Setting Rivets and Chicago Screws Cleanly
A rivet wants a post that stands proud. A Chicago screw wants one cut short.
Setting a rivet or a Chicago screw in thick leather looks like the easiest job on the bench, a hole, a post, a cap and one hit or one turn, and that’s exactly why it goes wrong so often: nobody slows down for it. Here’s one ordinary task, done step by step. A strap end gets fixed to a tab with a double cap rivet, and a handle tab gets fixed with a Chicago screw. At each step there’s a way to ruin it.
Video: How to Set and Use Chicago Screws | Ohio Travel Bag Workshop, from Ohio Travel Bag on YouTube.
My bias, before the hammer comes out. I stitch nearly everything, and my Art of Hand Stitching page says a hand saddle stitch is a stronger bond than a small machine stitch. The steps below come from the hardware suppliers and from makers on the leatherworker.net forum. Where it’s my judgment, it says so.
Step one: measure the stack, not the leather
The fastener doesn’t care how thick the hide is. It cares how thick the joint is.
The job starts with calipers, not a punch. Buckleguy’s guide to matching rivets to material thickness says to measure the whole compressed stack at the exact point where the rivet goes, lining, glue, reinforcement and any skived area included. Pet Hardware’s article on choosing Chicago screws says the same about screw posts: measure the total thickness of every layer at the fastening point.
What goes wrong is measuring one layer and doubling it. A strap folded around a ring isn’t two clean thicknesses. It has a glue line, maybe a skived end, and it squashes under pressure. The Pet Hardware piece points out that leather compresses and keeps a permanent dent, so the number you read with the calipers relaxed isn’t the number the fastener will live with.
My opinion: measure the stack at the hole, squeezed the way the cap will squeeze it, and write the number down. A bridle tab folded over a ring is a stiff, springy thing. It pushes back. On a briefcase, that push is the difference between a rivet that sits flat and one that leans.
Step two: punch a hole that fits the post
Most loose fasteners are loose holes.
Buckleguy’s list of rivet failures puts a hole that’s too large at the top of the reasons a rivet spins. For Chicago screws, the Pet Hardware article wants the hole to match the post diameter exactly, and warns that a post that drops in too easily can spin while you tighten it, so the thread never bites.
Punch on something that doesn’t give. A punch that bounces on a soft table tears the far side of the hole. Line the layers up before you hit, and punch them together if you can, so the hole runs straight through the stack instead of stepping from one layer to the next.
My opinion: a stepped hole is the quiet killer. The post goes in at an angle without you seeing it, and Buckleguy says a post that isn’t vertical at the start ends in a cap that sits crooked. So it shows up later as a lean in the rivet. Nobody blames the punch.
Step three: pick a length, and know why the two fasteners disagree
Proud for a rivet, short for a screw.
This is where the two fasteners part ways, and where beginners carry one rule over to the other job.
For a double cap rivet, Tandy’s setting hardware guide says the post should stand at least 1/16 inch above the leather and no more than 1/8 inch before the cap goes on. Buckleguy gives about 2 to 3 mm of post through the material as its rule of thumb, and says too little post gives a weak set, while too much folds over or sets bulky. On the forum, in a thread on rivet lengths and compression, Daggrim warns that a post that is too long bends over and weakens the fit, and jimsaddler accepts anything from just poking through the surface to about 1/8 inch above it.
A Chicago screw wants the opposite. The Pet Hardware article says to choose a post 1 to 1.5 mm shorter than the measured stack, so the heads clamp the leather and the joint can’t rotate. Weaver’s guide to installing a Chicago screw warns against a post that runs too long, “because then it will be loose.” It also says a post that looks too small is normal. In a thread on Chicago screw length, TomG wants at least half the thread engaged, and JerseyFirefighter tightens a fixed joint until he sees the leather depress, while a swivel joint is left uncompressed.
So the rivet gets a post that stands up out of the hole, and the screw gets one that hides inside it. Mix them up and you get a rivet that won’t hold or a screw that won’t tighten.
Step four: set the rivet with the right tool and a light hand
The setter shapes the cap. The anvil saves the other side.
Buckleguy says to use a setter made for your hardware that matches the cap’s shape, and a base that supports the lower cap evenly, since a lower cap that shifts moves the top one with it. Tandy’s guide sets the cap with the setter and anvil, placing the anvil onto the outer cap and setting from the back. On tubular rivets, Weaver’s guide to setting split and tubular rivets adds a washer on the back so the rivet can’t pull through, and supports the rivet on a metal block or hard surface while you peen it.
Then comes the part everyone gets wrong. They swing harder. Buckleguy is blunt about it: “More force rarely fixes bad alignment.” In the rivet length thread, Daggrim advises tapping lightly, and jimsaddler uses a wide-faced hammer with a dull hit.
