Stamping Tool Quality

[Cattle Hide]

I have tried to find posts regarding the quality of various stamping tools offered in the market place. It seems that the current quality of Craftool stamps is lower while custom stamp suppliers are considered very high.

It seems like $5/ stamp yeilds lower quality and $40 to $60 to $80/stamp is high quality. Where is the middle ground for us who are beginers, but want somewhat better tools?

There are site advertisers and other independent leather and tool suppliers who have tools, but the quality is difficult to rank from photos, impression images, etc.

What tools and sources do you like? Who has something better than Craftool but not all the way to King, Beard, Watt Etc.

How well do you like tools from Weaver, Springfield, HideCrafter, Etc.

I am a retired individual who is just starting, but like "Quality" things. I have taken the usual Tandy free classes and intend to do some Sheridan, figure and original art leather pieces as well as traditional decoration of belts, wallets, etc. This will be the fun part of the leather work that I have planned along with some holsters for myself and friends (The more serious part). Very little decoration will be used on the holsters.

[bison]

I started with Tandy too. As I got better at leather work, I grew increasingly frustrated with the limits of the tools. I have been switching over to Barry King tools for about a year now and couldn't be happier. His tools are reasonable in price...not the $80 tools you might think. And the way I'm looking at it is that these are the tools I'll never replace and that will allow me to grow as an artist as much as I want. I am now selling quite a bit of my work, and some of the income is going into increasing my stock of King tools. When I am where I need to be with them, I can invest in other aspects of my business. If I went with a 'mid-grade" tool, I'd end up replacing them in a few years and going to King anyway.

Just one experience to add to your thinking. Good luck with the leather work. It's just about the best thing I could have gotten involved with.

Dave

[azrider]

I would rank Hidecrafters above tandy on all thier geometrics. I want to upgrade to the top shelf stuff, but am not quite there yet.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Disclaimer; the following opinions are BIGGUNDOCTOR's and may not represent the opinions of this station, and it's affiliates. Any and all advice is for information only, and no warranty is expressed or implied.

How about this? From your post it seems that you haven't used any Craftools by your use of the word seems. I have several Craftools that were my Mom's, and they still work fine. Granted that most were made in the 50's, but they are what they are. Most people/friends/customers wouldn't know the difference in work done with a Carftool, King, or any other brand. I would suggest getting some Craftools tools to get going, and see how well you really like leatherworking before dumping a ton of cash. This reminds me of a fellow that I knew that HAD to have a HK USP 45 that were were raffling off. He bought $280 worth of tickets, and did win it. Takes it to the range that we got it from, and shoots it for the first time. He hates it, and ends up trading it for a SIG. Make sure that you want to do leatherwork before jumping in all the way.

My take on the newer Craftools is that you want to look at them before buying. I have seen some botched images mixed in with the good ones. There are also tons of older stamps out there being sold secondhand. In my years of scrounging tools I have also picked up some Baron, and Midas stamps. These may be an option too. I have purchased my stamps at dirt level prices by watching classifies, Craigslist, and garage sales for starters. My last purchase was from a fellow moving out of state. I filled the back of my Saturn wagon for $300. There were over 300 stamps alone, not including the leather, buckles, granite slabs, mauls, lace slitters, books, DVD's, and much more. So don't hold yourself back because you don't have a brand X tool to use.

Being a tool maker, I too appreciate quality tools . My kitchen mixer is a 20qt Hobart, as are the slicer, chopper, grinder,and shredder. I would rather own a used American tool than a new Chinese tool that won't last a year. Buy it once, use it a lifetime. My small lathe is an 18.5" x 54" Monarch that weighs 5,200#, and was built in 1946. It is tighter than some of the newer lathes I have run. I purchased it from the original owner who took very good care of it. If I do my part it will outlast me by many decades.

Again, get some tools, and get to work. Don't get hung up on a name just yet.

[infomage]

As an owner of nothing but Craftools i cannot attest tothe quality of the more expensive tools out there. I have been buying Craftoolssince 1977. I have not had a tool fail, bend or otherwise become unusable. Yessome of the chrome has come off a couple but they are still very useable. Wouldit be nice to have the more expensive tools: only if they do something the lessexpensive tools cannot? Look at the tool and what you intend on using it forthen compare it to other tools that will do the same thing and pick the one youlike then look at price. Understand a $50 tool may not perform any better thana $5 tool if it is not the right tool for the task.

tlong

Think Positive Be Positive

[MADMAX22]

The higher end tools are nice, however one of the biggest determining factors in the results of your stamping is going to be quality of leather your using and how well you case your leather. With the craft tools you will get decent results for a while by just learning to properly case your leather and by using good quality leather to begin with. I was really surprised the first time I tried WandC leather vs the cheaper tandy stuff. Same tools and same technique and the stamping just looked so much better.

Now that being said there is a fine point that you can achieve where the only improvement you will make is by purchasing higher quality stamps and such. Even then it will be after you have achieved alot of experience.

[King's X]

Here is my .02 cents.

I have owned every (new) craftool that they sell since I started in '08 (they have since been almost all sold since then). Really, every one of them. My results have been good for what I thought was good back then. Then, I went on a field trip to Hidecrafters about 9 months in to my tenure and met with George Hurst on a guild expedition. During our day visit, I asked George a lot questions about tools and quality of tools. From everything I heard, my interpretation.........tool quality comes down to what is put into the making them from the drawing board to the product that is used, to the process on how it is made.

