Beveling edges - I just keep getting worse at it, and it ruins my projects

[Toffe]

Hello all!

I've been trying my hand at leatherworking (after years in model ship building) for a little over a year now. I started out with a cheap large tool kit and have been slowly substituting the tools I use most (or use less often but need to be better quality) for better ones. That's made a huge difference for e.g. stitching (Japanese French-style prickers, a much better diamond awl (can't find a flat one), better needles and thread...), and I'm happy with the quality of leather I have available here. My results are at the point where people I'm not related to are asking for commissions.

HOWEVER, my edge finishing, particularly edge beveling, actually seems to be getting worse over time. I paid too much for a proper Japanese edge beveler (I'm currently in Brazil, so for anything not made locally or in China, triple the price due to shipping and import duties), #1 for 1-1.4mm leather, it came sharpened plus I've stropped it with the sorta-sandpaper that came with it, and I'm following the usage instructions plus guides I've seen online. The moment the beveler touches a project, the project turns to trash.

I'm careful to hold the leather flat, either carefully with the edge of my hand, or with a steel ruler if I'm beveling a straight edge. I only work dry leather, all veg tan, 1-1.4mm thick, sanded (low grit sandpaper, should get around to buying higher grit too), normally before stitching. With a light touch, nothing happens until the beveler gouges a chunk out. With a stronger touch, I get the string of edge leather coming out the back of the beveller, but am left with a very noticeable line in from the edge where the side of the beveler has touched the leather - this can't be avoided since I can't twist the beveler any further away from the topside short of beveling along the edge of a table (which would have its own problems). Typically I get a sawtooth pattern along the bevelled edge this way as well, as the beveller catches on the leather surface and gouges bit after bit. If I make multiple soft passes, the edge typically just looks like it's been gnawed at by an elderly cat.

Is this:
- My incompetence?
- Tools not sharp enough (and I don't seem to ever be able to get anything sharp enough - my half moon knife is practically useless now no matter what I do with whetstone&strop)?
- Tools wrong size or type?  (the ones I had from the kit are multiple sizes, but give the same issues as described but to a greater degree)
- Wrong technique?
- Wrong leather?
- Something else?

Could there even be a different technique or tool I could be using to avoid beveling at all? For example, I realised I hate burnishing by hand, so I got a burnishing attachment for my dremel-ish tool, and that works well.

[fredk]

I use these to bevel my edges; 

They are sold on ebay as leather edge bevellers, BUT also as finger nail cuticle trimmers. You can also find them in the local shops in the beauty/nails section

They are cheap; I buy them 10 for $5  but in the shops they are dearer. They are very sharp and take off the leather a thin string. 

[SUP]

You get the same cuticle trimmers on Temu too. They work great and that is what I usually use now as well. You can change angles and they are lot more manageable.

@Toffe you should be able to get them very easily from China.

 

[Mablung]

Can you post some pics of the issues? That might help. Also, when you strop on the abrasive that came with the beveler, are you making sure to strop both sides of the edge, so that any burr gets polished off properly? You may also be putting some tooth back into the edge that is making it cut inconsistently, by stropping on some kind of abrasive rather than a corner of leather with polishing compound rubbed into it. I’ve also used scrap thread with jeweler’s rouge rubbed on it liberally, for both my stitch grooves and my beveler. 

Edited February 18 by Mablung

[DieselTech]

I'm thinking the sawtooth bevels are from a dull edge beveler. 

Another trick to sharpen a edge beveler is: Lay a harness needle on the table & cover the needle with a piece of sand paper of fine grit. 

Then pull your edge beveler over the top of the harness needle & sand paper. Then you can flip your sand paper & add green rouge to the sand paper & pull your beveler back over it, till its polished. 

[Northmount]

15 hours ago, Toffe said:

it came sharpened plus I've stropped it with the sorta-sandpaper that came with it, and I'm following the usage instructions plus guides I've seen online. The moment the beveler touches a project, the project turns to trash.

I'm careful to hold the leather flat, either carefully with the edge of my hand, or with a steel ruler if I'm beveling a straight edge. I only work dry leather, all veg tan, 1-1.4mm thick, sanded (low grit sandpaper, should get around to buying higher grit too),

Sandpaper removes material and leaves scratches.  It is a step in sharpening.  It is not stropping.  Stropping polishes the surface removing the scratches left by sandpaper (or sharpening stones).  Normally the sharpening process starts with coarse grit to get rid of any damage or nicks.  It the edge looks good, start with finer grit as it doesn't need to remove a lot of material.  Work your way up to finer grit.  After you have a good edge with very fine sandpaper, then it is time to strop to polish and remove the scratches left by the sandpaper.  There are various grades of stropping compounds as well and when used in sequence, result in a very smooth well polished surface.  Do a little research to see best recommendations for stropping.  Sandpaper is not part of stropping!  Leather or paper or cardboard are good bases to apply the stropping (polishing) compounds to.