Buckleguy’s failure list makes a good last check before you call the rivet done:
| What you see | Likely cause, per Buckleguy |
|---|---|
| Rivet spins | Post length wrong for the stack, or hole too large |
| Cap sits crooked | Setter misaligned, base unsupported, post not vertical at the start |
| Leather puckers | Post too long, soft leather, or too much force |
| Cap flattened or marked | Setter doesn’t match the cap, or the strike was too heavy |
| Post bends | Post too long, uneven hole, misaligned setter, unsupported lower cap |
Test on scrap first, with the same layers and the same rivet. Buckleguy says that too. It’s the cheapest step in the post and the one people skip.
Step five: tighten the Chicago screw without chewing it up
Hold the back still, fit the driver to the slot, and stop before the thread gives.
The trouble with a Chicago screw is the smooth back cap spinning while you turn the front. In a thread on tightening and loosening Chicago screws, the original poster complains about exactly that. Electrathon puts rubber behind the piece for grip. Dwight seats the back cap on a rubber eraser and pushes down hard while he turns. Chrstn53 and Itch recommend a modified vise-grip tool sold for the job, and Weaver’s how-to lists a Chicago screw setting tool to hold the screw while a flat-head screwdriver turns it.
The Pet Hardware article wants a driver that fits the slot in width and thickness, because an undersized one slips and scratches the head or the leather around it. It also warns against overtightening, which can strip the thread on steel screws.
Then the question of keeping it tight. Weaver calls thread locker optional, for when you want the joint permanent. In the tightening thread, cgleathercraft says a little blue Loctite holds them. The Pet Hardware article recommends a drop of threadlocker for a permanent joint and notes it can still come apart with enough force for a repair, and says to skip it if you want the joint removable.
My opinion: on a handle, the screw that backs out on the train platform is worse than any screw that never went in. Decide whether the joint is meant to come apart, and lock it or don’t on purpose.
Where I stop using either one
The man who stitches everything still puts screws in a handle.
Here’s the turn, and it’s on me. I argue for the stitch, and the post on hand stitching or rivets makes that case for beginners. My straps get hand-stitched buckles, no rivets. My opinion on rivets is not kind: hollow tubular rivets are the weakest, solid tubular are stronger, and copper rivets are strong but I don’t like the look of them.
Then look at my handles. I use Chicago screws there. On some builds the handle sits on metal catches set just above the leather, held with Chicago screws, with a metal bar underneath. For heavy loads I prefer a lock that is riveted in. My High-End Locks page describes the traditional English tube key lock as installed with solid steel pins, and the rectangular combination locks as installed with screws. Metal where the weight hangs and where a hand yanks, thread everywhere else.
So the honest version is this. My opinion: a stitch is the better bond along a seam, and a fastener is the better answer at a single point that carries a load or might need to come apart one day. A Chicago screw is the one joint on the case a repairer can open with a screwdriver instead of a knife. The post on why solid brass hardware outlasts the leather gets at the other half of that, which is that metal tends to outlive what it’s fixed to.
That still doesn’t make a rivet forgive a bad hole. Nothing does.
400 Sets Double Cap Leather Rivets, 9x10mm: A box of 400 double-cap rivet sets. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
Dritz 750T Double-Cap Rivet Tools: A metal rivet setter and anvil set for double-cap rivets. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
304 Stainless Steel Chicago Screws Leather Assorted Kit: A kit of 90 stainless steel Chicago screw sets in seven sizes. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
Loctite Threadlocker Blue 242: A removable threadlocker for screw fasteners. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
WUTA Leather Carving Hammer: A poly-head maul for leatherwork. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).
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Sources
- Buckleguy, Leather Rivets: How to Match Rivets to Material Thickness: https://www.buckleguy.com/buckleguy-blog/leather-rivets-how-to-match-rivets-to-material-thickness/
- Tandy Leather, Tandy Skills: Setting Hardware: https://tandyleather.com/blogs/tandy-blog/tandy-skills-setting-hardware
- Weaver Leather Supply, How to Set Split & Tubular Rivets: https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/blogs/leathercrafting/how-to-set-split-tubular-rivets
- Weaver Leather Supply, How To Install A Chicago Screw: https://weaverleathersupply.com/blogs/leathercrafting/how-to-install-a-chicago-screw
- Pet Hardware Blog, Chicago Screws: How to Choose and Use Them Correctly: https://blog.pethardware.com/en/how-to-choose-chicago-screws/
- leatherworker.net, How to Choose Correct Rivet Lengths and Compression Depth: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/14668-how-to-choose-correct-rivet-lengths-and-compression-depth
- leatherworker.net, Tightening and Loosing Chicago Screws: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/63276-tightening-and-loosing-chicago-screws
- leatherworker.net, What’s the Length of Chicago Screws Do You Use: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/73747-whats-the-length-of-chicago-screws-do-you-use
- Marcellino NY, High-End Handmade Locks: https://marcellinony.com/high-end-locks/
- Marcellino NY, The Art of Hand Stitching: https://marcellinony.com/the-art-of-hand-stitching/
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