FAQs

• 1st: UNCOMPROMISED QUALITY - We use only the highest quality materials - there are no seconds - it's either the best, or it hits the trash bin. I apply this to the yoke, bearing, shaft, barrel, and most importantly, the blade.
• 2nd: It's the LIGHTEST SWIVEL KNIFE IN THE MARKET - a 1/2" barrel with a 1/2" blade and a large yoke weighs about 9/10 ounces - yet it's strong enough to handle even the roughest leather carvers.
• 3rd: Our SK-3 SWIVEL KNIFE GOES OUT SHARPENED, STROPPED, & READY TO CUT - it's totally up to you as to whether and when you strop it after that. We've had some customers say that they don't even need to strop, but still do it out of habit, so it doesn't need frequent stropping. Paul has tried over 22 different alloys, hardened and tempered to everything from RC-67 down to RC-45, which has resulted in approximately 220 different combinations of alloy and tempering techniques. Our blades will cut as smoothly on the best-of-breed top shelf leather, as it will on the bargain basement, inexpensive leather.
• 4th: It's CUSTOMIZED TO FIT YOU – you can adjust the height so it fits to your hand, and you get to choose between yoke styles and barrel sizes. Once the right combination of components is put together, you can carve effortlessly, all the while enjoying ultimate comfort.
• 5th: COLOR CHOICES – some can claim that color does not make a swivel knife perform any better, but it can add that one more touch that makes it special just for you.

The SK-3 Swivel Knife barrels are made of aerospace aluminum and are color-anodized with a protective oxide coating that is resistant to corrosion and abrasion. The coating is durable, will never peel, and will not wear through under normal conditions.

Sure, it could be drilled to fit the Tandy blades….but why would you want to do that? This blade is smoother than any blade out there and will hold an edge longer, plus we have blades from 1/2” down to 1/8”.

We can custom grind any angle on any of our blade sizes, including a steep angle like the Tandy ceramic or a shallower angle.

There is no real way to compare steel alloy to ceramic blades. You can sharpen your steel blade but generally, ceramic blades cannot be sharpened. Our blade will perform as smooth or smoother than most ceramic blades, it will slice the leather rather than just dent it, and it will hold a good, long cutting edge.

Yes, we do sell our blades by themselves, and they are interchangeable with our swivel knives (SK-3, SK-V, and SK-B). The shafts only fit our swivel knives, but we can modify them to fit most any other swivel knife barrel.

Not at this time.

The SK-3 is not “all aluminum.” The barrel is 6061-T6 aerospace quality aluminum, which we anodize to make it harder at the surface, giving the added benefit of doing it in different colors. The SK-3 swivel knife is ultra lightweight – the 1/2” exotic alloy blade on a 1/2” barrel with a large bronze yoke, only weighs 9/10 ounces – very easy on the hand when cutting for many hours!

We carry the Keen Edge Sharpening fixture (available through Tandy Leather), but we bore ours on one side to fit our blade. For those that already have a Tandy sharpener, we send a replacement Allen set screw to close the gap and fit our blade in the fixture for sharpening.

The two swivel knife yoke shapes are designed for the user’s ease, comfort, and control of the SK-3. The rounded yoke tends to be preferred by people that have large hands and/or very wide fingers. It is most comfortable for people that use a push and pull technique when carving or wrap the knuckle of their finger around the yoke. The flat (or more traditional) yoke is preferred by people that like more of a snug fit or have an average-to-smaller sized hand or slender fingers. They also tend to place the pad of their finger on the flat part of the yoke rather than the knuckle.

Several reasons can cause your hands to get achy after long carving sessions. Commonly, if the knife is too tall, it will strain the top part of the back of your hand; if it’s too short, the bottom part or inside of your hand will cramp. Also, how you hold your knife and how much pressure you apply when carving could cause discomfort. Our SK-3 is 1" height adjustable, remarkably lightweight, and the blade is extremely sharp – it will easily cut through leather without much pressure. Because of this, you can enjoy more carving time without fatigue and discomfort.

Our SK-3 is 1” height adjustable. If that doesn’t work for you, we can make a swivel knife and blade combination to your specifications. We recommend our SK-V swivel knife, which can be customized to your height, width, and material (braided, wood, beaded, polymer clay, etc.).

We custom build our swivel knife so you can pick the combination that fits best for you and for your style of work. The most popular combination for most anything smaller than saddle size carving is a 3/8” barrel with a 1/4" straight blade. You then get to pick from one of our many colors and the yoke that you think will best work with your hand.

The ball bearing is lubricated and sealed – so it keeps dust and other particles out – it is totally maintenance-free.

The purpose behind the Performance Essentials SK-B swivel knife was to be able to offer a very economical alternative to the SK-3. We had to make serious decisions on how to be able to do that without compromising its performance and quality. Our decision resulted in a brass barrel (which is considerably heavier than the SK-3) and eliminating as many options as possible — namely, the color and yoke.

After exhaustive study and critical testing, we found that the Appleseed or convex (or Moran edge) was the best grind for cutting harder or tougher tissue. The convex has been around for decades and has proved to be one of the more durable edges (axe, log splitter, etc.). We put what appears to be a flat grind, but really at the cutting edge, we have a convex cutting edge. This edge causes tissue to spread and cut with significantly less friction. Concave edges are really great for slicing through fiber and tissue in thin layers, but convex edges are more durable and hold an edge longer.

