Osborne lace cutter- a demonstration

[Markwell]

Hey guys!

I have made a short video demonstrating the Osborne lace cutter (Western lace cutter). It is quite difficult to find information about how it is used, so I hope this will help those that are wondering how it works.

The cutter itself works differently than most cutters. It cuts from the inside of your leather piece towards the outside. Not what I am used to, but it works (once you get used to it)!

In any case, I hope this comes in handy,

Mark

[Mark842]

Thanks for posting this. I've been curious about this lace cutter and how it works. This demonstration will save me some money. We use the Tandy plastic lace cutters right now and they work fantastic. My only complaint with them is if you cut a lot of lace it literally wears away the plastic opposite the blade until it eventually breaks. It takes about 80 sq ft for me to wear one out till it breaks, not to mention as it is wearing out it allows a wider gap making the lace thicker. 

 The pros that I think the Tandy lace cutter has over this cutter:

Inexpensive. They are $5.99 unless you can arrange a bulk deal like I can with my local manager. I buy 25 at a time for $3.50 a piece.

The blade is completely enclosed so it is impossible to cut yourself while cutting your lace. That blade hanging out the top of this one looks like a blood letting waiting to happen.

Blade is held in place by the handle which allows for very fast accurate lace cutting. I can hand cut 25 sq ft of 7 oz chrome tan in about 2 hours making roughly 1400 ft of lace.

 Cons:

 Width is only adjustable by using one of four different slots on handle. The bottom 3 slots are too thin for anything I would use it for.

 

 Sure wish someone would take the design of the Tandy cutter and machine it out of metal! I was hoping that was what this Osbourne was. Watching this video, I think I'd be dead from blood loss in about an hour. I d don't like that you have to hold the blade in the cutter. I do like that it is adjustable.

Just my 2 cents for what its worth.

[Markwell]

Thank you for the reply! A lot of good points there!

Those tandy cutters seem decent design (I will have to try them myself!), but as you stated, plastic is just not a good material to use.

I have not considered the safety aspects of it, since their strap cutter has a similar design. I have had no issues with it at all as far as cuts go.

 

Mark

Edited April 19, 2017 by Markwell

[billybopp]

Thanks Mark!

My first thought was "I'd cut myself with that" .. and then it occurred to me that the blade looks like a standard hobby knife blade, and I'm sure you could use a shorter one with no problems.

Bill

[bruce johnson]

Mark,

Thank you for posting this! 

Billy,

I have seen where a guy rounded off the tip of the blade sticking up there. I do the same thing with new draw gauge blades, not many people need that tip to cut anything with, but that is what at least 80% of the accidental cuts are done on. 

I haven't had one of these for a while but can't remember if there is enough "meat" to drill and tap a hole or two and insert set screws to hold the blade in the slot. If so, that could make these a lot handier looks like from here. 

[howie696]

they look down right dangerous

 

[Mark842]

Yep, my next thought after posting my thoughts on this were to just take my dremel and cut off the protruding part of the blade and them figure out how to attach the blade permanently. Then I thought, hell, why not go see my buddy down at the machine shop with a few ideas...

Will have a prototype in a couple of weeks.