Crank Vs. Pull Through Splitters

[Andrew Chee]

Taking price out of the equation, is one better than the other? I have a Tandy 4" high tech splitter. It works decently for small pieces of leather. I notice three problems though. Sometimes with really long pieces, if I am not careful, the blade will cut the strap in half because the leather wasn't fed in perfectly straight. Also, when I'm splitting down to about 4-5oz thickness pulling on the grain side will stretch the leather out and I don't want that. Lastly, although it's a 4" splitter, I don't think I can realistically pull a four inch wide piece of leather through there without pulling out my back.

I'm thinking of getting a crank splitter because I think that it will solve the problems I mentioned about. Plus I'm thinking I want to split some bigger pieces so a 6" splitter will probably work better. It seems like to me that a crank splitter would be, in all ways (except maybe cost) superior to a pull through splitter. Is there a reason that one would choose a pull through over a crank splitter?

Also, anyone have a Landi 30 type splitter they want to sell me? Thanks.

Andrew

[bruce johnson]

Andrew,

There are several designs for pull through splitters. The Chase and Krebs pattern ones have top and bottom rollers to feed the leather square into the blade and prevent chopping off. The Osborne #84 has a brass rod in front of the blade that has the same function. The Osborne #86 doesn't have anyhting in front of the blade. Each one has their own benefits and drawbacks. Chopping straps can come from a flew things. If you are not pulling from below the level of the roller the strap can ride up the bevel of the blade and chop. A hard spot in the leather can do the same. If the strap is not laid out and flips up it will chop. Stretching the grain can be a problem with the leather being soft or the blade being dull. I wouold suspect you are dealing with a dull blade. As far as how wide, with a really sharp blade I can do up to about 4" on any of them without a lot of effort. After that I go to the Chases, They have a thinner blade and less drag. I can split within about 3-4" of the blade width pretty easy. It is easier for me to take off about 2 oz at time on the wider stuff, just the way I have the gap set on my blade/bottom roller. I have a 12" Chase I can level an 11" piece with. I don't think I could split much, but can level skirting with it.

Crank splitters are nice for vegtan leather. They are limited in width and not very good for soft leather. Soft leather can wad up against the blade and not feed evenly. They will feed little pieces that you could never get a hold on for a pull through splitter. The blades still need to be sharp. Yoiu might be able to crank against a dull blade, but the split is not as nice. The Landis feeds from the front, the Americans and Champions feed from the back. I just got a Landis and so now I can say I have used most of them. The ratchet adjustment on the Landis is nice for repeatable levels, but I have cranked a lot through the others with the pointer on a scale that got the job done too. I will have a couple crank splitters to sell in a month or so, but right now am backed up on leather orders.

[Andrew Chee]

1324038556[/url]' post='224586']

Andrew,

There are several designs for pull through splitters. The Chase and Krebs pattern ones have top and bottom rollers to feed the leather square into the blade and prevent chopping off. The Osborne #84 has a brass rod in front of the blade that has the same function. The Osborne #86 doesn't have anyhting in front of the blade. Each one has their own benefits and drawbacks. Chopping straps can come from a flew things. If you are not pulling from below the level of the roller the strap can ride up the bevel of the blade and chop. A hard spot in the leather can do the same. If the strap is not laid out and flips up it will chop. Stretching the grain can be a problem with the leather being soft or the blade being dull. I wouold suspect you are dealing with a dull blade. As far as how wide, with a really sharp blade I can do up to about 4" on any of them without a lot of effort. After that I go to the Chases, They have a thinner blade and less drag. I can split within about 3-4" of the blade width pretty easy. It is easier for me to take off about 2 oz at time on the wider stuff, just the way I have the gap set on my blade/bottom roller. I have a 12" Chase I can level an 11" piece with. I don't think I could split much, but can level skirting with it.

Crank splitters are nice for vegtan leather. They are limited in width and not very good for soft leather. Soft leather can wad up against the blade and not feed evenly. They will feed little pieces that you could never get a hold on for a pull through splitter. The blades still need to be sharp. Yoiu might be able to crank against a dull blade, but the split is not as nice. The Landis feeds from the front, the Americans and Champions feed from the back. I just got a Landis and so now I can say I have used most of them. The ratchet adjustment on the Landis is nice for repeatable levels, but I have cranked a lot through the others with the pointer on a scale that got the job done too. I will have a couple crank splitters to sell in a month or so, but right now am backed up on leather orders.

Thanks for the info. I have been having a lot of problems with chopping. I did notice that it tends to happen at hard spots in the leather. I have a smaller problem with stretching. Sme of the leather I split from 8oz down to about 4 and since I'm taking off so much of the flesh side, the grain side starts getting a little stretchy. If I'm doing a wider piece, the force required to pull it is greater so therefore it stretches more. I haven't really had to spoilt much soft leather so far so I'm thinking that a crank splitter would help shove those two problems. How are these splitters in terms of repeatable thickness setting? The Tandy one is cheap and the adjuster is just a knob so it's basically trial and error every time I want to change the thickness. I guess I'll keep an eye out on your site to see when you have splitters for sale. Thanks.

Andrew

[bruce johnson]

Andrew,

A couple things to do. First is really sharpen that blade. Off the splitter it should easily slice a piece for skirting i for the whole length if you hold it like a knife. One trick for splitting down to really thin leather ti to spilt upside. It akes a bigger peice than you need to end up with, but if you are having troubles like that, I'd set it up to flip and split grain side up. The piece you are then pulling is waste and there is less stretching on the part you want. Some guys do this on some pull throughs that the roller and blade don't go all the way together. Done right you can split off tissue paper to test a blade. Kind of cool.

Repeatable levels - The Landis crank and Krebs have click adjuster (detents) and a scale. The Osborne 84s and the American and Champion crank splitters have a pointer and scale. The Chases and Osborne #86 are trial and error. Still different parts from the same side might split a little different. Skirting might start out at 12 oz. Firm parts of the side might compress to 11 oz between the rollers of a crank splitter so 11 oz is getting fed into the blade. Softer parts might compress to 9oz and that will affect what comes out.

[Chef niloc]

Bruce do you split the leather dry or wet?

[bruce johnson]

Colin,

I split a few ways. Most of the time I split my leather dry. I sometimes will crank stirrup leathers through backwards when they are wet to compress some stretch out of them and then the other way to level them. A guy showed me that several years ago. Most of the time I soak and stretch them, then level when they are dry and oiled. Wet or cased leather distorts more when wet for me, but can pull easier. I also will oil patches of skirting scraps and have them sitting. When I need a strap or handle, I cut them to width and split them to whatever thickness I need and they are ready to go.

Some leather splits easier than others. I have had some middle weights that are really dense. The tannery people can probably explain the whole tooling side/strap side/holster side jacking they do better than I can. I have some that I can shave a 1/2 at a time off and other leather that defies me to split it very fine. I haven't used a ton of WC, but it seems to have that issue with some that I have used.On the double dipped skirting that Siegels developed with WC I had to split and skive that with some moisture in it most of the time.

[Cobra Steve]

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