Best Skiver?

[LTC]

Can someone please recommend a good skiver? i had one with a plastic handle that worked fine...until the handle snapped.

i have the tandy one and it's a piece of junk. even with a new, stropped blade, it doesn't work well at all.

i'd like to find a nice, heavy-duty, metal one if possible. was hoping Jeremiah Watt made one...i have a set of his dividers and they are extremely nice...love using them.

are there any good ones out there right now? or vintage ones i should look for?

thanks for any info on what to look for...

[JAM]

If you're talking about the pull skivers - not the sideways potato-peeler skivers - I have several and use them a lot. The best ones are the silver ones that you can get from Weaver. Tandy used to carry those same silver ones, but when they re-engineered a lot of their tools, they screwed up in the skiver (their new one is black). You can, however, save that new black skiver - the problem is the two small pegs that go in the holes in the blade. The pegs are a hair too big, and they hold the edge of the blade away from the bed of the skiver, so the blade digs in and is useless. Take a needle file and file away the edges of those two small pegs until you can look down the edge of the blade and see it lying dead flat against the bed. Then it will work the way it is supposed to. I need to order more from Weaver - I assume Weaver still carries the original silver ones (they are sintered metal, not plastic).

PS Jeremiah doesn't approve of skivers - I doubt he will ever make them.

Julia

[LTC]

no, I was talking about the handheld ones.

i'll look around.

funny how someone can "not approve of" skivers with such conviction...maybe I need to rethink buying anymore of his tools then. sounds very silly to me. i happen to believe they can be useful in many circumstances...oh well...

thanks for your reply

[JAM]

No, I'm talking about the two styles of handhelds, like the ones in the picture (from my Weaver catalog). Is it one of these you want to know about? They both work great - I use them a lot.

[LTC]

i have the black one and it doesn't work correctly. i'll have to look at it and see if i can see what part you said to file down to get it to work right. it's a shame people have to modify brand new tools from tandy just to get them to work the way they're supposed to work.

i've seen the one on the right...i had a smaller version which is the one that the handle snapped on (because the smaller one was plastic). maybe i need to buy one of the metal ones...

thanks again..

[oltoot]

I have seen an article that was unattributed that was preaching about an invention so vile and so destructive that it could have been written by somebody in the 20th century about nuclear weapons but it was written in the 19th about the pull type skiver. The undramatic rationale is this, pull skivers stress the leather and produce a product that is not "full grained" that is has had a few or several of one of the +/- 14 layers that make up the hide on the animal removed, thus it is weaker than a piece of naturally lighter leather that has not been split or leveled. In the old days if somebody in a harness shop needed to "level" a piece they would nail one end to the bench or secure it in a clamp and remove the undesired part with a spoke shave or 'level' the piece. Lap or tapered skives were accomplished by use of a round knife or other skiving knife and, in properly designed harness or strap goods, never extended back around the fold. These general 'standards' were set aside only for the purely cosmetic or other light duty uses on bridles, keepers, hold downs etc. To comply with these self imposed and self regulated standards required maintaining a large and diverse inventory of leather in order to meet the many different requirements without splitting.

At some point tanneries began to employ large splitters in the pre-tanning selection and treatment of hides, primarily to 'level' hides to meet the need for the growing demand for lighter leathers. From there came an increasing acceptance of splitting and leveling in various manufactoring processes. And after awhile, we come to today. My conclusion, for heavy duty stressful applications, full grained leather is by far the best. If you are going to make lighter duty things with less or no stress from lighter leathers, leveling of the products you use will be a fact of life and in any application selective use of split pieces has a place.

All that said, there are other quality tool makers besides JW and I would prefer the cast bodied knock offs of the old Osborne, Krebs or Landis originals but be prepared to spend the money and enjoy the difference. My lap skiver is an original Osborne that was probably made in the late 19th cent. It has been refurbished and has a new (1993) blade.

[Hi Im Joe]

i have the black one and it doesn't work correctly. i'll have to look at it and see if i can see what part you said to file down to get it to work right. it's a shame people have to modify brand new tools from tandy just to get them to work the way they're supposed to work.

i've seen the one on the right...i had a smaller version which is the one that the handle snapped on (because the smaller one was plastic). maybe i need to buy one of the metal ones...

thanks again..

I use the black "skife" all the time and it works great. You have to kind of tip it up to its point and pull in a diagonal direction.

