What Is The Point Of A Head/round Knife?

[Tannin]

BTW I also have a fancy-looking clicker's knife (the"industrial knife" from Tandy I believe), with walnut & brass handle - but I do not recommend it: although the blades are sharp & well shaped, they are much, much shorter than the very long (and therefore longer lasting) ones of a traditional English clicker's knife, which costs half the price. Also the fancy handle is not good: the wood was split when it arrived, the brass-lock mechanism is crudely held together inside and its design prevents the use of the longer traditional blades. The lock mechanism doesn't work well: it sticks when you need it to move and moves when you need it to stick. It seems weak too. The brass has also become incredibly tarnished despite being kept alongside many other tools (mostly rust-prone carbon steel) which are fine. It was a bad purchase all round, very disappointing (although it cuts well enough).

If you like this style of knife (they are very good for cutting around patterns, especially smaller patterns), I would suggest getting one of the cheaper, plainer looking, traditional black handled ones (such as the one sold by Dixons & others) that take the longer blades; they have stood the test of time. I did see a similar one with a blue plastic handle, that might be even better (less chance of the handle splitting) but I could not find a supplier. Or get a vintage fixed blade clicker's knife if you can find one (I couldn't, they might have been used only/mainly in France).

Or simply use broad concave curved blades in your Stanley knife (I got some good, thick, single ended, made-in-Sheffield blades like this on ebay). And strop them! :^D

Edited October 8, 2015 by Tannin

[zuludog]

As I've mentioned before, I mainly use a Stanley knife but re - sharpen the blades on an oilstone & strop, which I think improves them.

I also have a 4" chef's knife, and as it 's carbon steel I no longer use it in the kitchen, but I'm gradually sharpening and re - shaping the blade slightly to use it as a clicker knife.

Soon I'll probably bind the plastic handle in linen thread to get a better grip. If I feel keen I might remove the plastic handle altogether and fit a fatter wooden handle

[TinkerTailor]

This is a really cool round knife trick. It gets to the point of a round knife. I don't think you can do this faster any other way,

https://youtu.be/J5GqItjXtRI

there are quite a few good tricks on this channel from a real pro.

Like this sharpening video. The strop is a 4 foot 2x6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OTSNhCePno

Edited October 9, 2015 by TinkerTailor

[JLSleather]

That guy makes it look simple. I suppose we have to have another 5 pages if I say that what he did could have been done with about any kind of knife? I usually use a #11 x-acto for that

[Art]

Jeff,

You know darned well that only a "head" knife can be used to make the strap-point ends. You have to use a "round" knife for them round strap ends.

Before everyone pulls the trigger on me, this is a joke son.

Art

[JLSleather]

You have to use a "round" knife for them round strap ends.

[Tannin]

... I'll probably bind the plastic handle in linen thread to get a better grip. If I feel keen I might remove the plastic handle altogether and fit a fatter wooden handle

You could wrap the handle with thin leather. That's what I did that with my all-metal English paring knife, after seeing other examples of similarly covered English & Japanese paring knives and have been pleased with both the appearance (leather is such a forgiving medium - just what I need!) and the feel. Making a wooden handle would allow you to make a handle to fit your hand/needs though. I suspect that it will not be "full tang" - in which case you might want to try a technique suggest by knife blade maker Nic Westermann, drill the handle for a dowel, fit the blade to the dowel & then just glue the dowel into the handle, he describes it better here: http://nicwestermann.co.uk/knife-handle-dowel/

[Tannin]

This is a really cool round knife trick. It gets to the point of a round knife. I don't think you can do this faster any other way,

https://youtu.be/J5GqItjXtRI

...

Excellent videos - thanks When I first saw that, I thought "I wouldn't put my thumb that close to the sharp end of a round knife" but when I watched it again, he doesn't actually move the knife at all, he simply moves the leather around the blade, which is braced against the edge of the bench. I doubt it such a technique would have occurred to me if I had not seen that. His knife is very sharp - worth watching his sharpening video to see how he achieved that.

re. the original post/question, from my limited experience (& reading this thread) you don't need a round knife to do leatherwork, even as an experienced professional, there are many cheaper, simpler, effective options. But they are surprisingly versatile once mastered and might have advantages if you cut a lot of big, thick, hides and when cutting multiple layers (e,g, some of my sheaths are 15mm thick) - and they can be used for smaller jobs too. Also, LeProvo sell traditional English-made round knives for £24 - not cheap but reasonable & importantly: within the reach of many/most leatherworkers I would think (& look the same as the one used in the above videos).

Edited October 10, 2015 by Tannin

[zuludog]

TANNIN - Thanks for the advice on knife handles

The knife I intend using as a clicker knife is a good quality Sabatier style chef's knife. 8"/19cm overall length, 3,75"/10cm blade length

It has a full tang, so the easiest would be to bind or wrap the handle somehow. I think a combination of slightly damp wet forming and sewing on the leather should do the job

If I remove the handle I'll have to carve a new one and pack out the overlap where the new scales are wider than the tang. That would be a bit of a fiddle, so binding or wrapping should be OK, as the handle is almost big enough as it is

I followed the link, and it looks interesting. I'll try that next time I make a narrow tang knife

[Tannin]

Yes, I have heard of Sabatier, French I think, supposed to be top notch kitchen knives. I often buy old kitchen knives, we have quite a collection now :D.

Edited October 17, 2015 by Tannin