Beader(s) With Guide

[Marshal Will Wingam]

A while ago I made a beader with an edge guide from a stitch groover. It worked OK but not great. The guide adjustment needed a pair of pliers to tighten and loosten. The tip I made didn’t do a very good groove.


I have a couple projects coming up that need a good one. A push beader works beautifully but they work pushing them away from you.


I wanted one that worked well pulling it toward me. It looked like it would be easier to make a whole new tool than to modify any existing one. As a proof of concept, I bought a beader online for $10. It looked like a stinko design but it had the potential to be modified for my purposes. After a few days it arrived and yes, it truly was stinko. I feel sorry for new leather workers that get scammed into wasting their money on one of these things.


Since a push beader works well, I figured that one with the tip made at a 45 degree angle to a push beader would be good. After grinding, filing and polishing, the newly shaped tip worked as hoped.


For a holder, I took the barrel off a swivel knife that was a junker that felt like it was full of gravel. I unscrewed the finger cradle and jammed a bolt into the handle for the stinko beader, retaining the thumb jam nut. Then I reshaped the handle and screwed it into the swivel knife barrel. A hole drilled through the barrel worked for a guide and the handle bolt tightens against that to lock it into position. A flat filed on it made it so it wouldn’t turn.


I modified the tip from the beader so it would fit into the barrel. I did have to make the handle considerably smaller but otherwise it was good.


The guide had to be inline with the tip, too. All went together fine and worked right.


A quick test showed the design is a good one. It was easy to do parallel beads. A twist of the handle loosens the guide and another quick twist secures it. The lock thumb nut from the swivel knife helps to keep the handle from coming loose in use.


I'm pleased with this design. It works really well and I can make another tip when I want one a different size.

[Major 2]

I bought a stitch groover like your first photo, i worked OK a couple of times, then dulled.
Now it just sort of gouges its way along, I tried to stone it so far to unsatisfactory results.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I bought a stitch groover like your first photo, i worked OK a couple of times, then dulled.
Now it just sort of gouges its way along, I tried to stone it so far to unsatisfactory results.

Mine didn't even work a couple of times. It started out gouging then quit doing that after a few strokes. No sharpening helped, either. Maybe the metal on those is too soft to hold an edge.

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[Rube Burrows]

Excellent and effective job there.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, Rube. It's an idea I've been mulling over for a while. I finally tried it out.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Although the beader I just made works great and I intend to keep it for single beads, I got to thinking about multiple beads of different sizes. Rather than make a different tip for each size I may need, I thought that maybe I could make one tip that would work for every size I ever wanted.

Back to the POS stitch groover that didn't work. The first thing I did was to unscrew the whole end and then re-install it with Gorilla Glue so it wouldn't turn in the handle. Then I made a tip to go into it and filed it to make a rounded double beveled groove. I also beveled the end of the holder so I could work at a low angle if needed, without marking the leather. Then I made a new guide bar from 1/8" S/S welding fill rod for it that is small enough to get into a tight radius and still work. The result is better than I had hoped. So much so that when testing it, I stopped doing anything to the tip for fear of taking too much off. So the back of it is grinder rough and will stay that way.

My test piece had two beads, beveled with a lined beveler on the outside. I experimented with making an edge bead and although it was somewhat successful, it didn't round off the outside edge so I went over it with my #5 edge beader to clean it up. Here's the result:



And what the tip looks like:





I intend to stop making these things and get to enjoying them, now.

[Cliff Fendley]

Nice job Marshal. Does your new beader just impress the leather or does it cut into the surface? I modified making one from a stitch groover a few years ago because I also wanted one with a guide. I still use it quite a bit.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, Cliff. It does more than just impress the surface but it doesn't cut like a swivel knife. It's kind of midway between the two. If I go over it hard or a second time, it can go right down through the top grain but it doesn't cut the fibers below.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Nice job Marshal. Does your new beader just impress the leather or does it cut into the surface? I modified making one from a stitch groover a few years ago because I also wanted one with a guide. I still use it quite a bit.

Thanks, Cliff. It does more than just impress the surface but it doesn't cut like a swivel knife. It's kind of midway between the two. If I go over it hard or a second time, it can go right down through the top grain but it doesn't cut the fibers below.

Update: Thanks for asking this question, Cliff. It got me to thinking it over. I tried following the line with a swivel knife after it was made and it improved the definition of the cut/impression. I just stoned the edge sharper and it works better. I'll work it down a little more so it cuts like a swivel knife. The stone I used was a 1/4" diameter gunsmithing stone so it keeps the rounded bevel shape to the tip.

[Cliff Fendley]

Thanks, Cliff. It does more than just impress the surface but it doesn't cut like a swivel knife. It's kind of midway between the two. If I go over it hard or a second time, it can go right down through the top grain but it doesn't cut the fibers below.

Actually that's perfect I feel. I think that looks the best and deep enough it holds the impression. I've had problems with beader lines not holding the impression but never cared for the look as much on cut lines.

That said the original 19th and early 20th century pieces I have with borders like that seem to have cut lines through the grain as if they were done with beader blades or very sharp rollers.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

These lines weren't cut enough and if I messed with them, they would start to fade out so I put more of an edge on the tip and it works better. Still not like a swivel knife but closer.