Best Way To Cut Straight

[AmandaM]

Hi, I need to cut down some long strips for straps (5/8") and am trying to sort out how to get the best cut. I have a heavy, sharp knife, but haven't had the best success getting perfect cuts.

Any tips?

[budd4766]

I use a rotary cutter and a steel ruler for long cuts.

[Dwight]

Tandy leather has their aluminum strap cutter on sale now for about $30.

You cannot duplicate the great cuts it does with any knife / ruler / straight edge combination.

It'll probably pay for itself just in less scrap leather.

Plus, . . . you can cut belts with it, . . . and if you put them together right, . . . almost no sanding.

May God bless,

Dwight

[BillB]

A very long bladed sharp knife; a long straight edge; weights to place along the straight edge to help hold it in place; marking and scoring the leather with a line to show where to cut should be, even with the straight edge (helps to let me know if the leather shifts); lots of light pressure cuts using as much of the length of the blade as possible (spreads the cutting forces along a greater surface area); patience when making the cuts.

Alternative if you do this a lot - buy a good quality strap cutter.

[Chief31794]

Hi, I need to cut down some long strips for straps (5/8") and am trying to sort out how to get the best cut. I have a heavy, sharp knife, but haven't had the best success getting perfect cuts.

Any tips?

Tandy did have a metal strap cutter which I can't find on their web catalog any more. I have one, I also have the draw guage, for my money I like the Metal strap cutter, I've heard that the wooden ones work equally well. The draw guage works okay but only on heavier leather.

Here are pictures:

[radar67]

I use the wooden strap cutter from Tandy. Once you get used to it, it does a great job. I also use a head knife for some of the longer, wider cuts. A good scribe line, as recommended above, helps a lot.

[Somawas]

I have the aluminum strap cutter. Tandy discontinued it. Very good tool. Mostly, I think,it was discontinued because it was priced at $80 and the wooden one is $20 or less. I am told they do the same thing.

Tandy did have a metal strap cutter which I can't find on their web catalog any more. I have one, I also have the draw guage, for my money I like the Metal strap cutter, I've heard that the wooden ones work equally well. The draw guage works okay but only on heavier leather.

Here are pictures:

[HorseGirl98]

I use the wooden strap cutter, it works great for me.

Use a ruler to mark out a straight line, then cut it with a knife, then use the strap cutter.

[Deb59]

I use a wooden strap cutter most of the time, but If I am cutting something that the strap cutter will not work with, I use a 5" wide Olfa Quilting ruler with a lip on it along with the rotary cutter. You can see through the ruler, the lip on it helps keep it from sliding when you hook it over the edge of the leather. The width also gives you something wider than a couple of inches to press down on to help keep it from moving on you.