Best Leather Splitter/skiver?

[tossik]

Wow Big Sioux Saddlery, you seem to have a nice collection of splitters! Got one laying around that you'd wanna sell?

[J Hayes]

Check the for sale section too, usually something listed there too

[tossik]

J Hayes I've been checking daily, as well as other auction places.. not a very common thing to go on sale...

[tossik]

Found this online:

http://www.sheridanleather.com/J_D_Randall_Co_Krebs_Style_Splitter_9_Blade_p/dt-32-d.htm

Is it worth that much money? or is it over priced?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

'Wow Big Sioux Saddlery, you seem to have a nice collection of splitters! Got one laying around that you'd wanna sell?'

Sorry but I really don't. I become rather attached to my machinery:)

[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.