Powered Leather Skiver

[LeatherWerks]

I've finally got to the point where I'm going to buy a power skiving machine. I've never used one before, but I know it will be faster and higher quality than the manual process I'm using now.

I've heard the words 'top', 'bottom' and 'top and bottom' used when referring to skiving machines. Is one better than another?

My plans for the skiver will be of course the standard thinning of leather where seams come together, but I also need to skive dog leashes where the loop or if you will, handle comes together. In that case, the skive needs to be thicker at the beginning, and taper down to near zero over a distance of about 2.5 to 3 inches. Will a power skiver do this?

Finally, who do I buy it from? I have a Cobra 4 sewing machine I bought from Steve at Leather Sewing Machine Company. I know he sells two types of skivers. Nothing but positive thoughts about the equipment he sells and the service he provides. Are there others near Missouri I should look at?

All your thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

Steve

[oltoot]

You are describing two types of work. The dog leash is what is often referred to as Lap Skiving and no there is no power machine for that. Bench machines are widely available that copy the old Osborne pattern. Osborne has even revived its original version. For the other (which almost sounds like 2 more) a Cobra 14 would be just the ticket, however, it will skive whole pieces to a uniform thickness and cannot treat edges differently. To do that would take bootmaking welt skiving machines (hand cranked). Actually I think you just want the whole piece "leveling" that would be provided by the Cobra 14. Artisan makes a 20" model but that may be capacity you would never use. There are hand cranked machines with 6" and 8" capacity available much cheaper if that would serve all your needs.