Cutting Leather - Getting nice round corners

[Sheilajeanne]

Thanks, Bonecross! What category were they hiding it under? 

[Demetra Gayle]

Hi Sheilajeanne -

Ian Atkinson in England does videos about leatherworking..... while watching him on youTube I saw him using a round corner cutter by WindFire Designs, called the Circle Tool.  It works really well, is metal and not too expensive.  You can find them on Line.  I got the smaller one for $30 and use it all of the time!!!

 

Blackgoldwoman

Edited January 11, 2017 by Demetra Gayle
To add a Photo and the Price

[Bonecross]

18 hours ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Thanks, Bonecross! What category were they hiding it under? 

I searched for "corner" in their search box

Oh and that circle tool is neat Demetra Gayle - just ordered one! I have plastic circle tools which work great when drawing out a pattern, but this is perfect for direct cutting.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Bonecross

[Tob]

That is cool.  And they're only a couple of hours from me.  Wouldn't save on shipping to be sure, but cool to know.

[immiketoo]

Another alternative is to use a round knife.  It might be a little difficult at first, but I bought mine specifically for this reason.  Tight curves.  Plus its handy to have in the shop.  That being said, the round hole plus connecting the dots is probably the easiest way to go about it short of custom dies.

 

[Windrider30]

14 hours ago, Demetra Gayle said:

Hi Sheilajeanne -

Ian Atkinson in England does videos about leatherworking..... while watching him on youTube I saw him using a round corner cutter by WindFire Designs, called the Circle Tool.  It works really well, is metal and not too expensive.  You can find them on Line.  I got the smaller one for $30 and use it all of the time!!!

 

Blackgoldwoman

I have the smaller set of these and they are a god send to be honest work really well and its hard steel so you cant screw things up!!

[Boriqua]

I got something like this on ebay .. I admittedly went cheap and had to clean up the set some but they really upped my game and made all my corners inside and out look great since getting them and have saved a ton of time. I will never go back to cutting them out with a razor or knife. I have now been using the set for about 2 years and am very satisfied.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=Leather+Craft+Belt+Strap+Wallet+Bag+End+Arc-shaped+Punch+Leather+Handwork+5+Size&_id=121171114229&&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2658

I think I paid about 10 bucks for mine and am not sure you get a better polish on ones costing more. If you get them I would assume you will have to spend some time polishing. they are not pretty but mine work great and I use them several times a week.

 

 

[Dunluce]

Sheilajeanne,

I Found a  local art/model shop that cuts acrylic and got them to cut me a load of circles as in the photo. Because they are concentric circles they ll fitted on one A4 sheet so it wasn't too expensive

 

[flerg777]

Because of this thread, I realized that I had an entire set of cheap chisel and lathe tools from Harbor Freight in my shed!  One of them cuts an absolutely beautiful corner. 

[HENDREFORGAN]

I find that the secret to cutting precise lines, curved or otherwise, in hide is to maintain accuracy.  Many when starting out, I know I did this, try to overcome the strength of the hide by cutting with ever greater pressure . . and it takes but a nano-second to make a slip and that's the piece ruined.  Over time I studied how I could overcome this potential foul up and now this is my approach.

Good hide has one huge advantage, it's easy to make a mark in it's surface and that can then be used to replicate further marks or cuts.  So I use a slightly dulled (rounded point) awl that I'm comfortable holding as if it were a pen and draw an indented line using light pressure, then I follow this with a swivel knife fitted with a sharpened blade, finally when I have a groove deep enough that a blade tracks accurately I'll use a scalpel - not a craft knife version - a one piece stainless steel knife with a well honed edge.  It's delicate point means I can easily follow previous lines.

Readers will note that these techniques are little different to many used in heavily tooling veg-tan hide . . but I think that many leather-workers who haven't progressed to that work - and many aren't interested beyond stamping using commercial tools - aren't that aware of how these tools can be also put to use making accurate cuts in hide.