Hyde Job Guides

How to Cut Leather to Pattern

Cut leather accurately to a pattern with a square point knife for straight lines and an English shoe knife for curves. Layout decides most of the accuracy.

What you need

• Model 50200Regular Square Point Knife #3, Wood Handle $12.46 each$8.47 each at 100 or more

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• Model 50350Regular Square Point Knife #4, Wood Handle $11.66 each$7.93 each at 100 or more

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• Model 55500English Shoe Knife #2 for Leatherwork, 4-3/8” x 7/8” $17.47 each$11.88 each at 100 or more

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• pattern on card or pattern board
• cork-backed metal straightedge
• dense, sacrificial cutting surface
• chalk or silver pen

Steps

1. Check the pattern is the right size and revision. Read every mark: cut line, stitch line, fold, notch, orientation.
2. Look over the hide under broad light. Mark scars and holes outside the piece boundary, and lay out both pieces of a pair before cutting either.
3. Place the largest or most important pieces first. Mark on the flesh side, testing the marker on scrap.
4. Weight or clamp the pattern outside the knife path. Lay the leather flat on the cutting surface.
5. Cut straight lines with a square point knife against the straightedge, with the straightedge on the side you keep. Draw smoothly and finish the stroke in waste.
6. Cut broad curves with short overlapping strokes, rotating the leather between them. Follow tighter curves with the English shoe knife, point leading, in short draw cuts.
7. Cut an inside corner as two cuts that meet. Check both faces for an uncut bridge.
8. Lift the piece and cut any bridge from the waste side. Label pairs at once.

Tips

• Use the #3 (50200) for ordinary edge-started cuts. Use the #4 (50350) when the #3 visibly flexes.
• Do not bend the blade against the ruler. The ruler sets the line and the edge makes the cut.
• Cut a pattern copy from card. A paper edge gets shaved narrower with each piece.
• The point is not a pry tool. Twisting it in leather damages the point and widens the line.

Watch out

Questions about the right tool for your job? Email cs@hydestore.com or call 508-916-6442.