M.DES.

FDP
BASIC SHOE MAKING
(FOUNDATION COURSE)
TOPIC:HAND CUTTING

Prepared by:
Vishal
Sr. Faculty (FT)
Cutting Department (FDDI,Noida)

1
 INTRODUCTION TO HAND CUTTING

 Cutting is a process in which a clicker cuts any shoe material

into different shapes as per requirement of design of a shoe.

 Cutting process done after finalization of shoe design patterns.

 The various components of a particular shoe either cut by

hand or machine. Method of selection is depend on order
quantity.
 Selection of method is depend on per pair cost for any shoe
article.

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 ABOUT HAND CUTTING
 Hand Cutting is one of important cutting option for any
shoe factory.

 This option is mandatory in a shoe factory. Even a shoe factory

comes in a large segment or medium segment.

 Major reasons of hand cutting requirement in shoe industry

are:
 If shoe factory receives any small order for which making of
cutting dies are very costly.
 Used in case of sample making.

 Although the ratio of hand cutting and machine cutting may

vary according to the types of article & order quantity for any
article.
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 ABOUT HAND CUTTING

 Number of hand cutting table and number of machines are

subjected to the top management decisions.

 Any article to be cut by hand or machine, it is also decided by

the top management and production designer.

 Hand cutting tools are available in low price in the market.

 For hand cutting, ‘Cutting Board’ is required only one time

purchase, because it can be used for very long time.

 Suitable for small orders and sample making in Designing

department in low cost. 4
 ABOUT HAND CUTTING
 Cutting accuracy is depend on the skill of the clicker. So after
proper training to an unskilled or semi skilled clicker we can get
quality cutting by hand even in low cost when they become
skilled clicker.
 Tin pattern sets can be made in-house of a factory within a few
hours for a new hand cutting article after final production trial.

 Less space is required for hand cutting in compare to machine

cutting.

 If tin patterns are damaged during production , can be

immediately replaced by new one within a factory.

 No power supply is required ( except artificial light for proper

vision).

 In hand cutting the chances of any accidents are very low. 5

 SAFETY PARAMETERS:(HAND CUTTING)

1. Hold the tin pattern and knife carefully during hand

cutting.
2. Never try to catch a falling knife, it may cut your
hand.
3. Never carry your knife with the exposed blade.
4. Always remove blade from handle knife when knife
not in use and keep at safe place.
5. Always take care during insertion of hand cutting
blade into handle of knife.
6. Work place should be neat and clean during hand
cutting.
7. Leather scrap should not allowed to throw on shop
floor and kept in proper ‘Scrap Bins’.
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 SAFETY PARAMETERS:( HAND CUTTING)

8. There should be 1300 lux light present at work place

and overall lighting in the department should be 600
lux.
9. Always make sure your tin patterns edges are smooth.
Rough edges may give poor quality cutting or hurt
your fingers too.
10. Hold your knife firmly, a slip may cut your finger.
11. Do not place your finger or thumb over the pattern
edge where they could be cut.
12. Position your hand cutting board at the right height to
minimize your back strain and give you comfortable
position while working.
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 HAND CUTTING TOOLS
1. Cutting handle with blade
2. Tin patterns
3. Sharpening stone
4. Sufficient light ( Natural light-Minimum 1300 Lux should
be preferred )
5. Cutting board( Tin sheet/ Glass board).
6. Cutting Table
7. Half filled bowl with water or machine oil ( For blade
sharpening)
8. Leather horse ( On which issued leather can be kept).
9. White Pencil

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 HAND CUTTING TOOLS & THEIR
MAINTENANCE
 Maintenance of hand cutting tools are very easy and
simple.
 For long durability hand cutting blades should be
sharped properly.
 Keep hand cutting blades and knife at safe place in
covered box.
 Tin patterns durability is depend on skill of
cutter.(More skilled cutters will help to maintain
smooth edges of tin patterns).
 Cutters should apply knife in vertical direction with
proper hold of hand cutting knife and tin patterns both.
( It will minimize damage on edges of tin patterns).
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 HAND CUTTING TOOLS & THEIR
MAINTENANCE

Tin sheets are highly durable.

Tin sheets should kept in proper manner so
that it may not hurt any one.

