4 inch or smaller head knife around $150 or less? Is a "French" knife a good alternative?

[Brigg]

9 minutes ago, fredk said:

Its not???? You too need to read

quote from one of their listings - see the bit that says 'All items Made by us' ????

Fully functional, easy to store & good addition in your tools. Great for giving away as a gift.Each of our Damascus skiving Tool made by professionals according to the need for everyday use and they are unique in their own way.

Buy with confidence.

 

:::::All Items Made by us::::

 

Feel Free to contact us for all your Inquires, Questions and Feedback.
We will be happy to help you to design tools according to your need and taste. Thank You

 

I've not bought from them but I have been in contact with them

Just  forget it all.

I shall no longer be posting any advice or help on this website. Its a bluddy waste of my time

 

PS. the 'quality control sticker' is actually the sellers ebay listing identifier. If you bother to read or contact the seller you'd find this out and not jump to stupid unfounded assumptions

 

I think you are right about the sticker. My mistake. "All items made by us" doesn't mean anything. A Mercedes doesn't have to be made in Germany to be made by Mercedes Benz. These knives could be made in the U.K. but there is no information about the country of origin.
 

Anyways no need to make ad hominem attacks. I didn't mean to offend you.

4 minutes ago, tsunkasapa said:

Personally, I doubt you will be happy with this knife, I may be wrong. But based on the picture it isn't sharpened to do what a head/round knife does.

I am not sure how useful the picture is but you could be right. Osbourne says it is used by stained glass and leather workers.

[Retswerb]

Take a deep breath, @fredk. Your presence and advice on this forum are valuable and respected. Go for a walk and come back tomorrow, no one here is attacking you.

[zuludog]

Have a look at www.georgebarnsleyandsons.co.uk then knives, then saddlery. I have their head knife - as a traditional maker they only give you a basic cutting edge, to keep the cost down, and you are expected to do the final sharpening and polishing yourself, but once you get there it is excellent. Search YouTube for how to sharpen a round knife/head knife. They make other leatherworking tools as well

They are made in Sheffield, which is a major steel and tool manufacturing city in England. Somewhere on the Net I saw a series of photographs of their factory showing, among other things, head knives being made, but that was a while ago and I can't give you a reference

You could also Search around on  Google and Etsy. For example 'Etsy - round knife'; ' Etsy - head knife' and so on. While you're at it, you could Search for 'Etsy - Japanese leather knife'. With these categories you will see a variety of shapes and sizes besides the standard ones.......shipping from Etsy suppliers to USA might be cheaper than from UK

Have a look at videos by JH Leather, she uses a head knife for most of her work

Everything is made to a price. For leatherworking knives, awls and edge bevelers it takes time, care, and work to get an absolutely sharp and perfect cutting edge, and therefore costs more. So as I mentioned, the makers only give you a basic finish and you do the final stage yourself. You only get a sharp out of the box tool and a nice shiny look from the most expensive and exotic top end makes

You can improve things by sharpening a new knife yourself, sanding and treating the handle, and so on. In Britain we call this process 'fettling' Strictly speaking fettling means cleaning and grinding rough castings, but it has come to mean any sort of improvement or repair work

Search YouTube for 'how to sharpen a round knife' and there are several videos

Edited January 25, 2021 by zuludog

[zuludog]

FREDK Please will you reconsider your decision. I, for one, appreciate your help and advice, and I would like to do so well into the future

Regards Geoff, aka Zuludog

[garypl]

I have a couple of knives from Terry Moore in Vernon, Tx - you can contact him via Facebook.  
 

[MikeRock]

Well, if you are on right now, there is a legitimate CS Osborne, Newark, head knife right  now......like 30  minutes left...

God bless

C S OSBORNE & CO HALF-MOON CUTTING OUT KNIFE COBBLER SHOEMAKER LEATHER CRAFT

Edited January 25, 2021 by MikeRock
forgot link

[Hardrada]

This is what I got from Abbey:

 

It was only £ 36 about a year ago. Perfectly within your range.

https://www.abbeyengland.com/solingen-round-knife-329-8376.html

Edited January 25, 2021 by Hardrada

[Webicons]

What style of knife do you usually use?  What are you looking to achieve by switching to the head knife.  

I've tried several head knives but always returned to my Japanese knives.  Maybe if I had started off with the head knives then I would have invested more time into them.  Unless they are ready to use out of the box, the initial sharpening on a head knife is a bitch.  Maintenance not too bad though. 

[Brigg]

3 hours ago, garypl said:

I have a couple of knives from Terry Moore in Vernon, Tx - you can contact him via Facebook. 

These look perfect. I will give him a call tomorrow.

1 hour ago, Hardrada said:

This is what I got from Abbey:

It was only £ 36 about a year ago. Perfectly within your range.

https://www.abbeyengland.com/solingen-round-knife-329-8376.html

This was the knife I originally wanted but the size seems a bit big for me. How do you like yours?

3 hours ago, MikeRock said:

Well, if you are on right now, there is a legitimate CS Osborne, Newark, head knife right  now......like 30  minutes left...

God bless

I missed it...though still a bit big at 4.75"

4 hours ago, zuludog said:

Have a look at www.georgebarnsleyandsons.co.uk then knives, then saddlery. I have their head knife - as a traditional maker they only give you a basic cutting edge, to keep the cost down, and you are expected to do the final sharpening and polishing yourself, but once you get there it is excellent. Search YouTube for how to sharpen a round knife/head knife. They make other leatherworking tools as well

They are made in Sheffield, which is a major steel and tool manufacturing city in England. Somewhere on the Net I saw a series of photographs of their factory showing, among other things, head knives being made, but that was a while ago and I can't give you a reference

You could also Search around on  Google and Etsy. For example 'Etsy - round knife'; ' Etsy - head knife' and so on. While you're at it, you could Search for 'Etsy - Japanese leather knife'. With these categories you will see a variety of shapes and sizes besides the standard ones.......shipping from Etsy suppliers to USA might be cheaper than from UK

Have a look at videos by JH Leather, she uses a head knife for most of her work

Everything is made to a price. For leatherworking knives, awls and edge bevelers it takes time, care, and work to get an absolutely sharp and perfect cutting edge, and therefore costs more. So as I mentioned, the makers only give you a basic finish and you do the final stage yourself. You only get a sharp out of the box tool and a nice shiny look from the most expensive and exotic top end makes

You can improve things by sharpening a new knife yourself, sanding and treating the handle, and so on. In Britain we call this process 'fettling' Strictly speaking fettling means cleaning and grinding rough castings, but it has come to mean any sort of improvement or repair work

Search YouTube for 'how to sharpen a round knife' and there are several videos

The Barnsley single point head knife does seem like a good option though double point one is big.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Brigg

[Brigg]

41 minutes ago, Webicons said:

What style of knife do you usually use?  What are you looking to achieve by switching to the head knife.  

I've tried several head knives but always returned to my Japanese knives.  Maybe if I had started off with the head knives then I would have invested more time into them.  Unless they are ready to use out of the box, the initial sharpening on a head knife is a bitch.  Maintenance not too bad though. 

I am just trying to figure out what knives work best for me. I have a single bevel Japanese kiridashi knife and have been using the black carbon Olfa snap off blades. I am curious about the round shape as it is supposed to be good cutting curves.