SantaFeMarie Report post Posted February 19, 2015 Newbie here. Interested mostly in relatively lightweight projects like wallets and purses - no harnesses or saddle for me! The number and variety of machines and knives for skiving/paring leather has me bewildered. What would you recommend? And do you use a different thing when you need to reduce the thickness of a long piece of leather, such as for a belt or a strap, compared to a localized requirment, such as preparing an edge of a wallet for turning. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Blea Report post Posted February 19, 2015 I don't have any machines but I do skive edges for turning like you describe. I have a small skiving knife I use for this. Mine is made by LeatherWranglers but other companies make them. They are all versions of a rectangular blade where the cutting edge is across the front of the blade, kind of like a chisel. The cutting blade can be straight across the blade, diagonally across it or even rounded depending on the type of knife. It works will for me for skiving small areas of thin leather. For belts and other things, saddle makers will use their round knives but there are people on this forum that have taken a standard woodworkers block plane and sharpened the blade to turn it into a leather skiving tool. I think this would work well for skiving a belt if you can get the plane's blade to hold an edge. The way a block plane works is very similar to how most skiving tools work. With a good edge and a little practice you could probably even skive down thin leather edges for turning. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
machinehead Report post Posted February 19, 2015 You can get a good skiving knife from Lisa at " It's a Boot Life". She has a banner ad at the top of this forum and the link will take you to her Youtube channel where you will see a link to her website. The price is reasonable and since she uses them on her extremely high quality bespoke boots, I doubt you will go wrong. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
immiketoo Report post Posted February 20, 2015 Scalpel blade and handle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryLevine Report post Posted February 20, 2015 If you've got a bit of discretionary cash, you could try one of these: http://www.bookbindersworkshop.com/product_p/sch001.htm As the website suggests, this is a bookbinders tool and will set you back about $400 for the latest model. The Scharffix is very solid and extremely adjustable. As well as adjusting for thickness (great for reducing the thickness of binding strips), you can also very precisely adjust the taper you get to the skive. There are not many YouTube videos and none in English, but if you search 'Scharf fix' you'll get the idea. It uses easily available razor blades (although Schmedt will sell you some heavy duty ones) so you don't need to worry about stropping every few passes. The best thing for me, though, is the fact that you have much more control over your work piece than with the more usual hand-held knife solution. Good luck: I hope that helps. Jerry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
