Cold Connections (For the most part...)

Cold Connections in Jewelry and Metalwork

By

Master Muin maqq Minain

There are many methods to assemble jewelry elements, many of which require heat. Intense heat. Crazy levels of heat! HEAT! HEAT! HEAT! Soldering! Welding! Brazing! Fusing! A plethora of casting methods.

Not every crafter wants to bother with heat methods, some for cost reasons, some for safety concerns…and some because they are snowmen in disguise, infiltrating our world on every level! (Be aware! THEY’RE HERE! Or…not.)

Rivets-

A rivet is a form of permanent fastener, once installed it is not an easy process to remove, unlike a screw, or bolt. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the tail. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched or drilled hole, and the tail is upset, so that it expands to be larger than the original shaft diameter, and the hole it passed through, holding the rivet in place. In other words, pounding creates a new "head" on the other end by smashing the "tail" material flatter, resulting in a rivet that is roughly the shape two wheels on an axel.

To distinguish between the two ends of the rivet, the original head is called the factory head and the deformed end is called the buck-tail. For those who need the terminology.

Some basic Rules:

These are not the only kinds of rivets…just a common sampling.

Bring ALL parts as close to completion as you can before you begin riveting.

The tail should be tightly fit to the hole.

The tail should be trimmed for length before you start hammering the upset.

Materials for rivets should be annealed. Work hardened materials, or materials with no natural plasticity will make your task more difficult. Why would you do that to yourself? Weren’t you raised better? Your mother and I worry so much…

You could go blind…

stop that!

Basic Rivets-

-Select a drill and wire of the same size. If you cannot match the wire and drill sizes, use larger wire, and customize the wire (slowly) with file and sand paper.

-Drill the materials you with to connect. Match the holes carefully.

-Insert the rivet into the hole and cut it to a specific length. What length? The rivet should extend ½ the diameter of the wire from each side of the work.

-Set the work on a solid, hard surface, and using a riveting hammer (a fine crosspeen) gently tap the rivet end to spread it. This becomes your factory head.

-Flip the work over, repeating the process on the other side, creating a buck-tail.

Nailhead Rivets-

(Note: Requires Heat… make many ahead of time to have on hand.)

A popular variation of the basic rivet as noted above. This variation is useful for when you need a larger head, either for the look it gives, or for the sake of offering a wider grip on the material.

This can also be a good choice when dealing either with delicate materials, or when the rivet is being placed in a hard to reach area of the design.  Wire of 16 to 24 gauge is best for this method.

-Cut equal lengths of wire, and using a small torch head, bead one end of each wire.

-Slide the tail into the appropriately sized hole of a draw plate. This can be braced on the open jaws of a vice, or simply across two boards of equal thickness. Strike beaded end with a hammer to flatten the new rivet head. (This becomes your factory head.)

-Shape the head to desired parameters.

-Slide the tail into the material you are trying to connect and place the factory head on your riveting surface and trim the tail to desired length. Upset the rivet to create your buck-tail.

Hidden Rivets, and You: The Betrayal and Sadness-

These are also known as “Flush Rivets” and are useful for making connections when you don’t want the connection to be seen.

-Choose rivet material that is of the same alloy as the work you are trying to connect.

-After you drill the holes into the work surface, use a slightly larger drill to create a countersunk hole in both sides of the surface.

-Follow the basic Rivet method (above), filling the countersunk areas with the heads of the rivet.

-File and sand the rivet material flat.-Polish. Polish, LIKE THE WID!!!!

Tube Rivets-

These rivets are perfect for delicate materials, where you do not want to hammer the materials much, risking breakage. (Enameled surfaces, shells, stones, …)

-After having selected the tubing you will be using, drill the appropriate holes in the work. (As with the other forms, a tight fit is your friend. Loose fits will destroy you work.)

-Slide the tube through the work, and trim to size. Standard ½ diameter of riveting material is good here, as well.

-Set a burnisher, or a smooth mandrel into the end of the tube, and flair the tube end out. (Carefully!)

-Reap on the other side.

-Place rivet on a round punch, or improvise with ballpeen hammer head, and tap lightly with another punch (or ballpeen) to curl out the edges of the rivet on both sides.

The Magic of Washers!!!

When you are working with more mailable materials (Leather…Pewter…>shudder< lead…), it may be advisable to include a washer in the assembly process. Make the washer part of the design and make the washer “pretty” and it can cover a myriad of sins.

They MUST be done to fit tightly to be effective.

Tabs!

Tabs provide a simple, and secure cold connection by bending a set of prongs of metal from one piece of metal over another piece, or over that of a stone, gem, shell, bone, or small Muppet. Possibly a Fraggle.

The parent piece of metal the prongs are cut from is called a “Spider” and the item held by the spider is the jenny. (I do not know why…flat out…no clue…” jenny” …there you go.)

-If the parent metal is substantially thick, cutting, engraving, or filing stress relieving cuts into the metal where the joints are to be bent into place will help direct the bending. Never cut the stress relief deeper than 1/3 into the metal. ¼ is safe.