Bolster question

D

Dave Hub

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Dec 10, 2014
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57
I’m building a drop point hunter with brass bolsters. It’s the first time I’m trying bolsters. I drilled the pin holes, and am about ready to attach. My question is, how? Do I use epoxy and just the pins? JB weld? Solder?

What about peening? If so, what’s the best way to do that? Do I countersink the holes?

Thanks for the help!
 
Wow, talk about a lot in one question :).

Most of us solder the bolsters on with low temp silver bearing solder (Stay-Brite, Tix, etc.). Some use JB weld.
The pins need to be peened. The holes need to be tapered with a tapered reamer, but a countersink will work if that is all you have. Clamp the bolsters down when peening or they will lift up off the tang. Make the tang holes a little larger that the pins for ease of fitting and to keep the bolsters from lifting as the pins expand.
 
I use clear epoxy and peen after the epoxy hardened.
I used a drill bit that I ground thinner towards the tip to widen the hole
 
To taper the holes, i found something that works pretty well. I get the cheap pack of needle files from hazard freight. They have 8 or 10 files in a little plastic sleeve thing. It should have two round files that are the same size. I cut the plastic handle off the file with one of my shop knives. I chuck the file into a drill. I drill-file the hole a bit, then stick a pin in and see how much play i get, then drill-file and try again. Repeat until it looks right (purely subjective).
 
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