First pair of sandals underway

[chuck123wapati]

11 hours ago, deboardp said:

If I can't find a1/8" diameter circle knife, I can make do with a 1/8" wide knife, sort of like a chisel, but knife-thin. So I can cut leather at the corners of the slots. I guess I can live with square corners. Would rather not, as debris could enter that tiny gap. 

try find a wood carving gouge that is the correct size. https://www.woodcraft.com/categories/carving-gouges

[deboardp]

I think a lathe gouge will be too thick behind the cutting edge. I need the cutting edge to be super thin. That straight blade in the knife pictured above, might be perfect. I'll grind some off the back so I can carve out the leather bits in the corners that the round knife can't get. But I'll look anyway. 

Edited January 6, 2024 by deboardp

[chuck123wapati]

16 minutes ago, deboardp said:

I think a lathe gouge will be too thick behind the cutting edge. I need the cutting edge to be super thin. That straight blade in the knife pictured above, might be perfect. I'll grind some off the back so I can carve out the leather bits in the corners that the round knife can't get. But I'll look anyway. 

you can get woodcarving gouges for hand work as small as you need, not all gouges are for lathes.  i use a small vee  and a small round for skiving as well as cutting corners and curves.

[chuck123wapati]

21 minutes ago, deboardp said:

I think a lathe gouge will be too thick behind the cutting edge. I need the cutting edge to be super thin. That straight blade in the knife pictured above, might be perfect. I'll grind some off the back so I can carve out the leather bits in the corners that the round knife can't get. But I'll look anyway. 

i double checked the link those are hand carving gouges that go down to 1mm.

[deboardp]

Oh! So they're thin!

I'll look!

Thank you!

[deboardp]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

i double checked the link those are hand carving gouges that go down to 1mm.

My straps are 3mm thick, so the corners are half circles of 3mm diameter. I'm trying to learn the language of wood carving tools to understand which one i need. 

[Aven]

These might be small enough for what you are doing.  They are 1.5 mm.  Same place Chuck sent you.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/flexcut-micro-tool-set-1-5mm-mt910

[Mablung]

A good friend is a very talented woodcarver, and he uses some very small gouges just like this for detail work.

[deboardp]

@Aven, @chuck123wapatiand @Mablung,  I ordered that Tandy Pro Knife pictured a few posts above and will see if it will work for me. If not I'll try either that 1.5 mm set, or the 3 mm set, as that is the thickness of my 7/8 ounce leather. I just need a U- gouge but apparently they are sold only in a set with five other tools, which I don't need. 

Edited January 9, 2024 by deboardp
Stupid phone

[deboardp]

The Tandy Pro Knife came this week and I was able to finish the corners of the slots on one top sole today. The blades that come with the knife are not very sharp and the steel is very hard, so I spent about a half hour with the coarse stone trying to make it sharp enough to cut leather with little back and forth motions. I managed with some difficulty to finish the task, but will definitely want that knife sharper for the second topsole. 

Notice the angles of the dead ends. They have to equal the angles on the other side of the leather sole. 

Edited January 19, 2024 by deboardp