RockyAussie

Your blade may have started of sharp but those lines are from where the blade has picked up very small sometimes large chips out of it. I mentioned earlier about stropping the blade and I say it again. Once the blade is sharp some leathers can knock the edge about within a few inches and some wont hurt it at all. Once the blade is sharpened and stropped it will hold the edge for many times longer. To strop you find a decent behaving leather preferably about 2mm thick and feed it through very very slow even stopping it sometimes. This seems to smooth the edge of the sharp blade a little and you can hear the noticeably quieter sound as the leather feeds through. Choppy lines will often lead to the chopping out holes so as soon as you see them stop and resharpen. I do not strop every time as sometimes through a long run I will let the stone lightly touch for a few seconds and continue on. This does not seem to hurt the stropped edge much. If it feels or sounds rough it will need to be sharpened and stropped. I will look at the video above more as I have not seen it previously but at a quick glance I noted around 18 minute mark where leather shavings went all over the top. No extractor. I notice the noise difference on the FAV when he skives against my Fav and when it sounds like that I know it needs stropping. P.S. Hole chops in crocodile are expensive mistakes and may be why I am very attuned to the problem.

Thanks YinTx. I need this measurement from the bell edge (the sharp edge ) to the inside frame as shown here below.

Very nice work @paloma I am sure he will love it. My hands are aching just thinking about all of the hand stitching you did.

I been thinkin......................yeah it happens occasionally, that I could print up a vacuum scoop to retrofit on to these bell skivers. I would need to know a couple of measurements on the Cobra /Cowboy and any others that are similar. The first is what thickness is the table that the machine is on. The second is the distance from the bell to the machine base as in this picture below Mine as you can see in this close up is about 23mm The next one I need is the distance from the bell edge to the inner machine frame edge. Mine is 65mm. Note on my Fortuna that there is a relief cut out for the suction tube which may not be there on the other models. See picture below These below are the vacuum scoop shape that I am talking about printing a version of. This would come up through the hole in the table and bolt in place from underneath and the attach to a 65mm nominal size pvc elbow. After that it can go into a printed funnel shaped reducer to a typical 35mm vacuum cleaner pipe if you want to go with that or a collection box can be adapted in between if desired. I intend to do some vacuum checks first to compare what difference there is on my Fortuna against a shop Vac vacuum cleaner. The only disadvantage I can think is that the vacuum may need to be off when sharpening the bell blade in case any sparks could be picked up. As for the videos ..I will see if I can come up with a few short instructional ones in a sort of a series. It takes me forever to do editing on these and if I try to do too much together in one it may never happen. While I am on the video subject I would like you to note the video of the nippy that a couple of people said they would like theirs to go like. Watch only the feed stone and take note of how many times you see leather going around and around and even a large strip fly out. I am happy to say that is something I almost never see on mine. FACT is every time one of those little pieces is coming around you end up with a thinner piece where that bit comes through. Sometimes that don't matter but it looks pretty awful on a smooth bit of leather when it gets glued down. Brian

Thanks @Mark842 I found some pics in a manual that help. I wish I could say that I have found some video's worth watching on this subject but have found nothing that I could really recommend. I absolutely hate making videos due to lack of confidence in my speaking/voice but I am starting to think I might just have to. For instance the sharpening guidelines mentioned in a video earlier in this post and his later video showing how to skive leather are not very good at all. They sort off remind me how it was when I first started using a skiver and being almost scared off it. I don't agree with his dropping back the bell and putting a second bevel on the edge and then bringing it back forward. The grabbing/bunching up at the start and hesitation as he starts a skive would be avoided by just angling the start and taking a little piece off the corner first and then going full in. This overcomes the stall so to speak as well as the occasional hole cut. If the blade is sharp and the feed correct there should be no difficulty holding the leather in place as it slides through. I am in no way meaning to rubbish these videos as anyone going to trouble to share their knowledge should be commended but unfortunately if no one says something then many may assume what they see to be correct.

WELCOME @DaddioDigs and its never to late. Your here now. I look forward to seeing you develop your style. I guess guitar straps will come in there sometime.

Thanks for the compliment @plinkercases but honestly I would be embarrassed to say how many thousands of backstrap I sanded on the finishing machine by hand one edge at a time using the same angles. Same said with my edging machine sadly. It would be good to see ahead what other people come up with that may be inspired by something that I shown here.. Yeah that makes me think I should do a post on a heap of backstrap products I make. They can be quite challenging to make use of with all of their peculiar bone variations and skinning cuts. Here a couple anyway might be good for a little inspiration- Hornback crowns into buckles Hornback belt with some of my bangles as well another hornback belt That should give some ideas A?

It is great that you have a good contact there jimi. I will look forward to see what they can come back with on this.