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 HACKSAW BLADE
 Hand cutting blades are made of “ Hack saw Blades”.
 Blades are available in standard lengths usually 12 inches
(Thickness 0.5-0.7 mm) for a standard Hand Hacksaw.
 The pitch of the teeth can be any where from 14-32 teeth per
inch.
 Hacksaw blades are normally quite brittle . So we should take
care during knife making.

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 TYPES OF HAND CUTTING BLADES
1. Deep Curve Blade: It is used to cut hard and thick materials.(Preferred
thickness more than 1.4 mm ).
Example:
 Buff leather ( Thickness 1.4 mm or above).
 Vegetable Tanned Leather
 Shank Boards
 Texon Boards.

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 TYPES OF HAND CUTTING BLADES
2.Medium Curve Blade: It is used for medium thick material. It is suitable for
normal upper leather (For thickness 1.2-1.4 mm).
EXAMPLE:
Cow Full Grain
Cow Burnish
Cow C.G. etc.

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 TYPES OF HAND CUTTING BLADES
3. Shallow Curve Blade:
Used for soft & Low thickness material.
Example:
 Kid Leather
 Paper cutting can be also done.

4. Plain Blade : This is used for paper cutting only.

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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE
Hand cutting technique can be considered in two forms:
1. Hand cutting technique for sample
2. Hand cutting technique for production

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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE FOR SAMPLE

 As per industrial need sample making is an important process.

 A good quality hand cutting will increase optical look and also
increase the chances of getting an order confirmation too.
 Hand cutting during sample cutting becomes very challenging.
As sample has to cut with paper patterns not with tin
patterns/cardboard patterns.
 So, a highly skilled and experienced cutter is hired by the shoe
factory for this job.

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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE FOR SAMPLE

 Hand Cutting Technique for leather sample :

 First make the pattern as per required design.
 Select the material for sample (as per specification given by
the designer).
 Check quality of cutting material.
 Mark defects with white pencil before cutting.
 Place cutting material on cutting board.
 Check line of tightness and stretch in leather.
 Put pattern on leather.
 Hold the sample pattern and cut the component by using hand
cutting knife in vertical direction.
 Always follow cutting direction from toe to heel for a shoe.
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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE FOR SAMPLE
 Hand Cutting Technique for non-leather samples :
 First make the pattern as per required design.
 Select non-material for sample.
 Check quality of cutting material (As per specification given
by the designer)
 Place cutting material on cutting board.
 Check line of tightness and stretch.
 Put pattern on non-leather material.
 Hold the sample pattern and cut the component by using hand
cutting knife.
 Always cut in toe to heel direction for synthetic shoe.

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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE FOR NON LEATHER
SAMPLE
 See non leather material carefully and check the direction of
stretch.
 Follow the line of tightness from toe to heel.
 Never cut material in stretch direction.
 Check quality of cutting material ( Check colour, texture
design, thickness, direction of weaving, lamination etc.)
 Put cutting material on cutting board.
 Put pattern on non leather material.
 Hold the sample pattern and cut the component by using
hand cutting knife.
 During hand cutting handle knife should be in rest position.
 Apply cutting knife in vertical direction to get cut
component as per shoe pattern.
 Always remember no bumps should be comes out after
hand cutting.
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 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE DURING
PRODUCTION
 Hand Cutting Techniques during production :
 First take confirmation sample.
 See the shoe article number, size, colour, material specification
upper/lining/socks in job card or cutter’s ticket.
 Take tin patterns for the given article.
 Take cutting material from leather store as per specified in job
card.
 Check quality of leather.
 Mark defects with white pencil before cutting.
 Place cutting material on cutting board.
 Follow all cutting parameters.
 Always follow cutting direction from toe to heel for a shoe.
 Put largest pattern first on leather, then medium size patterns
and finally smallest one during bulk cutting. 20
 HAND CUTTING TECHNIQUE DURING
PRODUCTION
Hand Cutting Techniques during Production :
 Hold the sample pattern and cut the component by using hand
cutting knife in vertical direction.
 Cutting should done pair wise.
 Always match grain, colour, nap, size etc.
 Avoid leather defects during cutting, it should not visible after
completion of the shoe.
 Take defects in hidden areas as best possible.
 Always try to follow best interlocking during hand cutting.
 No overlapping is allowed.
 Hand cutting should be exactly match with the tin pattern shape.
 Time to time sharp hand cutting knife blade to avoid any cutting
problem.
 No bumps should be appeared on cut component edges. 21