Manual skiver

[DieselTech]

I'm just curious if any of you guys & gals has a manual skiver like this or has used 1 like it? 

Is something like this worth owning? Or is something like this junk?

I got a couple safety skivers & a couple Japanese skiving knives, but I dont like them. 

Can you professionals give me a lil advice on something like this.

Thanks any & all help will be appreciated.

[toxo]

I have an electric skiver but I know a good one of these is certainly worth having. You could halve the thickness of say a belt with one pull.

[DieselTech]

18 minutes ago, toxo said:

I have an electric skiver but I know a good one of these is certainly worth having. You could halve the thickness of say a belt with one pull.

Yeah I make lined belts & I think something like this would be great for the bend in the belt for the buckle. I use 9/10 oz leather then line it with 3/4 oz leather. Sometimes I line with a 5/6 oz leather & at this point the belt is thick & needs thinned down in the buckle area. 

I was thinking something like this would save me a bunch of time when skiving. 

Thanks.

[bruce johnson]

It really depends on your budget and anticipated usage. Speaking to this style and sourcing in general - variable quality from essentially unusable to pretty good. If the roller is level with the blade edge that's good. The blade needs a slot for the hold down bolts to move the edge forward over the top center of the roller as you sharpen the edge back. Some come with an ample slot, some come with a little slot for "some" adjustment, and some come with a round hole for no adjustment. Blade quality is generally OK, not great/usually not bad. If you get a good one, you're a winner, if not - you kept their lights on. There is a reason some new 6 inch splitters are $600 and some shovel blade skin machines are $160.

[DieselTech]

29 minutes ago, bruce johnson said:

It really depends on your budget and anticipated usage. Speaking to this style and sourcing in general - variable quality from essentially unusable to pretty good. If the roller is level with the blade edge that's good. The blade needs a slot for the hold down bolts to move the edge forward over the top center of the roller as you sharpen the edge back. Some come with an ample slot, some come with a little slot for "some" adjustment, and some come with a round hole for no adjustment. Blade quality is generally OK, not great/usually not bad. If you get a good one, you're a winner, if not - you kept their lights on. There is a reason some new 6 inch splitters are $600 and some shovel blade skin machines are $160.

Thanks I appreciate the info. It did have a lot of adjustments, they were long slots as you mentioned. I believe you could adjust the roller as well. It looks similar to the weaver one, that's like $400. 

I was hoping to get by with this for a bit, till I can afford something better. I was more worried about the blade quality. 

I know it could be hit or miss on quality & it will probably make me cuss trying to adjust it & kinda fine tune it. 

[Burkhardt]

IMO, if you're just talking about thinning just where the bend is for the buckle to get it to do evenly would be about impossible. I got one from Weaver and if you were to thin the end/edge of something ok. But in the middle, I couldn't unless someone has I would love to hear how.

[DieselTech]

I thought with this tool you could thin your leather to the thickness needed for a given project? Basically I thought with this tool you could thin say 10/12 OZ leather to 8/9 OZ leather? Will this tool do this? Or is there some other tool that I would need instead of this? 

Sorry for all the questions, I'm a amateur. 

Thanks.

[Wepster]

I think he is saying it may be darn near impossible if you wanted to thin ONLY the buckle bend area, as opposed bend area to the end of the wrap. No way to go into and and back out again, have to go until no more leather, put another way, can not scoop out an area.

[DieselTech]

3 hours ago, Wepster said:

I think he is saying it may be darn near impossible if you wanted to thin ONLY the buckle bend area, as opposed bend area to the end of the wrap. No way to go into and and back out again, have to go until no more leather, put another way, can not scoop out an area.

Ok thanks. No when I thin a belt in the buckle bend area I thin it out from the buckle bend to the end of the belt. Basically I thin it from the buckle bend to the end of the belt. Roughy I thin 4-6" of the buckle end of the belt.

[TomE]

Not sure about this item but I have an old Tandy Pro modeled after an Osborne #84.  I use it frequently for lap skives on the ends of straps including buckle turrns.  It is difficult to split items wider than about 2-3" on one of these, and consistent splits longer than ~1 ft require practice.  Thin leather pulled through the splitter will stretch.  My tips are to keep the blade really sharp, pull the leather with a slightly downward angle, and keep a finger on the leather entering the blade to prevent it from lifting up (and cutting through the grain) at the end of a strap.  I eventually learned to split 2-3 ft long straps to a desired thickness provided the temper of the leather was consistent throughout.  Now I use a motorized, push through splitter for big jobs and use the manual splitter for lap skives.

[DieselTech]

5 minutes ago, TomE said:

Not sure about this item but I have an old Tandy Pro modeled after an Osborne #84.  I use it frequently for lap skives on the ends of straps including buckle turrns.  It is difficult to split items wider than about 2-3" on one of these, and consistent splits longer than ~1 ft require practice.  Thin leather pulled through the splitter will stretch.  My tips are to keep the blade really sharp, pull the leather with a slightly downward angle, and keep a finger on the leather entering the blade to prevent it from lifting up (and cutting through the grain) at the end of a strap.  I eventually learned to split 2-3 ft long straps to a desired thickness provided the temper of the leather was consistent throughout.  Now I use a motorized, push through splitter for big jobs and use the manual splitter for lap skives.

Yeah I want a power skiver & strap cutter, but just cant afford them. I recently decided to order a cobra class 4 sewing machine & it's going to wipe out my fun money i have stashed.

Yeah i watch guys that have been using this style skiver for years & they make it look soo easy to do. I know i wont have the required skill/ technique to use it like they do. 

Thanks for the info & advice. 

[Burkhardt]

10 hours ago, Wepster said:

I think he is saying it may be darn near impossible if you wanted to thin ONLY the buckle bend area, as opposed bend area to the end of the wrap. No way to go into and and back out again, have to go until no more leather, put another way, can not scoop out an area.

Yes, that's what I thought he meant.

[Burkhardt]

6 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Ok thanks. No when I thin a belt in the buckle bend area I thin it out from the buckle bend to the end of the belt. Basically I thin it from the buckle bend to the end of the belt. Roughy I thin 4-6" of the buckle end of the belt.

I meant it as @Wepster explained, but how you said that would work ok. Either way when you do one you have to start in one direction and finish in the other for a whole belt so would just not do the opposite way and only thin through and past the buckle.

[Cattleman]

My local saddle shop just got some of these from the same manufacturer that makes them for Weaver... They are exactly the same, but about half the price. I want one BADLY!!!