Splitting Chrome Tan

[John D]

Is there a best way to split chrome tan leather? I am experimenting with shoe making and I have a source of leather that comes in 4 oz chrome sides. I want to split that down to 1 or 1.5 oz for the outside of the shoes. The colors I am finding in the thinner skins is just not what I want for the finished product. Is there a good way to split or thin chrome tan?

I was thinking just use a splitter like an Osborne #84 style as the pulling should not deform the leather grains that much.

Hoping this question makes sense.

John

[Sovran81]

I just received my Cambell Bosworth/Randell splitter(a copy of the Osborn 86) I split a chrome tan strap down to .under .5 mill consistently the entire length of the strap in one pass. For wider pieces I would probably do it in 2-3 passes.

[NewYorkerInSydney]

Resurrecting this post. Anyone else successfully, regularly and consistently split chrome tanned leather with a pull through splitter like an osborne or other splitter? Id love to hear about it. Thanks all.

Nyis

Edited May 28, 2013 by NewYorkerInSydney

[bruce johnson]

not consistantly of any width. I can do straps of pretty firm latigo up to 3-1/2" easily enough. I haven't tried wider. Even some straps of other chrome tans do OK. Chap leather and softer chrome tans of any width over 1-1/2" - too much stretch and even with a dead-on sharp blade on a Chase or Krebs they just don't a decent enough job consistantly for me. I have been pursueing this for a couple months and nobody has given me much optimism. I'd sure like to hear the setup from anyobdy who is having good luck pulling larger widths through.

[NewYorkerInSydney]

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the reply. It just seems kinda silly that there isnt a product out there that is not the size and weight of a house or rare as unicorns that can be purchased to accomodate this need. Obviously everything out there isnt made of veg tan. Hmmm. I just want to go to a website that has decent photos, that sells a READILY available machine that does exactly what we want and where I can see the price and hit that Buy Now button and have it sent to me asap. Lots of the splitters out there seem to be the kind you have to hunt for on websites that dont have photos or price or buy option. Its so crazy actually. I think you can sense my frustration. There are tons of things out there made of leather. Surely there are more people out there that have a huge need to split left and right. Ive been searching for MONTHS now for an answer and I just desperately want to throw all my money at it to be able to fix this problem as I think of it every day. Seriously. I have so much chrome tan leather sitting around that I wont use because I cant split it. So over it. I really wish there was a really good solution.

Nyis