Leather Skiver/splitter By Cowboy

[keplerts]

Anybody know anything about a leather skiver/splitter made by cowboy? I saw one on ebay for $236. Any info good or bad?

Thanks,

Tom

[bruce johnson]

They are a good skiver for doing laps on straps. Put the leather in, push the handle with one hand as you pull the leather with the other and they will taper right down. As a splitter- not so bueno. There is a stop screw you adjust for thickness. Put the leather in, hold the handle forward with one hand against the stop while you pull with the other. Narrow straps work OK because you can one hand them easy enough. Wider stuff is harder.

[keplerts]

Thanks Bruce. Who makes the Cowboy model? Are these China made? So, to make it usable for wider strap slitting I would have to figure out a way to lock the handle in the forward position? I thought $236 was a pretty good price considering what Tandy wants for their model. And a CSO is more than double the cowboy cost.

Thanks,

Tom

[shooter55]

I have a fair amount of Cowboy equipment in my shop. I have the hand "pull" splitter you are asking about and for smaller width items (belts), works OK. I use that for more skiving than anything else. There is also a hand crank splitter I have from Cowboy that works great. Yes, they are manufactured in China, but with engineering apparently sent from the importer, so the specs are not left to the factory. Haven't had any issues with anything I have. Check with Bob at Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine. He handles the Cowboy line.

http://www.tolindsewmach.com/

Hope that helps.

Tim

[keplerts]

Thanks Tim! I didn't realize that Cowboy sewing machines were the makers of the Cowboy skiver. Was your blade sharp out of the box or did you have to sharpen it to work?

Thanks,

Tom

[shooter55]

Thanks Tim! I didn't realize that Cowboy sewing machines were the makers of the Cowboy skiver. Was your blade sharp out of the box or did you have to sharpen it to work?

Thanks,

Tom

Tom,

It did need a little honing, but not a huge task. Works very well for me. Can't complain about any of the Cowboy stuff......

Tim

[Rayban]

Anybody know anything about a leather skiver/splitter made by cowboy? I saw one on ebay for $236. Any info good or bad?

Thanks,

Tom

Is this the one?? If so, $236 isn't a very good price, I bought this one from Toledo Bob for $165

[keplerts]

Yep.....thats the one. I didn't buy it. How do you like yours? Was the blade sharp? Is Bob where you can buy these new? I can't find them on Toledo's web site.

Tom

[Rayban]

I use it to skive about 5" from a strap to make belts....until 2 months ago I was doing it by hand, so this is like a hot knife thru butter.

Very sharp, i like it lots.

I bought it new from Toledo Bob..tell him sent ya.

[keplerts]

OK..... thanks for all the info. I'm glad I didn't buy it on ebay!

Tom

[borlinoleather]

Hi Tom,

All leather accessories, you got on comfortable price, ebay and other online shopping portal give their own prices, go for good manufacturer company.

[JWP]

Tandy has new ones on sale this month for 249 bucks

[SRDcrafted]

I got the cowboy splitter from the eBay post. so far I deeply regret my purchase. I had been looking for months and trying to find a good splitter that wasn't for an outrageous price. time went on and I had seen the cowboy post in the past and by the time I needed a splitter I decided to get it. Its design is horrible. The roller doesn't roll when you apply enough pressure to the handle to make cutting contact between the leather and the blade When the handle is pushed down to engage the desired thickness, the lever pushes the roller up to a stop screw and wedges it against the lever and the screw making it more difficult, almost impossible, to turn when pulling the leather through. its hard to do one handed as well. Gripping the leather to pull it through was no small task either. I had to soften a pair of duck billed pliers with leather scraps and use those to pull my material through. otherwise the piece gets crumbled from the KUNG FU grip required to pull it through. The blade looks sharp and is sharp, when compared to a finger or a knuckle. But it doesn't seem sharp enough to catch and start cutting the leather piece I need to splitter . Its my fault for buying it because i know you get what you pay for and judging from the price of other splitters on the market $250+- wasn't worth squat. I DO NOT RECKOMEND THIS SPLITTER, unless you intend to be bold and buy it to make it work and prove me wrong. Please do and then message me to show me how to make it work and will take back everything I just wrote. I most likely will modify this item and try to get my money out of it. Sorry to be such a bummer but I think it should be known that you take your chances with purchasing this splitter.

[grmnsplx]

Interesting. I recently bought a tandy splitter. I just used it a few time playing around with it. I was looking at the cowboy, but the tandy one was on sale so I got that.

I must say though, the design looks identical to me. but for plastic knobs and a different paint job, I think they're the same...

Anyway, the tandy splitter worked fine out of the box. I split some 8oz and 5 oz veg down to 3oz and then I split that even further. I then grabbed a 3 inch wide piece of 2-3oz chrome tanned calf and split that in half or better. I was impressed.

Sorry to hear about the cowboy. Maybe I dodged the bullet.

