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KINGSMERE CRAFTS
HAND-CRAFTED LEATHER GOODS
Some of the tools used in hand-crafted leatherwork
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Paring knife |
Bodkin and pricker |
French knife |
Cutting knives |
Clicker knife |
Paring knife:- The ones shown (for there are many different kinds) is considered to be the "German type". It has an all steel blade and is also used in the boot and shoe trade, and is used mainly for paring down edges. Also called a skiving knife, or doling knife (doler being a French verb, meaning to "smooth").
Bodkin (or awl):- A plain, tapered, long steel spike set in a wooden handle, for making holes. The pricker (as in the illustration) is a short pointed awl used for marking out patterns etc.
Head knife:- The head knife is a versatile cutting tool, and is very useful for skiving. The blade easily handles all types of cut.
Round knife:- The round knife is an ideal cutting knife for even the heaviest of leathers. Cuts smoothly without pulling or stretching the leather.
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French knife:- A wide-blade chisel-like tool, which, because of the broad blade, is ideal for taking thin shavings off the surface of the leather by holding it in an almost horizontal position. It is also a paring knife and is used a lot by bookbinders and shoemakers.
Cutting knives:- Strong handled knives often with sickle-shaped blades, used for cutting thicker leather such as sole leather.
Clicker knife:- For cutting out heavy leather. The one illustrated is known as the American-handle knife. The handle can be unscrewed and a replacement blade inserted, either of the same shape or with a curve. The term "clicker" is supposed to have originated from the noise the blade makes when the cutting point of the knife leaves the edge of the leather and hits the board beneath.
Clicker press:- This bench-top clicker,
the MA Series III press with swing-arm cutting head, (see
Lucris Manufacturing Pty Ltd and Website
http://www.lucris.com/main.html) can perform many types of die cutting with steel rule
dies and clicker dies. The surprising power and strength of this industrial
quality clicker sets it apart from all other clickers in its class.
It can be used for leather, embroidery, badge cutting, card stock, magnetic
cards, coasters, small plastic shapes, straps and belt ends, clothing, rubber,
key fobs, cork, plastic, felt and many other materials.
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MA Series III clicker press
Ruggedly built with a cam-actuated mechanical advantage, it requires little
effort, making its operation very easy. The swing arm provides you with a clear
view of the work table (cutting board) so it's easy to see what you're doing,
with the rotating head giving you easy access. Specifications :- Cutting
pressure — up to 5 tons,
Width — 12" (305 mm), Height — 14" (356 mm), Weight — 100 lbs (45 kg),
Cutting board — 12" x 9",
Machine (+handle up) — 38" (812 mm), Swing rotation — 360°, Max. cutting
thickness — ⅜" (10 mm).
The cutting board is slightly larger than a standard sheet of A4 paper, so any
shapes you can fit within that size can easily be cut with this tool.
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Japanese drill punch |
Brockman paring machine |
P&S paring machine |
Safety beveller |
Staple and tack lifter |
Scharf paring machine |
Japanese drill/screw punch:- The brass chuck holds one of the 7 drill bits supplied with the punch. Pressure is exerted downwards, causing the bit to spin, drilling through multiple layers of paper and board, leather etc without "snagging". The advantage of this tool is that unlike your usual plier-like punch, this one is not constrained by where you want a hole. You can drill a hole anywhere, not just the edges, by bearing down on the handle. To compensate for the lack of leverage you do get in a plier-like punch, the shaft of this screw punch rotates as you press, neatly slicing a trim hole. The drill comes with 7 bits —1·0mm, 1·5mm, 2·0mm, 2·5mm, 3·0mm, 3·5mm and 4·0mm. Additional bits of 4·5mm and 5·0mm are also available now. Spare sets of bits are also available. Available from: http://www.hewit.com:80/acatalog/Making_Holes.html
Paring machine:- This machine, designed and made by James Brockman, (I regret to say that the Brockman Paring Machine has been discontinued by the manufacturer) is simple to use and set up. It is simply screwed or clamped to your bench top and a standard razor blade is inserted between bed and platen where it automatically slots into the correct position and attitude for cutting.
