Peening anvil

[Southbound1]

Hi,
I just scored a free anvil. Lol it weights 50lbs though. We did a job for a fellow that was going to hall a bunch of stuff off, and I spotted a 50lb rusty old dumbbell and asked if I could take it off his hands, and he gave it to me. I brought it home and sawed off one end, and polished it up. Both sides were domed so I ground the bottom flat so it would lay flat on the table and not wobble. The one domed side will be perfect for peening razors, I guess it would because it would stop me from putting flat spots in the penned side? Meaning will it keep the pin rounded, when pinning the opposite side. I think I read somewhere that a slightly domed anvil is very helpful .

I need some advice from you guys with peening experience . When you are peening and mushrooming one side, do you rotate the razor ever so slightly, so it aids in mushrooming the opposite side? (The side against the anvil)

 

[Doc226]

I use the flat side of my bench vise, I have never had an issue with the pins.

 

[Southbound1]

I use the flat side of my bench vise, I have never had an issue with the pins.

A couple of good things is that i have the flats and the dome parts to both use on the weight . It was free so I make use some use of it.

 

[Dick peck]

I just grab the 25lb from my son's room when I need to pin. Near the end I roll and tap out edge of pin. This has resulted in tapping scales and leaving marks. There are a few videos that I watched early on for pointers. I believe after a few tries things start to get easier and better. Practice on some beaters if you can. Good luck.

 

[Southbound1]

I just grab the 25lb from my son's room when I need to pin. Near the end I roll and tap out edge of pin. This has resulted in tapping scales and leaving marks. There are a few videos that I watched early on for pointers. I believe after a few tries things start to get easier and better. Practice on some beaters if you can. Good luck.

Yeap I will give the golddallors a go. I just bought some stuff for peening. Id like to do a few regrinds on GD. Id like to just de- penn and regrind and put the original scales back on. Some of these guys make their own scales. Lol that will be a long ways down the road for me. Just curious do these talented fellows like Doc cut shape and finish the ivory, bone exotic woods and horns ? Or do they buy blanks? Id say more and likely they do it all from start to finish .A man has to have lots of equipment for that kind of tasks such as band saw, drill press, buffers ect. I will start with GD and just reattach the original scales for now.

 

[Dick peck]

I've made a few sets of scales. Very crude without those fancy tools. Something to look out for are old English and French blades. Cheap if blades are ruined. The horn is usually old looks like wood if really dry. They are cool to recycle. One of my favorites is an old yellow pair of bone scales. Super smooth and polished up nice. Happy hunting.

 

[eKretz]

You don't need super fancy stuff to make a nice set of scales. A jigsaw (or even a hand coping saw), a belt sander and a drill press can make first rate scales just fine. Here is the first set I ever made, these are paper micarta - I used only those tools above except for a hammer to peen the pins. Those are the old scales that were replaced underneath. The new scales were hand sanded after rough shaping on the belt and polished with something like plastic polish by hand with a soft cloth. I used a cut-off from one of the old scales to make the new wedge. Little bit of old in with the new and all. I added another pin and spacer where that empty hole is, just hadn't got around to it yet when I took that photo.

 

[Southbound1]

You don't need super fancy stuff to make a nice set of scales. A jigsaw (or even a hand coping saw), a belt sander and a drill press can make first rate scales just fine. Here is the first set I ever made, these are paper micarta - I used only those tools above except for a hammer to peen the pins. Those are the old scales that were replaced underneath. The new scales were hand sanded after rough shaping on the belt and polished with something like plastic polish by hand with a soft cloth. I used a cut-off from one of the old scales to make the new wedge. Little bit of old in with the new and all. I added another pin and spacer where that empty hole is, just hadn't got around to it yet when I took that photo.

View attachment 952977

Nice work Eric! What is paper micarta? And there is another i think is cocobola wood. I've heard of it but i don't know exactly what it is.

 

[eKretz]

Paper micarta is a composite made with paper and epoxy. Cocobolo is a species of wood, just like oak, ebony, walnut, etc.

