I recently started working with leather and sometimes i need to set a rivet or two. The thing is, when i put the rivet head on a wooden surface, it tends to deform when the pin strikes it from the inside and that looks nasty. How do i go about making a rivet set or something to put the rivet on while i strike it form the other side?
As far as power tools go, i have a dremel and that's it. No easy access to a lathe.
I have this piece of pig iron from a blast furnace ground flat for tests, but i have no idea how to produce a spherical depression in that. If i cast the needed shape in two-part epoxy, would it have enough strength?
>>944559
picture related
>i have a dremel and that's it
>i have no idea how to produce a spherical depression in that
If I understand what you're trying to do wouldn't this work?
>>944557
>The thing is, when i put the rivet head on a wooden surface, it tends to deform when the pin strikes it from the inside and that looks nasty
Wait what is deforming? the wood the leather or the rivet head?
>>944557
Google for 'rivet anvil' for the size of rivets you're making. What's strange is that they didn't include one.
It still makes a depression, but my set came with a tiny little block of oak that's can probably take a couple hundred rivets.
Could you use a piece of cork over a piece of soft wood?
>>946238
This, I use a couple layers of study scrap leather over a small anvil to take the brunt of the force. Works pretty good.
>>946013
These would produce a depression, but its radius would be too small. I was thinking of something along R40.
>>946052
The rivet head, it becomes unsightly. Pic related.
>>946121
A friend gave me the rivets. I know i could buy a rivet anvil, but i'm just starting out and it's relatively expensive. Expensive as in "30% of what i typically sell a finished good for". I don't even use rivets all that often, but sometimes it's limiting to not be able to use them.
>>946238
>>946280
I tried combining wood, cork and leather as well as all of these by themselves. Didn't help.
Maybe the picture will make my problem clearer. The heads have a 7mm OD. Left to right are two set rivets, a head and a post. As you can see, during setting the post deforms the head from inside.
![9_3Clad_configurations_10-22-13_Merged_1[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/FMspq4u.jpg "9_3Clad_configurations_10-22-13_Merged_1[1].jpg")
You could hammer a coin into a concave shape if you had a ball peen hammer and then use that as an anvil.
>>947507
Thanks, that's a great idea! I'll do that and stick it to a backing piece of wood.
Use a lead block. Lead defoms instead of the rivet.
