Bent hand - advice on straightening

[sstakoff]

Any advice on how to fix this bent hand?? I think I may need to heat it prior to bending. Looking for suggestions on how to hold it and what tools/technique to use in bending it.

Thanks!

[Neileg]

Heat? The fine metal would probably burn in any kind of flame.
I'd use pin board. Use a pin through the centre hole and a second pin to lock the hand on the clockwise side. Apply gentle pressure to the hand in a clockwise direction. Pray it doesn't break. Take it slowly, a fraction at a time.
If breaks you need to find a new hand.
Hands are often the hardest job on a watch.
Cheers Neil


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oldhippy]

Hold it in pin vice and use your tweezers to bend it into place.

[Ishima]

Pin vice is a good idea.
I usually put the hand into a staking block and carefully manipulate with tweezers/pegwood in both hands (whatever combonation I feel makes most sense for that particular scenario)

As Neileg says, bend little by little, and I wouldn't suggest annealing with heat either, the metal they make hands with is practically never hardened, whenever Ive done this the hands have been very soft. Another issue is you might make the arbor loose with the expansion from heat. 

[vinn3]

very good suggestions,  they snap easy,  because they have been hardend (often).  if you anneal,  bend and re harden,  then you must reblue  or paint.  "the path of least resistance" - new hands.  vi

[sstakoff]

Thanks for all the advice. I did use a pin vice to straighten. In the end, the very tip of the hand (the spade) did break away, but it looks fine and all is ok. I will seek a replacement hand, but for now I call this a pretty good result considering the damage.