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Avete omnes
Just as I suspect the majority of reenactors who do at least some of their own metalwork, I've always bought rivets, but recently a combination of being commissioned to make some 'as-authentic-as-possible' gear and acquiring some original Lorica segmentata fittings, I've just worked-out a VERY easy way to make my own authentic-looking rivets. It's actually amazingly simple- it just never occurred me to try before. It involves only a few seconds of work involved in making each rivet and what's even better that you can save more than 65% on the cost.
Really in creating a rivet, all you're doing is peening one end into a dome shape like you'd do in actually securing a pre-made rivet. The important thing is that you have to preserve the shank and end, and for that you use a very simple form- a block of steel with a hole drilled through it that is the diameter of the wire from which you'll be making the rivet. This will keep the shank from spreading out while you form the head.
#10 copper wire is just a little less than 1/8" in diameter- a fairly standard size of rivet used for our purposes, and it's readily available. It's important for the form hole to be as close as possible to the size of the wire, so a 7/64" drillbit is used. The hole must go all the way through the steel of the form as the finished rivet must be popped-out from the opposite side.
I've found that cutting the wire 'blank' about 4.5mm longer than the thickness of the form will yield a good sized head. Much more will make it harder to shape the head evenly (the wire is more apt to just bend), and less yields a head too close to the diameter of the shank to trust its strength.
It's VERY IMPORTANT to put a drop of oil in the form so you can easily get the finished rivets out- the copper bits you see in my form are what taught me this- they're rivets that I couldn't get out after forming :lol: Add an additional drop of oil after every 4 or 5 rivets or as seems necessary.
Here's a quick illustration of forming the head:
Place the blank in the form on an anvil (or equivalent)- you DON'T have to anneal the wire.
Strike the projecting portion around it's permimeter with a ball peen hammer to spread it out evenly (hold the form securely)
The majority of original rivets I've seen are more-or-less domed, but they're not nearly so huge as the commercial 1/8" shank dome head rivets, so I made a dome die out of a thick nail. I made the concave depression in the die with a dremel round diamond grinding tip (it took a while), then hardened and tempered the tool with a propane torch. Now after peening the rivet so that its edges project relatively evenly around the shank, I place the die over it and give it a few whacks to form the domed head. Here's a photo of the die and a finished rivet. The die doubles as a peening tool as well- place it in a vise then attaching a rivet, simply place the head in the tool and whack it from the other side. This preserves the dome shape and actually makes it really easy to peen rivets in odd places that might make using a flat surface difficult.
To remove the new rivet, simply flip the form over, place it over an open space (like the Hardy hole on an anvil), place a nail (with the point cut off) on the rivet and hammer it GENTLY out. The nail should be close to the same diameter as the rivet so as not to spread the shank out. The oil should make this an easy task- one strike is often enough to just pop the rivet out.
Now I have found that the shanks of these new rivets aren't exactly 7/64" in diameter- so it's best to drill 1/8" holes in the pieces you're riveting together. The rivets will, with some coaxing, go into 7/64" holes, but the fit isn't ideal. Then again commercial 1/8" shank rivets don't seem to fit in holes drilled with a 1/8" bit either...
Anyhow, 3 or 4 seconds of hammering will give you some really cool-looking rivets (you can also control the head size/ shape and the shank length at will) and save you a bundle- the best price I've ever found for copper rivets is $19.95CAD/lb, and 1lb of copper wire costs me only $6.70CAD.  That's a pretty significant savings- especially if you have to mail-order your rivets...
Matt
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