Learning to Peen

(I love it how something that can seem like an exaggeration is sometimes the simple truth.)

Well I've gotten to the point that I'm working on wood finish and between coats I figured I'd start learning to peen so I'd be ready when the time comes to do it for real. Unfortunately I'm waiting for my peening hammer to come in the mail. I've read a number of you restore junkies, when describing how hard you strike the pin, that the hit is light enough that you can peen with a tablespoon.

So I figured what the hell and grabbed a tablespoon to practice, and sure enough, here is my first peen ever done with a tablespoon...

WOW, Nice work. Who needs a hammer.:tu

Nice. I've been using a hammer and tapping real gently. I'm gonna try the spoon.

How long did it take? Is the pin Brass?

Nice! Where did you buy your brass pins?

The pin is brass and I purchased the brass rods at a local hobby shop

it only took a few minutes to peen but this is my first peen and I've never used a hammer so I have no point of comparison. When I get my hammer and practice a few peens I'll put up some comparisons.

It's nice to see someone used a spoon and it works. :) It looks like you did a real nice job. I once read somewhere, that when peening, the strike should be light enough that if you hit your finger, it wouldn't hurt. I don't know if that's true or not, but I thought it was interesting.

Very nice job.

Chris L

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Originally Posted by keenedge

It's nice to see someone used a spoon and it works. :) It looks like you did a real nice job. I once read somewhere, that when peening, the strike should be light enough that if you hit your finger, it wouldn't hurt. I don't know if that's true or not, but I thought it was interesting.

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The tablespoon has a wider striking head than a hammer and I did not consider this little fact. I accidentally hit my fingers several times while doing this peen and it never hurt once, so I would assume what you heard is true.

I could have used this thread a week ago before my first re-scaling attempt.

I used a small regular hammer and bent the first pin so the scales were off-line. Luckily I had another one and did a little better job the second time, but I was definately hitting it too hard.

Actually, it was that sub-par re-scaling that got me back on here (haven't been on since it was a yahoo group), so there's that I guess...

I really need to learn some peening. The first scales I made just had a flat top on the pins, no fancy dome. Maybe I will try with a spoon. But I feel bad making all that noise in my apartment.

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Originally Posted by DPflaumer

I really need to learn some peening. The first scales I made just had a flat top on the pins, no fancy dome. Maybe I will try with a spoon. But I feel bad making all that noise in my apartment.

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I know what you mean. I've got a couple that I'm working on restoring (one to go into a shadow box in honor of my (late) great-grandfather who had been a barber. I figure if nothing else I can just crank up some OBITUARY (death-metal) so that all the tapping doesn't annoy the neighbors. :rock::rock::rock:

This is in reference to the peening post by - The Baron.

Most of you aren't old enough to remember the old U S Navy. Sailors in the old days had some time on their hands and one of the ways we had to pass the time was to drill a finger hole in the center of a "silver half dollar" and then tap the outside edge of the half dollar with a tablespoon so as to spread the outside edge of the silver half dollar only as far as the stamped year of the half dollar. What we ended up with was a finger ring with the year on the inside cicumference of the ring and also "In God we trust". This was all done with the tablespoon as a hammer.

Hammering straight razor pins with a spoon is a perfectly sensible way to get the job done. It is more time consuming but the end result is better achieved with a spoon than with a hammer. Ask any sailor over 65 years of age.

JERRY
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Originally Posted by DPflaumer

I really need to learn some peening. The first scales I made just had a flat top on the pins, no fancy dome. Maybe I will try with a spoon. But I feel bad making all that noise in my apartment.

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The only noisy part for me is peening a full rod enough so that the washer won't come off that end -- that process is probably 10 smacks with the hammer total.

Once I have the rod at a good length, I'll do my peening on top of a metal hammer with dimples drilled out (just like in Philadelph's video). I put a folded-over towel on my portable workbench and then place the dimpled hammer on top of that. I found that having the towel between my workbench and hammer really dampens the noise.

I tried this on the weekend and was pretty impressed with the results. I found the tablespoon much easier to work with. The lighter spoon forces you to go slower and the results are much more even. The best part was that the spoon I used did not show any sign of wear from the pinning. SWMBO would not appreciate me screwing up the cutlery.

I would highly suggest any person who is just starting out skip the peening hammer and just grab a tablespoon.

I'd sure like to see a photo of exactly how you hold the tablespoon when you do that! I don't have the best hand/eye coordination and am always afrain that I will miss the pin altogether and damage the scales.

Rich

“Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any” – Mark Twain

You guys must be using very different brass to me, it takes at least 100 taps to get the rod to hold the washer and at least another 100 to get it snug once the pin is in the scales.

I'm using K&S Engineering 1/16 rod and a 4 oz pein hammer. I have just read about annealing though, so I have yet to try that.

I'm using the same K&S brass rod and I'm using a 2oz hammer. I've been out there an hour and I can't get this thing to tighten up. the pins are in and the ends are rounded but the blade is loose and floppy.

Dunno what I'm doing wrong, but I had to stop for the night cause I was about to loose my patience.

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Originally Posted by Hydaral

You guys must be using very different brass to me, it takes at least 100 taps to get the rod to hold the washer and at least another 100 to get it snug once the pin is in the scales.

I'm using K&S Engineering 1/16 rod and a 4 oz pein hammer. I have just read about annealing though, so I have yet to try that.

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I use either a 4 or 8 oz hammer. A trick I use sometimes is, with a glove on, I hold the tip of the pin on the belt of my sander for a second or two. Not to long because the pin heats up quick and you can either bend the pin or launch it across the shop! The pin heating up seems to make it just soft enough to peen quicker allowing the washer to stay on.

Nice job Baron. When I was in the air force a fellow made rings out of quarters and 50 cent pieces using a chow hall spoon. To the younger members the coins were silver then. The next thing you have to make is a dimpling block and a punch to dome the washers.

I anneal the rod on the gas range. Heat the rod to the point that the rod and flame changes color quench in water. I dont bother to light the torch but a propane or welding is good.

Not sure of the problem. To me, pee'n just came naturally. (Sorry - couldn't resist) :)

I couldn't find a light hammer, so I use an 8 oz. I hold it up close to the head, lift it with my fingers about 1" off the pin and just let it fall to let the weight of the head do the work. I takes a a bunch of strikes, but it is very controlled. I use NiAg rod which I think is a little harder than brass. I certainly need more practice, but I am pretty happy with first two razors I repinned.