Grommet is the term that is used to refer to rings that are made of wide variety of materials?most commonly metal, plastic, or rubber?that is attached to holes made in various fabrics or other similar types of materials. The terms ?grommet? and ?eyelet? are often used interchangeably, and while ?eyelets? are more accurately used to refer to a small grommet, they often do serve similar purposes.

The grommet was originally designed to reinforce the hole in the fabric into which it is inserted, and also as a means of fastening two pieces of fabric together. When a grommet is used in this manner, its main purpose is to protect whatever is inserted through it from being subjected to wear or damage by the sharp edges of the hole. This type of application is commonly seen when a thin cord, lace, string or?less commonly'a hook is passed through the grommet as in a boot or other type of shoe, for example. Without the grommet, either the lace or the hole will wear out much more quickly.

Grommets are also used in items of clothing such as corsets, oftentimes in place of a hook or other fastener. In these types of applications, a grommet still helps to protect the fabric, but they also serve as much of a decorative purpose as a functional one.

One other common application of the grommet is in the electrical and telecommunications industry. Here, fragile electric wires are often passed through very hard and oftentimes sharp-edged materials such as punched steel. Obviously passing the wire through such a material unprotected will eventually cause expensive?and possibly even dangerous?damage to the wire itself. A grommet is then typically used to protect the wire from incurring any undue wear and tear. A grommet used for this purpose can be made from a wide variety of materials depending on the particular application, and they are often constructed out of single piece that can be inserted by hand.

In the fabric and clothing industries, a grommet is often attached to a very tough and durable materials such as canvas, leather, and in some cases even rubber. As you can imagine, the strength of these materials makes it hard to simply attach a grommet by hand. For this reason, grommet setting tools are often used to affix the grommet into the hole in the material. Grommet setting tools are usually simple metal rods with a convex tip. They are often sold along with a grommet, and along with a hammer, they make short work of affixing a grommet into even the sturdiest materials.

Of course when used as industrial fasteners for heavy-duty materials, higher end grommet presses will have to be used. These types of tools can punch a hole into tough and durable material and attach the grommet all in one easy step. If you intend to attach a lot of grommets on a regular basis, it may be well worth it to invest in one of these specialized tools. For smaller crafts or projects however, a decent grommet setting tool and a hammer should be more than up to the task.