd have to disagree that this is causing his problem. Sometimes I just clip and peen and sometimes I sand the clipped edge down, but it never matters for me- I always get uniform looking peens either way. I think he is saying his pins just look "hammered" when he is done. I kind of like that look. To smooth it out, you can alternate with the ball peen and the flat side when tapping at the end. That sometimes helps me to smooth over some hammer marks. About the edges being rough- do you have a photo? Maybe you're leaving too much pin when peening and the edges don't turn out uniformly? In all honesty, I don't think it needs to look perfect when magnifying it.

I polish the pins afterwards with different rotating rubber wheels in a "Dremel like" hand piece. This way, no special attention needed while peening.

Originally Posted by Philadelph

I'd have to disagree that this is causing his problem. Sometimes I just clip and peen and sometimes I sand the clipped edge down, but it never matters for me- I always get uniform looking peens either way. I think he is saying his pins just look "hammered" when he is done. I kind of like that look. To smooth it out, you can alternate with the ball peen and the flat side when tapping at the end. That sometimes helps me to smooth over some hammer marks. About the edges being rough- do you have a photo? Maybe you're leaving too much pin when peening and the edges don't turn out uniformly? In all honesty, I don't think it needs to look perfect when magnifying it.

Bill Ellis mentions shaping the pins with a file before peening to ensure an even job. It might depend on the clipper you're using. Some of them leave really pointy ends, and some are less pointy. The really pointy ones sometimes get hammered out to the edge and leave it ragged.

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

and make sure the peen is somewhat polished.

What like this? LOL

Dude, nice.

Josh