Swivel Beveler...

[Amadea]

Hi all! Yesterday I received my first order from Springfield Leather (who are just as great as everyone on here has said). Last night I played around with some of my new goodies, and now I have questions, specifically regarding the plastic beveler tip for swivel knives and the Osborne stitching awl.

I'm one of those people who can't make a lot of noise tooling because I live in an apartment, so I was really excited to try the swivel beveler. I know a few people here use one with amazing results (Chancey77, I'm looking at you). I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for getting a nice deep bevel with this thing. I'm using crappy Tandy leather. I think it's 3-4 oz. I'm sure the quality of leather isn't helping anything. The practice piece I did with it ended up with only a suggestion of a bevel around the lines. Maybe it's a casing issue, or my hand just isn't strong enough to apply the necessary pressure. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Next thing is the Osborne awl. I ordered the stitching awl haft and a 2-1/2 inch diamond blade. It didn't occur to me that the blade wouldn't be sharp, and I have no experience sharpening anything, nor the tools to do so. I looked at a couple of tutorials online about how to sharpen awl blades, including the bowstock one, but I don't quite understand it. Do I need a sharpening stone or something else? And is there a way to mount the blade in the haft without a vise? I feel really stupid about this. It's just that until I started doing leather stuff, I stayed far away from most sharp objects because I'm clumsy. Now all this sharpening business seems like Greek to me.

One thing I know for sure is that my new Barry King maul is awesome! Such an improvement over that yellow poly mallet. Thanks in advance for any advice!

[JLSleather]

Nothing to add about the knife beveler, don't believe I've ever used one. But the awl problem is one I'm familiar with. I'm old (ish) so I remember when you could use a tool right off the shelf. I guess now somebody's lawyer decided it's better to make you sharpen it yourself

So, your diamond blade is just that ... 4-sided. You'll need SOME type of stone. You can probably pick up a stone that is "hard" on one side and "soft" on the other for 3-4 bucks ... almost anywhere. In any hardware store in your area, ask them about an "Arkansas" stone. I just replaced one I use (they're not indestructible). The "soft" side is for general sharpening, like your blade is damaged, and the "hard" side is finer, and for polishing and keeping an edge once it's sharp. Very simple to do, just make sure you have the flat side of the diamond down on the stone. If you allow it to "rock", you'll round the edge and defeat the purpose of the sharpening.

Seriously, there are places that will HOPE you'll pay $60-100 for some fancy-looking setup, but all you need is a ROCK ... and you might get one large enough that once you're going you can use the same stone to care for straight knives, head knives, swivel knives, etc....

This one works good, and it helps further to find something to put it in ... like a tupperware bowl, or anything you can lay it in. Drop the stone in, put some honing oil about 1/4 of the way up the stone (so if you have a lid, that's good, too). The oil will keep the stone oiled, keep the steel "bits" from clogging the stone. This isn't necesssary (the stone will work without oil, or you can just put a few drops of oil on the stone when you're ready to use it) but it does help.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=399-6790&PMPXNO=940515&PARTPG=INLMK3

[Bluesman]

JL is spot on about the stone. Watch some You Tube on how to use a sharpening stone, get one, and get on with it. If you wanna cutup and carve leather you have to know how to sharpen, everything. Dull tools are dangerous tools. Two weeks ago I had no clue how to sharpen a swivel knife, but today they glide. It's all in wanting to do it. Good luck and happy carving.

Jon

[Amadea]

Thanks for the help! I'm going to go looking for a stone right now. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm sure my swivel knife is ready to be sharpened too.

[JLSleather]

Oh, yeah ... FLAT on the stone, whatever you sharpen ..

One more "tip" some folks use ... grind a flat spot on the handle of the awl (if there isn't one already) in line with one of the longer flat sides of the awl blade. Helps you keep it properly aligned when stitching, and helps keep it from rolling off the table when ya aint

Edited February 28, 2012 by JLSleather

[Cyberthrasher]

I just started using the swivel beveler too on Chancey's recommendation. Honestly, even though I don't see it replacing my other one completely, I see it picking up a large majority of the work. What I've found so far is that it requires the leather to be a little softer (extra cased) in order to get the good deep impressions. But, I think on 3/4 oz the amount it gives at a normal casing level should be fine, so you may just want to start beveling a little sooner before the leather loses it's moisture. On my 8/10 oz work, I'm starting when the leather still looks fairly wet and also really watching my cut depth. Remember, there's nothing here to pound the leather into shape, so it's got to be at a point where it forms easily by pushing on it.

