making my own Stamps

[trast]

Thanks for starting this topic. This has been on my mind for a while as well. I would like to create my own make shift stamp, but I want to create one that's at least 16 inches square. I'm hoping to create texture to place on pieces of leateher to be used for a bag.

There's an existing texture I like that I saw on a glass panel. I basically want to transfer that texture onto several panels of leather. I imagine I would start off by casting it with some plaster, but not sure how to get that cast texture onto a metal surface. I'm curious, if I were to buy some resin and poured that into a plaster mold wether or not that would be strong enough to cause an impression in the leather. Any ideas?

Thanks

[TTcustom]

I thought I read somewhere that Al Stohlman made his own stamps from nails and such. That gave me a start to try making my own I only have one design I made that I like. I use the big timber spikes from Home Depot and they are only ~$0.50 so learning and experimentation has been fun. but now I want to make my own "mongo" beveller for those long gun and kilt belts. I will try to remember to post some pictures of the goofy lil stamps I have done so far.

On the staining; I have not seen too much of that but I only have just started making and using stamps of my own manufacture. Oxalic acid works well in removing stains, but that may have already been mentioned.

[Flicker]

Excellent thread, pushed me over the edge to try my hand at making my first stamp.

I have only seen stamps on the internet so the first thing I had to do was to measure on my computer screen what the relation between length and width should be. I found some nice examples of stamps and decided to go for a single rope configuration close to what Barry King makes.

The tools:

A Dremel (saves a lot of elbow grease) with different cutting wheels.

Sandpaper (400 grit, 1000 grit).

Two small files, a triangular and a flat.

A stainless bolt.

Hearing protection.

Safety glasses.

So from this:

I transformed it to this:

It is not perfect (I am not Barry King ) but good enough to make me want to keep on making my own stamps. I am going to work on the “teeth” and make them a bit smaller so I get an even better shading effect.

I am very satisfied knowing that if I have the time I can make most of the stamps I need. My leather crafting skill is just at a beginner level but I would definitely try something more advanced than a regular basket weave pattern in the future.

To anyone hesitating to start a project like this: This is the first item I have ever made in steel. I have no education in producing stuff. If you plan on doing something like this instead of buying a stamp, try it! Take it easy, go slow with the decisions on how to make the next cut. Leave one or two tenths of a millimetre as a margin when you are cutting with your dremel (might sound small but in no time you will notice deviations that small). Remove the rest with files and/or sanding paper. Take a lot of breaks in between cuts so that you always plan ahead. And do not forget your safety glasses and hearing protection.

I will take the opportunity to thank Chuck Barrows and Bob Park, for their excellent tutorials on how to sew leather and finish it properly.

A big thank you also goes out to the nice people in this forum giving a lot of advice to newbies like me. Without you I would probably have been stumbling in the dark for years before achieving any results worth mentioning.

I will post some pictures of my work in the future, together with a proper introduction. Now where is that link so I can order some pitch and start brewing my own thread wax.

I believe I am hooked.

/Juha (Sweden)

[Spider]

WOW!!! JUST WOW!!!! Love everyone's creativity.

[shehog]

[/font]

Making your own tools

12-8-07

Tools I used for this project

Bench grinder

Mill file

Coarse emery cloth

Medium emery cloth

600 grit wet/dry sandpaper

1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper

Rag wheel on bench grinder, with Ryobi stainless polishing compound

Rag wheel on hand held drill with white rouge

Brownells checkering file – 75 Lines per inch

Hacksaw (to cut the threads off)

Magnifying glasses

I work on tools away from my leather bench… you don't want metal filings on your bench or on your leather.

For this project, I am going to make a Sheridan style thumbprint. Pear shaders and Thumbprints are easiest to make because they relatively easy, and I, for one, like to have a variety – different sizes, long lined, cross lined, cross hatched, etc., and if they are slightly different shapes, so much the better. Thumbprints have a flatter bottom and are not generally walked like a pearshader, so this particular tool is pretty flat, but make it any way that suits you. Also, many thumbprints don't taper to a point on the end, and are used essentially as two different tools – each end is a different size and can be used as needed. However, I like having a more tapered end that will fit into the end of my "stickers" or "vines", whatever you call them.

