20 Best Tool To Cut Leather (2023 Updated)

I’d never used a rotary cutter, but faced with cutting yards and yards tulle for my daughters cathedral length veil with blusher, this seemed like a great idea. I must say it was truly a lifesaver for the project at hand.

Cut like a champ! Sooo impressed. Until I tried using it on a different project, this time just double thickness of simple basic thin quilt cotton. It cut here and there, but mostly just rolled along creating a crease, but not doing the job.

I’m not sure if that is the norm for these tools: one-and-done, but I couldn’t imagine having to replace the blade each time I need to cut out a pattern. Not cost effective for me. Perhaps one of the ultra-pricey ones doesn’t dull as quickly, but this one doesn’t exactly inspire me to splurge on one of those.

It went in the charity donation box.

I use this for cutting rug making material. It is great slicing through cleanly. Olfa have a good reputation for blade life, but generic blades will also fit the cutter. The blade shield is simple but effective, and the body of the cutter well made and easy to hold.

Having used the Fiskars comfort grip cutter for several years this straight handle takes some getting used to. Being arthritic the blade protector is hard for me to use, I use 2 hands to move it. Other than that it appears to be working well.

I like that it will cut forward as well as backwards.

This is a great little device for the home crafter. You can cut precision cuts but you need to be patient and go slowly. It is imperative that you keep the leather straight and right up next to the edge.

It is adjustable so you can cut widths from 1/8th inch up to 3/4 inch. You may want to purchase additional blades at the same time you order the cutter. It does come with 4 or 5 blades. All-in-all I like the product.

This lace cutter works amazing once the razor blades are set in place. It is a little finicky, removing the 2 screws and placing the blades where you want them, once thats done, it works well.

It’s ok. In that it works, but just on thinner material . Overall, not a bad little device.

Beautiful, graceful tool that cuts through fine to moderately thick leather with ease. Works best with thick template forms that the blade can hug and press against. Outward curving shapes are a breeze.

Inward (concave) shapes are practically impossible, though. Love using my blade.

Very nice design, works great. Needed a little sharpening but that was easy. Its not great on fit and finish but is 100% functional and I couldnt be happier with it. Great value.

Sharp. Durable. Easy to use.

Before purchase I verified other 3 inch blades are available locally, so I took the plunge. This is a quite small cutter, but it’s ideal for chores that I’d otherwise try to struggle with using tin snips or a hacksaw blade.

So its size is much more of a plus, making this very handy to grab for those borderline-difficult tasks. That said, the store I purchased it from (Menard’s) only had two boxed units in stock, each with a shipping tag adhered showing they went to the store in Dec.

2020. Both the sale’s ad and Worx web page say this WX801L should come with a 2. 0ah battery, so I was disappointed to find the box contained only a 1. 5ah battery, WA3520. That’s likely because of it being an older unit as a 1.

5 appears to no longer be sold by Worx. I called Worx customer service and they simply told me to take it back to Menard’s. I don’t see how that would help, so my rating got dropped from 5 to 4 stars.

i got this for a job where i needed to cut away some metal wiring and tile walls, it worked well thru tile, jist need to make sure to not over stress it while cutting. it did fine theu wiring, but anything from corrugated sheet metal and up it wouldnt go thru.

the sheet metal it could if u super gently babied it thru,, but dont try to hack off some rebar w it. i ended up throwing a multi material blade in it and use it for breaking down boxes and shipping materials and other bulky garbages to get compacted and sent off to the dump.

and in comparison to some of the other cutters in this category from other brands,, ive noticed that this one has the worst utilization of the blades diameter out if all of them,,, just the shaping of the tool, and the placement od the blade causez it to cover up most of the prime real estate of the blades.

w a 3 inch blade,, youll be lucky to get a half inch cutting depth. and thas a reeaaaaallllll lucky cut.

I bought it to cut thru light angle iron. Amazing. Love the adjustable cowl/guard. Great tool. Haven’t tried it on plastic pipe yet. Gotta be great I m sure. We use cpvc and pex. It gives me a nice square cut in pex.

Suggestion, maybe package some safety goggles with it. I was a contractor and own many.

When you get this set, you have to know that they are not sharp in any way. Know that if you get these, you need to know how to sharpen them to even cut anything. They are rusty, they are not the best finish on the planet, yet do what they are suppose to do after sharpening.

You are not paying for C. S. Osborne quality here so don’t complain about it after you get them. OH, be sure to put some light oil on them as well. Light sand them with some 1000 grip sandpaper to get the gunk off them.

Outside of that, they work fine.

They are very inexpensive, but I sharpened mine and they work fairly well. Not a top of the line item but you can make them work. All in all a good tool for beginners.