The only other problem I've found with it is the size. Because it's such a wide base, I have troubles getting it into tight spots and around small curves. Chancey recommended tipping it like you do your swivel knife, which I was doing, but I think it just requires a bit more practice. That's why I'm thinking about buying a couple more and cutting them down to narrower sizes so I can handle tighter spots with it. At $3 a piece, it's an easy enough fix. Other than that, I find it works with fewer slip offs if I make 2 passes over the work. Trying to press and slide at the same time caused it to bind up a bit and then go sliding off over the line into the wrong section of my work.

[chancey77]

I just started using the swivel beveler too on Chancey's recommendation. Honestly, even though I don't see it replacing my other one completely, I see it picking up a large majority of the work. What I've found so far is that it requires the leather to be a little softer (extra cased) in order to get the good deep impressions. But, I think on 3/4 oz the amount it gives at a normal casing level should be fine, so you may just want to start beveling a little sooner before the leather loses it's moisture. On my 8/10 oz work, I'm starting when the leather still looks fairly wet and also really watching my cut depth. Remember, there's nothing here to pound the leather into shape, so it's got to be at a point where it forms easily by pushing on it.

The only other problem I've found with it is the size. Because it's such a wide base, I have troubles getting it into tight spots and around small curves. Chancey recommended tipping it like you do your swivel knife, which I was doing, but I think it just requires a bit more practice. That's why I'm thinking about buying a couple more and cutting them down to narrower sizes so I can handle tighter spots with it. At $3 a piece, it's an easy enough fix. Other than that, I find it works with fewer slip offs if I make 2 passes over the work. Trying to press and slide at the same time caused it to bind up a bit and then go sliding off over the line into the wrong section of my work.

I am using 5/6oz for the door panels,(kind of regretting it and may change to 8/9oz before I get to deep into the first panel, the beveler is giving a ok depth, but it is a much thinner leather than I usually work with. Almost all of my work is done on 8/9oz and I start while it is still wet looking to get the best results, and continue to wet it as it looks dry to keep the same flow and softness of the leather for consistency.

Edited February 28, 2012 by chancey77

[Sylvia]

I just started using the swivel beveler too on Chancey's recommendation. Honestly, even though I don't see it replacing my other one completely, I see it picking up a large majority of the work. What I've found so far is that it requires the leather to be a little softer (extra cased) in order to get the good deep impressions. But, I think on 3/4 oz the amount it gives at a normal casing level should be fine, so you may just want to start beveling a little sooner before the leather loses it's moisture. On my 8/10 oz work, I'm starting when the leather still looks fairly wet and also really watching my cut depth. Remember, there's nothing here to pound the leather into shape, so it's got to be at a point where it forms easily by pushing on it.

The only other problem I've found with it is the size. Because it's such a wide base, I have troubles getting it into tight spots and around small curves. Chancey recommended tipping it like you do your swivel knife, which I was doing, but I think it just requires a bit more practice. That's why I'm thinking about buying a couple more and cutting them down to narrower sizes so I can handle tighter spots with it. At $3 a piece, it's an easy enough fix. Other than that, I find it works with fewer slip offs if I make 2 passes over the work. Trying to press and slide at the same time caused it to bind up a bit and then go sliding off over the line into the wrong section of my work.

I got tired of tipping mine and got out my jeweler's files and sent to town and made it a steeper angle. I like it much better now. You are right though... hard to get this wide tip in a narrow spot... good idea on buying extras to shape as you need.

To the original poster, you need a good cut in order to get a good bevel. That may be harder to do on your 3/4 oz leather. I tend to use a thicker leather too. The nice thing about these things is you can bevel... then go back and bevel again to make it deeper and or more burnished.

[Cyberthrasher]

The nice thing about these things is you can bevel... then go back and bevel again to make it deeper and or more burnished.

And still do it all in less time than it takes to do half the distance with a traditional beveler.

[Sylvia]

And still do it all in less time than it takes to do half the distance with a traditional beveler.

and with less hand cramping. LOL