My understanding is that the current TLF tools are made from cast off of previous samples that they still have. I am not sure about this, but the quality (now that I have some experience) is less desirable than some other tools even at or equal tools close to the selling price. Interesting story that George imparted on me regarding his first run of Hidecrafter tools. They were made by a company in Boston and when they arrived, George destroyed them away because the quality was not what he had ordered. After the second round was much more successful, he quickly learned from his customers that he had something going here. This continued until he sold the company.

In '09, I attend my first leather show in North Texas and had the opportunity to test run Barry King, Hackbarth, Horse Shoe Brand, Wayne Juerski(?), Chuck Smith, and Pro Series tools. You can definitely tell the difference in each tool makers quality and markings. I have heard and read complaints about every tool maker listed above, but I go off my own experience with each tool I own from these makers. There have been a few threads on here since I have been a member regarding tools qualities. In fact one such threads, I listed my own opinion in list form of how I rank my tools and the experiences, which I will do again.

13. Ivan.....................................................$3.99

12. Taiwan...............................................$3.99

11.Tandy Leather Factory......................$6.99

10. Crown Stamps.................................$2.99

9. Hidecrafter's......................................$9.95-up

8. Kyoshee Elle.....................................$11.95

8. Craft Japan........................................$15.95

7. Old Craftools (depending on face condition)....$9.99 - up

6. Clay Miller Tools.................................$25-up

6. Barry King Tools...............................$25-up

5. Chuck Smith Tools..........................$25-up

4. Horse Shoe Brand...........................$50-up

3. Wayne Juerski (?)............................$80-up

2. Barnes - Hackbarth..........................$35-up

1. Bob Beard Pro-Series tools...........$50-up

This is my ranking on the tools that I own, have tested, tasted, felt and used. Others may disagree and that is okay..............it's a free country. On the old craftools, I would just like to point out that they are much better than others listed above them in their ranking, but it depends the quality of the face or areas used for the impression. Older craftools that I own have lost some of their impression value and will not be as good as others. It just depends.

Final note: As for what I decide to buy and use will depend on many things. As a hobbyist, I buy what I can afford at the time. I must admit that I do not own too many Juerski or pro series because they are just out of my price range with two hungry teenagers at home. As for the Hackbarth, well you cannot beat their $145 starter set period. So, my advice to you depending on how you classify your level of leather work (hobby or self employed) buy and use what you can afford and move on from there as you progress. Any leather show is the best place to start looking for tools. The leather is free plus you can test run each tool with advice from the maker, which makes the best combination for any crafter.

I hope this helps.

[Vikti]

I have a mixture of Craftools and Hidecrafter/Craft Japan tools and a few USA Tools. I have nothing bad to say about any tool I bought from Hidecrafter. My Craftools are a mixture of new (less than 4 yrs old) and old (pre 1983) tools. I love the old Craftools that I have but with the newer ones I have have come out to be utter an they lay in a drawer in my workshop now. I've never had any of them bend, break or mushroom on my but after a few uses they don't give me the impression that I was wanting. About a month ago I was in one of the Ft. Worth Tandy locations ranting about that to the store manager and she started showing me some of the new tools they are selling now. I was told that now that George Hurst is back with them one of the things he is working on is improving the quality of the tools they sell and I must say that there is now a noticeable improvement, even though you will still get a bad one from time to time.

Now, for the flip side of this story. Once, I was talking to Mr. Hurst about not liking the impressions that some of my tools were giving and he took the tools in question and made a wonderful piece of art. But then here was a master who can adjust his technique on the fly to make a crap tool give pretty results even though he agreed with me that the quality wasn't there.

My opinion is that if the only thing you can get is low quality tools is to go ahead and get them and learn how to use them and when your ready to progress, if you don't have the money to upgrade your tools, rub elbows with someone who's been at it for a while and ask him or her to teach you to file your tools down to get the desired results. Most of the best leather workers have modified their tools at one time or another. Who knows, it may create an additional hobby to your hobby.

Damon

[Billy P]

I got started with leatherworking about 1974. I bought some used stuff from a friend whose father worked for Mr. Zack White, who started Zack White Leather Co. I bought Crafttools from him, from Tandy, and I bought used tools where I could find them. Most of my tools are Craftools, but they are mostly from the 50's, 60's, and up to the later 70's, early 80's. I haven't bought a lot of tools since then. I want to up grade some things with Barry King tools as soon as I can. I am also going to try and get the basic set from Lonnie at Hackbarth, you can't beat the price or quality. That being said I will not sell my Craftools, to buy either of the other tools. Most of mine were the ones hand shaped and filed. I have 3 B701 bevelers and all are a different size, I have a 505 BW and a 505-1 BW. they are the same just a mirror image of each other. Like a right and left. The old Craftools are pretty good and mine make a good impression, but some of the new ones I've tried just aren't near as good. I feel like was stated in some of the other replies, get some Craftools and see if you are gonna stick with Leatherworking, if so, learn to use them and them upgrade some as you go along and grow in skill and knowledge. I have a Gold Card Advantage with

Sringfield Leather and you can get some of the Craftools type stamps from them at a really good price. I saved enough on my first order to pay for the card the first time and when I renewed my membership I again save more than the renewal fee was, so money well spent both ways. Just my .02 of thoughts on this, and hope it helps some Billy P