Best Leathercraft Cutting Surface? What I Chose & Why

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[@Chezz777]

This is the best cutting surface review video! Thank you so much for sharing your research. Your review criteria was just what I was looking for and I did not expect that there was a material out there which will tick all the boxes. Fantastic work and thanks for letting us know! Cheers.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

You're welcome Wanchese, that's great that you have found the video so helpful. 👍

[@SchmidtintheWorkshop]

Thanks for all the work in this info man! I’m going to give it a shot.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Sounds great 👍 Let me know how you get on

[@johndally7994]

thanks for another great video.

[@tariqkamil7853]

Thanks Phillip.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

You're welcome Tariq :)

[@TheMetalScorpion]

Very nice Video in terms of information. The music is way too loud for me and distracting. Thanks for the information - going to buy a Acetal Copolymer mat for cutting!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

This is old. I don't add music to these videos any more. Glad you found it helpful.

[@marinella7866]

Thanks for a great review. I was wondering if, after using the surface for a couple of years, whether POM-C is still a good surface for use with pricking irons ? I have just bought a sheet and wondering if I need to buy something else for pricking. Thanks

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Yes, you'll still see me use it in all my video courses. If you're worried about prong damage then a piece of MDF works really well.

[@m3rkaba86]

links are gone anyone found another place to get it

[@howyduinyall7653]

Yes I have, there’s one on eBay UK.

[@oldleatherguy]

UPDATE ON DELRIN!! It has been 3 years since I watched this video and I wanted to post an update on what I found out about Delrin. First of all, it has a price which is higher than the "boy's hangout" on a giraffe!! BUT, if you take time to honestly critique your own type of work, what you specialize in, do you work on large projects such as large leather bags, chaps, or other large items, and what is your focus on considering changing your cutting board to something new? Then you may want to decide what lengths your average cuts on leather consist of. If they are about 3' or less then you may not need sq. yds. of cutting surface but, instead, only a few sq. ft. of surface might suffice. I have occasion to build a rifle sling or maybe a dog leash for a customer but that is not the average item for which I make most of my items. And, with the Delrin cutting surface being so prone to allowing push cuts particularly to glide through the leather, it is an entire new level of clean and straight line cutting and trimming without having to use a metal straight edge for consistency in your dimensioning cuts when the final trim of the different parts of the project are needed. In my shop I do mostly smaller jobs, the largest being an occasional medium leather carry bag or similar sized project, with most being in the wallet or business card "wallet", on up through handgun holsters and knife sheaths, and most anything requiring just as little as a sq. ft. of leather on up to maybe 2 or 3 sq. ft. of leather to complete the project. I decided to buy a 12"X24"X1/2" piece of Delrin from the Dupont Mfg. Company who is the major mgr. of Delrin. I started using it last summer and I now have built enough projects to be able to talk somewhat about the endurance of this product. 1st of all, I won't bother to try to tell the readers all of the "Pros" of Delrin, I have become addicted to the merits of using Delrin as my one and only cutting board for dimensioning, cutting, and trimming any and all of my leather projects until leather becomes obsolete as raw material for use in any craft known to mortal man!!! there is simply no other product on the market today which can come even slightly close to Delrin's ability to resist blade drag, burying the blade on "push" cuts on leather, or any other dimensioning movement used to build any project out of leather for the amateur or the expert leather worker in today's world! My 2 most used knives for many of my wallet projects and other works which require close dimensioning for proper edge finishing and overall professional looking appearances are my round knives and my skiving knives, all of which are sharpened and honed daily to scalpel level edges before touching a piece of leather. I have cut down the time in which I was spending with simply preparing my working blades for each day of cutting or trimming leather parts to the level of smoothness which I required from all of my edged tools in my shop. Delrin is everything that Phillip mentioned and more as I use it for more and more different little jobs where a scary sharp blade is required. It has yet to let me down! And now I am stropping less than a few millimeters of each end of my finest sharpened round knife prior to starting any sizing of the panels for proper assembly. [I usually strop the entire sides of my round knife out of habit and for a more evenly maintained profile for the entire length of the blade's edge]. I haven't had to touch any of my daily used cutting tools to even a ceramic finishing/polishing stone for the past 6 months or so. [The one exception is one of my daily used skiving knives which slipped out of my hands and fell onto an antifatigue mat on the edge of the tool.] It took me no more than a few minutes of honing on an "Extra Fine" Spyderco ceramic bench stone, just to be sure that there was no slight damage done to the edge of the knife, to bring it back to a quick strop and it was ready to work again.] I find that one very minor "Con" to Delrin, if any, is that the surfaces of the board's working sides are not perfectly flat, but the ever so slight "wave" of the surfaces in no way affects the accurate cutting ability of the blades. I do hesitate in using some of my very expensive pricking irons and lacing chisels without placing a scrap leather "pad" between the project leather and the Delrin. I know that Phillip has mentioned that it should do no harm to your irons or any of your concussion type tools such as stamps used for carving leather or for such finishes as "basket weave" panels but I simply don't want to damage my hole punches or other tools by driving them into the Delrin accidentally or more importantly to me, causing a "concussion" gouge from a stamp or hole punch which may leave a deeper mark in the board's surface than can be simply burnished out with a glass burnisher. The cost for the 2 sq. ft. of Delrin was just under $115.00 USD, including shipping and tax, but the value of that investment will bring so much savings in time and extra work for me to maintain each tool used on the Delrin that it will have paid for itself well before its useful life ever becomes an issue for me!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Thank you for that thorough update. It's great to hear the review has helped you in your craft.

