Swivel Knife

[biker55]

Hello all, still new at this hobby. today received a used swivel knife that I purchased on ebay. went to try it out and it cuts. but not sure how to use it. can someone advise me on the proper use of it? another thing, how sharp should the blade be, and is it sharpenable. what's the advantage of this over a x-acto knife? couldn't I have used that to cut patterns in the leather also? how deep should I be cutting? thanks

Edited August 16, 2014 by biker55

[camano ridge]

You will not get the results with an exacto knife that you will with a swivel knife when carving a design. The exacto knife blade is very thin. THe way the swivel knife is made it gives you great control when cutting intricate designs. There is a learning curve, however you will be amazed at what you can do with the swivel knife once you learn to usit. Here is a link to a free Tandy video on using a swivel knife http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/Use-Care-of-Swivel-Knife.aspx. There are several you tube videos just search how to use a swivel knife. As to sharpening you should be able to glide through the leather without any drag. For sharpening go to leatherwranglers.com tips and tricks pages paul has a video on sharpening swivel knives. Take a piece of scrap leather make some cuts straight circular ess curve etc do the cuts with both the exacto and the swivel and compare. The biggest thing with the swivel knife is practice. As to depth it will depend on the thickness of the leather your design etc. You will find that depending on the design the start of the cut may need to be deeper at the start and shallower fading out at the end of the cut etc. Rule of thumb is to cut half the depth of the leather.

Edited August 16, 2014 by camano ridge

[biker55]

thanks for the response.

[King's X]

Invest in the Leather Manual by Al Stohlman. It will help you.

[biker55]

thanks!