Broaches

[rogart63]

Was thinking of getting some smoothing broaches for cleaning up the jewels in different movements with? But maybe it's not the proper tool for this? 

Is there an other better tool that i can stick in a jewels and remove the old oil from the walls inside a jewel? Or am i overdoing? It's difficult to  get down into a little jewel and cleaning it with pegwood. And i have seen some smoothing broaches in small sizes on Ebay and cousinsuk. 

[clockboy]

A smoothing broach is not a good idea you could easerly cause damage to the jewel. A good soak in one-dip / lighter fuel and sharp peg wood should do the trick. 

[oldhippy]

You never broach out a jewel. clockboy has hit the nail on the head with this one. 

[rogart63]

Thought so to. But it's difficult to get the pegwood really sharp sometimes? So i was looking for something i could just put in the jewels and remove old oil or even pegwood that has been stuck inside? Found out with a little googling that bamboo sticks can be made sharper then pegwood. So i am going to see if i can find some of those. 

[clockboy]

 I use one of these when assembling but could be used sharpened for the jewel cleaning.

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/component-probe-bergeon-6436?code=S1551

[martyn]

I have found  a good old pencil sharpener is a good way to sharpen pegwood, just go slowly

[digginstony]

  On 5/19/2017 at 3:18 PM, rogart63 said:

Was thinking of getting some smoothing broaches for cleaning up the jewels in different movements with? But maybe it's not the proper tool for this? 
Is there an other better tool that i can stick in a jewels and remove the old oil from the walls inside a jewel? Or am i overdoing? It's difficult to  get down into a little jewel and cleaning it with pegwood. And i have seen some smoothing broaches in small sizes on Ebay and cousinsuk. 

Hands up.. I've used a smooth broach to remove a stubborn bit of crud from a jewel hole but it's not an acceptable practice and is very risky. The problem is the last thing you want to be doing, is attempting to ream the hole but more problematic is the jewel being very hard. So if the broach isn't maintained absolutely vertical during the process, the jewel is almost certainly going to chip.
The problem you may encounter with bamboo is its a harder substance on its outer skin than pegwood. So it may give the impression of having a finer edge after shaping but will be far less pliable than pegwood when attempting to clean the jewel hole.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[rogart63]

  On 5/21/2017 at 7:14 PM, digginstony said:

Hands up.. I've used a smooth broach to remove a stubborn bit of crud from a jewel hole but it's not an acceptable practice and is very risky. The problem is the last thing you want to be doing, is attempting to ream the hole but more problematic is the jewel being very hard. So if the broach isn't maintained absolutely vertical during the process, the jewel is almost certainly going to chip.
The problem you may encounter with bamboo is its a harder substance on its outer skin than pegwood. So it may give the impression of having a finer edge after shaping but will be far less pliable than pegwood when attempting to clean the jewel hole.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

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Bought some barbecue sticks at the store . the are sharp in one end. Can at least try and see how it works. No much money we talking a about 

 

[teegee]

Proper pegwood isn't exactly expensive either.  Sharpening is a bit tedious, since it's easy to break or bend the tip in tiny jewel holes. But you get the hang of it after a while. I sharpen my pegwood with a Chinese junk-grade hobby knife, which works perfectly fine for the purpose.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GJ01-Exacto-Knife-Kit-Set-For-Hobby-Scrapbooking-Crafts-Shop-CASE-RAZOR-NEW-/222517465560?hash=item33cf1311d8:g:-88AAOSwhQhY31jF

 

[oldhippy]

For tiny holes I used wooden cocktail sticks, then shaved them down to a tiny point.

[clockboy]

  On 5/21/2017 at 10:11 PM, rogart63 said:

Bought some barbecue sticks at the store . the are sharp in one end. Can at least try and see how it works. No much money we talking a about 

 

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I don,t think cocktail sticks are good idea.They tend to break off at their tip which is a pain when inside a jewel. I recommend pegwood

[BUSAKAZ]

Peg wood is best, and sharpened with a knife not a pencil sharpener, you need the flat edges to act like a broach good practice is the key.

[WatchMaker]

I personally use those extra small cleaning swabs you can get from Cousins, that I first dip in some isopropyl alcohol, to clean out jewel holes.

These particular swabs aren't like the loose packed large general 'cotton buds' you see on supermarket shelves (and that would distribute fibres around the watch and absorb too much alcohol); their small tightly packed formation seems to work well and I'm a big fan for general cleaning too as they're soft enough not to scratch and strong enough not to break.

Anyone with any experience of using these as well as pegwood I'd be grateful for comparison comments on. I'm willing to change if pegwood is a more recognised and superior approach! 

[deloidtoc]

As an update, Mark used a smoothing broach on the Seiko Navigator restoration. I have always wondered about this and it was nice to see that the burnishing or cleaning of the jewels made a difference in the functioning of the watch. His vial reveals a set of 12 but I can't see the maker of the set. This is something I'd like to know as Mark always seems to have an excellent taste in tooling.

Dean

[oldhippy]

The best are Bergeon. 

[deloidtoc]

I'm sure you are correct especially since Mark does use a lot of Bergeon products but that container of 12 broaches he used in the Navigator video didn't look like a bergeon container. I have become a fan of Mark's to the point that I like to use the same tools he does. Over time, as I switched and tried tools he used, I found them delightfully better than what I had been using.
Dean

[oldhippy]

Why don't you message Mark and ask him. 

[measuretwice]

 

  On 11/3/2019 at 4:47 PM, deloidtoc said:

As an update, Mark used a smoothing broach on the Seiko Navigator restoration. I have always wondered about this and it was nice to see that the burnishing or cleaning of the jewels

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Maybe Mark will comment.  I haven't seen the video, but I'm  guessing the use of a broach wasn't to burnish a jewel, unless it was something diamond charged as a typical hardened steel broach isn't as hard as the jewel material.

Edited November 5, 2019 by measuretwice

[nickelsilver]

Actually you would never want to get in a jewel with a broach. The chances of cracking it are very high to almost certain. Pegwood only.

As for broaches I have a couple of sets of larger ones from Grobet that I got new (some years back) and are excellent. Also many old Bergeon sets, down to teeny tiny. Some colleagues bought new Bergeons cutting and smoothing a couple of years ago and the quality is fine.

[m1ks]

I have some AF broaches which are perfectly good, certainly for a keen hobbyist level. As per nickelsilver above, I wouldn't recommend putting them near a jewel, you only need to tilt it slightly to damage a jewel hole.

As I was taught in my previous life as a mechanic, never use a material harder than the material you're cleaning, the same applies here just on a smaller scale.