In this short I’m dealing with a real-world headache: you set a copper burr rivet and then realize something’s wrong—like your buckle is on upside down because some intrepid internet stranger “did their research.” The question is, how do you remove a burr rivet without turning your project into a scorched, chewed-up mess? Drilling out a solid shank is a low-percentage play in my book. You’ll usually burn the leather, and metal shavings plus leather aren’t a great fit. What I do instead is use a humble Osborne scratch awl (mine’s about a 3 1/2). Most of the time you can’t get a bite to cut the end off clean, so I set the awl as close to the rivet shank as I can, angle it in, and tap it with a hammer until it cuts through the burr. I’ll work around the burr—typically three or four hits depending on how well it was set—until it pops off. After that, you can push the rivet out, reset a new one over the top, and the removal/replacement ends up essentially invisible.