Must -Have Sheridan Tools

[Chavez]

Hi again! Apologies for flooding the forum with hundreds of questions but there's noone else to ask really.

Can anyone suggest any must-have stamps outside Barry King's recommended set? I'm thinking of a pair of seeders and perhaps some bigger backgrounders or maybe smooth bevellers?

I understand that different people use different tools for different projects but could you please let me know what tools you use the most that are not included in the basic set?

Thanks again for all your help!

Chavez.

[Marut]

Small concave beveler help me a lot for tiny wavy lines.

[Bob Blea]

Hello Chavez,

Most of the tools I use for floral are Barry King, but I don't even have the complete recommended set. I have a small and medium sized checkered beveller, a couple of his veiners and a thumbprint, plus 3 and 5 hole small bargrounders and a small and medium undershot beveler. Also, I do love his center shader and leaf liner. The rest of my tools (like the mulefoot) are still Crafttool. I do plan on getting a larger thumbprint and a concave beveler ( I can really see the need for those now) and maybe a larger size of bargrounder, but at least for my needs the 'basic' tool set is a bit more than I need. However, one thing I will highly recommend having are his flower centers. When I go to the Sheridan show I always buy some of his tools, and will probably get another flower center.

Bob

[Chavez]

Thanks! 

Is there much use from smooth bevellers vs checkered ones?

Would the 12-seed flower center be good for most projects? I don;t really know the differences between them=)

I guess I'll get a few more craftool pear shaders as well for other carving as they should be of decent quality and I can't afford all my tools to be BK yet=)

[Bob Blea]

Is there much use from smooth bevellers vs checkered ones?

Would the 12-seed flower center be good for most projects? I don;t really know the differences between them=)

I guess I'll get a few more craftool pear shaders as well for other carving as they should be of decent quality and I can't afford all my tools to be BK yet=)

For the bevelers, it depends on your carving. I was taught that generally if you are going to antique a piece, you want to have the checkering because it will capture the antique and highlight your carving more. Same with the pear shader or thumbprint. However, if you are not antiquing there probably isn't a good reason for it. If you are doing a more realistic floral carving or if you want the tools for figure carving, it makes sense for the beveler to be smooth in most cases, and I actually have a smooth Sheridan style beveler from BK too. I prefer the checkering because most of what I do is antiqued and I like the effect. It probably boils down to simple personal preference.

For the flower center, I personally have the 24 seed centers. Tandy doesn't make anything like them as far as the impression goes. The 12 seed ones do look good, and I'm considering getting one this year for variety. When you look at carvings by the pros where they have multiple flowers, they often have different styles of centers even if the flowers are very similar. Probably more important than the number of seeds is the size of the stamp. On Barry's site, if you click on the pictures of the flower center it will bring up a different picture that shows them in relation to a ruler. It shows you exactly how big each one is. You should pick something that is the right size for the size of the flowers you will most often carve. I think mine are what he calls #2's.

When it comes to the pear shaders, the Tandy ones can be a problem sometimes (IMHO). I have some smooth ones that work very well, but lined ones I have purchased recently have too sharp of an edge so I don't get a smooth transition in the leather at the edges and the tool leaves edge marks. With a lot of practice I could probably make the tool shade an area smoothly, but with the BK thumprint I have it's pretty easy to walk the tool and shade an area. Hence, why I plan of buying a bigger thumprint this year. With Tandy I like to always try the tool first and then buy, but if you don't have a store nearby that's probably not an option for you.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Chavez]

Thanks Bob!

That is some very helpful info.