a pin showed up during final polishing.

Jason Magruder

Jason Magruder

Joined
Mar 27, 2004
Messages
570
I was finishing up a damascus neck knife today and during the final polishing on the nickel silver bolsters one of the pins decided to make itself known. I peened the crap out of these pins. I shaped and sanded and polished and everything was fine. I went back and sanded out one little scratch with 1000 grit paper and when I repolished that side the pin became visible. I was pissed :mad: I am 30 hours into this knife and everything is cool except for that one stupid little pin. Can anything be done about these little buggers? I've thought about maybe trying to peen it again but that would require refinishing both sides. I'm not sure if I could get it clean enough to completely get rid of the ring now that I've buffed it. What do you guys thing I should do?
 
Put the price tag over it..... :footinmou

I don't know Jason. It just happens sometimes. The higher the polish the more it shows.
 
I have had the same problem when I over buffed bolsters. You could try putting a satin finish on the bolster and see if you like that. Did you grind down the bolster quite a bit? I have found that if I only use a small hammer to peen the pins, that if I grind down the bolster the pins start to show, because the pin hasn't swelled all the way through, only on the outside edges of the bolster. I have switched to a 5 lb hammer to peen my pins and I haven't had a bolster show since.
Kyle Fuglesten
 
Mike's got it.Burnish with a smooth rounded object of hardened steel(Or a comercial burnisher).Resand lightly and buff.We jewelers make (or buy) rotary burnishers and run them in our flex shafts.
Don't overgrind in the future,it almost always shows a ring.
 
Hi Jason, nice to see you around again. I've tried the burnishing trick with some success, but my favorite idea is Kyle's - get a bigger hammer next time. :D
 
Dave I thought you bought a power hammer just for pins.

:eek: :) :D :D ;)

Steve
 
Try using a soft toothbrush and acetone to clean the compound out of the ring then try doing the burnish or re-peen.If you don't get the color from the compound out first you will never get the ring around the pin to go away no matter what you try :eek: Guess how I know this ;)
Bruce..
The engraving works great for this problem also.
 
Jason Magruder said:
That rotary burnisher is just an off center rod right?
Click to expand...
Yes,basicly.The ones I use are wheel burrs with six or so raised cams.Each cam "bumps" the metal and smooths it a bit.Used with a lubricant it leaves a polished surface.An off center hardened rod does the same,just with only one bump per revolution.A hand burnisher is just a polished,hardened piece of tapered steel.It usually has a curve to it,and is pointed somewhat.
 
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