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

[Mulesaw]

@BlackDragon
I am looking forward to the result :-) 
I think those black ones on your picture look like they could be a winner. 

Brgds Jonas

[kgg]

On 1/26/2025 at 7:08 PM, Dwight said:

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.

I think I would use:

i) an off the shelf hollow linear shaft as they come in various outside and inside diameters. I guess a shaft with a 3/4" ( 20mm) OD and a 3/8" (10mm) ID would work. If the shaft isn't large enough add some form of a grip. These shafts are really available off places like Aliexpress and are mostly used for linear movement. An example would be ( https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005008313729816.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.7f1edY5sdY5swH&algo_pvid=da5d617e-a98c-46cd-b478-14026027a4f7&algo_exp_id=da5d617e-a98c-46cd-b478-14026027a4f7-0&pdp_npi=4%40dis!CAD!26.96!13.48!!!133.20!66.60!%402101e9a217380630172501546ef44e!12000044581316320!sea!CA!3463193163!X&curPageLogUid=rV9wvFNWFsW5&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A )

ii) 3D print a shaft with comfortable outside diameter for my hand with the correct inside diameter to accommodate the stamp. Cost would be pennies to make.

Me being me I would do the 3D printed method.

kgg

Edited January 28 by kgg

[chuck123wapati]

On 1/27/2025 at 12:42 AM, Dwight said:

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

a set screw in one side would allow the use of different size shanks.

[dikman]

8 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

a set screw in one side would allow the use of different size shanks.

That would also be a good idea for something like a beveller where you're following curves, although I think for a beveller it would be better to make it permanent, i.e. a very tight force fit.

[steelhawk]

I had to basketweave stamp 25 holsters. To help relieve the pain to my thumb, I used vet wrap and greatly enlarged the tool diameter.

[steelhawk]

Here's a picture of the holster I made with the tools I wrapped. With the vet wrap I still had good control of the tools.

[Dwight]

2 hours ago, steelhawk said:

Here's a picture of the holster I made with the tools I wrapped. With the vet wrap I still had good control of the tools.

Actually before the aluminum sleeve . . . I did things like that . . . never found the one I really liked other than the duct tape . . . or rubber hose.

The rubber hose though became a pain in itself . . . never figured out why . . . just did.  

I like the aluminum by far the best (especially better than the duct tape . . . lol )

May God bless,

Dwight

[dikman]

23 hours ago, steelhawk said:

I had to basketweave stamp 25 holsters. To help relieve the pain to my thumb, I used vet wrap and greatly enlarged the tool diameter.

That sounds like a brutal form of punishment!!!

[greygeist3191]

I printed a couple on my 3d printer to fit my most used sizes  Work pretty good

Think I got the file off thingiverse

[steelhawk]

On 1/29/2025 at 2:55 PM, dikman said:

That sounds like a brutal form of punishment!!!

It was, but the $3500 made up for it.

[BlackDragon]

The four pencil grips came in and I eliminated the first 2 immediately. 

#1 was to narrow

#2 was to narrow and weird

#3 & 4 have holes that are to big for small stamps but they still show promise. They are both a dense foam but softer than holding the metal stamp.

#3 I cut a wedge out so it could hold my thinest stamp. I could use grip strength to hold it onto the stamp but any time I lightened my grip the stamp would slide out so I temporarily put a piece of electrical tape and this worked great. I can also slide the stamp out and use it on another stamp thats the same diameter.

#4 is pretty long so I cut it in half. It comes with a slit down the side so it works well with stamps the diameter of a pencil or thicker. If you use it on thin stamps you would need to cut a wedge like I did with #3.

The difference between #3 & #4 is the thickness of the foam grip and that would be personal preference. 

With both grips if you slide them down to far it's hard to see where you're stamping. With #3 since it's tapered this is less of a problem. With #4 you can carve down the thickness.

I'll be using both of these for stamping for the time being.

[dikman]

22 hours ago, steelhawk said:

It was, but the $3500 made up for it.

......but I reckon you probably earned every cent of it!