Training In Leathercraft

[Tev]

S'Lon
Feldspar picked up some pieces of leather and set them on a work table. She also included various knives, a straight edge and metal curves.

"Use these scraps to practice cutting. You will be cutting from various patterns but first you need to learn how to control the knife. Start with the straight edge and cut some strips. When you get the hang of it, move on to cutting curves. Work for accuracy. After a while you can go for speed. These scraps are not very heavy so you ought to be able to start out with good cuts."

The Dwarf took the straight edge and made some cuts. Then she cut a few curves.
"Now you can go for it".

[S'Lon]

“Thanks” commented S'Lon to Feldspar as he took the knife and moved closer to the worktable. He took a scrap of the leather and examined it curiously but was unable to guess what leather it was. With a shrug for the irrelevance of the thought he laid the leather down and placed the straight edge on top and parallel to one edge. Pressing gently with the knife he followed the straight edge. The knife was sharp but not sharp enough to cut through the leather with the gentle pressure he was using and the leather tended to bunch up a little.

Pressing down more firmly with the rule and harder also with the knife he was soon able to produce straight cuts in the leather. I understand now why Feldspar told me to go accuracy and not speed he thought to himself as the knife wandered away from the straight edge for the second time. Best way to learn I suppose he thought as he started again, and now aware of the problem he was a little slower and a little more careful. With some more practice he could quickly produce straight cuts as he wanted them.

The curved cuts were clearly going to be much harder he realised on his first experimental cut. It was harder to cut using the curved guides than the straight edge. With some experimentation he realised that he would need to hold the leather as best he could and cut away from the hand holding the leather down. That way there was even pressure on either side of the cut. Standing back from the worktable he eyed the curved but wavy line that he had cut and grimaced. Yet another skill to practice he realised and bent over to keep on practicing. After a while his skill was improving and he looked up to see if Feldspar was around as the knife needed the edge resharpening.