Leather Hardware Finishes

A solid brass ring and trigger snap as you will see on my purse straps.

Hardware refers to rivets, buckles, rings, and any of the other non-leather bits of leathercraft.

Many retailers are perfectly happy to sell hardware which will look great at first, but only just long enough for the return policy to expire.

The finish on a lot of the hardware being sold today is about as good as lipstick on a pig, and lasts about half as long.

This brief primer is designed to give you all the information you need to know to navigate that space and always purchase quality hardware which will look just as good a decade from now as the day it arrived.

In most of my leather terminology guides I say that all these terms people throw around to describe leather don't really tell you much about quality on their own and and there are no simple keywords that will guarantee you never buy something disappointing.

Mercifully, hardware is not like that. If you buy with the right keywords, from a reputable retailer, you can guarantee good results.

Plated Vs Solid Hardware

I scuffed this plated buckle up on my benchtop in about 30 seconds.

This distinction is the most important detail to know. Plated hardware simply does not stand up to wear long term, and it wears unevenly and obviously. Depending on the use case you have between a week and a year of plated hardware looking its best.

Hardware can be one solid material all the way through, or it can have a solid interior of a cheaper metal (usually nickel) which is then plated in thin layer of a more visually appealing material. Brass and chrome are widely available, but other colors like black, "antique" style finishes, and even rainbow are becoming available as plated finishes.

I did the same to this solid brass buckle and it has been left no worse for wear.

If you make it your goal, a plated finish can be worn off in seconds. Both buckles pictured here have been scoured against my workbench for the same amount of time. On the plated buckle you can already see the exposed nickel peeking through.

Some plantings are more resilient than others, but even the best powder-coat will not stand up to the daily wear put on a belt buckle.

Metals

Several styles of clips shown in stainless steel and solid brass.

If you know your hardware is solid, the next question is solid what? I use solid brass and solid stainless steel hardware depending on the appearance I am looking for.

You can find hardware made from solid nickle, which gives a duller appearance than stainless, and will tarnish with time, but it will do so evenly. I think the all over tarnish looks better than the uneven wear of plated hardware.

Buckles can often be found in more exotic metals, but finding other hardware in a matching finish is not always possible.

Cast, Welded, and Split

These terms refer to how something is made. Most complex shapes like buckles will be cast, the process of pouring molten metal into a mold to create the item.

Many simpler shapes like D-Rings are sold as either welded or split. These are created from bending stock material and are either welded where the two ends meet, or not. Quality is great and all, but there is such a thing as over-engineering. Until I start making saddle stirrups, for everything I do, split rings are more than strong enough. When you start suspending heavy objects in the air, a welded ring is necessary, but on a purse strap? That added strength and cost is wasted, and I think that makes for a worse product, not a better one.

Retailers

I do not recommend buying hardware from anywhere but a specific craft or jewelry retailer. Amazon and other similar "buy-anything" sites do not have sufficient quality control to trust that hardware sold as solid brass will not arrive as plated brass.

I trust the following companies to sell quality, accurately labeled, basic hardware for leathercraft. These companies do sell plated hardware, but it is always labeled as such, and you can filter their offerings by material to only show solid hardware.

The Buckle Guy

Weaver Leather Supply

Other Artisan Metal Workers

There are also many skilled metalworkers who will make specialty buckles and other hardware with the same expert touch I bring to leather.

I am good friends with a blacksmith who works out of the same building who will hand forge belt buckles for me. He does not yet have a portfolio page I can link here, focusing his business more on in person sales. I also have a jeweler I work with who makes beautiful gemstone and wood capped screw-posts and snaps. Their work can be found here. I am actively seeking out other talented folks to include here. If you are an artist who would like to be considered please reach out.