Need some stamping too advice

C

Chris 54326

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Sep 13, 2017
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Obviously, the title should have been "Need some stamping tool advice." I'm trying to gather stamps. Getting a pretty good assortment, but I only have one smooth beveling tool !! It's a Z B157 from Tandy. Any recommendations as to a 3 or 4 basic smooth beveling tool set to get started?
 
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Chris,
I have more bevelers than I want to count but I only use a few for most things. It
turns out they are all Tandy ones. Here are the numbers from large to pointy:
B720100
B719700
B720300
B935
F902 (not really a beveler but works well in tight places)
Some of there are reasonably (10 years old) new because I had to replace a bunch lost in a move.
Hope this helps.
Randy
 
While we have a bunch of others from various makers, we really only use four from Barry King. Its kind of funny. I've got some sitting in the tool chest next to me and I'll get up and walk into the house and all the way back to the office to get the BKs cause thats where they live. Nichole is the same way. If I have them out in the shop, she'll come and get them rather then use others she has sitting in her tool rack. They are only marked Barry King and don't have a model number on them. Went on their website and looks like we have the checkered bevelers in sizes #1 through #4. I have bevelers that literally cost twice as much each as the BKs do that I don't use.
 
Thanks, Dave. Sure wish I had a "bag full of silver" so I could stock on on BK stamps. They leave a beautiful impression. I can see why you'd walk all the way back to the house to get one to work with. But at 3 and 4 times the cost of Tandy's stamps, I'm just not in the market for them right now. I don't have that kind of money. But I would love to have an assortment of his steep bevels.
 
Chris 54326 said:
Thanks, Dave. Sure wish I had a "bag full of silver" so I could stock on on BK stamps. They leave a beautiful impression. I can see why you'd walk all the way back to the house to get one to work with. But at 3 and 4 times the cost of Tandy's stamps, I'm just not in the market for them right now. I don't have that kind of money. But I would love to have an assortment of his steep bevels.
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I was thinking about it and I bet a guy could get by pretty darn well with the #2 and the #3, they are the most used, at least by me. I seldom use the #1 and use the #4 usually only on brands and initials and thats just to save some time the #3 would work just fine. I do use the Tandy Pro Series camo border stamps and really like them.
 
Well, I've been "investing" in stamps and other things recently to get started in this leather "journey". Bought myself a maul and moldeling tool as a Christmas present. So will have to wait a while. But I'll check into a #2 and #3 and see if I can squeeze them into the budget..
 
https://www.barrykingtools.com/groundersbevelers.htm

Bevelers Matte Checkered are the ones we have. You were mentioning the burnish I get when stamping. I was thinking about this last night as I was tooling 6 holsters. One particularly, had a carlos border stamp around the edge and then was basket stamped inside, so a lot of stamping. Was getting a great burnish on all this stamping and so what causes this burnish? 1) Good leather. 2) Proper moisture content. 3) Good stamps. 4) Experience. Bout 30 odd years ago when I started doing this for $$ I resisted the tools deal. I had a couple handful of cheap stamps I'd acquired and gotten pretty good with. Had a buddy who had been doing leatherwork professionally longer and he kept pushing me to use better stamps. I finally did and it really made a difference for me. Now I'm blessed to be at a point where we could get whatever stamps we want. We have tried some that are 2X the price of the BKs, didn't much like em. Those BKs work the best for us and how we work. Not as enamored with some of his other tools and don't use them but for stamps especially bevelers, pretty sold.
 
Thanks, Dave. I'm convinced the Barry King stamps are what I "want"..........just not what I can afford yet. As you are aware, I'm just getting started making these sheaths. I'm kind of at that point "I don't know enough to know what I don't know!" I really have no idea exactly what stamps I'm needing...........so I've been buying what I "think" I'll need. Not a good place to be in. I think as soon as I make a bunch of sheaths, (more than just the two I have already):) I'll know better what I need. And, hopefully, at that point I'll have made enough money that a handful of $30 stamps won't break the bank. Appreciate your comments............thanks.
 
C Chris 54326 thanks for asking this... This is a topic I've been wondering as well. (Along with people's basket weave stamp preferences)

Kinda leads me to this question... having never handled a "high end" stamp... what makes a "high end" Barry-King-like-stamp better than a Tandy stamp?
 
J. Keeton, I was respectfully waiting for those who actually own BK stamps to chime in, but since they haven't.................

From what I've ascertained from those who have and regularly use BK stamps, they are very cleanly "cut" in the manufacturing process and leave a very distinctly clean impression in the leather. I stopped by a saddle maker's shop in my area here in Oklahoma to talk with him about stamps and he made up an example of BK stamps and others he had in his tool rack. He had over 200 stamps in his rack but said his "go to" stamps for important pieces were the BK stamps. Wish I'd asked to keep the example so I could show it here. The differences were minute.................yet very distinctive and made a great difference in the saddles he was making. Hence, I'm sold on BK and will have a small rack of them when $$$ allows.
 
J. Keeton said:
C Chris 54326 thanks for asking this... This is a topic I've been wondering as well. (Along with people's basket weave stamp preferences)

Kinda leads me to this question... having never handled a "high end" stamp... what makes a "high end" Barry-King-like-stamp better than a Tandy stamp?
Click to expand...


Many of the lower end stamps (there's lots of em out there besides Tandy) are a cast metal and chrome plated. There are visible surface irregularities. The chrome plating can will and does flake off leaving more irregularities. I've had several break in the past and some bend. That being said there are two Craftool ones that I use often, B204 which I've had since the beginning of recorded history. The chorme plating is flaking off but I use this little guy but for just one purpose:

PAElemk.jpg


If ya look really close at my oak carving, all the twigs and the stems of the leaves have this beveler drug lengthwise down them providing a texture. This is a lined beveler so dragging it by hand puts those lines in there. This is the only thing I use it for.

The other Craft Tool I use often is the X513, a medium sized, hourglass shaped, basket stamp. This is my third one, the other two broke years ago. I think I just became comfortable with this stamp many years ago I guess. I have other basket stamps that I really like as well, smaller and larger sizes and they are Horse Shoe Brand Tools from Jeremiah Watt They run about double BKs last I checked but they are good stamps as well. This is the Tandy:

D4KeAyr.jpg


It does a pretty good job but I have years of running it. It could be more uniform and crisp.

The higher end tools are stainless not cast metal and are very cleanly machined so ya get a more uniform depth and crisper impression with a better burnish. The face of the stamp is much cleaner with fewer imperfections. The basket stamping on the yoke of this pair of leggings was done with the larger HorseShoe Brand stamp I have. Very consistent, very crisp, well burnished, and a uniform depth.

Y4Vss9n.jpg
 
That HorseShoe brand Basket Weave stamp makes an absolutely gorgeous impression. But at $60 only a serious professional (income earning) could justify buying it.
 
My small one is 5/16", the medium is 7/16" and the large is a hair over 1/2" but not quite 9/16".
 
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