Basket weave tool needed

[Dwight]

I have a couple of junk basket weave tools that may become fishing weights or something.

I have read in the past that there are some really good ones out there . . . especially one that has little "horns" on each end . . . line em up and your spacing is always perfect one person said.

I just need someone to point me in the right direction as to where to buy them . . . have a basket weave job coming up . . . ain't using the junk tools any more.  Will pass the job if nothing else.

May God bless,

Dwight

[bland]

I have been happy with the Barry King basket stamps.  There are quite a few different designs, styles and sizes.  

[fredk]

I got one from this chap https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/tuningstarltd?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

He's located in Bulgaria but afair he posts from Germany, and post to me from there was 3 days.

It might take a week or two to the US, but it may be worth it (?)

The one I got is plain but I don't see it on his list anymore 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?item=264500459452&_ssn=tuningstarltd&_osacat=0&hash=item3d9574b7bc%3Ag%3AnEUAAOSwNMZdpuXz&_odkw=&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313&_nkw=basketweave&_sacat=0

They are well made. They make a sharp impression. And as you want, wee alignment 'horns' on the corners. See on this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/263862086180?hash=item3d6f67ea24:g:rU8AAOSwfSJbYZb0

TBH, I've only done a few wee lines with my tool, never yet done a full piece

Actually, I like the look of this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264500462164?hash=item3d9574c254:g:h0gAAOSwqApdpucm

I just might buy one

[PastorBob]

Sergey makes a good one and you can get it from Springfield leather.  Fairly reasonably priced if I remember correctly.  His stamps are designed to line up real nice.  SLC can get them to you real quick.  (Based on the image in @fredk link above, I believe it is a Sergey stamp as well.

[YinTx]

+1 for Sergey.  You can find them on ebay, amazon, Springfield leather, and direct from the man himself.  They typically have a "key" that allows them to fit into the previous impression.  Even the ones that don't are pretty easy to line up. - my experience is with his unusual geometrics, I don't have any of his plain basketweave stamps.  However, he does make basket stamps with multiple impressions, this really really helps - makes the job faster, and those 4 marks are perfectly aligned!

YinTx

 

edit:  I just checked out his site, looks like the baskets are groups of 3, some of the other geometrics like scales etc come up to groups of 4 in a single stamp.

Edited September 28, 2021 by YinTx

[Cattledude]

+ 1 for Barry King, I use them on my saddles. Very nice imprint and easier to run than the cheap stamps.

[Scootch]

Do you have a style or pattern you're interested in?   I find the smaller the stamp the more difficult it is not to have a crooked one, especially a smaller stamp on thicker leather.

I also do better making my first row of stamps on the same side of the layout line.  Some folks alternate each side of the layout line on the first pass.  I find this approach more to be difficult.

Scootch

[Dwight]

5 hours ago, Scootch said:

Do you have a style or pattern you're interested in?   I find the smaller the stamp the more difficult it is not to have a crooked one, especially a smaller stamp on thicker leather.

I also do better making my first row of stamps on the same side of the layout line.  Some folks alternate each side of the layout line on the first pass.  I find this approach more to be difficult.

Scootch

Actually, Scootch . . . just a common basket weave will do for me.  Being as honest as I can . . . I'd rather hand sew a 55 inch gun belt . . . than stamp anything.  I've never been able to really get much more than a couple patterns to work like I want them to.  And that is only a basic border stamping.

I have a "one of a kind" project for a Texan . . . he wanted it to have a Texas flavor to it . . . and I just wanted to basket weave some of the smaller parts . . . but the cheap garbage Tandy stamps I've got . . . won't do it . . . and just as soon as I get a decent one or two . . . they're liable to wind up being ballast for the local garbage truck.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions . . . one of them will probably work out . . . Sergey and Barry King will get my attention for the time being . . . and we'll go from there.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Dwight]

Well . . . I went out to my shop . . .  thinking I had a couple of old basket weave stamps I got years ago from Tandy.

