Nothing spectacular here, just a boring rundown of how I peen pins.
We're using 1/16 Nickel Silver pins on this. I use the same method with any soft metals, Aluminum, Brass, Bronze, etc.
With the holes drilled to 1/16 and the scales epoxied and cured, I make sure the holes line up by sliding a drill bit through them. Before I go further, I shape the handle down to its final shape and finish it to 90% I say 90 because when were done with the pins, we'll need to file them down a bit and sand everything out.
I take a tapered drill bit shown in the below picture and very gently taper the hole by hand. I dont measure it or know what the angle is, I just do it until I can feel it barely start to cut. All we want to do is make room for the end of the pin to be a bit wider than 1/16 when its peened. It doesnt take much to secure the scale. If I had to guess, I would say the taper goes maybe .03 deep. No need to overthink it.
I mark and cut the pin stock about 1/16 proud of the scales on each side. If you leave too much, when you peen it, you can mushroom the top and never even swell the portion thats in the hole. If youre sanding them smooth afterwards, the space will rear its ugly head.
A picture of a 1/16 pin in a 1/16 hole slightly tapered with a tapered drill bit that I think I picked up at Ace hardware. The taper should be just a tad bigger than the pin, or in this case, corresponding drill bit. The pin on the left has been peened, I'll file and sand them all at once when I'm done.
A really high speed technical way of measuring the pins and cutting them, I warned you that this would be boring.
Here's a picture that shows about how much wider the pins are than the handle, a little less than the pin width in this case.
More riveting pin peening posts to follow.