How to Copper Rivet a Wooden Boat
- 1). Bore a hole for the copper rivet 1/16 inch smaller than the diameter of the rivet, using a hand auger, or brace and bit.
- 2). Heat the copper or bronze stock in a blacksmith's forge until red hot. Remove the stock from the forge with blacksmith's tongs and, still using the tongs, slide the stock through the hole in a swage plate that has a hole the diameter of the rivet in its center. Form the head of the copper rivet over a swage plate by beating the stock with a sledge or ball peen hammer until the end of the stock forms a surface that lies flat on the swage plate while forming a dome shape on its top. Remove the rivet from the swage plate. Allow the copper rivet to cool naturally.
- 3). Pound the copper rivet through the bore with a dead blow hammer. Insert a clench ring with a central opening the size of the diameter of the copper rivet over the unfinished end of the rivet.
- 4). Hammer the unfinished end of the copper rivet with the sledge or ball peen hammer to fashion a head, domed on top and flat against the clench ring.
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