Thread: Re-drilling the pivot hole in the tang

My brother was repairing part of his car's exhaust with a product called Quiksteel. You can check it out here. It is a self-reinforced epoxy putty that "bonds like epoxy, hardens like steel." The website says it is hard enough to use as a permanent repair to metal, and that it can be drilled and threaded.

I am going to use it to fill the large, uneven pivot hole in the tang of a very old blade so I can redrill the hole to 1/16". Is this the stuff that the wiki refers to? I think the wiki just says epoxy, and for some reason it didn't evoke thoughts of epoxy putty. Either way, maybe we could add a reference to Quiksteel Epoxy Putty just to make things easier for people like me who aren't too familiar with workshop products.

And no, I am not affiliated with Quiksteel in any way. :P

It might, or might not, work as they advertise. I'd recommend a test piece first before committing to a blade you don't want to have made a mess of.

What I would want to know is if the "new" epoxy material would allow for the pivot to work without further wear and tear. Then I guess the question is, does the pin turn within the tang hole or does the pin turn within the scale material? For most things, I'd want the pivot to turn metal on metal within the tang, and then of materials that do not wear to any great degree.

Another metal based epoxy that is worth looking into is JB Weld. J-B Weld Company - World's Finest Cold Weld - Don't Scrap It! J-B Weld It! Most hardware and automotive suppliers have this on hand. Here's another that looks interesting, I might have to give this one a try myself. body filler, epoxy putty, auto body filler, high temperature epoxy, aluminum epoxy, automotive body filler, epoxy high temperature, car body filler, putty epoxy I don't think that your pivot will fail because of heat generated friction though...LOL

Good luck.

Mike,

Do you have any guess about the tang hardness of a razor? This probably depends on the hardening and tempering process, but even if hard it may be possible to drill/ream the hole out with carbide tooling and bush the hole to re-drill to a smaller size.

I may try this as I have a nice razor with what behaves as if it has a bent pivot pin in a sloppy hole.

You can also pound in brass (i.e. some spare brass rod from peening) into the vintage big tang holes. It is maleable enough that it will be able to be squished into the nooks and crannies. And it is easy to drill afterwards.

Originally Posted by Seraphim

You can also pound in brass (i.e. some spare brass rod from peening) into the vintage big tang holes. It is maleable enough that it will be able to be squished into the nooks and crannies. And it is easy to drill afterwards.

Sera,

That's much too easy. It involves no machine tools at the outset (and maybe even at the inset) and no great fussing about.

Better one does....

cheers,

For all of my restorations I use JB Weld, which is an automotive steel epoxy. It works exquisitely. I highly recommend it.

I like Seraphims idea. It is an old watchmakers trick. When a cog has a broken tooth you would take a jewelers saw and saw the tooth out and a little notch. Then place a piece of brass in the notch and hammer it until it fit the notch and file on another tooth. It works surprisingly well.
Kind of like in wood working, when you have a screw hole that is torn out. Drill it a little larger and glue in a tight fitting dowl. Cut it off and re drill the hole.
Problem is, the tang of the razors I have worked on were hard as flint. It is rough on the needle file to make the hole larger and takes a lot of time. You sure can't drill the hole out larger.

To be completely honest here, re-drilling the tang is almost always unnecessary. I've NEVER seen a case where it was needed. This has been argued here many times before. The problems people have when they want to re-drill the pivot arise from other things on/with the razor, not the pivot hole being skewed. If you epoxy the hole and then re-drill the hole to about 1/16" you'll be in WORSE shape if the tang is ground unevenly or you drill the hole crooked.

Well then, don't drill the hole crooked.

Originally Posted by Bruce

Sera,

That's much too easy. It involves no machine tools at the outset (and maybe even at the inset) and no great fussing about.

Better one does....

cheers,

No power tools...... but banging on something with a hammer always feels good!