larger tubular rivets?

[trailrunner]

4 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

The supplier I'm referring to is Beiler's Mfg and Supply in PA.  They will not have a website, as they are Amish.  They do have a telephone though, and take credit cards over the phone as well.  I believe they are wholesale only, so you will need a tax ID number to set up an account with them.  They handle mostly equine-related hardware and supplies.  Their number is 717-656-2179. 

I think the strength of the #104 would be fine for  your application, as long as the straps are stitched also.  In that case, the rivets mostly keep the ends from lifting and coming unstitched.  There are many places in harness construction where a simple #104 rivet is used for the same purpose.  I am thinking however, a larger head and larger area of contact on the back side would be better if used for fastening the straps to a bag, even if used just for reinforcement along with stitching.  I have two heavy tool bags that came in the shop just yesterday for the very reason that the rivets pulled through the material, due to the "splashed" part of the rivet not covering enough area.  I would not put two rivets side by side on a one inch strap. I feel that is taking too much material out of the width of the piece, weakening it considerably.  Sometimes I will use two #104 rivets side by side on a 1-1/8" strap, when turned back around a buckle and riveted, but rarely if ever on a 1" strap.

The way you have been doing it, with the #9 solid copper rivets, may be the best option.  It provides the larger head size, and the strength.  Weaver does offer a solid brass #9 rivet with burrs, that would match your hardware.  Solid brass is more difficult to set than copper though.  They have them in both #9 and #12.  The #12 is a nice in-between size, and I use a fair number of them in copper.

Thanks for that information.  I may give Beiler's a call.

That's a huge help about the #104 rivets.  I kind of suspected it wasn't a good idea to put them side by side.  That saves me a bunch of time and money.  I'm going to try out the solid brass #9 rivets so it matches my other hardware.  It seems that when people complain about the brass being hard to set, they're referring to actually cutting the excess rivet off.  I got a pair of end cutters made in Germany.  The brand is NWS, and they cut through #9 copper rivets like they're almost not even there, so it shouldn't have too much trouble with the brass.  Highly recommend them.

 

Thanks for all the help!

[480volt]

1 hour ago, trailrunner said:

It seems that when people complain about the brass being hard to set, they're referring to actually cutting the excess rivet off.

The challenge with brass rivets is trying to make a nice shop formed head. Copper can be domed pretty easily, but brass doesn’t move around nearly as easy. 

[trailrunner]

53 minutes ago, 480volt said:

The challenge with brass rivets is trying to make a nice shop formed head. Copper can be domed pretty easily, but brass doesn’t move around nearly as easy. 

That makes sense.  The reason I want to move away from solid rivets with burrs is because I want a more finished look.  If the solid brass ones aren't any more clean looking than the solid copper, then that's a bummer.  I've seen pictures of really old solid copper rivets that someone found a box of, and the flat side looked really nice; perfectly smooth.  The ones today are all rough, so putting the flat side facing out doesn't look any better.  In fact it looks worse in my opinion.    

 

It just seems like the quality of hardware is not what it used to be, and that makes all of our jobs a lot harder.  Quality buckles luckily are readily available, but there's a giant black hole when it comes to quality, nicely finished rivets in various sizes.  I think a custom order from alibaba is the only option for those of us looking for larger tubular rivets in solid brass.