do those $150 leather splitters work our would you go up to a $700 Osborne or would you go to the $3K ones?

[ToddW]

I need a leather splitter and not sure I trust myself to pull leather through a blade and not screw up a perfectly good piece of leather.  I REALLY don't want to spend $3K but don't want to waste my money either..  I would need at least 6" or 8" of blade for the pieces I need split.

 

Thoughts??

[Dwight]

The 150 dollar one will work that wide . . . but it is really a chore getting anything 3 inches or bigger thru one.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Littlef]

I actually bought one off Amazon for $80-ish, or whatever it was.  Its takes practice and adjustment to get it right.  I was splitting a couple straps to make a bonded edge.  It took a few attempts to get it right.  Several times, I split the strip about 80% through the length, and then I cut all the way through, and had to start over.  With more practice, I'd probably work out the fine touch it takes, but its not something I'm going to need to do on a regular basis.  Simple 1-2" straps are not physically difficult to pull,  but I think 6-8" wide straps would be really difficult to split.     - If I needed to split leather regularly It would be worth getting an upgraded model, with options to fine tune the thickness.  

[TomE]

A manual splitter like the Osborne #84 is very handy for splitting straps, and for lap skives on the ends of straps.  However, I wouldn't count on splitting pieces wider than ~2".  Depending on thickness, the leather will stretch when pulled through the splitter.  It takes practice to get an even split over the length of a strap - harder with wider straps.  Variations in the firmness of the leather will affect the split.  The Cobra Class 14 splitter will more easily produce consistent splits on wide/long pieces of leather but it can't do lap skives.  So if I had one splitter it would be the Osborne #84 or the similar Tandy Pro splitter I use.  @bruce johnson sells new Osborne #84s with a sharp blade.  Requires skill to sharpen a blade this long.  The Class 14 blade is hollow ground and LMC has a sharpening service.  The Class 14 is a luxury for me but probably a better choice if you need to split wide pieces of leather.     

[ToddW]

thanks.. moved away from the hand pull splitters because of the width.. looking at hand crank and motorized.  been searching high and  low for a used one close enough to drive.  The Buckle Guys one is somewhat an interest at 6" but just think I might want some extra space that the 8" ones..  The Cobra is super nice and I do have a Cobra Class 26 sewing machine..  I have a burnisher.. now getting through the gut check of spending $3K

[TomE]

1 hour ago, ToddW said:

thanks.. moved away from the hand pull splitters because of the width.. looking at hand crank and motorized.  been searching high and  low for a used one close enough to drive.  The Buckle Guys one is somewhat an interest at 6" but just think I might want some extra space that the 8" ones..  The Cobra is super nice and I do have a Cobra Class 26 sewing machine..  I have a burnisher.. now getting through the gut check of spending $3K

Yes, the Class 14 is pricey and built like a tank.  I found a (barely) used one on this forum. Good luck! 

[bruce johnson]

If you think you need to split 6”, even a 8” crank splitter will be tough. Pretty much your choice is the wide Cobra (Leather Machine Co). If you‘re splitting straps then the wider blade crank or pull splitters give you more blade width to work across before you need to strop or resharpen. I’ve sold splitters from $50 versions to $2500 versions and realistically there are pluses and minuses for each. I’ve got a tutorial on the website about choosing splitters. Since I got mentioned above I’m going to add a shameless plug. If you buy anything from me I will continue to resharpen it for free - just the cost of return shipping.