Stamping A Rope Border

[bruce johnson]

Bill asked me to post this little deal on stamping a rope border. I whacked this out in a couple minutes one morning. I do a lot of western things, and this rope is my most requested border. This is all done with Tandy stamps. I used the #957 rope stamp and a modified #803 beveler. I took a small circular stone on the Dremel and ground out a curve on the toe of the stamp to fit the curve of the rope border. Takes about a minute.

I have attached an impression of each stamp, the linear pattern and then how I handle corners. It is pretty self explanatory. Any questions. fire away!

[Kevin]

Bruce, that is beautiful, especially the beveler but how do you keep a good angle on the rope tool? I might get an inch of rope I like and then it just goes wrong. Thanks, you are a big help, Kevin

[Billsotx]

Got it!!

Thanks, Bruce

[Kani]

Thanks Bruce

[bruce johnson]

Bruce, that is beautiful, especially the beveler but how do you keep a good angle on the rope tool? I might get an inch of rope I like and then it just goes wrong. Thanks, you are a big help, Kevin

Kevin,

Thanks, I think the beveling really sets this off. I used to see this stamp used with no beveling and it looked like the rope was pressed into the mud. I never liked it much. Ropes are dimensional. I have done this so much now I go by eye. I scribe an outside border line lightly first. I set the first impression and line the next one up on it and eyeball the border lines. I have taught a few people to do this type stamping. The big key is to maybe stamp 3-4 impressions, back off and look to make sure the angles and borders are lining up. Kind of like setting posts. Back off and look at the whole line once in a while. You really can't get too far off in 3-4 impressions, and can slide the next couple back to whatever you need to get back in line. If you go a long ways, then it is pretty obvious. The big key is not to try fix a mistake in the next impression. Fix it a little on the next, a little more on the one after that until you are back to right.

You can do two parallel scribe lines to keep the stamp lined up, but much like my basket stamping, I line up the angle and right side of the stamp. The left side just has to follow. I have also seen templates and devices (LCSJ article?) to line this stamp up. I would find them cumbersome and more time than they are worth. Like most basket and geometrics, train your eye to see the little places you are getting off before they become big things. This is one of those stamps that a little practice pays off. I can run one of these pretty fast and accurate. Even though there is a stamp impression of the rope and one bevel hit on each end, I can run it. This is among my "included-no upcharge" borders, like the cam/half round border stamps.

I have had a few emails about this stamping today also. Mostly this question. I also stamp brands and initials with this stamp. I will work up a little tutorial on making curved corners, center ovals, and brands/initials. It is gonna be a few days, because of the holidays.

Want to try something else cool? Try matting around a barbwire stamps. That makes what I consider a pretty overused and stale pattern (although popular) more palatable. It really looks like barbwire then.

[Don101]

Bruce thanks that looks great and what a nice finish with the beveler, Don

[Kevin]

OK, I'll give it some time and patience. Thanks for your time and tips. Kevin

[gtwister09]

Bruce,

Familiar discussion... :biggrin: Speaking of the barbed wire matting.... One of my friends is not much into carving at all but we have been working with him on a simple geometric design where he didn't have to do any "carving". He liked the barbed wire and so we started doing that but he didn't like the "flatness" of the stamping. So we tried the matting around it with some of the pebble tools from the Pro-Series and wham. He was off and running. He does that on almost every piece of leather that he touches now.

Regards,

Ben

P.S. Will be interested in seeing what your new tutorial brings.

[Kani]

Can't wait to see the new tutorials. Thanks Bruce.

[Romey]

Good tips, thanks Bruce, merry christmas all

[Kani]

Bruce, you said the rope tool is a 957? All I can find in Tandy is 956 and 959. Would one of these work or would they be the wrong size? Thanks

Merry Christmas.

[swivel knife]

hello bruce!

there is no link behind the name of the jpg file.

maybe yo can reload this image

it would be verry nice

thank you and greetings from hamburg, germany

ciao lutz

[bruce johnson]

Lutz,

I happened to have this one saved in my picture files and was able to reload it. I do the same pretty much now, but use a Barry Kiing rope stamp instead of the Tandy or HideCrafter ropes.

[swivel knife]

thank you verry mutch!

[Davm]

Thanks everyone for the help. On keeping the angle even from blow to blow.  I took a square dowel, 1/2" x 1/2" and 4" long and drilled it in the middle for the diameter of the stamp's shaft, sawed it lengthwise and then use screws to tighten it on the stamp.  You can remove the dowel and use it on different stamps. You tighten the dowel at the desired angle and it really helps me- I'm surprised Tandy or some other outfit hasn't manufactured such an item but it is pretty easy to make.

