gwelker62 wrote:I had watched that vid a while back. It kinda convinced me I could give a Schrade repair a try. I noticed he used dowel stock and not the common pins sold on feebay and other places. Wonder if the dowel stock is what I should use?
Dowel stock?
I have not heard that term applied to metal pens or rods before. What do you mean by "dowel stock" and how is that different from the pin stock sold by Jantz Supply, K & G, and all the other Knife Makers supply houses?
The only brass and nickel silver stock I have purchased in the US is made by K & S Precision Metals. The newer ones are in the red packages and some of the older stock comes in the plastic sleeve with a stick on label. The package on the left is branded "Albron Alloys" and that I ordered from the UK through a UK eBay seller. Some metric sizes of nickel silver pins are not readily available here in the US. The .9 MM is equal to .0354 inches. Not a size I used often, but certainly not one I want to have to make when I need it.
The other sources I have found for dimensional brass wire are hobby supply companies dealing with beads. I have purchased small rolls of nickel silver and brass why are from such companies, and the wire is indeed the correct size. What I didn't know is that brass and nickel silver can be tempered just like steel. The wire is usually offered in two different degrees of hardness: "half hard," and "dead soft." I was pretty sure dead soft was not what I wanted to pin knives with so I ordered the "half hard" wire. When it arrived I found that the half hard brass & nickel silver were too soft to use as pins. The spring tension in a slip joint can bend a half hard pin and the pivot holes of the blades will quickly wear it out.
Basically the only type of pins that I have found acceptable in knife repair is the brass and nickel silver pin stock offered by Jantz and other knife maker supply houses, my local hardware stores will sell K & S brass pin stock, and a number of sellers on eBay from whom I have purchased K & S brass and nickel silver pin stock. If there is another source of dimensional brass and nickel silver pans (aside from purchasing premade pins) I would love to hear about it!
