peen your pins?

bushcraftbasics

bushcraftbasics

Well-Known Member
hey guys! well this may be a dumb question, but do you actually peen your pins? or do you simply epoxy and pin? ...it would seem that peening would not always be an option, like with mosaics or whatever...

thanks

BB
 
Personally, the only time I peen pins is when the material will handle it......namely things such as G10 and micarta. Everything else has the pins glued in place. Nothing worse then trying to peen a pin....thinking you can get "one more tap" on it, and you split the handle material......just not worth it. :)
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
Personally, the only time I peen pins is when the material will handle it......namely things such as G10 and micarta. Everything else has the pins glued in place. Nothing worse then trying to peen a pin....thinking you can get "one more tap" on it, and you split the handle material......just not worth it. :)
Click to expand...

Very true Mr. caffrey. I've split many a set of razor scales over peening at the wedge and it never gets easier to stomach. And that's using 1/16 brass pins.

It may also be worth mentioning that you need to rough the surface of your pin when gluing. I like to chuck it in my lathe, a drill of any type will work, and use some 60 grit to rough all but an 1/8 inch or so on the outer sides of the pin.
 
great, that's what i've been doing...roughing up the steel, inside of the handle material and pins, then gluing with g-flex epoxy...i figure the pins alone will keep you from shearing a scale off, and they shouldn't just come loose, so why bother?
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
Personally, the only time I peen pins is when the material will handle it......namely things such as G10 and micarta. Everything else has the pins glued in place. Nothing worse then trying to peen a pin....thinking you can get "one more tap" on it, and you split the handle material......just not worth it. :)
Click to expand...

Same here. Additionally, I still rough up the inside portion of the pin so that it grabs a little more epoxy, just for some extra security.
 
IMHO something else to try are machine screws. drill and tap you tang holes to you favorite machine screw size, I like 4-40 and 8-32. make you handle holes the smallest allowable for that size. when you glue up, push the screw thru to the tang, then drive the screw with your favorite screwdriver until it is visible coming out of the other side of your handle. The 1" screws in these sizes in stainless or brass are usually less than $10 per hundred. once epoxy is dry, cut the screw head off with dremel grinder or hacksaw.
scott
 
scott.livesey said:
IMHO something else to try are machine screws. drill and tap you tang holes to you favorite machine screw size, I like 4-40 and 8-32. make you handle holes the smallest allowable for that size. when you glue up, push the screw thru to the tang, then drive the screw with your favorite screwdriver until it is visible coming out of the other side of your handle. The 1" screws in these sizes in stainless or brass are usually less than $10 per hundred. once epoxy is dry, cut the screw head off with dremel grinder or hacksaw.
scott
Click to expand...


I like that idea.. Do they look just like regular pins or I guess corbys after your done finishing ?
 
they look like pins after you finish the handle. 18-8 stainless looks good and wont corrode. a bag of 100 for less than $6 from mcmaster/car
scott
 
If I want to have something to give mechanical attachment to the handle scales I will use some sort of rivet or bolt. Jantz carries bits that will drill for the shank and a counter bore for the heads of a number of different types of rivets and bolts. For most knives pins will be adequate to prevent a shear blow from breaking the scales free.

Doug
 
scott.livesey said:
IMHO something else to try are machine screws. drill and tap you tang holes to you favorite machine screw size, I like 4-40 and 8-32. make you handle holes the smallest allowable for that size. when you glue up, push the screw thru to the tang, then drive the screw with your favorite screwdriver until it is visible coming out of the other side of your handle. The 1" screws in these sizes in stainless or brass are usually less than $10 per hundred. once epoxy is dry, cut the screw head off with dremel grinder or hacksaw.
scott
Click to expand...

that's a great idea I actually sell stainless hardware at my work! thank you!
 
scott.livesey said:
IMHO something else to try are machine screws. drill and tap you tang holes to you favorite machine screw size, I like 4-40 and 8-32. make you handle holes the smallest allowable for that size. when you glue up, push the screw thru to the tang, then drive the screw with your favorite screwdriver until it is visible coming out of the other side of your handle. The 1" screws in these sizes in stainless or brass are usually less than $10 per hundred. once epoxy is dry, cut the screw head off with dremel grinder or hacksaw.
scott
Click to expand...

That is a great idea. Assuming that you can some how keep the threads from showing throught he scale.
 
Last edited:
When I have tried that, I can always see a tiny nick where the thread groove comes through. I don't see how that is avoidable, and is not up to par for fine handle work.
 
LRB said:
When I have tried that, I can always see a tiny nick where the thread groove comes through. I don't see how that is avoidable, and is not up to par for fine handle work.
Click to expand...

Yes..I can see that would be a problem. Trying to save a few bucks could ruin the scales. And is not something I'm interested in.
 
traildog said:
Yes..I can see that would be a problem. Trying to save a few bucks could ruin the scales. And is not something I'm interested in.
Click to expand...

No one is talking about saving money...the question was regarding the peening of pins and whether or not it is necessary to ensure a quality handle-material/knife-steel marriage...I asked the original question in an attempt to deduce whether or not simply using g-flex epoxy to adhere the scales and pinning without peening was enough to prevent a scale from being sheared off during normal use. Being new to knife making I am unsure of the different methods being used to attach them properly
 
This is not an endorsement or recommendation, and not a rehash of the epoxy wars, but just one example of of an incident with one of my knives. In the mid ninties, I made a neck knife with slab bone grip panels and iron bolster plates. When doing slab grips I drill multiple holes through the tang in order to create direct bonding of slab to slab with epoxy. The slabs are tight fitted and installed with C clamps to leave no openings in the mateing of slab to tang. You could safely call it a starved joint with no visible epoxy showing. I used the often maligned Devcon 2 ton long set epoxy with two un-peened iron pins. This one knife was lost in a hasty move in the September 2008 flood from TS Faye. It remained under water and mud for 4 months before being found by my son. Of course the steel is heavily rusted, but the grip panels are still in place just as tight as when the knife was lost, and the pins are still flush with the surface of the bone. I present this not necessarily as an endorsement of Devcon, but to show the value of drilling holes in the tang to allow direct bonding bridges between slabs if you are using epoxy as a major connector of the slabs to the tang.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top