Swivel Knife Blade

[dfivdayz]

i would say im still a beginner when it comes to tooling but i have done it now for over 2 years....my question is for those season pros that have had a chace to try various manufactures swivel knives and blades....what have you come across to be what you think a good working set?....and if they are from different manf. let us know.......im interested in upgradeing mine..

thanks for the help

[electrathon]

Leatherwranglers SK3

If there is a fault to it I would sat the issue is that it is sharp. You likely will have to get used to not pushing down so hard trying to get cuts in your leather. It starts out sharp and will stay sharp. So sharp you can skive with it, give that a try with your current knife.

Aaron

[cjdevito]

I'm anything but a seasoned pro, but I heartily second Aaron's recommendation. I love my SK3. Best leather related purchase I've made.

[dfivdayz]

what i was wondering was if different manf. had different thicknesses of blade material and/or different bevels....i see people working with lets say a tandy blade that is 3/32" thick and lays a nice groove to some overseas people that are working with what looks like a x-acto knife blade...their tooling is so crisp and clean and im just wondering if its because the blade hasnt moved so much material away that it kinda deforms the area???

to clarify my sharpness..i went to leatherwranglers website and watched his videos on sharpening...all i pretty much do is strop my blade every time i tool...i have never put that kinda edge on my blade...so you do have a very good idea..i will need to get my hands on some of those stones....and i do like those knives...they look alot more comfortable than my beginner tandy...

let me know what you think about achieving such crisp very detailed lines...especially when doing small detail work

thanks

[Bob Blea]

I'm also a Leatherwranglers SK-3 user, and think they are great. I upgraded from a Tandy knife to the SK-3 and haven't looked back. Their knife blade material is different from the standard hardend tool steel that most good knife manufacturers use. They found a steel alloy that is used in the medical field due to it's corrosion resistance. Paul Zalesak did a lot of reseach and found the reason you need to strop your swivel knife so much is because the residual acids and chemicals in the leather react with the blade causing microscopic pitting and buildup on the blade's edge. You feel this as drag when you are trying to cut leather. Stropping rubs off the build up and polishes out the tiny pits. The beauty of the material Paul uses is that it resists this corrosion very well, and you don't have to strop or sharpen very often. These blades work great and are worth every penny, at least in my opinion. You can get a Leather Wranglers blade that will fit in your Tandy knife barrel. All of their blades have a flat shaft but if you contact them they can make one that has a round shaft that will fit an existing knife.

Regarding blade size, I started off with a 1/4 blade in my SK-3, but after taking a class with Bob Park he convinced me to work with a larger blade. His argument is that while a small narrow blade makes it easy to do some of the fine detail cuts and curves, it covers up bad carving techniques and doesn't make you learn to hold and handle the knife properly. He recommends starting with a wider flat blade (3/8 inch or 1/2 inch) and once proficient in it's use, working to narrower blades and angled blades. I now use a 3/8 wide blade in the SK-3 for general carving and I have a Barry King swivel knife with a 3/8 inch blade that is thicker than the SK-3's blade for my decorative cuts. I just find the thicker (more standard) Barry King blade is making better cuts in my somewhat inexperienced hands than the thin SK-3 one. Like Aaron said above, the SK-3 is very sharp and it makes very fine cuts and I've always struggled with getting good decorative cuts from it. However, there are a lot of pros out there that use it for making decorative cuts and theirs look great, so it's just my not knowing how to do them well. For me personally, I find the bigger blade easier to make nice open decorative cuts.

Hope this helps,

Bob