Members zuludog Posted March 12, 2019 Members Report Posted March 12, 2019 Thought I'd add this - I've made my own Japanese style knives; one from an old plane blade, and one from a piece of 40,, industrial hacksaw blade, the cost was very low GENEH - looking at your other interests, I don't think you would find it too difficult to make one yourself. You will need to find someone who's good with a bench grinder, and go slowly, with quenching, to avoid burning such thin steel. Final sharpening by hand, and they get better as you use & resharpen them. Search YouTube for ideas. Handle can be any hard wood; I've used beech & hawthorn Quote
Members GeneH Posted March 13, 2019 Author Members Report Posted March 13, 2019 On 3/12/2019 at 3:34 AM, Alisdair said: .... if I had to choose only one knife, .... This is one of the responses I had hoped to receive as it's in line with how I get started: one tool that'll do the job well and expand from there as required. Quote
Members GeneH Posted March 13, 2019 Author Members Report Posted March 13, 2019 That's a couple votes for straight, single bevel, Japanese knives. Zuludog I might have a small plane blade around here to try out. That would give me an idea of how I would like that style of leather cutting. I watched a couple videos (since the last posts endorsing Japanese style blades) showing to hold it. I can easily thin and smooth the the bevel if it seems a little steep. Edge retention might be so-so, but this is a low time investment to try. Quote
bikermutt07 Posted March 13, 2019 Report Posted March 13, 2019 Let me comment again. Monday I received my 1" skiving knife from Lisa Sorrell. I got to say (after working up the edge) I bet a fella could do a lot worse than this 40 dollar knife. It's a scandi grind double bevel angled skiving knife, but I bet it would do in a pinch for an all around leather knife. Quote I'm not paying 80 bucks for a belt!!! It's a strip of leather. How hard could it be? 4 years and 3 grand later.... I have a belt I can finally live with. Stitching is like gravy, it's only great if you make it every day. From Texas but in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Members GeneH Posted March 13, 2019 Author Members Report Posted March 13, 2019 7 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said: .... I received my 1" skiving knife from Lisa Sorrell. ...after working up the edge) I bet a fella could do a lot worse than this 40 dollar knife.... I didn't see her knife listing before - seems she has 2 different sites. Now I see what she has here: https://sorrellnotionsandfindings.com/product/skiving-knives/ And of course working up the edge should be expected on most knives just to suit our particular OCD bent for that perfect edge. :-) It's my expectation to have to tweak a new tool. Nothing wrong with that is there. Quote
bikermutt07 Posted March 13, 2019 Report Posted March 13, 2019 Just now, GeneH said: I didn't see her knife listing before - seems she has 2 different sites. Now I see what she has here: https://sorrellnotionsandfindings.com/product/skiving-knives/ And of course working up the edge should be expected on most knives just to suit our particular OCD bent for that perfect edge. :-) It's my expectation to have to tweak a new tool. Nothing wrong with that is there. I tell folks, unless the tool comes from a custom maker, expect to be expected to true it up. Nothing mass produced comes sharp enough for leather. At least that's my humble opinion. Quote I'm not paying 80 bucks for a belt!!! It's a strip of leather. How hard could it be? 4 years and 3 grand later.... I have a belt I can finally live with. Stitching is like gravy, it's only great if you make it every day. From Texas but in Bossier City, Louisiana.
bermudahwin Posted March 13, 2019 Report Posted March 13, 2019 (edited) And Bikermutt until today I would have always, always agreed on that point. (can you sense a 'but' coming?) I have always been oldschool UK pricking irons to mark the stitch and diamond awl to stich through (unmarked) rear leather. I was intrigued by the 'hole punch' stitching methods I had seen on here, so went for these, to try the method... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232832314053 They arrived today, and sharp as hell out of the pack. Who knows what will happen tomorrow, but went through 6mm leather like butter. I dont know if I am pleased ar disappointed, as I have never paid so little for any tool, I kinda wanted it to fail. I will buy better when needed, rather than sharpen, but for now they work. H Edited March 13, 2019 by hwinbermuda Quote No longer following it.
bikermutt07 Posted March 13, 2019 Report Posted March 13, 2019 @hwinbermuda, I'm guessing you got lucky on that one. Now I haven't actually sharpened any irons. They may be an exception to the rule, but awl blades, corner and end chisels, knives, edgers, just about anything I can think of has needed finishing. Quote I'm not paying 80 bucks for a belt!!! It's a strip of leather. How hard could it be? 4 years and 3 grand later.... I have a belt I can finally live with. Stitching is like gravy, it's only great if you make it every day. From Texas but in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Members zuludog Posted March 13, 2019 Members Report Posted March 13, 2019 40 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said: I tell folks, unless the tool comes from a custom maker, expect to be expected to true it up. Nothing mass produced comes sharp enough for leather. At least that's my humble opinion. That's a fair comment. I started with a Stanley knife/craft knife/box cutter knife and still use it sometimes. It seemed to work better after I'd resharpened the blades with a fine oilstone and a strop; probably because that reduced the shoulder of the bevel and gave it a better polish Whatever knife you get, you will need two - the first is for cutting leather. The second can be more or less anything you want. Use it for opening parcels, sharpening pencils, cutting string, and that sort of thing; its purpose is to make sure you use the first one exclusively for cutting leather Quote
Members GeneH Posted March 13, 2019 Author Members Report Posted March 13, 2019 These just popped up for me. Stated as DC53 steel, and according to a quick google education, superior to D2, (tougher, more chip resistant at higher hardness)....soooo... if the HT is good then I should be more than satisfied. For a while. At the price I can't justify the T&M to make one. BONUS if it's really good then we might be looking for belt knives. heh. I wonder if there is any real difference between left and right orientation when using the knife, 'cause I'm a leftie. No matter, we'll see what happens. If it wasn't for the videos I would have been using it backwards anyway. Quote
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