Rivet Washers

[michael_schaap]

Been looking at the book "Knifemaking, A complete guide to crafting knives, handles and sheaths". He keep referring to "rivet washers", but I can't not find them anywhere. Does anyone know where to find them?

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Michael

[Ray Rogers]

My first guess would be at a Tandy leather store. On the other hand, I've never heard of a rivet washer in regard to knife making and never needed one in 16 years of making knives and sheaths (both leather and Kydex) so maybe you should expand your library a bit more and look for alternative methods. Some guys use rivets for some sheaths but most don't use them at all...

[Doug Lester]

Another name for rivet washers is burrs and the only time that I got any was from a blacksmithing supply house. Sorry, but I can't bring to mind the one that it was. I think that they are used in saddle making so you could look at those suppliers.

I have use large washers to make Hudson Bay trade knives. For those I had to get a dye to punch them out. Those dyes can be obtained from jewelry supply houses. To apply these, I find the best way is to lay out the holes on the tang and drill pilot holes with a small bit. Use the holes in the tang as a template to drill pilot holes through the scales then use an appropriate size forsner bit to drill a hole just a little deeper than the thickness of the washer and then glue the washer in place. After the glue sets, use a drill bit the appropriate size for the rivet that you will be using to enlarge the pilot holes. If you want the rivet head to stand a little proud over the revit you will need to sand the scales and washers before adding the rivets. The only Hudson Bay pattern knife that I've made I used copper rod to make the rivets by just peaning the ends over. This produces a rather irregular head and doesn't look quite right, though it is probably historically accurate. Something like cuttler's revits would look better. Of course if you want the revit to be flush with the washer you would glue it in before finishing the handle.

Doug Lester