Accurately cutting "stretchy" leather.

[Shadders]

Hello,

After taking a rather long and unintended break away from leathercraft, I've returned to it, and completed a couple of basic wallets as my first couple of baby steps projects. I used Walpier museum buttero for the first and Badalassi carlo pueblo for the second. For the latter, I lined the note holder with napper lamb. I found the napper to be more challenging to cut correctly due to it's stretchines.

Now, I've purchased some goat from Tusting & Burnett. I find that the goat has similar qualities when it comes to cutting it accurately. The line is not straight, even though I'm cutting against a cork backed steel rule. I don't think my blade is a problem, it's stropped enough for a good polish and shaves arm hair easily. I think the ruler could be a problem, the cork side is not flush with the rule, stopping ~1mm from the steal edge. I also feel my technique could be better, maybe inconsistent pleasure and/or angle.

If there's anyone out there who'd like to share how they cut the more flexible hides, I'd love to learn from their experience please.

Best regards,

Shadders

[fredk]

Heavy weights to hold down and a very sharp rotary knife. I use a 60mm diameter blade rotary knife

[JDFred]

What Fred said.

[dikman]

Yep, I've found one of those rotary cutters much better on softer material because there's no drag like you get pulling a blade.

[Shadders]

Hello All,

Just wated to say thank you for your advice. I got my rotary cutter yesterday and it's made a big difference.

Best regards to you all.

[sportycliff]

Instead of cork backing, try using 220-400 grit adhesive backed sandpaper on your rules.

Right to the edge, as long as you're slightly careful it shouldn't scratch the leather, and it will minimize stretch.

I like the rotary cutters as well, but it's another tool to keep sharp.

Just another option...

[chuck123wapati]

I use scissors.

[PastorBob]

+1 on rotary cutter, but scissors work well too.

[billybopp]

All good advice above, I've used all of them.  Another thing to consider is that the leather needs to be relaxed before you start cutting (no no .. not like give it a cup of tea and a comfy chair relaxed).  What I mean is that you'll want to lay out the leather flat and not at all stretched nor compressed before you start cutting.  It's tempting to pull it taut to make cutting easier, but that will cause problems down the road as it shrinks back to size.

- Bill