About

I strive to make the highest quality bookbinding and leather working tools possible. In the early 1990s, I became dissatisfied with the quality of commercially available tools, and began to make my own. Eventually, I resuscitated some unavailable older designs, invented a few new things, and began to sell them to friends. The business has continued to grow for the past two decades.

I've always been curious about things, and began learning the rudiments of metal work in high school, while working part time as a bicycle mechanic.   I was the first to introduce modern tool steels for leather paring knives, and also the first to test these steels for initial cutting performance and wear resistance.

Just as important, since I am a bookbinder and actually use these tools, I am able to make them ergonomic. A knife may seem like a simple thing, but tiny differences can make one comfortable or an annoyance. I keep tweaking both the design and materials in pursuit of the perfect knife. Ironically, I consider the perfect knife one that disappears from consciousness when in use.

All the knives I make are fully hand sharpened, come with handles and a blade cover, and are ready to roll from the moment you get them. These are the sharpest, most comfortable, and longest lasting leather paring knives on the market. Everything I sell is guaranteed for life. My  life.

BIO

Jeff Peachey is a bookbinder and book conservator (More Info),  providing a wide variety of bookbinding and conservation services for institutions and individuals. He is a Professional Associate in the AIC and has served as Chair of Conservators In Private Practice.

He is the inventor of the Peachey Board Slotting Machine, which is used by many institutions worldwide to help treat books with detached boards. He is also active in researching the history of bookbinding. Recently, he was awarded a 2015 Fellowship at the Bellagio Center in Lake Como, Italy, and the 2015 Patricia Fleming Visiting Fellowship in Bibliography and Book History from the University of Toronto, Canada.

See http://jeffpeachey.com for more biographical information.

One of his current passions is investigating the philosophy of tools, which he maintains have a much larger role in craft than previously thought.

This short video below was shot for Samsung a couple years ago. It shows Peachey performing various aspects of bookbinding.