16mm mild steel shoe Buckle

Super Technical

For those of you who love the technical stuff…

Rolls of very high grade mild strip steel with very consistent thickness and width is lovingly loaded into an automated, multi-stage 80 ton press where forming and cutting tools and moulds bent, cut and shape the blanks into perfectly formed buckle bodies.

A matching steel wire section and fish-plate is shaped and attached to the buckle body and tumbled in an abrasive vibratory polisher to remove any burrs and sharp edges.

The completed raw buckles are then pickled in various acids and electro-cleaners, rinsed and a thick layer of copper applied through an electroplating process. The copper further rounds the edges and provides an excellent corrosion resistant base for the subsequent electroplating layers. In this case the last layer is thick and extremely hard, consistent and durable dull nickel. ‘Matt Silver’ is just as hard-wearing as the shiny nickel finishes and often suits softer colours and textures better.