Inlaying mosaic pins into blades?

[clcuckow]

Hi All,

Have any of you tried inlaying mosaic pins into blades? like this.

http://www.brisa.fi/dh1.jpg as seen on brisa's (http://www.brisa.fi) website.

Was it a success? How did you do it? Just epoxy?

Thanks.

[keith_beef]

Hi All,

Have any of you tried inlaying mosaic pins into blades?..snip..



Dennis explained how to do this, right here on BB.

IIRR, you take your 6mm pin, and drill a 6mm hole in the blade. Heat the blade gently, so that thermal expansion makes the hole slightly oversize, then drive in the pin and wait for the blade to cool.

Maybe putting the pin in the fridge, so it contracts a little, would help too.


KKK.

[clcuckow]

Thanks, that was quick Keith.

[clcuckow]

Found the thread.

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showpost.php?p=39577&postcount=14

[hootchi]

I was wondering if you can buy ceramic pins aswell, I have read about people making them but have never seen them in shops. I am struggling to find brass rods for sale aswell. Does any one know where to buy them from?

[ZDP-189]

I was wondering if you can buy ceramic pins aswell, I have read about people making them but have never seen them in shops. I am struggling to find brass rods for sale aswell. Does any one know where to buy them from?


Brass rods are available at any model shop, but you can drill and file a complex shape into the blade and then fill with a melted braising rod and then file off.

http://www.uberlevel.com/link2image/as5ktr6j76.JPG

Ceramic or glass rods (mosaic) are available from my local hobby shop, but beware of fracturing them if you bring up the temp too quickly.

[clcuckow]

I was wondering if you can buy ceramic pins aswell, I have read about people making them but have never seen them in shops. I am struggling to find brass rods for sale aswell. Does any one know where to buy them from?

Hardware shops like B&Q also sell brass rods and tubes in different sizes. I also get some from model shops but the ones round me only sell them in imperial (better for scale models a suppose) and I always have a job getting them to fit as I only have metric bits.

[Dave Budd]

mosaic pins in the blade? genius! I love it.

just a quick question. doesn't heating the blade to that sort of temperature bu**er the epoxy? I think I will have to try this one :biggthump

[ZDP-189]

You don't neet to get red-hot to get enough expansion to make the difference between gripping the pin securely and allowing it to be driven in with a pin-vice.

[keith_beef]

You don't neet to get red-hot to get enough expansion to make the difference between gripping the pin securely and allowing it to be driven in with a pin-vice.

When I mentioned putting the pin in the fridge, so it contracts, I was also thinking about countering the fact that the epoxy might be softened by the heat.

But Mushi posted a link about industrial grades of Araldite being available. Some of those might easily resist 150ºC - 200ºC without softening.

KKK.

[ZDP-189]

The pin probably won't contract much. The araldite would prevent the tube from contracting.

Brass does expand more than steel...

Table of expansions:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/thexp.html#c1

... but you're heating the blade, not the brass tube.

[ZDP-189]

Looking again at the beautiful picture, I think the real question is how did Dennis drill the hole without annealing the blade? The blade is by Bjorkman - his logo stamp has been drilled out and replaced with the pin.

[keith_beef]

The pin probably won't contract much. The araldite would prevent the tube from contracting.

Brass does expand more than steel...

Table of expansions:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/thexp.html#c1

... but you're heating the blade, not the brass tube.

Yes, but what I meant, was that when the brass tube touches the hot steel, the heat is going to go into the brass, then the araldite, at the risk of softening it and maybe allowing the small tube to move or even making the araldite run.

On reflection, I also think that it might be wise to chamfer the hole in the steel very slightly, to retain the pin better.

Maybe Dennis drilled in a part of the blade that has a very mild temper.


KKK.

[narsil]

I saw a tip somewhere that you can locally soften a blade by using a piece of blunt ended rod of the appropriate diameter in a drill press. The idea is that you try to 'drill' the hole with the rod. Of course it wont make much impression but the heat from the friction will heat the blade enough to soften the temper at that point in a fairly local area. I've never tried it myself but it seems a reasonable idea. probably best to keep away from the edge tho'.

[keith_beef]

I saw a tip somewhere that you can locally soften a blade by using a piece of blunt ended rod of the appropriate diameter in a drill press. The idea is that you try to 'drill' the hole with the rod. Of course it wont make much impression but the heat from the friction will heat the blade enough to soften the temper at that point in a fairly local area. I've never tried it myself but it seems a reasonable idea. probably best to keep away from the edge tho'.

That sounds like a good way of doing it, and much more precise than using a blowtorch (though maybe a Microflame butane/nox would do it).


KKK.