It matters which wood your pin block is made or. Different woods have
different hardness, or resistance to deformation. If yours is hard maple or
oak, try drilling sample holes of varying diameters. Randomly select one of
your pins and press it into successive holes to determine which works best:
holds well, doesn't over-grip the pin, and allows the pin to sit deeply
enough that you avoid tent-poling. With a softer wood like walnut, one can
afford a tighter initial grip, as the hole will open up with time, but will
never slip.

Regarding pins made from nails, I have found recently, in the last five to
ten years anyway, many big box stores (Home Depot, et al) sell lower
quality nails in the sizes we use for wrest pins; the wire isn't perfectly
round, often have machine marks along the length and can vary i diameter
from nail to nail in the same box. I'm left with the impression that the
distributor buys vast batches of nails from different Chinese factories,
the mixes them up when repackaging. Of course, they are selling
construction nails, not tuning pin stock. How dare they! Don't they know??

OK, I'm off my soap box now.
dpj


On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 12:03 PM, Borys Medicky <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> There are numerous archive posts about tuning pin thicknesses and the
> appropriate drill bit sizes.  Previous posts from Bill Jurgenson seem to
> suggest a drill size at least 0.1 mm less than the pin thickness.  Of
> course he also counsels making some trial holes, using an off-cut saved
> from when the pinblock was cut to size.
>
> I found Bill's advice spot-on for my first building project.  At the time
> I did not have a good local source for number drill bits (since remedied),
> so for my 4.5 mm tuning pins I used an 11/64" drill bit (4.37 mm) instead
> of the #17 that might have also worked (4.39 mm).  The holes were a bit
> tight at first but loosened slightly over time.  They've remained fine
> since then.
>
> BM
>
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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
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