Squid61

The point about cheap quality and low cost is good, easier to spot the difference when buying in person versus on line. In my wood carving I use a selection of Mora knives, an example of decent quality at a low price. I also use an Osborne skiving knife that was on the lower end of the price scale but made with quality steel, it took a couple of hours of serious sharpening and honing to get it to skive properly but now holds its edge very well. On the other hand, I find that a basic $5 USD utility knife works very well for most leather work, the blades do require honing before use but the blades cost mere cents when they finally must be replaced. Also something you might understand Klara; I had a Harrisville 40" floor loom that combined mediocre quality with relatively high cost, a poor investment on my part. If a beginner buys tools just because they are low cost there is a significant probability that more time will be spent fighting the tool than learning a craft. Sure, given a certain level of natural talent, a good product can be produced with low quality tools but I don't feel that represents the normal outcome. More likely is the beginner quitting in disgust.

Klara, I never blame my tools for shoddy workmanship. I do blame my tools when cutting instruments will not take or hold an edge (yes I know how to sharpen, been doing it for over 60 years) or gauging instruments will not hold a setting or the tool metal is so cheap it bends. No matter, opinions are what these forums are for.

I have learned through many years of getting into one hobby or another that the most expensive route is through cheap tools. I can't even count the cheap tools I've had to replace, tossing the cheap stuff into the trash. I also have spent far too much money buying those beginner/starter tool sets for various hobbies and crafts only to discover over half either are never needed or don't work. My advice to beginners of leather or any other craft is to talk to an expert or at least experienced practitioner and buy a decent quality selection of individual tools based on sound advice. Yes the cost may be higher at first but much lower in the end.

I can appreciate that, for $100 and some change, one can get a machine to stitch leather, somewhat. I can't afford a real leather sewing machine but I'm pretty good at hand stitching and I don't need yet another project that may or may not result in the desired result. Most everything I've read about these tells me they are pain in the butt, endless tinker project.

Buying an oblong punch for every individual need is way beyond my budget, I just use hollow punches and carefully cut between them.

True, it's a very obtuse flat grind but it should be obvious as soon as the ink starts to wear away.

I grew up in the city, if I asked for help sharpening a knife I would have been asked what I needed a knife for but no help. I'm not sure I even made the connection between a barber's straight razor and a pocket knife back then, too bad he might have been very helpful.

To get back to the OP question; it does help to color the bevel of any knife with a marker pen before you start to sharpen. As you sharpen you will wear away the ink and get immediate feedback on how much of the blade edge you are actually sharpening. Adjust the blade angle until you get even coverage, if it's a typical secondary bevel you want even grinding from the blade edge to the top of the secondary bevel. Try to avoid creating a convex edge for leather or wood knives. The ink method works well for honing and stropping as well.

No one taught me how to sharpen a knife. I spent money I earned sweeping a barbershop floor to buy a cheap pocket knife and when it wouldn't cut I figured out how to sharpen it. I don't remember the details but wrong as they might have been, that knife would finally cut. Over the years I perfected my technique and adapted it to specialty knives as needed. I have no doubt that a similar story fits many, if not most, over the age of 60.

No intent to single anyone out, just a personal comment that applies to all crafts be it leather, wood, welding or whatever. I would have loved to have had the internet back in the 50's, what a great resource for learning.

A bit of a rant: Knife sharpening in general seems to carry a lot of anxiety for beginners, odd knives like a swivel knife seem the most intimidating. Sites like this and more general knife forums do, or should, provide a boost both technically and emotionally to those beginners. Doesn't help a bit to say do whatever works best for you to a beginner. Back in the middle fifties when I first started sharpening a gas station grade pocket knife I had no advice to lean on, it took a long time to overcome mistakes that wouldn't have existed with a bit of advance knowledge.

Thinking more on this, it seems stropping to a polish should eliminate any drag due to striations from the sharpening/honing stone. What am I not understanding?

Kevin at SLC has a video in which he strops side to side but he free hands it, I haven't seen a video using a guide in a side to side fashion.

