Just bought a fixed blade kit......Do I pein?

G

Graycliff

Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
9
I just bought the "Modern Skinner" kit from knifekits, and I'm trying to figure out if I am supposed to epoxy and pein the bolsters and scales or just epoxy and stick in the pins. The pins are not a tight fit in the holes, which makes me think that I have to pein, not sure though.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
I epoxy and then pein the pins immediately. just be carefull not to pein too hard or you get halos around the pins in some material. I just found that out the hard way with some maroon linen micarta. I also cut grooves in the pins to give the epoxy something to hold onto.
 
No epoxy on the bolsters. It will make the seam show really bad. Just peen the heck out of them and then grind it smooth and polish them up.
 
Got it. Thanks for the advice.

It's my understanding that the handle and bolster pins hould be tight to the holes. Is it going to be a problem that the pins basically fall right through when you go to place them in a hole?

Thanks again.
 
Graycliff said:
Got it. Thanks for the advice.

It's my understanding that the handle and bolster pins hould be tight to the holes. Is it going to be a problem that the pins basically fall right through when you go to place them in a hole?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need bigger pins.
 
This is one subject that escapes my understanding. How do you peen the pins? Do you peen them both at the same time? Seems like the first side would just slip out the other side with the first hit unless you have something against the other side. Could someone please explain this process in detail for me?

Thanks
In His Service,
Reid Allen
 
Let me try and clarify....

I've never made a knife so my question comes from my brain thinking the whole process out and not from the workbench.

You have a knife, two bolsters, and two pins to assemble. The knife and bolsters already has two holes drilled through them. You insert the pins and pick-up a hammer. Do you set the knife down on a pounding block and start pounding the pins against the block so both sides start to flatten out at the same time? Do you pound a couple of times and then flip the knife over and pound some more to keep it even? The problem I'm having understanding is the fact the pin is longer than the hole is deep...right? So putting the knife down on the pounding block will even up the pin on the bottom, leaving all the extra material on the top. Do you block the knife up a tad to leave room for the pin head on the other side? I hope this clears things up like the Mississippi River. Otherwise your gonna have to climb into my brain to get a clearer picture.

HELP!!!!!!

In His Service,
Reid Allen
 
waredbear said:
Let me try and clarify....
I've never made a knife so my question comes from my brain thinking the whole process out and not from the workbench.

You have a knife, two bolsters, and two pins to assemble. The knife and bolsters already has two holes drilled through them. You insert the pins and pick-up a hammer.
Click to expand...

You have the right idea. If you were to do the opposite and swing the knife and handle(with the pins in) at the hammer, well then I couldn't guarantee a decent outcome. :D

waredbear said:
Do you set the knife down on a pounding block and start pounding the pins against the block so both sides start to flatten out at the same time? Do you pound a couple of times and then flip the knife over and pound some more to keep it even?
Click to expand...

You got it. The "pounding block" needs to be something that won't give, like a small anvil or piece of steel. Both ends of the pins will flare out a bit but you will need to go slow, flip it over a time or two or three and take your time. A small hammer is best so that you flare only the ends of the pins first. Over compression of the pins inside the handle material will occur if you use a hammer that is too heavy, which will crack the material. The pins should be sticking out both sides of the handle material about HALF THE WIDTH OF THE PINS before you start peining.

You're on the right track.
Peace
 
Thanks Kerry for the explanation. I too would swing the knife at the hammer but I don't know if I would have the control needed to hit the hammer.

Reid
aka WARedBear
 
Most of us do not pein pins, tends to split handle material.

I am careful to drill correct size holes and trust the epoxy to hold the pins in place. Metal bolster pins however are peined with a three pound hammer.
 
george tichbourne said:
Most of us do not pein pins, tends to split handle material.

I am careful to drill correct size holes and trust the epoxy to hold the pins in place. Metal bolster pins however are peined with a three pound hammer.
Click to expand...

I bet that would work pretty well, epoxy only. I'm really relatively new at knifemaking and I was going by what most of the written material says about setting pins in handles. I recently made the knife on this link in another forum. http://www.knifetalkforums.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=10925&an=0&page=0#10925
I have been spending some time with a knifemaker and he gave me a tapered rotary carbide bit that he uses to taper the pin holes prior to setting the pins. He told me basically what I said in my previous post above. I don't remember the angle on the bit but it was way less than 45 degrees...something like 15 or 20. Anyway, the handle on my knife in that link is ebony...not the most forgiving material for setting pins in and you won't see any cracks around the pins.
 
This is starting to drift away from the post.
The bolsters are peined on. No epoxy.
I did do one with small stainless Corby rivets to bolt on the bolsters. It looked OK.But I never bothered again.
When rivets are peined properly and sanded smooth, it is virtually invisible.
 
Right Stacy...kinda slipped a bit. The pins on bolsters need to be compressed inside of the holes. On the knife in the link I first posted, I had to remove the first pins I used in the bolsters because I didn't get good compression on the pins which left voids between the pins and bolster material(lines). I was too gentle with it basically. With the new pins I tapered the holes and really layed into the pins so that the compression would take place deeper in the hole and become one with the bolster material.
 
Before you peen the pins, check the length. You want no more than the widths worth of length out past the bolster on a 3/32 PIN. no more than 1/8 even on a very large size pin. Before you pein, file or grind the pin into a semi point. In other words, grind or file a taper to the end at about a 45 degree angle. The degree isn't all that important. Leave a flat tip one half or the dia. of the pin. Think looking like a flat point pistol bullet. Doing this will cause the pin to swell further down the shaft, rather than mushroom over before it has the chance to swell into the pin hole. You will get a much stronger mechanical bond this way. since you pin stock is slightly smaller in dia. than the pin hole try slightly bending the pin in the middle. This will tighten up the bolster before you start the penning, and help keep the bolsters aligned. Mike http://www.lovettknives.com/
 
Good advise,Mike.
Also, when you drill the holes in the bolster they should be a fair snug fit,but not a force fit. The hole through the blade should be a little oversize and not bind at all. If the blade hole is tight the pin may try to swell there while peening,and lift the bolster a bit from the blade. No amount of smacking away on the pin and bolster will get it back down.With a little slop in the blade hole this doesn't happen.I also make a slight counter sink on the inside of the bolster holes to avoid this.The bolsters need to fit flush before peening starts.Start with gentle peening blows and progress to firmer ones. Switch to a planishing hammer when the pins are completely mushroomed out and the bolsters are tight. File away most of the excess pin and planish till the pin/bolster surface is smooth . After sanding and polishing,the pin should be virtually invisible. (assuming you used a pin of the exact same material as the bolster)
Stacy
 
I use a slightly different approach to pinning my handles on. I do not like to pein, because I've had problems from time to time with cracking expensive handle materials. I've gone to "ever so slightly" undersizing the holes. I then freeze the pins to make them shrink. My refrigerator freezer works just fine. I use epoxy and slip them into the holes. When they warm up, they expand to a slight press fit. No peining is required to obtain a tight fit. As long as I keep my holes as close to the pin size as possible, I've never had a handle come loose with this method.

Scott (Ickie) Ickes
 
I don't have a ton of experience with pinned on bolsters, but what I do is place a small washer on the anvil for the end of the pin to go into, with the bolster sitting on the washer. Doing that you need a spacer under the butt end of the tang to keep it level. Then pien one side a little bit, flip the blade over, pien the other side, etc. I have read of makers just using a large hammer and giving one side a huge whack, but I have a lot of doubts about that...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top