Best Leather Splitter/skiver?

[tossik]

Heh, yah I don't blame you!

[David Bruce]

On 8/6/2014 at 8:08 PM, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

I have a 6" Dixon that I'm selling. I will post it in the marketplace.

I have 5 splitters that I use routinely: my first splitter--a Tandy model that I bought about 30 years ago when it was the only model they had. Oddly enough, I prefer it over the others to split lacing and saddle strings. My second, a twist handle Randall. Man I thought I really had something when I got that one! It is a good splitter and if I had to have just one, that's the one I'd keep. The third splitter I got was either an American or a Landis, never can remember which even though I use it nearly every day. It's a 6" crank splitter, can't do lap skives. Fourth, a 10" Chase pattern splitter that I also really like, but since you can't do tapered skives on it, it wouldn't be my choice to keep if I had to keep just one. Fifth, an 18", (can't remember name) that I finally bought last winter after years of deliberating, that I absolutely love. It's awesome to level saddle skirts and plugs, swell covers, and about anything else that won't go through my 6". I have another Chase, an 8" I think, that needs a spring, and a Spitler pattern that needs sharpening. Haven't been motivated enough to tackle that. I would really, really like to have a Dixon lap skiver. I saw one in Bernie Samson's shop, and knew I wouldn't be happy til I found one. Some say don't waste your money, but if I find one, I'm buying it. I don't feel like I have more splitters than I need, as has been hinted at by non-leatherworking members of my family. I use them all often enough to justify having them, and they'll probably never go down in value.

 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

13 minutes ago, David Bruce said:

 

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, but this is a different type than I was referring to.  The kind I want has a cam mechanism that makes a long tapered skive as the strap is pulled through, without having to use a handle.

[David Bruce]

3 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, but this is a different type than I was referring to.  The kind I want has a cam mechanism that makes a long tapered skive as the strap is pulled through, without having to use a handle.

Sounds interesting. I've never seen one, do you have a photo? I come across old machines quite often.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I had a heck of a time even finding a picture.  This is a Randall obviously; C.S. Osborne made them also.  They were both referred to as a Dixon patent.  I found the patent info once but could not find it again now when searching.  I believe it was a David Dixon who secured the patent, so not the "Dixon" commonly thought of in reference to leather tools.

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

I had a heck of a time even finding a picture.  This is a Randall obviously; C.S. Osborne made them also.  They were both referred to as a Dixon patent.  I found the patent info once but could not find it again now when searching.  I believe it was a David Dixon who secured the patent, so not the "Dixon" commonly thought of in reference to leather tools.

I have seen these, in a BUSM catalogue from 100-odd years ago. Give me a few days and I'll see if I can dig it out.

[David Bruce]

Interesting! I've never seen one like this.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

They aren't very easy to find, at least around my part of the country.  The only ones I've ever seen have been in someone else's shop, and only a couple of them at that.  I've seen a couple for sale on the internet, but they're usually priced like they're made of gold.  

[Matt S]

Found my old BUSM catalogue. It's missing its cover and first couple pages so I'm not sure when it dates from but the manual it came with was the 1919 edition, so I'm guessing around then.

For reference, these were double the price of a Osborne of similar size:

...or 8% of a No 6 harness machine:

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I love these old catalogs.  Thank you for sharing!