Straight Lines

[Hunter1908]

Hey everyone, my name is Chris. I started leatherworking about 2 weeks ago, and am hooked. So I guess the leather bug bit me. Well onto my question. I am currently working on my first project which is a book cover. I seem to be having a problem with straight lines. Cutting in a straight line and stamping my borders in a straight line. The leather I am cutting is about 18" long and 10" wide. I am using a razor blade to cut the leather. I am not having any problems with cutting it, just in a straight line. I have been using a ruler, but either the ruler is moving while I am cutting, or I am holding the ruler crooked. If the ruler is crooked I can't tell that it is not.I don't have more than maybe 10 more dollars to spend between now and the month of October on this (leatherworking). I have already spent much more than I was supposed to on this, and my pay is getting severally cut for the month of September.

Thanks for all of your help in advance!

Chris

[lightingale]

Hey everyone, my name is Chris. I started leatherworking about 2 weeks ago, and am hooked. So I guess the leather bug bit me. Well onto my question. I am currently working on my first project which is a book cover. I seem to be having a problem with straight lines. Cutting in a straight line and stamping my borders in a straight line. The leather I am cutting is about 18" long and 10" wide. I am using a razor blade to cut the leather. I am not having any problems with cutting it, just in a straight line. I have been using a ruler, but either the ruler is moving while I am cutting, or I am holding the ruler crooked. If the ruler is crooked I can't tell that it is not.I don't have more than maybe 10 more dollars to spend between now and the month of October on this (leatherworking). I have already spent much more than I was supposed to on this, and my pay is getting severally cut for the month of September.

Thanks for all of your help in advance!

Chris

I had that problem at first. I was using a clear plastic ruler that I could see through, thinking it would speed things along as I could see what I was doing. However, it had a tendency to slip and slide over the leather, warping my straight cuts. I bought a metal ruler with a non-skid cork backing, and that fixed the problem!

For stamping in a straight line, lightly scribe a guide line using a ruler and your stylus or scratch awl to keep you on track.

[Hunter1908]

Well the ruler makes sense. I have a clear plastic one, that I purcased thinking the same thing. Thanks for the tips on the straight lines for both cutting and the border. Sometimes I overlap my stamps as well, does that just g away with practice or is there a trick to that?

[Chief31794]

An alternative to scribing a line (if the line doesn't get eradicated by the stamp it will show up after dying usually, particularly with any kind of highlighting or antiquing process), is to take a piece of scrap, wet it, stamp the border stamp into it. Then take a pair of wing dividers, set them in one point of the stamp (such as a veiner) and adjust them to where the other leg marks right outside the other end of the border tool. Then use a ruler to measure in what ever distance you want from the border 1/4", 5/16", 3/16" etc make a mark with a stylus where you wish to start then move the ruler down the border and use the wing dividers to measure from one mark to the next aligned to the proper distance from the edge on the ruler. Mark it all the way down to where you wish to stop, then stamp the border by aligning one end in the first hole and the other just next to the next hole and continuing to move down, then you have a perfectly aligned border with no lines showing what so ever, and the little marks the wing divider makes are stamped away.

Hope that helps,

Chief

[HellfireJack]

Sounds like you're being too heavy handed with the razor knife to me. It takes almost no downward force to cut leather with a razor sharp knife.

Your first cut should be light and just score the leather with the knife. You then have a path for the razor to follow. Increase the pressure slightly and make 3 or 4 cuts to finish it off all the way through.

Straight stamping just takes practice. I would recommend the late Paul Burnett's books on designing with stamping tools if you're looking for advice to improve border stamping when you can afford it. You can still get them from his website.

http://paintingcow.com/content/index.php/publications/home_study_courses/designing_with_stamping_tools/

[David8386]

What has been said above but I like to use a roller knife with a little or no downward pressure let the knife or razor blade do the work. All you do when you try to put pressure on it is either stretch the leather or cut crooked. David

It gets easier with practice

[TwinOaks]

Also keep in mind that if you're stamping deep, the leather will try to warp a little. You can help alleviate this by sticking the leather down to something rigid - a piece of plexiglass, some stiff paper/fiber board (like what's on the back of a notebook), etc. Just anything that will keep the leather from being able to move. You can read different options and what others have had success with in the stamping forum.

Only slightly off topic is your knife. How sharp is it? When you cut the leather, there should be almost NO drag....even if you don't get all the way through, it should be smooth. I routinely use little 'Olfa' knives. The kind that have the snap-off lines in the blade seem to work well enough for most things. When I get a new blade (or snap off a section because the fine point tip is gone), I strop it to the point that arm hair jumps off my arm to avoid the blade. "Razor Sharp" is a good starting point, but the blade needs to be stropped to polish the edge. Any time you sharpen on a stone, there are very fine striations left on the blade, and they are part of what causes a blade to drag through the leather. If you can't get a strop immediately, just work on sharpening with the finest stone you have and very light strokes to avoid ANY marks on the cutting edge. To give you an idea of how sharp you can get the blades, once I start on a cut and can feel the blade bite into the cutting board...I can usually hold the knife still and slide the leather into the blade to complete the cuts....with no more resistance than sliding the leather across a table top. That's what you're after. Also, on long straight lines, lean the blade at a shallower angle to get as much edge making the cut as possible.

[Northmount]

You can make a leather strop very easily when you want. There are posts here with instructions and how to use.

Some people use cardboard, poster board, and even newspaper to strop knives. Probably takes a little longer than when using jewellers rouge. But the main idea is to polish the blade so all those little rough stirations are gone.

CTG

[Hunter1908]

All this information is a great help! Thank you everyone, I will hopefully be able to put this information to use tomorrow. When I finish it, I will post in the critique section. Twin Oaks, my razor is the one that snaps off into sections. I don't get any drag when I am cutting with it. I think it is a mix of what lightingale and hellfireJack said. I was using a plastic see through ruler which I am replacing today, and I can guarentee you that I was being heavy handed with it. Thanks again everyone!

[bluesman1951]

Hi ,I must be from another planet . I would never be using a steel rule as a straight edge for cutting . I have a 3 and a half inch wide 36" long Pexiglass straight edge 3/16 thick . One you can see through it , its wide enough not to move ,long enough to do bigger leathers ,the shoulder provides enough height to give the blade a 90 degree angle when cutting . As a bonus it keeps the blade from doing a up and over when you cut . I use a 60mm rotary cutter for all cutting its a push away from you action instead of pull to you action with those carpet knives . All the leather I use is deer skin so we are on opposite ends of the spectrum here in regards to leather . Sorry about your pay cut ,our season is ending so I am having a sales decline ,so I know well the money shortage . Good luck time to get creative . Bill

Hey everyone, my name is Chris. I started leatherworking about 2 weeks ago, and am hooked. So I guess the leather bug bit me. Well onto my question. I am currently working on my first project which is a book cover. I seem to be having a problem with straight lines. Cutting in a straight line and stamping my borders in a straight line. The leather I am cutting is about 18" long and 10" wide. I am using a razor blade to cut the leather. I am not having any problems with cutting it, just in a straight line. I have been using a ruler, but either the ruler is moving while I am cutting, or I am holding the ruler crooked. If the ruler is crooked I can't tell that it is not.I don't have more than maybe 10 more dollars to spend between now and the month of October on this (leatherworking). I have already spent much more than I was supposed to on this, and my pay is getting severally cut for the month of September.

Thanks for all of your help in advance!

Chris