Coloradoguy

Thank you Dwight, I appreciate the detailed explanation

Thanks for the tips Dwight. I don't recall reading anything in the instructions about holding the bail down. It's been over a year since I tried those machines and there are two more things I could have been doing wrong. What am I supposed to do regarding locking the knob on the side, and whether I should put pressure on the lever, or not?

I had major problems with two different skiver/splitter machines. The first one I purchased from Tandy (their High Tech Leather Splitter) as a discontinued closeout. I ruined several leather belts with it while trying to skive the buckle end. I practiced on scrap leather so I thought I had the technique down, but on some belts when I pulled the leather through it skived all the way through the to the face of the belt and ruined the belt. This happened several times. So I sold it on eEbay and purchased a different one on Amazon that looked the same machine as the TandyPro Deluxe Leather Splitter but is being sold for much less. I had the same problem with that unit and returned it. With both units I had to pull very hard to get the leather through. Has anyone else had this happen, or is my problem all user error? I'm thinking about trying either the unit from BuckleGuy or the TandyPro Deluxe Leather Splitter. The BuckleGuy sells what looks like the same unit as what Tandy and Amazon are selling, but in a demo video it appears the leather pulls through his machine very easily. His website says the blade is really sharp.