[amuckart]

A lot of that sounds like the blade just isn't sharp enough. Splitter blades need to be really sharp to work well. If you wouldn't shave with it it's way too blunt. If you wouldn't let someone do surgery on you with it, it's too blunt.

[howie696]

I got the cowboy splitter from the eBay post. so far I deeply regret my purchase. I had been looking for months and trying to find a good splitter that wasn't for an outrageous price. time went on and I had seen the cowboy post in the past and by the time I needed a splitter I decided to get it. Its design is horrible. The roller doesn't roll when you apply enough pressure to the handle to make cutting contact between the leather and the blade When the handle is pushed down to engage the desired thickness, the lever pushes the roller up to a stop screw and wedges it against the lever and the screw making it more difficult, almost impossible, to turn when pulling the leather through. its hard to do one handed as well. Gripping the leather to pull it through was no small task either. I had to soften a pair of duck billed pliers with leather scraps and use those to pull my material through. otherwise the piece gets crumbled from the KUNG FU grip required to pull it through. The blade looks sharp and is sharp, when compared to a finger or a knuckle. But it doesn't seem sharp enough to catch and start cutting the leather piece I need to splitter . Its my fault for buying it because i know you get what you pay for and judging from the price of other splitters on the market $250+- wasn't worth squat. I DO NOT RECKOMEND THIS SPLITTER, unless you intend to be bold and buy it to make it work and prove me wrong. Please do and then message me to show me how to make it work and will take back everything I just wrote. I most likely will modify this item and try to get my money out of it. Sorry to be such a bummer but I think it should be known that you take your chances with purchasing this splitter.

My cowboy works great, very sharp and easy to use, it sounds like you need some help setting it up

[catskin]

I can't help wondering if the Cowboy on Ebay was there because it was faulty form the factory. Ebay is the place junk is disposed of. Very often. For someone who knows splitters it might be fixable.

[SRDcrafted]

I agree. This week I will take the blade to The Shear Shack and have him work his magic. I usually sharpen and strop blades myself (before somebody suggests it) but I want this one to be perfect. I also added 2 ball bearing components to the ends of the roller to help it roll and not just let the leather drag on it. It now rolls but like Leatherworker just mentioned I believe the blade isn't sharp enough so ill take it to a pro to get it to the right league firsts and then maintain it. Thank you folks for your suggestions and letting me vent.

[bkm]

I recently bought a Campbell-Randall Keystone splitter/skiver. I have found it to work exceptionally well for my purpose which is leveling six-foot long 3/4" straps and skivving a taper on the ends. The blade was sharp when I received it and splits the flesh side so smooth that after dye and a swipe with a wood slicker, it looks nearly as good as the finished side.

I mounted my splitter on an oak plank wide enough for the splitter and a little over two feet long. I clamp the oak plank to my workbench when I am using it, and I can put it away when I'm not using it. On the plank, I mounted some one-inch oak dowels like rollers (only I didn't bother to make them turn). I use these to guide the in-feed and out-feed so that I am sure the strap maintains pressure on the splitter's roller. Without these infeed and outfeed guides, I would have to lock the roller height handle and guide with my hand or the strap will lift off the roller and the blade will just go through the strap. The strap has to stay on the roller, so you need a little pressure behind and in front of the roller.

I've been leveling straps at 0.200" and when I check them, they're usually +/- 0.001 For straps, belts and so on, I don't see how it could get any better. If I wanted big pieces split or leveled I would order it from the tannery done on their band knife splitter.

[SRDcrafted]

I agree. I just sold it on ebay again only took 1 day which was a nice suprise. Plus I got my money back. I taking that and the money from my last big order, the western gun rig for a microphone, and going to buy an Osborne. A learning experience.

[SRDcrafted]

Idk if all of us are talking about the same splitter.

[Trox]

I have one and its good on skiving strap ends and splitting reins. You cannot lock the handle and use both your hands when splitting, that limits the width of what you can split. Its a upgraded model on the marked painted in black that let you lock the handle. Perhaps with a different name, but built on the same frame/technology (Osborne # 83 copy). The blade needs to be stropped quit often, but performs well when sharp.

Tor

[carver]

I have one it works fine as long as you keep the blade sharp . .... the blade gets dull pretty quick and has to be re honed seems like maybe a steeper angle on it would help . what happens is the edge on the blade starts to curl and chip.
That said it must not bother me too much because I use it almost every day. I had a guy in the shop bumped the blade with the side of his hand and he had to get stitches. I had asked him several times to to move away from it and warned him several times how sharp it was.

[Bitta]

Anybody know about this small one?   Don't wanna order from China if I can get it here!!  http://www.leathercraftpattern.com/cowboy890-leather-paring-device-kit?search=free&page=3  I have a 9" bench mount for larger/heavier stuff...

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Bitta

[bikermutt07]

I lucked into the weaver master splitter for 250. It was used, but plenty sharp. I did have a small learning curve about pulling the leather slightly downward. If you don't it will just slice the piece in half.