Removal of the original pins was by vice grips and “reverse” crimping – that is squeezing in multiple locations on the crimped end of each pin and then a little muscle to get them out.

I was not able to find replacement door stop pins. So the following is my solution. First, I wanted stainless steel pins because of the potential rusting of the standard pins (ugly). If you choose the standard steel pins, some of the following description will still apply – especially crimping the hollow end.

The ¼” pins I could locate were from Restoration Specialities (PA, 814-467-9842), their ¼” x ¾” Stainless Steel solid rivet. However, the head was too big, the pin too long and it was not hollow on the end opposite from the head. The fix to the above problems involved cutting the pin to 1/2“ long. I used a Sazall and a vise to hold the non-head end. Then the exact center of the end of the pin (non-head end) was center punched and drilled. First with a pilot hole and then to the final hole size of 3/16” (this will give a finished hole with a 1/32” wall). The depth was only about 3/16” deep – just enough to allow crimping. I used “V” blocks of Oak (could be aluminum, steel, etc) to hold each pin in a drill vise (this allowed the pin to be clamped and the head to not be clamped). I shaped the head by chucking each pin in a hand-held drill. Then a grinding wheel was used with the drill turning the pin at the same time. This gave me a round head that I could shape to the desired form. Buffing with the pin stilled chucked – first with an abrasive media and then with buffing compound yielded a nice finish.

The interesting step is crimping the pins in place. For this you will need a ¼” ball bearing. When the pin is in place, put a piece of protective material (I used several layers of cloth) on the head of the pin. Adjust a pair of vise grips so that when they are placed over the head of the pin and the ball bearing that is placed on the hollow end of the pin, the vise grips will peen or crimp the end of the pin slightly. Slightly is all that is needed to keep the pin from working its way out.

As a note, my wife helped to hold the cloth and top jaw of the vise grips in place while I placed the ball bearing and squeezed the vise grips. What a team!