Nails as rivets

[TC Chris]

This is one place where I can ask this question and expect to hear "yes." Does any body else use old nails as rivets? Most places these days, ask that question and the answer would be "What's a rivet?" or "What do you mean by 'old nails'?" Most people are completely disconnected from fixing things instead of just throwing them out and buying a new one. The idea of putting a used nail in a can for future use would seem like a form of insanity. And what on earth is a ball-peen hammer?

But I was out in the shop tonight using a piece of salvaged water pipe inside a larger steel tube as an internal sleeve, then drilling a hole through both and using a cut-off nail as a rivet. Tap-tap-tap-tap until it's peened over.

It's a repair on a swing set, a two-person glider deal where the kids face each other, push on the foot brace and pull on the hand holds and vice-versa to swing back and forth. The swing set was welded up by George Close, a retired welder in Bay City, MI who apparently liked welding so he kept doing it, making various outdoor toys and flag poles that he sold from his side yard. My Dad bought a swing set from him, then a flag pole, then another of each, and a two-person rocker toy. Then he bought a custom item: a 4-barrel swimming raft with a welded steel frame. I think about Mr. Close all the time. Tonight I was repairing his creation where it had rusted apart. The rivet method would be easier and faster than welding. Kids will be showing up this summer and I wanted the swing set working. Welding maybe after they are gone.

The nail rivets? I cut them off with my shop hack saw. Paid maybe $1.50 for it in 1968 at the hardware store's cheap-tools bin. I was in college and had bought myself a J.C. Whitney dual-exhaust, glass-pack conversion for the single exhaust Chevy. Single exhaust seemed very uncool and low-rent. So I found a little gas station in a small town nearby where the old proprietor would rent me his hydraulic hoist for a couple hours. Problem: few tools at school. So I bought a hacksaw and pretty soon the Chevy was making very melodious sounds. And I've still got the old hacksaw too. No precision device, to be sure, but it's a hacksaw.

Chris Campbell

[William]

Cool story, Chris, and yes, I have heard of everything you mentioned. But then again, I'm old.

Bill

[Firedome]

Mr. Close’s creations sound interesting, no one would make things like now, it would be mass produced by serfs in China.
The repair is creative! I don’t save nails for rivets but do have a rivet gun and lots of rivets in different sizes. Many a car floor and fender repair was made with those.

I prefer to fix rather than replace also. We have 2 beach chairs, the low folding type with sturdy aluminium frames and nice wood arms (the new ones tend to have steel painted frames and plastic arms) that I sand and recoat every year so the chairs are still like new except the cheap canvas used wasn’t really sun proof thus have ripped along the seams on the seat bottoms. So yesterday I took them to a local “Cloth n’ Canvas” boat top shop, figuring that they’d have a scrap piece of Sunbrella like my boat top that could be used for an easy repair, as the seams along the side tubes are not sew-able by a regular machine. As soon as I’d barely walked in the door the rather nasty lady said “we won’t fix that! We charge $95 an hour so you might as well go buy new ones”. I explained I like to fix things rather than buy so she said “Well it’d be at least $300 to fix it, so go buy new ones”. The actual cutting and sewing time would probably be about 15 minutes. I can’t stand this “throw it away” mentality, so will hold onto then until I can find someone who has the right kind of sewing machine who will do it, or alternatively I could drill a bunch of holes in the side rails and put replacement chair webbing on them. We are such a wasteful society.

[electra225]

My mom's normal Singer sewing machine has repaired many a combine canvas and other industrial-strength items. You might find a matron with an old Singer sewing machine who knows how to use it. I'd think you could sew webbing like that.

We have a Chinese laundry in our community where they not only do laundry, but the fix almost anything that needs sewed. Very reasonably, too.

I don't remember using a nail for a rivet. We used to keep a supply of section rivets on hand. These were soft rivets that were used to attach mower sections to the bar. You would take a chisel and cut off one end, then use a punch to remove the rivet. The new rivet went in, then you'd smack it with a ball pein hammer to flatten it. The rivets were about an inch long to allow for thicker bars. We'd use those rivets to repair other things.

[TC Chris]

The source for tough, outdoor fabric stuff and sewing materials is Sailrite.

https://www.sailrite.com/

They started off selling sail kits. You'd buy a kit and sew your own sail. Then they added materials for sale. Then they added equipment, including very nice heavy-duty sewing machines (walking foot models, very cool). They have branched out into upholstery, especially outdoor/boat, and have a lot of how-to videos.

I've got a couple old black, cast-iron sewing machines. One Singer, one "New England Queen." One rotary bobbin, one flying-shuttle. Straight stitch, not zig-zag, but I've done car upholstery on them, sail covers, furniture upholstery. Sewing is not very mysterious, and if you can figure why an AA5 radio isn't working, you can figure out how to sew.

And yeah, I've replaced fabric seats on the old-fashioned wood-frame outdoor folding chairs.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

The problem is the configuration of the frame, it would require some kind of long arm to be able to sew the seam parallel to the chair’s bottom side rails that the fabric wrap around and is sewed back onto itself. We have a straight-stitch 1930’s Singer that can easily sew through canvas, as well as a later ‘70s Japanese Kenmore that’s a great performer.

[Hydrolastic]

Hello guys. Where I work I have done a Bazillion of rivets but it has never occurred to me to use a portion of a nail as a rivet! I WILL do this in the future. it makes perfect sense maybe not a Monoque chassis for the race car. but a lot of other things.

[TC Chris]

It's a great work-around when you don't have the real thing at hand. Plus you can size it for the job at hand, both as to wire gauge/diameter and length.

Chris Campbell