I don't go nuts with this. I use a Norton dual sided stone for the shaping and rough sharpening, a Tri-Stone that has a medium and fine Arkansas, a fine Spyderco ceramic that I occasionally use more for polishing than sharpening and a strop. Normal use both for leather and wood carving only requires stropping and occasional return to the Arkansas stones. I have always used a push stroke on stones and could never get used to pulling a blade on wet or dry so I just don't use that method. To old to retrain my muscle memory.

I think I'd go with two part epoxy for this. I also agree with roughing up the finish inside the clasp.

I'm by no means an expert in this but I can relate what I do. For my round edgers I make a strop by rounding the edge of the appropriate thickness stiff leather and use it with compound to strop the inside curve, the bottom I simply strop on a flat leather with compound. If they are are truly dull you can start by honing the bottom on a fine/ultra fine ceramic or Arkansas stone before you strop. I have also had some success using an appropriate thickness of cotton cord with compound for the inside curve stropping. One end of the cord gets secured to something that doesn't move and you hold the free end taut.

Stropping is the generally accepted and most prevalent method for refining a blade edge for those applications where a burr free, highly polished edge is desired, in my case both for carving wood and cutting leather. Other cutting applications like the mundane day to day slitting open of mail or packages, cutting string or rope, etc do not require such a refined edge and actually do better with a bit of "tooth" to the edge, so I don't strop my pocket knife. I have never tried sandpaper for sharpening but I do know it was/is very popular, I think it is the basis for the "Scary Sharp" method of sharpening with wet or dry paper on a glass backing. Being an old fart set in his ways I won't be changing my process.

I've tried cardboard, denim and leather - smooth and flesh side and a few various "crayon" abrasive sticks. I finally settled on 1/2' plywood backed smooth leather buffed with around 400 grit wet or dry and powdered Aluminum Oxide. I buff up the leather so it will provide a bit of grip for the powder. I don't care for the wax based compounds because they gum up the strop too much and too fast. The most important thing isn't so much the strop or compound, rather it's how the blade is held against the strop; the angle, on leather, should be just less than the angle of the final bevel so the leather doesn't curl up over the edge and the pressure should be fairly light, again to prevent curling the leather and rounding the edge.

You could sew in welts around the blade areas to protect the stitching and make up some of the thickness difference blade to handles.

Rather than use a set time to decide contact cement is ready for assembly, I use the touch method. The glue on each surface should be sufficiently dry that it can be touched without sticking to my finger, can be a few to 15 minutes depending on the environmental conditions. For stitched seams that in use will be under lower stress I use Fiebings Leather Glue, before stitching, for seams that will be under more stress I use Weldwood or S-18 Contact Cement as well as stitching.

All very interesting. Two points though; someone is going to build "it" because someone wants "it", look around your houses and garages and see how much stuff you have accumulated from cheap sources (many our sworn enemies) before you point fingers. Here in the USA we pay people more than minimum wage to not work, we destroy livestock and cattle if we can't get a high enough price, we raise corn to burn in cars even though it's 15% less efficient than gas and much more expensive, we block oil and gas production forcing us to rely on our sworn enemies for their oil and gas, we're even so stupid as to have all our medicines produced by our sworn enemies and we keep electing self-serving morons to "lead" us!

Perhaps Klara, I prefer wire for ease of warping and lower drag on the warp threads. Might also have something to do with my less than optimal dexterity.

Possibly a well executed vintage DIY project. With some TLC and wire heddles to replaced the strings it looks like it would be a good loom, 6 harnesses provide plenty of design options without being over complicated. Be pretty heavy and bulky to ship very far as an assembled unit and I wouldn't recommend disassembly.

Brings back memories. When I was about 10 and wanted a bike I was informed we couldn't afford one. I went to the town dump and amassed enough parts to assemble a heavy 28" coaster brake beast, had to maneuver around rotting animal carcasses and smoldering heaps of garbage. During the assembly process I got a sometimes painful and often frustrating introduction to mechanics. The most humorous part of my "education" was learning that it's not wise to grease coaster brake shoes, that first ride was exciting when tried to brake!

I gave away a 40" Harrisville floor loom a few years age, the local Weavers' Guild(s) are usually a good way to find an interested party.