These strap end punches work quite well, for a much lower price than comparable items from elsewhere. They are well suited to my leather working hobby. Being retired the cost of such tools is always a consideration.

Have smaller hands? These may be good option for you. I do wish they came with the sheath that so many of this brands scissors do include but for some reason they did not. I am makng my own with leather I have left over from years ago during a repair of an airplane glider boot.

It’s thin enough to sew on machine but thick enough to make a decent quality sheath to protect the scissors too. They are sharp and decent qualty. Someone in the house has gone a bit crazy with shear sharpening over the past few years and kinda ruined many of my scissorse even antiques.

Can’t seem to stop them they think they KNOW what they are doing and they are happy. So best option for me was to invest in new good scissors and HIDE them as in out of sight out of mind. Oh yeah this person sews too.

He married me for my sewing machie 49 years ago so my job is to have super powers to out smart the differences between Mars and Venus so we all WIN WIN. But when attempting to cut masks out of quilting cottons and knit wicking liner materials and not one pair of my expensive shears did a decent job oh yeah.

I already had this brand in several of their smaller yet craft and fabric shears so searched for these. The other two styles and smaller came with sheaths. Good I can copy my sheath off of that design.

Staysafe everyone.

Stop buying inexpensive scissors you replace every couple months or every 6-8 large projects. These easily cut through any project you are working on. I just used them on a purse with 3 layers of 7-8 oz veg tan and it felt like I was cutting a sheet of paper.

Buy them now, stop guessing, ho humming or debating. They are worth their weight in gold. However be very careful they are EXTREMELY sharp. The tools do no make the craftsman but they definitely help!.

The Gingher Shear is a long-time staple for therapists who are fabricating splints, especially for those who are fabricating via thermoplastic splint material sheets. As a therapist of just over 20 years, I started using these as a novice therapist in clinic and once you splint with Gingher Shears, you’ll never go back to regular scissors.

~Dr. Kirsten Davin, OTD, OTR/L, ATP, SMS.

The tool works as designed. Excellent value for the price paid. The tool is sharp out of the box, but needed the edge polished for best results. This flat leather knife works well skiving smaller pieces as well as large.

Definitely a multi-use tool. It excelled at long pull cuts and rounding corners. Good tool to add to your bench.

Love it, love it, love it! I had only been using an inexpensive swivel knife and needed this for the many other functions it has. As a beginner, I now have a bit of experience with rounding corners and skiving.

It may replace the box cutter as well. Thank you!.

Great tool ! Nice flat sharp blade! Glad I purchased this wonderful tool. Fits perfectly in my hand. The only issue for me is user error! I need more practice!

The curved blade makes trimming out those complicated areas of patterns much easier to cut. Using the handle with the disposable blades ensures there is always a fresh blade when starting a new project.

Of course, the used blades can be stropped to prolong the life and ensure precision cutting. Caution, these blades are very sharp and it takes some getting used to the position of the cutting side in relation to the handle and the leather.

Go slow at first!.

The Craftsman Trimming Knife has been great in my leather working class. Prior to that I was using a utility blade, and was developing some pain in my elbow and arm. Since switching to the Weaver Craftsman Trimming Knife the arm and elbow pain has gone away and cutting is much more enjoyable.

Design is great. Craftsmanship/Quality lacks horribly. Understanding this is an affordable trim knife, it still lacks any refinement. Reminiscent of Harbor Freight Quality. Subpar at best.

I ordered this item after hearing many good reviews about it from other leatherworkers. The blade was indeed very sharp when new but, before even finishing cutting panels for a medium sized shoulder bag (5-6oz veg tan), it had significantly lost it’s sharpness, and considerable effort had to be made to cut through the leather (and I am definitely not weak!).

Because of the sheer pressure required to make the cuts, it meant I was not confident in maintaining accuracy, so I reverted to my trusty Stanley knife. I have lost faith in this over-rated item, and am reluctant to use it again.

If I do use it on another project, I will find generic blades to replace the original, as I believe they are not cheap. Cheap in quality, yes, but not in price. It was a toss between this and a Fiskars; I wish I’d gone for that one.

I just love this rotary cutter Olaf deluxe rotary cutter. I have several others of different brand names. But they don’t stand up against this one. I purchased at fat quarter shop. It’s comfortable in the hand, to hold.

I love how you just squeeze the handle. And can cut your fabric. And then releasing the blade pulls back to a safe position, no more manually returning the blade back to a safe position.

Totally disappointing purchase. Bought this to help me avoid pain in my arthritic hands while making masks. What a mistake! Blade kept “skipping” sections where it was applied, making for poor cutting which I then had to complete with a scissor.

