How do I do the fringe?

[ferret]

Results of using various methods to cut fringe in soft leather and suede

1) utiliyt knife and steel rule:- leather stretches and doesn't always cut through on one pass, strands uneven and looks crap.

2) rotary knife and steel rule:- leather stretches and doesn't cut as well as the utility knife, strands uneven and looks crap and smells of cheese (maybe I should have washed the knife after using it on the pizza).

3) head knife and steel rule:- leather stretches but cuts on one pass,still uneven and looks crap.

4) jerry stripper:- leather stretches but cuts ok, still uneven and crap but much quicker.

5) get someone else to do it (a friend who knows nothing about leatherwork and uses housold scissors):- no stretch, even strands.

[tonyc1]

I'd never heard the term Box Cutter until 9/11, out here we always called them Stanley Knives. I've used them to cut Plaster Board ( Sheet Rock ) but you are really only cutting the heavy paper coating and then snapping the sheet along the score line and the plaster blunts the blades really quickly. I do sometimes use a clicking knife sometimes but never "Box Cutters". I don't think the blades are as sharp as a knife blade that I can sharpen myself.

Tony.

[ChuckBurrows]

I don't think the blades are as sharp as a knife blade that I can sharpen myself.

FWIW - I polish/strop utility blades that same as I do any other blades......

[badger]

The international nature of the board means there are bound to be issues of nomenclature and semantics.

We, here in the UK have been 'Hoovered' and 'Fridged' and 'Xeroxed' into using the term 'Stanley knife' to mean any utility knife. I am aware of other countries having different names for these.

To me, a Stanley Knife is one of those in the pic below. I'm assuming Razor knife and box cutter are variants of the same thing. Might be worth clearing this up.

Oh yeah, what Chuck Burrows said. Nice one Chuck.

I use Irwin blades, reground, resharpened and stropped to a mirror finish. I'm still on my first one..............

Cheers,

Karl

[greg gomersall]

use whatever you want! finger's will grow back. just remember " a man who will rent a pig will stop at nothing." Greg

[gtwister09]

It is funny and sad what people read into a post but that's the nature of the beast when we can't see the person we are talking to.

After several comments (some rather heated and some nice asking for clarification) sent via emails and personal messages I would like to clarify that my "ALL" statements is that all utility blades will and can break even the high dollar Titanium blades. I know that I have personally broke the tips on about 10 or so out of about 700 - 800 of them. Looking back on the ones that snapped only one of them was from a higher quality manufacturer and it failed on the first cut due to metal fatigue. ...no user error on thta one either. It failed in the first 1/2 cut on a piece of sheetrock...not exactly the hardest material to cut. I still use these things as well for all sorts of uses.

It was not meant to say THAT EVERY UTILITY BLADE BREAKS. Maybe that is a subtle difference to some and I would have thought that reading the 2nd post with clarifications about the new blade snapping and further explanations of the position would have cleared that up. Sorry that I didn't communicate that completely.

I agree that the warnings are for litigation especially when you read warnings for hemorrhoid creams that say that they are not to be take orally. However the warnings are also there because someone has had that problem.

As to fitness for use, my Dad started doing leatherwork at 70. A utility knife is what he uses. For him that is the best choice that he could make because he is sharpening challenged. He uses the Titanium blades from Lenox and they last a lot longer. Since he doesn't like to sharpen he can get a new sharp blade by switching blades either end for end or a new one when both are used up.

Sorry that I didn't answer some of the emails but here's my response.

Regards,

Ben

[steve mason]

This thread is awesome.

[2MadJacks]

[Luke Hatley]

hey all ,keep em comming i am learning a lots.

An old saddle maker told me."do what works best for you,but dont forget what

the finished product is supposed to look like".

THANKS ALL FOR YOU SUGGESTIONS.............

[Randy Cornelius]

To UKRay,

I am sorry that you took offense to my statement, it was not my intent to look down upon someone with less experiance. I started out the same way many years ago using whatever I could to cut leather. I made some mistakes, got injured but nothing that did not heal and broke a lot of blades and went through a lot of those blades. I became frustrated and went looking for something else. I knew of a saddlemaker not far from me and called him up out of the blue one day and he invited me to his shop. I saw all these round knives hanging around and he showed me how to use on. Let me tell you I was impressed. They cut leather with ease, and you cut away from you, not toward you like a box cutter. I would just like to say that this business is a learning experiance, I learn something every day and I keep an open mind. That saddle maker opened my eyes to something I had been struggling with for a long time. The feel of a sharp round knife as it goes through leather like a hot knife through butter is a feeling that I will not forget. You should try one. Just keep an open mind.

Again, I am sorry if you were offended.......

Randy