Peen the Pins or Not?

[Cut One]

Hello All,

I'm almost ready to epoxy the osage orange scales on my first knife. The has extra holes in it to lighten it up and I will rough it up a little with sandpaper before I glue it all up with acra-glass. The 1/4" pins are a nice snug fit and there is no play in either of the scales when its all assembled. I'm looking for opinions on whether I should peen/swage the pins when I glue it all up or just rely on the epoxy alone? Thanks - John

[Ray Rogers]

You didn't say what the pins are made of but even a 1/4" brass pin would be difficult to pein, stainless pins very difficult. Anyway, I don't think I'd try it with pins that large - it's almost a certainty that you'd end up splitting your wood.

It's only my own opinion but I think that pins can be used when you are trying to make a handle look a certain way, in other words, part of a style or design where how well they hold the scales on is not an important issue. In other words, don't use pins if the knife will see hard use. For hard use knives use Loveless or Corby bolts. You can use pins along with the bolts if you wish but use the bolts. Following this methodology it is not necessary to pein the pins.

If you do want to use pins and have them hold well then peining is necessary. For that, you'd be wise to limit the pins to 1/8" or smaller and make them of brass or mild steel so that they will deform easily....

[Cut One]

Ray, The pins are 1/4" brass. I turned them to size on a lathe to get a snug fit. I'm inclined to agree with you, because the force necessary to remove a scale would have to be perpendicular to the flat of the tang and that's pretty unlikely. Its easier and less risky to just epoxy everything together. I won't be abusing this knife enough to need bolts, but I'll keep that option in mind in the future. Thanks for the quick response - John

[Doug Lester]

The main problem with the Acraglas releasing the scales will be from a shearing force, like a strike to the edge of the scales, the pins, even without peening, will protect from that. Though I would also agree that knives meant for really hard use should have something like a rivet or bolt.

Just as a side. Turning down your pins is one solution to the fact that if you use a drill bit the same nominal size as the pin stock the hole will be too small. However, being that I don't have a lath, I have found that a 6.4mm bit makes a pretty tight fit for 1/4" stock. Granted, you could make the fit even tighter with turning the stock down on a lath.

Doug

[5artist5]

I have been using a #30 drill and it seems perfect for the 1/8" brass pins I have been using.
I have been peening them on an anvil.

[Eli Jensen]

If you end up peening them, or any non-ferrous in the future, anneal them first. If you don't, they are MUCH more likely to crack.

[Crex]

Rule of "dumb" when peening pins........don't hit it that one last time!

If you take your fitted pin and lay it on a hard flat surface, roll it back and forth under the edge of a good file. It will texture the pin surface just enough to give you a "lock" between the epoxy and handle material and you won't need to pin it.