Four edge bevelers in a row beside a beveled strip of bridle leather and calipers on a workbench.
| |

Choosing an Edge Beveler

ByPeter Joeseph 'Briefcase Maker' Kalafatis

Measure the leather first. The number on the tool means less than you think.

An edge beveler is a small cutting tool that shaves the sharp corner off the top and bottom of a cut leather edge, and choosing one comes down to three things: how thick your leather is, what shape you want the edge to take, and whether you’ll keep the blade sharp. Everything else is handle wood and price. The trouble is that the sizes printed on these tools don’t agree from one maker to the next, so a beginner buys a “number 2” thinking it’s a standard and finds out on the first strap that it isn’t. Work through it in the order the edge does. Leather, size, profile, test, sharpen.

Video: Conker bridle leather edge bevel, from Marcellino NY Briefcase Maker on YouTube.

That’s a clip from my channel, beveling an edge on conker bridle. This post is about the tool. The stroke itself, and what happens to the edge at each stage after, is in the post on beveling and creasing a strap.

Start with the edge you’re cutting

Thickness picks the size. Know yours in ounces and millimetres.

Hands pulling an edge beveler along a bridle leather strap edge, lifting a thin curl of leather.

Every chart in this trade starts from leather weight, so start there too. Put a gauge or calipers on the actual edge you’re going to bevel, not on the hide label. A stack of two glued layers is a different edge from one layer of the same leather.

Bridle runs heavy. On my Leather Choices page I describe Hermann Oak bridle as thick, around 8 to 12 oz, and for a very thick, durable briefcase I tell people to keep the edges traditional by burnishing, not painting. That matters here. A burnished edge shows the bevel. A painted one hides some of it under coats.

On my own cases the edges are hand-burnished for tradition. On lined or suede-lined cases I use a latex-based edge paint, because it glues the layers as well. Either way the bevel goes on first, and the bevel decides how round that edge can ever get.

And a case isn’t one thickness. I cut gussets thinner than the panels, so the case can bend at the sides without creasing on the outside. I also thin strap leather on a hand-crank splitter and stitch two thinned pieces together into one strap. So on one briefcase I’m beveling single panels, thinner gussets, and doubled straps. That’s three edges.

Write your thicknesses down before you shop. It saves money.

Read the size, then distrust it

Number 3 from one maker is not number 3 from another.

Here’s what the charts say, all from the makers’ own pages.

Tandy’s Craftool straight edge beveler comes in four sizes. The #2 cuts 1.4 mm and suits 5 to 7.5 oz leather. The #3 cuts 1.93 mm for 7.5 to 9 oz. The #4 and #5 cut 2.31 and 2.49 mm and share the same 9 to 12.5 oz range. Tandy’s rule is simple: “the larger the number, the wider the bevel.”

Weaver’s Master Tool edge beveler runs from size 0 at 1/32 inch for 4 to 6 oz, through size 1 at 3/64 inch for 4 to 10 oz, size 2 at 1/16 inch for 8 to 12 oz, up to size 3 at 7/64 inch for 12 oz and over. Weaver also notes the tool has an angled tip for tight corners and turns.

Barry King’s #3 common edger, as Sailrite lists it, cuts 7/64 inch, or 2.8 mm, and is meant for 8 to 11 oz.

The Oka Factory Japanese grooved edgers at Rocky Mountain Leather Supply go #0 at 0.6 mm up to #4 at 1.4 mm. Their #3 is 1.2 mm.

Line up the threes. Tandy’s cuts 1.93 mm. Barry King’s cuts 2.8. Oka’s cuts 1.2. Weaver’s cuts 7/64 inch, the same width as Barry King’s, but recommended for heavier leather. Four tools called 3, and the widest cuts more than twice as much as the narrowest.

Bruce Johnson, a moderator on leatherworker.net, put it in one line in a thread on which bevelers people use: “Numbers don’t mean much between makers.” In another thread on choosing a size, a member called mike02130 says a Palosanto #0, a Ron’s #1 and a Barry King #00 cut the same.

Buy by the millimetre. Ignore the number.

Flat bevel or round edge

Some edgers cut an angle. Some cut a curve. Pick the edge you want to burnish.

Macro of leather edges end-on showing a square cut, a flat bevel and a rounded bevel side by side.

Width is half the decision. Profile is the other half.

A straight or flat beveler cuts a chamfer, a small angled face where the corner used to be. A rounded or grooved edger has a U-shaped cutting groove and takes the corner off as a curve. Sailrite’s listing says the Barry King’s U-shaped blade gives a rounded edge. The Oka listing describes a rounded bottom for a more contoured, rounded look. In the size thread, mike02130 also points out that some edgers cut an angle and not a round edge, which is one more reason the numbers don’t line up.

Which one is right comes down to the finish. In the thread on bevelers, the original poster, Yukonrookie, owns a Tandy flat edger and two Japanese ones and says he likes the one that cuts a rounded edge best, though it’s a little small for most of his work.