Thanks for that @jimi. Would it be worth considering to use a piece of teflon or nylon instead of the steel wiper? I dont know the noise and wear factor on the feed wheel with the steel one but I would have thought the others may be better. I don't notice much metal embedded in your feed wheel so I assume that the spring pressure is quite light and just well positioned. The slop on the shaft probably helps as well with keeping it centred over the stone curve I think. I would very much like to see some comparable pics of how YinTx's Cobra wiper is orientated as against yours which I think is a Fortuna if I am correct. Can anybody with a Cowboy or Cobra skiver post any other pictures to assist in any further comparison discussions?

If you have not bought a skiver already I would urge you to seriously consider getting one with suction as I said earlier in this post with this link http://www.techsew.com/machinery/techsew-sk-4-leather-skiving-machine-with-vacuum-suction-device.html For that sort of money and finance and back up I would be going that way. As for the roller I think this one would fit and be a good all rounder https://campbell-randall.com/product/fav-1498c-roller-foot-with-30mm-1498-roller If you really want one the same as my brass one after you get a machine with some standard feet you could send me one down and I could make one up. Cost would be $100 + about $20 postage. The only mention I have made of setting one of these machines up with an extractor is referred to earlier in this post and as I only have 2 of these machines that both have extractors I don't have any reason to make one up. I would love to if I had one here to do as I think it would be fairly simple and fun to do. If anyone gets serious about doing it I am more than happy to walk them through it. For a start all of them wipers could go in the bin.

That is how they should all go. Note that the flatter end on the guide helps the leather to not pull in and the leather quality can have a fair bit to do with how well it feeds through as well. Some leather have feel agents (waxes/silicon's)on them which allows for less top friction and therefore beautiful skiving.

Thank you soooo much for the info and pictures there @jimi .I note that your wiper looks to be metal, Is that so? and does it actually make contact as the feed roll revolves or is there an adjustment screw to set it just clear? I notice also that yours looks a lot more to the centre of the feed roll than on YinTx's and I think that is better if it can be done. On yours where you have some kinks in your brass deflector,it is worth when you have it out next to tap them out and just a little past so that it keeps them pressed in tightly. As you would know little pieces get stuck in there and can be hard to get out and if you need to do any cardboard skiving it will play havoc getting stuck. It is interesting in the manual from that other post that the wiper blade has open ends where it bolts on which to me makes since if you want to increase or decrease the pressure or adjust out more when it wears down.

Ha Ha ....I have no idea. the temp varies depending on how fast I can do the wipes and the size of the job etc. On my light dimmer turn knob I have a nikko mark that is generally an average but for thick belts its higher and thin belt lower. You know when the edging smooths and runs along nicely that it is right. Some colours are high and some lower etc. The brightness of the light changes as it goes up and I mostly go with a 60 watt iron. Here an old workmate has had extended boards put on to clamp the hornback belts better and note that the angled nails keep the iron in place between changes. Scientific worked that out. The legs at the back on the workmate are extended to have the belt comfortably closer to work on. Note that I tape the irons up where the wire goes into them because they start to crack up there after a couple of years use if you don't. Cheers for now Brian

Sounds like you are getting it figured out alright. Does the parts manual show a diagram of the feed stone wiper with a spring? Could you post a picture of it if so? Where you say pressure foot pressure, do you mean the feed stone pressure? I am not aware of any pressure foot pressure adjustment . I only have a Fortuna and a F.A.V.2 skiver so perhaps these may have something else I am not aware of.

Great thinking....Hang around some @Pterytus I love to see more of this type of thinking.

Do you not get any manual with this thing? I just spent ages going over the videos on skiving machines and .....mostly was horrified at the amount of misinformation out there. Why anyone that makes video's on how to set them up when they have just got one is beyond me. These videos get thousands of views and that is a bit sad I think. I am not knocking that some may think they are helping perhaps and for that they should be commended. I saw one deler video that I think does some pretty decent video's on sewing machines but as for his skiving machine information .....IT is nothing but crap.For anyone that ever sees this post please understand that there should NEVER be an occasion for you to ever have to pull the leather through a skiver. If that feed stone or roller is not feeding it through by itself then you have unwanted friction that is distorting/stretching the leather and on finer leathers you will get a lot of inconsistency problems. If your leather is not going through smoothly as I show in this video then something is wrong - By my standards the smoothness shown here is not even optimal but against many other video's I just looked at you'd think I might know what I am doing. My normal brass roller I made and use allows me better control than shown here. @YinTx I have to ask if it would be possible to do a short video of the machine in action? This may help to establish if you are getting anywhere closer.

Thanks to you both and I hope that it may help and have some useful answers sometime... if not now

Thank you. Thankfully the customers love what the 3D printer allows me to come up with as well.

