I went on Green's Books "Leather Paring without the Blood, Sweat, and Tears" course.
Leather paring is a discipline which often intimidates and can take many years to master but with a systematic approach this need not be the case. This one-day hands-on workshop will introduce safe and effective working methods for paring bookbinding leathers by hand. The course will cover edge-paring, working with a spoke-shave, and thinning down leather with a Scharffix. The course also includes some basic tool selection, maintenance and sharpening. Suitable for anyone struggling with leather paring.
I've only attempted leather paring once and I was only marginally successful. I enjoy Green's Books workshops taught by Arthur Green as he goes a bit in depth into history of why things are done a certain way, different ways into doing a bind or task. I get a better understanding for something that way. I won't go into great detail about the course, sign up for it
19th of September 2020, but I liked that Arthur went through different types of tools used for paring leather and the materials they are made of, why quality of the tools matter and his reasoning of when some tools are better at different tasks.
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| Spoke Shave |
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| Deluxe Green's Books French style paring knife. |
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| Paring Machine |
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| Top: Deluxe Green's Books French style paring knife., Bottom: English Paring Knife |
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| Home Made English Paring Knife from Hard Steel Hacksaw Blade |
We were the first people to get to use the
Deluxe Green's Books French style paring knife. I liked how it sat in my hand and the fact that it is completely flat from blade to handle on one side. I'm considering getting one once I get a bit better at paring. The course allowed Arthur to view my paring and correct little mistakes I was doing. I am now more conscious of how I hold it (angle, pitch, roll, amount of pressure, etc) and I am now confident enough to order a bunch of cut off leather scraps to practice my paring until I feel I can start to make leather bound books.
In the last 68 days I 've spent 21 days of it in Bookbinding courses. Not including my Wednesday night classes (of which I've missed half because of the other workshops) so 30.8% of my days have been spent in courses and traveling. I'm a bit knackered now so I'm going to take a break from workshops (excluding my Wednesday night class) and start to practice what I have learned.
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