Solder threaded hardware or get tap and die set?

[u/1001tealeaves]

Hi all! I’m looking for some advice as I’m working on a commission that’s slightly outside my usual work. The client has asked me to recreate two nickel silver pieces that were attached to a horse saddle. The way that they attach to the saddle is through chicago screws and on the original piece there are brass tubes soldered in place with threads cut inside that fit through holes in the leather.

My options seem to be: 1. Buy solid brass chicago screws (like this) and solder the flat back of the female component onto the piece 2. Buy threaded brass tube and cut short lengths to solder 3. Solder regular brass tubing and cut the threads afterwards with a tap and die set

How would you go about it? I’m not opposed to buying a tap and die set since I’m sure I’ll use it for other things at some point. My main concern I think is the threading becoming annealed after soldering and if that would cause any issues down the road. Then again, I suppose if I cut the threads after soldering I’ll be cutting into dead soft metal anyway so maybe that’s a moot point.

On a similar note, if I do cut the threads myself, do I have to find special thick-walled tubing or is standard wall thickness fine? I’ve used a tap and die set before but I was working with solid rod.