Beginner Wondering If Round Head Knife For Skiving Or Cutting?

[naz]

hi, I wonder if a round knife is for cutting or skiving?

I am planning to buy a Vergez Blanchard round knife but need it for cutting as I have a seperate skiving knife already.

Thank you!

[electrathon]

A round knife works well for both cutting and skiving.

[DavidL]

Its for both.

this japanese knife sounds like its a good contender, no rolling forward only push forward on heel of knife, pull on the tip or chisel cut (good for cutting excess or small straight edges). takes 1/8th the time to sharpen vs a large round knife http://www.japanwoodworker.com/Product/156498/1-12-Leather-Knife---Hidetsugu.aspx. The white steel is a good carbon steel above rc60 , vergez is sort of unknown steel and unknown rc hardness.

If you want a budget knife get an OLFA ultramax knife, it will outperform a LOT of knives and round knifes without having to get a proper sharpening stones. Wish I wouldn't have bought an expensive clicker knife when I could of gotten an ultramax olfa with 200 replacement blades - 8 cutting edges per blade, each blade could last more than year. I had a regular olfa and compared it to a clicker knife I had custom made and they are similar in cutting sharpness, olfa beats it by a little bit because the blade is so slim it will cut more precise with less pressure and has less resistance when cutting through 10 ounce vegtan - 1 pass usually . Its a bit sad that my clicker knife is made so thick that the blade gets wedged in-between the leather and doesnt cut.

Two things the japanese will always be great at are knives and sushi, taking years and generations to perfect them.

[simontuntelder]

Since no one else has said it already, I will. Check Bruce Johnsons shop. There you can get an old round knife (they're mostly better than newer ones) which has been sharpened and perfectly restored.

[naz]

thank you electrathon, DavidL and Simontuntelder!

[chiefjason]

One of the best things I have done for my leather working was ditch the razor knife and buy round knives. I have a round knife, head knife, and a straight blade skiver. All Osbourne's. The round knife is the #70 and is used for most of my cutting work. The Head knife is the #71. It has thinner "ears" that let me cut tighter curves more easily than the round knife. The straight skiver is a 67-1, about 1 3/4" wide. I use it to skive belts and cut belt slots and some general trimming work.

If you don't know how to sharpen a knife well, you need to learn. The key is keeping them absurdly sharp. When I have folks in the shop I always demonstrate how sharp they are so they don't mess with them. Watching me push a knife through scrap leather like it's nothing is enough to get their attention.

[TwinOaks]

Nothing against Tandy, but if you're looking to get a head knife, avoid them. Osborne, Rose, Gomph, Blanchard, some English name, and one or two more are the "old standards", but don't overlook the newer makers on the block: Leatherwranglers makes several round/head knife versions, and there are two others I'll recommend: Terry Knipschield makes some awesome blades; also, Joshua Fields who makes some smaller blade designs.

[naz]

thank you TwinOaks, chiefjason!!

[yoji]

i believe the most important thing is to choose the right knife to the leather you are cutting.

for vegtan and thick heavy/dense leather i find that using round knifes and olfa knifes are the right choise.

but using garment leather, upholstery leather, chrome tan leather or any soft aniline like leather can result in disaster. both for your fingers and for the piece that you are working on. round head knife will not give you the controll you need for cutting soft leathers, it will slip!. and the olfa knifes are not hard enough to hold the pressure and they will bend (once you cut with bent knife you will not have a straight cit edge, instead you will have slight bevel which will need to be corrected.)

I use the l'indespansible from vergez blanchard and it is the best knife i bought for soft leather. and works great on vegtan too.

http://www.fineleatherworking.com/indispensable-knife (although they are selling it double the price in france which is around 20 euros)

for even finer detailed work there is a knife made by SVIG (used by the most luxury leather artists around the world for fine detail cutting). it is way better than olfa since it has a better angle for cutting leather and it is a bit thicker so it wont bend.

just my $0.02

Edited December 2, 2014 by yoji

[naz]

Hi Yoji, funny thing I am originally from istanbul, turkey and the image you have sent me above is a turkish online store..I am checking the webstore right now! (and well actually buying...)

thanks much for your description!,

(I recently bought l'indespansible and love it so far)

thanks again

[DavidL]

I personally haven't had an olfa blade bend out of shape - I have the 8mm 30 degree angle blade, roughly the same angle as above pic. The blade will flex slightly left or right (only in curves or if you push down hard) because of how thin the metal is and I find I prefer it to flex during tight curves instead of have it rigid although it will work either way. I think they also sell a 18mm carbon steel knife thats sharper, more rigid and more suitable for heavier leathers.

I believe olfa knives in 8mm are as thin as scalpel knives and will outcut a thicker knife. I always compare to what hermes uses because they always have the best tools and i seen a worker use a yellow snap off knife that looks like its most likely an olfa as yellow is a common colour they use. With the 8mm you can't put down heavy pressure like a round knife, japanese utility knife, or a thicker olfa knife. It can comfortably cut thin leathers like upholstery or 3-6 ounce veg in one pass.

One knife I been looking at is the tina shoe makers knife or kiridashi japanese wood knife they both have a single bevel and flat back and is very popular style of tool for pattern clickers.

[yoji]

DavidL: the svig type blades are nowhere near 30 degree. maybe craft type olfa blades can be closer to the svig type blades but still they are not optimal. i do own all these blades so i feel comfortable saying this. if the fact that the blade bends is what you prefer so you are happy with what you have. me, i am not happy with a blade that bends and cuts in a slight angle where i am joining two pieces together and need the to match perfectly without gaps in the edges.

i cried a lot after cutting with knifes which bent to me as you say in curves and learnt my costly lesson. well but at least i have some nice display products willed with leather filler paste and 10 coats of edge paint to hide that mistake