If you want to carve/tool leather you’ll need special tools. We call them leather stamps. They come in a variety of shapes for their special uses. Commonly we’re speaking about the decoration of leather. Personally I don’t like that term all too much as coloring leather would be a decoration as well, but has nothing to do with tooling or carving. Many sources about this topic are going back to the book The Decoration Of Leather. This book is very recommendable. It dates back to 1905 and allows a very good insight into the art of leather.
As with many or just any tool there are good stamps, very good stamps and the ones that aren’t to mention. Most of the not to mention stamps are sold on eBay in a set of 10 or 20 for a price one normally can buy a single good stamp. Those stamps are made out of solder and you should stay away from them. It’s a waste of money and not even good for the beginning or to experiment if the trade would be a nice hobby.
Unless you are making belts with an embossing wheel or on a large scale press with a custom stamp plate, you will have to use stamps like Ivan Leathercraft Co. in Taiwan makes them and sells them to various retailers throughout the world. One of the most popular retailers of them is Tandy Leather.
Not a stamp but almost impossible to tool leather without it, is a swivel knife. This and some other knives serve for the carving portion of the decoration process.
We are dividing the stamps into these major groups:
- Beveler Stamps
- Backgrounder Stamps
- Seeder Stamps
- Mulefoot Stamps
- Veineer Stamps
- Camouflage Stamps (sunburst stamps are a variation of those stamps)
- Border Tools (usually consist of camouflage stamps and certain sets like barbed wire etc.)
- Geometric Stamps
- Shell Stamps
- Matting Stamps
- Peer Shader Stamps
- Basket Weave (may be considered backgrounder with some retailers)
- Special Figure Carving Stamps
The Craftool Conversion Chart at Leathercraft Library – Craftool Conversion Chart provides a great overview of stamps available to you.
Those stamps made by Ivan Leathercraft Co. are good starter tools which will last a while. Most professional leather crafters use more upscale tools made by companies like Barry King.
In this article I won’t get into how to use a certain stamp and how leather should be prepared (cased) before it can be tooled. This is really just about the stamping tool itself.
One of the leather worker’s first choice in stamps are stamps made by Barry King. On his own website he sells his hand made stamps directly to his customers. On some other websites you might find them used and a little cheaper. Since they are all handmade they may vary a bit and may not be exactly the same as the “same” stamp with the same number.
Barry King divides his stamps into these groups:
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These names vary from the craftool conversion chart because Barry King is geared towards the Sheridan Style carving. If reviewed one will find out that it’s mostly just different terminology as a Thumbprint is a lot like a pear shader (refer to page 5 on the conversion chart).
His stamps are all made of stainless steel. You’ll notice the difference if you use one of his stamps right from the start if you compare it to a cheaper Craftool stamp or one by Ivan Leathercraft Co. People keep asking what the difference is between those cheaper and the professional stamps.
Bruce Johnson made that difference obvious for everyone to see. On the left the cheaper Craftool stamp and on the right the more expensive professional stamp. A customer may not recognize the difference for whatever reason. Some more experienced customers will recognize it right away and you as the craftsman should do your best to satisfy your customer, not just for this sale but also for the sales to come and future experiences with you. If your products are within a certain price range, you can expect that a customer is paying attention to things like this.
Of course there’s no point buying such an expensive tool if you don’t want to sell your products and don’t care to achieve the best possible result.
The most re-known makers in the industry are:
Yes, there are others as well, but either very hard to find or not really better than the aforementioned cheaper stamps, therefore there’s no point to even list them here.
Those 4 makers offer a life-time warranty, which speaks for itself. Try to get this with any of the stamps Tandy sells…
If you’re going to buy stamps with whom ever, keep in mind that service and availability are an important factor in your future business. Keep in mind that if a business is available through Facebook or Amazon they may be gone faster than you can think of and the money for your order will be gone. The great deal you’ve been thinking of may turn out into a scam. Therefore you should make business with trustworthy businesses only. Usually they are more expensive, but also offer the service you’ll need.
Not to forget there are so called 3-D stamps as well as alphabet sets. Why 3-D stamps are called 3-D I don’t know. They are still just 2 dimensional. That little impression they are making can barely be considered a third dimension. Again Tandy sells a huge variety of those stamps, but I haven’t seen and serious craftsman using any of them. They are nice and playful, and this is the end of the story.
Far more important than 3-D stamps are letter stamps. There’s nothing wrong with those sets unless you want to standout from the crowd. If you want to standout from the crowd the easiest is to get lead letters on eBay and use them for your “printing” jobs. If it’s supposed to be a little more upscale you’ll have to use your swivel knife and bevelers etc. Usually you will also need a modeler. Alphabet sets offer a fast and uniform method to ad text to a product. Just remember it’s nothing special because thousands if not millions of those sets are out there and used by just as many people in the right and in the wrong way.
There may be more that should be said about stamps and it may be covered in a later article about stamping in which also the preparation of leather will have to be covered.
One last comment on stamps. If you don’t have the money for a stamp but really need one, don’t spent it on some cheap stuff or try making one yourself. If you aren’t experienced in the field don’t waste the money and time. Save it until you can afford the right stamp.
And as usual, if you have any comment on this article please let me know.