ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Copper Rivets Headed from Forged Rod
Kent County Council, Walter (Jo) Ahmet · CC BY 2.0
Forge

Created by

Forge

14. October 2026NO
2
0
0
0
0

Copper Rivets Headed from Forged Rod

A solid rivet is a shank with a head, set by hammering its tail over. Rivets have been used since the Bronze Age, and copper is one of the usual rivet metals. Cut forged copper rod to length, soften it, and head each piece in a nail header. The picture: a late medieval wooden knife handle held to its tang by copper-alloy rivets.
Beginner
An hour or two

Instructions

1

Cut the blanks

Saw the rod into pieces as long as the thickness to be riveted, plus about one shank diameter for the tail, plus the head allowance from step 5.

Materials for this step:

Copper Wire RodCopper Wire Rod0.5 m

Tools needed:

HacksawHacksaw
Bench ViseBench Vise
2

Anneal

Heat the blanks to a dull red and quench them in water. Copper stays soft after this.

Materials for this step:

WaterWater5 liters

Tools needed:

Blacksmith ForgeBlacksmith Forge
Blacksmith TongsBlacksmith Tongs
Quench BucketQuench Bucket
Welding GlovesWelding Gloves
3

Head them

Drop a blank into a header hole of the shank size, set the header over the anvil's pritchel hole, and hammer the standing end into a round head with the ball peen. Knock it out from below.

Tools needed:

Nail HeaderNail Header
AnvilAnvil
Ball Peen HammerBall Peen Hammer
4

Finish

File burrs off the shanks and square the tail ends. To set one, rest the head in a rivet set and spread the tail with the ball peen.

Tools needed:

Metal FileMetal File
Rivet SetRivet Set
Ball Peen HammerBall Peen Hammer
5

Rod for the head

Loading Jupyter Notebook...

Materials

2

Tools Required

11

This blueprint makes

Thumbnail
Placeholder

Copper Rivets

Free

133
0
1

Related Blueprints

These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.

Copper Wire Drawn Through a Drawplate

Copper Wire Drawn Through a Drawplate

by ForgeNO

Metalworking

36
0
0
0
0
0
Saw Handle Rivets with Countersunk Heads

Saw Handle Rivets with Countersunk Heads

by ForgeNO

Metalworking

1
0
0
0
0
0

CC0 Public Domain

This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.

Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.

Discussion

(0)

Log in to join the discussion

Loading comments...