These are all the tools you need to install mounts (studs) on a belt: A ruler, a nippers, an awl, a small tube punch, a hammer, and an anvil. Our “anvil” is a block of steel covered with one layer of thin cardboard – the weight of a cereal box or the cardboard on the back of a pad of paper. Do not use leather as a pad – it is too soft and the stud will deform into it.
The ideal hammer is a small cross pein (or peen) – which may just be called a “riveting hammer” on jewelry supply sites – with a head weight of 1 to 2 ounces (25 to 60 grams). We use a hammer with a head Mac ground down from something larger, but you can buy usable cross peins from jewelers’ suppliers inexpensively. (Under $10. You do not need imported Swiss watchmakers’ hammers to do this.)
Use the ruler and the awl to mark stud locations..
Use a very small tube punch to make holes for the studs. The hole should be smaller than the smallest hole made with a normal rotary leather punch.
The hole must be smaller than the stem of the mount or rivet. If you do not have a small punch, you should force a hole open with an awl – or a nail.
Or anything that makes the hole small enough that you need to really press the stud to get the stem into the hole. It should be a tight fit.
Nip off the excess stem.
The amount of stem protruding should be less than the diameter of the stem.
20 little taps in one direction…
…makes it look like this
20 little taps in the other direction…
…finishes the job. Note that the rivet is spread out – the cross pein hammer moves the metal sideways to create a mushroom. This will hold the mount securely to the strap. If you just crush the stem with a ball pein or a similar hammer, it will open the hole up and damage the leather. The stud may or may not fall out.
Done! Now you, too, will be able to install mounts on a belt!
Originally posted January 2013.