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Posted

Ed,

The blade MUST be sharpened on the right equipment - a good surface grinder with an experienced operator at the helm.

We offer a service whereby your blade is on the way back to you within 48 hours of us receiving it for resharpening. It is done by the same outfit that assisted us in the design, composition, and correct hardness of the blade. It is all they do - and they do it very well.

I enjoy going into their facility - full of great machinery, tools, and capable craftsmen - and they are really good people.

Cheers

  • Members
Posted
Anybody used one of these Artisan 20" splitter? I'm interested in a big splitter and would sure like to hear the opinion of anybody thats used one of these.

Thanks

Steve

Hi Steve,

I have been using the Artisan 20" splitter I picked up this spring. The blade might be 20" but there is a guide bar in front of the blade that restricts the largest piece at 17&3/4".

I had Chas Weldon over with a box of leather he wanted to split and he said its the best he has tried. It is a good tool, makes me look forward to splitting something.

You might give Bob Douglas a call if your looking for a used splitter or Vandy Douglas at Sheridan Leather. But all in all I think the Artisan is a good value for the buck. We'll see how long the blade stays sharp.

Best regards,

Keith Valley

www.CowboySaddlery.com

Keith Valley
Keith Valley Saddle Company
PO Box 6451

Jackson WY 83002

www.CowboySaddlery.com
307 690-1088

Posted
Hi Steve,

I have been using the Artisan 20" splitter I picked up this spring. The blade might be 20" but there is a guide bar in front of the blade that restricts the largest piece at 17&3/4".

I had Chas Weldon over with a box of leather he wanted to split and he said its the best he has tried. It is a good tool, makes me look forward to splitting something.

You might give Bob Douglas a call if your looking for a used splitter or Vandy Douglas at Sheridan Leather. But all in all I think the Artisan is a good value for the buck. We'll see how long the blade stays sharp.

Best regards,

Keith Valley

www.CowboySaddlery.com

Hi Keith,

Thanks for this update. Would you say that the Artisan 20" could split a 17" x 26" inch piece of 9/10 oz. bridle down to 5/6 oz without any problem? One pass? Two at the most?

Regards,

Ed

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Just came up with a new idea.

How well would this splitter work freestanding by hand, no motor and not attached to the table? I've got some space underneath my work bench that could fit the splitter.

I'll call Artisan to find out more, but how heavy would you say the standalone splitter is, without the table?

Ed

  • Moderator
Posted

Ed,

I talked to Dave and Steve at Artisan about some other stuff before they left for the holiday break. Someone else on the forum had asked me in a PM the same thing about the splitter, and so I asked them. They have shipped some to some places (overseas as I recall) of just the splitter. The people there had a table and motor to use, and the shipping cost savings were the issue. I asked about handwheeling it without the motor or stand - discouraged by them. Even though it is based on patterns from some old big splitters that are hand wheeled, it is harder to do that with this one. I hope I got that right, if not someone from Artisan can fill in the gaps here.

This is a big heavy brute. I would not think it is very portable to store under a bench and toss up there to use. You are going to slip, and say some bad words when it hits your foot. You'll say some more when you see the crack in the frame from dropping it. People I have talked with has been happy with it so far. It has been out in this form with this blade for about a year now, so there has been some use. With the old big reconditioned splitters selling for a couple hundred dollars or so per inch of blade, it is priced right if it continues to perform as it has for these guys.

Bruce Johnson

Malachi 4:2

"the windshield's bigger than the mirror, somewhere west of Laramie" - Dave Stamey

Vintage Refurbished And Selected New Leather Tools For Sale - www.brucejohnsonleather.com

Posted
Ed,

I talked to Dave and Steve at Artisan about some other stuff before they left for the holiday break. Someone else on the forum had asked me in a PM the same thing about the splitter, and so I asked them. They have shipped some to some places (overseas as I recall) of just the splitter. The people there had a table and motor to use, and the shipping cost savings were the issue. I asked about handwheeling it without the motor or stand - discouraged by them. Even though it is based on patterns from some old big splitters that are hand wheeled, it is harder to do that with this one. I hope I got that right, if not someone from Artisan can fill in the gaps here.

This is a big heavy brute. I would not think it is very portable to store under a bench and toss up there to use. You are going to slip, and say some bad words when it hits your foot. You'll say some more when you see the crack in the frame from dropping it. People I have talked with has been happy with it so far. It has been out in this form with this blade for about a year now, so there has been some use. With the old big reconditioned splitters selling for a couple hundred dollars or so per inch of blade, it is priced right if it continues to perform as it has for these guys.

Bruce,

I was actually thinking of using it on the ground underneath my workbench and was hoping the splitter alone would weigh in at no more than 200lbs. Last time I talked with Artisan I was told the whole setup weighs about 450 lbs. But if what you say is true about the motor being a necessity, especially for 17"-wide leather, I should hold out until I have the real space for it.

I'm going to home depot tomorrow to pick up a handheld electronic planer for wood to experiment with and will return it if it's not feasible.

ed

  • 2 years later...
  • Members
Posted

Okay this machine has been out for a good while now. Anyone that got one & liked it in the start, changed their minds or are they proving to be worth the investment. Or is a person better off going with a band knife?

Al

Lloyd Allan custom Leather (Al)

Find us at facebook.com/LloydAllanCustomLeather

Everyone welcome

  • Moderator
Posted

The one that Artisan sold was an almost copy of a Randall. It was designed to be set for one thickness and used that way all the time. I know saddlemakers that got the Artisan and didn't like it because it was difficult to "dial up" a particular thickness, it was always trial and error and a waste of a lot of leather resetting the thickness. They also did not like getting the blade realigned after resharpening, took forever they said. Basically they just motorized the basic machine and didn't make any modern day improvements to it, the Chinese are great copiers but lousy innovators. Case in point sewing machines, scivers, and band knife splitters; they make very good clones of highly successful and well engineered machines from Juki, Brother, Adler, Fortuna, and others; when your patent is up (and sometimes before), the Chinese are all over it like ......

That being said, it wouldn't take a lot to solve the above problems, just engineer a couple of dial indicators and construct a blade alignment jig. The upside to the Artisan splitter is that it was $2000, a Chinese band knife will run around $15000.

This might be a moot point as I have heard that Jerry is pursuing other interests since his illness. Dave now works with Steve and Artisan seems to have pulled their advertising, and they were not at the Boot and Saddlemakers trade show last weekend.

Art

Okay this machine has been out for a good while now. Anyone that got one & liked it in the start, changed their minds or are they proving to be worth the investment. Or is a person better off going with a band knife?

Al

For heaven's sakes pilgrim, make yourself a strop!

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