what are rivets for?

[MsDragonfly]

Rivets...where do i use them and why? Are they actually necessary?***Lisa

[Art]

Hi Lisa,

You can use them pretty much wherever you want, as a decorative or strength component. There are different types, like burr rivets which are a strength component and often used where glue won't do, such as in-skirt rigging hardware. Strength wise, I would say Brass Burr Rivets, Copper Burr Rivets, Tubular rivets with washers, Tubular rivets without washers, Tubular rivets with caps, then Jiffy Rivets. Pop (blind)Rivets go in there somewhere between Tubular and Jiffy. Of course a rivet is a whole lot better with glue backing it up.

Art

Rivets...where do i use them and why? Are they actually necessary?***Lisa

[MsDragonfly]

Art,

Thanks. I have been playing around with the tubular rivets and don't like the looks of them...the heads are flat and boring and the back side that star splits look crappy too, though they are strong not what I like.

Not sure what a burr rivet is?

I have the jiffy rivets from Ohio Travel Bag and was told the hand press from tandy can help set them so I bought the hand press tool, from tandy, to help set them better. Hammering them was giving me fit after fit....they would let loose, easily pull loose and/or I'd smash them all kinds of weird...LOL. Anyways, now i need help setting up this hand press.

But back to main topic here, on my sheaths and stuff...should I stop my stitching say about 7/16" from the top of sheath and place the 3/8" head sized rivets in there or sew to top and rivet along side of stitching? Hope I make sense. Sometimes I confuse myself...LOL!****Lisa

[tashabear]

Smash? There's your problem. You just want to tap-tap-tap on the setting tool; you can tell by the sound when the rivet sets.

[Daggrim]

I just finished a helmet using the Ohio Travel Bag jiffy rivets, rather than the Tandy style. I had problems with them not setting. Turns out the OTB rivet can be 2mm shorter than the Tandy rivets, and still work! The rivets were too long, altho they would've been perfect had they been the Tandy style. The shanks were bending over and the heads were easy to pull off. Luckily I had some shorter ones, and they fixed the problem. Still, they are not as snug as the Tandy's, so I hope it's just a learning curve thing.

I looked into using some REAL rivets, the copper burr, as more authentic and stronger, but for ease of use, and time involved, I stayed with the jiffy's. Later, if I go more for quality and authenticity, I'll revisit that idea.

Doug

[bruce johnson]

When you get to using the copper rivets, there is a guy who makes nice setter/peener/head domer sets in the common sizes. It is Bob Douglas. I hear he makes a nice awls hafts and awl blades too.

[Raven]

Best thing for copper rivets is a ball peen hammer, does a much better job than any other setter I've used.

[Luke Hatley]

DAGGRIM, there are some very Small Copper rivet made that would look great on your

Helments. sizes are 12s or 14s.........just a thought

[Daggrim]

Thanks for the ideas. Luke, would the small rivets go thru two layers of 12 oz leather? Is that a new avatar?

Dag

[TrooperChuck]

Daggrim:

I agree with Luke. Some #12 or #14 copper burr rivets would look great on your work. You can buy them in lots of sizes, but I buy the 1-inch length and use a pair of end nippers to cut them to size when I install them.