Sharp edges on peened rivets??

R

R.C.Reichert

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Jul 26, 2008
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I have a large Hudson Bay camp knife that I am making which I used brass washers and brass pins for rivets. I would like to be able to have the riveted heads stand "proud" as they say so they stand out from the washers. My question is how do I prevent or deal with the problem of the rivet heads developing sharp edges on it as it's formed? I will include a photo of the knife so you can see what I'm doing. As for the rest of the knife, it has a blade of 5160 with cherry wood handle. It is approx. 1'4" thick with a flat ground blade and a tapered tang (my first tapered tang). What do you guys do to get a perfectly formed and domed rivet head?


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If you set the pin with a few hammer blows and then sand off the edges of the pins they shouldnt be so sharp when peened all the way home. I have used a scotch brite wheel with good results.
 
Round the head of the rivet before you hammer it. If you want it perfect, you will have to use a cupped spinner over it. Sheffield Knifemakers Supply sells them, but others probably do also.
 
As almost all of the rivet work I do is exposed, here is how I and almost all the knifemakers of old did it- Peen your rivets and then use a spiral sewn muslin buffing wheel with green compound. Buff the head from all directions. They smooth up nicely, and it's easy.
Nice knife, BTW!
 
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You can also use a nailset to round up the head. Most of them have a cuped part to set the nail put some rouge on the rivet chuck the nailset in a drill press and polish it up slowly of course
 
Bill DeShivs said:
As almost all of the rivet work I do is exposed, here is how I and almost all the knifemakers of old did it- Peen your rivets and then use a spiral sewn muslin buffing wheel with green compound. Buff the head from all directions. They smooth up nicely, and it's easy.
Nice knife, BTW!
Click to expand...


I tried doing like you said and it worked great! It removed almost all the hammer marks and also completely smoothed all the sharp edges. It also fits my period style knife because the rivets don't look too perfect like they were machine pressed. They still have a bit of character that the actual hammer puts into them. Looks very traditional like the rivets you'd see on some old bayonets or swords. Thank you for the tip and thanks for the comment on my knife.:D

I do appreciate all the other posters suggestions. I'll have to give those a try as well once I get a little better equipped. Don't have a scotchbrite wheel or a cupped spinner. Thanks for the great suggestions though!
 
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I dont know if this will help or not, but I build Ak-47's and theres rivet tools out there to make them nice and round, one might help you out so you can use it to pound a rivet down and keep the dome round without sharp edges. You would need a shop press though.
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If you flip the plate over and use the flat side of it you can make a bulgarian style rivet. A nice dome with a flat top on it. That or you can just put it on an anvil and give it a smack. All it does is look a tad different. Just a thought for ya.
 
I use a head spinner. They are available from the knife supply companies.

If you want a slightly rustic look -
set the rivet, spin the head round, then give it a couple taps with a small ball pein hammer to "distress' the head.
 
Here's a shot of one I recently did. These are mild steel pins and copper washers. I was shooting more for rustic than perfect but with a little care when peening you should be able to get them pretty good with peening alone. Sharp edges shouldn't be much of a problem. I peened the edges of the washers also but you could easily break the sharp outside edge of the washer before installing them.

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Josh
 
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