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Vira
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« on: October 13, 2011, 10:50:55 pm » |
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I need to attach watch gears (metal) to a piece of soft leather. I would prefer not to use glue because it causes the leather to become rough, but some of the gears are tiny and I have no rivets small enough to attach them. I may be able to find tools if necessary but at this point I am stuck. Would anyone be able to give me some ideas/advice on how to attach the metal gears to the leather or a suggestion for where I might find very tiny rivets? I have not been able to find rivets at any nearby craft stores. Online links are welcome although I have less than a week to complete my piece. Thank you! This is the half-finished necklace (literally only one side of it) : Picture #1 also Picture #2 |
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"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark." - Stephen Hawking
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"Steampunk just seems to be a bunch of random old crap that looks like it should do something, but it's basically useless." - Bocephus Jones II
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Vira
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« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2011, 10:53:32 pm » |
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Delireus
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« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2011, 11:06:34 pm » |
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Hmm, they still may be too big but what about small brads? I've used them with those Tim Holtz gears you've got, he even sells brads in the same metal finish which fit nicely into them, but I don't know about the smaller gears.
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Home is where the faire is
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Vira
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« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2011, 11:16:28 pm » |
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I'm not sure if I can find ones small enough for that even but I may try it. I know that I found the bigger gears in a scrapbooking section with brads but the tiny ones are literally a collection from watches and some are a few millimeters big. My worry with brads is that they will come loose or fall out.
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Uncle Arthur
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« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2011, 01:44:51 am » |
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If you use brads you will need to back them to prevent them pulling through the leather.
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If at first you don't succeed , CHEAT!
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World Of Leathercraft
Deck Hand
 United States
WorldofLeathercraft
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« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2011, 02:41:13 am » |
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Joeyeah_right
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« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2011, 11:53:08 am » |
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Have you thought about sewing them on with some fine thread?
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"I aim to misbehave" - Mal Reynolds
"What time would it be, if we were on Mars?" - Ani Difranco
"Of course I'm out of my mind, it's crowded & scary in there!" - Unknown
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Professor Bevel
Officer
 United Kingdom
No, meddle first, understand later.
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« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2011, 12:30:32 pm » |
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copper brads (most decent builders' merchants, especially the ones with a big timber supply section), a small washer on the back (hard to find, a lot easier to find a fine drillbit and some sheet alumimium, put it through, snip it off 3mm or so above the workpiece and peen the snipped off end of the brad down with the tiniest ballpeen hammer you can find. Use a larger hammer clamped upright in a vice as an anvil.
Practice on a couple of dozen first, you've got to get good enough to get them properly seated and closed before they work-harden (this is not expensive, copper brads are about a farthing apiece. You can get a head start on this by annealing them before you start. You do this by heating your brads with a blowlamp to a nice glow (don't worry, there's a trick to melting copper with a blowtorch and it's quite the knack, you'll not do it by accident) and then water quenching them (copper doesn't harden when quenched, although you should test this on the batch of brads you buy as they may turn out to be some oddball alloy that does, or copper-washed steel brads which you should take back to the shop you bought 'em from and yell about. Don't mind why, just tell 'em I sent you.
All a rivet is is a blank of metal slightly softer than your hammer that you beat into shape to make a closure. You could do this with snipped off bits of copper electrical wire, but that'd mean forming a head, which you'd have to learn how to do. Brads come with heads already on 'em.
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« Last Edit: October 14, 2011, 12:32:36 pm by Professor Bevel »
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You know what this situation calls for? More gin.
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Professor Bevel
Officer
United Kingdom
No, meddle first, understand later.
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« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2011, 12:35:38 pm » |
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Oh, and invest a few shillings in a nail punch and see if you can get a metalworker friend to dish the end for you to the size of rivet dome you want, five minute job if he's got a ball-nosed end mill and a blowtorch to anneal and then re-temper it to a nice hard blue) it'll make forming consistent, neat domes a lot less of a faff.
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Vira
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« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2011, 02:10:43 am » |
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*Professional Bevel, not gunner. Not sure what I was thinking there. Thanks again!
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