Pin material?

orca8589

orca8589

Joined
Jan 27, 2007
Messages
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Okay, yet another slipjoint question: What is the standard material for slipjoint pins? I've got a (Camillus) Remington #9501 Stockman, and the pins sit a little proud of the bolsters; I've noticed this on a lot of my recent Camillus knives. (This came up in the Camillus Collector's forum, regarding Buck 307's.)

How do makers like Case, GEC, etc. keep the bolsters 'clean' - do they make the pins out of nickel-silver, like the bolsters? And for brass bolsters, do mfrs. use brass pins?

Lastly, how does the strength of N-S pins rate, compared to steel?

That's the downside to a love affair with knives. Things like this keep me up at night . . . :p

thx - cpr
 
Chris, I think these questions are best answered by the pros over in the Bladesmith's Q & A...
 
Yes for brass bolsters they use brass for ns bolsters they use ns pins. But manufacturers use a different method of peening, they use a friction press. that heats the pin a little by spinning and applying pressure at the same time. Not all do it this way but most mass manufacturers do.
NS is just as durable as brass for pins.
Stainless would be my choice over the three.
 
Elliott: thanks; I've never been to this little sub-forum. I gotta get out more. ;)

Rusty: thanks for the clarification. A surprise to me, for sure; all this time I just assumed all pivots pins were steel.

Regarding strength . . . well, I guess if tolerances are held to a good standard, I guess the pivot will be as strong as is needed. Considering how badly I've beat up some of my old slipjoints, I guess it's not an issue.

I'm going to go back through some of Ken's old threads - he's got a tutorial/WIP thread that goes into some of this stuff.

thx - cpr
 
Germans production makers often use steel pivot pins. You can see the differnce in metal at the bolster. I have one Hanson knife, old with a steel pivot, nickel silver bolster and brass liners. He told me he used steel for strength, since the knive is a "hard use" blade.
 
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