Cutting Curves

[bobkiss]

Can anyone tell me the best way to cut curves, ie, when I cut out a holster, as I cut the curved areas it is impossible to keep the blade from tilting and resulting in an angled edge. Obviously a clicker and die is the best solution but I don't have one right now. Thanx

Bob

[Leatherimages]

Well obviously practice is involved. Which is to say practicing good technique. But what's that?

One thing is keeping the blade verticle. Clicker blades are usually held more straight up and down, while cutting thinner leather requires laying the blade lower on the surface as one cuts.

I'm guessing that if you're having the blade bend as you cut your curves, you must be using a thin blade, like an exacto blade maybe?

Try this with an exacto blade. Using a needle nose pliers, grip the end 1/8" of the blade and snap it off. Now keeping a rouge stick close by to polish the blade, work your way around your curve with your blade held as close to straight as possible. This makes a pretty good clicker knife, and will help you get more cuts out of your exacto blades. You can progress with confidence, and move up to a professional clicker knife in time..

Another tip I'll share is to begin your cuts with your swivel knife. Wet your leather, scratch your pattern's cut line with a sharp awl, and cut like you would your tooling pattern. Now follow it up with your broken tip exacto.

Practice keeping your eye focused on the line about 1/4" in front of your blade, and begin to trust that your hand will follow your eye.

Good Luck.

[js5972]

Ditto! Begin the cuts with swivel knife. This made a huge improvement for me.

[bruce johnson]

Good advice above. For tight curves in heavy leather, I use a punch for the curve.

[Dwight]

I know this will sound silly, . . . but believe me, . . . it works.

Stand up and cut.

Sitting down and cutting leather with a razor knife is a sure fire way (for me at least) to get a whole hand full of angled cuts.

Standing up, . . . for some reason, . . . my cuts are virtually all 90 degree dudes.

And, yeah, . . . use those punches for the tight cuts. I use a punch almost every time I have to make a hard turn, . . . including all 90 degree intersections, . . . I just do not do a square cut inside corner unless it is some kind of something special.

May God bless,

Dwight

[JRedding]

A good quality,sharp round knife. They come in several head sizes depending on how delicate the work is. And a lot of practice, there is some difficulty in getting the hang of it but if you're really going to do leatherwork it's a necessary skill to have.

[bobkiss]

A good quality,sharp round knife. They come in several head sizes depending on how delicate the work is. And a lot of practice, there is some difficulty in getting the hang of it but if you're really going to do leatherwork it's a necessary skill to have.

I think I know what you mean, I have found it very difficult to cut anything with a round knife, any suggestions?

[bobkiss]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions, I like the swivel knife idea, I will try that tomorrow. it's amazing how somebody's perspective can change years of doing something the hard way! Thanks again.........