My day - Stuff That Cuts

[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