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I make my runners with the hole sized to the arbor instead of the pivot so the runner supports the arbor and the pivot is not touching the brass and will not get scratched by dust and bits of steel that accumulates in the runner.A clock course instructor said you can also make such runners using a piece of wood dowel, which is cheap to do and replace (he said the brass runner could accumulate bits of steel which could scratch future pivots polished in the runner).
Good approach, Harry. makes sense.I make my runners with the hole sized to the arbor instead of the pivot so the runner supports the arbor and the pivot is not touching the brass and will not get scratched by dust and bits of steel that accumulates in the runner.
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G'Day Robert!Not sure if you mean watch or clock pivots, but for clock pivot polishing you can also file a piece of brass stock inserted in the lathe's tailstock and turn the pivot into the slot while polishing or burnishing it from above. A clock course instructor said you can also make such runners using a piece of wood dowel, which is cheap to do and replace (he said the brass runner could accumulate bits of steel which could scratch future pivots polished in the runner).
This is also why supporting the arbor rather than the pivot is unsafe, especially in smaller pivots and those which are left hard, as many French clocks are....Burnishing is work hardening process and the pressure applied to pivot is substantial, the pivot must be supported quite well, a piece of hardwood is flimsy, providing neither the support required for burnishing nor it has the form that will prevent tapering the pivot, be it watch or clock sized...