Have some ???

[Bitterwheat]

Being new at this, I have a few questions. 1. Do you use a swivel knife to cut your leather?  2. What kind of finish do you reckomend?  3. Do you dampen you leather before dyeing?What type blade do you use if you use a swivel knife?  How would a nylon cutting board work?  thank you for any help. I will probably have more questions, but these are bugging me the most right now.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

To answer your questions:

1. I use a swivel knife to cut the top grain for tooling. To cut leather pieces for a project, I use a knife I made but many pards use a head knife, an exacto knife, or any other type of good sharp knife. The first photo below is of the three knives I use the most. The top two are made from a power hacksaw blade.
2. I prefer Lincoln leather dye for color and a good saddle soap after it's dry. If the piece needs to be softer and more pliable, I'll put on a light coat of neetsfoot oil.
3. I don't usually dye leather when it's wet. I have dyed it wet if when I didn't want the cye to penetrate as much.
4. When tooling, I usually use a tapered blade in my swivel knife for tight radiuses and a flat, double-sided one for straighter lines. I also have one that has 4 cuting edges for making a texture like grass. The second photo below is of my three most used swivel knife blades. The one on the right is the one for making crass cuts.
5. Any cutting board works fine although I like a large, heavy one best. My favorite is a large piece of butcher block that won't shift when I cut.

I'm sure others here will add their ideas and techniques to this so keep checking in.

[Slowhand Bob]

I have come full circle on knives.  I am back to the case-opener style knives as my primary leather cutters.  I keep two or three in different configurations at hand.  I use an X-Acto version of the hook blde knife that  Marshall Will shows and it works wonders for reaching into that reeeal tight spot for a little nip.  Another unusual tool I find handy for leatherwork is the cheep metal window scraper that uses disposable blades.  These beat anything else ive tried for making small controled skiving cuts.  Disposable razor edge blades make all of the above super tools to work with.  If you decide to go with fixed blade knives, be sure that you learn to sharpen them to extreme edges or you are asking for a skived fanger and I promise thet it hurts reeeal bad. 

I oil my leather lightly with the EEEEvil neatfoot oil and then apply one or sometimes two coats of Weaver dye over this and oil again.

I use a large restaurant poly chopping board under regular cutting chores and prefer a piece of marble under leather being carved.  It may just be my imagination but the leather just seems to carve easier and open better with the firm foundation.

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[Marshal Will Wingam]

Howdy, Bob, thanks for mentioning the board you use for carving. I forgot to mention that. I was thinking about cutting only. For tooling, I use a big slab of slate that used to be a counter in a bank teller's window. It's over an inch thick, about 2" x 3' and really is great for stamping.

[Silver_Rings]

I use a rotory cutter for cutting my leather.  For small or tight cuts I use an exacto knife.  For a cutting pad I use the rotory cutting pad.  I believe my rotory cutter is a 45 mm size.  I find it makes cleaner cuts and doesn't dull as fast.

SR

[Kid Cavalier]

1. Do you use a swivel knife to cut your leather? 
I use a Danny Marlin Head knife or a carpet knife with a polished blade for tight inside turns.

2. What kind of finish do you reckomend?
I prefer oil dyes over alcohol based dyes.  For a sealer I use Rosolene.

3. Do you dampen you leather before dyeing?
Nope but I do apply neatsfoot oil to the leather before dying.  It helps the dye penetrate as the oil saturates and reduces streaking in my experience.

4.What type blade do you use if you use a swivel knife?
Ceramic!  1/2 inch or 1/4 inch angled for detail work.

5.How would a nylon cutting board work?
Should work fine, but as has been said a large surface is better so you can do continuous cuts.  Our cutting table is covered with 3/8 inch of nylon cutting surface.

  thank you for any help. I will probably have more questions, but these are bugging me the most right now.

No problem
Kid
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