Best Leather Splitter/skiver?

[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!