Thread: 1/16"...1.6mm...should be close, but no.

Out looking for pins to finish up a resto job. I got some 16 gauge brass wire since it was 0.062992" and a 1/16" pin is 0.0625" so they should be about the same.

I got home and clearly neither is going to fit properly...there's a bit of gap between the pin and the hole in the blade and scales. So here's the question: Does the pin expand internally while it is being peined or is this a freak that does not take a standard 1/16" or 16g pin?

Originally Posted by red96ta

Out looking for pins to finish up a resto job. I got some 16 gauge brass wire since it was 0.062992" and a 1/16" pin is 0.0625" so they should be about the same.

I got home and clearly neither is going to fit properly...there's a bit of gap between the pin and the hole in the blade and scales. So here's the question: Does the pin expand internally while it is being peined or is this a freak that does not take a standard 1/16" or 16g pin?

Well, considering that .062992 is BIGGER than 0.0625, so the problem shouldn't be a gap, I'd say it's not the wire. But then again, I'm no expert...

Most of the repins I have done take the standard 1/16th rod, but I've come across quite a few that take slightly thicker rod and even more that take slightly smaller rod than 1/16th. The batch I've been working on for the past few weeks all had thinner pins and have had to be re-drilled.

Quite often the head of the pin mushrooms out, gets a "waist" where the washer restricts it and then gently swells again below the washer and tapers off, effectively gripping the scales tightly even when the washer is filed off. A lot of knife grip pinnings rely on this principle - the maker taps the pin to swell the end of it, then files it off flat with the grip.

The fact that the rod swells below the washer is a problem with older materials like ivory - it fills the hole drilled in the scales so completely that no movement can take place (due to heat/cold/changing moisture content) and the scale splits at the pin.

If i understand you correctly your saying that your scale holes are one size (im guessing smaller) and your razor is another (bigger?)

Iv found this very common and your 1/16 works just fine, which would likely be the same as what was on it.

Hope that helps

+Buckler