Basket Stamping with Horsewright

Very good to know! I'll have to pick up some Pro Carv for sure and try it out!

Back to the subject of basket weaves. Do you generally wet mold holsters and sheaths that have been tooled with a weave? Does this present a challenge around tight bends?
 
Cushing H. said:
Got it. Since here in the frozen tundra above the 45th parallel, while we do have winds (like the blizzard today!), but the temp is pushing zero, we work INDOORS :). ). So I will rig something not so severely weighted out of my old cheap leather.

between you and me though ... I would prefer the heat of a santa anna versus an Alberta clipper :)
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Yeah but now a days, the Santa Ana's blow and they turn the power off and it gets plenty cold here at 4,500 ft in the mountains! We were under warning for a power shutoff yesterday and today too.

Chris 54326 said:
Dave,

Thanks for your thorough tutorial. You do such beautiful work and it's helpful when you explain some of the tricks you've learned to make it that way. I'd love to do some basket weave stamping someday but the "right" sheath hasn't presented itself yet. But I'll save this thread on my list of important information from pro's.
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You are welcome and thanks!

J. Keeton said:
Very good to know! I'll have to pick up some Pro Carv for sure and try it out!

Back to the subject of basket weaves. Do you generally wet mold holsters and sheaths that have been tooled with a weave? Does this present a challenge around tight bends?
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. Yes I do wet mold them. I try to do about 85 % or so of the wet molding on the back and leave the front alone. But on basket stamping I'll still do a hint, without trying to squish the stamping too much. Same with flower carved or oak carved only I do even less with them. I will finish this holster and a couple others off today, they just have to have their edges rubbed and the finish put on them to be done. I'll post pics if I get a chance.
 
Here are the pics of the holster once it was finished. Very little molding on the front side but some.

NWIQ2MF.jpg


Most was done on the back side:

B569ufg.jpg


At the same time I was making these two. My daughter helped with these as they are gifts for her boyfriend's sister and her boyfriend's father. In fact she just left to deliver them:

CtN2fQL.jpg


pF7q5bC.jpg
 
This is how it turned out:





I had some bad strikes with the maul that "bounced" my stamp... And I have a crooked boarder stamp here and there.

Also when setting my boarder for the tooling I tried to draw a line 1/4'' to the right of my center line. Looks like it got it crooked.

The fold washed out some of the tooling too.




Thanks again for the tutorial Horsewright Horsewright ! Much to learn over here.


Edit: On this sheath: I oiled it down with neats food oil, accelerated the dry with a hair dryer, finished my edge with 320 then 600 grit quick slick then black dye, then wiped down with Bag-Cote on a microfiber cloth.
 
Beautiful work and a great picture tutorial, thank you Dave. I still have some Tandy's leather I use to practice, as a novice I'm not good enough to "play" with the better quality leathers though I have some Hermann Oak stashed away.
When stamping basket weave pattern, I always tried to get the prongs next to each other and my first try at it looked like a drunk monkey took a hold of a stamp and maul and went at it. Next time (in an hour or so) I'll try it the Horsewright way. Now, I noticed the leather stretching in the area I just stamped (any pattern I've tried) so I started taping the flesh side before I stamp. My thinking is that the stretching happens because a)low quality leather, b) moisture content too high, c) striking the stamp too hard.
I happen to have a "sand" bag I use, they are used by jewelers when stamping or doing repousse so a jewelry supply store would be a place to find them.
 
brewbear said:
Beautiful work and a great picture tutorial, thank you Dave. I still have some Tandy's leather I use to practice, as a novice I'm not good enough to "play" with the better quality leathers though I have some Hermann Oak stashed away.
When stamping basket weave pattern, I always tried to get the prongs next to each other and my first try at it looked like a drunk monkey took a hold of a stamp and maul and went at it. Next time (in an hour or so) I'll try it the Horsewright way. Now, I noticed the leather stretching in the area I just stamped (any pattern I've tried) so I started taping the flesh side before I stamp. My thinking is that the stretching happens because a)low quality leather, b) moisture content too high, c) striking the stamp too hard.
I happen to have a "sand" bag I use, they are used by jewelers when stamping or doing repousse so a jewelry supply store would be a place to find them.
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I'd say yes to your reasons for stretching. I would add too thin a leather too, to your list. I have tooled very thin leather and its way more difficult to tool well than thicker leather. The tape idea does help or contact cementing to thin cardboard also helps. We seldom tool anything less than 7/8 oz Herman Oak and all carving is on 8/10 oz Wicket and Craig.
 
Horsewright said:
I'd say yes to your reasons for stretching. I would add too thin a leather too, to your list. I have tooled very thin leather and its way more difficult to tool well than thicker leather. The tape idea does help or contact cementing to thin cardboard also helps. We seldom tool anything less than 7/8 oz Herman Oak and all carving is on 8/10 oz Wicket and Craig.
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Thank you, the thin leather on top of the other factors makes a lot of sense now, I was working with 4-6 oz leather, and not a good quality leather at that.
 
