I discussed this recently with Will Beemer. He suggested having tapered pins that start at 3/8" and go up to 1" body, over a very long taper.

This way one size fits all.

You can use them for 3/4" holes up to 1" peg holes.

And he also suggested that they be made in sets of six.

He personally owns at least 24.

Loops are good as you can put another pin in the loop to use to pull it out, if stuck. And also to turn the pin to help free it up.

Jim Rogers

This is only a suggestion, (feel free to laugh ) but have you considered large socket extensions? These are 2 I had here at home (3/8 & 1/2" drive). The length isn't much, but they must make a longer and fatter version in 3/4 & 1" drive. No taper, but the head is a bit wider and has a pre-drilled hole for attaching a ring. New use for something you may already own...

I have about 30 Podgers in the shop.

They taper from 3/8" to 1" over 18" of length.

The have a large easy to use T handle welded to the top which works better than anything else that I have used.

The T handle is also the standard design in England.

They work perfectly for 3/4"-1" Peg Holes.

Good luck with the extension sockets LOL!

Like Collin, I prefer the T handle variety. I also like the idea of 3/8 to 1" over 18".

Ours only go to 3/4 and now we have to get more made for 1"

Ours are stainless, though, which is nice for working green oak.

I talked to Jack Sobon about them, and he suggested that I make them basically identically as I did for Jim. He said he had about 40 of them. When asked how many he has used at once, he replied "All of them". The problem I see with the long taper and one size fits all is that it is a lot more expense for the material, and a significantly longer time to draw them out. This would make them more expensive. I have 3/4" stock, so that is what I'll make the first batch out of. I'll see if I can scrounge some one inch, and see how long it takes to make one.

Don:
The point is that we need a tapered piece of metal to draw the tenon up to the shoulder in test fitting pieces together.
The re-usable piece of metal would have to be a similar shape to the actual peg to be used.
Socket extensions wouldn't work because of this.

Jim Rogers

Yeah, Jim, I know the socket extension idea is kind of out there. I know when I'm out of my league. But the above quote seems to suggest that having some "play" in joinery fitting/raising can be useful at times too.

I made a couple more pins today. I tried a different style to save time. I am working on making a jig to do a simple ring on the end. I have seen this style with the 180 bend before. It works, but the ring is nicer.

I made mine from 12" J bolts. Just ground off the threads and tapered the ends.

I didn't know these were called' "drift pins" in English. Here they are called "toognagel" and have two functions 1st marking the off-set for the peg hole in a tennon and 2nd as mentioned, temporarily pinning a joint. I guess the ones I have are more than 100 years old.