You write: > I still peg jewel holes. >> > >John - I do this as well, after cleaning in my 1-pint ultrasonic machine, using L&R liquids. My question is how does one actually peg a balance jewel hole ? I've tried and am not convinced I've actually accomplished anything. Additionally, I'm concerned about a piece of pegwood breaking off and staying in that hole. This has happened to me on other holes, especially non-jewled holes. Suggestions ??Regards, Dan > 7/18/97
Dan, I am sorry to be so long answering your question of 7/16 quoted above.
Good dogwood pegs will sharpen to a very fine long-tapered point. I usually sharpen or "whittle" the wood with an exacto knife. Most bench and pocket knives are not sufficiently sharp for a range of irrelevent reasons. Rarely, but sometimes, a piece of pegwood will break off in the jewel. This usually means it was pushed into the jewel hole too hard, The idea is to wipe the hole, so a lot of pressure is unnecessary.
After the actual holes are wiped with the pegwood, I blunt the end, usually simply by pushing it against a clean, hard surface. Next, I wipe the faces of endstones, and the sinks on hole jewels. The idea of pegging is to assure there is no fine residual film of old oil or cleaning solution which would either contaminate the fresh oil or force it to spread.
Pegging should not be necessary as a means to remove dirt. If that is the case, either the cleaning solution has become ineffective, or the method of cleaning watches needs improvement. Where there is tremendous accumulation of dirt and gum, either the jewels of a watch should be pegged before chemical cleaning, or the watch should be cleaned, pegged, then cleaned again! This seemingly excesive precaution is to assure the oil will be applied to a clean surface where it can survive in place and do its job for a sufficient length of time. In addition, remember that pivots should be wiped in pith for the same reason.
Occasionally, I have had a piece of pegwood break off in the hole. It is not usually as much a problem as an annoyance. If the pegwood is tapered long enough, there will usually be a length of sliver sticking through the jewel on the opposite side from that where the wood was inserted. A fine pair of tweezers will usually enable a watchmaker to push the sliver back in the direction it came from.
When tweezers won't remove a pegwood fragment, I push it out with a piece of music wire. It is tapered to a long fine point, and polished, for the purpose of pushing oil through a hole jewel to make it form a drop on an end stone. Such a pusher must have a gradual enough taper it cannot bind in, and possibly crack the hole jewel. The wire can be held in either a pin vise, or, as mine is, in a short piece of pegwood. The pusher can also be made from a piece of tempered staff or pivot wire. I keep the oil pushing wire, and a watch oiler, stuck in a piece of pithwood which is, in turn, held in an old parts tin thumbtacked to my bench top between the oil font and a jug wine screw cap used to store left over watch parts. Jcl
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