Watched a video on "how to" . . .  and started messing with it.

Would just like you guys that do this . . . give me an honest . . . brutal if necessary . . . assessment of the second thing I did a basket weave on.  It is a box that will be folded up and the basket weave follow around the sides.

I'll post pictures of the finished project in a week or two . . . depending on how long it takes.  I thought I had it today . . . found out I left out one of the really important pieces . . . this box I stamped.

Thanks. . . . may God bless,

Dwight

[YinTx]

The lines are pretty good.  The entire pattern needs to be rotated ever so slightly counter clockwise.  That is freakin nitpicky, by the way, and only on occasion do I nail it right.  Some of the stamps are getting deeper impressions than others - could be the leather, could be casing, could be the force of the hammer being slightly different.  Also, freakin nitpicky.

Camo stamps along the bottom are a bit out of whack, considering how nicely the basket is done.  Some are slightly twisted, some high some low, some overlapping some gapped to far apart.

That's a pretty brutal assessment of a nicely done bit of stamping that the general public wouldn't see a thing wrong in it.  For a second piece of basket weave, you should feel pretty good about it.  I did dozens before I felt I would let anyone look at one.

YinTx

[tsunkasapa]

Your basketweave is fine. As Yin Tx pointed out, your border is a bit off. I usually cut and bevel the outline, it gives you a 'ledge' to place the heel of the tool against. As for the spacing of the impressions, I stamp out 8-10 on scrap to get an idea of how many impressions in a set distance. then you can space them as needed. It just takes practice. Or you can start at the center point and work to the ends. Then if you have a bit of space, you can put something else in the corner, like a large seeder.

Edited October 9, 2021 by tsunkasapa

[chuck123wapati]

that is good work friend! The basket weave is right on, the border needs some work as posted above it should also cover/camo  the ends of the weave

[Dwight]

12 hours ago, YinTx said:

The lines are pretty good.  The entire pattern needs to be rotated ever so slightly counter clockwise.  That is freakin nitpicky, by the way, and only on occasion do I nail it right.  

Some of the stamps are getting deeper impressions than others - could be the leather, could be casing, could be the force of the hammer being slightly different.  YinTx

 

Thanks to every one who replied . . . and I was wondering about rotating the pattern.  I tried to look and figure out what angle most folks did their stamping at . . . kinda thought it was close to 45 degrees . . . so I grabbed my carpenter's square . . . laid it on the leather . . . and drug my stamping tool down along the edge to get two parallel lines at a 45 degree angle.  

Do most of you stamp at a different angle?

As for the deeper / shallower impressions . . . 76 year old hands . . . doing something they never trained for earlier.  Now if I could do the impressions with a lever action .22 or a semi auto military rifle . . . or a Remington typewriter . . . they would be spot on. 

AND . . . I had to get up and drag my $1.25 per pair . . . dollar store . . . seeing eye cheaters so I could see where that stamp was going to land.  Man I hate wearing those things.  I'll look up for my coffee . . . or to check on a sound . . . and my whole world goes to the "big blur" thru those dollar store cheaters.

But again . . . thanks to you all for your advice and encouragement . . . the project is taking shape rather well . . . I didn't charge the guy  enough for it . . . but I'm not planning on making a career out of these things anyway.  But I do enjoy the challenge of a "one of a kind" leather project.  Done many of them . . . hope to do more.

May God bless,

Dwight

[fredk]

Bearing in mind that I've never done a basketweave panel, with or without a border;

When I'm having to stamp a repeat in a straight line; I lightly scribe a line using a ball end tool, then I clamp an iron bar along that line. Then when I'm stamping I just have to worry about the spacing along the line. I have several pieces of steel bar of various lengths and widths but all 3mm thick for this sort of work. If the iron bar is going to be on damp/wet leather I back it with duct/duck/gaffer tape.

