I make a simple cuff link with a 10 ga bar and connecting post. The bar is 5/8" long and the post is 3/8" long. Attached is a photo (it’s an optical illusion that makes the connector seem the same size as the bar). Yesterday a customer said her boyfriend lost one of his cufflinks. She wasn’t blaming me at all, but it set me wondering if I could make these more secure by shortening the connector and lengthening the bar. Or if my 10 ga is too thin to be secure. Is there a standard range of these measurements? My first version of these used a disk instead of a bar, which I might go back to.
I have a French cuff shirt I got at Goodwill for photographing them, but as I am a woman, I have never worn cufflinks so I don’t have an idea about how they work in the real world.
The problem is that there’s nothing to keep the link from spinning in the buttonhole. If the link turns 90° the counter can slip through. If you make the connecting bar rectangular or oval in section that will keep the counter perpendicular to the button hole.
I probably owned two dozen French cuffed shirts when I was younger. So I’ve worn many, many different cuff links. What @ScuffedShoes said is true, rectangular posts resist turning. Think of those articulated cufflinks where the bar rotates through the two sides of the post. That post is often very thin compared to its width.
Another shape you might try is a small ovoid button or knob on the inside end of the post as opposed to a bar. This makes it so even if the cufflink spins, it won’t fall out.
One pair I owned had a slightly curved post; this also keeps the cufflink from spinning, because the cuff is effectively thicker on the near-to-wrist side vs. the outer side.
Great insights; thanks! Mine resist spinning somewhat because the bar and the design element are parallel and naturally come to rest perpendicular to the buttonhole; it would have to be pretty loose to spin against this resting state (hence thinking the connector could be shorter). Also the oboe reed (there’s a bassoon version too) does have a plane to it, so I solder the post at an angle which makes the reed lay flat on the cuff when oriented properly. If I use a curvature instead (and then I can solder it perpendicular to the reed’s plane), I think this will improve things – this would achieve the same thing as a rectangular cross section, right? I’ve seen the prefab ones from Rio, and some of them have a curvature. The rest have the equivalent of a rectangular cross section. This is a nuance that I just didn’t pick up on when developing my design. Thanks again.
I haven’t made a ton of cufflinks, but it seems like from both testing and what customers say, the curve in the connector definitely helps to keep the links from falling out.
I usually use a short chain 3 or 4 links to join the main piece to either a t bar or a small disk.
some of my own ones have a spring loaded t bar in a u shaped joining piece which I buy ready made.
In Scotland I sell more cuff links to women than men just now - current fashion
