MEMBER ITEMS FOR SALE
Custom Knives | Other Knives | General Items
-------------------------------------------
New Posts | New PhotosAll Photos



Go Back   The Knife Network Forums : Knife Making Discussions > Custom Knife Discussion Boards > The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum

The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum This is the place to discuss all forms of sheath and holster making.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 06-15-2013, 11:17 AM
TJ Smith TJ Smith is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Naches WA.
Posts: 224
Send a message via AIM to TJ Smith
upholstery tacks

When using tacks for deco how do you finish the backs? Or just don't push them all the way through.
Do you use any glue?
TJ


__________________
TJ Smith
Knifemaker
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 06-16-2013, 06:44 AM
WBE WBE is offline
Skilled
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 484
The simplest way is to bend the shank into a fish hook with needle nose pliers, then bend over and drive the point back into the leather flush. It helps to anneal these shanks. If you are doing a plains Indian type sheath, the early tacks were cast brass with an integral brass shank. These shanks could be peened into rivet heads. These are still being made, but a little pricey if you need a lot of them. The common brass tacks today are plated over steel and will rust. Indian craft stores have solid brass headed tacks with thin steel shanks, and are relatively cheap. These came into use in the late 19th c.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 06-17-2013, 12:44 PM
Chuck Burrows's Avatar
Chuck Burrows Chuck Burrows is offline
Super Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Durango, Co
Posts: 3,671
With all due respect to Wick but original pieces seldom have the backs clinched - here's how I do it (and I do a LOT of it) based on my examination of originals. As Wick noted solid brass/square shank tacks are available but at a $1.00 a piece they are not cheap..Solid Brass head/steel shank tacks are much less expensive - I get mine from Crazy Crow.

here's some how-to tack info that I've posted before/elsewhere, hopefully this explains it all - any questions fire away.......

To do it properly it is best/easiest to have a piece of brass flatstock say 2-3" wide by 3/4-1" thick by at least 8" long (the wider and longer the better) to use as an anvil, a double thick piece of the rubber poundo board or similar, a light weight ball peen hammer, and a pair of end cutters ground so that the face is flat.
Lay out your pattern - I just sketch the lines in with either a red mini ball pen or a soft lead pencil. For spacing I put in a few of the major points and then eye ball to fill in the pattern.
Once the pattern is laid out use a leather awl to start the hole - BTW the leather needs to be a GOOD grade of veg tan and although I have used thinner I recommend it be least harness weight, 8/10 or 10/12 oz with a nice tight grain. Drive in three of four tacks at a time and then turn the piece over with the heads on your brass "anvil" - the anvil should be mounted on a heavy piece of wood or laid over a nice firm piece of Poundo board (the black rubber pieces sold by Tandy, etc.. This cuts down on noise and also keeps it in place. Take your end cutters and clip the shank off flush with the surface of the leather. Then using the flat face of the hammer tap LIGHTLY on the shank until you flatten out the center ridge left by the cutters. Then using the ball end tap a few times to flare the end of the shank and drive it slightly below the surface. Run your hand over the piece and make sure the shank is not poking out. Turn the piece over and make sure the tack heads feel solid - no matter how careful you are some shanks will want to bend side wise - if they do yank em out and do it over. Still no matter what over time and with much uses some tacks will pop out - most original pieces are missing a few tacks here and there so it just makes the piece more authentic!
This sounds more complicated than it is and it goes pretty fast once you get the rhythm - but on the belts there can be between 400-600 tacks depending on the size so no matter what it is time consuming.

Also lost tacks are common on tacked leather goods, see the original in the first pic on the left, which, to me, implies that they were not normally bent/clinched (pulling a clinched tack out usually tears the crap out of the leather). In most cases the sheaths I examined were also glued using some form of hide glue.
Again in my experience when using tacks the leather needs to be good and firm - soft leather just doesn't cut it . The solid brass square shank tacks are also much grippier than the smooth steel ones.

Here's an original using solid brass (shank and head) square shank tacks, - (they are still available from www.Londonderrybrasses.com - not cheap but the only source I've been able to find for them and for the so inclined the only historically documented tack for pre-1870 usage):


And here's one of mine - an 1870's model - using the commonly available steel shank/solid brass head tacks (which historically can be dated to the early 1870's)


and here's the front side........


One other thing that you can do with steel shank tacks to make them easier to peen is anneal the shanks - hold the tack close to the head with a pair of needle nose and heat the shank tip to red hot with a propane torch - IMMEDIATELY bury the heated tack in a coffer can 3/4's full of coarse ground salt or sand. The salt/sand will help them cool slowly. You can then sieve the can of tacks and salt through a coarse screen. The heads will discolor but can be easily polished back with 4/0 steel wool after being set or you can leave them with that "aged' look.


__________________
Chuck Burrows
Hand Crafted Leather & Frontier Knives
dba Wild Rose Trading Co
Durango, CO
chuck@wrtcleather.com
www.wrtcleather.com


Wild Rose Trading Co - Handcrafted Knife Sheaths



The beautiful sheaths created for storing the knife elevate the knife one step higher. It celebrates the knife it houses.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 06-18-2013, 04:55 PM
WBE WBE is offline
Skilled
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 484
Never said my way was HC. Just said it was the simplest way, and it lowers the risk of lost tacks. IMHO and experience with these steel shanked tacks. To anneal, I have always simply heated the shank red hot and let cool. I found that by the time the tack is buried in any thing, it is already too cool for any more annealing to take effect. Just my experience with them, but they do need an anneal to make them work easier.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 06-20-2013, 11:35 AM
TJ Smith TJ Smith is offline
Steel Addict
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Naches WA.
Posts: 224
Send a message via AIM to TJ Smith
Thanks guys will post a pic of the results.
Take care
TJ Smith


__________________
TJ Smith
Knifemaker
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
anvil, art, back, bee, brass, common, fire, hammer, holster, hot, leather, leather die, leather tooling, made, make, pattern, post, sand, sheath, sheaths, steel, tanning, wood


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Brass Tacks oldwolf The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum 9 11-25-2007 09:52 AM
Tacks Question jboynton The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum 3 03-17-2005 02:02 PM
Lets get down to brass tacks hammerdownnow The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum 3 08-09-2004 09:15 PM
Solid Brass Tacks Chuck Burrows The Outpost 19 02-24-2004 10:06 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:30 AM.




KNIFENETWORK.COM
Copyright © 2000
? CKK Industries, Inc. ? All Rights Reserved
Powered by ...

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
The Knife Network : All Rights Reserved