[YinTx]

10 hours ago, Dwight said:

Do most of you stamp at a different angle?

 

Most of my stamps land at different angles.  To figure it out, I stamp a sample piece, cut along the line and along the diagonal like in the photo.  This gives me the angle for that specific stamp.  I just use the sample piece to lay out the first line of my first row of stamps, and then run with it.  More than one way to skin this cat, but it's how I do it.

YinTx

[bland]

Dwight the angle depends on the dimensions of the stamp.  You can see in the first photo there is maybe a 5 degree difference between these two stamps. 

You can run them a couple different ways.  One being along a straight line, legs resting on the line.  The other is more of a vertical run along the edge of the panel. Think more like arrowheads on a belt.    Figure out your angle and use it all the way up the first side then run the second all the way up as well, then the third...  As far as the camouflage tool you can run it with the legs on the line or you can run the arc on the line and get a little different look.    

Edited October 10, 2021 by bland
add photo

[Dwight]

Hmmm . . . never gave it a thought.

Just set my square on the leather . . .  went down the 45 side . . .  started knocking out the stamps.

Good to know tht there is a better way.

NOW . . . other than the little half circle star like stamp I used . . . is there any other "border" tool that is normally used???

Sounds picky . . . but I hate doing the same old thing . . .  every time . . . like a bit of spice or difference.  

I've got a deer hoof print tool and a butterfly print tool . . . both of which I hand made . . . will never be used again . . . but was fun using them the first time.  Both made belts that went out as "One of............" belts.  One of em went to my sister I lost this year.

May God bless,

Dwight

[YinTx]

44 minutes ago, Dwight said:

is there any other "border" tool that is normally used???

Sounds picky . . . but I hate doing the same old thing . . .  every time . . . like a bit of spice or difference.

Now you're talkin my language.  I don't like most of the border stamps out there, and always looking for something different.  Just seems there is nothin different.  Problem is I haven't hit a creative side of me yet to design one.  And I don't have the tools and skills to make one, I don't think.  And when I see something I think I might like, seller wants a clean hunner dolla bill for it.  And it seems I'm too tight with my $, and keep making the eagle scream when I stretch the one I got.

My sincere condolences on your loss, as well.

 

YinTx

[bland]

There are all manner of border stamps.  Every vendor has a wide variety.  Here are just few examples.  

https://www.barrykingtools.com/borders.htm

https://tandyleather.com/search?type=article%2Cpage%2Cproduct&q=border*+stamps*

https://www.weaverleathersupply.com/catalog/cp_/shop-now/hand-tools/stamping-carving/stamps

Edited October 10, 2021 by bland

[tsunkasapa]

On 10/9/2021 at 7:18 AM, Dwight said:

Thanks to every one who replied . . . and I was wondering about rotating the pattern.  I tried to look and figure out what angle most folks did their stamping at . . . kinda thought it was close to 45 degrees . . . so I grabbed my carpenter's square . . . laid it on the leather . . . and drug my stamping tool down along the edge to get two parallel lines at a 45 degree angle.  

Do most of you stamp at a different angle?

Here is a link to an older Doodle page that has different angles for different tools. It does make a difference.

Basketweave by Bill McKay- Series 10D Page 1 — Tandy Leather, Inc.

[Dwight]

44 minutes ago, tsunkasapa said:

Here is a link to an older Doodle page that has different angles for different tools. It does make a difference.

Basketweave by Bill McKay- Series 10D Page 1 — Tandy Leather, Inc.

Sometimes something is staring you in the face . . . and you cannot see it.  I never gave a thought to how it could be arranged to work out right like that.

Just thought ya stamped it and bordered it . . . and ya was done.   That's part of why I never messed with it before . . . when I did try the results were much less than stellar . . . 

Thanks again . . . may God bless,

Dwight

[Dwight]

OK, Folks . . . the project you all helped me get done is there in the Gallery.

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight