Contributing Member Regis Posted March 5, 2007 Contributing Member Report Posted March 5, 2007 I'm getting some tearing when I skive low weight leather (3 oz in this case). I'm pretty sure my knife is sharp enough as it only tears toward the outer edge (of 7/16 wide). Skiving on the flesh side do I let the leather dry on outer surface like I would for normal carving/stamping. Is it the same? Is tearing, perhaps, a symptom of too wet? Thanks, Regis Quote God, Family, and Country (although liberals are attempting to destroy these in the USA)
cjbleather Posted March 6, 2007 Report Posted March 6, 2007 Regis, I am far from being an expert on skiving. However, what little I do know is that it is not necessary to case leather to skive. To me, this would especially be true for 3 oz leather. In fact, I would guess that, if you have to case it, then your knife is not sharp. For me, when I finally got my head knife sharp, I suddenly found that skiving was much easier then it was with a dull blade that I thought for sure was sharp. How did I find out that my blades were not sharp? I bought a knife from Bill Buckman that came sharp out of the box. This is not true of many round or head knives. Now, I work my other knives to get to this point of sharpness. Carl Quote
Moderator Johanna Posted March 6, 2007 Moderator Report Posted March 6, 2007 Regis, you shouldn't try to cut wet leather because you'll either get unexpected stretch, or the knife will jump and you will bleed on the leather. Only skive dry leather, and always push the blade away from you. Johanna Quote You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain
Contributing Member wolvenstien Posted March 6, 2007 Contributing Member Report Posted March 6, 2007 I learned on my own on this one... DO NOT SKIVE WET... it will stretch... If you are only skiving the edge, here is a tool I use and love when skiving...: http://www.leatherfactory.com/products.asp?number=3001-00 I have used the super skiver: http://www.leatherfactory.com/products.asp?number=3025-00 and I do not like the super skiver... I think it is because of the pulling... but with the Safety Beveler, you pull it too but differently... I use it to skive the whole thing is it is a small enough job. The replacement razor blades arent much either.... Mike Quote "The miracle is not how two adults can create a child, the phenomenon is how quickly a child can create two adults." -- VYBE Her: Hit Me Him: Do you want me to use the knife? Her: No, When you hit with a knife, that's STABBING!
Contributing Member Regis Posted March 6, 2007 Author Contributing Member Report Posted March 6, 2007 Well, dry works just fine. Knife is sharp enough and works great with leather dry. Don't know where I "mis-learned" to case before skiving. This is one of the really great things about this forum. If you get off on a wrong tangent, there are folks here to help get back on track. I have one of the Super skiver and I don't like it at all either. Haven't tried the other one. Thanks all, Regis Quote God, Family, and Country (although liberals are attempting to destroy these in the USA)
Moderator Johanna Posted March 6, 2007 Moderator Report Posted March 6, 2007 The safety beveler link that Wolvie posted is a better skiver than the Super Skiver, IMO. It is easier to control, blades are ordinary razor blades and not expensive of difficult to replace, and if you are needing to skive areas larger than the safety beveler can be expected to handle, you may want to consider buying hides of different weights to eliminate the need for skiving large areas. If you are just skiving folds, be gentle. Any skiving will weaken that point. For example, I skive a bit where I fold a belt for a buckle, but not too much in case they decide to hang a 10 lb. Texas special from it later on. Johanna Quote You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain
Contributing Member wolvenstien Posted March 6, 2007 Contributing Member Report Posted March 6, 2007 True, Also... if you are making bags and end up using a thicker hide than the clasp will allow (the clasp wont fit through the hide... and wyou are going to tool the leather.... skive it where the clasp will go through the leather before you tool it... I did a nice larger bag for my bike, and I tooled it nice with the tri weave stamp... then when it was time to add the clasp I found that it would not fir through the hole that the hide was too thick for the clasp, so I had to skive it some in that area... well... it didnt occure to me that the area would be very think in the deep parts of the stamping, and when I tried to skive around the hole I punched for the clasp and found real quick that the leather in the deep parts of the tooling was very thin... and I was left with a piece I could not use for the bag I was making... I had to start all over... sucked... but lesson learned... Quote "The miracle is not how two adults can create a child, the phenomenon is how quickly a child can create two adults." -- VYBE Her: Hit Me Him: Do you want me to use the knife? Her: No, When you hit with a knife, that's STABBING!
Contributing Member Regis Posted March 13, 2007 Author Contributing Member Report Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) Just got the Safety Skiver in and tried it. Wow! Wow! I was skiving very carefully with knife and worked ok (especially after learning to skive dry). I had thrown a few dollars away on Super Skiver and it was so bad that I gave up that there was anything better than a sharp knife. But, then I gave the Safety Skive a try and it really does a great job. It takes me about 45 min to an hour to skive a CC holder with a knife. Looks like maybe 5 minutes with the Safety Skiver. Thanks for this great tip. Regis Edited March 13, 2007 by Regis Quote God, Family, and Country (although liberals are attempting to destroy these in the USA)
Members CitizenKate Posted March 14, 2007 Members Report Posted March 14, 2007 Note to the others who might be reading this thread... the safety skiver is a good skiving tool for right-handers, but not so much for lefties. I ended up chucking mine and I've been using a scalpel since. Kate Quote
Contributing Member wolvenstien Posted March 14, 2007 Contributing Member Report Posted March 14, 2007 Very good point Kate. And something I did notice but didnt dwell on since I am a righty... but shoudl have since my wife, and both her parents and her sister are all leftys.... I will have to look at mine later when I get back into my shop and see how hard it would be to modify it for a lefty... Mike Quote "The miracle is not how two adults can create a child, the phenomenon is how quickly a child can create two adults." -- VYBE Her: Hit Me Him: Do you want me to use the knife? Her: No, When you hit with a knife, that's STABBING!
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