Thread: Getting a clean cut on Latigo leather... A question for the leather craftsmen

Buy once cry once,get the proper tool,If you have a Tandy near you they will cut it for free.
If a shoe maker wanted to charge me 30 bux to make two cuts I would tell him to pound sand up his Butt.
Aircraft tin snips will not work.
A straight Edge,A carpet cutter or Roofers knife with a new blade well serve you fine.

Originally Posted by MikekiM

I have a good problem... too many strops. My 3" SRD Latigo has been hanging unused for a long time and I finally have found a way to put it back in service. I want to cut it roughly in half to mount on a travel loom strop. More accurately, I want to trim about 3/4" off of both long sides and about 1/4" off the ends. Rarely have I been able to cut leather as thick as the Latigo strop in just one pass and the result is real amateurish edge once cut. I want a nice clean, finished edge that will be appealing to the eye. I am considering taking it to the local shoe maker. I am a DIY kind of guy and would love to do it myself, so I am hoping for suggestions on getting a nice, clean, one pass cut.

Thoughts & suggestions appreciated.

If you have access to an old school paper shear it should give a nice clean cut.

I can attest for the Tandy strap cutter, it even works on 1/8 rock hard felt ( if you want to make your own felt strop) if you don't think you'll be cutting any more leather straps i did a quick search on google and there are some ideas on DYI strap cutters(though i can't vouch for the functionality of any of them). might give you some ideas.

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

If you have access to an old school paper shear it should give a nice clean cut.

No, it won't cut well or straight. Only the sharp wheel type paper cutter may cut the leather without torquing it to one side.
Leather guys seem to like a round ended blade with about a one inch radius...like an uloo. My little experience cutting leather says it should work because it has about the same cutting shear at most any angle held.
Here is a link to one company's knives and uses thereof:
Leather Tools | Leather tools and how to use them
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Originally Posted by Wayne1963

If you have access to an old school paper shear it should give a nice clean cut.

No way in hell can you cut proper strop Leather with an old school paper cutter,sorry,not gonna happen.

Straight edge and razor blade to cut. You will need the proper size edger and a slicker if you want to do a nice job on the edge. You may get away with just the slicker but.....

Start this vid at about 25:00 to see the edge work.

https://youtu.be/YpEmkRlv1Uo

I think that I used a straight edge and a Stanley knife (box cutter?) To cut my first edge, then I used a set square to mark the two short sides, cut them in the same manner, measured and marked my desired width across both short ends and used these marks to align the straight edge for the other long side.

Edit: I was only cutting fairly thin roo leather so the blade creating a perfect 90 degrees to the face wasn't really an issue but it could be with thicker material.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Yea, the strap cutter is the tool for the job, but have also done it with a metal straight edge clamped to a table top and a well stropped utility knife or Exacto knife. Don’t try to cut through thick leather in one pass. Multiple lite cuts will make a nice cut and prevent mistakes.

You can bevel the edge for a finished look, with a leather edge beveler or a sharp block plane, strop the plane blade on chrome oxide or diamond paste and take a lite cut.

You can smooth the edge with edge dressing or thinned hide glue and an leather edge dressing tool or a small nylon or metal pully wheel, like from a screen spline install tool. The tool burnishes the edge and the dressing glues the fibers smooth.

Thanks so much for the details. Sad thing is that I used to have all of these tools as well. We had racers, prick wheels, edge shavers, burnishing wheels, sewing awls and more.. As a child, my dad and I made non-folding knives and eventually migrated to making custom leather sheaths for them. We weren't very good, but we did tool up for the tasks. Sadly, that was some 40+ years ago. I don't see much leather work in my future, and I am reluctant to buy more tools (Did I really say that?). I think a trip to the shoe maker is in order.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

Straight edge and razor blade to cut. You will need the proper size edger and a slicker if you want to do a nice job on the edge. You may get away with just the slicker but.....

Start this vid at about 25:00 to see the edge work.

https://youtu.be/YpEmkRlv1Uo

Good stuff in there.. thanks so much!

Originally Posted by tintin

I can attest for the Tandy strap cutter, it even works on 1/8 rock hard felt ( if you want to make your own felt strop) if you don't think you'll be cutting any more leather straps i did a quick search on google and there are some ideas on DYI strap cutters(though i can't vouch for the functionality of any of them). might give you some ideas.

I'll dig into the DYI strap cutter idea. As much as I am all for DIY, I may let a pro do this one..

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

If you have access to an old school paper shear it should give a nice clean cut.

I thought about that, but I have a hard time cutting paper straight so leather would just bind up. I think it would have to be securely clamped to the cutting board or it will slide. And even the slightest amount of drift will look like crap.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Buy once cry once,get the proper tool,If you have a Tandy near you they will cut it for free.
If a shoe maker wanted to charge me 30 bux to make two cuts I would tell him to pound sand up his Butt.
Aircraft tin snips will not work.
A straight Edge,A carpet cutter or Roofers knife with a new blade well serve you fine.

Sorry, I wasn't clear... What I meant is that the shoemaker likely won't charge the same $30 for two cuts as I would spend for the strap cutting tool. I've used the same shoemaker for years. He could probably cut the leather, burnish, die and bevel the edge in a blink, for a lot less than $30.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

I think that I used a straight edge and a Stanley knife (box cutter?) To cut my first edge, then I used a set square to mark the two short sides, cut them in the same manner, measured and marked my desired width across both short ends and used these marks to align the straight edge for the other long side.

Edit: I was only cutting fairly thin roo leather so the blade creating a perfect 90 degrees to the face wasn't really an issue but it could be with thicker material.

Thanks.. Getting it parallel and square isn't the problem. I don't want nasty cut edges. From experience with cutting belts to size, getting through the Latigo in one pass is going to be a bear and getting multiple passes cleanly done is a big challenge as well.

I used to cut a lot of leather for production quantity of military gear, saddle blanket trim and PPE (gloves, sleeves, hand pads, etc.). My go-to cutting tool for leather was always a 20-ton clicker and a heavy steel production die. I think you could get what you need, a used clicker and a 12-18" straight edged cutting die, for under $4000. http://www.sigmapackaging.com/Equipm...095/2_6095.jpg

Biggest trouble with making lines on leather and then cutting with Exacto (too light) or a quality box-cutter/razor knife is that leather makes blades wander; getting a clean cut with some experience isn't a problem but getting a clean straight bevel is another story. I like the Tandy tool second and the local shoemaker guy (for a one-off) first. Good luck.

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