Economy Skiving

[Tree Reaper]

Just letting folks know that you can skive with a cheap block plane but the blade has to be sharp.

[Renoir]

great idea - would probably give a nice flat surface too.

"Blade has to be sharp" - applies to pretty much all leather cutting! My results improved greatly once I learnt how to properly sharpen a knife...

[Tree Reaper]

Good control with the plane.

It stops cutting after a few layers then you just lower with a slight turn of the screw, no waves, nice and flat.

For sharp knives you can't beat a good cloth wheel and green compound, it takes seconds to sharpen a blade.

[Bob Blea]

What a great idea! I've got two of those kind of block planes. Think I need to try and get that blade really sharp. Thanks for posting this.

Bob

[Tree Reaper]

You're welcome Bob.

If you lay your straps out and clamp the far end to keep the tension it's quite simple and the results as you can see in the picture are better than you would think.

I've skived a few dog collars and this was the first belt blank but I know now it works well and am happy to share it.

If you don't have a blade jig or stone you can most likely get your blades sharpened at any saw sharpening service.

I have a few different planes and chisels so I bought a jig and the wet stone.

[Hillbilly tim]

Planes are also valuable for squaring or leveling stacked glued leather too. better than trying to control a knife while trying to straighten up the lines of a project.

Bro Timothy