Question On Bevelling

[Tinkerton]

I'm fairly new to carving, so I end up watching a lot of tutorials. What I can't seem to figure out is how the instructors "walk" a stamp around, especially with bevellers. My stamps seem to be reluctant to move fluidly; they either stick in place or go off kilter and away from the line. What am I doing wrong? How do you walk a stamp?

Cheers,

Tinkerton

[papaw]

Place beveller on your cut line tilt it back a tad and then it's practice practice practice and you'll hear practice practice all the time till you get what you want. Just tap tap you should not have to hit it hard if the leather is cased and you cuts are good.

[Dwight]

Just listen to papaw, . . .

Oh, . . . yeah, . . . and practice, . . . practice, . . . practice.

Seriously, . . . take some scrap leather, . . . cut some lines in it, . . . and go at it.

I also found that if you go to an auto parts store, . . . take a couple of the most used tools you have (bevelers and shaders come to mind), . . . buy some thick, black, rubber tubing that will slip over the shaft of your tools (maybe put on some masking tape first to build it up a bit).

Cover the whole shaft down to about 1 inch above the stamp itself.

The rubber is easier to grip, . . . turns easier as you walk around the curves, . . . and is 10 gazillion % easier on your fingers.

May God bless,

Dwight

[HippieLee]

If you're working on a smaller piece use some contact cement and stick the piece to a larger piece of something stiff (I cut up old cereal boxes for a nice big flat piece of cardboard. Old cereal boxes work better because I've discovered that your wife will yell at you when you use a new one. I don't know why - that bag of cereal fits in the pantry better without a box anyway.). That way you can hold the whole thing still with your arm rather than chasing the leather all over your table.

Oh and this also helps keep the leather piece from stretching out too much and deforming.

Edited May 27, 2014 by HippieLee

[Stephenpuhakish]

Excellent advice given so far, just one thing I have to add to this.

If you are using a Tandy beveller with a "z" in the number, trash it and invest in a better quality one, even if it's just a real craftool. My first set was all the cheap cast "z" stamps and the heel on the beveller was so round it wouldn't actually get into the cut. I did manage to improve it with some files but eventually I just replaced the whole mess of z tools.

Good luck. And if none of these tips help, a photo of your carving will help others steer you right.

[oltoot]

Walking is easier on a good solid tooling surface, one that doesn't bounce or make a lot of noise. A proper mallet or maul helps, too with proper being rawhide or poly. Mallet should be on the heavy side. Now, with properly cased leather, beveler will bounce slightly if struck correctly. It is controlling this slight bounce that makes walking work. Tip the tool ever so slightly away from the desired direction of travel. Hold tool loosely so as to allow the bounce. Use that energy to walk the tool in the desired direction. For me that is into my hand, not away. I don't move my hand on every strike, just tighten the curl of my fingers a little then every few bounces when my hand curl gets tight I straighten it out by moving the heel of my hand away from the tool. Once a rythm gets going it looks like I'm just sliding my hand along in the direction of travel.

[Tinkerton]

Thanks for all the input! Still a little shakey, but a little smoother now. I think I was holding and pressing the tool too hard.

Cheers,

Tinkerton

[bison]

I have also found that running the tool over my strop a few times helps a lot. I just rub the bottom and the face 5-6 times each then the tool glides along the cut. When it starts to hang up a bit, I do it again...every few inches or so.

[brycew74]

Might try making a shot bag too mine is just a little leather pouch that I filled with bbs till it was pretty tight and sewed shut makes a nice "paperweight" that won't mark up your work

[Chef niloc]

A trick I learned from a old Italian (as in he was from there) was to hold the stamp between your fingers rather then between you thumb a finger. Your middle two fingers on the out side and your 1st finger and pinkey finger on the inside. Took a little geting use to but definitely gives more control .

[bruce johnson]

All good advice so far, and especially when you found that holding a little "looser" worked better. Don't hold the tool "down", just float it over the cut line and let it hit and rebound up with the strike. Pretty soon you'll get a rhythm going and strike, slide, strike will be second nature. I usually slide about 1/3 of the stamp width.

The other thing to consider is the stamp. The sides need to slightly ramp up at the edges to slide the way I run them. If they are square then they'll stick or leave chatter marks at those edges and not walk. The more the slippering or ramping, the lower into the cut you can hang and roll.

[St8LineGunsmith]

what Bruce said