How to Make Home Made Rivet Setters

     Rivet setters are pieces of round bar, cylindrical steel, about 3/8 or 1/2 " in diameter, and about five inches long.  Sometimes one end is slightly concave, or spread, but many of use them flat.  Remember that whatever the shape of the end of your rivet looks like will be reproduced on the top of the rivet itself during setting.  Thats why some are concave, to preserve the dome shape of the rivet top, and manyt of us polish the end too so that the dome comes out nice and shiny too.  The difference between rivet setters and snap setters is that snap setters require two different types of tools for each half of the snap, and each has a burr or a hole in it to accomodate a recess in the snap itself.  As well, the snaps require a special plate with holes in it, and different snaps take different sets.  Your best bet is to obtain a commercial set if you are setting snaps, or study the commercial sets to see what you need to make. 

     There is a special setter for copper rivets but an old defunct hole punch can be used to slide over the post and tighten the second washer before clipping.  This is what I use and the hole punch should be larger in diameter than the post of the copper rivets, but not too wode so that it falls over the edge of the washer.

     When setting your regular two piece rivets, which are usually brass (The good ones) or brass plated steel (Not as good but a lot cheaper....these rust) a simple hammer strike works fine, and the flat look is desirtable to some of us.  Make sure any hammer you strike with has a polished surface, ort set the rivet by hitting the bottom and driving it into thge cap which should rest on a very smooth metal or stone surface.  Metal ius better.

     It is not hard to polish metal surfaces with sandpaper or silicon carbide cloth.

How to Make Home Made Stamping Tools

8. Stamping tools

     One of the easiest leather tools to make, and some of the more expenisve types too, are stamping tools for making designs into heavier leathers by hitting the stamping tool with a hammer.  Large nails with flat heads are required for this job, and the nail points, the end which is driven into the wood, must be cut or ground off.  Study commercially available tools for your designs, and also invent your own.  You can duplicate any leather stamping tool made with a little time and patience.  Use files and Drill Bits to create youor designs.

     You can teach yourself to stamp designs in leather by starting with measured geometric patterns, then moving onto more intricate things.  Use your edge liner, or a ruler and an awl to create boundaries along which you can stamp your designs and keep them uniform. If you wish to cut your design into leather, it is probably best to obtain a commercially made swivel knife, though decorative cuts can also be made with other tools like a butter knife sharpened into a point, and along one edge.