My day - Stuff That Cuts

[bruce johnson]

My blast cabinet gun took a dive today so I switched gears from splitters and did the next tray in the lineup, happened to be knives. I cleaned and sharpened these three knives today. The Rose on the left has about 5 hours on it and turned out well. The right side is an older CS Osborne. The old Newark marked Osbornes are one of my favorites as well. I got a little surprise with the other Osborne in the center. The handle is stamped ORD DEPT USA. It is an Army issue knife and I don't come across them very often. It is always fun to find one. Its a good day in my playpen!

[BruceGibson]

Love 'em.  Rounds knives are but one of my many obsessions.  I think I'm triggered. 

[SUP]

Likewise, @BruceGibson.

[BruceGibson]

8 minutes ago, SUP said:

Likewise, @BruceGibson.

Glad it's not just me!

[SUP]

@BruceGibson.

Round knives fan club!

 

[BigBore]

Nice!

[BruceGibson]

1 hour ago, SUP said:

@BruceGibson.

Round knives fan club!

 

Hey, you might be on to something there!

[Frodo]

I love the round knife 

 

Are you familiar with a hand wood plane?

can you shape a mini round knife using a 2” wide blade  from the plane

[MarshalWill]

It's been a while since I've been on the forum. I figured this thread was as good a place as any to post again.

I haven't been overly enamored by round knives, having not used one much in the past. 10 or 15 years ago I made one just because I didn't have one. I made it out of a saw blade and it cuts great. I'm still not sold on it, though.

Edited July 17, 2023 by MarshalWill

[Handstitched]

I have tried round knives, but my small hands are just not up to the task of using one. But they do look nice  

HS

[MarshalWill]

What about other knives? Anyone use others? My favorite is one I made while working in the saddle shop. I copied the one Charlie Miller had made and used for just about everything. It does more than most.

[bruce johnson]

10 hours ago, Frodo said:

I love the round knife 

 

Are you familiar with a hand wood plane?

can you shape a mini round knife using a 2” wide blade  from the plane

Yes, you could make one. Here's the problems I see. Plane blades tend to be thicker and would be a lot of metal to remove to make a decent kind of knife. Two inches wide is really narrow. When a round knife gets down to 3-1/2 to 3 inches it looses a lot of function in my hands - too little finger clearance., limited rolling cut length before you get close to vertical with the handle for a couple quick things against them. I used a 3" knife for a while and finally just garbaged it. It wasn't  as safe or effective for me as a larger blade. There was no advantage to it.   

[chuck123wapati]

17 hours ago, Frodo said:

I love the round knife 

 

Are you familiar with a hand wood plane?

can you shape a mini round knife using a 2” wide blade  from the plane

 

6 hours ago, bruce johnson said:

Yes, you could make one. Here's the problems I see. Plane blades tend to be thicker and would be a lot of metal to remove to make a decent kind of knife. Two inches wide is really narrow. When a round knife gets down to 3-1/2 to 3 inches it looses a lot of function in my hands - too little finger clearance., limited rolling cut length before you get close to vertical with the handle for a couple quick things against them. I used a 3" knife for a while and finally just garbaged it. It wasn't  as safe or effective for me as a larger blade. There was no advantage to it.   

Frodo you might be able to pull off a half round blade, I'm with Bruce on the size, or use the plane blade sideways and weld on a piece for the handle. 

[Frodo]

You are correct on the thickness. It takes a lot of patience to remove that amount of metal and keep it cool

the blade on the left is the best cutter

 

[Handstitched]

On 7/18/2023 at 12:46 PM, MarshalWill said:

What about other knives? Anyone use others?

Yep, this is mine.  Fits in my hand nicely, replacement blades are easy to change, and  cheap as, but I also sharpen the old ones on a stone to extend their life.  I also use it to score the skin on a roast Pork   

[chuck123wapati]

On 7/17/2023 at 10:46 PM, MarshalWill said:

What about other knives? Anyone use others? My favorite is one I made while working in the saddle shop. I copied the one Charlie Miller had made and used for just about everything. It does more than most.

i made one similar out of a good quality putty knife then upgraded a bit and made a better model  when i found i like the shape 

[MarshalWill]

That new one is beautiful. Certainly a step above the putty knife. Is it sharpened on one side or both equally?

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, MarshalWill said:

That new one is beautiful. Certainly a step above the putty knife. Is it sharpened on one side or both equally?

they are both chisel edged, sharpened one side.

[doubleh]

Nice work on the knives, Mr. Johnson. I have never warmed up to using a round knife for some reason. Color me weird I suppose as it seems to be a favorite of many.

[MarshalWill]

6 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

they are both chisel edged, sharpened one side.

Thanks. It looked that way but I wanted to verify that.

[bruce johnson]

6 hours ago, doubleh said:

Nice work on the knives, Mr. Johnson. I have never warmed up to using a round knife for some reason. Color me weird I suppose as it seems to be a favorite of many.

Not weird, some people just don't need one or have somebody show them how to use one. I cut a lot of stuff with a grape picking knife early on. Still use the original in the tool shop here as a box opener and general cutter. There is a bit of a learning curve to using any cutting tool and then edge maintenance is major. I worked in a meat packing plant and a boning knife became as useful as my index finger. You get to a point where you don't even think about anything, it just flows. Same with a round knife but it took a few rope cans and saddles to have the feel. An old man changed my grip on a round knife and that made a ton of difference too. Having one tool to cut three layers of skirting and then turn around and skive a half inch radius curve to a feather edge is pretty handy. 

[Basically Bob]

I love my round knife.  It was the first real leatherworking tool I purchased.  Only have one but it does everything I need it to do.  (4 5/8” from point to point)

It’s an old one … marked: C.S. Osborne & Co. , Newark N. J. EST’D 1826

I also use a rotary cutter for trimming linings on straps, a strap cutter and utility knife.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Basically Bob

[jcuk]

I was lucky enough to have been taught how to use a Round Knife and can not imagine not using one for the work i do, at least 95% of the cutting and skiving i do is with one . The only other knife i use is a Clicker Knife for lighter weights leather even then i use my Round Knife most of the time. The ability to cut really heavy leather and then skive it down using the same tool just seems a no brainer to me, also i can skive down light leather using one, tried using a skiving/paring knife its ok but much better using a Round knife to me.

Hope this helps

JCUK