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Whacha Been Up To......

Lorien said:
fresh off the bench, all commissioned
ILCSHmE.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice choice of hardware too!
 
Last edited:
Gary W. Graley said:
Got a new desk lamp for my work bench, actually I got three of them, one for my desk and once I saw how well it worked, I picked up two more for my work stations in my basement ;)
Pardon the bit messy work space but things are in process right then.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Fellow here had a request for a flap covered sheath, I don't make many if any of those much as my sheaths are more for those knives with contours so they snap fit into their sheath but this one is a Leatherman Free T4 so not a lot of contour, plus some folks like a flap cover for added protection.

I wrapped it with plastic wrap but included a thin layer of leather that will be glued inside to protect the tool from the inside snap. If I didn't include that while forming the top, the resulting forming would end up being too tight.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Forming around the tool is tedious time consuming work, as I need to go back to keep forming it during the entire day about every half hour. This takes some of the give out of the leather so it will keep it's shape longer and it's a fairly thick tool too so that made it doubly hard. Keep your fingernails trimmed for this kind of work or you risk making marks into the leather.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

He selected a couple of bird embossings to dress up the sheath a little and they just fit. I left enough of the tool exposed above the top section so it can be gripped to pull it out. The lever lock on this tool actually keeps it in there pretty snug so it is not falling out!

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The belt loop folds over and is glued down and stitched to the sheath, I don't stitch straight across as that could lead to the leather tearing across there over time, so this one has more of a U shape which will hold it fine, along with the glue too.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Finished up and heading home, I used some highlighter mix with bagkote to darken the outline of the birds.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...

That's an interesting leather cutting knife.

I'd love to see the knives everyone here prefers to cut leather with. I'll post mine later.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
That's an interesting leather cutting knife.

I'd love to see the knives everyone here prefers to cut leather with. I'll post mine later.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll post up what knives I use in a bit, I have several that I will make use of as the need calls for it.
G2
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Got a new desk lamp for my work bench, actually I got three of them, one for my desk and once I saw how well it worked, I picked up two more for my work stations in my basement ;)
Pardon the bit messy work space but things are in process right then.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Fellow here had a request for a flap covered sheath, I don't make many if any of those much as my sheaths are more for those knives with contours so they snap fit into their sheath but this one is a Leatherman Free T4 so not a lot of contour, plus some folks like a flap cover for added protection.

I wrapped it with plastic wrap but included a thin layer of leather that will be glued inside to protect the tool from the inside snap. If I didn't include that while forming the top, the resulting forming would end up being too tight.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Forming around the tool is tedious time consuming work, as I need to go back to keep forming it during the entire day about every half hour. This takes some of the give out of the leather so it will keep it's shape longer and it's a fairly thick tool too so that made it doubly hard. Keep your fingernails trimmed for this kind of work or you risk making marks into the leather.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

He selected a couple of bird embossings to dress up the sheath a little and they just fit. I left enough of the tool exposed above the top section so it can be gripped to pull it out. The lever lock on this tool actually keeps it in there pretty snug so it is not falling out!

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The belt loop folds over and is glued down and stitched to the sheath, I don't stitch straight across as that could lead to the leather tearing across there over time, so this one has more of a U shape which will hold it fine, along with the glue too.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Finished up and heading home, I used some highlighter mix with bagkote to darken the outline of the birds.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info G2 and congratulations on the new lights.

I can’t wait to put this sheath on my belt. It’s just what I wanted. I’m watching that tracking like a hawk! 🙂
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
That's an interesting leather cutting knife.

I'd love to see the knives everyone here prefers to cut leather with. I'll post mine later.
Click to expand...

These two are straight cutters, the edge is a chisel grind and very sharp, the way that I use this is to place my thumb along the angled top of the handle and draw the blade through the leather. The angle of the chisel ground blade when held this way, you tilt the blade so the bevel is perpendicular to the cutting board and that leaves a 90 degree cut. Also you can push cut down when needing to cut through several layers of leather. I have sharpened both of these and the chisel grind creates a very sharp blade. They can also be used to skive the edge of leather down to a thinner edge.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The one blade has thinner stock and as you can imagine it cuts just a little better than the other being that one has thick stock.

easily cuts down through this stack of leather

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one has a bit of history, I did some sheaths for Tony Bose a few years ago in 2007 and he offered to make a knife for me to use in my leather work, I was honored he would make that offer as he had paid me for the sheath work, but that was Tony...
So he sent me a straight handled sheepsfoot bladed knife and while it was nice...of course!...it wasn't something that worked for me and so I sent it back.
When it arrived he emailed me "well...what style DO you want?" so...I carved out a piece of hard foam into the handle and blade that I felt I would like to use and mailed it out to him. He took that piece of foam and created this knife and said that he would not make another 😇, it's been quite handy over the years...

