krusatyr

Contact cements are ready to go in minutes: E6000 requires days to cure, cleans up with lacquer thinner. I have used both and each has advantages, disadvantages for any given purpose. I would use contact cement where alignment is easy but the E6000 is better if, for example, one is blind-attaching a piece down inside of a boot where applying cement to both surfaces and aligning attachment is impossible. The slower cure of E6000 can be effective where additional adjustment, dry-shaping and clamping occur immediately after gluing.

Three considerations for efficient punch and cut board: 'self healing', non-dulling of tool edge and resistance to force. A stump is great per above comments but 1/2" thick, custom sized HDPE poly (30" X 60", or larger) board over a hardwood table top is better for cutting large patterns. There are several wholesale suppliers of large custom HDPE boards in 1/2", 3/4" and 1" and in several colors. I like red and black.

The bottom of most ceramic dishes have an unglazed ceramic "ring" that is more or less the equivalent of manufactured ceramic sharpening stones. Embarrass your wife/friends by sharpening your dinner knife on the dishes while waiting on your order at a restaurant.

I appreciate remarks referencing time management. When I carved wooden furniture, I budgeted about one hour of edge upkeep to seven hours of carving, requiring an hour of sharpening/honing every day. I'm starting to do a little more leatherwork and appreciate the importance that professionals here place on edge upkeep. Tell me, when I see leatherwork for sale online with raw edges, is it because of the time required or because they are working with leather that lacks sufficient stiffness to respond to tooling and polishing?