Beech Leather Stamps

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I was making a present for a very dear friend of mine, and decided that it needed a sheath to with, and on the sheath I wanted to put his initial in some fancy lettering, So I needed something hard and impact proof, seeing the fact I had about 240 pounds of beech lying around the choice wasn't that hard to make ^^.

I made the Stamp by first routing out the course part and finally doing the final shaping with a Violinbuilders/ Luthiers knife to make the image smooth, yet because this was my first Stamp I ever made, or used, Let the Rookie mistakes commence ^^

Hey Ruud why do you have two stamps, Yeah okay let the joking begin ^^

So this was my on mirrored Stamp, with the Initials PJ

And my Leather Stamp that is currently in Use

And finally a piece of scrap leather on which I tested my stamps

I found that the Beech holds up very well and I use my Carpenters vise to press the stamp into the wet Leather
I'm really pleased with the out come, so If you guys have any other awesome designs that you use for decorative framing of your leatherwork which you like to use allot, please do send a picture then I got my self another new project ^^.

So tell me what you guys think
Yours sincerely Ruud

Who learned his leason, if you want a stamp or a Branding iron mirror that thing else you spend twice as much time as you need ^^.

Ps the un-mirrored Stamp has black residue from a marker I used to trace the design to another piece of Beech and so mirroring it.

 

[Toddy]

Very good
Neat idea, and oftimes using what you have is a learning curve, but in a productive/informative way

Thanks for posting

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Dreadhead]

i like those, nice job. its always good making a few mistakes and learning the lesson i think i do it with every single project

Hamish

 

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Thanks Toddy and Hamish Means allot to hear from you guys ( and galls ^^)
yours sincerely Ruud

 

[luckylee]

They look great bud well done.

 

[Chopper]

They are really great...work well to.

 

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Thanks guys ^^, I'm now looking to make some kind of a pattern stamp for decoration and such, anyone has some nice ones, or nice styles? or perhaps a example of awesome leather stamping so I could get some cool ideas, preferably in the the same elegant style as the lettering ^^
Thanks in advance
Ps thanks for the comments Lee and Chopper means allot from you guys

 

[sasquatch]

Nice one. Any chance of a pic of the luthier's knife you used next time round?

 

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Thanks sasquatch and yeah I'll put a pic up from my knives this evening so you can check em out
yours sincerely Ruud

 

[sasquatch]

Thanks. I had a go at a similar thing for an art project years ago and struggled with a lack of tools. Currently thinking I'd like to build my own Les Paul so a luthier knife sounds interesting.

 

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Hey sasquatch, I dont know how well you are already up to date on guitar building but if you need to have any advice I will be happy to grant it to ya, as I already built some, and I'm fair to say I know quite the lot about building guitars, wood species acoustics and all the tall tails that come with.
I do not quite understand what you would want with a luthier Knife for building a Les Pauls, but that is debatable, cause the only proper job for It that I could think off is shaping the archtop, Which would be way easier and way faster by plane, and perhaps the cornering for fittings as the neck slots etc.

but here are some pictures from the knives I use including the Luthier knife

and the Luthier knife at its own

The brand of the knife is called Pfeil, and I got a 12 mm which suits me fine, yet can imagine to wanting a smaller or bigger one for different types of jobs, I could also advice you on how these are used cause they are used with quite a special technique and for a purpose that is not clear to most.

Ps on the Les Pauls project:
What kind of les pauls were you planning on building, a Solid Archtop ( the one that gets mass produced these days, a shame in my opinion as it has a way lower quality tone) A Semi Hollow Arch top, Or a Split top Archtop ( so where only the arch is hollow and the solid body beneath holds all the anchors for the bridges and pick-ups) ?
Let me know if you need to know anything, and if you would like to know a thing or two about the different styles and effect that they bring with, I could even open a skype conference with you to discuss the possibilities, I'm soon gonna build a Les Pauls style model for a Friend of mine which will be a Split top Archtop model, with a Walnut Solid( but entirely solid as I will route out small extra cavities for improved feedback, and a Maple Arch. He is a metal artist So the humbucker that will be in there will be ridiculous.

Let me know ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud