Copper Rivets

[wlg190861]

These rivets are much smaller than 14 guage

[WyomingSlick]

Well, if they are that small, just get some copper wire of however small guage you want, clamp it in a vise, or clamp that had a small groove filed it it (just a wee bit smaller than your wire). Or make a pair of blocks that have a groove filed in them which you can put in a vise or clamp. Take one of your leathercraft seeders and form a head on the bit of wire you have left sticking up, Copper is much softer than your leather stamp so it won't hurt the tool a bit. If you want a flatter head than that, just give it a final tap to flatten it with your hammer. Cut the length to size and you are ready to rivet. You can use the seeder as a rivet setting tool also.

[chicagojane]

Go to Minkus Margo on etsy. It is a US seller with great feedbacks. They have a handpress machine with many dies. The single cap rivets are as small as 3MM. The double cap rivets as small as 6MM. They also have 23MM press snaps. A great shop.

[Kevin]

I've worked on several of these before and I'm pretty sure they all had brass nails going into the back and peened on the top side.

[brettra]

I've heard of peaning rivets from copper wire as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIhHxpuAdGc .

Looks like it may take a bit of work to round out the heads but it appears to be a practical solution. Tandy also has a rivet tool for rounding out cuts on copper rivets that would likely be useful on homemade rivets.

Edited July 10, 2014 by brettra