Leather Stamp for my wallet

I bought it like 10 years ago, there was only one 6" vise offered then.
What I have subjected that thing to qualifies as industrial duty.
This doesn’t look quite a beefy as mine.

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A couple of things - I would suggest you use Delrin for your embossing stamps. There was a post on here a while back from a guy who did this and he explained what settings etc were needed. I would suggest making a deeper stamp, you’re only going to get as deep as your stamp, and if you’re using a thin leather theres no way to get a deep impression into thin leather. As far as wetting the leather, it depends on the type of leather you’re using. The only leather that wetting will really help with is a raw skirting leather. The leather you have used here looks more like an oil tan which will not : A) Achieve a very deep impression and B) Hold that impression for an extended period.
Most of your leathers (except raw, veg tanned skirting) is treated either with oils, waxes or a top finish which will not allow moisture to penetrate the fibers (which is what gets compressed during embossing). Sometimes you can mist water on the back of the leather that might help it penetrate. I would let it sit in a bag for about 20 minutes after to let it get to the inner fibers.
If you have a Tandy Leather, or any leather supplier close by, I would suggest going in and talking to them about the best leather for your project. They’re usually very helpful. Theres also some great videos on YouTube about hand stitching.
I have a leather/saddle shop in Homer Alaska and this very reason is why I bought my Glowforge. I also have an 18 ton clicker press that I will use for embossing using the delrin stamps that I will be able to make on the Glowforge. I plan on doing mostly leather projects. My Glowforge Pro is supposed to ship Dec. 22! Yahoo!

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Thanks for the tips.

Alaska is an amazingly beautiful state. Visited 5 years ago or so and loved it - Denali was very memorable.

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Beautiful yep. Alaska, a single state, is bigger than the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Greece combined. If there wasn’t a lot of beauty, something would be very wrong.

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Wow, thanks for all the responses and tips.

This is vegetable tanned leather, not chrome or oil tanned. I got it from Tandy Leather. I forgot to mention it, but I did wet the leather before stamping it. I think most of the stamp is good, but the feet are too shallow. I think it was primarily an issue of not getting even pressure on the entire stamp. I’ve since ordered a woodworking vise that I think will do better next time. I may take yall’s suggestions to try to double stamp a scrap piece before taking it to the final product. Thanks!

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I’m thinking that instead of trying to re-stamp a finished wallet I might use a fine sandpaper to lighten the high spots. (I usually stumble down less walked paths…) :grin:

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If you’re going to do this on a regular basis, I’d consider investing in a press. I used to own this one: https://www.ellisoneducation.com/19101/ellison-prestige-pro-machine. You can buy them used on the cheap.

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I agree that Delrin would be preferred for long term / high volume use. I’m just saying that acrylic and a clamp works pretty darn good when you don’t have any Delrin or access to the ten ton press. :wink:

If you are replying to me then I have been using veg-tanned tooling leather. It has been working out quite nicely. If you are talking to the OP then carry on.

Thank you for your comments. It is good to hear from somebody that knows what they are doing. So far I have less than two weeks experience in laser cutters and leather working. I’ve already been to Tandy Leather three times in the past week to pickup supplies and pick their brains.

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Mine is veg tanned too. Also I have delrin but decided to save the expensive material for future use and give acrylic a go first.

Thank you for your time in that educational post! You’re going to have a lot of fun with this thing.

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Another less expensive option for pressing stamps is to adapt and arbor press.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0831938HD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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It looks great to me!

Can confirm! I’ve been using a modified 1/2 ton Harbor Freight arbor press that has served very well for over 10 years now. Best $50 leather working purchase ever - also great for rivets, grommets, punching or anything else requiring force in a small area without all the noise of hammering.

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I have a bout three small presses i use for snaps rivets and such that I hope to get rid of and use arbor press instead. I am hoping a series of magnets to hold dies for those machines will do the trick.

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On mine I modified the ram like the video above. For the lower dies I’m lazy and just use double stick tape or even rolled over blue tape on a 1/4” steel plate :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: it was temporary solution that’s worked well enough I haven’t gotten around to something more permanent in 10 years. :grin:

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