[LTC]

I have seen an article that was unattributed that was preaching about an invention so vile and so destructive that it could have been written by somebody in the 20th century about nuclear weapons but it was written in the 19th about the pull type skiver. The undramatic rationale is this, pull skivers stress the leather and produce a product that is not "full grained" that is has had a few or several of one of the +/- 14 layers that make up the hide on the animal removed, thus it is weaker than a piece of naturally lighter leather that has not been split or leveled. In the old days if somebody in a harness shop needed to "level" a piece they would nail one end to the bench or secure it in a clamp and remove the undesired part with a spoke shave or 'level' the piece. Lap or tapered skives were accomplished by use of a round knife or other skiving knife and, in properly designed harness or strap goods, never extended back around the fold. These general 'standards' were set aside only for the purely cosmetic or other light duty uses on bridles, keepers, hold downs etc. To comply with these self imposed and self regulated standards required maintaining a large and diverse inventory of leather in order to meet the many different requirements without splitting.

At some point tanneries began to employ large splitters in the pre-tanning selection and treatment of hides, primarily to 'level' hides to meet the need for the growing demand for lighter leathers. From there came an increasing acceptance of splitting and leveling in various manufactoring processes. And after awhile, we come to today. My conclusion, for heavy duty stressful applications, full grained leather is by far the best. If you are going to make lighter duty things with less or no stress from lighter leathers, leveling of the products you use will be a fact of life and in any application selective use of split pieces has a place.

All that said, there are other quality tool makers besides JW and I would prefer the cast bodied knock offs of the old Osborne, Krebs or Landis originals but be prepared to spend the money and enjoy the difference. My lap skiver is an original Osborne that was probably made in the late 19th cent. It has been refurbished and has a new (1993) blade.

thanks very much for the very informative post there. that is some great historical info. i guess i can see where people (some anyway) might not like splitting a hide. for the things i make, i need thinner leather though, so need to at least be able to skive the edges. i'm mainly focusing on wallets, watchbands, small cases...things like that.

i agree that the old tried and true tools are preferable (to me) than the newer ones that may or may not be made somewhere in a sweatshop in asia.

Edited May 5, 2014 by LTC

[shtoink]

The best ones are the silver ones that you can get from Weaver. Tandy used to carry those same silver ones, but when they re-engineered a lot of their tools, they screwed up in the skiver (their new one is black). You can, however, save that new black skiver - the problem is the two small pegs that go in the holes in the blade. The pegs are a hair too big, and they hold the edge of the blade away from the bed of the skiver, so the blade digs in and is useless.

They actually had the very same issue with some of the later chrome plated ones, too. I had to break out the files and Dremel to make it usable. The blade was at the incorrect angle and the waste would bind up between the blade and the exit chute. I talked to the manager about it and he said that he knew and apologized for not being able to do anything about it. To top it off, it's seems to be a low melting temp, zinc based alloy which may fracture easily if dropped.

I think that a skiver made by ANY other place might be better. The last thing you need to the handle snapping off while using it and rink slicing yourself up.

[Macca]

If you can't use a head knife, what about a Euro tool ?

one of these ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Vergez-Blanchard-Angled-Skiving-Paring-Knife-leather-skiver-tool-/321384538871?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad402e2f7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Vergez-Blanchard-Straight-Skiving-Paring-Knife-leather-cutting-tool-/321386642402?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad422fbe2

Vintage one would be better steel, but difficult to find nowadays

Probably find an Asian copy for much, much less if you want to just try one out first

those small ones with the disposable blades that curve up are impossible for me to use, don't know how you guys manage !

[LTC]

those VB ones are nice...maybe i will try to get one of those. thanks for the recommendation.

[Hi Im Joe]

those VB ones are nice...maybe i will try to get one of those. thanks for the recommendation.

If you want american CS Osborne makes one exactly like that. I remember you saying you liked american made stuff.

[LTC]

i do prefer US made if the quality is on par.

i primarily just abhor asian-made tools because almost all of them i've seen are garbage.

but yes, if the osborne is as good as VB, then great.

[Hi Im Joe]

Here's a link for you:

https://www.osborneleathertools.com/product_details.php?pid=95

-- Joe

[texback]

I have both of the Tandy skivers and the thing I found about the black one is the blade placement. For some odd reason I have put a new blade in it and it wouldn't cut for nothing......pulled it out and put it back in and it worked perfectly. Best I can figure it is in the blade positioning. I have no problem with the super skiver.