help me pick a better style rivet for my helmets

[Daggrim]

Okay, maybe you reenactor types can help me pick a better style rivet for my helmets. I'm using Rapid Rivets, which are the only rivets I've ever used, but I'd like something more durable. So, tubular? Split? Solid copper? Daggrim

[Don101]

Dag just one point are these helmets suposed to be authentique or let me put it this way period correct? as i reenact 1875 to 1920 and every thing we use hast to be of that period so i can only sugest if so find out what was used for that period and use it, Im not 100 % certain, but i think romans of that period were using steel and copper rivits simular to the ones supplied today, definatly not tubular rivits, Don

[Jordan]

Not a re-enactor but copper would look very good and fit with the overall ambiance of the helms

[Skipknives]

a friend of mine wanted some copper rivets that looked "old" so he found some copper wire(heavy gage),,,

heat a length of the stripped wire with a gas torch to soften it,,then used a brake-line flareing jaws to hold the wire and pean the ends into the clasic "dome-head look.

PS: they make copper "Golf-tee looking rivets,,,if they were heated the flat head that they have in the package could be peaned into a dome,,then the washers that come with them could go on the inside of the next helm.

Edited December 13, 2007 by Skipknives

[Daggrim]

So, it sounds like the copper is the way to go. So, are the tubular rivets the ones that spread like a starfish when they're pounded? And do the split rivets just spread out into two halves?

Dag

[Peter Ellis]

The basic problem with leather helmets is that there's pretty close to zero evidence any were ever made historically. Couple of examples survive of metal caps with hardened leather cheek pieces.

I'm not aware of any historic flat head rivets. I would suggest looking at the RJ Leahy website and considering dome head rivets, and burrs. They've got quite a selection of materials - brass, stainless, mild, aluminum, copper.

[Daggrim]

Again, thank you all for your input. After looking at the R J Leahy site I realized that the rivet head would need to be inside my helmets, and the burr on the outside. I do all my pounding on the outside, with my anvil and jig on the inside. It'd just be too difficult to try to hammer the burrs on the inside.

So...does anybody DO that? Seems like it'd be ugly having all those peened rivet tips on the outside.

[Skipknives]

my 2 cents,,i work with the copper rivets all the time (one per sheath) on that style

set the rivet and washer,,snip off the extra but leave a "scunch" longer then 1/8",,then use the standard set to cone the end that you snipped.

then switch to a concave set tool,,it will round it nicely,,if you snip it too short then the second set tool will strike the washer and leave yucky marks

[Daggrim]

Thanks Skip. I follow your description. Do you have any pictures of how a finished rivet/burr look? I expect it would look really authentic to the period. I gotta try this after Christmas.

I also need to figure out a way to steady the helmet while pounding. My jig looks kinds like the letter "C" with a three inch long dowel screwed into the top of the C. The dowel sticks straight up, and is my anvil. Its top is recessed to hold a small round steel button anvil. The inside of the helmet sits on the dowel, with the rest of the helm hanging in the open space of the C. I

[Skipknives]

oh,,i'm sorry Dag-,, i never thought of that,,i guess it would be hard to hold a helmet still while smacking it with a hammer.

i bought my copper rivets from tandy/ the leather factory,,,i guess saddle makers use them a bunch,,but i'm just guessing.

most of my work is on the back of a sheath holding the belt loop closed and that is flat work,,,

oh,,wait,,a bowling ball,,a bowling ball on a stick then you could whack the snott out of it and not chaise it across the room,,,maybe-maybe.

[Tannin]

Dag just one point are these helmets suposed to be authentique or let me put it this way period correct? as i reenact 1875 to 1920 and every thing we use hast to be of that period so i can only sugest if so find out what was used for that period and use it, Im not 100 % certain, but i think romans of that period were using steel and copper rivits simular to the ones supplied today, definatly not tubular rivits, Don

Good point. Have you considered making your own copper rivets? I came across this on youtube sometime ago: