Question On Head Knife.

[evaengineer]

So, I'm planning to purchase a head knife, and I saw that they were rather expensive in comparison to the other knives I've been using. Can somebody vouch for their usefulness vs. cost? Also, has a head knife helped anybody else here substantially?

[evaengineer]

Is this in the correct forum?

[electrathon]

Head knives are debated back an forth all the time. Some leatherworkers use them for almost everything and others can not figure out how to use them. If you are not sure, I would recommend you talking directly to someone that likes one and have them show you how it works. DO NOT buy a cheap one, you will just hate it and figure they are all worthless.

Personally, I use mine a little over half of the time. I have other knives too, and depending on what I am cutting I will switch back and forth. My recommendation, as a beginner I would recommend you using a box cutter. They are cheap and relatively easy to use. As you progress, keep your eyes open for a class or the opportunity to talk to an old leatherworker and see how he uses the round knife and go forward from there.

[TwinOaks]

Once you get past the learning curve, they are VERY useful. But as electrathon said, get a good one to start with. All head knives are NOT created equal. I use mine mostly for longer cuts and skiving, as well as squaring ends. I have several of the little click knives, with the snap off blades, and I use those for detail cuts.

The advantage of the head knife really shows when cutting thick pieces of leather, because the arc of the blade puts more edge into the cut. For thinner leather, it just zips through ( if properly sharpened), so some caution must be used to prevent over cutting a line, or running off the leather.

[Red Cent]

For me, the learning curve was huge, But then, I couldn't do a very good job of sharpening the thing. Finally, I gave it up because it occurred to me that I could afford blades for a number of different utility knives that I had in the garage.

There is something about using the head knife. They make all kinds.

http://www.jcookblades.com/leather.htm

[dirtclod]

I use a head or round knife for 99 % of everthing i cut. Their just like anything else it does have a learning curve but if you stick with it you find it's a lot easier to use than a utility knife IMO.

[lwm803]

My experience has been a bit different. Leather work has never been a large part of my life but it has always been an essential part of it. I recently set up a small bench in my woodworking shop in order to leave my leather working tools handy so they would see more use. This also renewed my interest in the craft so I now own a couple of round knives. They are both the cheaper Al Stolman stainless steel versions which I bought new from Amazon because I was curious how they would work out for me. Turns out, for me, they worked out very well. For the first couple of days I would spend a few minutes at the bench making cuts and honing/stropping the blades. I am no stranger to sharpening tools so they are extremely sharp. The learning curve did not exist, it just seemed much more natural for me to push the round knife than pulling some other blade through the leather (seems safer too). Though I would not mind upgrading to a more respected brand of round knife I honestly do not feel any pressing need to do so. Edge retention on these two knives seems adequate as I generally touch up the edge often, actually before I notice any real need to do so. With very few exceptions I use one of the two round knives for just about all my leather cutting these days.

[evaengineer]

Alrighty. Thanks a lot guys! I'll see about getting one soon!

[leatherjunkie]

evaengineer,

I finally purchased a good round knife last year from greycloud. website is :http://graycloud-designs.com/custom-knives/leather-workers-knives/utility-knife.html

i have the chan geer model. its a small knife compared to most head knives you see people using.

i am still learning how to use the knife. Paul Zalesak showed me how to sharpen the knife in his class i took this year. the knife is now sharp and easier to use.

Paul Zalesak is owner of www.leatherwranglers.com he has videos on how to sharpen and strop knives on his website. He also sells a head /round knife and swivel knives.

also when using box cutters always strop the blades cause they are not as sharp as they need to be with leather cutting. i learned this and my box knife cuts so much better now that i strop it.

if you get a chance to take Paul's class do so its a great class on sharpening and he is loaded with information.

[immiketoo]

Eva,

Buy it NOW. The WORST advice I ever got from a leather worker was to not buy one because they were hard to use. NOTHING could be further from the truth. I have a Leather Wrangler knife with the pull cut feature and a knife by Terry Knipschield. Both are amazing and they are by far the most useful and valuable tools I have. The learning curve took me about five minutes. It only took 5 seconds to realize they are FAR superior to any other tool for cutting leather. I can easily cut complex curves out of 9-10 oz leather, and anything thinner than that is a breeze.