[@alexanderfoster5497]

Hi “ Old leather guy “ may I ask please, would you say the Acetal homopolymer (Delrin) is better at not rolling the edge of the blade than Acetel Copolymer please.

[@schiehallion13]

Hi Phillip I intend ordering a 1m3 sheet of Acetal as my cutting table is 800mm wide. Who can supply the smaller, thinner sheets of UHMWPE for glueing? thanks for this review, and I live the films available in my plan. Thanks Michael

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hi Michael, I'm glad that you are enjoying the video courses! The UHMWPE sheets are widely available online, especially from eBay. PTFE/Teflon sheet is probably even better, though a little more expensive.

[@marcolivierhetu]

In your testing, what came second place? I know acetal is flammable and would like something that isn't.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Nothing came close I'm afraid. Whatever was second, wan't memorable.

[@TanYi4water]

Great suggestion. Do you know if POM is affected by alcohol or dye? I'm considering fitting my table top with a 6mm POM, wonder if I take a light color one but accidentally spill colored liquid such as dye on it. Wondering if that would mark nastily especially when oil base dye containing alcohol is spilled, would it be corroded by the alcohol and damage the smoothness.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Not even acetone touches it. You are safe to use pretty much anything.

[@JohnSmith-rc3ko]

Would it damage tools like a pricking iron if you are a little heavy handed?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hi John. Thank you for your question. I do cover using pricking irons on this surface in the video 👍

[@Oldthumbs]

I bought a piece of this 24" x 48" x 1/2" from Amazon. Besides the terrible packaging and damage in shipping, this sheet has striations in it, as though from extrusion. The sheet in your video looks smooth and glossy. Is it?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Yes, quite the opposite, mine was super smooth, but I roughened it slightly with an orbital sander, I like the the extra grab on the leather. I guess like anything it depends where you buy it from. Try sanding it smoother with a medium fine grit.

[@manololozano8128]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass Thanks for your video - very helpful. Please, could you share the link from the company you purchase it from? Thanks in advance!!!

[@mike1why]

Thanks for the video! What's the 3 year update? Are you still satisfied with the performance?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

For sure, you can see it in all my latest videos.

[@crawford5049]

Can you put a link to the cutting board material please

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hey Clarence, There was, but they all died out. Google is your friend at this point: 'acetal' 'pom c' 👍

[@anthorcc]

Hi, im very interested to try out this POM board as cutting mat as per your recommendations, however i find that hardness of my blade is around hrc60, which is lower than the hardness of POM material... wouldn't it dulls the skiving knife blade?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

I'm no expert in that area, but I think you might be comparing shore hardness (plastics etc) with rockwell hardness (metal). 60 hrc won't even be tickled by Acetal. You wouldn't skive on Acetal, only cut as the blade would bite into the surface to easily.

