r/Leatherworking • u/davidedgertonjr • 17h ago
Beginner Question Cutting Leather
I'm practicing my new craft, and I just can't seem to cut my leather the way I see in some YouTube videos. I know most of the people I started following have been doing it longer, but they seem to cut the leather like a knife through butter.
I have an X-Acto knife, and I bought a box cutter from Home Depot. I also have a T-square and a ruler. The pieces still don't come out even when I use them. Should I get one of those rotary cutters too?
Any advice is appreciated.
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u/Amiar00 16h ago
I have a rotary cutter and use a ruler for straight lines. It works really well. For anything else I use a utility blade with snapable blades and do a light cut and follow through with a deeper cut.
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u/davidedgertonjr 16h ago
Okay - I will try that.
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u/ogilv 10h ago
Cork backed or other non slip ruler. New blades, and practice. It’s hard.
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u/davidedgertonjr 10h ago
But the people on YouTube make it look so easy. It’s like they just glad the blaze across the leather and it cuts all the way through so nicely. Oh well, I have some time to develop that skill.
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u/ogilv 10h ago
And if would be doing it right at first, then there would be no room for the joy of self improvement.
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u/davidedgertonjr 9h ago
I totally get that. Thanks for sharing that and reminded me of one of the reasons I got into this.
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u/waterdaemon 16h ago
Practice. If you aren’t aware, there’s more than one x-acto size. I prefer the beefier #2 blade, particularly from Excel. You will need a handle that fits #2, not all do.
Long straight cuts are ideal for a roller cutter.
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u/davidedgertonjr 16h ago
thanks - I'll look into that. I think I have a #2 but I may not.
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u/waterdaemon 13h ago
Worth checking. Once you have it… fresh blade for every project. Don’t prioritize cutting all the way through in one pass. Prioritize light, precise passes with blade perpendicular. Curves use more of the tip while you lower the tool for straight cuts and use more of the blade.
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u/Hufflepunk36 16h ago
It could be also that you are trying to cut too much at once? There’s nothing wrong with less pressure and cutting multiple times on the same spot.
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u/KamaliKamKam 14h ago
Imo, x acto knives are too thin for cutting thicker leather, they wobble too much. I use just straight up utility knives like you can get from hardware stores, with the 100 packs of replaceable blades, for bulk cutting. I have a nice curved leather knife that I sharpen and strop for cleaning up edges of projects once they are stitched or glued together.
If I'm doing lacey looking cutting on a thinner piece of leather (3oz or so), I might pull out an x acto.
When you are cutting thick pieces of leather, focus on keeping your blade perpendicular to your work surface, especially around corners. Also, don't press down hard. Go slow and smooth and if the leather is very thick, do multiple lighter passes to get through it rather than one heavy pass. You're more likely to make ugly edges or wiggle your blade diagonal on heavy passes. Slow and steady and perpendicular and light pressure is the key.
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u/ggt3416 14h ago
I was in the same boat so what I did is do an initial run of the blade against my ruler so it kind of scores it, then I would do a second or third run through with more pressure. I find thst when I do the light first pass against the ruler it was easier for me to keep it straight later. It also made a huge difference for me when I started using my NT Cutter (Japanese utility knife from Amazon) vs whatever knife I had around the house.
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u/hide_pounder 12h ago
Do you have a non-slip backing on your t-square and ruler? That helps keep everything from moving around while you cut. Also don’t trade speed for precision. If you have to push real hard to make the cut, just make multiple passes keeping the blade as perpendicular to your leather as possible.
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u/davidedgertonjr 8h ago
The T square does not have that, but my other ruler does. I’ll practice making cuts with that ruler so that things don’t move around and that they are clean. I want to focus on quality of construction upfront before I get complicated with anything I make. Thank you so much for that advice.
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u/Praesil 16h ago
Try a brand new Xacto knife blade.
I find mine will cut straight through for a handful of cuts, then dull pretty fast. A knife with a harder blade that you can sharpen will last a lot longer but in the meantime, change your blades more often.
Then its a matter of keeping the right angle
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u/doriangreysucksass 14h ago
It’s harder to cut with a matte knife (I would never use exacto) than scissors. People on YouTube are very experienced! Stick to sharp scissors
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u/murdog74 14h ago
I've started using a scalpel #24 blade, an angled skiving knife or a rotary cutter. I change the scalpel blade for each project, sometimes even more as a super sharp blade will save you many headaches.
Same goes for all your tools. Keep them sharp and stropped for each step.
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u/Gods_Favorite_Slut 3h ago
Xacto and utility knife blades are usually not sharp enough out of the box. Sharpen and strop them and see a huge difference.
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u/therealtoomdog 16h ago
The best advice I got (besides always use a sharp blade) was to focus on an accurate cut before you worried about a deep cut. If you're following a straight edge, just let the knife do the work. If you have to go over it two or three times, no loss.
Like Chuck Dorsett always says, "New blade, sharp blade—Every Time!"