After the Scotchbrite sanding it should now look pretty clean like this - They then go through the edging process as before shown and then the detailing is done prior to the polishing. you can see here where having some smaller fingers would come in real handy. Note the edging on top... and again this comes off with a lot of wetting back and spit and hard rubbing and oh did I forget BAD LANGUAGE? Somewhere in there I forgot to take some pics of the hole burning in but this pic should give you the idea. The crew punch holes and tongue holes are all smoothed in and shaped a bit with this purpose shaped soldering iron tip. Mostly the back lining is concentrated on as I like the buckle tongues to slide into them nicely. Following that is the polishing so back at the finishing machine and with some clear Hooco wax polishing stick With the polishing I like to get all of the edges done first as I can generally get 4 or 5 belt edges done together as shown then the tops and backs get done and then a cotton glove really brings them up nice I have found it best to use towels when doing a lot of polishing and handling from this stage onward. Some like these get snaps put in and they often need to be 2 pack painted in an earlier operation. PITA. take note that I like the smaller snap fitting to the front of the belt. That is about it all so other than getting a few more shots of some buckled up belts later on... please feel free to comment. I must add that the methods here are only what I have worked out to do myself and any improvements and criticisms are equally welcomed and sort after. Regards Brian

Just another thought ....I think that plastic wiper thing will be spring pressured and with the plastic block being somewhat thick it may act as a funnel and be excellent at trapping the leather until it wears down to where there is no edge left and it is firm against the feed stone. Try having it run with the feed stone engaged until you can see no ledge. What have you got to lose?

Oh mate i am feeling the pain from here. I dont have any of that scraper stuff on mine and I suppose that is because of the suction equipment on them. That dish shaped ejector thing at the back is about 15mm or less in and that keeps the bigger strips from going around and around. From what I can make out in your photos the scraper is a plastic wear style thing and should be adjustable to run right up against the feed stone. If it is held against the feed stone with a spring pressure it may not be adjustable in which case a smoother feed stone may be an answer.Almost any gap will work to trap the thin skived pieces so if it is adjustable I would give it a try right up lightly touching myself. Hopefully others here hopefully may have experience with this arrangement. The other thing is that if you bring the dish ejector forward you will need to bring back as well that other metal scraper as well and that should work to eject the strips better. You probably have already seen this post but in case you want to see it again this is it - You know if I were making that style of ejector wiper thingy I would have used a shaped out bristle brush to really scrape that fluff out of the grit.

Yea I know ...quite often the left overs make the profits worth it... wrist bands and such.

After the edges are all sanded the tips and ends must also have a little bevel sand and to do this I have a finishing machine that can sand and polish and a few other things. This can be tricky to not sand too much and does need to be done carefully as to not over sand. An angle as shown is generally best. This is about what it should look like when done sanding Note that close up it is now looking all a bit furry/rough before any edging is applied I carefully singe the fibres in with the aid of a heat gun. This must be kept moving fairly quickly and not allowed to get overly too hot or the glue will also soften and start to release. Quick and close is best. NOTE: I do not go for getting extra smooth before the edge coats are applied as I want the paint to grip as well as possible and I have found that if it is overly smooth the paint can be peeled off in long strips. After that I apply some edging through my belt edging machine (another purpose made machine of mine for the job) Normally I apply 2 or 3 coats at this stage. Here is a link that shows this machine in action - As can be seen below it is necessary to lay the belts with the profile facing down in order to stop any edging from touching the tray on which they lay. This does not mean on these skinny buggers that I won't wipe edging on with my huge fat fingers. I will show you this later. After this step the ends need to be done and that I do on another single edge machine as shown below. This is also done with 2 or 3 coats. At this stage once the edging has dried well, normally overnight I go onto the ironing in stage which is done with a temperature controlled soldering iron with a purpose shaped tip. With this thickness belt I just use a long piece of hardwood with a saw cut about 1/4" deep used to hold the belt steady. I press the iron to the back side and wipe it down the length first and then the front side and finish with one wipe down the middle normally. A grey Scotchbrite pad is then used to give a extra smooth finish and a little grip for the finish edge coating. On some jobs this could go to the polishing stage and still look better than most other makers edging. In this case it goes on to have the extra finish coats. Be back with more later.

They look good and sturdy. I bet you had some fun adding the leather over the first 2 crown bones and then stitching through them as well. Did they not have a couple of inches past the crown bones? normally there should be 2 to 3 inches past them bones. Let me know if you want some more. No the skins come already coloured the only colouring I have to worry about is mixing the edge coat colours. I will touch on some of that later. As for workers and numbers that is mostly my wife and I and a couple of part time assistants. I could use a lot more, but the training times and labour costs make that difficult. I sort of hope that by sharing the knowledge here that some others will pick it up before my time is gone. Some more competition here would be nice as well. Thanks Gary. To be honest I like designing and making the equipment more than making the products most times. Although I do croc mostly, many of the steps and the equipment used are usefully applied in other applications. I hope that some parts at least can be of help to you and other lookers as well. I will be back......

Thanks @toxo kind words like that, are more than enough and people like you that bother to say so make the sharing all that much nicer to do.