JoannaAGraham Report post Posted July 31, 2015 Does how thick my leather is make a difference on outcome when using a swivel knife? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JoannaAGraham Report post Posted July 31, 2015 I am very new to leather crafting and the one thing I cant seem to get down is the swivel knife, every time i use it it just looks like it is making scratches on the leather(i am using thinner leather) and i have cased it before hand. Also could it be the knife itself? Does how think or thin the knife is have a difference on outcome? any tips or tricks would be greatly apprectiated! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Blea Report post Posted July 31, 2015 Hello Joanna, and welcome to the forum! A general rule of thumb is that you was to cut about half way through whatever leather you are using, so on thin leather you can't cut very deep nor can you get the deep tooling relief that you will on thick 8-10 oz. leather. I typically tool on around 4 oz. leather but I have done a little thinner. What weight of leather are you using? The knife does make a big difference. It needs to be very sharp to make good cuts. If it is a Tandy knife it likely didn't come sharp enough to cut well. At the very least you will want to strop it regularly to keep the cutting edge polished so it will cut better. The Leather Tools section has some tips on sharpening in general and there is some very good information there. Keeping a swivel knife sharp is a definite skill and one worth learning, but it does take effort to learn. Bob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
