First Attempt At Stamping

[Chipperi]

I am fiddling around with the idea of making some name plates for members of my ham radio club. This is my first attempt at making one...My basket-weave technique leaves alot to be desired. I think a larger basket-weave stamp would be easier.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Chipperi

[Duke]

looks good so far,good job. FYI, when you basketweave, try to case your leather a bit more, and stagger your stamps. let me know if you need clarification on this an I can try to help you out.

[Glaisne]

Pretty cool!

de W2LTB

[Keith T]

Good idea. Well done.

73's M0KRT

[Chipperi]

My biggest problem seems to be holding a straight line with the basketweave. By all means explain what you mean by stagering the stamp. Maybe I just have tunnel vision and only see 1 way to do it.

[kdobson]

My biggest problem seems to be holding a straight line with the basketweave. By all means explain what you mean by stagering the stamp. Maybe I just have tunnel vision and only see 1 way to do it.

The best way to keep a straight line when basket stamping is to get your leather nice and cased then use a ruler and make a soft scratch where you want your line. You will place the feet of your stamp in line with your scratch. Then stamp below and above the line. The stamp will cover up the line later. If you have a large area to stamp, it's best to run another line every now and then in order to keep things straight and looking nice. It is hard to explain how to stagger your stamps. But you want to leave a space between each stamp to make it look like it is weaving in and out. Hopefully this picture will help you see how that works. Let me know if I have totally confused you. Good Luck!

[Ferg]

I am fiddling around with the idea of making some name plates for members of my ham radio club. This is my first attempt at making one...My basket-weave technique leaves alot to be desired. I think a larger basket-weave stamp would be easier.

You need to make a faint registration mark/line on the leather to begin the basket stamp. Hold the other tools firmly in your hand, tap with mallet, reset the tool to exactly the same place and hit a good whack.

Practice, practice, the basket stamps are not the easiest to use but they look great.

ferg

[Chipperi]

Thanks much guys... I saved the pic...off to practice practice practice!

Chip

KJ4QCV