 

[Clay S]

Nice work Eric! What is paper micarta? And there is another i think is cocobola wood. I've heard of it but i don't know exactly what it is.

Cocobolo | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood)

Good place to lookup woods!

Micarta(TM) is a brandname for composites of linen, canvas, paper, fiberglass, carbon fiber or other fabric in a thermosetting plastic. Def from Wikipedia. Its layered like plywood, but instead of having grain on the flat surface, it often have a weave look. A popular knife handle material.

 

[eKretz]

Another thing to remember re: your bottom "anvil" is that if it has a rough finish it will be imparted somewhat to your pin. I use an old large bearing ball from something I took apart at work ages ago:

 

[eKretz]

And forgot to say, yes I do rotate the razors while peening. Being on top of a ball makes this much easier. Some guys like to drill a hole in their peening blocks just deep enough for the pin to sit in so it's at the proper stick-out length on the bottom side while they do the first peen on the top. Myself I use a little vise that has a couple v-grooves in it that are small enough to grab the pin. I set the razor on top of the vise with the full (6" or whatever I've got) length of pin sticking down through the vise and lock it down so that about 1/16" is sticking out past the top washer. Then start that peen until it's enough to hold the pin from falling through the washer.

Next I loosen the vise and remove the razor and pin, then use a pair of sharp cutters to cut the opposite end of the pin about 3/32" from the scale. Next file the end of the pin flat, and add washer. Set on ball "anvil" and start to peen the 2nd side. Go back and forth from 1st to 2nd side with light tapping and rotating while doing so until finished.

 

[Southbound1]

And forgot to say, yes I do rotate the razors while peening. Being on top of a ball makes this much easier. Some guys like to drill a hole in their peening blocks just deep enough for the pin to sit in so it's at the proper stick-out length on the bottom side while they do the first peen on the top. Myself I use a little vise that has a couple v-grooves in it that are small enough to grab the pin. I set the razor on top of the vise with the full (6" or whatever I've got) length of pin sticking down through the vise and lock it down so that about 1/16" is sticking out past the top washer. Then start that peen until it's enough to hold the pin from falling through the washer.

Next I loosen the vise and remove the razor and pin, then use a pair of sharp cutters to cut the opposite end of the pin about 3/32" from the scale. Next file the end of the pin flat, and add washer. Set on ball "anvil" and start to peen the 2nd side. Go back and forth from 1st to 2nd side with light tapping and rotating while doing so until finished.

I gave my anvil a polish. So when you are peening you slightly roll or pivot the opposite end?

 

[eKretz]

Yeah, I rotate the razor in all three axes so as to evenly peen the pin and keep it fairly rounded. I also slightly adjust my aim point with the hammer blows so that they hit all around the peened surface. So constant movement basically. Results in a pretty nice, evenly rounded peen. I like a nice rounded slightly domed peen personally, but if you want a flatter peen, just leave a little less sticking out past the washer when you start.

 

[novitiate]

I'll add this in here:

If you need a small anvil for soft metals (nickel-silver, bronze, copper, or brass) use a bolt head 3/4" or bigger. Can be stainless or carbon steel, just file down all sharp edges, radius & dome it slightly then polish. It doesn't even need to be hardened and you can chuck it in your vise to hold it. Very handy and the small size works well for small work.

 

[alpster]

Cheap Harbor Freight anvil with a couple of modifications. Polished carriage bolt fits perfectly in the square hole. 3 sizes of divots for peining and two holes drilled to the diameter of the pins I use. The depth is about 1/4 inch longer than the thickest scales. Drop in a pin with a washer around it and cut it of 1/16 above the washer. File the distortion off the top and pein until the pin stays put. The rest gets trimmed & peined when installing the scales.

 

[Kooldecker]

i found a piaton from a truck brake caliper i had on my bench for years ( used it as an anvil for so many small thing) works great. cleaned and painted. should last my lifetim lol