Advice on cutting leather?

[Toadflax]

I've just got my first shoulder of veg-tan from Le Prevo and I'm looking at it thinking, I don't want to cut this!

I guess that I've just got to take the plunge and cut out the bits I want and accept that there will be some wastage. After all, little bits are always useful for trying out tooling patterns or dye testing. And on the cost per area, it is a lot cheaper than buying cut straps.

However, any thoughts on the best way to proceed? For making belts in particular, I guess the first thing is to make a straight edge along one side of the shoulder, then I've got a baseline for a number of straps.


Thanks


Geoff

 

[HillBill]

Yup, just get on with it and use a ruler to cut against.

Oh and Le prevo overcharge, if you want more leather £49 for a full shoulder of any thickness you want, thats including delivery go here. Any tools you want go on ebay too, no messing and cheaper for the same stuff, Le prevo is wayyyyyy over rated.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Leather-Shoul...UK_Crafts_Leathercraft_LE?hash=item4ced845573

 

[alecf]

Yup, just get on with it and use a ruler to cut against.

Oh and Le prevo overcharge, if you want more leather £49 for a full shoulder of any thickness you want, thats including delivery go here. Any tools you want go on ebay too, no messing and cheaper for the same stuff, Le prevo is wayyyyyy over rated.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Leather-Shoul...UK_Crafts_Leathercraft_LE?hash=item4ced845573

You can get a bargain in their specials sometimes, I got some 3mm veg tan at £1.99 per square foot the other day.

I agree though, its a hell of a lot easier to hit 'buy' on ebay than faff about with calling during office hours aswell as doing online order...

 

[rancid badger]

You do indeed need to sort out the edge first At least if you intend to make belts.
Ideally, you need something both straight and reasonably heavy, I use a six foot length of "unistrut" Which I wombled from work a while back

It is a bit strange, when you look at a pristine sheet of leather and start thinking about cutting into it for the first time.

No matter what you do; you end up with a lot of odd shaped bits, that ultimately end up in a box or bag and tend to stay there

good luck anyway, and don't forget to let us see how you get on.

atb

Steve

 

[HillBill]

You do indeed need to sort out the edge first At least if you intend to make belts.
Ideally, you need something both straight and reasonably heavy, I use a six foot length of "unistrut" Which I wombled from work a while back

It is a bit strange, when you look at a pristine sheet of leather and start thinking about cutting into it for the first time.

No matter what you do; you end up with a lot of odd shaped bits, that ultimately end up in a box or bag and tend to stay there

good luck anyway, and don't forget to let us see how you get on.

atb

Steve

I have such a box , only been through 2 shoulders and probs have half a shoulders worth of offcuts.
There will be a use for them someday. Best use i have found so far for them is to glue bits to my vices i use for knifemaking to stop them marking the knife

 

[Chainsaw]

For belts, I'd recommend a strap cutter, getting the baseline is always the tricky bit;

Cheers,

Alan

 

[Nat]

BAH! Strap cutters are cheating okenest:

 

[rancid badger]

I have such a box , only been through 2 shoulders and probs have half a shoulders worth of offcuts.
There will be a use for them someday. Best use i have found so far for them is to glue bits to my vices i use for knifemaking to stop them marking the knife

Ha!
Great minds etc etc

I thought about a stacked leather handle for a stick tang knife but wouldn't really know where to start.
Well...........that is...............obviously......I'd need a stick tang blade..........'s'obvious that..init?

I tend to use the off cuts for welts and the like.

I forgot about a strap cutter, by the way
absolutely indispensable, at least once you have a good straight edge to start from, much better than faffing on with steel rulers and knives.

cheers

Steve

 

[Toadflax]

I had a strap cutter on my list of thing to buy, but took it off before placing the order, seemed a bit of an extravagance, but it may well go on the next order.


Geoff

 

[HillBill]

Ha!
Great minds etc etc

I thought about a stacked leather handle for a stick tang knife

Funny you say that I'm partway through converting a fallkniven A1 into a stick tank with stacked leather The tang is shaped the leather cut and the tang holes cut out. I messed the brass bolster up though so thats how it is now.

Great minds eh

 

[g4ghb]

A strap cutter makes cutting straps sooooo much easier but I too bulked at the cost so made one

Tutorial here

I try to cut down on wastage and end up with one straight edge on the longest side for straps / belts and the other side is all odd sahpes where i try to fit the pieces jigsaw like

 

[Black Sheep]

Yep I made my own strap cutter too, slightly more over engineered than it needed to be but it makes life a lot easier. You only need your rule to slip and you've wasted X-amount of leather

Come on guys just the one box of off cuts I keep saving bits just incase

Richard

 

[Toadflax]

Took the plunge last night, cutting the shoulder, and it was a lot easier than I expected.

After marking out a straight edge with an awl and a piece of laminate flooring as a ruler I used the strap cutter (which I bought after the recommendations here), nervously cutting the first straight edge by eye along the awl mark, but cutting the first strap after that was amazingly easy. Way easier than trying to cut a long straight edge with a knife. And any small imperfections on the initial straight edge are corrected with the first strap cut.

And with the price of sheets of leather compared to buying cut straps, the strap cutter will soon pay for itself.


Geoff