Round knife offer

[zuludog]

At the moment Tandy are offering their Al Stohlman Round Knife # 35014 - 00 at a reduced price. In Britain it is currently £35-90 compared to the usual full price of £71-87

Is it worth getting?

[Matt S]

Am I correct in thinking it's a mysterious grade of stainless? If so I wouldn't touch it. The one LePrevo list is, IIRC, a Woodware/Barnsely 5" for £24+VAT. Abbey do the same thing for £18+VAT.

[MADMAX22]

I got one of those tandy knives a few years ago. I have used it 3 times I think. The last time was after I sharpened it up real good and still didnt like it. 

[Art]

I have one or two Al Stohlman knives, in the box, and that's where they stay as that is the best way to keep them sharp.  I'm guessing the steel is 420 or worse, not the greatest knife steel.  Knife steel is important in the long run, but in the short term, anything can be sharpened.  If you have one of these "lesser" knives and want to get a little more use out of it, try an included angle of 40° or so; that's 20° per side.  You can go as low as 20° included (10° per side) if you have very very good steel, hardened to a very high hardness.  I don't recommend this a lot as most steels just aren't up to it, most head knives can hold 30° (15° per side) pretty well and 35° easily.  The Al Stohlman knives are much more in the 40° category.  It is just a matter of how long the edge will hold until it rolls over, and at lower angles the Al Stohlman knives roll over rapidly, you might not even finish the cut at any angle less than 30°.  Really, been there, and got about 2 inches into some 8 oz veg tanned leather (it was a little hard, but tanned all the way through) before old Al just stopped cutting, I really mean stopped!  At 40° that knife made the cut, and did so for some little while.  This is not to pile on TLF; I have run across some of the German steels that some custom makers are using that is a bear to get to hold an edge.  Here my old friend 40° helps here too.

In summary, I wouldn't go "hunting" for an Al Stohlman knife unless you just want one.  I can recommend the C.S. Osborne knives as good basic head/round knives; are they 20° knives? Hell No, but 30° or 35° will last a good long time between sharpening and give good service.  A strop will help anything.

Art

[jcuk]

You might want to have a look at this Round knife and look at the other Leatherworking tools on this site.

 

Hope this helps

jcuk

 

 

http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/shop/george-barnsley-sheffield-saddlers-half-moonleather-knife/

[YinTx]

And all this time I thought it was me, have to strop that thing every 5 inches.  Well, great, now I need another knife.  lol.

Thanks for the info, probably saving me a lot of frustration in the long run!

YinTx

[zuludog]

Thanks, I'll give the Al Stohlman round knife a miss. In fact I don't think I'll get a round knife at all, I'll just carry on with what I know - a Stanley knife that's been fettled to hold the blades firmly. Then the blades are resharpened on a fine stone & a strop, to be very sharp & polished

[dirkba]

Zuludog,

I am only a leather hobbyist, but using a Stanley has challenged my patience to the limit. The edges have multiple cut marks that drive me nuts.

After trading one of the forum members (electrathon) for a cutting tool I decided to get a round knife - but with our currency being weak it would cost me an arm and a leg!

So after searching the forum and finding inspiration from others I attempted making my own round knife from a bench saw blade. I have never looked back!!

Strop the cutting edge regularly and it cuts like a dream....no more multiple cut marks!!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2016 by dirkba
spellim

[zuludog]

Well, I have made a skiving knife from a piece of industrial hacksaw blade, about 40mm wide. And at the moment I'm making a Japanese style leather knife from an old plane blade. Perhaps I'll eventually get round to a round knife. I'm a bit of a technophobe, but I hope get a friend to help me post some pictures in the near future.

Tandy's shop in Manchester has a drop - in session one afternoon a week. I think I'll go there and try a round knife. Certainly I have seen a couple of professional leatherworkers using their round knives and they can make them sing & dance; I wonder how long it takes to get to that stage?

I have a few old Stanley knife blades that fit well without wobbling. I re-sharpen these on a fine stone and a strop; they seem to work better than new. I think this is because I have reduced the shoulders of the bevel, and the blade is also highly polished

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, dirkba said:

Zuludog,

I am only a leather hobbyist, but using a Stanley has challenged my patience to the limit. The edges have multiple cut marks that drive me nuts.

After trading one of the forum members (electrathon) for a cutting tool I decided to get a round knife - but with our currency being weak it would cost me an arm and a leg!

So after searching the forum and finding inspiration from others I attempted making my own round knife from a bench saw blade. I have never looked back!!

Strop the cutting edge regularly and it cuts like a dream....no more multiple cut marks!!

 

 

 

 

 

Nice lookin blade dirkba. And you get 2 cutting sides as well, just flip it over and keep on cutting.

[Jimmy McLaughlin]

Great Job, 

That cut looks very clean. Good work.

Jim

[YinTx]

On 8/16/2016 at 1:21 PM, jcuk said:

You might want to have a look at this Round knife and look at the other Leatherworking tools on this site.

 

Hope this helps

jcuk

 

 

http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/shop/george-barnsley-sheffield-saddlers-half-moonleather-knife/

I just got some other great stuff from these guys, but somehow missed they had a round knife.  Anyone use it that can provide some feedback on how it well it performs?

YinTx

[jcuk]

Hi Yin Tx

Sorry can't help with how good that Round knife would perform I have a Knip knife Texas Rosebud, fantastic tool the reason I did not buy a Dixon or George Barnsley  knife  because I  prefer a flat handled knife. I  had a older Osborne before but it got damaged they kindly sent me a new one free but could not get it to hold an edge - hence ordering  the the Texas Rosebud. 

But Sheffield steel in held in the highest esteem this side of the pond,  many moons ago I worked in an old  traditional  ironmongers selling Sheffield made scissors and various kinds of knives - often customers would come in to get knives and scissors sharpened purchased elsewhere (not Sheffield Steel). Therefore all of us who worked there knew how good Sheffield Steel was. 

I would be  Interested to know what other stuff you got from them, I clicked on the link earlier they had one Round knife in stock just tried again it has gone. Had the the Rosebud nearly a year now never had to sharpen it just stropped it performs as well as the day I got it.

 

hope this helps JCUK

 

 

 

[YinTx]

7 hours ago, jcuk said:

I would be  Interested to know what other stuff you got from them,

Picked up a plough gauge, spare knife, hammer, a bookbinder's leather paring knife, and a smaller paring/skiving knife.  Spent the afternoon working them over with my stones and stropping them, they seem pretty good.  Wish I had remembered about the round knife, I could have included it in the same shipment and likely saved some $$ on shipping.  Not too sure how to use the paring knives, they don't really skive great - or I don't know how to get them to skive great yet is probably more like it.  They all seemed to have about a 30 degree bevel on them, pretty rough but cleaned up ok.  

YinTx

[Mattsbagger]

On the pairing knife. If it's a angled blade style Lisa Sorrel has a tutorial in this month's leathercrafters magazine.