Finishing Handle Pins

[Joshua States]

 

[Alan Longmire]

You make the best how-to videos.  Thank you.

[Charles dP]

Thanks for sharing your technique Josh. Definitely going to have to try some raised pins now (after I made one of those pin anvils of course).

 

Edited to add: Thinking about it (depending on how hard those sanding pins are) if you are able to dish the far end out like the nail-sets are, they may ‘grip’ the pin better and make it easier to polish the domed head. Would a cobalt drill be hard/tough enough? What do you think?

Edited September 3 by Charles dP

[Conan Dunlap]

Great video, I have something similar to this, but I can clearly see mistakes that I made.  

[Pieter-Paul Derks]

Some good tips here, I cheat and just epoxy my domed pins without peening but this method is a lot more legit.

[Joshua States]

I've been off-grid for a week at my place of refuge doing some work on the project, so I haven't been able to respond.

It looks like our best option for cell phone and internet is Starlink......ugh.

 

Anyway, thanks for the positive feedback.

On 9/2/2023 at 11:16 PM, Charles dP said:

if you are able to dish the far end out like the nail-sets are, they may ‘grip’ the pin better and make it easier to polish the domed head. Would a cobalt drill be hard/tough enough? What do you think?

This might work. I get a headache thinking about putting a dimple in the end of a round rod or a drill bit.....

I bought some pin spinner tool a few years ago that was sort of what you describe. It was supposed to work in a hand drill and "spin" the pin stock down into  a smooth surfaced dome. I never could get them to work without damaging the surrounding handle material. You may have better luck with your idea.

 

On 9/3/2023 at 7:36 PM, Conan Dunlap said:

Great video, I have something similar to this, but I can clearly see mistakes that I made.  

Just modify whatever you are doing to make it better. I am constantly modifying my techniques with minor (or major) changes to the processes. This is a journey and nothing remains constant for very long!

 

On 9/4/2023 at 7:28 AM, Pieter-Paul Derks said:

Some good tips here, I cheat and just epoxy my domed pins without peening but this method is a lot more legit.

You are obviously onto something there. I could never get the domes right, doing them off the handle. I tried making one of those little blocks to dome one head and just glue the pin in. I failed and changed to this method.

[Pieter-Paul Derks]

13 hours ago, Joshua States said:

 

You are obviously onto something there. I could never get the domes right, doing them off the handle. I tried making one of those little blocks to dome one head and just glue the pin in. I failed and changed to this method.

 

 

I hope to not highjack your thread, but I do these domed pins a bit differently, what I think is an easy ''cheat'' method.

Obviously this doesn't work in situations where the pin needs to put clamping force, like in razor scales for instance.

 

I use pin stock of the diameter I want the final head , carefully measure the thickness of the handle plus one time the diameter of the pin stock.

I just chuck it in a drill  and dome and polish both ends. When I epoxy everthing together I coat the domed pin ends and the handle in grease so the epoxy doesn't stick.

The hardest part is getting the pin centered with epoxy everywhere. 

 

Not the best picture, but this is a bronze pin with this method, I chamfered the hole for a bit of a heirloom fit as well.

[Joshua States]

I'm not understanding this completely,
Do you cut the pin in half after doming in the drill press?

Or is it that there are two pins, and they overlap inside the handle somehow?

Edited September 11 by Joshua States

[Pieter-Paul Derks]

23 hours ago, Joshua States said:

I'm not understanding this completely,
Do you cut the pin in half after doming in the drill press?

Or is it that there are two pins, and they overlap inside the handle somehow?

 

Oh no maybe I'm not the best at explaining  The pin head is the same diameter as the pin hole, it is not peened or enlarged. 

Essentially just a rod pushed through the handle with nicely finished ends.

[Joshua States]

1 hour ago, Pieter-Paul Derks said:

 

Oh no maybe I'm not the best at explaining  The pin head is the same diameter as the pin hole, it is not peened or enlarged. 

Essentially just a rod pushed through the handle with nicely finished ends.

That's a good cheat!