Reply To: blind alley

[brianw]

Hi Paul,
Your comments on the punch marks are interesting. I assumed it was just a mistake that was made when it was first assembled. I learn something every day.
I turned up the pins with silver steel, then filed most of the flat with the pin still in the lathe then held the pin in my hand and filed the rest because I found it easier to keep it flat that way.
I took some advice from a book and turned a small lip in the middle of the pins so that it was easier to get them to stay vertical when fixing in place with shellac.
I then heated to red hot and dropped in water. Then polished with a fine slip and finally burnished. The flat bit was the easiest to get smooth, the curved, not so easy.
All in all a lot of work, especially given that four of the pins were not needed. Still, I’ve got some spares now, so next time it will be easier.
Brian