Attaching Brass plate to horse harness

[Uma Duffy]

What is the best way to attach a brass plate to a nylon horse harness? I'm a city kid at heart....but anxious to learn something new... Are they riveted? Small nuts and bolts? Suggested sizes/vendors for hardware?

Thanks for your help!

[Bob Keyes]

Uma,

Farm boy here. You need to get brass rivets that roll or crimp over on the inside. This gives the best mechanical fastening and the inside is smooth so it doesn't scratch the horse.
Look at some harness supply places. They will have what you need plus the set punches to roll them properly.

[Aleta Allen]

Uma,

Bob is right, rivets are the best way, but if you don't want to buy a rivet setter, which are pretty cheap, you can use a chicago screw. They come in various colors and sizes. You need to get one that fits the thickness of the plate and the harness snug so there will not be any play or anything sticking up rubbing the horse. The nice thing about chicago screws are they install with just a screw driver. You can find them in leather stores, farm or horse supply stores.

But rivets are the regular way to go.:)

Aleta

[pete hagan]

Hey Bob,

Don't cha know that's horse country secrets????

Seriously take Bob's advise and look at:

www.rightlead.com/Educational/tack_parts.htm (http://www.rightlead.com/Educational/tack_parts.htm)

The name goes on the cheek piece and is typically blind rivited. Make ABSOLUTE SURE the rivit is rolled and smooth otherwise you will have one very unhappy customer.

An excellent location to look at samples is:
http://www.starfishfarms.com/horse/brassplates/index.html

Also you can use "Chicago" rivets which are threaded rivets but use locktite to secure them.

Pete

[Uma Duffy]

WOW! Thank you everyone... I knew you SMC would have all the answers. Fortunately, my customer found a tack shop that would attach our plates for her. Since they do it all the time AND she needs it for tomorrow I was just as happy to let them do it.
While awaiting forum responses I called the neighborhood shoe repair shop and the cobbler was willing to try attaching the plate. It was a new application for his riveter. I wonder now if it would be worth it for us to invest a little $$ in a riveter and offer this service. We're at the height of fair season right now... so I have potential customers coming in for trophies anyway. It would be something new to offer. Any suggestions on brands, types of riveter machine to look at ( or avoid)?