Maille gloves

[Sir Ulrich]

Only issue is my riveting tool rivets the rings at an angle. So it's rarely straightly riveted. Maybe thats just how I rivet or hold the thing cause some are riveted straight. My hands hurt like hell though from making just a SMALL patch of maille, thank god I am only making gloves, cant imagine how hard it is to make a shirt or hauberk like mine.
I'm getting tired of it peening the rivets at an angle, it isnt peening properly IMO because of that and if the tool is broken I am 100% DONE with making my own riveted maille, i'm sick of how they make piss poor tools that BREAK every time I use them.

[Sir James A]

Agreed with Sir Brian on the mittens. Post a pic of the rivets setting at an angle; I might know what's going on but show me a pic or two and I might be able to help. Also, are you riveting the GDFB loose links with the IceFalcon tool, or IceFalcon rings w/IceFalcon tool?

[Allan Senefelder]

I'm getting tired of it peening the rivets at an angle, it isnt peening properly IMO because of that and if the tool is broken I am 100% DONE with making my own riveted maille, i'm sick of how they make piss poor tools that BREAK every time I use them

I know this will sound like " yeah, yeah he's done it for years, its easy for him ) but I rivet tiny stuff all the time and don'e use pliers. It takes a little practice but, its basically in front of the TV work. Theres no way for me to explain it through a key board but it has to do with how you strike with the hammer and the weight. I could explain this in person with a demo very easily. Maybe over the phone would be better but seen in person you'd see its all about technique, and technique gets better with simple practice. Pliers help if used and made properly but can be done without.

[Sir Ulrich]

This is how it rivets them, occasionally it will rivet them normally but 7/10 times it will do this the other 2/10 it will FAIL to rivet them properly.
I only have used this tool with the icefalcon rings and rivets. didnt want to break anything doing it but I think the tool may be busted or something, which worries me considering it was 40 bucks...

I'm getting tired of it peening the rivets at an angle, it isnt peening properly IMO because of that and if the tool is broken I am 100% DONE with making my own riveted maille, i'm sick of how they make piss poor tools that BREAK every time I use them

I know this will sound like " yeah, yeah he's done it for years, its easy for him ) but I rivet tiny stuff all the time and don'e use pliers. It takes a little practice but, its basically in front of the TV work. Theres no way for me to explain it through a key board but it has to do with how you strike with the hammer and the weight. I could explain this in person with a demo very easily. Maybe over the phone would be better but seen in person you'd see its all about technique, and technique gets better with simple practice. Pliers help if used and made properly but can be done without.

So would I need an anvil to do this? if so what size would be decent cause I'm considering to hell with this tool as I already got like so many rings that are already riveted assuming thats how they should of been. Maybe the rivets aren't properly annealed or whatever not sure, some of them rivet easily others don't.

[Allan Senefelder]

Something like a small piece of railroad rail. Just 2 or three pounds that can sit in your lap while you're in a chair. Like these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Small-Antique-Anvil-8-1-4-Long-3-High1-1-2-Wide3-1-2lbs-Amish-Auction-Find-/110803568964?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cc684944 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMALL-VINTAGE-HOME-MADE-CAST-IRON-ANVIL-/350520267440?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item519ca2d2b0

The rivets are what I call skewed. This means ( to me ) that when the rivet is being set, it is not setting straight up and down so it S's out rather than compressing straight. This can happend when hammer setting/peining a rivet if you do not hold the rivet vertically when piening, usually when to much force is used to hammer. The rivet shank will S out the same way.

[Sir James A]

I'm going to take a guess and say that your rings are mis-aligned when you're trying to clamp the rivet. Open the rings "up and down" as carefully as you can, and when you have it woven, use the pliers to "close" the ring overlap before setting the rivet. If the ring is putting tension on the rivet, it can set crooked like that when squeezed; my first couple did. The rivets are TINY so it takes almost immeasurably small amounts of pressure to tweak them out of alignment.

If that's not the case, open the pliers, close them slowly, and make sure the "dimples" for the rivet line up. If they don't, the pliers are out of alignment (and easy to adjust). If they do line up, just work on closing the links more before riveting - this would be my guess.

My hat's off to Allan for setting them by hand; I'd be driven to the pits of madness and despair trying to pein those tiny rivets!

[Allan Senefelder]

James, gorget tracking number 031116600000150101004.

[Sir Ulrich]

The riveting tool is a bit loose and bends to the side when I press it downward. Is there any way to fix this? Do I gotta peen it with a hammer so it lines up properly? I may be pressing too hard on the tool but i'm unsure because when I press lightly it bends as well. Thankfully the jaws of it aren't broken like the other tool and I believe this is probably fixable if I re align it.

Well I managed to rivet some of them a lot easier without the S shape by not pressing as hard... I was apparently pressing too hard, still gotta take time to align the heads of the tool though. I have to align them before i rivet though which is a pain. Any way to align the tool so it's tighter rather than looser though? Like peening it so it wont move to the side. I mean I can still peen rivets but pulling one of the handles so they align perfectly is a bit annoying, can't do it mindlessly like I used to make butted maille. Anyway thanks for telling me about riveting "too hard" I apparently was squeezing too hard when I was riveting them, now I can manage.
Nevermind, my father took an anvil and peened the tool to be tighter. Now I have no problem making riveted maille at all. Thanks for the help now I know how to peen rivets properly.

[Allan Senefelder]

The tongs appear to have a rivet to create the fulcrum so if you have anything anvil like you can pien it to tighten it. You won't want to wail away as you can over pien and make them to tight to work well. Pien a bit, test the movement, pien again and test till the desired tightness is reached.

[Sir James A]

Allan, thanks for the tracking info.

Sir Ulrich, glad you got them working. With hand-made tools sometimes they need a little tweaking to set just right. Heck, even with robot-made tools it needs it sometimes. I found out my jigsaw blade is at about 2-3* off vertical when set to the factory 0* when I finally took a square to it to find out why I couldn't cut a straight line with a ruler... such is the toil of hands-on tasks, but the feeling of accomplishment is usually worth it.

[Sir Ulrich]

Yup, peened it tighter and it works like a charm, now I can make riveted maille again. Oddly I enjoy doing it despite it being extremely repetitive it relaxes me and the satisfying "crunch" of the rivet being set is nice too. Almost like cracking your knuckles in a way. Actually quite glad it's easier to peen rivets than I thought, I was squeezing too hard and thats what was causing both my hands to hurt and the rivets to S shape. Satisfying to actually make something for a change rather than buy it.

[Sir James A]

Satisfying to actually make something for a change rather than buy it.

Definitely! Congrats on getting them working.

[Sir William]

I dunno...I like buying stuff.  lol

[Sir Brian]

You are REALLY tempting me Ulrich to buy that tool and try my hand at rivetting my shirt when/if I get time to tailor it this winter.

[Sir William]

Sir Brian, go ahead...DO IT.  You know you want to...so you can post pics as to progress and give us something to look forward to in the winter!