[Nick J. Hart]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased a nice gothic cuirass from Kult of Athena, manufactured by Lord of Battles and am very happy with it. However recently I discovered a few days later when I was cleaning it that one of the inside straps to the back plate was torn from the rivet. I don't recall if it has always been like this or if it had torn some time ago.

Despite been torn the other two inside straps still hold firm, but I don't want to take the risk of putting too much strain on the other straps in case they give way, and have my armour completely fall to pieces as I'm wearing it!

I've kept my eye on the other two straps and put some leather balm on them. There are some leather workers in my area that fix broken bags, but I'm not sure they're capable to fix something as tricky as this. I know my mum is a good sower and has offered to fix it for me with her leather needle. Has anyone run into a problem similar? If so, how did you mend your broken straps?



Sorry, I'm too much of a newbie to upload pics, if someone could show me I'll provide some.

[Mark Moore]

You will most likely have to remove it and make a new strap and then re-rivet. KoA sells replacement rivets, or you can find solid rivets online. ........McM

[Ralph Grinly]

Yeah..replacement is probably the best idea. Using best quality leather. A lot of stuff made in places like India use really crappy leather.

[Steve Fabert]

[Ralph Grinly]

Believe me, there is a very large leather industry in India. They may not EAT cattle. But leather still play's a large part in Indian Industry. For instance..go to any saddlery shop in most countries, and you'll find most of the low-end /low cost saddles/bridles, etc are made in India.

[Harry Marinakis]

Repairing straps is really easy, and should be a skill that everyone should know, especially if you own armor. Would you expect a NASCAR driver to not know how to change the oil of his race car?

Drill out the old rivet. Get a pointed punch and punch an indentation into the center of the rivet. Set your drill bit into this indentation and slowly drill out the rivet. Do this on the inside of your cuirass, because if the drill bit slips during this process then you will scratch your armor.

If color is not a big deal, then I recommend using Tandy Latigo leather straps. This stuff is strong, durable, and stands up in the weather. You can buy straps in the width of your choice, and then cut them down to length.

https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/latigo-cowhide-strips-72-long

If color is an issue, then you can buy Tandy heavyweight cowhide strips and dye them to the color of your choice (or leave them natural).

https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/heavyweight-natural-cowhide-leather-strips

If these straps are too thick to get through your buckle, then run the flesh side on a belt sander to thin them out a bit.

Get a quality rotary leather punch to punch holes for the rivets. Don't get a cheap one, the aggravation isn't worth it. Get a quality punch that multiplies the punching force, like this one:

https://www.tackwholesale.com/products/91-9191rd?variant=38757076432&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&_vsrefdom=adwords&msclkid=604d6e27672e1781d6b834d2c92eae51&utm_term=4582352149283443&utm_content=91-9191RD%20%7C%20Professional%20Quality%20Leather%20Punch%20by%20Derby%20Originals%20%7C%20%2414.95

Peening rivets is also easy, but it does take a bit of practice. I use 1/8" diameter roofing nails or slate nails for all of my armor strap rivets, in either copper or aluminum (depending on the color that I desire). These nails have really wide heads, which are perfect to resist ripping through the leather strap.

You can also buy real steel rivets from McMaster-Carr or Rivets Online. Be sure to get a corresponding washer or burr for the diameter of the stem that you are using.

You don't need a burr if you are peening over steel armor, but you will need a burr for the side of the rivet that rests against leather.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that #12 rivets/burrs correspond to 1/8" diameter rivet shafts.

Tandy makes a handy rivet setter that peens the end of the rivet shaft into a nice dome, if you don't feel like learning to peen rivets directly with a hammer. The Tandy tool actually works really well.

https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/craftool-copper-brass-rivet-burr-setters

You'll also need a X-Acto knife for cutting the leather straps, and a good bolt cutter to snip off the excess shaft of the rivet before you peen it.

A bolt cutter like this one is really nice, because even if you try to clip the rivet stem as short as possible, this bolt cutter still leaves the perfect amount of stem remaining for the perfect peen.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/TEKTON-8-in-Bolt-Cutter-3386/205585550