Stamping Leather with Arthritis

[Dwight]

You all have read where I do not do a lot of stamping . . . not very good at it . . . plus my arthritis gives me the fits when I try it.

I came across something though . . . that fixes that.

Holding the stamping tool for more than a few minutes and I have serious cramps and pains.

This aluminum sleeve that goes over the stamp takes that away as it is appreciably bigger . . . easier to hold on to . . . and makes turning it to "just the right angle" a whole lot easier.

Just wanted to pass on the good info for others who may suffer with cramping fingers or thumb.

May God bless,

Dwight

[badhatter1005]

Dwight my friend. Where in the world did you get this and also where in the world can I get one? This is genius.

[dikman]

If you know anyone with a lathe it would be easy to make.

[Beehive]

It'd end up being a set of shank sizes. A nice copper rivet setter isn't cheap. I wouldn't think those would be either. 

I made a small chisel holder and used it with stamps. I never could get use to holding a stamp that way. Here of late I've been looking at pencil grips. Particularly the old-school triangle looking ones. 

Edited January 26 by Beehive

[Dwight]

10 hours ago, dikman said:

If you know anyone with a lathe it would be easy to make.

Actually . . .  it does look easy to make . . . and the part(s) you see in the pictures . . . they are not "that" hard.

But as Beehive mentioned . . .  there are a whole batch of different shank sizes . . .  combating that with just one tool is in itself a trick.

We're working on that trick . . .  there are several different approaches . . . just trying to determine which will hold up the longest.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Gezzer]

Great idea !

If one was going to make it , shouldn't be much more to fitting a taper collet on the receiving end  . Might be too bulky though ? 

[BlackDragon]

I wonder if a pencil grip would work.

[Mulesaw]

I like the pencil holder suggestion. 

If that one is too small, I guess one could make a bigger one out of either wood or leather.

I'd cut some squares of waste leather, maybe 1.5" square. Punch a hole in the middle that corresponds to the size of the shaft of the stamp. Glue up a bunch of those and glue them to the stamp sort of on the middle of the shaft. The top of the stamp would still be left as it is to hit with the mallet. But there'd be a big leather grip to hold on to.

The drawbacks would be that it takes time to make this for all the different stamps, and afterwards the stamps take up more space.

 

[Beehive]

The alternative is wrapping duct tape around the shank. I've done it to two small shank basket weave stamps. It works but it's not pretty. Not using the ugly silver grey looking stuff. The tape does slide against itself. It doesn't move on the shank but slides like electric tape left out in the sun. 

Other ideas to consider. Drilling a screwdriver handle all the way through. Gorilla glue it to the shank. Any of the cheapo' screwdrivers from harbor freight will work. 

Only issues is storing the stamp. A big handle glued on and it's not going to fit in a wood block. So expect to lose some drawer space. 

[BlackDragon]

1 hour ago, Mulesaw said:

I like the pencil holder suggestion. 

If that one is too small, I guess one could make a bigger one out of either wood or leather.

I'd cut some squares of waste leather, maybe 1.5" square. Punch a hole in the middle that corresponds to the size of the shaft of the stamp. Glue up a bunch of those and glue them to the stamp sort of on the middle of the shaft. The top of the stamp would still be left as it is to hit with the mallet. But there'd be a big leather grip to hold on to.

The drawbacks would be that it takes time to make this for all the different stamps, and afterwards the stamps take up more space.

 

They sell them in different materials like rubber, foam, silicon, etc. I figure if the hole is to small you could either drill through the hole to make it bigger or slice it the long way so it acts as a clamp.

I just ordered four different types and I'll test them out.

1 hour ago, Beehive said:

The alternative is wrapping duct tape around the shank. I've done it to two small shank basket weave stamps. It works but it's not pretty. Not using the ugly silver grey looking stuff. The tape does slide against itself. It doesn't move on the shank but slides like electric tape left out in the sun. 

Other ideas to consider. Drilling a screwdriver handle all the way through. Gorilla glue it to the shank. Any of the cheapo' screwdrivers from harbor freight will work. 

Only issues is storing the stamp. A big handle glued on and it's not going to fit in a wood block. So expect to lose some drawer space. 

I did this with blue tape.

Another issue with gluing is you have to do it to several stamps. So I'm going test out the ones I ordered and see if you can just take them off easily.

Edited January 27 by BlackDragon