Hand Pattern Cutting Help

[cstephens]

I am an amateur holster and sheath maker and I was wanting to know opinions on the best tools and methods for hand cutting these out?

[dirtclod]

I use a head or round knife to cut them out. Make your patterns out of poster board or something along those lines.

[cstephens]

I see, thanks for your reply. I just have problems cutting good smooth cuts but i guess it will just take time and practice.

[dirtclod]

The biggest thing is a really sharp knife. But the again i have got some leather from different companies domestic and import that is just really hard to cut even with a sharp knife. Depending on the thickness of the leather it may take more than one pass to get it cut all the way through.

[gregintenn]

I'm not sure I understand your question, but I cut my patterns from posterboard with regular scissors. I cut the leather with a hobby knife.

[katsass]

I am an amateur holster and sheath maker and I was wanting to know opinions on the best tools and methods for hand cutting these out?

I draw my pattern on inexpensive file folders.........cut it out with scissors..........transfer to leather with a ball stylus............initial cut with a swivel knife (this gives me a distinct and smooth line to follow with the final cut)............final cut with a 'dedicated', very sharp, knife (this knife happens to have been in my family for 70 years at least, but any good SHARP knife that you are comfortable with should work)...........smooth edges with drum sander if necessary. Hope this helps. Mike

Edited August 5, 2010 by katsass

[Dwight]

I've never quite gotten far enough up the food chain to use a head knife. I'm still doing all of mine with the standard old razor knife that drywall people use.

BUT, . . . I take it to the old rosin strop and sharpen it first , . . . brand new razor blades are too dull for smoothly cutting leather.

The key is not to cut the leather too small, . . . cut it a little big, . . . sand off and smooth out the outlines with a power sander. I got a $39.95 belt sander from Harbor Freight that I just love for leather work.

The method Katsass uses is probably more exacting, . . . but I just don't have the patience it takes to cut it twice. Like him, though, . . . I also use file folders for all my patterns. And I cut them with the razor knife too.

Hope this helps.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited August 5, 2010 by Dwight

[carljc72]

I use a round knife for cutting my leather and file folders for patterns. Tight radius cuts are the hardest to make smooth. If the radius is pretty tight, I will use a round punch and then cut away from the curve in each direction. A little sanding will smooth it all out.

Carl

[Deanimator]

I am a MISERABLE freehand artist.

Acknowledging my limitations, I use Corel Draw to lay out my patterns. I can scale and shape them as many times as I need to. I can easily modify a pattern for one gun to fit another, especially different length versions of the same gun. I did this with my Glock 17/22 holster to create the pattern for my Glock 19/23 holster. I'll do the same thing with my M1911/Commander/MicroCompact holsters that I'm working on now.

I print prototype patterns to paper to see if I'm close. When I've got the pattern where I want it to be, I switch to card stock. This saves me the step of having to transfer anything to separate pieces of cardboard.

I use plain old scissors to cut out the patterns once they're printed on card stock.

I've cut leather with both a razor knife (box cutter) and my grandmother's 70+ year old seamstress shears. I'm not completely satisfied with either. Her shears need sharpening, which I'm finding a bit difficult to do, since I have little experience sharpening scissor like implements. I find that I usually need to make multiple passes with the razor knife and have problems making a proper vertical cut (see separate post). A head knife would probably work better. Maybe after I sell a few more holsters.

[dirtyernie]

I am a MISERABLE freehand artist.

Acknowledging my limitations, I use Corel Draw to lay out my patterns. I can scale and shape them as many times as I need to. I can easily modify a pattern for one gun to fit another, especially different length versions of the same gun. I did this with my Glock 17/22 holster to create the pattern for my Glock 19/23 holster. I'll do the same thing with my M1911/Commander/MicroCompact holsters that I'm working on now.

I print prototype patterns to paper to see if I'm close. When I've got the pattern where I want it to be, I switch to card stock. This saves me the step of having to transfer anything to separate pieces of cardboard.