Leaf liners and center liners are easy too – they look flat on the face but have a slight curvature.

Bevelers have to be shaped right or they leave tracks, and you want you different size bevellers to have the same angle, so they are a little tougher, but not too bad.

For the thumbprint in this project, the general process I followed is:

1. I use stainless steel bolts, at least 5.5 inches long (I have started using 6"). I typically use 3 sizes – ¼, 5/16, and 3/8. The smaller ones are less than $2 each, and the larger are just over $2. You can use regular bolts or nails or anything, just check for corrosion before you use it – just stamp it on some scrap. I used regular zinc covered bolts for a while, and they work just fine – I have several that are part of my regularly used tools.

2. Leave the bolt threads on – you can use that to clamp in your vise while you work, then saw them off. I like tools with a final length of either 4.25" or 4.5" long.

3. Draw the rough shape of your tool on the bolt head with a Sharpie. This gives you a rough idea of how much metal to remove on a grinder before you get to the more detailed work.

4. Use a grinder to rough out the outside shape – I do this very rough. I don't try to do any curvature with a grinder (for example, I don't do the bottom of a shader with the grinder). Picture 1 is the tool and the impression when I finish with the grinder. Note it is very rough, and large. The grinder is just for bulk metal removal… but it takes too much off too fast to be used for detail work.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4390.jpg

5. Once you have the rough shape, use a mill file to give you tool shape. I find it easiest to have a finished tool to compare to as I go. Many tools have subtle curves that you don't really notice until you try to make your own. Stamp your new tool into test leather often to make sure you are getting the shape you want. Note the second impression – it is a little smaller, and has a little more shape. This is about the point I stop using the file and go to emory cloth.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4394.jpg

6. Continue to refine the shape. Once you are happy with the rough shape, use coarse emory cloth to put the final shape to it. Impression #3 is about the point at which I stopped using the coarse emory cloth. The scrap in the picture is to give you an idea of how often I am testing the stamp as I go.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4395.jpg

7. Continue to refine the shape - use medium emory cloth then 600 grit to work out the grinder and file marks. Impression #4 is taken while I was using the medium emory cloth. See how much smaller the stamp is getting? Don't take too much off with the grinder… it is easy to make a tool smaller, but you can't make it larger!

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4396.jpg

8. At this point, I will clean up the tool and take it to my bench and do some testing with it. Typically, that leads me back to step 6 with the coarse emory cloth. Repeat as many times as necessary (hey, nobody said this was simple J). Impression #5 is taken while I was working with the 600 grit paper in the testing stage. See on the face of the tool – you can see very fine marks that I haven't worked out yet – I will work those out too.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4398.jpg

9. Once you like the shape, use 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper to put a nice polish on it. Then I put the smooth tool to use and make sure it walks if it is a walking tool, and just generally make sure it is going to work.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4399.jpg

6. Then polish with a rag wheel on a bench grinder (I use rouge for stainless first, followed by a different wheel with white rouge on it). Then it is time for the lining tool. On this tool, I am using a 75 LPI file from Brownells (www.brownells.com). I try to get one end of the tool face, then line it up and get the other end of the tool face. I use magnifying glasses to get the lines lined up after I have run the file across the face once. It is tough to line them up, and takes practice. Don't be afraid to file off the lines and start again. The good news is that, even it isn't perfect, nobody will notice on your leather! I studied one of my good tools from a custom maker under a magnifying glass, and the lines aren't perfect, but you can't tell that in the stamp impression.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4400.jpg

7. Then back to the scrap, to test some more now that the lining is done.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4402.jpg

8. Once you are happy with it, take a fine brush and some household cleaner (even a tooth brush) and clean out any filings, and clean up the metal dust. Then cut the tool to the right length with a hacksaw and clean up the rough end. Do some final polishing, then you have your finished tool!

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4403.jpg

9. Here are a few tools I have made. There are a couple of leaf liners, a small and a medium thumbprint, a set of fine bevelers (75 LPI) and a set of coarser bevelers (50 LPI), and a veiner.

http://i109.photobuc...06/IMG_4404.jpg

I will probably put these tools on E-bay over time, so if anybody wants any of them, let me know.

Hope this is helpful. Have fun… jump in and start filing – that's the best way to learn.

aaarrrggghhh!

