swivel knife help needed

[Chris B]

Ok so I was practing some today. And yes I tried to take pictures but they were fuzzy. Anyway, after I was done with the swivel knife, my hand was hurting from pushing so hard down and it felt like it was dragging. Now I had my swivel knife sharp and stroped it almost looked like a mirrow. It was all polished. But would it not being cased right cause that? And what is it supposed feel like when you are using your swivel knife? Like a hot knife through butter or harder?

Thanks,

Chris

[Randy Cornelius]

First, what kind of knife are you using? The quality of the blade has a lot to do with how well you cut and carve. Buying a good quality knife with a good blade is money well spent. Just a suggestion, Barry King makes a very good knife and blade for very little money, I think 35.00 or so. Some people also use a ceramic blade but I am not fond of them. But you still have to strop them also. Stropping will polish the blade and remove fats, grease and tanning solution from the blade. The cleaner the blade the better it will cut.

You should not have to put much downward pressure and the knife should cut with very little or no effort. If it drags, you need to stop and strop it. I have one colblot steel blade that will last about 5-10 minutes of constant cutting before I have to strop. Any other blade if I get 1-2 minutes of carving I am lucky.

What is it supose to feel like. If I had to discribe it I gues it is a fluid motion.

Make sure your leather is cased well. You can use a comerical casing solution but a few drops of dish soap in 16 oz of water works just as well. If you have a water filter the more better. Case the leather with a sponge, work the water in a little at a time. Making sure to wet the intire piece the same. When I see the water start to pool up and take a moment to soak in, that is where I stop. Wait for the leather to start to return to the orginal color, then start to carve.

What are you using to strop with?

I have a piece of leather glued to a paint stiring stick. Flesh side up. Work in my rouge real good. I like to have a firm surface to strop on. Be careful not round over the cutting edge. On each stroke stop, then lift the blade.

I know I have went on, but the swivel knife is the most important part of leather tooling.

Randy

[Chris B]

Well I am using an Al Stohlman brand from tandy. Where could I purchase a Barry King knife? And for stroping I have a business card with the rouge rubbed into it. And for casing I used the spray method with some dawn in it. I was firguring if I used a piece of leather, it would end up rounding off the edge of the blade. But I guess I was wrong. I will have to try that. Now when your case, do you let it sit over night or just case it and wait? I think that may be some of my problem. And probably the knife.

Thanks,

Chris

[CitizenKate]

Chris,

For stropping, you may also want to try just a larger piece of rigid cardboard, like illustration board (available at art supply stores), as I think the business card may be too small to make a good long stroke when stropping. Lots of short strokes can make it difficult to strop at a consistent angle.

Casing overnight vs. casing and carving right away: Wow, there are so many ways people have of casing their leather... I think the way Randy described it is nearly identical to the way I do it. On some occasions, I have put a piece of plastic over the leather after wetting it, and let it sit for an hour or two, before lifting the plastic and letting the surface dry. On those occasions, I do get noticeably better results than if I just case and let the surface dry right away. That is, deeper impressions, easier carving, etc. I think this is because the water has a better chance to penetrate to the inner fibers of the leather, which is where you really need it. So for what it's worth, you may want to try that.

The knife should slide smoothly through the leather with just a little resistance, but not catching as you draw it through. As Randy mentioned, you should only have to use slight pressure to cut the depth you need or draw the knife through the leather. Whenever mine starts catching as I'm cutting, it's either one of two things:

1) the leather has dried out too much. In this case you would also notice that it's difficult to cut very deep into the leather, and you can usually see it getting dry.

2) the knife needs to be re-stropped.

If your knife is catching all the time, your leather could be a little too wet, or you may just have a knarly piece of leather.

As for the knife, I think you can make the one you have work just fine; see what you can accomplish first by tweaking your stropping and casing process.

Hope this helps...

Kate

Edited November 23, 2007 by CitizenKate

[Billy P]

Hey Chris, I made my strop with a 5 gal. paint stir stick and used some Crocus Cloth with jewelers rouge and also like Kate said I use a longer piece of slick illustration board with the rouge on it. When you try to use the business cards, because of them being short you'll tend to lift up on the knife to quick and gives a greater chance of rounding the edge. Just my .02 on the strop. As for a blade I too have the ALS brand of swivel blade, but if you really want a good swivel knife blade and an outstanding swivel knife in my opinion you can't beat a Henley. They make their blades out of some kind of super hard exotic metal. Their regular business is makeing cutting tools for the harvest of timber, ie saws, shears, etc. you can contact them at (318) 631-3545, ask for Tony of Mr Louie. I've not spoken to Tony, but Mr. Louie is really a nice down to earth person. In fact I just talked to him the first of this week. One of their 1/4 angle blades is $30.80 + shipping, he told me that if that is the only thing I wanted to order that the shipping wouldn't be but a dollar or so, as they would just but it in a envelope and mail it out regular mail. I think the web site is gemosphere.tripod.com/gemosphere/swivel_knivesx.html I hope this may help you out. Billy P

