I started watching and was thinking to myself, "Is it my imagination or is this the first leather video I have seen where they placed the camera close enough to really see the details of what they are trying to teach us?" Then I read the other viewer comments and realized I wasn't the only one to think this. Great video! Very informative and wonderful job of showing us exactly what you're doing!!
I know this is like 9 years old burt iv just came across this now ,but i gotta say your camera set up is the best iv seen yet ,very close up and your hand isnt blocking our view of the beveler and how your doing it ..
First step to better bevelling is to get a better beveler. Get a set of Barry King steep angle bevelers. Use the appropriate size for the cut you're bevelling...if it's a tight curve use the small one straight lines use the biggest one. Using too big a beveler for the curve is a common mistake for new guys. It causes the series of hash marks going around the cut rather than a nice smooth bevel. Don't advance the tool more than half it's width each strike and make a concerted effort to make every strike equal in power to keep the depth and width of the bevel and the amount of burnish that results consistent. If you can't or don't want to shell out for a set of steep bevelers, make your own. I have a set of Tandy bevelers tht started life like the one in the video. Carefully grinding them as steep as possible and taking care to round off the edges and corners can yield tools that will produce comparable results to the expensive bevelers that every pro uses instead of the much flatter and less attractive results producing beginner models like those shown here, which is what most every new guy starts out with. This is the source of much of the frustration felt by beginners. The quality of my work saw an immediate and substantial increase when I modified my cheap bevel tools. Just make sure you make the new bevel the same on all sizes you're going to use so they produce consistent results. Take your time in placing the small ones for each strike to start out. Placing the tool off the cut line or slightly angled rather than having the vertical face flat against the cut will ruin your day and leave you disappointed with your results. And it's amazing how much better you get when you see that you're getting better. Meaning when you start seeing improvements in your results, you naturally refine your technique and get exponential improvements. Maintain consistent angle, proper placement in relation to the cut, consistent strikes delivered after each small advancement of the tool using your fingers to anchor you to the work while the tool is supported just resting on or a tiny bit above the work. Then work on advancing the tool while delivering accurate consistent strikes in a fluid motion. As you get used to it, you'll get free of the "digital" look that comes from slow individual strikes. Fluid motion at the right consistent speed and building a cadence with your strikes yields smooth bevels that look like a continuous impression rather than that "digital" look of individual tool marks. Back up if you need to and go over why you need to multiple times to smooth out your bevels or did some depth where needed and lighten up to feather out at the end if it adds to the depth and makes it look more natural. You don't want to look at your work and see tool marks, you want to just see a smooth bevel the full length of each cut. Make sure you're not beveling one cut the moving over to the next cut that runs parallel and damaging what you've just done. Think about what element is on top of the others and work in the right order to not damage your completed work. Nothing wrong with going over the same cut to freshen it up after an adjacent cut is done. Consistency is key. And think about what is background as you work so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot when you come back to do your backgrounds and really make your elements pop. Use lift bevels to raise inside corners and overlaps to emphasize depth. And don't get frustrated. I still suck, but I'm getting better. And so will you. Each time you tool a piece you learn something and I prove your technique. I like to do all the work that can be done with each tool in a section of the piece, then move on to the next tool and do everything that can be done in that section, working methodically thru each tool on each section or the whole piece depending on the size. That way you're not wasting so much time swapping tools constantly and ending up with a pile of stamps to dig thru for every little thing you need to tool or trying to hold "the next" tools while trying to maintain technique with the one you're using. Might seem to save a little time but you'll ruin your technique and that means inferior results. Small revelations as to the best way to do little things will occur and individual aspects will suddenly make sense and soon different parts will start looking like they're supposed to and you'll develop your own style and preferences in ways of doing things. Sorry for rambling. Guess I'm all excited about tooling today. Have fun.
Very good video. And I appreciate all your vids. Could you do one on knowing or how to know, which side to bevel upon ? Thanks s much. Mark in Kentucky USA.
Thanks. This was very helpful. I especially liked having the camera right down by the tool head so I could see the effects of using the tool at different angles.
Also. How do I keep my Beveler from jumping out of the track and striking a place it shouldn’t ? Is it just something that comes with time and experience? Thanks
Hunter, for me, that is the only pressure I put on the beveler in my left hand - just enough force downward to prevent that jumping. The mallet will do the actual impression. Balance that downward pressure with the slight floating effect you want on the tool so that it moves along smoothly as you tap with the mallet.
Hi Johan, great work, with the leather and the tutorial videos. Both much appreciated! Not sure if I missed it somehow, but from which companies/shops do you get your tools? I purchased some for the first time but they are beyond anything you'd want to work with. Any help here is much appreciated! Keep it on!
The current Tandy tools are good - as long as there is not a Z in front or behind the number - indicating Zink made (impressions not clear - tools bend easily). 95% of my tools are Craftools, spanning manufacture date from early sixties to right now.
I started watching and was thinking to myself, "Is it my imagination or is this the first leather video I have seen where they placed the camera close enough to really see the details of what they are trying to teach us?" Then I read the other viewer comments and realized I wasn't the only one to think this. Great video! Very informative and wonderful job of showing us exactly what you're doing!!
Lol thats what i thought
Thank you for doing this so close up.
