Review- Round Knife For Leathercraft

Is this the best leather round knife available? Let's find out!
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[@invictusbp1prop143]

A 17 degree bevel on a blade is suitable for a pocket knife, not a blade design to cut heavy veg tan materials. …but if it’s that cheap and actually is decent steel, it’d be worth it to me to reprofile it. Even tho that’s a pain in the ass on a round knife.

[@eileencastles7217]

Some of the Dixon hammers missed the hardening phase. My mate bought one in 1977, and it was soft. A Blacksmith was able to harden it, so they used good steel. I swapped him another one and have used his for 50 years now, and it is still a tool one is proud to own. I have another here that is soft as well, yet at least two others that are good and hard. Dixon did themselves no favours with poor quality control, perhaps? Sad really.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Yeah I did wonder what went wrong with my newer hammer compared to the old one. I agree, they did not evolve.

[@thealchemist5376]

Pik As. Ace of Spades.

[@markedis5902]

I used a random orbital sander on mine. Clamped it to the bench, went up through the grits and got rid of all the angles and sharp bevels on the blade turned it over and did the same. I now have an absolutely perfect smooth sided knife with an excellent edge and great sharpness retention. The whole process took about an hour and a half. Once I had reground the blade I noticed that it is two different types of steel, a hard core for great edge retention and softer steel either side of it for durability. Please contact me if you would like me to sort out your knife. I can turn it into your favourite blade

[@johnfurr8779]

I'm curious to know how thick the blade of this knife is at the handle.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

3 or 4mm I think

[@johnfurr8779]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass that's a far cry from the 1.5mm max blade thickness recommended on one blade smithing forum. It is hard to fathom why the manufacturer went to the trouble of making the primary grind but not grind at a more appropriate angle. I looked up the lowest price to acquire one in canada and it's over 100 bucks so it's not even worth purchasing to regrind. I question the max thickness from that site since it comes from a single leather worker. I'm working on edge geometry for a round knife with a 3/16" thick blade and that uses a single 10 degree primary grind angle over 30 mm or so. The resulting tip of the blade will be 2 mm wide 12 mm from the tip. IMO this should cut very well while providing a nice aesthetic especially with a damascus steel

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

@@johnfurr8779 I could be wrong here, but 2mm, 12mm from the edge seems quite thick. I'll try and remember next time I'm in the workshop to measure my round knives. I'll set my dial callipers to 2mm and see how far the blade makes it in.

[@BisonSky]

Tally Ho man, you make your own knives. Fix that round knife edge as a year is plenty long enough. Carry on in the ole’ proud and British way. Chin up and thank for the review video.

[@geoffreyboyling615]

It is fairly straightforward, and therefore cheap, to make basic cutting tools for leatherwork, such as round knives, other knives, edge bevellers, and awls. But when you come to sharpen them you run into The Law of Diminishing Returns as this requires more & more careful work, often by hand, which is expensive. So to keep the costs down, traditionally the manufacturers only provide a basic cutting edge; you are expected to do the final sharpening & polishing yourself and you buy the tools on that understanding. It is only when you buy the most expensive and exotic makes that you can use them straight out of the box. I have a George Barnsley head knife, which is similar to a round knife but has only one point, which makes it a bit cheaper and easier to use When it came the cutting edge was a bit rough, with a steep bevel as you have described, so I spent a couple of hours with oil stones, very fine wet & dry paper, and a strop. Now the cutting edge is thinner, very sharp, and cuts easily; once you've got to that stage it only needs stropping. Same with stitching chisels; mine are fairly cheap ones by Tandy & Seiwa, but I have polished the prongs, and that has improved them considerably. Again, it takes a while, but you only need to do it once There are YT videos on sharpening round & head knives, but I think we are all looking forwards to seeing yours

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

I agree, I have a few Barnsley tools including a round knife. Edges are hilarious but you come to expect a random edge there (maybe why they're no longer here?) But this Solingen knife has a perfectly consistent and clean 17 degree angle which tells me they have the grinder set too steep relative to the blade. Easy fix really. I suspect this comes down to quality control, or decisions were made by people who aren't involved in leathercraft.

