Recommendation? Pro Leather tools

I've not used em but they have an excellent reputation. I'd like a little smaller with at least one end more pointy for sheath work. That one seems more like for saddle work.
 
Terry Knipshield is the king of leather knives. Best head knives on the planet.
 

Knipschield Leather Tools shop fire.​

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Terry Knipschield of Knipschield Leather Tools suffered a fire in his shop on April 19, 2020. The fire has destroyed the shop and it will need to be demolished and rebuilt. Terry had stopped taking orders for his knives long before the fire in an attempt to shorten the wait times for his highly regarded leather knives. We wish Terry the best of luck in the process of rebuilding.
just for info purposes....
 
Pinoy Knife said:

Knipschield Leather Tools shop fire.​

lin-knipschield-logo-300x300.jpg
Terry Knipschield of Knipschield Leather Tools suffered a fire in his shop on April 19, 2020. The fire has destroyed the shop and it will need to be demolished and rebuilt. Terry had stopped taking orders for his knives long before the fire in an attempt to shorten the wait times for his highly regarded leather knives. We wish Terry the best of luck in the process of rebuilding.
just for info purposes....
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And Terry has rebuilt and is regularly adding knives to his website.
 
J. Hoffman said:
And Terry has rebuilt and is regularly adding knives to his website.
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Good to hear that he's back to making knives. There was a time it was said that he wasn't going to rebuild and certainly there is the need. John Willemsma the saddle maker that helped with some of his design input is a friend.
 
Very glad to hear/know he did rebuild and is back at it.. get kinda worried for other makers .. when there is a Fire it usually puts a end to them making anymore....
 
Here's what I expect of a quality roundknife. Four holsters from 8/10 oz saddle leather, one sheath from the same leather, one sheath from 8/9 oz veg tan and sixteen sheaths from 7/8 oz veg tan. Thirty seven pieces total with fronts and backs on some of the sheaths. I can't tell ya the last time I sharpened this knife. I will strop/buff the edge a couple times through the day. Maybe it'll see a stone or the grinder every 6 months or so, maybe. This is a light day by the way.

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NickHFSS said:
still cant decide what to get , leaning towards weaver leather knife , budget 100$ -+
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No experience with the Weaver roundknife but I have several of their punches and they are the finest I've ever used.
 
Horsewright said:
No experience with the Weaver roundknife but I have several of their punches and they are the finest I've ever used.
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Ordered the weaver master knife and edge beveler , tandy pro pricking irons and pro stitch groover , so excited !
Can You recommend where I can get good leather ? I usually buy 7-9oz from the UK for 120$ average 15sqft , maybe I can get a better price? its regular grade which has some creases on top and the back side is not as smooth a bit hairy compared to what I've been buying for 50% more price which had the back side smooth like butter
 
I use wicket and Craig leather that I get from the HIde House. Wicket and Craig is a premium USA tannery and they make some fine leathers. For the majority of sheaths I use 7/8 oz veg tan or what they call their tooling leather. For little larger knives, holsters etc I use their russet skirting leather in 8/10 oz.. This is my favorite leather and while the tannery will split a side for you free of charge it takes a long time, last I heard about 4 months.

I buy these leathers by the side which is usually 20-25 square ft. I have found consistently over the years that I get less waste with a side of Wicket and Craig than I do with other leathers. There's always gonna be some waste in any side, particularly down by the belly but I just seem to get more usable leather from them.

These spurstraps are cut from the 8/10 oz russet leather and made roughout>

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Rifle scabbards also from the russet skirting, smoothout this time:

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This Horizontal sheath is from the 7/8 oz tooling leather:

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These Rangeflap holsters are fully lined with water buffalo so I use the lighter 7/8 oz tooling leather for the outside. Here it is in roughout:

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Dave … what do you use as a cutting surface that allows you to do so much so fast? I’ve been using a self-healing hobby matt … but I suspect it “grabs” the round knife too much and really slows things down (plus it seems to make the process more dangerous - those round knives are SHARP, definitely best not to put fingers in front of it …
 
Cushing H. said:
Dave … what do you use as a cutting surface that allows you to do so much so fast? I’ve been using a self-healing hobby matt … but I suspect it “grabs” the round knife too much and really slows things down (plus it seems to make the process more dangerous - those round knives are SHARP, definitely best not to put fingers in front of it …
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Will post in the morning. I’m busy cutting out .......well sheaths.
 
Cushing H. said:
Dave … what do you use as a cutting surface that allows you to do so much so fast? I’ve been using a self-healing hobby matt … but I suspect it “grabs” the round knife too much and really slows things down (plus it seems to make the process more dangerous - those round knives are SHARP, definitely best not to put fingers in front of it …
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I use a Hydroma cutting board and have for years. While I do have those self healing mats ya mentioned over my workbench, as ya can see, I can't cut on them either. My knives get stuck in them. Hydroma is a German deal and was originally designed as an industrial clicker/die cutting base. We have several of them. One I use as my cutting board. Another for all my punching needs and a third used as intended in our cutting press. Just Google Hydroma cutting boards and ya can find them, although some leather supply places sell em too.

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I expect the knife to cut through the leather in one pass and kind of skate across the cutting board without getting stuck. The Hydroma accomplishes that. The edge of your roundknife needs to be very polished to accomplish that:

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These bad boys are just across the shop and I will stop when I feel the edge dragging and give it a quick buff.

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I was working on a batch of sheaths and holsters. This is what I'd cut out the evening before before I shut the shop down, two sheaths and four holsters:

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This is what I had to do yet:

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The speed with which I cut never really occurred to me, I am interested in efficiency though. So I thought I'd time it. I cut out 30 pieces here they are with last nights work:

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I started by going to the buffers real quick and then started cutting. I did stop to take all the pics for this deal too. Total of 45 pics were taken. Bout half way through I went to the buffers again for a quick touch up. While running this little test I did come across this one sheath back that had what looked to me like dried sweaty palm prints. I saw this when I first unwrapped the side and also when I was laying out the sheath. I wasn't worried though as I have the cure. Ya can make them out in this pic:

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Little bit of this on a paper towel:

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Let er dry and palm prints all gone:

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So time expended cleaning this one, going to the buffers twice, cutting out 30 pieces and taking the pics was 31 minutes. That included looking out the shop door too.

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Anyhoo the Hydroma is really the way to go for me with a sharp roundknife. If I can cut on those self healing mats my knife ain't sharp enough. Course about that time my son showed up and said he's ready for a new pair of shoutgun chaps and one of his feed bags got broke too:

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Our stuff don't get babied much.
 
Thanks Dave. I will take a look for that cutting surface. Or maybe a plastic kitchen cutting board if I am in a hurry to get something (or reduce cost a little.....?)??
 
Cushing H. said:
Thanks Dave. I will take a look for that cutting surface. Or maybe a plastic kitchen cutting board if I am in a hurry to get something (or reduce cost a little.....?)??
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Naw I get stuck in them too.
 
Horsewright said:
use a Hydroma cutting board and have for years. While I do have those self healing mats ya mentioned over my workbench, as ya can see, I can't cut on them either. My knives get stuck in them. Hydroma is a German deal and was originally designed as an industrial clicker/die cutting base. We have several of them. One I use as my cutting board. Another for all my punching needs and a third used as intended in our cutting press. Just Google Hydroma cutting boards and ya can find them, although some leather supply places sell em too.
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Where did you buy your Hydroma boards? I can find references to them on the web .... but do not see any locations actually selling them..... :-(
 
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