How To Get Super Clean Lines Like This.

[J W Craftsman]

I'm new new leather working. Did a few small projects with the goal of eventually tooling a seat for my bobber I am working on. I like smooth crisp lines such as the pictures below. It doesn't look, to me anyways, that the lines are beveled. What would be my best way to get smooth lines like this?

Thanks for any input that can help this noobie out.

[Havamal]

I'm new to leatherwork myself. But at first glance I would guess that these are machined, made by a press rather than carved.

[Bob Blea]

My guess is embossing with a press like Havamal said.

Bob

[camano ridge]

Those are definately embossed look at the edges were the design over runns the edge of the item.

[Cyberthrasher]

Those look like they're from Anvil. I'm pretty sure he has a lot of custom embossing stamps that he uses, but I could be wrong. I know I've seen a few of his items pop up with the same design. Heck, he could just make the stamps himself. I really don't know.

It would also be possible to modify a tool to stamp down like that instead of cutting. First thing that pops into my mind would be a flat blade screwdriver with the tip ground down to a flat surface. You could also modify a beveler to do the same thing. I have one that's really thin and long like that which could be modified by eliminating the angle so it no longer bevels and just makes a straight line.

Check out his facebook page for some more awesome examples.

[King's X]

These are embossed using a plate and press. These designs & products belong to Anvil Custom Leather. Welcome to the forum!

[immiketoo]

Truthfully, I think those lack the artistry of a hand tooled piece. Clean lines can be obtained through the use of traditional methods, but it takes a LOT more time than just stamping them. I'm sure Anvil does it as a time/cost saving measure as that takes seconds to do as opposed to hours to carve.

[dirtclod]

I just went and looked at the things he makes and he has little pictures of the stuff he makes. It makes me wonder when i see sites like that with little pictures if their ashamed of what they make or how good the quality it is. Personally if i was going to pay the price of his things i want a picture that's big enough to see what i'm buying.

[Cyberthrasher]

Really? Are you looking at his site or just his facebook page?

He really does do top-notch work. Yeah, he has some cookie cutter designs, but he has a lot of really cool one-off stuff too. Is it possible that you're just looking at the thumbnails that have to be clicked to open up the larger pictures?

http://anvilcustoms.com/store.php

[billymac814]

You guys ever check out Christians work from Xian leather. His stuff kinda resembles that but its all done by hand. His though is followed up with some fantastic dye work that makes it all come alive.

If Anvil is doing that with embossing plates I completely understand why, he's doing it for a living and needs to feed his family. Its hard getting money out of people to spend the required time to actually tool leather, sure some people can do it but most people are practically giving their time away. If you want to survive you got to be able to sell to as many people as possible, his way may be to offer a lower cost solution that to most people is perfectly acceptable. Not everyone can drop 600 bucks for a wallet or 800 on a seat, it really narrows your market down, if you can survive doing that then great but its a small percentage that can. I almost never tool anything anymore because no one wants to pay for it and i barely do really custom work either. I survive because I can reproduce my holster patterns over and over and am able to turn out a quality product in a reasonable amount of time which keeps my hourly rate high.

My opinions changed on a lot of things now that I depend on this to pay bills and be able to eat.

Its fun taking on the occasional custom item but its hard to get paid for all the time that goes into them. If I spend 25 hours on a seat there's no way I'm getting 80 bucks an hour, I'd be lucky to get 20 after materials and those people still think you're getting rich from a 700 dollar seat. I couldn't pay my rent on that.