All About Pocket Knives

Which one are you using and are you happy with the results? I just started using some Pin spinners that I purchased as a set. They were relatively expensive and the results are mediocre at best. I do pretty well on most pins with a hammer if the scales are flat but with jigged bone it’s a bit difficult to peen the pins without damaging the scale. Maybe a modified drift Pin punch would be a better? The pin spinner set for me was a total waste of money.

I use one occasionally when I need to, it is one from the camillus factory I got from a forum member.
Most of my pins are peened and if needed finished with concave faced punch to give them a "machine" look. I think there was a pretty extensive thread on spinners and punch finishing pins a while back but I'm having a hard time finding it

It seems like some folks swear by them and others have nothing good to say about them. I’ve tried them a few different times and I’m not a fan. The ones I bought were relatively expensive and really didn’t work all that well. I’m going to go back to using my favorite hammer and maybe a modified punch.

I almost always spin heads on my pins, I rarely peen them simply because there is too much danger of cracking the handles and I think the spun and on the pins looks more finished. Also I specialize in Camillus and Schrade in both companies used spun pins extensively.

I usually pre-spin all my handle pins. I cut the pins into about three-quarter inch lengths, taper one end and sand the opposite end flat. I put the pen in a drill press vise with the flathead sticking up above the vise about one half the distance of the pin diameter. Approximately 1/32 inch for a 1/16 inch pin. I use tungsten carbide spinners, I have 3 sizes, and I always use them with Ultra Lube. I find it is not possible to spend a good head on the pin without good lubrication. Ultra Lube is a cutting oil, actually in a gel form it works very good as a cutting oil, on my burrs for my Foredom and for spinning heads on pins.

I haven’t seen any tungsten carbide spinners available from any of the vendors online. In fact, there are very few spinners in general available.

The carbide spinners I have came from the Camillus factory. I got them from folks who worked at Camillus.

I have looked for someone who can replicate the design of the Camillus but I haven't been able to find someone yet.

I have made spinners from set screws that worked better than the commercially available spinners.


There was an AAPK store owner who had made spinners from tungsten. I bought some last year but have not had the time and health to give them a fair try.
I think with practice they will work great.

T-Bark has the spinners in his store:
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/ca ... ber_id=439

I have those, the full set. If anyone wants them I’ll sell them for 1/2 of what I paid for them. For me they just don’t work as expected. Others may have a different view of them.

I made one from a bearing set screw.(also check out high tensile bolts some are concave on the end )you notice some grinding on the end. I did it on a wet stone otherwise the metal gets hot and losses tensile strength.Not perfect but cheap.

Grant

See if this helps

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=39699&p=399838&hil ... er#p399838

I have a spinner, but I don't really use it. I think they can hog away too much material around the pin.

I agree with Dale that there is danger in peening pins. I just recently cracked some camel bone on a knife I was working on assembling. Some materials are not as forgiving as others. As for the rough look of peening marks, if you don't buff them out, I do think they add something to some builds, like with nice stag.

I may be stating the obvious but i get best results at high speed with a lot of pressure when spinning pins

muskrat man wrote:I may be stating the obvious but i get best results at high speed with a lot of pressure when spinning pins

Thanks MM. I've heard of some folks using low speed and moderate pressure and others using high speed and heavy pressure (and a few other variations). I'll have to try a few more at different speeds etc.
The last few times I used them it seemed like the "cup" section of the spinner was too deep resulting in alot of contact with the handle material. For some materials that may be okay but I'm guessing that with jigged bone for example, i'd want to minimize the contact of the spinner bit with the bone.

If you examine some of the old knives where the factories use pin spinners on them, you will often see marks from the spinner in the material, whether it's stag, bone or even Delrin.
This is why I spin my handle pins before I install them, and then I peen them on the back side of the liner. I do the same thing with the rocker pins, I will pre spin the head on one end the rocker pin and then I will put a tapered point on the other end of the pin. When I install the pin I insert the pin from the mark side and I cut off the excess length of the pin on the pile side and then I spin the pin head on the pin sticking through the pile side.

If I hit the handle with the spinners it is generally only at the pile side rocker pin.

This thread has confirmed something that has troubled me for a while. Spinning Pins Ain't Easy.
I bought a spinner from Jantz and was going to set the knife restoration world on fire with beautifully spun pins........ It hasn't happened. However some of the comments above has given me hope that maybe (just maybe) I can go back and at least try again.

Derek

Jeffinn I Think It's An Equipment Issue! I Purchased The Same Spinners , My First Reaction Was Houston We Have a Problem , Then I Looked At the Tool Marks on The Pin , Like a CSI Through 45x Scope , Hmmm I Said , The Spinner Had Concentric Ring Grooves Through Out Its Diameter , Just How The Little Pocket Was Cut Out , I Thought What if I Used a Diamond Coated Dremel , Of the Same Size And Cross Hatched The Rings to Move More Metal Rather Than Just Compressing It ? I Made A Perfectly ( Polished ) Mushroomed Head On Pin , But Did Not Get The Size Requirment nor Compression I Was Hoping For . Bottom Line My 8" Drill Press Was designed For Just That Drilling , Hasn't Got The Special Bearing Required For Compressing the Shroom Down To Scales On The Pin, Even when Sized To Tool with no Overcut ! So Now I am not Buying an Industrial Grade Drill Press , Not Gonna Happen I May Use A Diamond Coated Disk And Put a Slot or To In The Tool ( Spinner ) And Continue My efforts For An Even More Aggressive Cut , Or look For an Easier Out , Iam looking to Modifying one of these Things , Chainsaw Chain Maker Built Like a Tank and Does S-T-E-E-L Pins With E-A-S E , ~~~~~~~~~~~~ KC

Here's a thought .Why not peen the pin and use the pin spinner to finish it off.It may be cheating but if it works it give a spin look.

Grant

Shearer wrote:Here's a thought .Why not peen the pin and use the pin spinner to finish it off.It may be cheating but if it works it give a spin look.

Grant

done that too it works most of the time

I make spinners/cup punches out of different size drill rod.
You can taper the ends to whatever size you need.
I usually peen and then shape with the cup punch. The pinches can be chucked in a flex-shaft or drill to spin heads. Not much force is needed.

Thanks Bill, I was thinking that I was going to have to create something. Peening pins on smooth handle materials is pretty straight forward. But peening pins on jigged bone creates a couple of challenges. The readily available pin spinners aren’t as good as they’re cracked up to be (at least in my opinion). I’m not so concerned with getting a perfect ball on the pin as I am with making sure that the pin is actually expanded and secure.
I’m assuming I’ll need some carbide ball burrs to create the cups. I’ll have to scrounge up some unused drills to use as the bits.

Jeffinn wrote:Thanks Bill, I was thinking that I was going to have to create something. Peening pins on smooth handle materials is pretty straight forward. But peening pins on jigged bone creates a couple of challenges. The readily available pin spinners aren’t as good as they’re cracked up to be (at least in my opinion). I’m not so concerned with getting a perfect ball on the pin as I am with making sure that the pin is actually expanded and secure.
I’m assuming I’ll need some carbide ball burrs to create the cups. I’ll have to scrounge up some unused drills to use as the bits.

another option that I often use is to secure a short length of pin in a vise and peen a round head on, then insert it in the handle and peen it out against the liner, useful if the pin hole comes out down in a jig or groove in stag