Need A Strap Cutter

[bruce johnson]

It is helpful to have a nice sized layout table with a long enough cutting board to make a decent length cut. I have a 24x48 cutting board that was pretty inexpensive from Tap Plastics. That way you are not having to move the board all the time too. I have 3, 4, and 6 foot metal rules. Ace Hardware here has them pretty inexpensively. I line up my cut to take out the clip ,marks and give me the best yield. I make the cut with a knife down the edge of the rule. I overlap the rule on the cut line as I get about to the end and go on from there. With the six foot rule I only have to do one shift with the rule and one and a bit more for the cutting board.

To answer the original question, I use a wooden strap cutter, draw gauges, and plough gauges to cut strips. I use a razor blade in the wooden strap cutter for thinner or softer leathers. I can't secure the small blades they come with well enough to sharpen them cinsistantly and safely for me, and don't find they last all that long anyway. Razor blades slide in and throw away. I use a draw gauge up to an inch for shorter strips I can secure easy enough. I use a plough gauge for anything over an inch. These are my general guidelines, but sometimes I will overlap with the draw or plough gauge depending on which is handier.

[Mike516]

I basically do the same thing. I have a 4 foot t-square from when I was hanging drywall. I lay the leather on a piece of cardboard under where I'll be running the knife on my cement floor in my basement/workshop and cut along the long edge of the t-square with a very sharp utility knife. I don't buy huge pieces of leather so the most I've ever had to overlap the ruler is once.

I just use the replacement blades that Tandy sells for .50 cents each, but I use mostly 6/7 and 3/4 ounce leather only so I can't speak for anything thicker.