There are two adjusters, one for thickness, the other for angle. The first raises or lowers the anvil adjusting its relationship to the blade according to the depth of pare required. The second rotates the anvil to correct the parallel or to achieve a bevelled or feathered cut. A groove can be pared in the leather by winding an adhesive tape strip, the width of the groove required around the anvil before making a cut in the normal way.
Using the machine is straightforward. Keeping the leather in tension it is fed over the anvil and under the blade, this removes a shaving, leaving that part of the skin an even thickness. It will accurately pare the narrowest strips, useful when doing inlay or onlay work. The machine has a generous support loop allowing large areas to be pared by making a number of parallel sweeps.
The P&S leather paring machine (available from: http://www.hewit.com/acatalog/Cutting_and_Paring.html) is based on the tried and tested Brockman design. It is simple to set up and operate. The leather is pulled between the anvil and fixed blade. By raising the anvil, thin cuts can be taken until the required thickness is achieved. It is an invaluable tool for quickly preparing inlays, onlays, labels and thin leather pieces for repairs or half and quarter bindings. The machine has a large throat area to accommodate the pared leather when preparing larger pieces for full leather bindings. The anvil can also be adjusted to produce a feathered edge if required. It is sold with a spare pack of blades.
The Scharf-Fix machine, No. 2000, is an easily adjustable tool which turns paring leather into a simple routine. The machine allows for easy and accurate adjustment in terms of depth as well as the angle of the cut, without any motors or complicated mechanisms. Available from: http://talasonline.com/. With over 50 years of use in the field, the Scharf-Fix machine sets the standard in table-top manual paring machines. The perfect tool for paring leather for inlays and onlays. The machine includes 10 blades as well as four rollers of varying widths to allow for paring of very narrow pieces of leather. Both genuine as well as generic Scharfix Blades are sold for use with this machine.
Safety beveller:- A dependable and reliable standby. It is shaped to prevent
the over-enthusiastic worker cutting too deeply. Consequently it skives leather smoothly and easily.
Staple and tack lifter:-Osborne tools from the USA are arguably the best tools in the world and this staple and tack remover is no exception. It has a very robust
handle and can be used with or without tapping it with a mallet. It will withstand any amount of twisting and turning without loosening the handle. Lace cutter
Lace cutter shown going through its paces
This lace cutter, (below, right) by C S Osborne & Co, looks
simple, and is simple, it cuts uniform strips (¹/8" to
⅜" wide) of suede or
grain leather. Calibrated fulcrum and knife come with an easily followed
instruction sheet. Extra blades available separately.
Website
http://www.csosborne.com/lacing_1.htm The Australian strander/lace cutter, (on the extreme left,
below) is made
of cast steel, chrome plated, with solid brass parts. It is adjustable and will
cut lace up to ½" wide. Extra blades available.
Website
http://www.eleatherworks.com/product.php?productid=16574&cat=0&page=1
Figure 1 (touch numbers) Figure 2 (touch numbers) Figure 1
Lace cutter:- Very useful for using up the scraps of leather you always having lying about. The pictures show how it
works using a piece of scrap leather about 6" x 6". First cut a small hole in the centre of the leather. Next, put the lace
cutter up through the hole. Now begin to cut by pulling the cutter up against the inside edge of the hole. Once you have a piece of lace a
couple of inches long, grab the end of the lace and pull firmly. As you pull the lace through, the piece of scrap will rotate around the
cutter very quickly and the end you are pulling will just keep getting longer.
Figure 2
illustrates some useful-to-have hand-tools:- 1 heavy steel rule, 2 pricking irons no's 9 & 10, 3 plough gauge, 4 heavy wooden mallet, 5 shoemaker's hammer, 6 crew punches, 7 oval and round punches, 8 litho stone, 9 loop clamp, 10 boxwood burnishers, 11 cork block, 12 leather-covered bulldog clips, 13 various round punches, 14 small screw crease, 15 pricking wheels and carriage.
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