Can't access the photos from this tutorial. Have they been moved to someplace else??? Am I too late???

Thanks.

[WyomingSlick]

I am just getting into messing around with stainless steel on my metal lathe.

About stainless steel; It is an alloy containing iron like all steels. And like them, it will rust - unless you "pickle" it; which consists of placing it in a weak nitric acid bath which eats away the surface iron so there are no iron particles left on the surface to oxidize.

Both of these were made from solid SS rods. I have picked up some SS bolts and mean to try them out for tool stock sometime also.

[TTcustom]

Stainless steel differs from carbon steel by the amount of chromium present. Carbon steel rusts when exposed to air and moisture. This iron oxide film (the rust) is active and accelerates corrosion by forming more iron oxide. Stainless steels have sufficient amounts of chromium present so that a passive film of chromium oxide forms which prevents further surface corrosion and blocks corrosion from spreading into the metal's internal structure.

For further reading to better understand just what exactly stainless steel is the Wiki article is a good starting point.

[kk1992]

i don't know alot about leather working, but i do know alot about steel. instead of using bolts, go to a junkyard and buy automotive coil springs. just run a plasma cutter or oxy/acelatene torch down opposite sides of the coil and you have a bunch of really long springs steel blanks for tool making that'll last 4ever. and if you want shorter handlse cut down 3 sides of the spring. depending on the spring itself you can get anything from really narrow pieces to really thick pieces. i use these tools on steel and they last a long long time. i usually forge them out by hand but if you are going to machine them you need to normalize the steel first to soften it. just heat it up to red/ just b4 yellow and burry it in the dirt for a few hours, or for an even softer working surface build a small campfire and a fan, build up the fire, throw in the steel, hold the fan on it, and then take the fan away in walk away. come backa few days later and they'll be as soft as butter. and then to re-harden after tooling heat the steel to a cherry red and drop into oil to quench. stamps made like this will last forever due to the high carbon content of the steel, and they should make good, sharp impressions year after year. hope that helps someone.

[WESTBOUND]

This is what I have been looking for all over the internet, "How to make leather tools" and I have not found anything. I guess I should have started here.

Any updates on new tools and techniques used to make stamps and other tools? Pictures are worth a thousand words, and picture tutorials are worth more than gold.....

Please, respond this is a very good and important topic, for me and others.

Thanks

[WESTBOUND]

i don't know alot about leather working, but i do know alot about steel. instead of using bolts, go to a junkyard and buy automotive coil springs. just run a plasma cutter or oxy/acelatene torch down opposite sides of the coil and you have a bunch of really long springs steel blanks for tool making that'll last 4ever. and if you want shorter handlse cut down 3 sides of the spring. depending on the spring itself you can get anything from really narrow pieces to really thick pieces. i use these tools on steel and they last a long long time. i usually forge them out by hand but if you are going to machine them you need to normalize the steel first to soften it. just heat it up to red/ just b4 yellow and burry it in the dirt for a few hours, or for an even softer working surface build a small campfire and a fan, build up the fire, throw in the steel, hold the fan on it, and then take the fan away in walk away. come backa few days later and they'll be as soft as butter. and then to re-harden after tooling heat the steel to a cherry red and drop into oil to quench. stamps made like this will last forever due to the high carbon content of the steel, and they should make good, sharp impressions year after year. hope that helps someone.

Would that technique work for other forms of steel easier gotten than by cutting springs out of a junk yard car with a plasma cutter? for example, a piece of steel rod from Home Depot or Lowes?

[Pelallito]

The steel rod you get at Lowes or HD will be mild steel. I don't think that they sell stainless steel, if they do it would be marked as such. You won't have to normalize the mild steel, because it has not and can't be hardened the way the spring steel was. You can cut that with a hacksaw and it is fairly soft. You need more carbon in the mix to make it a hardenable steel. Mild steels can be case hardened, but that is another thing altogether. If you cut any steel with a torch or a plasma cutter, you will find that the burned edge will be very hard. The heat of the cutting makes carbon travel to the cut. Welders normally grind that edge away before trying to machine that area. It will rust or oxidize when it gets wet.

Hope that is explanation is clear.

