Heres a Round knife and a Head knife.
The round knife was made for me by a millwright Jack Lemberger. It'd been a real good one, The only thing I'g change is that the handle up front need to bevel down to nothing so you can lay it over on your rock to bevel leather.

The head knife was made by Doug Campbell and I really treasure it. I've never spotted another damascus leather tool. The head knife is used for lighter work demanding more blade control.

Both handles are Mountain Mohogany and it's a pretty heavy dense wood. It darkens over time from the oil on your hands. It makes good rub sticks also, more on that when we try wet forming.

awesome stuff. so what all do you do with your round and head knives? Skiving and beveling?  What do you use to cut out your patterns?

going back over the stitches with the 'overstitch' is new to me too. And the name basically says what its for!

Scott
I use the round and head knife daily in the shop. The round knife is possibly the most used tool on my bench. All leather is cut out with it, I'll try to stay specific the sheaths.

The peices of leather on both pages were cut using the round knife. The bottom peice on the fake sheath was trimed to the exact size of the top peice with one cut up one side then down the other on a cutting board. If you look at the pic of the unedged sheath you can see it's very flush with the top peice.

If I wanted the edge of the leather to be thinner and keep it full thickness in the center I'd do it with the round knife by laying it on my stamping rock flesh side up and skiving it to the thickness I wanted with the round knife.

Thats also the way I'd taper a welt to the exact taper of a blade. The edge of your round knife has to be super thin and razor sharp. The round knife is on my list of tools to build using knowledge gleaned from this site, and bladesmiths here and other sites. I've got some good round knives, just want to build one that hopefully matches the old ones.

I know a few tricks for working leather and sharing them is a attempt to give back to all you guys who have helped me.

thanks again...

Time for me to make a round knife....