Burr Rivets

We get questions from time to time about our use of bronze rivets with the burrs out. In the old days they used what is called a rivet set to dome the rivet when it is pounded down. Done skillfully it produces uniform domes on rivets. Appearing from the outside to be dome headed rivets. In those cases where a slot or oversized hole are required for flexibility the hole was covered with a burr or washer. These were frequently stamped to make them fancy. The Greenwich armoury produced special burrs in the shape of Tudor Roses. The first armour shown has its slots and oversized holes covered by fancy stamped burrs. It is a black and white officer of bodyguard armour from 1575 and atypical of the very flexible armours made up in that style.

This fifteenth century Italian armour clearly shows its many rivets are flat headed with the burrs out and the rivet end domed to close the rivet.

The rear view of the same armour. Its color photo shows the rivets are bronze or copper. We tried letting armours rust in the open weather for several years and we learned something. The armours with iron rivets rusted badly at the rivet holes ruining the pieces. Whereas the armours using bronze rivets formed a green corrosion that seemed to protect the steel. While the rivets in some cases rotted out of the piece the rivet hole remained intact and restorable. We use phosphor bronze harness rivets. The phosphor bronze actually has a higher abrasion resistance than soft steel rivets. Making them last longer against the wearing force of the plates grinding together.

This extremely rare thirteenth century cavalier helmet, worn under a coif, has its original burr rivets with the burrs out. From a technical point of view it is easier to set a flat headed rivet with the burr out. Also it places the flat end inside and the domed end outside. Minimizing internal protrusions.

This sixteenth century Italian Burganet with its original patina and rough from the hammer finish still has its original simple rivets with the burrs out.

Another black and white armour. Again the loose articulations being closed with large fancy burrs for the rivets.

This winged hussars armour of the seventeenth century shows the same loose articulations with stamped burrs. Being used late in the armour period.

This very original Milanese barbute, 1445, with its original black paint had its lining attached by rivets with the burr out. Our research has shown that the more original and unrestored the piece the more likely it is to find the rivets of the same form. A flat head. A burr pressed onto the shaft and the end pounded down using a rivet set to dome the rivet. So that is how we do it. Our lengthy and extreme testing has proved that the bronze burr rivets we use wear longer, and corrode less, than soft iron boiler rivets and they have a very similar shear/stress point. Put simply we use the rivets that last longest and work best. And they are historically appropriate to our loosely flexible articulations.

This Italian armet of fifteen hundred has a rivet with its burr out. An attempt was made to make it a little fancy using some sort of stamping tool.