New leather splitter

[DieselTech]

Guys & gals I purchased a manual leather splitter from amazon. 

It's a heavy built beast! I would like to touch the blade up before using it. 

What is the best way to touch this blade up? 

6" fine oil stone? 

600grit Sand paper on a piece of polished granite? 

Strop? 

It's a nice built piece of machinery, but it did take forever to get. It took over a month to receive from the slow boat from china. 

Any & all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Wepster]

If it is quite sharp, I would just strop it, to polish the edge. There are so many opinions on sharpening, I would think you should use what you are best with.

Which of the many choices on Amazon did you chose? Looking forward to your review of its performance.

[DieselTech]

22 minutes ago, Wepster said:

If it is quite sharp, I would just strop it, to polish the edge. There are so many opinions on sharpening, I would think you should use what you are best with.

Which of the many choices on Amazon did you chose? Looking forward to your review of its performance.

Yes I looked the blade over after removing, it doesn't need sharpened by any means, but just touched up. 

I ended up using my 10" strop on it with some micro green polishing compound/jewelers rouge. 

About 20 strops total & it is hair splitting sharp now! I'll try it out after a bit. 

I bought the Yaedik brand splitter. They offer 2, the white colored machine has a aluminum base & less adjustments.  I bought the splitter with the black base & it is all cast iron & has more adjustments. 

[CJJ]

please let us know how you like it.  I'm looking for an affordable splitting option that actually works.  How wide of a piece can it split?

[DieselTech]

2 minutes ago, CJJ said:

please let us know how you like it.  I'm looking for an affordable splitting option that actually works.  How wide of a piece can it split?

Here is my very first cut after stropping the blade. 6mm thick saddle skirting down to 4mm thick. 

It cut it like butter after getting the blade adjusted over the roller. It will take a piece of leather 6" wide. But I think 5" would be the widest piece of leather you would want to cut/pull thru it. 

It does work nice or seems to anyhow at this point. Lol it does take forever to get thou. 

I'm pretty sure this is the same splitter, that buckle guy, tandypro, weaver heritage sells. But I paid less than half of their prices. 

[jcuk]

This may be of use to you because there will come a time you will need to sharpen the blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uUvErBUG68

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

[DieselTech]

16 minutes ago, jcuk said:

This may be of use to you because there will come a time you will need to sharpen the blade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uUvErBUG68

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

Thanks for the link. That's good info to have/learn. I watched that vid before stropping my splitter blade. 

Thanks. 

[Burkhardt]

7 hours ago, CJJ said:

please let us know how you like it.  I'm looking for an affordable splitting option that actually works.  How wide of a piece can it split?

They are 5-6 inches wide but anything past a couple inches is a struggle. I tried to split a wallet back and I'll leave it at tried.

[DieselTech]

11 minutes ago, Burkhardt said:

They are 5-6 inches wide but anything past a couple inches is a struggle. I tried to split a wallet back and I'll leave it at tried.

I was wondering if a 4"wide wallet back could be split. I'll have to try it after I strop the blade again. 

Thanks.

[DieselTech]

Ok everyone I split 4 60" belt blanks from 6mm thick to 4mm thick. It done a nice job on them. 

After splitting them belt blanks I grabbed some 2-3oz calfskin & split it, from .95mm to .65mm.

My question is: do you see them lines in the calfskin? Do you think them are micro burrs on the blade from splitting the belt blanks? Or do you think them lines are from micro chips/Nick's in the blade? 

It cut that thin calfskin fine & did not stretch it out from what I can tell. 

I'm pretty happy with this splitter so far. I think it will be better if I get the blade honed/polished.

[Wepster]

Looks like you got a good one. Nice work on the splitting. Let us know what you find on the blade, was the edge maybe too fine, easily rolled over or ....

[DieselTech]

1 hour ago, Wepster said:

Looks like you got a good one. Nice work on the splitting. Let us know what you find on the blade, was the edge maybe too fine, easily rolled over or ....

I took the the blade to some 600grit sand paper, then stepped up to 800grit & then up to 1200grit. It is super sharp now! A lot of them lines disappeared on my split leather now. 

I think the blade had some minor imperfections, but is great now. I think with time it will get better. 

I'm fairly sure this is a cowboy 806 leather splitter, or a knock off of a cowboy 806.

I highly recommend it, if money is a concern. It is the Yaetek brand from amazon & seems to work great. It only cost $159.99

[DieselTech]

I took a 4¼" wide wallet back & split it from 2.50mm to 1.75mm. It seemed to work good, but is kind of a workout. 

I think 4-4½" wide would be about max width on this splitter. I love the locking handle feature. 

[Wepster]

Wonderful! Glad you got the blade dialed in. Seems you are really enjoying it, makes it a great purchase. Always wonder with an item like that, when you can't touch it and try it first. 

[cowdog24]

I use 2000 grit on a perfectly flat surface on my Osborne #84 to sharpen the blade. I have tried everything but the sandpaper works best and allows me to split without to much fuss. I can actually split 1 piece 7" wide by 2 foot long but I have to resharpen the blade to do it a second time. I leave enough hanging through to grab it with 2 pairs of lasting pliers to get it going through evenly. I have trouble finding the exact top of the roller to place the blade. I use a few scrap pieces to get it set perfect. I love using these splitters. I am glad I am not the only one sharpening with sandpaper.