I use plain old scissors to cut out the patterns once they're printed on card stock.

I've cut leather with both a razor knife (box cutter) and my grandmother's 70+ year old seamstress shears. I'm not completely satisfied with either. Her shears need sharpening, which I'm finding a bit difficult to do, since I have little experience sharpening scissor like implements. I find that I usually need to make multiple passes with the razor knife and have problems making a proper vertical cut (see separate post). A head knife would probably work better. Maybe after I sell a few more holsters.

What is Corel Draw, and how do I get it?

Thanks

Edited August 6, 2010 by dirtyernie

[Deanimator]

What is Corel Draw, and how do I get it?

Thanks

Corel Draw is a graphics design program. It's advantage over things like MS Paint is that it natively works with vector drawings instead of bitmaps. Jpegs and other photo files are bitmaps. It's difficult to do design work with a bitmap program because you're working with individual pixels (dots). Vector drawings, instead of being dots, are instructions which specific color, direction, dimensions, etc. That means that you can easily stretch and modify vector drawings. It's very easy to combine simple shapes to create more complex objects and to break them up as necessary. This allows you to reuse drawing objects for different projects and modify them to suit your current needs.

A few years ago, I bought an OEM copy of Corel Draw X3 for $99. That was in a local used computer store. You can do as well or better on Ebay or other web based resources.

If I didn't have Corel Draw or something similar, I wouldn't bother trying to design and make my own holsters. I just don't have the manual artistic skill.

[Spinner]

Corel Draw is a graphics design program. It's advantage over things like MS Paint is that it natively works with vector drawings instead of bitmaps. Jpegs and other photo files are bitmaps. It's difficult to do design work with a bitmap program because you're working with individual pixels (dots). Vector drawings, instead of being dots, are instructions which specific color, direction, dimensions, etc. That means that you can easily stretch and modify vector drawings. It's very easy to combine simple shapes to create more complex objects and to break them up as necessary. This allows you to reuse drawing objects for different projects and modify them to suit your current needs.

A few years ago, I bought an OEM copy of Corel Draw X3 for $99. That was in a local used computer store. You can do as well or better on Ebay or other web based resources.

If I didn't have Corel Draw or something similar, I wouldn't bother trying to design and make my own holsters. I just don't have the manual artistic skill.

For those that don't want to spend the money for a vector graphics program and will likely only use the basic functions (lines, curves, text, etc). You can use Raven at http://www.Aviary.com it's a free suite of graphics and image tools that will suffice for most folks. Aviary also has a photo editor, screen capture, music, audio and color editors and some web tools.

For those wanting a more robust program than Corel at a lower price, check out Xara Designer. It has a vector graphics suite and full photo editing features like Photoshop in one. Been using it for 12 years now and still love it. http://www.xara.com/...ducts/designer/ For only $89 it's hard to beat. There is a trial download you can get for free to check it out before buying.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Spinner

[Spinner]

I draw my pattern on inexpensive file folders.........cut it out with scissors..........transfer to leather with a ball stylus............initial cut with a swivel knife (this gives me a distinct and smooth line to follow with the final cut)............final cut with a 'dedicated', very sharp, knife (this knife happens to have been in my family for 70 years at least, but any good SHARP knife that you are comfortable with should work)...........smooth edges with drum sander if necessary. Hope this helps. Mike

I just started doing the same thing this week and boy let me tell ya, the leathers I have cut with curves and such have never looked better.

[cstephens]

Wow thanks for all the replys! I have bought one round knife and I'm looking at a custom head knife, and i was wondering how good damascus blades are? Also does anyone suggest the hole for a finger rest? seems like that could potentially waste a lot of blade down the road...

[Deanimator]

For those wanting a more robust program than Corel at a lower price, check out Xara Designer. It has a vector graphics suite and full photo editing features like Photoshop in one. Been using it for 12 years now and still love it. http://www.xara.com/...ducts/designer/ For only $89 it's hard to beat. There is a trial download you can get for free to check it out before buying.

