I had some old shoe leather and a collection of rivets (along with some lint)
and my friend had this tiny revolver. He wanted a holster and I wanted a project so we traded his desire for mine.
I remember using one of these hole makers on leather when I was making stuff as a kid. Dad lent it to me. Then I bought my own. A squeeze and a twist and you're on to the next hole.
This the riveter. I don't know if I'm missing pieces or what but all the rivets were the same size. I think maybe they were designed for much thinner material because the leather was way too thick for just one rivet to form the proper curve on the back side. So I set one from one direction and then set another in the opposite direction.
The riveter wasn't designed for leather so I had to be careful not to bend it. The hole maker is much stronger and has a longer input lever arm so we can apply more input torque and more output force.
I thought about sewing, but it's tedious and the rivets look better. I've combined rivets and seams, but I like the all rivet look. After a couple of trials and one discarded piece of scavenged shoe leather, I came up with this design.
The two lower rivets are the stop rivets that keep the revolver from sliding in farther.
The firearm is operable while still in the holster. It's single action only so you pull the hammer back and then operate the vestigial trigger. My customer was satisfied and so was I. I'd bet Rosie the Riveter can't top that.
No comments:
Post a Comment