August 18, 2009

a solution to ragged grommets

I love the guys Ace Hardware. They never just say, "files are in aisle 17B," they walk you to the exact spot and open the package to make sure the files will work to file the grommet (or whatever tool is needed for whatever purpose). I've also found that if you happen to be lost during a road trip you'll get better directions from someone at Ace than at a gas station. Anyway, here are the files.


And here is a grommet comparison. The one on the left has been filed and the one on the right has not.


While filing a half moon sliver of metal came off, which was very satisfying. To test smoothness I pushed a cotton swab through the hole to see if it's would catch. Nope. All smooth. Filing has saved this pair of stays. Before starting this corset documentation project, this is the exact sort of problem that would have landed this corset in the bin of unfinished projects. Thanks for all the suggestions, they spurred me to action.

2 comments:

  1. Re: the grommets. The only time I've had them come up 'crunchy' or ragged is when I've used the wrong size tool/press for the eyelet. Other than that, I've no idea why they came out raggedy! Filing seems to have done the trick though :-)

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  2. Filing did work. Whew. But I'll double check the setter to make sure it's in OK shape. Maybe that was the cause?

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