I Bought The Basic Tandy Tooling Kit. This Is My First Attempt

[Bob Blea]

I think you're showing a lot of improvement. The depth of your carving is better and there are less tooling marks in your beveling. Your swivel knife cuts look pretty smooth too.

[Redochre]

May ask what are the essentials tools I should replace first? I would definitely like to get a smooth beverler.

Also I have been asked to carve a name, will I need a angled or hollow ground blade?

Thank you for taking the time to reply Bob

[Colt W Knight]

Thank you for the tips colt, at the moment I just can't afford to get a piece of granite.

Tboyce I took your advice.... I should of checked first... The tools that come with the kit are plated, it came off almost instantly & revealed a bronze colour....

That bronze color is actually part of the plating process. Objects are plated with copper, then nickel, and then chrome. Of course, when you get into super cheap stuff like these beginner tandy stamps, their plating probably cuts corners.

If you have a local contertop manufacturer, you can ask them for a sink cutout. They generally give them away, or only charge 10-15$ for a nice piece. They wont have fancy corners, but who needs that?

I carve names all the time. I use a 3/8" straight blade for bigger blockier letters, and a 1/4" angled blade for smaller or script letters. I used my 3/8" straight blades to do all my letters before buying the second knife. With practice it works just as well, I am quicker with the angled blade on curves though. I use the straight blade first on everything I can because its a lot easier to sharpen than the angled blade.

Regardless of blade type, that sucker needs to be sharp. It needs to cut through the leather effortlessly. If not, you will fight the tool and get ugly lines, IMO.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Colt W Knight

[JAZZMAN]

That bronze color is actually part of the plating process. Objects are plated with copper, then nickel, and then chrome. Of course, when you get into super cheap stuff like these beginner tandy stamps, their plating probably cuts corners.

If you have a local contertop manufacturer, you can ask them for a sink cutout. They generally give them away, or only charge 10-15$ for a nice piece. They wont have fancy corners, but who needs that?

I carve names all the time. I use a 3/8" straight blade for bigger blockier letters, and a 1/4" angled blade for smaller or script letters. I used my 3/8" straight blades to do all my letters before buying the second knife. With practice it works just as well, I am quicker with the angled blade on curves though. I use the straight blade first on everything I can because its a lot easier to sharpen than the angled blade.

Regardless of blade type, that sucker needs to be sharp. It needs to cut through the leather effortlessly. If not, you will fight the tool and get ugly lines, IMO.

Hi colt, i love that coloured piece, please can you help out a complete beginner and tell me are those colours dyed in stages using a resist type of idea or are they painted with a paintbrush and then sealed. Please remember you are talking to a complete beginner who knows very little about the types of products available just yet, thanks. Peace.

[Redochre]

Thank you colt.

I'll post a PIC when Its done & that's a cracking bit carving.

[Bob Blea]

Redochre, I would make purchasing better bevellers my first priority. It doesn't matter if you are doing floral carving, names or even pictorial carving, your bevellers are going to have the most impact on your ease of tooling. You will find that a good set of bevellers makes your work sooo much more effortless. I would probably recommend Barry King as his quality is excellent and the price is very affordable. Second I would probably recommend upgrading the swivel knife. The Tandy blades are not very good steel so they are hard to keep sharp. You can get a Barry King swivel knife (which is a very good knife) for a very reasonable price and it will hold an edge well.

Tools after that depend on what kind of carving you ultimately decide you want to do.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Colt W Knight]

Hi colt, i love that coloured piece, please can you help out a complete beginner and tell me are those colours dyed in stages using a resist type of idea or are they painted with a paintbrush and then sealed. Please remember you are talking to a complete beginner who knows very little about the types of products available just yet, thanks. Peace.

Yes.

I know, I know. Those pieces are all a combo of dye, antique, and acrylic. Browns, black, tans are always dye, then I add a resist coat and paint the colors. Then I add another resist coat, and go over the whole thing with antique to accentuate the tooling marks.

Thank you colt.

I'll post a PIC when Its done & that's a cracking bit carving.

You are welcome, and thank you for the compliment.

[Colt W Knight]

Redochre, I would make purchasing better bevellers my first priority. It doesn't matter if you are doing floral carving, names or even pictorial carving, your bevellers are going to have the most impact on your ease of tooling. You will find that a good set of bevellers makes your work sooo much more effortless. I would probably recommend Barry King as his quality is excellent and the price is very affordable. Second I would probably recommend upgrading the swivel knife. The Tandy blades are not very good steel so they are hard to keep sharp. You can get a Barry King swivel knife (which is a very good knife) for a very reasonable price and it will hold an edge well.

Tools after that depend on what kind of carving you ultimately decide you want to do.

Hope this helps,

Bob

All my tools are Tandy, and the bevelers are the worst. I always have to take a modeling spoon to my bevels to even them out. I have some Tandy bevelers I bought during their super cheap stamp sale that I can't even use. I intend on replacing all my regularly used tools with higher quality as I can afford them.

I will say, I have the Tandy Pro Series swivel knives, and they are quite nice. The stamps, not so much.

[Redochre]

Its such a shame the Tandy stamps are so poor. Especially since I only live about an hour from the uk store.

As much as I would love to buy some Barry king tools I would have to pay 20% tax plus import duty when they arrived.

Does anyone know a decent uk supplier?

[frenchy07]

You can "wander" by a counter top place and "assist" them with cleaning up and find a nice piece of granite to tool on usually for free. Headstone makers often have broken or mistakes laying around.