Scissors for leather?

[DaveP]

Which brand of scissors are best for cutting veg tan leather?  Since such a wide range of options. Looking for a good pair.

Thanks 

David 

[Bigpaws]

KAI 7000 Professional Series Shear 8 or 10”.   Surgically sharp all the way to the tip, and great edge retention.  Until recently, my “go to’s” were Tandy’s Craftool Pro shears…they’ve held up well for a number of years…the KAI’s are far superior.

[DaveP]

9 hours ago, Bigpaws said:

KAI 7000 Professional Series Shear 8 or 10”.   Surgically sharp all the way to the tip, and great edge retention.  Until recently, my “go to’s” were Tandy’s Craftool Pro shears…they’ve held up well for a number of years…the KAI’s are far superior.

Thank you Bigpaws. I have looked at these as well. 

[Gump]

Wiss Inlaid 8BLT belting scissors easily cut 10 oz veg tan. Not cheap [$80+] cdn. Bought mine at an industrial tool shop off of a discount table of old stock for $30, bonus.

[DaveP]

16 hours ago, Gump said:

Wiss Inlaid 8BLT belting scissors easily cut 10 oz veg tan. Not cheap [$80+] cdn. Bought mine at an industrial tool shop off of a discount table of old stock for $30, bonus.

I just looked at these. Does the serrated edge of lower leave a rough cut? They look strong. 

[TomE]

I have old pair of Tandy Pro scissors (blue handles) with shallow serrations on the blades that I assume are there to grip the material.  They produce smooth, straight cuts.  I use them on 4-6 oz chrome tanned leather, and knives for most other leathers.  Covering my plywood bench with HDPE was a big improvement for cutting with knives. 

[Gump]

The serrations are on the outer edge of the blade, not the cutting edge. They are to grip the leather so it doesn't push out of the blades.

[DaveP]

Just ordered yesterday and arrived today!  New Wiss and Olfa. Very nice! Thanks for the help finding a good pair of scissors.  Wawak has really good prices. 

 

[AussieTanker]

On 7/21/2023 at 3:25 AM, Gump said:

Wiss Inlaid 8BLT belting scissors easily cut 10 oz veg tan.

How do these compare to the Vergez Blanchard brand is scissors? And any suggestions as to the best size / sizes of scissors to buy for general leather work?

Just discovered that the Olfa rotatory cutter also comes in several sizes.  Any suggestions as to which sized Olfa is best for a beginner

Edited October 4, 2023 by AussieTanker

[fredk]

All the rotary knives are good. I use a 60mm blade one. But the 40mm is just as good plus the replacement blades are easier to get and a lot cheaper than the 60mm. The 20mm size is handy but watch out for the blade guard. On some, when it retracts it only clears the blade by about 1mm. Fine for cutting cloth free-hand but it won't cut through 1mm or more of leather, and the guard will run on top of your guide as well so the blade doesn't even reach the leather. Cut away a whack of the blade guard and it works better, but then you don't have a blade guard

[AussieTanker]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

All the rotary knives are good. I use a 60mm blade one. But the 40mm is just as good plus the replacement blades are easier to get and a lot cheaper than the 60mm

Thank you.  That is very helpful.  I appreciate the detailed advice. And I've just discovered that a store about 5 minutes drive from my place sells them

Does anyone have any other thoughts on the Vergez Blanchard leather scissors compared to other brands mentioned in the thread?

[SUP]

I do not know about the Vergez Blanchard but I have a Henckel and that works well for me - I use leather up to 6oz. so no idea how it would work for heavier leather.

Frankly, I increasingly only use a Stanley knife and a round knife for most cutting these days, using the scissors only for the odd corner that might not be completely detached. Using a scissors, I find, does not give me as smooth a cut line as a knife does but that might just be that I am not cutting correctly with the scissors..

Edited October 4, 2023 by SUP

[fredk]

I use heavy duty kitchen-type scissors made by Mundial. I have 3 pr, each cost about £12 when I bought them 20 years ago.. They'll cut leather 5 mm thick and thin sheet brass or sheet steel. Only recently has the smaller of the 3 been showing signs it needs sharpening

1. shop around, sometimes you can pay too much more $£$£$£  because a tool says 'leather' and you can buy the same tool cheaper in a different place *

2. take a piece of thick leather with you and try the scissors on it. Thats how I found the Mundial. I was working with some 6mm thick leather and mentioned to a friend who worked in a home goods store. He recommended the Mundial ones, I tried them and have them since

* eg, recently I bought a special self-contained  airbrush/compressor. Regular art places had it for over £80. One seller of leather working supplies had it for £120. I found one on ebay in 'Nail Art supplies for under £25   ~  And they had a discount sale so I got it for £21!

Edited October 4, 2023 by fredk

[ArkieNewbie]

I have a pair of Ghinger Super Shears that I use. I have used them all the way up to 8/9oz veg tan with no problem. 

One caveat, I only use them to cut out a smaller piece of leather out of a side. I don't use them for detailed cuts. 

[DacianFalx]

I used to use gold-handled knife-edged Ginghers for all my cutting, but anything heavier than 6oz would dull them out pretty quickly. Then a friend at a tannery turned me onto Wolff Industries, and their large-handled utility shears. They fit my hand much better, but like a dream, have gripping serrations to hold firm, and happily cut anything up to 14oz. Tend to last about 4 times longer between sharpens, as well. 
Here you are: 

Wolff Industries Straight Large Handled Utility Shears

[nstarleather]

On 7/21/2023 at 6:47 AM, DaveP said:

I just looked at these. Does the serrated edge of lower leave a rough cut? They look strong. 

Yes they will leave marks.  So when we finish products occasionally we have a bit of edge that hangs over because of leather stretching during splitting.  The Wiss are great (and we do use them frequently) but will mark on one side of the leather, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  Here's a piece I folded and cut you can see the "bottom" part of the fold gets teeth marks.

For us when it's precision and not too heavy.  We use any of the Fiskar's Razoredge series.  They're $15-$20 and we do have to replace occasionally.  I'm going to look at the KAI too.