Cutting A Large Piece Of Leather

[gogogorilla]

Hi All,

I got a little excited at the leather store today and bought myself a whole hide of upholstery leather with which to make knife rolls for some friends. I need to get at least 8 rolls out of the hide which doesn't give me much wiggle room when I start cutting. I've also never cut large pieces of leather before. Does anyone have some advice as far as measuring long cuts accurately and getting clean, straight edges?

Much appreciated.

[chrstn53]

After you pattern the leather you can cut perfectly straight lines with the use of a metal yard stick, the thicker and wider the metal yard stick the better. Most people use a pattern/clicker knife or exacto knife, but I just use a utility knife which allows for cheap sharp replacement blades to cut straight lines.

[gogogorilla]

Thanks chrstn53. After a little more poking around my plan is to get a pattern made out of MDF and pick up a nice big metal stick for cutting.

[The Dawg Club]

I have flat steel bars in different lengths/widths from Home Depot and cut with a rotary cutter.

[zuludog]

Have a look at this video on YouTube

'Make your own Messenger Bag, Part One' by Nigel Armitage

In fact anything by Nigel Armitage is worth watching. And also Leodis Leather/Ian Atkinson, if you haven't yet heard of them.

Edited January 28, 2016 by zuludog

[George3]

I use a piece of aluminum angle stock 2" wide, also from Home Depot.

If you can clamp it or weight it down, all the better.

[dirkba]

I went to a local steel merchant and asked for a piece of "off cut" stainless steel.

When I told the guy what I need it for - he was willing to cut me a strip from a 3mm (about 1/8 inch) sheet measuring 1 200 x 70 mm ( about 4 ft x 3 inches) to make a sturdy "ruler". Because it was cut with a guillotine it has a perfect straight edge!

I also use an utility knife - for ease of sharp replacement blades and have found the knife to slide smoothly along the edge of my stainless steel "ruler"

Good luck with your projects!

[billybopp]

+1 for a long metal straight edge of some sort. Mine is a 48" aluminum rule. I found that it slid around a little bit, so bought some stick on cork backing that helps tremendously. It also helps to have a good surface on which to cut ... an HDPE cutting table would be an amazing thing to have, but I don't have the room so I use a huge self-healing cutting mat on the kitchen floor (the only place I have with a large enough open area). Even with a cork backing, it takes some care and downward pressure to keep the rule from sliding around.

I use a utility knife with a new, freshly stropped blade. Try to get the fold-out type utility knife if possible, there is a little less side-to-side movement of the blades on those as opposed to the retractable blade utility knives that I used for some time. It's also a bit helpful to lay the cutting edge of the blade down, as opposed to keeping the edge more vertical. This lets the edge cut over a longer length of leather to make cutting a little easier and makes it a bit easier to cut straight as well.

Bill

[gogogorilla]

I just picked up a 48" rule at ACE and I'm going to give that a crack. I really like the idea of getting a steel "ruler" for the extra weight, but that will have to wait until I have the resources/mobility to find a steel merchant.

Now my other problem is what to cut on. I live in a tiny little 1-bedroom and the only place to lay out the leather is my living room floor. I have a self healing mat but its only 24"x18" and the pieces I need to cut are 32"x20". Would a big piece of cardboard work?

[Ole South]

Wallymart sells the Fiskars 24x24 self healers for about $17... buy a second one and get a piece of 24x48" 1/4-1/2" mdf to use as a base from Home Despot and you should be good to go without eating up much storage space.

I'll second the rotary cutter and straight edge for light to medium weight straight/gradual curve cutting... they're sold at Wallymart too.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Ole South

[x101airborne]

I went to a local plastics supplier and for 50.00, they cut me a sheet of LDPE to perfectly fit my kitchen table. I use C-clamps to hold it in place. For rulers, I use everything my wife has for quilting plus a 3/8 inch thick piece of carbon steel 3 inches wide and 4 foot long. A rotary cutter blade will flatten against it and cuts very clean.

[buzzardbait]

I use an 8 foot aluminum circular saw guide from Home Depot