Tooling Help?

[dragonworks]

i'm new to leather working and i have done some things and i always have a section in many little spots that when i bevel the edges a small portion of the cut line is pulled away and you can visibly see it! does anyone know why? also how can i stop it? i appreciate any and all feed back on this. thank you justin

[Tree Reaper]

Do you have a picture of this ?

[Luke Hatley]

This book will be of great help to you. "Craft Tool Tech Tips" by Al Stolhman.

[pete]

i'm new to leather working and i have done some things and i always have a section in many little spots that when i bevel the edges a small portion of the cut line is pulled away and you can visibly see it! does anyone know why? also how can i stop it? i appreciate any and all feed back on this. thank you justin

You are probably not cutting deep enough and beveling too hard. Try cutting deeper and beveling as deep as the cut.

pete

[dragonworks]

thanks pete, i will try it,

You are probably not cutting deep enough and beveling too hard. Try cutting deeper and beveling as deep as the cut.

pete

[dragonworks]

you were absolutely right pete, my stuff looks better already, thank you somuch man.

[Spinner]

you were absolutely right pete, my stuff looks better already, thank you somuch man.

Pete's on to it I believe, what you're seeing is likely that (not cutting deep enough/tooling deeper than the cut) and/or it could be that you're tooling on the cut line versus up to it. When you bevel in the cut, the heel of the tool separates the tooled area, pulling it away from the cut. If you work on tooling "to the line", meaning your tool is a hair behind the cut line it will depress the tooling like normal and the fraction of leather at the tip of the beveler will just barely fill in the line making it look very smooth and thin. Tooling 'to the line' takes quite a bit of practice but once you get it the difference is noticeable.

[dragonworks]

all you guys who answer questions on here are on it i'll try to post the piece later today , i just finished it about 2 am last night, its a lower back piece for my leather jacket, i love it

Pete's on to it I believe, what you're seeing is likely that (not cutting deep enough/tooling deeper than the cut) and/or it could be that you're tooling on the cut line versus up to it. When you bevel in the cut, the heel of the tool separates the tooled area, pulling it away from the cut. If you work on tooling "to the line", meaning your tool is a hair behind the cut line it will depress the tooling like normal and the fraction of leather at the tip of the beveler will just barely fill in the line making it look very smooth and thin. Tooling 'to the line' takes quite a bit of practice but once you get it the difference is noticeable.

[Big Daddy T]

Hi there. Brand new to tooling leather and will be laying my first stamping blows later tonight. Theory question about beveling.

First you have made your cut for whatever line it is you want to bevel. The cut is the valley, there is the pattern edge and the bevel edge. You will take your beveler and put the tool on the line so that when you land your blows it mashes the bevel side of the cut down completely, correct? (instead of leaving a 1 micron gap [read:small] between the bevel side edge and the stamping with the beveler) Correct?

You don't want to leave a thin line between the cut and the bevel stamp is what I am asking. That would ruin the attempt at depth in the piece, right?

You make a clean cut, you mash 1/2 have the clean cut down to make it look 'raised' and then walk the bevel tool all the way around the pattern edge that you want to highlight, correct?

Again, just a theory question. I might look like a noob or sound silly, but I don't mind looking as such if I have more knowledge going into a project than less.

Thank you,

BDT

[daveottawa]

Pete's on to it I believe, what you're seeing is likely that (not cutting deep enough/tooling deeper than the cut) and/or it could be that you're tooling on the cut line versus up to it. When you bevel in the cut, the heel of the tool separates the tooled area, pulling it away from the cut. If you work on tooling "to the line", meaning your tool is a hair behind the cut line it will depress the tooling like normal and the fraction of leather at the tip of the beveler will just barely fill in the line making it look very smooth and thin. Tooling 'to the line' takes quite a bit of practice but once you get it the difference is noticeable.

That's something I also never understood... 'tool up to the cut line' vs 'tool in the cut line'. Stohlman tech tips book says to put the toe of the beveler in the swivel knife cut and strike. Is that 'up to' or 'in' the line?

Is one of the positions in this drawing the best way? ('Scuse the artwork!) The left side is what I understand Tech-tips to mean and what I think you mean by tooling 'up to' the cut line. Is the right side the ' to the line' position?

Edited September 17, 2012 by daveottawa

[electrathon]

The one on the left is correct.

Aaron

[Spinner]

That's something I also never understood... 'tool up to the cut line' vs 'tool in the cut line'. Stohlman tech tips book says to put the toe of the beveler in the swivel knife cut and strike. Is that 'up to' or 'in' the line?

Is one of the positions in this drawing the best way? ('Scuse the artwork!) The left side is what I understand Tech-tips to mean and what I think you mean by tooling 'up to' the cut line. Is the right side the ' to the line' position?

That's something I also never understood... 'tool up to the cut line' vs 'tool in the cut line'. Stohlman tech tips book says to put the toe of the beveler in the swivel knife cut and strike. Is that 'up to' or 'in' the line?

Is one of the positions in this drawing the best way? ('Scuse the artwork!) The left side is what I understand Tech-tips to mean and what I think you mean by tooling 'up to' the cut line. Is the right side the ' to the line' position?

That's pretty much the theory. Obviously, the illustrated cut lines are a little exaggerated (either that or you need to put down the machete and get a swivel knife of proper proportions! ) but that's the idea. The best way I can think of to illustrate the benefits of "to the line" is to show one of my earlier pieces and a more recent one. In the first photo of the holster, take note around the edges of the oak leaf particularly the top right quadrant. If you look at the tooled edge of the leaf you will see a light colored aura. This aura is the bottom of the cut where the tool was used 'in the line' and it pulled the cut line open in an outward direction. The second photo shows a clear close up of "to the line". Note how the edges drop off nicely and there is very little separation between the raised edge and the textured background. The cut line is blended in by the forcing the leather down and the very edge filling in the cut line to create a seamless transition.

As for the specific drawing, the left is "to the line/up to the line" whereas the right side would be "behind the line". "In the line" is what I refer to when (would require a third drawing) where the tool is even further to the left than your left side drawing, essentially trying to flatten out everything from the left high side back. I'll see about doodling a few sketches to elaborate.

This is how I do it, the experience of others may vary but either way, I hope it helps.

Cheers,

Chris

Edited September 17, 2012 by Spinner

[daveottawa]

... (either that or you need to put down the machete and get a swivel knife of proper proportions! )

Thanks, that clears it up. No, I didn't use a machete, it was just a Tandy swivel knife (insert drumroll and cymbal crash here).

[Spinner]

This should explain better than my long winded paragraph above...

[daveottawa]

This should explain better than my long winded paragraph above...

Even better ! Thanks!

[Big Daddy T]

That was exactly the answer I was looking for. Thank you very much. The illustration was perfect, all three!

Thank you,

BDT

[JoshDuvall]

I had noticed this too in my tooling once before. Mine mainly showed up after I applied antique and there was a definate line around my beveling. Another thing that can cause this besides everything that has already been said is your leather could be too wet. When your leather is too wet it seems like beveling seems to "sponge" back out a bit after you strike your stamp leaving your knife line a little deeper than your beveling too. Try letting your leather sit just a bit longer before beveling. Atleast that worked for me when I was having problems.