the two must have bevelers

[crissy]

I use old Craftool bevelers that are 30 something years old. The two I use the most are B203 and B60 ,with B203 being irreplaceable.I also use B790 quite a bit. I recently bought a nylon beveler blade from Kevin @ Springfield Leather and it's way cool! It's used mostly for borders and beading. I used to have a Barry King beveler but I prefer the old ones I have.You can see some of my junk on the board and on my profile page.I like your work, looks really cool!

thank you. I will take a look

[hidepounder]

Kitty,

I just don't see a way to give you a definitie answer to your question. Only you know what sizes will best suit what you do. The only advice I could give would be to select two sizes which you think would be most suited and then select what pattern you prefer (if any). When considering western floral tooling, a checkered pattern at 75 lines per inch is very popular. If you were stamping saddles I would recomend larger bevelers checkered at 50 lines per inch. On the other hand smooth bevelers are suitable for all kinds styles of tooling, including figure carving, however they are harder to run and do not burnish as well as checkered bevelers. Based on your comments I would select a size that will become your most useful size...it's the beveler you will use the most. Then decide if you need a smaller beveler for the really tight areas or a large beveler for long straight lines as your next most useful beveler. If you are not doing specialty tooling I would steer away from the steep Sheridan style bevelers....stick with the normal standard angles.

I personally use Beard bevelers almost exclusively. This is because we agree on the philosophy of how a beveler should be made. They are constructed of tool steel and will last several lifetimes. However Beard tools are extremely expensive and you will probably have to wait a year to get them. I also have Barry Kings bevelers and consider them to be a very high quality proffessonal grade tool. Barry's tools are more affordable and are readily available. The same goes with Hackbarth.

The width I use most often is just under 3/16 of an inch. It is my "go to" size regardless of the pattern on the face. I have them in checkered patterns at 50 lpi, 60 lpi, 75 lpi and smooth....Sheridan and standard. My smallest is less than 1/16" wide and my largest is probably close to a 1/2" wide. I probably have more bevelers than any other type tool. This is because of necessity to use the right tool for the job. You may need something a little wider, say 1/4" wide as your main beveler, I don't know. There is no such thing as the one size that's best for everything.

I know I didn't answer your question but I hope this helps you to select something that will benefit you.

Bobby

[bustedlifter]

thank you. I will take a look

Here's a seat where I used B203 and just a bit of B60.

[crissy]

Kitty,

I just don't see a way to give you a definitie answer to your question. Only you know what sizes will best suit what you do. The only advice I could give would be to select two sizes which you think would be most suited and then select what pattern you prefer (if any). When considering western floral tooling, a checkered pattern at 75 lines per inch is very popular. If you were stamping saddles I would recomend larger bevelers checkered at 50 lines per inch. On the other hand smooth bevelers are suitable for all kinds styles of tooling, including figure carving, however they are harder to run and do not burnish as well as checkered bevelers. Based on your comments I would select a size that will become your most useful size...it's the beveler you will use the most. Then decide if you need a smaller beveler for the really tight areas or a large beveler for long straight lines as your next most useful beveler. If you are not doing specialty tooling I would steer away from the steep Sheridan style bevelers....stick with the normal standard angles.

I personally use Beard bevelers almost exclusively. This is because we agree on the philosophy of how a beveler should be made. They are constructed of tool steel and will last several lifetimes. However Beard tools are extremely expensive and you will probably have to wait a year to get them. I also have Barry Kings bevelers and consider them to be a very high quality proffessonal grade tool. Barry's tools are more affordable and are readily available. The same goes with Hackbarth.

The width I use most often is just under 3/16 of an inch. It is my "go to" size regardless of the pattern on the face. I have them in checkered patterns at 50 lpi, 60 lpi, 75 lpi and smooth....Sheridan and standard. My smallest is less than 1/16" wide and my largest is probably close to a 1/2" wide. I probably have more bevelers than any other type tool. This is because of necessity to use the right tool for the job. You may need something a little wider, say 1/4" wide as your main beveler, I don't know. There is no such thing as the one size that's best for everything.

I know I didn't answer your question but I hope this helps you to select something that will benefit you.

Bobby

Your thoughts are very appreciated I do understand everything you wrote (right tool for the job being paramount). I guess I was thinking that I could make a better decision on how and when to lay down the hard cash after having read and understood many thoughts/opinions I might receive here. everyone who shared their information has helped me better to understand the trials of at least getting close to what I want/need without having to buy tools that might not be right for the job as I have experienced thankfully rather quickly so as not to waste that hard earned cash. At the moment my work is focused on perfecting the design in the first post. The bevelers I have used are challenging to say the least so I had to post for some quality feedback before risking buying something expensive to then not be able to use it and I also realize there is a level of trial and error to perfecting anything equally I have learned many opinions usually help me to make an educated decision. the entire thread is valuable, I love this place! LW

thank you everyone!!!

Here's a seat where I used B203 and just a bit of B60.

very helpful thank you also very cool.

[swinewerx]

I have quite a few differnt from each other bevelers, I used to have double bevelers but gave my extras and some of my only's to some cancer patiens. what i would recomend is, textured and smooth bevelers that range from very wide to very narrow. I did get very lucky and got a ladies old set of tools that she used back in the seventies. The best from that group was the swivel cutter, it is very old and has the ruby blade. I stopped using it and have saved it and now use ceramic swivel blades. the bevlers I have are,b802,b896,b936,b203,b985,b801,b803b201,b898,b200,b204,b894,b60,b200,b892. npw, the first two are my desired ones then the project makes me lean all tjw other ways. there is one thing you could do, get some stainless bolts almost as long as a pencil and either grind it or use hand files ane make thm your own way, just rally try to make them the same level all around.