Corel Draw also comes with Corel Photopaint, a full featured photo/bitmap editor.

[RMB Custom Leather]

For those that don't want to spend the money for a vector graphics program and will likely only use the basic functions (lines, curves, text, etc). You can use Raven at http://www.Aviary.com it's a free suite of graphics and image tools that will suffice for most folks. Aviary also has a photo editor, screen capture, music, audio and color editors and some web tools.

For those wanting a more robust program than Corel at a lower price, check out Xara Designer. It has a vector graphics suite and full photo editing features like Photoshop in one. Been using it for 12 years now and still love it. http://www.xara.com/...ducts/designer/ For only $89 it's hard to beat. There is a trial download you can get for free to check it out before buying.

Like that site. Can you draw a pattern to scale and if so how do you do it using the aviary.com?

[dirtyernie]

Corel Draw is a graphics design program. It's advantage over things like MS Paint is that it natively works with vector drawings instead of bitmaps. Jpegs and other photo files are bitmaps. It's difficult to do design work with a bitmap program because you're working with individual pixels (dots). Vector drawings, instead of being dots, are instructions which specific color, direction, dimensions, etc. That means that you can easily stretch and modify vector drawings. It's very easy to combine simple shapes to create more complex objects and to break them up as necessary. This allows you to reuse drawing objects for different projects and modify them to suit your current needs.

A few years ago, I bought an OEM copy of Corel Draw X3 for $99. That was in a local used computer store. You can do as well or better on Ebay or other web based resources.

If I didn't have Corel Draw or something similar, I wouldn't bother trying to design and make my own holsters. I just don't have the manual artistic skill.

[dirtyernie]

Corel Draw is a graphics design program. It's advantage over things like MS Paint is that it natively works with vector drawings instead of bitmaps. Jpegs and other photo files are bitmaps. It's difficult to do design work with a bitmap program because you're working with individual pixels (dots). Vector drawings, instead of being dots, are instructions which specific color, direction, dimensions, etc. That means that you can easily stretch and modify vector drawings. It's very easy to combine simple shapes to create more complex objects and to break them up as necessary. This allows you to reuse drawing objects for different projects and modify them to suit your current needs.

A few years ago, I bought an OEM copy of Corel Draw X3 for $99. That was in a local used computer store. You can do as well or better on Ebay or other web based resources.

If I didn't have Corel Draw or something similar, I wouldn't bother trying to design and make my own holsters. I just don't have the manual artistic skill.

[JeffGC]

I've been making holsters for many years, using a small X-Acto knife (No. 11 blade) for cutting patterns and leather. I still use one for cutting patterns which are typically made of manila file folders or poster board during design development. After I have a finalized design, I make a new pattern on a plastic sheet. I use a small drill bit in a Dremel to mark stitch lines, etc. The best source of plastic sheet is from single layer notebook covers.

This past winter, after considerable research on this forum, I bought a head knife. Following the recommendations of a number of members, I contacted Bob Douglas. Having already purchased an awl from him, I was confident I was dealing with a great resource. I purchased an early 1900s Osborne plus one of Bob's large stropping blocks.

Life with a head knife has really been a learning experience. With a craft knife, it would normally take a number of passes to completely cut through the leather. With a head knife...one pass. Cutting long straights or tight curves is not difficult with a head knife. Keeping the knife sharp is the major issue. I'm learning and getting better.

If you are really committed to leatherwork and are willing to spend the money, buy a head knife. Avoid Tandy and call Bob Douglas.

Regards,

Jeff

[hjjusa]

I am new to this site but have worked leather for a while. I am also a woodworker and have a scrollsaw, one day I was fooling around in my shop & tried cutting a leather pattern on my scrollsaw. Works beautifully

[Deanimator]

I am new to this site but have worked leather for a while. I am also a woodworker and have a scrollsaw, one day I was fooling around in my shop & tried cutting a leather pattern on my scrollsaw. Works beautifully

I seem to recall seeing somebody do something similar on "How it's Made". Of course I don't have and can't afford a scroll saw...