[PastorBob]

2 hours ago, Davm said:

Thanks everyone for the help. On keeping the angle even from blow to blow.  I took a square dowel, 1/2" x 1/2" and 4" long and drilled it in the middle for the diameter of the stamp's shaft, sawed it lengthwise and then use screws to tighten it on the stamp.  You can remove the dowel and use it on different stamps. You tighten the dowel at the desired angle and it really helps me- I'm surprised Tandy or some other outfit hasn't manufactured such an item but it is pretty easy to make.

Got any pics of the setup?  I can't visualize it.  Sounds like a wonderful invention and is extremely useful.  thanks.

[Tugadude]

This doesn't address the whole issue, but it would help to keep individual rows or columns of stamps straight.

 

[PastorBob]

1 minute ago, Tugadude said:

This doesn't address the whole issue, but it would help to keep individual rows or columns of stamps straight.

 

Thanks @Tugadude.  I am familiar with that one, just not the one he described.  This one is useful too.  I just don't do much letter stamping...I normally carve the letters.

[TomE]

On 12/23/2007 at 10:48 PM, bruce johnson said:

Kind of like setting posts. Back off and look at the whole line once in a while.

Now I understand!  But easier on shoulders than building fence.

[Tugadude]

A cheap solution is to use a ruler held down by tape on both ends.  Just slide the leather under the ruler and then use the ruler as a fence.  There's a video, but I haven't watched it.  This seems geared to maintaining a straight line when using letters, but with some creativity it can also work for any stamping.

 

 

[Davm]

PastorBob: I don't know how to post photos but I'll try to explain a little more.  Let's say the stamp has a shaft 1/4" diameter.  As you do repetitive stamping the marks might be angled off angle do to human error.  What you want to do is create a cross bar so you are more aware of the stamp's angle.  You could take a small piece of wood, 1/2" by 1/2" and 4" long and in the middle- 2" from either end drill a 1/4" hole.  Then slid the dowel over the shaft about 1" below the top and epoxy glue it in place at a cross angle to the stamp.  Then, when you are doing repetitive stamping, you are more aware of the stamp's angle.  The stamp essentially has a large T to the shaft- if that makes sense.

If you epoxy glue- then one dowel is needed for each stamp.  You could also make a removable dowel by sawing it lengthwise and using two small screws to attach to the shank.

Tugadude- I like the plexiglass idea- I might try that for basket weave stamping- my lines always wander.

[PastorBob]

On 3/3/2022 at 9:16 AM, Davm said:

PastorBob: I don't know how to post photos but I'll try to explain a little more.  Let's say the stamp has a shaft 1/4" diameter.  As you do repetitive stamping the marks might be angled off angle do to human error.  What you want to do is create a cross bar so you are more aware of the stamp's angle.  You could take a small piece of wood, 1/2" by 1/2" and 4" long and in the middle- 2" from either end drill a 1/4" hole.  Then slid the dowel over the shaft about 1" below the top and epoxy glue it in place at a cross angle to the stamp.  Then, when you are doing repetitive stamping, you are more aware of the stamp's angle.  The stamp essentially has a large T to the shaft- if that makes sense.

If you epoxy glue- then one dowel is needed for each stamp.  You could also make a removable dowel by sawing it lengthwise and using two small screws to attach to the shank.

Tugadude- I like the plexiglass idea- I might try that for basket weave stamping- my lines always wander.

Makes sense.  Thanks for the explanation.

[Cattleman]

@bruce johnson I see that you now use Barry King bevelers to modify for this type of border. What sizes do you get? Do you still use the same rope stamps?

[bruce johnson]

5 hours ago, Cattleman said:

@bruce johnson I see that you now use Barry King bevelers to modify for this type of border. What sizes do you get? Do you still use the same rope stamps?

Actually I haven't stamped for a few years. Once the tool deal took off I just didn't have time for managing tools and doing/selling leatherwork both. Tools won out.  I used a Barry King rope stamp when the 2012 reply was made above. The beveler is a Craftool that I ground the face out with a Dremel to make it concave and fit the rope end curve. Basically a checkered crowner stamp. I started out using HideCrafter and Craftool rope stamps. Because of material and construction those stamps tended to bend up on the ends after a while and eventually would break when they were bent back one time too many. I was going through 5 to 10 of those rope stamps a year. I got with Barry to make a copy of them. He eventually made it a stock stamp. That stamp held up well.  I got a couple other rope stamps through the years. One particular rope stamp had a bevel built into the end of the stamp (possible a CLT stamp) and it is really dimensional. Richard Brooks duplicated it a couple years ago and I sold several of his versions on my website. Richard has since stopped making stamps and rivet setters. They were taking too much time away from his core business. 

[Cattleman]

Thank you @bruce johnson I had just recently read over this thread, then a day or 2 ago a client asked about getting something with a rope border. So I wanted to get as much info as I could, because i REALLY like the way your rope borders turn out. Now I'm off to spend some money at Barry's and Pro Leather Carvers. Thanks again.