[Billy P]

Hey Chris I'm gonna try and add the link to the Henley knive site so that you can just open it, don't know if it'll work for us but here goes Visit My Website

[Regis]

Chris,

When I started, I used a knife like yours. It works ok now that I know what "sharp" really is. At first I sharpened, polished, polished, and struggled carving (jerky & ugly) even though I had sharpened the knife.. Then I bought a Henley and wow, I found out what sharp is. Now that I know this, I can sharpen and polish any of my knife blades. Proper casing is difficult to learn alone, but when you get it right you'll know it (as long as your blade is sharp). With both questionable casing and questionable sharpness, it is hard to move forward.

Best of luck,

Regis

Ok so I was practing some today. And yes I tried to take pictures but they were fuzzy. Anyway, after I was done with the swivel knife, my hand was hurting from pushing so hard down and it felt like it was dragging. Now I had my swivel knife sharp and stroped it almost looked like a mirrow. It was all polished. But would it not being cased right cause that? And what is it supposed feel like when you are using your swivel knife? Like a hot knife through butter or harder?

Thanks,

Chris

[Leather Bum]

Here's a 483.4 KB pdf of the Henley Swivel Knife information; I don't know what the website was. It does appear as though they have good prices though. . .

HenleySK.pdf

HenleySK.pdf

Edited November 24, 2007 by Leather Bum

[sheowahya]

I asked this very same question to the Manager of my local Tandy store.

He told me to bring my knife with me the next time I came into the store.

I did. Right there, he cased a piece of scrap, sharpened and stropped my knife.

He made a few cuts, made a few adjustments, and then handed me the knife and set me to work.

That was the BEST lesson I've ever had. Now I have a better idea when it's "right" and when it's not.

[freak]

get a hold of Berry King. I picked up one of his knifes last month, wow what a difference. If you like the knife you're using then just get a blade from him but do yourself a favor and get a bevel or two why you're at it. I can't believe what a huge difference a sharp blade and great bevel can make and you'll be amazed to.

[howardb]

Ok so I was practing some today. And yes I tried to take pictures but they were fuzzy. Anyway, after I was done with the swivel knife, my hand was hurting from pushing so hard down and it felt like it was dragging. Now I had my swivel knife sharp and stroped it almost looked like a mirrow. It was all polished. But would it not being cased right cause that? And what is it supposed feel like when you are using your swivel knife? Like a hot knife through butter or harder?

Thanks,

Chris

Chris,

I got tired of being tired. My hands cramped after several minutes of carving. I also noticed the leather was more "pulled" around the cuts. No amount of stropping seemed to work.

Knowing the importance of sharp woodworking tools & knives I decided to re-edge two of the blades I was using. I have a nice diamond plate sharpener for the kitchen knives, and it's about 7" x 2". I inherited, along with my mother in law, access to all my father in law's tools. She's only too happy to have me use them. Anyway, I found one of those little sharpening jig's you can find in the Tandy catalog. I re-ground the edge, just a hair shallower (not really on purpose...) on both blades & did the initial stropping with the blades still in the jig.

WOW what a difference. The hot-knife-through-butter analogy works pretty well here. I actually had to lighten up to avoid cutting the leather in two. Significantly less fatigue.

The other comments here on buying a quality knife, or at least blade, are dead on. I have the ultra-cheap tandy knife with a very nice blade in it and it feels good to me. Now, this knife fits my hand well, so I polished the crap out of the swivel until it was smooth. I also have a very expensive ball bearing knife (chuck smith - "maker" knife) and it got even better with a sharpened blade. It doesn't fit me as well, but I like the heft. It has a shortened angled blade in it for very curvy cuts.

Get a jig, get a nice stone or diamond plate & re-edge the knives. It will make a difference!

Brent

[Chris B]

Wow!! Im gone for a weekend and you all just amaze me with all the info that you guys/gals have. I am going to have to look into those Henlys and Barry king. Yes I am tring to learn all of this on my own. And yes I am going to have to tweak my stropping/casing progess. Billy P, what is crocus cloth? I have never heard of it. And again you all amaze me by you wealth of knowledge. A little of topic here, but would anyone have any contact info for the leather guild in Columbus Ohio? I am wanting to attend, but dont know where to go and when.

Thanks Alot,

Chris

[howardb]

Chris,

I sent a contact name to you via PM.

Brent