Best way to cut thin leather of a thickness of 1mm or less is best done using a rotary cutter.
Best way to cut leather straight.
Because it s thin and more fragile using a hobby knife can pull and crease the leather as you try to drag the knife across it.
You will often find these swivel knives included in leather cutting kits making it obvious that it is an essential tool to own.
This helps keep you on track and more importantly the blade straight.
Using a hobby knife can pull and crease the leather and make it harder to get a straight line since it s so fragile and more prone to moving so it s harder to get a straight crisp line.
He prefers the box cutter because it can also make curves while the rotary cutter can only cut straight.
It s kind of like you stamp the end as opposed to cutting it.
Rotary knives because of their lack of drag and japanese knives because of the way you can finish a cut.
Don t be afraid to make multiple light passes with your blade to complete the cut.
It is going to prove to be a very useful part of your leather cutting process.
Make multiple light passes especially with thick leather.
On thicker leathers most knives will work.
It s hard to cut a clean curve in one shot in thinner leather it s damn near impossible in thick leather.
The best ways will give you a clean smooth edge when you cut.
The thicker the leather is the sharper and deeper you will need to cut and so it is best to use either a blade that you feel capable of sharpening or a disposable like a utility knife that you can cheaply replace the blades in.
The leather s much more prone to moving so it s harder to get a straight crisp line.
The leather pulls the most at the end of a cut and japanese knives can be pushed down at the end of the cut to prevent this drag.
The slice manual box cutter which is part of the slice lineup of box cutters watts likes for cutting long lines through a large piece of leather he notes that this is what he has traditionally used his rotary cutter for.