New Skiver. Is it any good?

[DieselTech]

Guys & gals I picked this manual skiver up the other day. Are they any good? 

Looks like a nice tool, now I need to play with it & ruin some leather & cuss. Cause I'm sure there is going to be a learning curve with it. 

If this test sample is anything like it performs, I'm impressed. 

[toxo]

They can be challenging but useful in some applications. The blades make a big difference, I found razor blades useless and if you can find the thicker ones they can be sharpened. Just don't take big bites.

[DieselTech]

7 minutes ago, toxo said:

They can be challenging but useful in some applications. The blades make a big difference, I found razor blades useless and if you can find the thicker ones they can be sharpened. Just don't take big bites.

Thanks I'm sure I'll cuss it at 1st. But by the test sample they sent I'm impressed. It is super thin soft type of leather & I am surprised something that thin can be skived. 

[toxo]

That brand is one of the best but you will cuss it and waste some leather but it can be better than doing it by hand. Thankfully I don't have to use mine now I have a leccy one.

[DieselTech]

Yeah I purchased this in Hope's to use it on my wallets. To skive the edges of the card pockets to make the wallet a tad thinner when sewing up. 

[fredk]

I bought a skiver like that several years ago

Only one problem; I've not used it yet, 

[DieselTech]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

I bought a skiver like that several years ago

Only one problem; I've not used it yet, 

Lol that could be the case here to. I figured it's better to have it & not need it. 

[Reins Mom]

I bought one of those, don't really like it. I finally bought a quality skiving knife, Japanese, and got it very sharp. No problem skiving now. Good luck.

[DieselTech]

33 minutes ago, Reins Mom said:

I bought one of those, don't really like it. I finally bought a quality skiving knife, Japanese, and got it very sharp. No problem skiving now. Good luck.

Lol I havent even used it yet. I think i will at some point. I just dont know when. 

Thanks.

[Ropinkountz]

I was just looking for a skiver like this for wallets and bags also. Please post your experience with it. As it was also posted, the resort is to purchase a quality skiving knife and practice, practice, practice.

 

[DieselTech]

5 minutes ago, Ropinkountz said:

I was just looking for a skiver like this for wallets and bags also. Please post your experience with it. As it was also posted, the resort is to purchase a quality skiving knife and practice, practice, practice.

 

I bought it to use on wallets or are intending too.

I will try & mount it up this weekend & try it on some of the Buttero leather I got. 

My intentions was to use this to skive card pocket & such. 

I shall report back. 

[Ropinkountz]

I have a question related to these kind of skivers. Will this kind of skiver, even the mechanical ones, do a good job of skiving on 4-5 oz bag leather such as bison, and other very flexible leather?

[DieselTech]

42 minutes ago, Ropinkountz said:

I have a question related to these kind of skivers. Will this kind of skiver, even the mechanical ones, do a good job of skiving on 4-5 oz bag leather such as bison, and other very flexible leather?

I dont know that for sure. I bet it wont work the best on a soft leather, but I maybe wrong. 

I got some soft flexible water buffalo I could try on it. To give some sort of input back. 

[sparctek]

If I remember correctly that type of skiver is popular with book binders. So it does work well with flexible chrome tan leather. Search you tube for Das Bookbinding and Scharffix. He has at least one video showing how to set it up and test it.

 

 

[DieselTech]

34 minutes ago, sparctek said:

If I remember correctly that type of skiver is popular with book binders. So it does work well with flexible chrome tan leather. Search you tube for Das Bookbinding and Scharffix. He has at least one video showing how to set it up and test it.

 

 

Thanks. I'll look them up & watch them. 

I appreciate the help.

[Ropinkountz]

The results of testing several hand skiving methods on 3/4 oz Bison bag leather tanned for upholstery was not what I expected. The traditional round knives and head knives were ineffective in cutting the the fibrous flesh of the hide. And they were very sharp. The single razor blade skivers just bogged down also. Remarkably a hair trimming electric cutter trimmed the ‘fuzzy’ flesh to a manageable size, but would not skive. The solution was to breakout the double edge razors and try them. Not only did they remove the fuzz from the flesh side, once that was done it skived the Bison to a very thin piece of 1/2 inch wide tapered useable leather. Drawback was cleaning the blade after a bit and of course not everyone has double edge razors or blade’s available. 
Going to try the motorized skivers at the Prescott trade show and see what the results are.

Stephen

 

 

[Mablung]

1 minute ago, Ropinkountz said:

The results of testing several hand skiving methods on 3/4 oz Bison bag leather tanned for upholstery was not what I expected. The traditional round knives and head knives were ineffective in cutting the the fibrous flesh of the hide. And they were very sharp. The single razor blade skivers just bogged down also. Remarkably a hair trimming electric cutter trimmed the ‘fuzzy’ flesh to a manageable size, but would not skive. The solution was to breakout the double edge razors and try them. Not only did they remove the fuzz from the flesh side, once that was done it skived the Bison to a very thin piece of 1/2 inch wide tapered useable leather. Drawback was cleaning the blade after a bit and of course not everyone has double edge razors or blade’s available. 
Going to try the motorized skivers at the Prescott trade show and see what the results are.

Stephen

 

 

Huh. I had not thought of using a double-edge razor. I’ll remember that. Also interesting that head and round knives didn’t do the trick. 

[Ropinkountz]

The head knives are high end and cut through veg tan no problem. Maybe the bison flesh was too fibrous. On a section that had little to no fibers the knives did work, as they did on veg tan leather.

[Mablung]

I wonder if it had something to do with the razor having a guard that provided some additional resistance. A head knife has to rely solely on the edge being able to slide through, whereas a razor has an additional surface helping the blade out. 

[TonyV]

It may be the leather that's the problem.  If you have fibrous leather that's gummng up your very sharp blades, I think it's not very good leather.  But, we work with what we have.

All I can say is make sure your blade is well-stropped, work on a hard surface and use patience.