Brass Tacks on Knife Sheaths?

[user 48702]

@Gunny5821 ,

Thank you for that! The only places I knew to get the brass spots were Indian-craft suppliers and maybe Tandy. The ones I’ve bought in the past had no choice with regard to leg length.

I will check out Standard Rivet Company!

Thanks for the tip!

Notchy Bob

I know that I have a ton of nickel plated brass spots, but I believe I might have some plain unfinished solid brass 3/8" spots I acquired when I bought out a harness shop. They should have the longer legs since all they made was harness and saddles. If I find them, I'll let you know.

 

[LRB]

I for one am hoping that the heads are in fact solid brass because at about $8 per 100, that beats the heck out of paying .60 to .85 cents a piece. Back about 1992, I bought 500 brass head tacks and they were in the neighborhood of $23 to $24 per hundred and that was 30 years ago. Let me know if they are in fact solid brass and I'll buy at least a 1,000.

She mentioned in another correspondence they are getting them out of India. India does a lot of brass work.

 

[waksupi]

Wow, talk about coincidence. So I have been debating on whether "To Tack or Not to Tack" a sheath I just built for my Hudson Bay Camp knife. I went ahead and bought a hundred of the 1/4" high dome from CC. They are of two-piece construction. Solid brass top with a steel nail pressed/seated in. Pretty dern strong too. @Notchy Bob @Runewolf1973

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So Now lets really stir the Mud! What about "To Rivet or not to Rivet" Ha! LOL!

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I am just thinking I am not a "Tack" guy and starting to think I am not much of a "Rivet" guy either. I can see placing one Rivet on the corner near the flaps but otherwise thinking less is more...but it seems that everybody seems to think that I need both...

Have you taken a file to one to see if they are indeed solid brass?

 

[Rod Man]

You can see the steel nail that’s pressed in . So yes, brass head steel shank.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Looks like brass to me. Good to know the tacks with solid brass heads are still available.

Good for you, @Rod Man ! Seeing is believing. Now we know where to get tacks!

Notchy Bob

 

[user 48702]

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You can see the steel nail that’s pressed in . So yes, brass head steel shank.

Thanks that's good to know. Is the brass head a solid casting, or is it a Stamping cupped like a standard upholstery tack? They might make an interesting project by filing the heads and then bluing or rusting the butt of the nail that's showing through where you filed the head down.

 

[LRB]

Yesterday I went to my shop and dug out 3 tacks that were bought from Crazy Crow. 3/8" high dome, and 5/16, and 1/4. Ground part of them all with my belt grinder. Solid brass heads, steel shanks. I will try to get photos today. To be fair, I do not remember exactly when I bought them, and a friend bought the 1/4" ones for a project he was doing, so these are no proof of what they offer now, only that Crazy Crow tacks were in fact brass when I was actively working in my shop.

 

[LRB]

Yesterday I went to my shop and dug out 3 tacks that were bought from Crazy Crow. 3/8" high dome, and 5/16, and 1/4. Ground part of them all with my belt grinder. Solid brass heads, steel shanks. I will try to get photos today. To be fair, I do not remember exactly when I bought them, and a friend bought the 1/4" ones for a project he was doing, so these are no proof of what they offer now, only that Crazy Crow tacks were in fact brass when I was actively working in my shop.

 

[LRB]

Crazy Crow Brass Tacks, solid brass heads, steel shanks. Hard to make out here, not a solid half moon casting, but rather the heads are a thick concave brass stamping, I would assume, with the shank set and locked in the center. Bear in mind these are a few years old. I am pretty sure post 2000. I apologize for the 2020 edited mistake . I mistyped that. I REPEAT. POST 2000. NOT 2020! sorry.

 

[fred fellows]

Have you taken a file to one to see if they are indeed solid brass?

great looking knife...i would tack the sheath....when i lived at bigfork i got this knife from vivian roberts who owned the old 44 bar close to post creek not far from ft. conah...that was in 1970s...its the real thing ...an indian traded it to her husband for a bar bill...

 

[waksupi]

great looking knife...i would tack the sheath....when i lived at bigfork i got this knife from vivian roberts who owned the old 44 bar close to post creek not far from ft. conah...that was in 1970s...its the real thing ...an indian traded it to her husband for a bar bill...View attachment 219091

I got a nice Trapdoor years ago at a saloon on the rez, same deal, covering a guy's bar bill.

Did the sheath come with it? It kind of looks like some of Mark Miller's work.

 

[Rod Man]

great looking knife...i would tack the sheath....when i lived at bigfork i got this knife from vivian roberts who owned the old 44 bar close to post creek not far from ft. conah...that was in 1970s...its the real thing ...an indian traded it to her husband for a bar bill...View attachment 219091

OH WOW!!! That is OUTSTANDING!!!

@Runewolf1973 made mine. With a little coaxing from him and Mr. Notch, I went ahead and put the rivets in. I just cant get past the shank side of things and that's why I am going to call it good! Very nice set there Sir!!!

Thanks For Sharing!

Well, as far as I am concerned my buddy from Canada Nailed it!!!

Very Cool!

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

Here’s what I ended up making...
I cut the excess length off the posts and peened them over. The knife was made by Rob Park.

 

[necchi]

One of your rivets already popped out,,

 

[DiMarco_Mercantile]

One of your rivets already popped out,,

Luckily not. I was gonna put one there, but it would’ve partially hung off the edge, or sit on top of the stitching slightly. So now there’s just a hole.

 

[Eutycus]

If you're going strictly for looks, the brass brads that hold sheets of paper together will work as well. File the shanks so they wont be so wide and poke them into an enlarged hole. I just spread them out in the back and put a dab of J.B. Weld on them.

 

[Notchy Bob]

This really has nothing to do with knife sheaths, but I'm sure most of us have seen powder horns with brass tacks encircling the base, like this one in the Smithsonian:

Recently, I was browsing through the collections on the Peabody Museum website and saw a horn which appeared to have tacks around the base, but then did a double-take:

I'm pretty sure the "tacks" around the base of this horn are round-head brass wood screws. Note the slots. I had never seen that before.

This horn is Object Number 2003.1.257 in the Peabody's Ethnographic Collection, if you want to check it out. They don't really tell anything about it that you can't see in the photo... no date or place of acquisition, or ethnic association.

They have several hundred knife sheaths in there also, from all over the world. There is one very heavily tacked sheath from Standing Rock that is said to have belonged to Sitting Bull.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob