How Do You Hold Your Project Down When Stamping And Carving

[Pappys Leather]

I have tried using painters tape and turning the ends down to stick to the granite. Small projects I sometimes don't use anything and if it two pieces like a knife sheath, the front piece I stamped gets stretched. I have seen it suggested to rubber cement a piece of cardboard to the back, but I am afraid it will be too hard to get it off.

[Mudruck]

For holding my projects while stamping, I have a 2lb lead ingot that I've wrapped in 2-3oz leather. The weight really helps keep the project stable and keeps it from moving around as I work.

To keep smaller, thinner leather from stretching, I cement the item to a piece of transparency film with plain rubber cement. It peels off the backing easily and does a great job at keeping the item from stretching during the stamping process.

[terrymac]

To keep your leather from stretching, get some 3M reinforced shipping tape and stick to the back. No glue mess when you pull it off and your leather will not stretch. To hold the project down while you tool, I use a zip lock storage bag filled with BBs.

Terry

[Chief31794]

To keep my leather from stretching I use self adhesive shelf liner, there are two kinds, temporary and permanent, I use the premanent, it blocks dye, stops stretching, and peels off easily and leaves absolutely no residue, a roll lasts a long time and is pretty inexpensive.

Chief

[HippieLee]

I'm intrigued by the bag full of shot. My biggest problem is holding the piece steady and preventing it from sliding all over the table while I tool. I love the idea of shelf paper for big pieces but I have been using the cardboard thing with contact cement for smaller items - the idea being that the cardboard is much bigger than the piece so if the piece is stuck to it I can hold down the cardboard with my forearm to keep it steady, I can concentrate on just tooling rather than tooling AND keeping my hand on the piece to keep it from moving.

But if I can get away from glue altogether that would be better I think.

[Tree Reaper]

You can use green masking tape, half on and half off the back of the leather then tape the half off down to your surface.

[Treed]

Wrong glue.....use rubber cement as it is met to be able to come apart. There are two different things floating around here. One is the means to stop the leather from stretching during the tooling process. This is done with the use of packing tape, shelf liner, cardboard etc. The second thing that is talked about is securing the item so that it is not slipping around during tooling. The extra large cardboard or plexy glass glued to the piece will cover both needs. The taping the item to the table can work except that it is difficult to move the item when needed during the tooling process. The shot bags are great and very easy to make.

[Northmount]

There are a few different types of rubber cement around. Use the cheap stuff from the stationery store.

Tom

[FlHobbyist]

I had the very same problem, I ended up taping a piece of 60 grit sand paper on the granite, and then put the leather on top of it to tool. This keeps the leather still while beveling, but it is still loose enough that I can move it around if I desire.

[cking]

I don't know how anybody else holds there stamps, never really paid attention. However I hold mine with four fingers. The thumb, index and middle are on opposite sides then my ring finger on the same side as thumb but with the nail touching wifh just enough pressure to hold the stamp steady. Then just use the weight of my hand to hold the leather. On really small peices I hold my hand like someone left handed when writing. As far as the keeping it from stretching I use old x-ray film I cut down to what ever size then rubber cement it. The only down side is I can't do it if I'm not going to line it, the rubber cement leaves it too tacky. For that I just use packing tape with no problem. However when I run low on packing tape I'm going to use Chiefs idea because that would be a lot easier on bigger pieces.