Tex Shooter Report post Posted July 9, 2013 I just bought a refurbished American crank type splitter and it will be here this week. I have never used a splitter before, so I know that I have a learning curve. I have two very basic questions. 1) does the leather insert with the grain up or down? 2) I have a couple hundred of 3 sizes of veg tan folding knife blanks that are too thick and need to split. These blanks are about 16 years old, but are in good shape. The leather is very dry and stiff. Should I split then dry or should I try to condition them first. I have clicked a couple of them down one size and they cut clean on my Lucris clicker press. I have recently made a few knife sheathes with the thinner blanks and they worked fine. moistened the stitch line a little before stitching. -- Tex -- Here is a picture of one of the blanks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted July 9, 2013 I have split spme very dry/old leather and have never had any trouble with it. Grain/smooth side up. It will be obvious because one roller has gripper teath on it and one is smooth. If the blade is not sharpened correctly you will have trouble. It needs to have a perfectly straight edge and honed very sharp. Aaron Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
