MarkS Report post Posted March 2, 2008 I was wondering... I had seen somewhere on the 'net that rivets weren't used on leather - that is to join two pieces of leather together, that they were sewn - at least most of the time. Is ther any truth to this? It would seem to me at least, that using metal to join things like belts, etc. wouldn't be cost effective for most uses... Thanks for any input. Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCOUTER Report post Posted March 3, 2008 Hello Mark and As for your question... Rivets have been used in leatherwork for well over 100 years. In fact the US Calvery specified Copper Rivets in many of their leather items. Rivets are not good for every purpose but here are a few that make them really shine... Knife sheaths- A few along the edge will protect the stitching from the blade. Axe Sheaths- Same as above. Holsters- A rivet at the top where the fold meets, will strengthen that high stress area... I don't know if you have ever tried Copper Rivets, but they are so easy to install and are super strong, look great and are proven! Take care! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarkS Report post Posted March 3, 2008 Hello Mark and As for your question... Rivets have been used in leatherwork for well over 100 years. In fact the US Calvery specified Copper Rivets in many of their leather items. Rivets are not good for every purpose but here are a few that make them really shine... Knife sheaths- A few along the edge will protect the stitching from the blade. Axe Sheaths- Same as above. Holsters- A rivet at the top where the fold meets, will strengthen that high stress area... I don't know if you have ever tried Copper Rivets, but they are so easy to install and are super strong, look great and are proven! Take care! Thanks for the welcome! I just kindof stumbled in. Kinda like how I got into leather working. Looking at my previous post, I see what was clear to me - wouldn't be clear to others. I work with Living History units... who do the F & I as well as Revolutionary war... so we are talking mid eighteenth century from 1745-1800. I would be happy to work with copper rivets, as I have some knife sheaths which did eventually need to be re-sewn after 5-6 years. I didn't make them, but I did repair 'em. Right now I am making some plain belts for my group, and am making them so they are historically accurate as possible. I can't find any reference to riveted leather in this application in our timeframe, and I was wondering if there are sources to check on construction of something like this from then. Next project is making sporrans... Mark Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Ellis Report post Posted March 4, 2008 Welcome to Leatherworker.net. I do earlier period leather work, focused on western Europe, primarily, over the course of about 500 years, more or less 1000 to 1500. During that time frame, there was a very common practice of decorative metal mountings on belts. These would be cast in any of several metals, with integral rivet posts that would be put through the belt and peened over. It doesn't appear to be the case that they commonly put pieces together with rivets, but they definitely knew how to rivet to leather. Doesn't help much for F&I era stuff, I know .. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PeterD Report post Posted March 4, 2008 Hello Mark, I am new here myself and have found it to be a great source. Peter is right, they had rivets but didn't use them very much as such; Armor to leather perhaps but for the most part you should ask yourself if a rivet is really needed. For example if you are using rivets on a knife sheath to keep the blade from the stitching then you are probably need to get a better design for the sheath. Conversely, some cases (like for a multi-tool or big folder) might need rivets at the top to keep the leather from ripping out of the stitches due to the strain of pulling the tool out crooked. The US Cavalry had rivets but didn't like to use them (at least during what we refer to as the indian wars) At one time rivets were authorized by the Army for emergency tack repairs only. If you ever see something very old dried and cracked and torn apart look under where the rivets are. Then look what happened to where it was stitched. There are times when rivets are not only necessary but are the only thing that fit the bill but not as often as they are used. An example would be putting on a belt buckle. If you don't want to sew, use the thong through the three hole method and not only will the buckle stay on but it is easily changed out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Ellis Report post Posted March 5, 2008 Hello Mark and As for your question... Rivets have been used in leatherwork for well over 100 years. In fact the US Calvery specified Copper Rivets in many of their leather items. Rivets are not good for every purpose but here are a few that make them really shine... Knife sheaths- A few along the edge will protect the stitching from the blade. Axe Sheaths- Same as above. Holsters- A rivet at the top where the fold meets, will strengthen that high stress area... I don't know if you have ever tried Copper Rivets, but they are so easy to install and are super strong, look great and are proven! Take care! Ya know, one thing about using rivets to protect the stitching in a sheath...you won't have to worry about that knife being too sharp... If there's a proper welt in that sheath, the stitches aren't exposed to the knife edge, and the knife edge doesn't get pushed back and forth against metal rivets. Get it just right and the edge shouldn't be rubbing against anything. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
