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.

[evaengineer]

Well, I have very little money. The most I could spare would be $60 for one. Any suggested links on where to find one at that cost? Or should I wait? I have a sort of hard time cutting right now.

[silverwingit]

You can spend a lot of money on a head knife, but I don't think it's necessary. I'd start with an affordable knife and spend the rest on sharpening tools, strops and materials and learn how to use them-- you gonna need 'em.

CS Osborne knives are just fine especially for a first knife. Here's the one I'd start with:

http://springfieldleather.com/24746/Knife%2CHead%2C%2371/

They also make a slightly larger one (5" vs 4 1/2"):

http://www.csosborne.com/no70.htm

Osborne calls the larger #70 a round knife and the smaller #71 that I recommend starting with a head knife. I never have figured out what the difference in terminology means but I like the smaller one because I think it has slightly sharper points that make it my preferred knife for detailed cuts and inside corners, etc. It can also do anything the larger knife can do which is why I recommend it.

Good luck and tell us what you decide and what you think of your new knife.

Michelle

Edited September 2, 2013 by silverwingit

[Matt S]

Leprovo (in England) do one for £24, needs a good sharpen but I like it, another option is the halfmoon knife used by flooring fitters, it is basically half the shape of the head knife with a straight edge. I have been using one for all sorts of jobs for years, and a little bit easier to use in my opinion.

The one from Le Prevo is a Geo Barnsely. The half-moon and quarter-moon types are available for even less at Bachelors. Like a lot of professional tools they need sharpening when new, but my £13 quarter-moon knife is my main user.

[immiketoo]

Eva, if you look on ebay, you can fond some decent knives. Bruce Johnson may also be able to help. He is a member here and he sells vintage tools that are worth a look. Good luck!

[Konnie]

When my first head knife (bought from Ebay) was really sharp I practiced and practiced. Meanwhile, I've also bought one of Bruce Johnson. Now I cut almost everything with my head or roundknife. Partly also grooves at 45 degrees.

I chose this knife because I would like to master the tools of the old saddler. There must be a reason why this type knife was invented for leather work. I think so. I do not want to miss this knife.

[leatherjunkie]

Well, I have very little money. The most I could spare would be $60 for one. Any suggested links on where to find one at that cost? Or should I wait? I have a sort of hard time cutting right now.

$60.00 for a head knife? you should be able to get an osborne for that price. hope you can spare some money and lots of time on sharpening equipment. the osborne knife that i tried was about as sharp as a butter knife. the reason knives cost so much is the type of material that it is made out of. the good quality knives will just need stropping regularly and sharpening once in awhile. Chan Geer told me he can cut up 5 to 6 hides with just stropping. after 6 hides he does sharpen it on a diamond stone.

you would be better off stropping the hell out of a box knife then spending 60 bucks on a knife that needs lots of time on a diamond stone before you can try it out.

[electrathon]

In reference to the above, part of the issue here is how good are you at sharpening? This was where my statement about only buying a good one came from.

If you can sharpen your pocket knife sharp enough to dry shave the hairs off your arm you will have no issues. If not, practice sharpening. A round knife can be tricky to get sharp. It needs to be very sharp (sharper than a box cutter blade is new). A good knife will arrive sharp and will stay sharp for a long time. A poor knife will arrive dull and will need sharpening on a very regular basis.

[keplerts]

Can you use one of those ez-pull kitchen knife sharpener to sharpen a head knife? I just can't seem to get the hang of sharpening mine. I think I'm getting it sharp but it doesn't cut worth a darn. So I thought about using one of those EZ sharpeners. Has anyone tried one yet?

Thanks,

Tom

[Ski]

I doubt it. Every blade has a different grind. Some have convex, some have scandi grind etc.. Each one has a different method of sharpening. Rather than giving up, keep practicing and what will make a world of difference is try and get someone to show you the error of your ways and point you in the right direction.

If you think that is hard to sharpen try honing a cut throat straight razor

[FlHobbyist]

Can you use one of those ez-pull kitchen knife sharpener to sharpen a head knife? I just can't seem to get the hang of sharpening mine. I think I'm getting it sharp but it doesn't cut worth a darn. So I thought about using one of those EZ sharpeners. Has anyone tried one yet?

Thanks,

Tom

This is a definite no. The sharpening angles are different and it wont get your round knife sharp enough.

[dirtclod]

Can you use one of those ez-pull kitchen knife sharpener to sharpen a head knife? I just can't seem to get the hang of sharpening mine. I think I'm getting it sharp but it doesn't cut worth a darn. So I thought about using one of those EZ sharpeners. Has anyone tried one yet?

Thanks,

Tom

Tom if you have a bench grinder get a buffing wheel and some buffing compound. Load the wheel with compound and dress the edges on your knife. MAKE SURE YOU WORK BELOW THE CENTER LINE OF THE BUFFING WHEEL OR IT WILL TAKE YOUR KNIFE AWAY FROM YA !!!!

[keplerts]

Dirtclod

I'll give that a try. But, don't I have to have it sharp BEFORE using the buffing wheel?

Tom

[dirtclod]

Yes sharpen your knife before the buffing wheel. The wheel is like a super strop, if your knife isn't in really bad shape using the wheel should help it anyway.

[Tex Shooter]

Just a little warning about buffing wheels! Be careful not to over heat your blade and take the temper out. I have had guys get there pocket knife super sharp at gun shows on a buffing wheel only to find out later that the edge don't last because of losing there temper. If your edge don't hold up in hard leather on a older tool, it probability is because someone was not careful about not getting the blade hot. I have a old Ka-Bar knife that has that problem and its blades have been buffed by someone in the past. It is not always easy to tell when a cutting edge is getting too hot. When I was demonstrating sharpening techniques One of the things that I would do is run a knife edge by hand on a dry India stone in total darkness and you could the edge heat up red for a couple of thousands back. The only salvation is it cools so fast that it tends to re-temper its self, but sometimes so hard that it chips. These things can be seen under a microscope. With reasonable care you should not have a heating problem, but be aware that you can. One other thing. Some of the fine German and custom knife manufactures have learned that steel grain structure in cutting edges sharpen and work better if 45 degrees to the edge. A good rule when sharping wet and slower is better than fast and dry. -- Tex

[FlHobbyist]

...Some of the fine German and custom knife manufactures have learned that steel grain structure in cutting edges sharpen and work better if 45 degrees to the edge.

I'm a little confused. I thought that something like a hunting knife should be around 22 degrees, and that a round knife should be somewhere between 16 and 20 degrees. If I remember the swivel knives are sharpened to around 30 degrees. 45 sounds like a very large angle for a knife.