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one I took a speaker plug and modified it to fit a ground down exacto style blade and put that onto a piece of walnut that I designed it to fit my hand, it works quite well and is comfortable. I did put a convex edge which allows the blade to glide through leather smoothly.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The wood goes through the speaker plug and is split down the middle and using the screw I can tighten the wood against the side of the blade up.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one my friend Matthew Gregory Matthew Gregory made one similar to the one that Tony made, I sent that one to him to reference by and he made a wicked thin blade out of magnacut, I asked for a slightly longer blade that the original.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

I don't have what's commonly called a round knife, one day I expect that I will get one but time will tell. In the mean time I took a strange straight handled round head knife off the big river site, put my own walnut handle on and ground down the blade to thin out the edge, I use it from time to time but not very often.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
Last edited:
Gary W. Graley said:
These two are straight cutters, the edge is a chisel grind and very sharp, the way that I use this is to place my thumb along the angled top of the handle and draw the blade through the leather. The angle of the chisel ground blade when held this way, you tilt the blade so the bevel is perpendicular to the cutting board and that leaves a 90 degree cut. Also you can push cut down when needing to cut through several layers of leather. I have sharpened both of these and the chisel grind creates a very sharp blade. They can also be used to skive the edge of leather down to a thinner edge.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The one blade has thinner stock and as you can imagine it cuts just a little better than the other being that one has thick stock.

easily cuts down through this stack of leather

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one has a bit of history, I did some sheaths for Tony Bose a few years ago in 2007 and he offered to make a knife for me to use in my leather work, I was honored he would make that offer as he had paid me for the sheath work, but that was Tony...
So he sent me a straight handled sheepsfoot bladed knife and while it was nice...of course!...it wasn't something that worked for me and so I sent it back.
When it arrived he emailed me "well...what style DO you want?" so...I carved out a piece of hard foam into the handle and blade that I felt I would like to use and mailed it out to him. He took that piece of foam and created this knife and said that he would not make another 😇, it's been quite handy over the years...

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one I took a speaker plug and modified it to fit a ground down exacto style blade and put that onto a piece of walnut that I designed it to fit my hand, it works quite well and is comfortable. I did put a convex edge which allows the blade to glide through leather smoothly.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The wood goes through the speaker plug and is cut down and using the screw I can tighten the blade up.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one my friend Matthew Gregory Matthew Gregory made one similar to the one that Tony made, I sent that one to him to reference by and he made a wicked thin blade out of magnacut, I asked for a slightly longer blade that the original.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

I don't have what's commonly called a round knife, one day I expect that I will get one but time will tell. In the mean time I took a strange straight handled round head knife off the big river site, put my own walnut handle on and ground down the blade to thin out the edge, I use it from time to time but not very often.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...
Pretty cool tools.......And some pretty cool sheaths work there sir!!!👌
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Got a new desk lamp for my work bench, actually I got three of them, one for my desk and once I saw how well it worked, I picked up two more for my work stations in my basement ;)
Pardon the bit messy work space but things are in process right then.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Fellow here had a request for a flap covered sheath, I don't make many if any of those much as my sheaths are more for those knives with contours so they snap fit into their sheath but this one is a Leatherman Free T4 so not a lot of contour, plus some folks like a flap cover for added protection.

I wrapped it with plastic wrap but included a thin layer of leather that will be glued inside to protect the tool from the inside snap. If I didn't include that while forming the top, the resulting forming would end up being too tight.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Forming around the tool is tedious time consuming work, as I need to go back to keep forming it during the entire day about every half hour. This takes some of the give out of the leather so it will keep it's shape longer and it's a fairly thick tool too so that made it doubly hard. Keep your fingernails trimmed for this kind of work or you risk making marks into the leather.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

He selected a couple of bird embossings to dress up the sheath a little and they just fit. I left enough of the tool exposed above the top section so it can be gripped to pull it out. The lever lock on this tool actually keeps it in there pretty snug so it is not falling out!