Couldn’t just go back onto the missed areas with the blade. And yes, I had a NEW Olfa pad under the fabric, since I knew that such a pad is required with this type of instrument. Thank goodness that I had purchased it with a 40% coupon.

Not worth the original outrageous price. Could not return since this was a Curbside Pick Up order, so can’t go into the store. Too bad that I had not read ALL the online reviews, many which complained about the same problem that I experienced.

Totally worthless to me. Using scissors which makes for slower cutting of fabric and has caused for swollen, painful fingers.

Very useful tool setup for a beginner leather worker. They seem to be made of durable metal. I would recommend these to anyone starting out in leather work.

The tools are OK, not great, but good for a beginner like me. Better to have less expensive tools to start and then buy higher quality tools when you learn what you actually need.

Bought for my teen who is new to leather working. He has gotten a lot of use out of it in a short time. If you’re new to this craft, I highly recommend this set!

I bought this knife two years ago. The first thing I noticed about it was the edge. It was rounded and dull like a butter knife. I tried to sharpen it and after about an hour managed to get a decent edge on the blade.

(Meaning I could shave with it. ) But to be honest I’ve never liked how long it keeps its edge And six months into using this knife it became loose in the handle. I have purchased a few of Osbornes tools and none of them have lived up to its reputation.

I used a blade which I think was made from a saw blade for 40(yes 40) years and it worked good. I finally got this knife and it is really good. It was pretty sharp when I got it and a little time with a strop made it a lot sharper.

Took a while to learn to how to use it and hold it but I am really impressed with it. Cuts heavy leather with ease. Learn to hold it and strop it and enjoy. You wont be sorry that you got it. The one that I got may have been a second as some of the stamping on the blade is not complete but Its not a big deal.

Good steel and holds an edge well. It has elevated my ability to cut out projects. Much easier to use than I expected. Be very careful when you use it as theres a lot of sharp edge exposed and you can cut yourself easily.

I wish that I had gotten one a long time ago.

Knife arrived already very sharp and works as advertised. I honed it on a fine 8000 grit water stone and it is almost sharp enough to shave with. Time will tell if it holds an edge. But I can see the marks on the blade where it was ground, and the edge curve is not symmetrical.

Truly expected better from this manufacturer.

Works great on soft/thinner leather (elk) too. Curved blade is perfect for tight turns/elaborate designs, super sharp out the package, comfortable handle, beautiful. A bit pricey but worth it for the right tool.

Reasonable turn around, thank you.

It is mainly designed to cut leather and other hard materials (the blade has micro serrations). I find it very comfortable and with a nice grip in comparing with the typical cutter. Another good feature is that after being used you can remove the blade, turn it and fit it inside, so there is not risk in damaging the blade inside the toolbox, or cutting yourself!.

You can look on You Tube for demos of the use of this knife. It comes highly recommended by prfesionals who use it especially in the leatherworking trade. Comfortable ergonomic shape and durable design.

If you are wanting a beveler to edge your leathercraft don’t buy this. The bevelers are useless. The other attachments are just ok at best. The set screw is a good idea but they sent the wrong size allen wrench (too small) so it will strip out if you use it.

Over all not worth even the 8 bucks it cost.

I wanted to get some inexpensive leather tools to try the craft. I am very pleased. Was able to made a nice scabbard for a knife.

This set is a great set of tools in one Item. I have used one like it for stitching groover or to draw perfect border so many times it is not funny and I don’t think you ever find one any cheaper, any where.

Really useful.

Product works as described. Does take a little bit of practice to find how much pressure is required to remove the amount of leather desired.

The Super Skiver is so much easier to use than my other one. It is much better built, heaver and much better material than the one I have been using. I am very pleased with this purchase.

Nice well made tool that does an excellent job. Tool has nice weight to it,good fit and finish,cuts a well controlled taper with curved blade.

This tool made a job that would’ve otherwise took quite a bit of work and made it easy. The project I was working on would’ve taken me a few hours minimum to get right. With these it was done in less than 5 minutes! Give you a flat even cut on one side, very sharp, very clean.

I highly recommend. Great for not only wiring, but, models, hard to get lil areas, crafts, etc. Cuts through plastic very nicely.

The title says it all. they’re seriously nice compared to everything I’ve seen for sub 5x or more the price. The cutting blades are sharp, precisely ground, and aligned and they have a cool little spring by the blade that clears the cut.

Jaws meet flush with no overlap and handles are comfy. I bought them to snip out parts on a thin metal laser cut model and they worked great. They should be fine for any light duty cutting but I suspect like most small side cutters you’ll need to be cautious about overloading them.