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Looks like Chicago, IL.

When it comes to Japanese-type skiving knives you typically have three choices: unknown or common tool steel, shirogami, and aogami. Prices go up in that order and quality (edge retention) as well. When you do a little research on this you find that the rabbit hole goes deep.

Before I got my bell skiver I was using a Japanese curved hand plane such as this one. I still use it for smaller pieces like wallet pockets and edges. The curve is key as you can easily adjust the cut by rocking without adjusting the blade.

A nice selection of used sewing, skiving and cutting machines located in Cambridge, Ontario. Careful about the buyers premium and loading charges and always take a look in person if possible. From experience, I would not encourage those of us on the south of the border to bid on this auction as customs duties, taxes and documentation are a hassle. Real sweet Myford lathe there too! https://www.bidspotter.com/en-us/auction-catalogues/timed/bscdslin/catalogue-id-danbur10104

Yes. Interfacing can be used to stiffen up leather. I like to glue it on rather than apply heat. It seems to work better and no chance of scorching the leather.

It looks like you’re using full width card pockets. You can get away with “triangles” and reduce the edge thickness by a 1/3. On this template you can see what I mean about the card pockets.

Instead of punching a solid line across the pockets run the stitch line and stop X mm before the edge of the first pocket and then start your stitch line again on the next pocket. The stitching will have a small discrepancy where the pockets are but shouldn’t be too noticeable if you space things right.

Which vendor did you end up purchasing from? Did they confirm that the tannery is Haas? Please post a photo and comment on the product and vendor. Thinking about purchasing more. Thanks

Not sure but it seems that it would be easier to take the components out of the 3S and fit them into the frame of the 50? Since micro adjustments are necessary for proper skiving I am concerned that the arm placement would be off.

I had purchased Haas Epsom leather in black from The Etsu vendor: “Fine Leather Club” in the UK. It was a bit under $10/sqft at 6sqft. The Etsy vendor “MadeOnJupiter” has some type of Epsom for sale. Vendor located in NY. May be worth an email.

Etsy has some vendors that carry Epsom. Pretty pricy stuff, especially when buying by the square foot. I would purchase or request some swatches before committing.

Make sure that the thread is waxed throughly (paraffin is good for this) and leave a few inches of “sacrificial” thread to pickup any residual dye that will be cut off when you finish.

I have a Japanese boat type plane from Okada tools (wicked sharp blade out of the box). What’s nice about it is that you can control the angle by rocking the plane. I have successfully skived chrome leather with some success but it’s traditionally used to square off or bevel corners. The most I would try to skive are small pieces like card pockets. Larger pieces come out too uneven.

Well that’s something you don’t hear everyday! It’s always interesting to hear everyone’s other hobbies/skills. Looking forward to seeing that bowl with some carved bears.

I’ve heard of people using nesting Tupperware bowls as forms. Or perhaps a more traditional method; mounting a bowl onto a board and then using a wood circle cutout on top to clamp the leather down. Unless you have a lathe I reckon that making the form seem in the video would be difficult.