Ripped my first leather cover trying to pare it with a cheap knife

I was using a $15 craft knife from Michael's and the leather tore right along the spine after 20 minutes of work. Should I invest in a proper paring knife or just switch to book cloth for a while? What do you all use for thin leathers?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_roberts18d ago

Man, I gotta disagree a little. A cheap knife can work fine for paring if you're keeping it sharp. The real issue might be you're pushing too hard or the angle is off. I've pared down pretty thin goat with a basic box cutter before, just have to strop it every few minutes. That leather tearing at the spine sounds like you were forcing the cut instead of letting the blade do the work.

charlesanderson18d ago

Yeah that cheap craft knife thing is a REAL pain for leather. Used to think any sharp blade would work fine but I was dead wrong. Picked up a proper paring knife from Tandy and it changed everything, way easier to control the angle and pressure.