Wow!! I’m so happy I found this video!! By far the most helpful video I’ve seen! Thank you so much
I know this is like 9 years old burt iv just came across this now ,but i gotta say your camera set up is the best iv seen yet ,very close up and your hand isnt blocking our view of the beveler and how your doing it ..
Thanks for showing the stamping tool and the close ups
First step to better bevelling is to get a better beveler. Get a set of Barry King steep angle bevelers. Use the appropriate size for the cut you're bevelling...if it's a tight curve use the small one straight lines use the biggest one. Using too big a beveler for the curve is a common mistake for new guys. It causes the series of hash marks going around the cut rather than a nice smooth bevel. Don't advance the tool more than half it's width each strike and make a concerted effort to make every strike equal in power to keep the depth and width of the bevel and the amount of burnish that results consistent. If you can't or don't want to shell out for a set of steep bevelers, make your own. I have a set of Tandy bevelers tht started life like the one in the video. Carefully grinding them as steep as possible and taking care to round off the edges and corners can yield tools that will produce comparable results to the expensive bevelers that every pro uses instead of the much flatter and less attractive results producing beginner models like those shown here, which is what most every new guy starts out with. This is the source of much of the frustration felt by beginners. The quality of my work saw an immediate and substantial increase when I modified my cheap bevel tools. Just make sure you make the new bevel the same on all sizes you're going to use so they produce consistent results. Take your time in placing the small ones for each strike to start out. Placing the tool off the cut line or slightly angled rather than having the vertical face flat against the cut will ruin your day and leave you disappointed with your results. And it's amazing how much better you get when you see that you're getting better. Meaning when you start seeing improvements in your results, you naturally refine your technique and get exponential improvements. Maintain consistent angle, proper placement in relation to the cut, consistent strikes delivered after each small advancement of the tool using your fingers to anchor you to the work while the tool is supported just resting on or a tiny bit above the work. Then work on advancing the tool while delivering accurate consistent strikes in a fluid motion. As you get used to it, you'll get free of the "digital" look that comes from slow individual strikes. Fluid motion at the right consistent speed and building a cadence with your strikes yields smooth bevels that look like a continuous impression rather than that "digital" look of individual tool marks. Back up if you need to and go over why you need to multiple times to smooth out your bevels or did some depth where needed and lighten up to feather out at the end if it adds to the depth and makes it look more natural. You don't want to look at your work and see tool marks, you want to just see a smooth bevel the full length of each cut. Make sure you're not beveling one cut the moving over to the next cut that runs parallel and damaging what you've just done. Think about what element is on top of the others and work in the right order to not damage your completed work. Nothing wrong with going over the same cut to freshen it up after an adjacent cut is done. Consistency is key. And think about what is background as you work so that you don't shoot yourself in the foot when you come back to do your backgrounds and really make your elements pop. Use lift bevels to raise inside corners and overlaps to emphasize depth. And don't get frustrated. I still suck, but I'm getting better. And so will you. Each time you tool a piece you learn something and I prove your technique. I like to do all the work that can be done with each tool in a section of the piece, then move on to the next tool and do everything that can be done in that section, working methodically thru each tool on each section or the whole piece depending on the size. That way you're not wasting so much time swapping tools constantly and ending up with a pile of stamps to dig thru for every little thing you need to tool or trying to hold "the next" tools while trying to maintain technique with the one you're using. Might seem to save a little time but you'll ruin your technique and that means inferior results. Small revelations as to the best way to do little things will occur and individual aspects will suddenly make sense and soon different parts will start looking like they're supposed to and you'll develop your own style and preferences in ways of doing things. Sorry for rambling. Guess I'm all excited about tooling today. Have fun.
This is the best tutorial on beveling I've seen so far.
Very good video. And I appreciate all your vids. Could you do one on knowing or how to know, which side to bevel upon ? Thanks s much.
Mark in Kentucky USA.
I'm going to try Mark/Hunter!
Actually taught me what I wanted. Not too many straight to point vids out there. I'm subscribing
Thanks. This was very helpful. I especially liked having the camera right down by the tool head so I could see the effects of using the tool at different angles.
No one shows using undercut and steep bevelers. Can you demonstrate that?
I will try to as soon as possible!
You helped me advance my understanding on bevelling so quickly. Having the camera up close really helped me a lot. Thank you!
Also. How do I keep my Beveler from jumping out of the track and striking a place it shouldn’t ? Is it just something that comes with time and experience? Thanks
Hunter, for me, that is the only pressure I put on the beveler in my left hand - just enough force downward to prevent that jumping. The mallet will do the actual impression. Balance that downward pressure with the slight floating effect you want on the tool so that it moves along smoothly as you tap with the mallet.
This is a fantastic video...I appreciate the super close ups so I can see the exact tool and how its held
great video!!.... thank you for making it :D
This helped so much .. thank you
what tool and size are you using
Hi Johan, great work, with the leather and the tutorial videos. Both much appreciated! Not sure if I missed it somehow, but from which companies/shops do you get your tools? I purchased some for the first time but they are beyond anything you'd want to work with. Any help here is much appreciated! Keep it on!
The current Tandy tools are good - as long as there is not a Z in front or behind the number - indicating Zink made (impressions not clear - tools bend easily). 95% of my tools are Craftools, spanning manufacture date from early sixties to right now.
@@leatherworker Thank you!
very nice do all bevelers come with an imprint on them? please let me know.. thank you.
Christopher Wadforth, no, you do get smooth bevellers - they glide more easily as you move along.