Craftool Strip & Strap Cutter Leather Cutting Tool Leathercraft Tandy 3080-00

Product Information

Another obvious difference is that the strap cutter has a top wooden bar that guides and also helps to feed the leather smoothly through to the blade. You will need to use a straight edge/ long steel ruler on your hide before you use the strap cutter. This is because leather hides never come with perfectly straight or parallel sides and the edges are usually rough. Use your steel ruler to cut a nice long even straight edge on your hide/ skin. Some are designed to cut leather by pushing the tool through the leather away from the body. While less common than the pull-style, it is personal preference as to if someone prefers this type. These often also go by the name of “plough”. Pull Cutters The draw gauge will usually have some form of adjustment arm that you will slide in and out to adjust for the width of the strap you intend to cut. It will come with a thumb screw or wing-nut you can use to clamp down, fasten or loosen the blade and also making width adjustments for your straps.

Before you can effectively use a strap cutter you must first have a straight edge on your leather just like you would with a draw cutter. You can use a long straight ruler and a rotary cutter or utility knife to take out a long straight side of your leather so that you will be able to make your strap cuts easily and accurately. It does help if you are cutting/ holding the strap cutter in your right hand, to hold the strip that is being cut with your left hand as you pull the cutter towards yourself. The numbers on the ruler should be facing you as you cut and keep the cutter flush with the leather edge as you cut. Pull all the way until the leather cut is complete and you now you have one belt blank. A draw gauge is a handheld strap cutting tool you can use to cut out straps from heavier leather. You can use a draw gauge to cut over 11oz leather, tooling leather, heavy harness leather or skirting leather. Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. In this post i discuss the advantages of strap cutters, how much they cost, how they work and what they are used for. If you are new to leathercraft and are keen to learn more, read on for some more info on the humble strap cutter tool. What is a Strap Cutter used for.start cutting leather. Ruler shown on the strap cutter used to set width of belt you would like to cut How to use a Strap Cutter. If you’re new to cutting straps and you want a much simpler, less expensive, and no maintenance strapping tool you can use mostly for belts and straps then the wood strap cutter will be an awesome choice. You will find the strap cutter very useful for a lot of your projects. The tool in itself is a very simple but it’s a very efficient tool and could last you a lifetime. A Strap cutter is used to cut long lengths of equal width leather eg. a leather belt or strap. Say you wanted to make a belt that is 2 inches wide, you would set the gauge/ ruler on the strap cutter at 2 inches and that would allow you to cut a nice even length of leather set at 2 inches. One unique thing about the draw gauge is that you can get more use for the blades because you can move the blade up and down to get completely new blade edge to cut with.

I find the strap cutter a lot safer to use. It’s blade is well covered and it’s the least likely strap cutting tool to result in an accident. The draw gauge on the other hand has an exposed blade and a could easily cut you if extreme care is not taken. 6. Maintenance:On average, you will find that the draw gauge to be more expensive when compared to the strap cutter. This is often due to the materials (metal and wood respectively) used. 5. Safety: There are other, and sometimes less expensive options available, though build quality might be questionable, some have the cutting blade fully exposed, and their overall durability can vary. This is a solid, sturdy tool that has been used for this exact purpose, successfully for years. Normally, this is used for cutting straps off of a hide of leather. The first thing you want to decide is your size obviously. Now, the tool itself does have a scale on it, but it’s not super accurate. It’s close, but the best way is to just put it up to the mark that you want. In this case, mark it for one inch and lightly tighten the screw. Using the draw gauge is a fast and more importantly one of the most accurate ways to cut straps. When used right, the draw gauge leaves a desirable beautiful clean edges on your straps. It has a little hole in it. It meets up with the screw that’s in there. You just set that down. This part can be slightly annoying, but you only have to do it once, so you don’t have to worry about it. The unit goes so that the ruler is facing the handle. Tight that up a little bit. That’s how it goes together. That’s the first part. There are quite a few adjustments there you can make, but usually, once they’re set you’re good.

These are designed to be used by pulling the tool through the leather, towards the body. Often, these provide good control which helps promote a smooth, even cut. The most commonly used cutters are of the pull style. Pull Style Leather Strap Cutter Remember there is no rush, just work slowly and methodically and gently pull the cutter towards you thereby cutting the leather. Strap cutters are tools, with sharp blades, used to cut long lengths of leather material into consistent widths. For example, if you have a large leather hide and want to turn it into 2″ wide straps for belts, this is the tool for the job. Most have interchangeable blades, so over time a fresh one can be put in to help ensure the cutting edge is sharp, making cuts smooth and easy. Types of Strap Cutters Push Cutters (Plough Cutters)

Always look after your tools and store them in a safe place when they are not in use. Image showing how to hold the strap cutter when making a cut Conclusion The draw gauge is a great option and investment for your crafts if you cut a lot of straps for belts, bracelets, and any type of strap you might need. With a strap cutter also known as a wood strap cutter, you will be able to cut straps from any kind of leather, with width from 1/8inch of an inch all the way up to 3-4 inch straps.

A Strap cutter is usually made of timber. Older strap cutters were made out of hard wood and were very durable and lasted forever. Today most of them are made out of soft wood and aren’t as hard wearing as the hardwood variety. Saying that, if you look after your cutter you should have it for a good few years anyway. It’s a relatively easy tool to master and once you have cut a few test straps you should be ready for the real thing. Having said that though there are a few important steps that i would like to discuss before you begin cutting. The draw gauge can be used to cut heavier leather while strap cutters are great for light to medium weight leather. As far as learning how to use both tools is concerned, the draw gauge has a bit of a learning curve to it and may result in you wasting some leather straps. It’s however, a great money making tool after you have mastered its use. 4. Cost:

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The strap cutter consists of a 3 timber parts. A wooden handle with a rectangular slot cut out whereby 2 parallel timber pieces fit and slide through this slot. See image above. The handle is usually quite bulky, particularly if you have small hands, but you should be comfortable with it after a few practice tries.