Thanks guys!
J. Keeton said:
This is how it turned out:





I had some bad strikes with the maul that "bounced" my stamp... And I have a crooked boarder stamp here and there.

Also when setting my boarder for the tooling I tried to draw a line 1/4'' to the right of my center line. Looks like it got it crooked.

The fold washed out some of the tooling too.




Thanks again for the tutorial Horsewright Horsewright ! Much to learn over here.


Edit: On this sheath: I oiled it down with neats food oil, accelerated the dry with a hair dryer, finished my edge with 320 then 600 grit quick slick then black dye, then wiped down with Bag-Cote on a microfiber cloth.
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Looks pretty good though. Ya mentioned most of the things I would critique. Yeah try not too stamp across a bend because it will wash out. Now I'll occasionally do it on the toe of one of my Rangeflap holsters but its a much more gradual bend, not so much of a fold like a sheath. Really, my friend, just more practice.
 
brewbear said:
Thank you, the thin leather on top of the other factors makes a lot of sense now, I was working with 4-6 oz leather, and not a good quality leather at that.
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Ya bet. Years ago I had a Christmas order to flower carve a thin belt for a movie star. She's a little petite thing and her husband, also a movie star, wanted it to be nice and thin as regular belts were just too stiff for her. He had a saddle from an very famous old time saddle maker that had told him: "Any fool can carve thick leather, it takes talent to tool thin leather." So he sat and watched me the whole time, carve that belt. No pressure there. Must have passed the test as we have made him probably 10-15 belts since then, most of them flower carved. He collects handmade buckles and many of these have to have belts made specifically for them as the buckles are non standard measurements.

ZHArreC.jpg
 
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Horsewright said:
Ya bet. Years ago I had a Christmas order to flower carve a thin belt for a movie star. She's a little petite thing and her husband, also a movie star, wanted it to be nice and thin as regular belts were just too stiff for her. He had a saddle from an very famous old time saddle maker that had told him: "Any fool can carve thick leather, it takes talent to tool thin leather." So he sat and watched me the whole time, carve that belt. No pressure there. Must have passed the test as we have made him probably 10-15 belts since then, most of them flower carved. He collects handmade buckles and many of these have to have belts made specifically for them as the buckles are non standard measurements.

ZHArreC.jpg
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Absolutely gorgeous! Is there a place where I could buy a 55 gal drum of experience? Santa didn't bring any!
 
I feel like this is relevant to this thread... Don't buy cheap stamps! :mad:

Guess I'm in the market for a new camouflage boarder tool...



Edit: Currently looking at the Tandy D435 Craftool Border Stamp 6435-00 :D - Stamp dimensions: 9/32x1/4... seems like a decent size. Little smaller than what I was using.
 
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brewbear said:
Recently I bought a stamp from Weaver, the one very similar to the one used by Horsewright Horsewright at the ends of the carlos borders, a starburst look or some such. It is made by US Stamps and it is much crisper and feel better than the Tandy version. J. Keeton J. Keeton , you might want to check out their offerings, several makers at decent prices https://www.stecksstore.com/camouflage/
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Interesting! I've never heard of them... but that's not saying much.

Did you get the 3/8'' camouflage stamp? (BW6)

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Their X498 basket weave looks kind of cool with the offset nature... It's kinda big though @ 0.6875'' long

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U535Z98/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1DOFKMTLCPOIO&psc=1



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I've been eyeballing this Japan Select #X501 basket weave with a 0.40625'' length. It seems pretty deep looking at it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086WNCD2Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=AJXGZH4FFX9J1&psc=1



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Looking though some older stamps I got from my parents I found a few more camouflage borders for me to try out. A CraftsTool D436 (small) and a C429 (#yuge)(0.5''). I think the D436 can be manageable.

 
J. Keeton J. Keeton , I bought this one https://www.stecksstore.com/f916-figure-carving-leather-stamp-us-stamps/ from Weaver and I was looking for one a bit larger with the same pattern. The one I already have is a perfect match to the BK #1 Carlos. I bought a slightly larger Carlos border from Tandy (not too bad but nothing to write home about) that to these aged eyes doesn't look as sharp as the BK stamp more than likely user error).
As an aside, my wife saw me mumbling and grumbling at my "El Cheapo" brand mauls from Amazon and sat next to me, took up the laptop and asked me to choose a maul from "those people" I keep looking at (Barry King). Long and short of it, I have a new BK maul and a #2 Carlos border stamp coming from BK. If you (or anyone else for that matter) want the Tandy stamp and the El Cheapo mauls, please let me know. They are free and shipping is on me.
 
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