Are Copper Rivets Really Stronger?

[FoamerAce]

Tandy claims copper rivets are "the strongest rivet known to man". Seems dubious to me. But maybe they hold better than rapid rivets.

[camano ridge]

I am not sure how they are defining strong or to what attribute they are assigning that term. I can tell you that you can find many leather articles 100 - 150 years old or older that have copper rivet still intact.

Neither is worth anything if not properly set. I like copper rivets because I can see that they have been properly set and peend over against the burr. I can't see the inside of a rpid rivet to know for sure it is properly set. I have on occassion had a rapid rivet I thought I had done a good job of setting pop off. Which rivet is used may depend on project use and accesability as well.

[Chief31794]

Short Answer, Yes.

Chief

[WScott]

They use a Morse taper and then mechanically secured with a peened post.

Has to be cut off or out of the leather to be removed

[Andrew Chee]

I've had many brass jiffy rivets fail on me but never a copper rivet.

They don't have to be cut off though. You can punch them out with a center punch.

Andrew

[Studio-N]

I have (copper) riveted two straps together and we then played tug-of-war with the straps. It did not give.

[Andrew Chee]

If you want even stronger, you can try brass rivets. Those really won't break. Pain to cut the stems though.

Andrew

[footrat]

I hate messing up with copper rivets, but they are all I use. They hold better than stitching for what I make. The three or four times I've had to remove a copper rivet, the easiest way was to drill it out.

[WyomingSlick]

I don't know where Tandy comes up with that baloney because obviously brass rivets are stronger, and steel rivets would be even stronger. But then of course they are going to be harder to set properly. Then of course steel could rust on you, and will cause a darkening of the leather around the rivet due to the steel reacting with the tanic acids in the leather. Therefore, in my opinion, the brass rivets are best, but of course are harder to set than the copper rivets.

You might think about the fact that you see a lot of brass hardware for leather and very little in the way of copper fittings.

For those experiancing failure with the speedy rivets - note that you need to use long enough rivets so that the little dimple on the stem is inside the head of the cap because that is where the expansion of the stem occurs when you hammer the two parts together.

[oltoot]

Short answer yes; a little more info: Copper is a good comprimise between solid brass and the tubular nature of rapid rivets, which most definitely have their place ie securing the terminus of a line of stitching, especially on lighter materials. Properly set, CRs become lifetime anchors even holding after ends are mostly worn off.