Fred

Would that technique work for other forms of steel easier gotten than by cutting springs out of a junk yard car with a plasma cutter? for example, a piece of steel rod from Home Depot or Lowes?

[WESTBOUND]

Thanks Pelallito,

That is what I needed to know. I guess I will stick with the Stainless steel bolts for making my custom tools. Going to a junk yard and cutting out suspension springs is more than I want to deal with right now, although that is good to know for future reference.

[SimonJester753]

I did not read the whole thread, so please excuse me if this has been answered already.

I noticed that the image on the stamps is cut or filed into the metal. Has anyone tried applying an acid-resistant ground and etching the design with acid?

I've got a graphic arts background and I've done some etching, (many years ago).

[Clay]

I have been playing around trying to teach myself hopw to use some of the tools and equipment that I got from Billy. I have made a few stamps and while they are no where near tha quality of Billy's or Barry's or Bob"s ( maybe your name needs to start with a B to be a good tool maker?)They did come out good and are usefull.

A couple of meander stamps and a bevler

[gtwister09]

Clay,

Vivian said that you were the proud owner of Billy's tool making gear. Good luck with your new tools. Clay B. said in his blog that he appreciated your tools for his project.

Regards,

Ben

[Clay]

made a set of matching low angle bevelers in seven sizes. They are cut at a 15 degree angle and are checkered with a #4 file.

ClayM.

[BearMan]

Hi Clay,

Great job on the new tools!! Ed

[WESTBOUND]

made a set of matching low angle bevelers in seven sizes. They are cut at a 15 degree angle and are checkered with a #4 file.

ClayM.

Clay, Outstanding!

Did you do them on a lathe? What material did you use?

[Clay]

Clay, Outstanding!

Did you do them on a lathe? What material did you use?

Sorry not to have answered sooner, The bevelers are turned on a lathe, then rough shaped on the grinder and then hand filed and hand checkered. Then they are polished and the knurling is done. They are made from stainless steel bolts.

Thanks for looking,

ClayM.

[BAD HIDE]

Didn't make it, but I just did this is a modification of a spare craftool C454 to do fish scales. Didn't know where else to put this, but it doesn't deserve it's own thread. Left is unmodified, right is the same stamp, with the ends ground off to a concave profile coming to a point in the middle.

This is how it looks on 4 oz leather, left is made by rocking the tool a bit to get both sides to press into the thin scrap leather, the right being just the point used to hint at scales. If I had thicker leather, I bet the whole thing would press in just fine. It's a little unwieldy because it's off balance, the face thats left is only on the top side of the shaft, so it's gonna take some getting used to, but I can't wait to try this one out.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

This is an interesting thread, as I am a tool maker for a screwmachine shop. To just

touch on a couple of things here.

I have seen several old tools made from plain steel. The staining you mention may be

from the type of tanning done on the leather you have IE: Veg vs Chrome.

Stainless vs mild vs carbon steel. All steel has some carbon in it. Cast iron has

more than steel. To make steel the carbon is removed from the iron, then added

back in at a certain percentage to get the correct alloy. Steel is graded by the

major alloying element IE; 10xx, 4xxx, 8xxx, etc. The last 2 digits tell you the

carbon content in points.

1000 series steels are plain carbon steels.

What you find a a box store is usually 1018 which is considered a low carbon steel.

You generally need around 25 points of carbon to get any hardening effect. Files,

some springs, etc are made with 1095 which is considered a high carbon steel. With

different heat treating you can have a piece of 1095 be as brittle as a file, or

flexible as a spring-cool how that works-huh?

Chrome-moly steels like 4140 have 40 points of carbon, but the major elements being

chrome, and molybdenum make them very tough. These are used for things like shafts

for equipment.

Stainless steels (stain less than regular carbon steel) have high chrome, and nickel

contents. To be called a steel they do have some iron content.

The 300 series are the most common; 303,304. 303 is a freer machining alloy than 304.

Stainless steels are tough, not really hard. Mainly used when corrosion

resistance/sterility is needed.

316 is used for high corrosion applications like tomato processing, cookware, etc.

400 series stainless steels are magnetic, and will stain faster than 300 series. 440C is used in

knife blades.

