salvi Report post Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) This is my 4th. project. I started leathercrafting just three weeks ago so this is only another excercise to improve my tooling technique. First pic has been taken after carving, beveling and backgrounding. No finish or oil has been applied yet to the veg tan. Edited April 1, 2011 by salvi Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dee Report post Posted April 3, 2011 Very Nice!! I'm just beginning, too...I wish my first stuff looked that good! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caseroni Report post Posted April 28, 2011 That looks great! I am just starting out, too. Yours looks so clean and sharp! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
terrymac Report post Posted April 28, 2011 For someone tooling for only three weeks, you are doing one helluva job. The main thing I would point out to you at this point is to work on your beveling, making it smoother, and not leaving "tracks. While beveling, maintain the roundness of your curves, ie the petals of your flowers so they don't have somewhat pointy tops. The rest will come with time and practice, and at the rate you are progressing, I can't imagine what you will be doing in a year. Something that may be of benefit for you is one of Al Stohlman's books on proper tool use. He was a master at explaining things in a manner that made sense. Good job, Terry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antleygd Report post Posted June 7, 2011 Wow... I went to a class for basic tooling two weeks ago. I need to find some floral patters with common items in them to work on. From there I could work on the craft and lead into the design of my own stuff. I dont have a real big need to floral but it would be nice for gun holsters and such..... Keep working on it. Chris at Tandy say the second design would 100% better than the first, and the third 100% better than the 2nd...etc. I have done three pieces so far and they are getting better.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gringobill Report post Posted June 9, 2011 This is my 4th. project. I started leathercrafting just three weeks ago so this is only another excercise to improve my tooling technique. First pic has been taken after carving, beveling and backgrounding. No finish or oil has been applied yet to the veg tan. [/qu o Here are a couple of thoughts I have. I'm wondering if you had your work piece properly cased when you started tooling. Getting something cased properly is more art than science and is very important in getting good tooling results. It needs to start out really wet. Veg tan will turn a pretty dark brown. Let it set open air for awhile until all the surface moisture has soaked in or evaporated. Then put it in a plastic bag and then you can let it remain at room temperature or put it in the refridgerator for awhile. When you take the piece out of the plastic bag let it continue to dry out until it starts to return to it's normal color. It will be/needs to be cool to the touch. When the color of the piece is between the dark brown when it was wet and the pale color when you started you can begin swivel cutting and tooling. When veg tan is properly cased your tools (bevelers, pear shaders/thumb prints,) should leave a darker burnished imprint when you strike them. The other thing is to make sure your swivel knife is sharp, all of the marks left from honing on the cutting edge need to be polished and stropped out. The cutting edge should be a bright mirror finish with no visible scratches. When using your swivel knife strop REALLY often, it will make a whole lot of difference in how your blade cuts through the leather. If it is dragging it needs to be stropped more or sharpened. A critical point that separates floral carving from great floral carving are the finishing cuts, decorative cuts, or dress cuts. They need to start with a fine point as the cutting tip/edge of your blade enters the leather. Then the cut needs to immediately start to taper to a fine point. Learning how to make proper finishing or decorative cuts will make all the difference in the world in how your finished work looks. Look at example of excellent carving on this site and see how the finishing cuts look and learn how to copy those. Practice as much as you can with your swivel knife to perfect this technique. Good luck, keep up the good work and have fun! Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
salvi Report post Posted June 14, 2011 Bill, thank you very much for taking time to leave a so interesting and professional reply about how to case properly a strap of leather as well as related to the use of swivel knife. After watching my Jeremiah Watt's or Chan Geer DVDs I'm serously thinking that veg tan leather from US is different from Spanish one because the burnished imprints came out very easily while on the Spanish leather is quite impossible. Don't you think that US leather used for saddlery has a kind of polishing wax that made these imprints come out with certain ease? Anyway I'll try to follow your instructions on casing leather in order to find out if spanish leather reacts in the same way after this casing proccess. About Swivel Knife I think the only blade I have 1/4 is too thin for most flower designs so the result can not be as good as I pretend. Same thing is happening to me with beveling because I have only a beveler that is very appropriate for borders but not for vines or for parts inside the design wich need a more thin bevel. I'm attaching a picture of my current tooling level. It can be seen two different styles: Spanish on the left side and Sheridan on the right. Thanks again for all your help. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gringobill Report post Posted June 14, 2011 Bill, thank you very much for taking time to leave a so interesting and professional reply about how to case properly a strap of leather as well as related to the use of swivel knife. After watching my Jeremiah Watt's or Chan Geer DVDs I'm serously thinking that veg tan leather from US is different from Spanish one because the burnished imprints came out very easily while on the Spanish leather is quite impossible. Don't you think that US leather used for saddlery has a kind of polishing wax that made these imprints come out with certain ease? Anyway I'll try to follow your instructions on casing leather in order to find out if spanish leather reacts in the same way after this casing proccess. About Swivel Knife I think the only blade I have 1/4 is too thin for most flower designs so the result can not be as good as I pretend. Same thing is happening to me with beveling because I have only a beveler that is very appropriate for borders but not for vines or for parts inside the design wich need a more thin bevel. I'm attaching a picture of my current tooling level. It can be seen two different styles: Spanish on the left side and Sheridan on the right. Thanks again for all your help. You're really making great progress, I czan see a lot of improvement in this sample of your work from the first one. Stay after it and keep practicing! I believe you are right that there is probably a pretty big difference between Spanish veg tanned leather and the US version. I have no experience with Spanish leather at all although Spanish leather in general enjoys a very good reputation! There is probably a difference in the tanning process. My hat is off to all of the people world wide, living in places where you don't have access to the resources and suppliers we have here in the US. It has to be huge challenge and expense trying to get the same supplies we take for granted and are trying to learn this US version of the craft. You have to really be motivated and committed to stay with it! As far as your tools go, that may have something to do with your work. The 1/4" swivel knife blade is normally used for small intricate designs but can work for larger work. The width of the blade is less important than the thickness. Most all blades are close to the same thickness it's the width that varies. I primarily use a 3/8" blade for most of my designs and use a 1/4" blade for very small intricare work. I have a couple of 1/2' blades and rarely every use them. I t hink a lot of that is what one is used to and personal preference. As far as your beveler goes, if you have one that is 1/4" wide or less you should be able to get by. If you had a 1/4" and a 1/8" bevelers they should allow you to do a good job on most designs. It doesn't look to me like the width of your beveler is causing you a problem. Hope some of this is helpful, keep working at it, you are making great progess! Felicidades, Bill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TexasLady Report post Posted June 14, 2011 6/14/11 Yes, thanks, gringobill, for reminding us of those important points. When I first bought my tools, I had a wonderful teacher at Tandy. But he soon 'moved up' and was called to run a store in another State. I remember much of what he taught, but parts I'd forgotten. What you said was the same as what he'd taught, and it's the only way to do beautiful carving. - Texas Lady Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
