Riveting or...drill, hammer, repeat. Part 5

Making a Rivet from Wire 
with a Dome 'Front' and a Flush 'Back'

This is Part 5 of my series of blog posts about Riveting with a Nail Set tool. Please see Part 2 of my blog post series for general information and additional tips as well as Part 4 for how to use an Escutcheon pin or domed wire as your rivet.

Part 1 was about my two days of experimentation and practice with riveting; I worked on three different methods of using annealed, solid Brass Escutcheon pins as well as learning to use a Nail Set tool instead of a ball peen or riveting hammer as I was use to.

[IMAGE]

Way 3) Making a Rivet from Wire with a Dome 'Front' and a Flush 'Back'

1. Drill, debur, and insert the wire as shown.

Drill the holes that will hold the body of the rivet: 

Use drill bits that are the exact same diameter as the wire, a good fit gives better results. 

DO NOT counter sink either end of the drilled hole for this style of rivet.

Debur the openings of the drilled hole:

There are several ways of deburring, which leaves cleaner results:

• sand the surface smooth to remove the sharp, raised metal
• gently press a Round Bur, that is wider than the drilled hole, against the lip and twist a few times just enough to remove the excess metal bits
• use slightly larger Drill Bit the same way you would a Round Bur
• Be careful since the uneven edges could make either tool bounce out and scratch the surface. 

The wire must be annealed and 'Dead Soft': 

Hammering the metal into shape is easier the softer the metal is and requires fewer hammer strikes.

2. The finished 'Back' end touches the anvil, flush to the surface.

The rivet end that's resting against the anvil must be flush with the surface of the piece, usually it ends up as the 'Back' of the piece.

3. Cut the 'Front' end of the rivet to length and sand it flat. 

Cut the wire end that's at the 'Front' with a pair of flush wire cutting pliers. Use a sanding disk to remove any points so that the wire is flat, parallel with the surface of the piece.

4. Place the Nail Set tool, hammer it to form a dome.

The 'Front' end of the rivet gets domed by the Nail Set tool:

Nail Sets usually come in sets of three and each has a concave dome at the bottom with a different diameter and depth. It is better if the hole is not counter sunk. Chose the one from the set that best suits the diameter of the wire so that the concave half-sphere of the Nail Set tool is entirely filled to form a smooth dome. 

Place the concave dome of the Nail Set tool over the stub of the wire that's at the 'Front'. Rest the 'Back' of the piece flush against the anvil. Hammer several times in all 8 directions in opposite pairs, for example: north, south, then east, west, then NE, SW, and then SE, NW. This will spread the force of the hammer blows so that the wire end evenly reforms and fills the concave Nail Set and forms a dome.  

The flush end becomes a friction fit plug:

The end of the rivet that's resting against the anvil at the 'Back' must be flush with the surface of the piece. While hammering from the 'Front', the flattened end will get pushed against the anvil and expand to fill the drilled hole. This creates a strong rivet end, much like a stuck plug. The flush side is usually placed at the 'Back' of the piece since there's a smaller chance that the front of the piece can get damaged while pressed against the anvil.


Riveting: Using a Nail Set Tool and Escutcheon Pins

Riveting: Using a Nail Set Tool and Escutcheon Pins

You can see several examples of rivet styles #3 and #4 in the photographs of my experimentation, from the graphic at the top of blog post Part 3.