Home   >   Daily Wire Jewelry Tips   >   Rivet and Eyelet Tools

Rivet and Eyelet Tools

By on February 27, 2017
Print Friendly

by Judy Ellis, Wirejewelry.com

Wire Jewelry Tip for February 27th, 2017

Rivet and Eyelet Tools

with Judy Larson

Today we start a short series of tips from Judy Larson on making and using Rivet and Eyelet Tools.  Tip #1 – Setting a balled or flat head rivet.

Judy Says:

judyheadshot

Today’s tip is about setting a flat or balled head rivet. If the face of your piece is not flat, such as when you attach a cupped piece to your design, you cannot set the rivet by placing the piece on a flat surface.

Note: The tools shown in this section should be clamped in your vise to keep them stable while using them.

How-to 1. You will need to use something like a Drive Pin Punch when setting a flat head rivet. When choosing a Drive Pin Punch, shown below, make sure that the flat head of the stem rivets you will be using will fit the flat top of the tool.

image001

How-to 2. To set balled head rivets, you need a tool that will not flatten the top of the ball during the riveting process. Shown below are two 5/32″ (4mm) woodworking Nail Sets.

How-to 3. The one on the right has a very shallow concave tip. It can be used to stamp circles in metal, but is not a good tool to use with balled head rivets as the top of the ball will become slightly flattened. You need a tool with a deep indentation, like the nail set on the left, which will help to keep the balled head round.

image002

How-to 4. The balled head rivet shown here was made by balling the end of a piece of 16 gauge wire. It was then cut into a short piece, straightened so the wire came straight out of the ball, pickled and tumbled.

Keep in mind that your local hardware store has many helpful tools that you can use in your jewelry making.

Come back  next week for Tip #2 on how to make Rivet and Eyelet Tools! For more tips from Judy Larson – CLICK HERE!

Happy Wrapping!

 

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email