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The belt loop folds over and is glued down and stitched to the sheath, I don't stitch straight across as that could lead to the leather tearing across there over time, so this one has more of a U shape which will hold it fine, along with the glue too.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Finished up and heading home, I used some highlighter mix with bagkote to darken the outline of the birds.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

my maker's mark consists of a G2 for Gary Graley, the month and year and a right footprint which reminds you when you go to wear it, always start out on your right/proper footing.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...
Gary,
I am intrigued by the lamp. Can you tell me where you got it and the brand?
Randy
 
I can’t message you because you don’t have a paid membership and they frown on outside links but it’s from Amazon and it’s a MediAcous LED Desk Lamp with Clamp
G2
 
Gary W. Graley said:
These two are straight cutters, the edge is a chisel grind and very sharp, the way that I use this is to place my thumb along the angled top of the handle and draw the blade through the leather. The angle of the chisel ground blade when held this way, you tilt the blade so the bevel is perpendicular to the cutting board and that leaves a 90 degree cut. Also you can push cut down when needing to cut through several layers of leather. I have sharpened both of these and the chisel grind creates a very sharp blade. They can also be used to skive the edge of leather down to a thinner edge.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The one blade has thinner stock and as you can imagine it cuts just a little better than the other being that one has thick stock.

easily cuts down through this stack of leather

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one has a bit of history, I did some sheaths for Tony Bose a few years ago in 2007 and he offered to make a knife for me to use in my leather work, I was honored he would make that offer as he had paid me for the sheath work, but that was Tony...
So he sent me a straight handled sheepsfoot bladed knife and while it was nice...of course!...it wasn't something that worked for me and so I sent it back.
When it arrived he emailed me "well...what style DO you want?" so...I carved out a piece of hard foam into the handle and blade that I felt I would like to use and mailed it out to him. He took that piece of foam and created this knife and said that he would not make another 😇, it's been quite handy over the years...

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one I took a speaker plug and modified it to fit a ground down exacto style blade and put that onto a piece of walnut that I designed it to fit my hand, it works quite well and is comfortable. I did put a convex edge which allows the blade to glide through leather smoothly.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The wood goes through the speaker plug and is split down the middle and using the screw I can tighten the wood against the side of the blade up.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

This one my friend Matthew Gregory Matthew Gregory made one similar to the one that Tony made, I sent that one to him to reference by and he made a wicked thin blade out of magnacut, I asked for a slightly longer blade that the original.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

I don't have what's commonly called a round knife, one day I expect that I will get one but time will tell. In the mean time I took a strange straight handled round head knife off the big river site, put my own walnut handle on and ground down the blade to thin out the edge, I use it from time to time but not very often.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
Click to expand...

This is an awesome high effort post, thanks Gary! The one before it too.

Question about those top flat/straight skiving style knives in the first picture, are you able to cut curves with those? I was thinking about grabbing one of those or a round knife. Dave has me convinced on the round knife and being able to cut curves while pushing forward (I only cut straight lines atm).
 
Gary W. Graley said:
Reckon they are mystery leather cutting knives?
G2
Click to expand...

knaf1.jpg

Right on Gary, twas a justified ribbing. This is what I use (again, straight lines)... I'll strop the blade for a while before replacing it. Usually the tips get chipped off pretty quickly (the hermann oak shoulder has a crazy hard temper) but that might be down to my cheap cutting mat or the force I use to get it in one cut.

I ask the question what everyone chooses to cut with because I'm looking to replace the above :) I'll be trying out a medium budget round knife next but man do I hate sharpening curves like that.

I did however pop for a sanding/burnishing machine recently, the emery board just weren't shoring up the welt correctly. Still got a ways to go to perfect the edge but I've decided to go for a more matte look, too shiny of an edge doesn't look right to me:

waxed7.jpg
 
Last edited:
I think if this is really your go to cutter, I would highly recommend taking some coarse grit sandpaper and strop the full side of the blade so you end up with a thinner and more convex edge. It will definitely cut through about any leather easily.
Use progressively finer grit paper until the blade is smooth.

It really made a big difference in cutting after I did that to this one

https://flic.kr/p/2rjXwKU

Your blade has steep bevels so bringing those shoulders down will really help
G2
 
Gary W. Graley said:
I think if this is really your go to cutter, I would highly recommend taking some coarse grit sandpaper and strop the full side of the blade so you end up with a thinner and more convex edge. It will definitely cut through about any leather easily.
Use progressively finer grit paper until the blade is smooth.

It really made a big difference in cutting after I did that to this one

https://flic.kr/p/2rjXwKU

Your blade has steep bevels so bringing those shoulders down will really help
G2
Click to expand...

Interesting that I never thought of this, especially considering I already do this with my knives. Guess I just assumed it was thin enough to not matter.

I think I might prefer to do this for something with a better steel vs a box cutting blade though. Not sure how well it will hold up. Regardless that's good info :)
 
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