pins keep bending

ive been attempting to repin my razor, i chuck the nickel silver rod into my vise, i gently tap rod to mushroom it. when i remove the rod, it comes out bent, is this a tapping too hard or another problem?

How heavy a hammer are you using? Pinning a razor doesn't require anything much more heavier than a spoon to accomplish. =) Also you can try setting your rod down a bit deeper in the vise jaws, where just the portion that you want to peen is exposed. =)

I drilled a 1/16" hole in my anvil a little deeper than the desired length of my pin. Stick the rod in the hole and cut it just above the anvil surface and peen away. It cannot bend.

I tend to think the nickel is soft so I always work harden them and it seems to help. Lighter taps too.

alpster said:

I drilled a 1/16" hole in my anvil a little deeper than the desired length of my pin. Stick the rod in the hole and cut it just above the anvil surface and peen away. It cannot bend.

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That's so simple it's brilliant.

What then solves your problem of bending pins when you put it in the scales? Bent pins can and do cause blades not to center.

Lots and lots of very light but sharp whacks works better than heavy taps. As mycarver said, a spoon works great, and is my pin whacking utensil of choice. Take an ordinary tablespoon, maybe add a small lump of redhand or bondo in the bowl of the spoon for a tiny bit more weight, and whack whack whack! Tiny hobby hammers sometimes miss the pin altogether and whack a precious piece of pre-ban ivory or whatever, to tragic consequences. A spoon doens't miss. Might take a hundred whacks or more. Remember that the goal is to deform the end of the pin, not compress the pin longitudinally.

lighter taps, and more of them. It works.

thanks for all the responses the hammer im using is my smallest one, maybe a 16 oz. ill experiment with different techniques and see what works for me

In the razor world, a 16oz hammer qualifies as a heavy demolition sledgehammer. An ounce or two is about right. Your heaviest tablespoon will work better than any hammer.

Maybe a chasing hammer, very light and small with a ball end. Jewelers supply store or even Amazon.

For example... (image from a different site)

https://www.amazon.ca/Jewelers-Chasing-Hammer-Metal-Smithing/dp/B001UP7X2M



dave

Slash McCoy said:

In the razor world, a 16oz hammer qualifies as a heavy demolition sledgehammer. An ounce or two is about right. Your heaviest tablespoon will work better than any hammer.

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+1 to Slash!

Slash McCoy said:

In the razor world, a 16oz hammer qualifies as a heavy demolition sledgehammer. An ounce or two is about right. Your heaviest tablespoon will work better than any hammer.

Click to expand...

ill give that a try, how much deformation do you need for the peen to be effective?

tetraodon said:

ill give that a try, how much deformation do you need for the peen to be effective?

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Might lighter taps.

How much? Enough to provide tension to hold the blade open. About 1/16 of the rod showing before you start the peening is a good start, hit the rod on the periphery, not the center, you want to spread the rod out not compress it