Brass Letter Sets in Leathercraft: Stamp Before Assembling, Not After

I once saw, at an old workshop, a craftsman stamping a customer’s name onto a fully assembled leather bag — and the stamp landed crooked at one corner. There was no way to correct it; the whole bag, a dozen hours of work, was as good as ruined. Since then I have firmly remembered one principle, even before ordering my own brass letter set: stamping is a step done before assembling the finished piece, not after.

What a brass letter set is

A brass letter set is a collection of separate metal stamps that you combine as you wish to print a name, a product code or a short message onto leather — instead of ordering a separate die for each different text. With a letter set on hand, you only need to arrange and stamp, without waiting for a new die to be made every time you need different text.

Why the timing of stamping matters more than the letter set itself

The first principle I learned was not about choosing a font or a letter holder — it was about when to stamp. Always stamp on the separate leather pieces, before stitching and assembling them into a finished product. Stamp after assembly, and one crooked strike loses all the work put in before it — there is no way to fix it.

I use hot stamping — heating the brass letter die and then pressing it onto the leather surface, optionally with gold/silver foil. This method has its own risks: holding the die too long or using too much heat will make the foil melt and stick to the brass die, or scorch the leather surface. Testing the temperature and holding time on a scrap of the same leather before stamping the real product is a step you should not skip.

Before ordering — choosing the font, size and letter holder

Choosing the font: Sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Tahoma suit a modern style; serif fonts such as Times New Roman suit a more classic style. Avoid fonts that are too thin or have many small strokes — they can make stamping difficult and can even tear the leather. Prefer common fonts, which are both familiar to the eye and economical if the stamp maker already has the file.

Size and quantity: A common letter height is 3–5mm depending on the size of the product. A basic set has 26 letters and a few extra characters — it is worth ordering 2–4 extra sets of frequently used letters such as A, E, G, H, I, M, N, O, T, U.

Uppercase or lowercase: Consider both. The cost of making lowercase letters is by no means low, so many beginners prioritise uppercase letters first and expand to lowercase later.

Letter holder: A regular holder is cheaper, but the letters shift easily because they do not sit tightly in the holder, requiring a lot of manual adjustment. A holder with clamping jaws holds the letters more firmly and gives more consistent results — I recommend this type if your budget allows.

Before deciding

A fixed font and the difficulty of composing Vietnamese text with diacritics are two points to weigh before ordering. But if your work regularly requires stamping a personal mark or a product code, this is still an investment worth considering — a one-time cost that lasts a long time. The price of a full set varies from one stamp maker to another, so ask carefully for a quote before ordering.

And remember the principle from the start of this post: stamp before assembling, not after.