[BigRiverLeather]

I've been using #11 Xacto blades mostly, that is if I'm not using my shears. I bought a couple of head knifes, one from jcookblades.com which was superb, except after my first few cuts that went through leather like soft butter, it lost it's ultra fine edge and became difficult to work with. I have a lot of work to do on stropping. I ordered it in a 3" with one swept wing and one straight wing. Being my first knife, I had know Idea what I was doing . I told Jeff about my sharpening woes and mentioned I wished I had not ordered the swept wing on one side. He said send it back to him and he would make me another to my liking. This was 4 months later! So, I upgraded to a 4" and am waiting for that.

The same day I ordered that one for $230 (!) I also ordered one from Duey Peters for $65. 4 months later I still have not seen it. He told me it would be ready in two weeks. I've heard that same thing about 3 or 4 times since then. I was anxious to compare the two blades.

Last week I bought a Stohlman #70 4" from Tandy for $50. I knew right off the bat this thing was going to need an edge tuneup. I have some 800, 1,500 and 2,000 grit sandpaper I plan on working on a convex edge for it.

With the Xacto blade, I use a new blade for jsut about every holster, maybe 2. I am now getting used to the fact that on the curves the tip is likely to break off.

The Shears I got from Tandy, the best ones they had that run about $40, worth every penny.

[Reaper]

Starting out myself with leather, but have been doing layout and metal work off and on for year.

I use a Razor knife with a retractable blade, as mentioned before, used for drywall and construction in general. One thing I picked up over the years was when scoring out a pattern hold the knife with the pinky, ring and middle fingers. Then place the thumb upon ontop of what I am scoring/cutting so it is a comfortable distance from the point where the knife tip is place where I want to start my cut at. I check to make sure that I have a good range of motion and then lock my fingers stiff, pull the knife along the curve keeping it on the line ( using my hand and knife as a drafting compass ). If what I am cutting out is along the lines of an S curve, I will stop at or right before the point of the two curves intersecting so I can finish the cuts ensuring the meet.

[DoubleAdobe]

Starting out myself with leather, but have been doing layout and metal work off and on for year.

I use a Razor knife with a retractable blade, as mentioned before, used for drywall and construction in general. One thing I picked up over the years was when scoring out a pattern hold the knife with the pinky, ring and middle fingers. Then place the thumb upon ontop of what I am scoring/cutting so it is a comfortable distance from the point where the knife tip is place where I want to start my cut at. I check to make sure that I have a good range of motion and then lock my fingers stiff, pull the knife along the curve keeping it on the line ( using my hand and knife as a drafting compass ). If what I am cutting out is along the lines of an S curve, I will stop at or right before the point of the two curves intersecting so I can finish the cuts ensuring the meet.

I have tried to use a headknife on many occasions also, mainly just use it for longer straight cuts. An old saddlemaker that showed me a lot of different stuff used the sheepsfoot blade on an ordinary stockman pattern pocket knife. Carbon steel works better for me, get it sharp, and strop it often. It's about all I use from saddles to holsters and in between. Straight stuff, like belts I do use the headknife in a kind of rolling motion. Probably not conventional, but I've been doing it a long time and it's comfortable.

[olliesrevenge]

I'm really glad I read this thread. I have made a bunch of holsters so far, and for some reason I always felt like I should be using the $70 damascus head knife I bought from Tandy. This has been a real pain, mostly because I'm not the best blade sharpener, and so I have always dreaded the task of "cutting out".

On a recent holster I combined these two pieces of advice...

...transfer to leather with a ball stylus............initial cut with a swivel knife...

...with the standard old razor knife that drywall people use....take it to the old rosin strop and sharpen it first , . . . brand new razor blades are too dull for smoothly cutting leather.

... and holy smokes, life just got easier. I have tried using titanium blades in my drywall knife before but it never occurred to me to try to make razor blades sharper. A few passes on the rosin board made a huge difference though.

Thanks!