Thread: Middle pinning materials?

I have been looking into materials that are used as a middle pin on scales.Or also known as a 3rd pin. So the blade can rest on and will not fall through the scales. Does anyone know of any good places to buy this at? I have seen some really nice ones on some razors from Joe Chandler,Glen,ect..

The few times i have done a 3rd pin I just used tubing from the hobby shop.

Not as fancy as some of what you see though.

Originally Posted by Jsteele

I have been looking into materials that are used as a middle pin on scales.Or also known as a 3rd pin. So the blade can rest on and will not fall through the scales. Does anyone know of any good places to buy this at? I have seen some really nice ones on some razors from Joe Chandler,Glen,ect..

Originally Posted by Jsteele

So the blade can rest on and will not fall through the scales.

Unless your wedge is wider than the spine of your razor, there isn't much chance of your blade falling through the scales. The third pin is more decorative than functional, although it may add some stability to the scales. Like Slartibartfast stated, brass tubing can be used or even a piece of the ink reservoir from a ball point pen.

Regards - Walt

Couple of hints,,,

The blade does not/should not rest on them...

I go shopping with the Wife when she goes to the crafts stores, I scour the "Beading" sections looking for stuff the might work

I keep maybe half of the stuff I buy

You need the metal stuff so you can fit them to the scales..

Warning: look very closely at how we fit them I never allow the center pin to stress the scales, either in or out from the curve set by the wedge I chose.. If you have a swell or a inside bow it will warp the scales sooner rather than later...

Hope that helps a bit


Oh and yes sometimes I use tubing, even the square tubing looks cool in there

Thanks guys for the hints and tips..

For the purposes of a third pin supporting material, whatever you choose need only be able to withstand some light compression force and the occasional drop of soap and water.

Besides metal, some other materials which would serve for this purpose would be plastics (delrin, acrylic, bakelite, etc.), hard rubber, bone, horn and ivory... or even some of the more easily formed minerals like jade, agate, onyx or soapstone.

Even wood will serve, although I would then restrict your choice to extremely dense, fine-grained hardwoods which are not prone to checking or cracking, taking care to orient the grain of the wood to run lengthwise with the through rivet. Needless to say, some sort of permanent, penetrating finish would be advised.