November 16, 200916 yr I went to a Tong making demo on Saturday and came home and practised. While I was at it I knocked up a Rivet tool and a 8mm punch from an old coil spring. Rob Secretary Artist Blacksmiths Association South Australia A.B.A.S.A.
November 16, 200916 yr Ahh nice to make the day worthwhile, comes with being organised! At Moony's it seemed all i made was round bar.. out of round bar. To busy yakking. Rob, did u use a power hammer to draw out? AndrewOC
November 16, 200916 yr Author Hi Andrew, No, I didn't use a power hammer. The set on left is made out of 12mm round the middle set I used 16mm square for the jaws and 12mm round welded reins. It took about 3 hrs to make one set. At the demo , the instructor made them in 40 minutes, with a power hammer. I got to get one of those one day. Cheers, Rob
November 16, 200916 yr Very nice. Stock size and cut list for rivet tool would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance. Dave M. E.
November 16, 200916 yr Author Thanks for the comments guys. The Rivet block is made out of 16mm square stock, with 12mm Diameter solid bar for the handles. I have attached a blue print of the actual tool. I have made a cradle for the tool to sit in whilst riveting is done. This helps to stop any bulge occurring in the middle. The cradle is made using a piece of 5mm thick plate with 16mm square sides. If you are making rivets for large tongs I would recommend up sizing the bar stock to 25mm square so that you can get an increase in you rivet length. I have just got my hands on a 25mm Diameter coil spring, so I am going to cut and forge that into a similar design to make it unbreakable. Rob Kenning
December 6, 200916 yr Rob I am pretty green at this and I was wondering how you make the rivets for the tongs and then I saw this. I figured you would just use a piece of round stock and make a bulge at one end before inserting into the hole then do the same on the other side to secure it. But then the problem would be that you would change the diameter of the shaft and could not get it in the hole. Could you explain how this tool is used or is there another way to do this for a novice. Also how do you punch the holes in this device when the two pieces are separate, would a c clamp be enough to hold the two side together while you punch through it ? Or did you just drill the holes ? Don
December 6, 200916 yr When I first learned to make tongs I was shown a really neat trick. You just cut a piece of stock a little more than 3 diameters longer than the hole through the tongs. Now lay the tongs on the anvil with a small spacer about two inches from the hole. Heat the rivet stock, drop it in the hole and "see-saw" on the spacer until the rivet is sticking out about the same on each side. Now give the rivet a good smack, knock the spacer out of the way and finish each side if the rivet. Work on a piece of flat stock first to get the hang of it, works a treat!
December 7, 200916 yr Nice job on all! I like the rivet tool alot. What kind of steel did you make it out of? HH
December 8, 200916 yr nice tool i need to make some more tongs myself and the rivet tool would be handy aswell do you have the plans in inches? mm is like speaking japanease to me lol
December 9, 200916 yr Author Hi All , Sorry for the late reply. It's a mad time of year. I hope these pictures answer every one's questions. I have made about 30 rivets using the tool in it's current form and it isn't showing any sign of wear. I have managed to get a drive shaft off a japanese car, about 3/4" diameter and will make a similar tool up in the new year, only this time I am going to make it as a solid form instead of two pieces. Someone asked,"how long to cut the stock for a rivet?", well I cut my stock about 1-1/2 times the diameter, if that's any help. There is a lot of info on estimating rivet lengths on the net. Good luck to everyone, and I hope everyone has a great festive season. I'm looking forward to a great year next year and look forward to everyone's ideas and input on the art of blacksmithing. Cheers, Rob Kenning Secretary Artist Blacksmiths Association South Australia
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