[@geoffreyboyling615]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass Barnsley are still in business, and doing well - www.georgebarnsleyandsons.co.uk

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

@@geoffreyboyling615 I believe those guys have bought the name and are refurbishing all the old stock left over when the factory shut. If you look on their instagram profile you'll see a lot of things, but you won't see the tools actually being made on machinery. My favourite is a video of a guy smithing a flat bar skiving knife with hammer and anvil.

[@neilmceachren9485]

Looking forwatd to sharpenning a round knife. I usually hone my knives flat and dont have a round knife. I want one. Teach me my friend

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Soon!

[@lightfighter3023]

Hi Philip, I was thinking that, when it comes to your proposed sharpening video, please clarify the working angle vs. total angle. In the video here, it seems you were speaking in terms of working angle , thus the desired 10° angle, x 2, equals a total angle of 20°. Thus your unsharpened round knife had a total angle of 34°, which does seem really blunt. But I may have this wrong.... so, if possible, please clarify here in the interim. Thanks!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Yes, 17 degrees on each side. So 34 in total.

[@LockBits-ts6eo]

Ah-see-tal, or Polyoxymethylene, not Ass-i-tal.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acetal Get well soon

[@sedulousdabbler5468]

I have an old Joseph Dixon knife and somebody has ground one of the points square. It would be interesting to know why. I recently bought a handmade Damascus steel half round knife and the angle is completely wrong like your German knife. Enjoyable watch 👍

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Maybe that person only used the knife for long straight cuts? Probably didn't need the points I guess.

[@ronnieli9972]

tried to find link of that chinese made round head knife you mentioned, but i didnot find it in yourwebsit

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

I believe it's discontinued Ronnie. You could try searching for it on aliexpress.

[@lightfighter3023]

FYI: www.herder-solingen.de The abbreviations on the blade stand for Friederich Herder Abraham Sohn, which is an amalgamation of names of the various successors of the company. Herder, is old German for 'Hardener.' Thus, the company had/has a lineage of working in hardened metals like steel, as opposed to silver or copper. The Pikas and Herder lines focus on domestic use items and the Don Carlos line, founded 1931, has been the craft and tool steel line. Apparently your packaging is a mashup of what was available.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Fantastic information, thank you for sharing that with us!

[@nermineghazal2012]

Hi Philip, why dont you make a course or several courses on pattern making and prototyping for different bags and details

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Great idea Nermine! I will add that to the course requests list today.

[@zefdin101]

Great dissertation on blade angles and the physics of cutting. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I learned a lot. Excellent job! Hello from you younger cousins from across the pond. With common sense and a keen intellect, it’s clear to me why England started and was responsible for the industrial revolution.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Thank you very much! I'm glad to hear you learnt something Al

[@sonerozdemir4370]

My dear friend. Thank you very much for this very valuable information on behalf of everyone watching and benefiting.

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

You are most welcome Soner

[@Konstantinos.T]

Very nice video Phil! As always interesting and useful answers See you in #leathercraftmasterclass

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it Konstantinos

[@4apples]

Super video!, Do a video about the leather wrap you have on the hammers!, like really good!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

That's actually a really good idea! I've had a few requests for that.

[@adamharkness9915]

Thanks Phil, It is allways good to listen to your knowledge and experiences

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

I appreciate that Adam. Thanks for tuning in!

[@erikgautebaklid2868]

I learned a lot about round knives. I got an expensive german one two years back as a birthday present when I was just getting into the craft. I took it to man who had bicycle repair shop and also sharpened blades. I don't know what angle he used and I have since just lightly rubbed it on a 3000 grit paper at very small angle and otherwise just stropped it at every use. Always a pleasure to se your videos

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Cool story! Do you know the name of your German round knife?

[@erikgautebaklid2868]

@@LeathercraftMasterclass It's unbranded. This one www.skinnlaaven.no/halvmanekniv-tysk 100 Norwegian kroner is approx 11£

[@MrKJDeSilva]

Looks like a Seiko watch ... I have had the same one for about 42 years. Fantastic choice ... simple, accurate, well made and very long lasting.

[@gusjackson1172]

Well done as always! Thank you!

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Cheers Gus!

[@daveeden2220]

Excellent video!!😀

[@LeathercraftMasterclass]

Glad you found it helpful Dave 👍