Japanese skiving knife from Temu

[fredk]

5 hours ago, Loft Leather said:

I'm trying to figure out what skiving knife to buy.  I have pull skiver, one that looks like a potato peeler, and a little flat blade knife from amazon.  None of these work very well for me. 

I presume you have one of these;

Get one of these; 

Get a couple of these; for tidy skiving of edges

I have several in 6mm, 8mm and 10mm widths

Avoid this like the plague, sold as a 'skiver'. You'll waste your money

 

Edited 4 hours ago by fredk

[dikman]

Definitely avoid the last one, it looks like it should work but doesn't!!!

[Loft Leather]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

I presume you have one of these;

Get one of these; 

Get a couple of these; for tidy skiving of edges

I have several in 6mm, 8mm and 10mm widths

Avoid this like the plague, sold as a 'skiver'. You'll waste your money

 

I have the first one and haven't had good results...it scraps instead of cutting.  I assume the blade was sharp when I bought it.  I have replacement blades.   I have something that looks a lot like the second one, but it is different.  Maybe I have a bad knock off of a better design?  The third one is considered a French skiver?  I thought that type was for thinning out the surfaces of leather...I didn't know if was for edges.  My whole life I've lived by pushing blades away from me, so the French design might be better for me.  The two razor blade models in the picture are pulling toward me which is awkward.

It seems like my trouble with skiving is holding be back from doing the types of projects  I'd like to work on.  Maybe I'll break down and buy a machine and have no more excuses...

So far, I've had my best luck with the wood handled knife that came in this value pack, but it's such an uncomfortable, unpleasant experience:

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Loft Leather

[fredk]

6 minutes ago, Loft Leather said:

I have the first one and haven't had good results...it scraps instead of cutting.  I assume the blade was sharp when I bought it.  I have replacement blades.   

The blade is blunt. A good sharp blade will skive off a very thin amount

By edge; I mean the surface, to thin an edge for sewing of gluing

The second one takes the same blades as the first. A sharp blade will take of a very small amount.

Change blades every time you start a new project. It makes life easier and blades are fairly cheap