Selecting Vintage Edge Creaser Sizes

Edge creasers are one of the vintage tools that are used to firm the edge of a piece of leather as well as make a decorative line parallel to the edge. One of the common questions I get is selecting a size for single-line edge creasers. The vintage Gomph and Osborne tools are sized from #1 through #5 with the occasional #6 thrown in to confusion everything. The size numbers generally equate to 1/32 inch of width per size number. So following that system, a #1 leaves a 1/32 inch bead along the border. This is very fine and would be appropriate on the
thinnest of leathers such as a wallet interior. Following this up, a #5 is 5/32 inch and would leave a bead line of just over 1/8 inch.

Then to further confuse things there is a larger size range – CS Osborne and HF Osborne called theirs a “layer creaser” and Gomph called their larger size range a “large round creaser”. These stepped up in size again by 1/32” on average starting with the #1 being 6/32 of an inch through the #5 at 10/32 inch or 5/16 inch.

So the bottom line leads to “What sizes do I need?Do I need a full set?” In many cases that answer is no. I suggest starting out with a few creasers in every other size number. Realistically,
1/32 inch is not a big size difference but 1/16 inch is. If you do mostly thinner leather projects then a #2, #4, and a #1 layer or large round creaser should be adequate. If you are doing thicker projects then maybe go with a #4 single-line creaser along with a #1 and #3 layer or large round creaser. You can add larger or smaller sizes on either end or in between as you grow your needs.