As for hardening. You can case harden bolts, nails etc at home by using a product

like Kasenite. Case hardening applies a shallow layer of extra carbon into the mild

steel allowing it to be surface hardened, This case will be from .003"-.010" deep depending

on how it is applied.

high carbon steels can be just heated past magnetic (when a steel reaches the

transformation stage it loses it's magnetic properties) then quenched in water, or

oil. Oil is a slower quench, and will cause less heat related cracking than water

will.

Only 400 series of stainless can be heat treated. 300 series can be work hardened.

Stainless can be passivated in a citric, or nitric acid bath to remove the surface

iron content left by machining, and improves it's corrosion resistance. Probably

not needed for leather stamps.

Now for the second half here. One of the byproducts of the company I work for are

bar ends. They run around 7" long, and are what is left over form the 12' bars we

start with. We run a lot of stainless steel parts, so we have lots of stainless

steel bar ends. The stainless is in diameters from .0625" (1/16)up to around .500"

(1/2") sometimes larger. I have bought bar ends in the past for resale to other

craftsmen. I can sell you more material for what you folks are paying for bolts,.

The USPS flat rate boxes work good for this. I am located in Southern Nevada. We

also machine copper, brass, some aluminum, and copper beryllium alloys. The Copper

beryllium alloys take special care when performing operations like grinding, and

sanding as it is a inhalation hazard. Chronic exposure can lead to berylliosis. On

the other hand it can be heat treated , and all manner of tools are made from it.

If there is some interest I can put some bundles together, and get current scrap

pricing.

[Mick]

Thanks Pelallito,

That is what I needed to know. I guess I will stick with the Stainless steel bolts for making my custom tools. Going to a junk yard and cutting out suspension springs is more than I want to deal with right now, although that is good to know for future reference.

an idea for procurement of springs...think about talking to your mechanic or tire/suspension shop. They'll change lots of struts which have a coil spring on it...

[Capnclive]

I have sat here all afternoon reading this thread. Very interesting and very creative thinking. I want to add my 2 cents. I am a mediocre leather guy and a zero metal guy. I have a friend who makes knives and is a ninja with metal. He actually has achieved the highest level of knife making there is in the knife making guild. His name is Ed Halligan. He made a little forge that would do real well for some of this heating and cooling of metal. He called it his Bean-o-matic Propane Forge. It is made from a bean can, and he used it sometimes to heat small amounts of steel to fold for making Damascus blades for his small knives. Here is the web site for making the thing.

http://www.anvilfire...ges/Beancan.htm

Let us know how it works.

[Sanch]

has anyone tried using cold rolled steel, then then heat trating it (as you would do for a chisle) making the steel cherry red hot then quenching it in say a 90 weight gear oil then re heating it til blue then re quenching in the gear oil. mayby after this process treating it to a cold gun bluing process to keep from rusting or staining the leather?

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Cold rolled steel is normally 1018 (18 points of carbon), and you need 25 on up to get any hardness. 40 will start to give a decent hardness-more though than hard, and something like 1095 will achieve a glass hard state. The question is why harden it at all? Soft steel is harder then wet leather. To harden a low carbon steel you can case harden it. This process adds enough carbon in a thin layer to accept a heat treating. There are case hardening products out that can be done at home. Now just because it is called tool steel doesn't mean it is very expensive. W-1, and O-1 tool steels are very inexpensive, and there are tons of scrap yard tool steel items (coil springs, hay rake teeth, etc) that can be used to make tools. Again, soft steel vs wet leather, and hit with a wood, or rawhide mallet--why worry about heat treating? I have seen old tools that were made from large nails that have held up just fine.

I can buy bar ends from work in copper, brass, stainless, aluminum, steel, and beryllium copper. Sizes range from .0625"-.875" typically, but occasionally 1.00" Some materials we run are only in certain sizes, but some are from one end to the other. Just depends what is being made in the shop that month. Any of these would be easy to shape with files, or a Dremel type tool. The Beryllium alloys though can be an inhalation hazard though when sanding, or polishing. It is when a fine dust is made that gets airborne that they become a problem. A process like filing is not hazardous to your health. Neat stuff,and it will heat treat.

For more metalworking info you can go to another site that I am on www.iforgeiron.com it is like LW, but with metal and fire.