Wild Rose help Please!

M

Matlock

Joined
Jun 26, 2002
Messages
125
Hi guys! This is my first post here in a couple of years. I just met a Saddle maker and he said he wanted a knife that held an edge better than the one he was using. It looked like a semi cheapy woodworking tool. He wanted something that looks kind of like a carpet layers knife but with only a little bit of downward curve. I am using 52100 for this blade and my question to you is, what type of edge geometry would be best for a saddle maker who is always cutting thick leather?

Thanks very much for any and all input on this.

Matt Matlock
 
Keep the blade as thin as possible while keeping it strong and use something like a 10% chisel edge - put the angle on the right side if right handed and on the left if . One side of the knife is almost always being run along a ruler so a chisel edge works best IMO.
Here's a link to a straight knife with the style edge I'm talking about (this one is by one of the best saddle makers in the business):
http://www.ranch2arena.com/hsbtstraitknife.html
 
Thanks for the quick response. I'll have to ask him which handed he is. Right now the spine is about .120 towards the ricaso, with a slight distal taper. I think I can thin it down a little bit more. I'm hoping to trade it to the fellow for some sheath making lessions... Wish me luck.

Matt
 
Between .100" and .120" at the ricasso should be just fine - and
!!!! GOOD LUCK !!!
You'll do fine I'm sure - just remeber everything we do is a learning process (even after 44 years of doing this I'm still learning.....)
 
Wild Rose said:
Here's a link to a straight knife with the style edge I'm talking about (this one is by one of the best saddle makers in the business):
http://www.ranch2arena.com/hsbtstraitknife.html
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link to that maker. He's a new one to me and his work looks good.

That type of blade is exactly what the Japanese call a kiridashi. It was a small blade they carried in their obi (wrap-around belt) for easy access to handle everyday cutting chores. It was also a very common style of knive used for the crafting of paper, bamboo, wood, etc materials. The sheath, if one was used, was usually a mini-saya made of wood that the blade friction fit inside of.

Matt, if you do a Google.com search of the web for "kiridashi" you'll find lots of info & pictures of them. Probably the most noticable variation I've noticed among them is the profile angle between the spine and the cutting edge. Some are pretty pointy acute angles (like the one Chuck linked), while some others approach being a right angle so much the knife looks almost like a chisel. Some of them have scales on the handle, others are skeleton handled.
 
Howdy Rok-
I've always maintained that a good design is universal - the same style blade has been used by European leatherworkers since at least the Middle Ages and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes way back to before iron even. In Europe this style was/is also called a clicker knife by general leather workers and a trim knife by shoemakers (used to trim soles after being mounted to the shoe).

Like the kiridashi the angle of the blade varies considerably - from a long rectangle to the acute angle style. Variations on the theme are curved blades from a severe hawkbill to a very shallow radius.
 
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