My opinion: on a burnished bridle edge I’d want the round. A burnished edge is a rubbed edge, and a curve is easier to rub into a dome than a flat chamfer with two new corners of its own. On a painted edge it matters less, because the paint builds up and softens the shape anyway.

Price follows the steel and the handle, not the profile. On the day I checked, Tandy listed every Craftool size at $14.99, the Oka edger was $24.99 and marked sold out, Weaver’s Master Tool was $57, and the Barry King #3 was $70 at Sailrite. A good edge doesn’t need the dearest one. It does need the right width and a sharp blade.

The reversal: one good beveler isn’t enough

The argument for buying once runs straight into the briefcase.

Here’s the case I’d like to make. Buy one beveler, a good one, in the size that fits your main leather. Learn it and keep it sharp, and don’t fill a drawer.

It holds up for about one project.

Go back to the three edges on a case. A single panel, a thinner gusset, a doubled strap. In the size thread, a member called McCarthy says a #2 gives a rounded edge on two layers and suggests a #1 where there’s a single layer. Put that next to a briefcase and the problem is plain: one width that looks right on a doubled strap takes too much off a single layer, and one that suits the single layer barely touches the doubled edge. One beveler on all three means one of those edges is always wrong.

So the honest version is two. One for your single-layer weight and one for the stacked or heavier edge. Another member in that thread, zuludog, suggests a beginner start with a cheap Tandy Craftool #2 because it’s easy to use and good enough to learn on, and he isn’t impressed by one of the Japanese edgers he tried. I’d add one more on top of that, in the size your thickest edge needs.

My opinion: two cheap sharp tools in the right sizes will beat one expensive tool in the wrong size, every time the edge gets rubbed.

Test it before you trust it

One pass on scrap, the same leather, the same thickness.

An edge beveler being stropped along waxed thread coated with white compound next to leather test strips.

New bevelers come sharp, or they’re supposed to. Weaver says its tips arrive sharpened and ready to use straight out of the box. Don’t take anybody’s word for it on a finished panel.

Cut a strip of the same leather you’ll be working, at the same thickness, and stack it the same way if the real edge is doubled. Pull the beveler along the corner in one steady stroke, at one angle, the way the strap post describes. Then look at the strip end-on.

What you want is a clean, even curl of leather coming off and a smooth face left behind. What you don’t want is a ragged shaving, a torn corner, or a tool that skips. A torn bevel means the blade is dull, the angle is wrong, or the size is too big for that edge. Weaver’s sharpening guide lists the signs of a dull tool plainly: it drags, tears, or needs extra pressure.

Then burnish the test strip. That’s the real test. A bevel that looks fine raw can turn out too small once the edge is sanded and rubbed, and the post on hand burnishing shows how much the rub changes the shape. If the dome won’t form, go up a size. If it rubs into a flat, ugly shoulder, go down.

Mark the strip with the tool size and keep it. A drawer of labeled test strips is worth more than a drawer of bevelers.

Keeping it sharp

A dull beveler tears. Pull it across rouge before it gets there.

Weaver’s sharpening guide gives two ways to strop an edger. Coat a length of waxed thread with white rouge or stropping compound and pull the edger along it, so the thread rides in the groove and the compound does the work as a mild abrasive. Or use a wooden strop board. The guide’s warning for the thread method is four words: “Always pull, never push.” Its general schedule is to strop before each project, sharpen weekly under regular use, and deep sharpen when a tool starts needing extra effort.

On leatherworker.net, in a thread asking whether Craftool bevelers can be sharpened, a member called ClayB describes laying wet/dry sandpaper or emery cloth over a small steel rod and running the groove across it. For round-groove edgers he suggests thin wire or a sewing needle that fits the groove. In the same thread, Colter says his Craftool bevelers have never needed it and the tool “still clears through leather like new.”

The Oka edgers come with a small piece of 800 grit paper in the box. That tells you what the maker expects.

My opinion: a dull beveler is worse than none. With no beveler you get a square edge you can sand. With a dull one you get a torn corner on a panel you can’t cut again. Strop it before the first edge of the day, and when it starts to drag, stop and strop again.

The tool kits sold to beginners usually include a beveler, and the post on complete tool kits covers what’s in them. Check the width before you trust it. And if you’re cutting heavy bridle, the post on why bridle is a hard first leather explains why that edge will test every tool you own, the beveler first, because it’s the first blade to touch the edge after the knife.

BeaverCraft Stropping Compound Kit: A stropping compound kit for sharpening and polishing edges. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).

Wet Dry Sandpaper Assortment, 45 Pieces: A 45-piece wet and dry sandpaper assortment that starts at 400 grit. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).

3Pcs Wooden Sandpaper Block Set: A three-piece wooden sanding block set with bevel and wedge shapes. See it on Amazon (affiliate link).

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A commission may be earned if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you.

Sources

You Might Also Like

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply