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Passaround! Roundknife and Skivver.

Dave
Are you going to continue the pass around? I will have a hand full of sheaths to make in a few weeks. I would like to try the knives, if not I understand. Great comments for us to learn from the masters of leatherwork. Thank you for doing this.

David
 
This is my first round knife so I don't have other round knives to compare to. I have been using an exacto knife to cut leather. The fit and finish of Dave's knife is of high quality. As with any knife when you first pick it up you can tell if it will work with your hands and be comfortable. This knife felt good in my hand right away, so I started out cutting some scrap to get the feel on how it cuts leather. It sliced through and made curves just fine.Next I started on some sheath patterns. I'm really impressed on how straight and clean the cuts are. Its easy to follow the scribe lines on the sheath. One difference between the exacto knife and round knife for me is after cutting three sheaths, my fingers hurt using the exacto knife and with the round knife it feels like I can cut the whole double shoulder with out any fatigue. The cutting motion is through my palm, wrist, and fore arm. The head size on the knife seems just right, its not to tall and when I do a roll cut the length of cut seems ok also. I like it so far and its only my second day:)
John


 
John, you have probably already noticed that your cuts are more 90 degree strait up and down since the round knife blade does not flex. That pattern layout looks familiar. If you are going to line it, you'll find the skiving knife does an excellent and easy job on relieving the liner from the edge so they finish uniformly.

No one has mentioned sharpening either knife and they have made a stop at several homes. That's a real testament to the edge holding ability of Dave's choice of steel and heat treat.

Paul
 
Dave said he uses a buffer to keep the edge polished up so I gave them a couple passes on the buffer before using and again before I sent them out.

I did have a friend who does some leather work over the last day I had the knives. He too had only ever used a replaceable razor blade knife prior to trying out Dave's. Halfway through the first cut he said, "I gotta get one of these!".

Chris
 
You bet we can add you sahuntero6. Just emil or pm all your info and we'll get ya on.
 
sheathmaker said:
John, you have probably already noticed that your cuts are more 90 degree strait up and down since the round knife blade does not flex. That pattern layout looks familiar. If you are going to line it, you'll find the skiving knife does an excellent and easy job on relieving the liner from the edge so they finish uniformly.


Those 90 degree cuts make a difference matching edges, saves time not having to sand them straight.
Ya that's your pattern from the DVD. I will line them and use the skiver. Also I plan to make these next few sheaths into horizontal carry. I want to see how they come out.
I'm not to sure how to sharpen these, I do have a strop with compound, will that work?
John S.
Click to expand...
 
You bet John, I keep a strop on the bench if I'm being lazy and don't wat to go out to the buffer. One of the secrets with harder steel is don't let em get dull strop as soon as you feel it dragging and they will cut and cut for you without resharpening.
 
If anyone else is interested please let me know this passaround is still open. Two guys left sahunter06 and G2.
 
Good advice not letting them dull before a little maintenance. The guy that makes my wood carving knives said the same and they've just cut and cut and cut. I'll strop every 15-30 minutes and they've stayed very sharp.
 
I put the knives to the strop and they really sharpened up nicely. I'm impressed with how clean the cuts are, the sheaths barely need a touch up on the belt sander.
Skiver testing is coming up next.
John S.
 
Salolan said:
Dave said he uses a buffer to keep the edge polished up so I gave them a couple passes on the buffer before using and again before I sent them out.

I did have a friend who does some leather work over the last day I had the knives. He too had only ever used a replaceable razor blade knife prior to trying out Dave's. Halfway through the first cut he said, "I gotta get one of these!".

Chris
Click to expand...

Better order one while he is still a 'newbie' at it. I have a very nice mini french made by another custom maker, and ordered a head knife and skiver from Dave at a really competitive price. Only another 3.5 months to go!
 
Used the skiver today. The blade is nice and flexible and thin. I practiced choking up on the blade to get a feel of the knife and skived some practice pieces on a glass surface. I sharpened it up on the strop and skived some liner away from the sheath edge. I definitely need more practice, as Paul would say "It looks like a beaver chewed it". I started to get a better feel of how deep to skive. I noticed that you can feel the leather being cut. As I would skive, I thought it was going to deep so I backed off and getting the look of beaver chew. The second sheath was a little better as I was cutting longer strips off. Great knife, inexperienced user.
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John S.
 
John a little tip about linings and skiving. If you are using Deer skin, or some other relatively soft material like Pig skin, Lamb skin, Goat skin, etc. then skiving it away from the edge is mandatory for good smooth edges, because the softer leathers just move with the sander and will leave a ridge on the edge.

On the other hand if you use light weight veg. tan (2/3 oz or lighter) there is no need to skive, because it will sand and smooth at the same rate as the other layers, no ridge.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul, that is a good tip. The lining I am using is veg-tan calf. Well at least I got practice skiving:) I have some pig and will probably get some deer also.
John
 
My time with the round knife and skiver are over, got the feel of using professional leather tools.
Thanks Dave. I sent the knives to David, should be there in a couple of days.
John S.
 
Thank you John. I will be on the lookout for them. Thank you again Dave for allowing me to participate in the pass around.
 
You bet Daniel. PM or email me all your contact info and we'll get ya hooked up.
You bet John,
 
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