 

[Toffe]

Thanks fredk and SUP for the tool suggestion!

15 hours ago, Mablung said:

Can you post some pics of the issues?

And since I was ultimately able to hide the worst bit with the cover, here's the final (minus some more sanding and burnishing) result:

15 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Another trick to sharpen a edge beveler is: Lay a harness needle on the table & cover the needle with a piece of sand paper of fine grit. 

 

Ooooh, that explains the thin metal bar that came with the beveler.  Will give that another go.

Thanks all for the tips about stropping, and sorry for misusing the terminology - I do have a strop, leather on a wood paddle with a polishing compound, that I use after fine-grit sandpaper or the whetstone (depending on what tool I'm trying and failing to sharpen).  It works on straight edges but won't get both sides of the beveler.  I'll try Mablung's tip of scrap thread with polishing compound later on, and cardboard perhaps.

I have gone through lots of guides and videos about sharpening but have never gotten an edge that I'm fully happy with.  I'll keep trying then.  In general all the blades I've got here ultimately use low-quality steel and won't hold an extremely keen edge under any conditions, but the beveler at the very least is decent carbon steel and is worth giving another go, and another, and another...

[DieselTech]

6 minutes ago, Toffe said:

Thanks fredk and SUP for the tool suggestion!

And since I was ultimately able to hide the worst bit with the cover, here's the final (minus some more sanding and burnishing) result:

Ooooh, that explains the thin metal bar that came with the beveler.  Will give that another go.

Thanks all for the tips about stropping, and sorry for misusing the terminology - I do have a strop, leather on a wood paddle with a polishing compound, that I use after fine-grit sandpaper or the whetstone (depending on what tool I'm trying and failing to sharpen).  It works on straight edges but won't get both sides of the beveler.  I'll try Mablung's tip of scrap thread with polishing compound later on, and cardboard perhaps.

I have gone through lots of guides and videos about sharpening but have never gotten an edge that I'm fully happy with.  I'll keep trying then.  In general all the blades I've got here ultimately use low-quality steel and won't hold an extremely keen edge under any conditions, but the beveler at the very least is decent carbon steel and is worth giving another go, and another, and another...

I may be totally wrong, so keep that in mind. But to me it looks like you are scratching your leather with 1 side of the beveler leg. 

To me it looks like you need to roll/lean your edge beveler away from the leather. Towards the outer edge. 

Also to me them bevels show classic signs of a dull beveler. 

Like I said I may be totally wrong & off my rocker. 

Hope I helped in some constructive way. 

[tsunkasapa]

Based on your photos it is definitely a dull edger. And the line on the face is from a sharp point or edge scratching the leather.

[fredk]

You can use sand paper to tidy-up the edges. I sometimes have to do that. The worse the edge the greater the grit. eg. a really bad edge needs 200 grit, a not to bad edge needs 600 grit 

dumb question; are you using the edger the right way up?

[Toffe]

20 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

But to me it looks like you are scratching your leather with 1 side of the beveler leg. 

To me it looks like you need to roll/lean your edge beveler away from the leather. Towards the outer edge. 

I agree, problem is I can't lean the beveler further away because then it's rolled against the cutting mat and doesn't touch the edge of the leather.  I could try using a piece of scrap leather or a ruler underneath to get more elevation.

Will sharpen the belever again.

19 minutes ago, fredk said:

dumb question; are you using the edger the right way up?

I think so, don't think it's possible to do it upside down?

[Gosut]

It's the right way up, but from the scratch marks in the photo, it looks like one side is resting on the leather. The beveler should rest so that the groove in the tool is 45 degrees to the surface. In the photo, it looks as though it's not. A beveler cuts off the corner of the edge, so that's how you want to turn the tool. You shouldn't have to press down on it, just glide the beveler over the corner.

[Mablung]

I think those who have pointed out the necessary angle of the bevel Erynn relation to the leather have got it right. Another way of describing it that I personally found a little more helpful when trying to understand how to orient the tool is to say that the blade edge needs to be held perpendicular to, the corner of the leather. So if you are looking at the corner of the leather, not straight down on top, as though you were looking at the surface of the leather, but as though you are trying to look at a cross-section of the leather, then the corner point should go straight through the middle groove of the bevel. That may make it more complicated for you than what the others have said, but I figured I would throw that in there in case it was helpful. and definitely smooth out the edge. It may be a bit dolled from attempts at use and from working it over too course a grit of sandpaper, but with a little work with some finer grits, that can be fixed. Then strop it on a small strip of leather, or on some thread, and that should help.  This reminds me that I need to spend a little more time with my own devil edge, as I haven’t sharpened it quite well enough. 

[Northmount]

If the width of the slot in the edger is too wide for the thickness of the leather, you can't get a good edge.  Another way of saying it is if the leather is too thin, you can't hold the edger at the proper angle to get a proper cut. 

