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[sugarblue_sunny]

Anyone know of a resource where I could find sawed-off screw heads [for decorative/embellishment purposes

Comments

[yehoshua]

Given how inexpensive hardware is, why not just buy screws you like at the local hardware store and do it yourself with a flush-cutting wheel on a rotary tool? The screws should cost pennies each, you'd get to choose what you like and get some variety if you wanted, and a pocket dremel should run around US$30 plus a small clamp to hold the screw so you get to keep all nine of your fingers [1]. Plus, at the end of the day you still have the tool.

1. Like my 8th grade shop teacher Mr. Chavez used to say, assume the powertools are going to try to bite you.

[sugarblue_sunny]

I might try it, but I really don't have the space to work with a tool like that. Maybe out on my tiny balcony or something. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks!

[lizreay]

Unless your elbows can touch two opposite walls in your apartment, this stuff doesn't take up nearly as much space as you seem to think it does.

[sugarblue_sunny]

it's just that it would probably be awkward and difficult, and I have very little patience for being frustrated. but everyone's given so much helpful information, i may very well try it!

[synj_munki]

having done such things... don't try to dremmel off galvanized screws, when galvanized heats up it gives off toxic (and mostly unnoticable) fumes.

wire-cutters work mostly for smaller screws (don't even try it on hardened steel), but you will have a rough 'nip' edge where the cutters snipped, it will require filing down before it will sit right.

around halloween time i've seen latex screw and bolt heads as prosthetics, but i can't seem to find any right now on the web. molding should be easily accomplished in an apartment, though; go to a craft store and look at casting supplies.

[yehoshua]

I guess I kind of assumed brass would be the go-to material of choice for this sort of project, so I didn't give the galvanized nastiness warnings. Personally, I'd find the sort of blueish tinge most galvanized screws seem to have off-putting aesthetically. It just looks too post-WWII to my eye.

[_harlequin_]

If this is for fabric, leather, or other surface you can punch or drill through, I'd suggest using bolts with screw-heads, and use a nut on the other side. This way, it's not fake - it's a real fastener, and if anything is easier to set than the typical craft store embellishments such as snaps, eyelets, studs, buttons, etc, and doesn't require the special tools that craft embellishments need. (If it's wood or something thick, just use self-tapping screws

[lizreay]

I used to do a fair bit of metalwork in an apartment

[lizreay]

thanks so much for this!

[lizreay]

No prob. I do jewelry work, and while I have a full bench now (yay!), I worked for a long time in studio apartments. :) Amazing how many jewelry tools are freakin' dinky little things.

[batness]

Stuff that requires no prep work; find a scrapbooking source, they make screw-top looking brads. Easy to bust off the "brad" part at the end.

Also, the suggestion to mold them out of clay is a good one! I also have a small apartment and can't do a lot of craft stuff, but using polymer clay to cast a screw is EASY. Seriously easy; all you need is a small area to MAKE the mold (as in, your LAP) and an oven. Look into it!

[lizreay]

And VERY GOOD ventilation. Only problem with poly-clay...it gives off heinous vapors. I used it in my kitchen and had to open the windows and door.

[batness]

Polymer only makes nasty fumes if it's overbaked or heated at *too* high a temp, so if you make sure and follow the directions it won't make more smell than a potroast would. (Assuming you don't burn potroast either).