Types Of Buckles To Use For Armor

[Gequinn]

Well, after some away time, I'm finally getting back to work on my armor. I'm getting to the point to where I need to start adding buckles. The armor I'm doing will be a sort of clamshell, you know, attached at one side of the torso and then tightened by buckles on the shoulders and the other side of the torso.

My question is, what type of buckle do I need to use to achieve this and could anybody offer any tips on how exactly to attach them to the armor. I took a look at buckles and I'm thinking heel bar, but I want to make sure before I order any as they are relatively expensive.

Thanks in advance.

[hivemind]

I use 1" solid brass heel bar buckles for almost everything. The rest of the time I use 1 1/4" solid brass center bar buckles. As far as how to attach them, you should use solid copper rivets and burrs, generally.

[Gequinn]

All right. Thank you very much. I found a pretty good deal on the heel bars on a site called BuckleGuy. Have you ever heard of it? Or is there a place you would recommend ordering from?

[hivemind]

I get all mine locally from a distributor. As long as they're solid brass, shouldn't matter where you're getting them. I definitely do not buy much hardware from Tandy though - shop around.

[Gequinn]

As far as I know I don't have anybody local... I'm jealous. And yeah, Tandy was way out when I first saw their prices. I think I may just end up going with buckleguy.

Thanks for the advice.