[TomE]

Placing the edge to be beveled on a scrap of heavy leather is a good idea to gain some room.  I do a lot of edges on small bridle parts that vary in thickness.  Of course having the correct size edger and keeping it sharp will help the cause.  I have scraps of heavy oil tanned leather that I've edged with various edgers and coated the beveled edge with polishing compound.  I frequently strop my edgers on these scraps.  Can also coat a leather edge with beeswax and add some aluminum oxide powder for a coarser/sharpening step before stropping.  I bought the Weaver block-of-wood-with-leather-strips for polishing edgers but rarely use it.  

Edited February 19 by TomE

[dikman]

TomE, that's a good idea using a piece of heavy leather and coating the bevelled edges with polishing compound! 

[Toffe]

Thanks again everyone!  I took everyone's tips for sharpening the tool better, including stropping by putting polishing compound on a bit of thread, and that definitely helped with some of the issues.

The main remaining one is the line in from the edge, which is definitely because of the leg of the beveler digging into the leather, which is because of the angle.  From some experimentation, that's an issue I can't get away from with this tool for a single layer of leather.  The tool is just too wide (despite being a #1, intended for this thickness of leather or thinner according to the producer).  When the leather is laid flat, the best angle I can get is about 30 degrees, maybe even less, as the other leg is then against the flat surface below.  I've tried getting some elevation using a steel ruler, the edge of a cutting mat, and/or a square of thick leather I use as a base for punching, but I have insufficent hands to hold everything in place without slipping, so that doesn't work out great.  It also doesn't work at all with curved edges.

When it's multiple pieces of leather together that I'm bevelling, like bag edges or card holders, or thicker leather like belts, the tool works far better now.  However, for all the times I need to treat the edge of a single thickness of leather, which is often for my current projects, I'll need a different tool.

The trashy Chinese kit I started with came with a beveler that works thickness-wise, I'll have to see if I can force it to hold an edge until I can get a tool like the one in post #2.

[Northmount]

54 minutes ago, Toffe said:

The main remaining one is the line in from the edge, which is definitely because of the leg of the beveler digging into the leather, which is because of the angle. 

There is always one more tool we need in our kit.  For you, it is an edger with a much narrower slot.  When Tandy decided to stop selling the Pro-Tool line, I picked up a very narrow, probably about the size you need!  It is so narrow that it hardly takes anything off!

[Toffe]

Indeed, the universal truth for tools and musical instruments:

(How many I need) = (How many I have) + 1

[MarshalWill]

Besides all the great advice you've already received, I would like to add one thing. An edge bevel is basically a knife. I strop my knives every time I use them. With this in mind, I also strop my edge bevels every time I use them. For that, I use a piece of leather with stropping compound on the beveled edge, like TomE mentioned he does. They cut beautifully every time. Because I keep them sharp, I never need to use sandpaper on them until they're really worn and need reshaping. You should be able to sharpen your cheapo Chinese one to work fine but it might not hold an edge like a good quality one. And yes, you need a smaller one if you can't hold it at the proper angle to do the work. Invest in a small one of good quality for your thin leather. Eventually replace them all with top quality ones and your work will reflect the difference.

[DoogMeister]

I use a dremel tool with a felt wheel and jeweler's rouge to keep my edgers polished and sharp.  Make sure the wheel is turning away from the cutting edge. 

[Nicbards]

I have the same tool and have been experiencing the same issues. If you don't keep both the angle and the line exactly it tends to either dig into the leather, taking out a chunk as it then sticks in it, or curves away, taking off little to nothing. It could be my inexperience with the tool and insufficient sharpening, but I did not have this issue (or not to the same extent) with a more conventional looking one from a Ukranian seller on Etsy - until that one broke. This tool is hollow ground, which when you get it right produces a rounder bevel than the conventional edger, which tends to makes a step that somehow has to end up rounded. Which is why I bought it. Gonna have to practice and use some of the tips above, not ready to give up on it yet ;-)

[SUP]

I still have issues with beveling, @Toffe. However, once I remembered that beveling is actually just trimming the edges off the leather and that the beveler is a tiny knife, I now look at the blade on my tool and think of positioning that blade in the position to cut as I want, whether on a higher level, different angle or whatever is needed, including sharpening/stropping. Looking at it in a different way helps me get better results. It might make a difference for you too.

Edited March 29 by SUP

[toxo]

Some great advice here but before all that, does your project warrant edge beveling at all? In the image above, I don't think so, Not thick enough for beveling. A good straight cut, maybe a light sanding, job done. Especially with soft Chrome tan leather.

[jasj]

Obviously, a sharp edge beveller is required, but I have found that lightly dampening the edge with a wet sponge just before you bevel makes it an easier operation, especially with dry veg tan leather.