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Brads made from nails question


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Brads are a form of small nail or tack. Your stating that you are going to make a few ladles makes me think that what you are actually asking about is RIVETS ? If my assumption is correct you shouldn't have to heat the nails you will be using for rivets once you've cut them off to length.As long as you are using standard carpentry nails.

 

Your confusion in calling them BRADS probably comes from the term bradding them over. I don't use this term for fixing a rivet but prefer the term peining. 

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I need to make some 1 quart ladles,  can you explain how to make one from a horse shoe nail in one heat?  I guess I could stack up a couple of pounds of them and forge weld them into a mass and forge it out but they would probably leak without a couple of forge welding courses to remove spaces...

 

Note I have forge brazed ladles before though that is easier with a rivet in place too.  I was using a charcoal forge and the fuel would shift about the times the pieces came up to temp...

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I am going to make a few Ladles.(First ones) I have read all I can find on making brads. Question is do I have to heat the nail first? Any tips would also be helpful. Thanks Randy.

 
Again more information would help, thickness and type of materials, if you are making the rivets, then it may be more advantageous to heat them first, if the rivets are a soft malleable iron as in machine made rivets then maybe not.
 
Use two rivets to stop handle moving, or a square rivet on its own, and step the handle to fit the edge of the ladle.
 
Are you going to use countersunk or flat or domed/round head rivets
 
As for tips, make all rivet holes a good fit for the rivet, 
 
Deburr all holes so the mating parts fit flush to start with,
 
You will need a rivet set and snap  (Domer is a US term for a snap From Frank Turley) in one form or another,  this can be a combined set and snap, and a separate snap, and somewhere/something solid to rivet against (Bucking or backing) which could also be the snap
 
The set is used like a monkey tool to close the assembled joint and bed in the pieces, the snap to form and polish the finished head, usually a round head type rivet,and also a snap is used to locate the round head on a rivet as you hammer the free end, so as to maintain the round head.
 
The rivet should be cut off to the right length before rivetting, usually from beneath the head of the rivet being used, the thicknesses of the materials being brought together, then one and a half to twice the diameter of the rivet shank being used. This rule also applies for countersunk rivets
 
When you come to pein the rivet over, use lots of light blows, and keep the rivet straight, use a ball pein hammer around the outside edge of the rivet shank to mushroom/upset it out and then the face of the hammer if you want to make it flush as in a countersunk joint, or use the snap/domer to form a round head.
 
Hot rivets in theory close the joint as they cool, but in practice, unless you are quite proficient in the technique, they will have cooled , somewhat nullyfying the effect.
 
Local heat can help, but if you try to put it back into the fire to heat, it will also heat the surrounding areas, and they are then prone to distortion.
 
Give it a go and have fun.
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Thanks John B. Did one today and it worked out pretty good. I used a 3/8" square split, flattened a little and spread on the end for the handle. Drilled 1/4" hole on each prong. Used a 16d nail as the rivet. 1 1/2 x diameter plus material being brought together, which worked out to a little over 1/2" length on nail. I had trouble keeping the same amount of nail sticking out on each side. I drilled a hole in a piece of flat stock so putting the bottom of the nail in this hole I had the right amount on top and bottom. May have been a better way of doing it, but it worked good. Peined  both sides over to flat it looked good and held tight. Feels good when something works. Thanks for the help. Randy.

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You can pre head your rivet stock by mounting two pieces of angle iron in your post vise jaws and drill where the two pieces of angle meet: the dia is the dia of the rivet stock. The depth should be the  length you want above the first rivet head . Then cut the total length needed from your rivet stock, drop in the hole and head it.  You can do a line of holes if you need "production"; or set up a tool with different lengths of rivet---mark them!

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