Making decorative cuts

[Vikti]

Howdy all,

I was doodling around making an oak leaf (picture to come after I find out what my 7 yr. old did with the batteries) today and I was having trouble making the decorative cuts looking good. I used 2 different blades, a Berry King thin, hollow ground blade and your average run of the mill thick blade. For the lack of practice, the use of the thick blade worked ok compared to the thin. For all you more skilled people out there, does the blade make the difference or is it pretty much experience. I've watched George Hurst show a few people how to hold the knife and twist it to get the desired effect but I don't know if he was just using a knife that was handy or what, I don't remember what kind of blade was on the knife.

Thanks for the help.

Damon

[Vikti]

I was doodling around making an oak leaf (picture to come after I find out what my 7 yr. old did with the batteries)

Found out where the munchkin hid them. Here you go. I used the thin blade more towards the tip of the leaf.

Damon.

[kevinhopkins]

Hi Vikti,

Personally, I've never liked thin blades for decorative cuts, but someone else may simply love them. The real key to decorative cuts is making sure that what ever blade that you're using is not only sharp, but polished... If it's polished correctly, you'll notice such a difference that it will almost make you gasp if you've been using a blade that isn't polished. And for most folks, all it takes is a little scrap of leather, and some jewelers rouge. Happly slashing!

Kevin

[DG Leather]

what is the difference between sharpening and polishing....how do you do this?

I have been stropping my blade with jewelers rouge...is this sharpening?

[Vikti]

what is the difference between sharpening and polishing....how do you do this?

I have been stropping my blade with jewelers rouge...is this sharpening?

Stropping is polishing the blade which helps keep it sharp, sharpening is actually taking the blade to a sharpening stone. George Hurst got me into the habit of stropping my knives when I pick them up, throughout the time I'm carving and once more before I put them down, otherwise he threatens to break my arms.

But I think that Kevin gave me his answer to my question by saying that it ultimately boils down to experience. With my line of work I don't have too much time (or money for leather) for experimenting and I'll admit that I'm looking for short cuts (no pun intended) to get desired effects. I did some more doodling today and think that for now I'll stick with a thicker blade for my dec. cuts. I was simply wondering what other people do to get theirs looking so good.

Thanks Kevin.

Damon

[Rawhide]

Howdy all,

I was doodling around making an oak leaf (picture to come after I find out what my 7 yr. old did with the batteries) today and I was having trouble making the decorative cuts looking good. I used 2 different blades, a Berry King thin, hollow ground blade and your average run of the mill thick blade. For the lack of practice, the use of the thick blade worked ok compared to the thin. For all you more skilled people out there, does the blade make the difference or is it pretty much experience. I've watched George Hurst show a few people how to hold the knife and twist it to get the desired effect but I don't know if he was just using a knife that was handy or what, I don't remember what kind of blade was on the knife.

Thanks for the help.

Damon

Damon,

I'll tell you that a skilled carver can cut deco cuts with just about any blade, however, I've found that for me, my Peter Main designed blade (made by Henley) is by far the only blade I'll use for deco cuts. It has a much wider bevel than a standard blade, so it will open a cut wider without going deeper. I also use it to carve on thin leathers.

As far as your deco cuts go, You'll want to taper them a bit more to produce that perfect look. The end of the cut should look like it disappears into the leather, not just abruptly stop.

what is the difference between sharpening and polishing....how do you do this?

I have been stropping my blade with jewelers rouge...is this sharpening?

Sharpening is the act of aggressive metal removal to produce a very keen edge, i.e. sharp edge. This is usually done on stones, or wet/dry sandpaper. Polishing is the act of removing the scratches from sharpening and this is done on the rouge. The idea is to get a mirror edge on the business end.

I say all of this with this caviat, sharpening is only done on the metal blades, most ceramics are strop only (lots of stropping up front) and the rubys are maintenance free (i strop mine anyway, but it's a preference.)

If you have a metal blade, and you have not sharpened it, I suggest doing so and then strop it well. with a new blade, I use a diamond hone to sharpen quickly, then I use progressively 800, 1200, 2000 grit wet/dry automotive sandpaper, then polish on rouge board.

Edited July 5, 2009 by Rawhide

[hidepounder]

Vikti,

I have several different blades that I use for decorative cuts. What I use is determined by the thickness of the leather and the degree of detail in the pattern. I can't use the same blade that I use for saddle patterns, on a flower which is the size of a nickel on a wallet. On very thin leather, I use a Peter Main blade like Marlon refered to. Sometimes a thin blade is preferable to a thick one and sometimes the reverse is true. In general terms, however, you should be able to make decorative cuts with the same blade you used to cut the pattern. I probably use my 1/4" angled hollow ground blade by Bob Beard more than the others. I also frequently use more than one blade when making cuts on a single pattern. The moisture content of the leather and blade sharpness are the two most important issues to concentrate on! Use a guide to sharpen your swivel knife with. Tandy sells an inexpensive one, Chuck Smith sells a higher quality one. When you have finished honing the blade, polish it by stropping. I recommend using a fine grit stone to finish honing with, before stropping.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[elktracks]

Vikti,

You are probably going to get as many different answers to your question as there are responses. You will surely not get a consensus because everyone has their favorite. For me that would be a 1/4" or 3/8" straight blade and I can give you all kinds of reasons why, but that still only makes it the best blade for me. I have seen Bill Gomer take his favorite blade, which is a 1/4" angle ceramic, and do some of the most awesome work anyone could hope to do. I once watched an old saddlemaker use a 1/2" home made knife and do incredibly fine, detailed work with it. Bob Brown, who did work for such Hollywood stars as Roy Rogers and John Wayne, used a sharpened screwdriver to carve with and could make a very compelling argument as to why that was best.

The real secret to doing better decorative cuts is not in the swivel knife blade, but in the hand holding it. The reason those mentioned above were and are so accomplished is because of the many hours they have spent perfecting their skill. Choose the knife and blade that you like the best and then put some miles on it. If someone had kept track of how many miles of swivel knife cuts some of these people had put in leather, you would know why their decorative cuts are so beautiful.

In other words, practice, practice, practice...

Jim L.