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CustomDoug

I Need Help Understanding Cutting Options

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OK I need to invest in some tools to help me thin down leather.. and I'm confused by a few things. I've been reading all the related threads but honestly I end up just feeling more confused. I'm making bags and some of the straps etc would benefit from thinning as would the seem edges (for sewing a multiple junction area).

1. Is there a difference between a skiver and a splitter ? My understanding is that splitting is done on a whole piece of leather (no matter how small it is) often because the rough "suede" texture is desired, while skiving is just thinning down an edge or a section of a piece for the sake of getting a thinner version of the finished leather you're using... I'm I off on this?

2. What are my options for thinning (skiving) just an edge of leather - like the seem allowance on chrome tanned upholstery leather (handbag, chap leather) ?

3. What's the difference in the "3in1's" and the "5in1's" bench mounted hand cranked machines? and will they thin down just the edge of leather or will they only skive a whole piece? Will they even skive chrome tanned leather?

4. What's the best value in those bench mounted skivers (skive only) and do any of them do both whole piece and just edges too ?

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You are correct that a SPLIITER is for thinning a whole piece and SKIVING is for edges. NO, on the 3-1 or 5-1, they are for shoe making and heavy, heavy leathers.

Search for SKIVING and you will find lots of results.

Hand skiving is only done with a REALLY sharp knife. Many kinds are adequate. I like a curved glass surface for finer work and use a curved back window from an old chevy truck. My best skiving knife is still a round knife, but have used several purchased skiving knives designed for the purpose.

Again, search for the answers here and practice, practice. And if you do not shed blood, you haven't sharpened enough knives or practiced enough. LOL

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Ouch, Kayak.....true.....but ouch. I'd almost forgotten about skiving a fingerprint off.....

Doug, you can also use a splitter to remove the flesh side and keep the grain side. I've gotten used to using a head/round knife for it and don't really use much else....except when I'm making butt joints. When I do those, I lay the pieces side by side and use a straight blade to cut them together.

Tandy makes a "super skiver" which is a handle that holds a single sided razor blade at a fixed curve and it's pretty good for getting started......tip: Take the blade out and strop it before use.

If you are able to invest in machinery, you can look into a "Bell Knife Skiver". You turn on the machine, and feed the leather into the feed slot....it comes out the other side skived uniformly, all the way across the edge you fed into it. Here's a short vid to give you an idea of what they do...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_jis5Poijg&feature=relmfu

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That super skiver sounds like it could be pretty useful - I was thinking of getting one of those putty knife looking skivers (with the angled end) from goodsjapan to do edge skiving.

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Here's my understanding regarding your questions;

  1. Splitting involves reducing the thickness of a piece of leather so that it uniform / consistent throughout. Skiving on the other hand tapers the thickness on one end of the piece of leather that your working with (i.e. end of a strap).
  2. In addition to hand skivers and round knives (already mentioned), you can also purchase bench mounted splitters that can also skive. For what your doing though (i.e. making bags, chaps) a bench mounted skiver might not be an option b/c the area to be skived is limited by how wide a piece you can feed into the bench mounted splitter / skiver. If you have a very wide section that you need skived then your only option might be a hand skiver or round knife. If your area you need skived is relatively short, in terms of width and not length, then you could potentially use a french beveler. French bevelers come in a variety of widths, I'm not sure how wide the largest size is.
  3. I'm not sure about those machines as I've never used one but my understanding is the same as kayak, that they are for shoe making.
  4. Aside from the Bell Knife Skiver that Twin Oaks posted a link for, I haven't seen any other type of machine that only skives. I've seen varous bench mounted splitters that can also skive but I haven't seen a bench mounted skiver only. I bought an osborne bench mounted splitter last year and I really wish I had spent the extra money on a splitter that can also skive.

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