Pegging jewel holes

[Lc130]

I tried shaving a toothpick down to size but it becomes so fragile that it's useless.  Is there something else that works for very small holes like pallet forks?

 

Thank you

Charlie

[matabog]

pegwood or harder/denser wood. And patience...

[oli]

As above, definitely use pegwood. I find that the quality of the pegwood makes a significant difference as well, some grades are easier to sharpen to a perfect shape. The indian orangewood sold by cousins, although a step up compared to toothpick, is not up to the job for small jewels found in watches. 

 

[Pip]

As above, definitely use pegwood. I find that the quality of the pegwood makes a significant difference as well, some grades are easier to sharpen to a perfect shape. The indian orangewood sold by cousins, although a step up compared to toothpick, is not up to the job for small jewels found in watches. 
 

Amen. I’m on the lookout for a much better quality pegwood so if anyone cares to mention a source in the UK or Europe I’m all ears.


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[Nucejoe]

1 hour ago, Pip said:

Amen. I’m on the lookout for a much better quality pegwood so if anyone cares to mention a source in the UK or Europe I’m all ears.


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Anyone sourcing folks with a majic pegwood up to the job, would make a living by it.

I join hands with pip, Thank the lord for the pegwwod we are about to receive.Amen.

[oli]

CousinsUK sell a German orangewood grade which is very good indeed. 

[nickelsilver]

I bought some from Horotec a few weeks ago and it's great, and I'm pretty critical of pegwood. Just their standard stuff.

[Pip]

Thanks guys, I’ll have a shifty.


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[DouglasSkinner]

Did you buy the pegwood directly from Horotec?

[DouglasSkinner]

On 1/9/2019 at 3:18 PM, matabog said:

pegwood or harder/denser wood. And patience...

I sympathize with you.  I haven't quite mastered this yet.  Didn't think about the quality of the pegwood.  Thanks!

[nickelsilver]

Did you buy the pegwood directly from Horotec?

Yes, but they're local to me.

[Nucejoe]

On 1/10/2019 at 12:44 AM, oli said:

As above, definitely use pegwood. I find that the quality of the pegwood makes a significant difference as well, some grades are easier to sharpen to a perfect shape. The indian orangewood sold by cousins, although a step up compared to toothpick, is not up to the job for small jewels found in watches. 

 

Is indian orangewood a label? brand name? Or tells  the wood is off of some type of indian orange tree. If so plenty orange trees in my front yard so all I need is a pencil shrapener .This is got to be the stupidest question ever on forum.

[JimmyD]

BUY? being a Scot (now in Australia) why buy pegwood, just get a scrap bit of oak, ash, whatever as long as it is hardwood, use a tennon saw and cut it into about 1/4 inch squares, and chisle the end to the size you need. Failing that I have also reused Kabab stickes after a BBQ.

[JimmyD]

I mean 3"x1/4"x1/4"

[AndyHull]

I must confess to recently poking the crud out of a balance jewel hole with a nylon toothbrush bristle. Does this make me a bad person?

[JimmyD]

Only if it was an Oral B as the cheap one's do not clean as well

[Klassiker]

Just took a look at the Cousins website. They have the Indian orangewood as mentioned by Oli above, the German orangewood he recommends, and swiss beech or hornbeam. All are at the affordable end of the scale. Then there's the luxury article from Horotec, which is described as Swiss gentian wood. I guess this is the sort which Nickelsilver praises above, in which case I assume the price is justified. I'm looking for something which will take a really fine, sharp but durable point, but still clean well.

[Nucejoe]

2 hours ago, Klassiker said:

Just took a look at the Cousins website. They have the Indian orangewood as mentioned by Oli above, the German orangewood he recommends, and swiss beech or hornbeam. All are at the affordable end of the scale. Then there's the luxury article from Horotec, which is described as Swiss gentian wood. I guess this is the sort which Nickelsilver praises above, in which case I assume the price is justified. I'm looking for something which will take a really fine, sharp but durable point, but still clean well.

Wouldn,t that be nice. 

[nickelsilver]

The gentian wood would be really fragile, it's close to pithwood in consistency. Great for polishing bevels, not much else.

Regular pegwood is light years beyond toothpicks, the "normal" horotec i described above is a-ok for jewels down to say 0.07mm no problem. You should peg the pallet hole jewels if nothing else, a good 30-40 degrees of amplitude lie there!

[anilv]

A bit of drift but still related to pegwood.

I have a table pencil-sharpener bolted to my desk. I use it to get a nice conical tip and then use a knife to get a fine point. If I hand shape the point I find I really need to focus on getting the tip central otherwise it wont spin concentric when you roll it between your fingers. Te sharpener does 95% of the work and I just contribute the last 5percent.

Note, while you may get by with a hand sharpener, the table type ones hold it  central better.

Anilv

[eccentric59]

Try getting yourself a couple of mechanical drafting pencils and a sharpener. These can really put a fine point on pegwood as shown in the photo compared to your standard No. 2 pencil out of a desktop sharpener.

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by eccentric59