How to Sharpen Your Swivel Knife

In this quick video I show you how I sharpen my swivel knives for use in my leather tooling. A sharp swivel knife is key to create clean and beautiful floral tooling patterns in your leatherwork projects.
If you would like to see more of my leatherwork tutorial videos please subscribe to my channel and visit our website for a lot more content.
www.dgsaddlery.com

[@njneer]

Awesome video. Thanks for doing these. I thought my blades were sharp but I do get that pushed in look. I believe I can solve that now. God Bless!

[@rcwarship]

Thank you very much for the wonderful video. Your comparison of cuts (the "pushed in" vs. sharp" blade made me realize that my blade is not as sharp as I thought it was. Thanks Again & Best Regards, Jon

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+rcwarship thank you so much! I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@TheDanielbarboza]

Same here.

[@bluedevil9mm]

took me a while to get over here to watch this video, as I've been really busy. I too realize that I've been working with too dull of a blade. thank you, and I sure appreciate you pushing me in the right direction. can't wait for your next video. oh an your freehand swivel knifed scrolls are gorgeous! one day, I will buy a piece from you, if not just to sit an gawk at, then to compare myself against to make myself and my work better. thanks again!

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+DanFranklin ha ha! Thanks so much man and glad u found it helpful!

[@austinknowlton1783]

Thank you. I'm just getting started in leather work and this was very helpful.

[@bubba7531]

Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

[@AcrossLeatherNewCastle]

Great vid Don and I love your work!

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+Across Leather thanks so much!

[@addictivearchery1123]

Nice Job. Keep it up, your videos are a big help.

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+Addictive Archery thanks a bunch!

[@Native_love]

Thank you Don Gonzales!

[@jmv0440]

What’s the size of the blades you use are 1/2 or 3/8 inch?. ThankS for share these amazing videos.

[@TexasEmpire]

Did you make a video on making a stroping board?

[@rosalbitapineda8287]

very good

[@MountainFisher]

I don't use polishing compounds for sharpening my swivel knife or my custom made knives for that matter. With a new swivel blade I do the initial sharpen using a $12 angle jig tool that holds the blade at the exact angle. I modified the jig to give me the same angle every time by using a tube the length the blade needs to stick out. I only use two stones, an EZE Lap diamond hone that has worn down from heavy use over 18 years to about 1000 grit. Second stone is a hard Buck Stone that's about 2000 grit and I use Tap Magic cutting oil with the Buck stone. After the stone I go to oil based diamond compound on buffed maple wood and strop while still in the jig. I'm done after a quick strop on my 2 oz leather glued to a stick with 14,000 grit diamond in it. My blades are mirror polished and with the aggressive cutting power of diamond it takes less than 20 minutes from start to finish. When I started using diamond for polishing my knives I saved a ton of time and making knives is how I got into leatherworking.

[@cliffspringer2611]

Do you have a video on sharpening the bead blade? Gets curled over in the middle. Also did you make a how to make a strop board video?

[@GottliebGoltz]

Thank You again. G-G

[@brentsundayknives6448]

What brand of swivel knife blade are you using? Thanks.

[@c.james.cornwalll3060]

Thanks Don, much better than most other sharpening videos, especially the ones by so called 'leather artists' lol Really appreciate you sharing your talent, time and effort 👍

[@raysteele7999]

is it your place to belittle anyone?

[@bipedalbob]

What angle do you sharpen your blades to?

[@adanvalles54]

I'm having trouble understanding the difference in the blades. I'm having problems with cuts like you did with the first blade. I always keep my blade sharp but it's really a pain after strapping after every 4-5 runs.

[@marcossantana7397]

como eu fasso para adquirir essas ferramentas

[@popscratchie3985]

Hi Don could you let me know does it make a difference how you sharpen a blade if it’s hollow ground

[@jfrault7960]

Are those Henley SKs ??

[@bbrachman]

As with anything I sharpen, I cannot seem to hold the blade at a consistent angle. (constant?) I get rounding. I try and try to lock my wrist. For may chisels and plane blades, I use a jig to hold the blades at a consistent angle. Freehand seems to be my Achilles heel. Any tips?

[@tanneredwards3573]

Could you use any wet stone or does it actually have to be a swivel knife stone

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+Tanner Edwards oh ya man absolutely! I prefer an old school wet stone actually more than this diamond stone but I haven't found one I like since mine had to be retired.

[@waya1056]

So is there a special leather that we need to use for the strop?

[@seanc3362]

Grumpy's Channel Heavy tooling leather. Cut two pieces and glue one flesh side up, then on the other side of the strop, flesh side down. I strop with jewellers rouge around every 10 mins of use. Blades stay sharp.

[@moniquehoffer3527]

What do you think of using a jig to help keep the angel on your blades?

[@jamesthe-doctor8981]

I can't answer for Don, but I USED to believe that using an angle guide meant that something was lacking in a person's sharpening ability because a lot of folks don't need to use one...but of course that's just wrong. For a long time I refused to use a guide because I felt a kind of shame if I couldn't sharpen totally freehand. But in the end, a book written by a guy who held the world record for sharpening and shaving with a double-bladed axe changed my mind. As he explained it, if there's a way to remove every obstacle keeping you from getting the sharpest edge possible, there's no reason not to take advantage of it. So I did, and even though I don't NEED to use a guide, I still do because it sharpens perfectly, every time!

[@Sandstorm9562]

Obviously an expert, but it annoys me that he keeps saying strope-ing instead of stropping.

[@kujikiri87]

About what grit would the coarse part be? I have a 300/1000 stone that I got for my kitchen knives, would that work?

[@DonGonzalesMaker]

+kujikiri87 I'm sure that would work. I don't know the GRIT mine is.

[@TheLupulalb]

Thanks for the information, but !!! the best tutorial is Christian XianLeather Marsh, I said how he looks, the result is great , Peace !