Trouble Peening Copper Rivets

[Leslie Ryanne]

Hello,

I have recently started hand-hammering copper-rivets (sorry neighbors!). I've got a great 1# maul, a marble slab, and a hand held rivet setter with doming tool. But getting a nice, smooth & round finish on my rivet has been difficult.

Any suggestions or tricks here?

Many thanks!

Leslie

[Chief31794]

Leslie,

First welcome to the forum, hand peening copper rivets isn't easy. Some of the things I do to get a better looking finished rivet is:

1. Cut the rivet consistently leaving only about 1/8", more makes it harder to get good results. I use a set of end cutters that are very strong and sharp and have no problem cutting through the rivet.

2. I peen the rivet end with the ball peen of the hammer befor using the domer. I use a small ball peen for this and work the edges of the rivet around in a circle to get the rivet end consistenly spread around.

3. I then file the rivet end with a fine file to smooth the rivet end.

4. Use the domer to get a finished end.

Hope that helps, it still isn't an exact science.

Chief

Edited April 18, 2013 by Chief31794

[Dwight]

Leslie, . . . I suspect you are using a tool not really designed for copper rivets.

The rivet setter and anvil on the left in the picture is made for little metal capped rivets and is often given away inside big bags of Tandy rivets. It is really hard to use for copper rivets.

The tool on the right is the copper rivet setter I use and it works fantastically. Look in the end of it you will see a hole on the left and a domed impression on the right.

The hole sets the copper washer down on the rivet, . . . snip off the extra copper with a pair of side cutters, . . . peen it a little bit with a small ball peen hammer to get it started, . . . then lay you work on a solid metal plate. DO NOT USE your marble slab, . . . the force needed to dome the rivet correctly will crack your marble slab.

The domed impression is where you make the pretty little ball on top of the rivet.

On that steel plate, . . . you don't whale it, . . . just tap it real good, . . . 10 to 15 times, . . . you are literally forming the little ball on top of the rivet above the washer, . . . and it takes a bit of practice, . . . and you will eventually harm your maul. Get a ball peen hammer, . . . works better for this.

I have a piece of 1/4 inch steel that is about 12 inches square that I usually use under my copper stuff. Works great.

Hope this helps.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited April 18, 2013 by Dwight

[Andrew Chee]

You should check out Douglas tools. They have a three piece setter for rivets. It comes with a setter, a Peener, and a domer. I don't like the all in one setter from Tandy because the setter part marks the leather. I'm waiting on my order for a setter from Tim Judd that does the same thing as the Douglas tools so we'll see how we'll they work.

Andrew

[ChuckBurrows]

totally agree about the Douglas tool - after years of using the other cheaper all in ones I got a set and have never looked back - the difference in the ease of use and finished quality is a big one - not cheap but if you want to do pro level work it is well worth the extra cost. IIRC Sheridan Leatherworks is the exclusive dealer for Douglas Tools now..

[jcuk]

Dwight has rightly shown you the right tool for the job. When i set copper rivets i turn the rivet setter as i hit it seems to work for me.

you can pick up a good one from a good hardware store. I use a mini anvil to set on funny enough got it from Tandys works for me.

Sometimes after i have a dome i use a light flat head hammer just one tap, gives a nice finished look to.

Hope this helps

Kind regards jcuk

[mikesmith648]

I have the Douglas setters and the Judd setters.............both work way better than the Tandy one and less chance of marking the leather.....JMHO

[Leslie Ryanne]

Thank you for the help and pointers! If I can't get it right now, there is no hope for me

Chief- what kind of cutter are you using? I just purchased a 9" Klein side cutter and hope that is going to do the trick. I didn't think to file the rivet, so thanks for that.

Hi Dwight - I do have the same tool specifically for setting copper rivets. Perhaps the steel plate will be helpful. Are these easy to come by?

Thanks Andrew & Chuck - I will definitely look into Douglas tools.

[footrat]

I use nothing but copper rivets to assemble my products. Some of my rivets end up going through 3 layers of 13 oz. skirting leather. When you've got that much mushy stuff between the flat part of the rivet and the burr, if you start peening aggressively right off the bat, you're going to cause the rivet to bend in the middle. This in turn pushes all the layers of leather in directions you didn't want them going, misaligns other holes that were lined up, and makes it nearly impossible to get a nicely peened head.

Like others said, appropriate trim height is critical. You CAN cut too long and it still work, but you'll end up with a very tall dome on the peened rivet. If you cut too short, it can be impossible to peen the rivet without driving it back through the burr. You'll get a feel for it. If you're driving one side of the rivet back through the burr, you're likely bending the rivet somewhere, either because your strikes are off-kilter, or because you're going too hard, too fast.

Also like mentioned above, I use the ball side of a ball pien hammer, and start gently peening around the edges. Even if the burr starts riding up off its seated position, if you peen evenly and slowly, the peened rivet will drive the burr back down tightly against the leather. When I've got a nice little peened dome using the hammer, I make it pretty and smooth by using the doming tool on the Tandy copper rivet tool. Then, I add one more touch by flattening the top of the dome with the smooth face of a hammer. So, it's a round dome with a flattened top.

I use a granite slab for my impact surface. I've never had so much as a chip while using it. It's a scrap piece of countertop, and it's heavy duty. While my whole workbench is bomb-proof, I still make sure to use the slab over a corner, so the force from the hammer is transmitted to the rivet, not to the middle of the table, which still flexes ever so slightly when pounded. It's key that the flat side of the rivet be flush with the impact surface, not tilted. If your leather is heavy and stiff, like when you fold skirting leather, you might have to clamp it in place until you can get the first rivet peened. Cheap, but strong, alligator-style clamps from Home Depot are the best. The jaws are flat and smooth, have rubber covers, and they're strong. I also don't bother with mallets when doing rivets. The rivet setter is cheap enough that I consider it semi-disposable. I use a 16 oz. claw hammer on it. I only use the ball pien to peen the rivets, and the claw hammer for setting burrs and smoothing/flattening the dome.

[aconstruction]

Thy this tool for making you own copper rivets from copper wire. I'm a machinist by day and I moonlight making these rivet tools. You can find them at heromount.com or on etsy or ebay. Thanks.