[@anthorcc]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass Appreciate your reply! i also found out that i was comparing between different scale of hardness, and couldnt find anyway to convert between them. I believe your expertise and will go ahead with it , Thanks again!

[@BornIntoThis20]

Very interesting, thanks for the video! Are you still happy about it one year later regarding scratchs and all? I was thinking about getting some of the clear vinyl cutting mats wich seems better than self healing cutting mats to use with traditional japanese knives but this one should be good for that use too it seems. Your EU link is dead and I only find Acetal POM Delrin wich is the one harder/more expensive as you seems to say, is it better or same? Do you have another link or other commercial names for the copolymer version maybe?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

They are hard to source unfortunately and I haven't looked since I got mine. As for the surface, yeah it's holding up great. I believe Delrin would be a good harder wearing alternative, but I can't say for sure as I haven't tried cutting on it, I've only used components made from it. As for vinyl, I think it may be a little soft for this use.

[@BornIntoThis20]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass I think I found some, calling plastics makers for the industry directly. There are many commercial names/suppliers for it. From my quick search, it seems Polyacetal copolymer (POM-C, the one you're using?) is way less expensive (in France at least) and a bit softer, less density than homopolymer (POM-H) Both are sensitive to UVs and can crackle with time apparently so it maybe another good reason to choose the black version wich add UV resistance. Your 5-6 times longer before sharpening argument compared to self healing mat sold me for it, and the gliding of the blade seems nice too! I'll try. Thanks again. Transparent green vinyl mats japaneses leathercrafters uses to cut on seems more expensive and more difficult to find here anyway..

[@glennvn]

My teacher back in the day always made us cut on glass...

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Do you mean skive? Glass works well as a paring stone substitute.

[@glennvn]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass No we did everything on glass cutting, skiving etc.. It does make your blades dull quickly. I followed maroquinier in Uccle / Belgium years ago. Our teacher had worked for Delvaux. I haven't done anything with it though when I graduated all companies moved production to China or Morocco. Times have changed with the internet giving small artisans a chance. Now that I came across your channel I decided to start making things again. I am planning on purchasing your classes to refresh myself. Flying to Belgium next month and I am planning on bringing a visit to the Tanners and buy some leather so I can start :) Wanted to thank you its great what you are doing here and your work is top notch! right up there with Hermes, Delvaux etc... amazing!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

@@glennvn Thank you very much!

[@bobbyfranklin5924]

And where exactly did you buy this? Could you please drop a link 🙏

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Google search for acetal. The video is almost 3 years old so all the original links are dead I'm afraid.

[@bobbyfranklin5924]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass thanks, are you still standing by what you said in this video 3 years later ?

[@rogercrier9115]

I cannot see the link to the supplier? What am I doing wrong?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hey Roger. Google search for acetal. The video is 3 years old now so all the original links are dead I'm afraid.

[@DaniGirl6]

​@@LeathercraftMasterclass do you remember who you bought it from? I don't think that was mentioned in the video.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

@@DaniGirl6 Try here (unless you're not from the UK): www.theplasticshop.co.uk/acetal-sheet-8mm-10mm-12mm-16mm-20mm-25mm-30mm-40mm-50mm-thick.html

[@Rsc-dz2sh]

were can i find this stuff

[@howyduinyall7653]

There’s one on eBay UK.

[@stafp2665]

Is there a link for the board?

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

There was, but they all died out. Google is your friend at this point: 'acetal' 'pom c'

[@stafp2665]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass Thank you!!!

[@jasminfilzwieser2514]

Is there a special reason you only looked upon plastics? In many old leatherwork books zinc and brass are mentioned as the perfect cutting surface.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Likely because they had no other practical options back then as these super plastics had yet to be invented. No metal is going to be as forgiving to a blades edge or have the same low friction properties.

[@AlexanderMason1]

Zinc, copper and brass are much softer than steel but much harder than plastics and possess no self healing properties. They are mentioned in old books because plastic did not exist back then. Especially not the polymers used in this video. The metal surfaces you mentioned are terrible for blades and even worse for hole and stitching punches/chisels.