Heres what I went through yesterday, you may find it useful.
I wanted to repin a new jag I just got. SO I taped the knife and filed the pins off, scratching the handles very little.
I then found some nails that fit PERFECTLY. But they had little markings near the head to make it easier to pull the nail with a hammer. So I cut off the tip and the head, leaving just the smooth part of the nail. Now I had to create a head on one side.
I then placed the nail in a vice and preceded to smash it with a hammer. Turns out vices smash nails pretty well. It tore up the sides real good. One little scrath at the nail no longer fit into the knife, thats how perfect a fit they were.
I used the thick part at the edge of a towel I didn't want. I rolled the nail up in the towel until there was about 7 layers on either side. Then I put it in the vice and was able to tighten it without damaging the nail.
After ruining and bending a few nails I found the best way to create a head on the nail. It isn't to beat straight down on it. This causes it to mushroom, etc. Rather, angle the hammer head and beat around the nail. LIGHTLY. You don't have to hit it hard. What you are doing is creating a small dome. Once you have a little dome, lightly tap straight down to flatten it out, then create a dome again, etc. Don't try to create too big a head on your nail or it will start to split.
Once I had a head on 2 nails I put them through the knife and created a head on them the same way. I had to clip off almost all of the nail before tapping it. Otherwise the nail head would have to be too large and it cracked.
So now my jag looks a little beaten up at the pins but it doesn't 'look' like I put a nail through it. You can't really even tell.
Hope that helped.
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"...all power is inherent in the people... it is their right and duty to at all times be armed." Thomas Jefferson (1824)
I wanted to repin a new jag I just got. SO I taped the knife and filed the pins off, scratching the handles very little.
I then found some nails that fit PERFECTLY. But they had little markings near the head to make it easier to pull the nail with a hammer. So I cut off the tip and the head, leaving just the smooth part of the nail. Now I had to create a head on one side.
I then placed the nail in a vice and preceded to smash it with a hammer. Turns out vices smash nails pretty well. It tore up the sides real good. One little scrath at the nail no longer fit into the knife, thats how perfect a fit they were.
I used the thick part at the edge of a towel I didn't want. I rolled the nail up in the towel until there was about 7 layers on either side. Then I put it in the vice and was able to tighten it without damaging the nail.
After ruining and bending a few nails I found the best way to create a head on the nail. It isn't to beat straight down on it. This causes it to mushroom, etc. Rather, angle the hammer head and beat around the nail. LIGHTLY. You don't have to hit it hard. What you are doing is creating a small dome. Once you have a little dome, lightly tap straight down to flatten it out, then create a dome again, etc. Don't try to create too big a head on your nail or it will start to split.
Once I had a head on 2 nails I put them through the knife and created a head on them the same way. I had to clip off almost all of the nail before tapping it. Otherwise the nail head would have to be too large and it cracked.
So now my jag looks a little beaten up at the pins but it doesn't 'look' like I put a nail through it. You can't really even tell.
Hope that helped.
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"...all power is inherent in the people... it is their right and duty to at all times be armed." Thomas Jefferson (1824)