I can hand-turn a SK-V swivel knife in wood for you, to your specific dimensions. The very customizable tool-less blade change SK-V swivel knife comes complete with your choice of yoke style and sharpened, ready-to-use swivel knife blade.

We bore out the shaft on the sharpening fixture to fit our blades. The shaft on our blades is flat but it fits the smaller hole and then you place your finger on the blade as you sharpen. Please check out the video in the Tips & Tricks section of our website, titled, “How to Sharpen Your Swivel Knife Blade” for a demonstration.

Hands down the most popular swivel knife combination for small to medium leather work is a 1/4" blade on a 3/8” barrel. The smaller barrel gives you more control when making tighter turns because of its smaller circumference. Also, the smaller the blade, the smaller the detail. For larger work or longer curves and straight lines, the 1/2” barrel with a larger blade works great where a smaller blade would be more challenging.

Our blades are 1/16” or .0625” thick. This thickness works extremely well for all leathercraft needs, from the professional saddle maker to the casual hobbyist. It will open up your cuts to accept the biggest, widest beveler and also to make the most graceful finish cuts. For an extra charge, we can custom grind them thinner for people that prefer a thinner blade.

We will thin ground our blades by hand to somewhere between .040” and .035” thick.

The handle on our round knives and skivers are ergonomically designed for a good fit and better control. The handle and blade are symmetrical and ambidextrous, designed to be used by left-handed and right-handed people with equal ease and comfort.

The round knife is one of the most versatile of all the knives on the leather crafter’s bench. You can make long cuts, curvy cuts, and skive with it as well. If you get into some specialty work where a large part of it requires skiving specifically, then a skiver will serve you better.

Yes, the pull-cut feature on our round knives is beveled on both sides – they are ambidextrous. Plus, doing so prevents steering.

A large part of it is personal preference but some blade shapes lend themselves to certain tasks a little better than others. Following is a brief application of each blade style.

• The Scalpel – is the most popular and is a favorite for tiny detail and filigree work, especially on 2-5 oz. (thinner) leather.
• The Wharncliffe – is another popular style and is great for general benchwork and the knife you want to grab when you’re going to be cutting rough patterns, etc.
• The Upswept and the Spear Point – seem to be the favorites amongst people who do leather garment work and frequently work with softer, chrome tan leathers.
• The Sheep’s Foot – is the toughest blade shape of all, in that one can be a little rough with it without having to worry about tip breakage or having a sharp point that can stab.
• The Holster Maker – was designed and beta-tested by a customer and his team and they use it to make more than 200 holsters a week. It is a favorite simply because it makes easy work of trimming the welt after glue-up and sewing.
• The Hawk Bill – seems to be the one that people use most when they want to do a pull-cut on lots of curvy patterns.

A full distal grind is where the grind starts at the cutting edge and goes all the way back to where the handle starts – then the secondary bevel is put in place to make the cutting edge. Not having a full distal grind doesn’t affect the knife’s performance nor the quality of cut.

With the optional pull-cut you can both push and pull when cutting. If you don’t have the pull-cut you can only push the knife to cut, but you don’t need it. If your tendency is to put the thumb of your off-hand behind the blade when push cutting, then I would recommend not getting the pull-cut.

Dymond wood or dymond ply is a man-made material made from thin veneers that are laminated and compressed. It is a very durable and stable product and quite a bit tougher than many woods. The Rosewood refers to the color of the stain used and not the species of wood.

A HDPE (high-density polyethylene) cutting board, available from most restaurant supply stores, is a good surface to cut on. For a better cutting board surface, I recommend UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) polyethylene. You can find it in most plastic supply stores. It’s a little more expensive than HDPE but well worth it.

We only use the green polishing compound because it is made with chrome oxide and it is specifically made for hardened tool steel. The red polishing compound (also called ‘jeweler’s rouge) is made from iron oxide, which is much softer than the green, and is more appropriate for softer metals such as gold, silver, copper, etc. The red rouge will do a little bit but the green performs better, especially on the exotic alloy that we use in our knives.

I would wholeheartedly suggest that you stick with a strop as it is really very easy to burn the blade on a buffing wheel. I dedicated an entire chapter to the subject in my “On the Edge” book that explains all the whys and wherefores.

The blade is the most important feature of the splitter. I can make one custom to fit most any splitter, if you will send me your existing blade.

The newer version is about 3/16” shorter in the overall length. It also has a pocket milled into the top of the bolt slot. These two differences make it extremely difficult to fit a new blade on an older frame. I only make the older version.

Yes, we sell our awl blades separately. I don’t know the Rockwell hardness but would guess they’re somewhere in the 50s. I’ve never had them tested. I buy new Osborne blades and re-grind and polish them to a razor sharpness and mirror shine.

Unfortunately, that is something that is virtually impossible for me to teach as I have a custom built, highly specialized grinder that I use for this process. Therefore, since the machine is the key component to the process doing a video would be an effort in futility.

Preheat a toaster oven to about 200-degrees - make sure it's stable at 200. Once it's stable at 200 put the haft in the toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes. Then take it out, and while it's still warm try and loosen it. That should work.