Splitter Purchase Suggestions

[blue duck]

I know this has been brought up many times, I have searched through most of them, however I am begging for some help to find what you would consider a good investment for a splitter. Your opinion is much less biased than some of those salesmen out there, I am sure.

I have looked at the cheapest I could find to some that are way out of the question. I would like to get one that will not need to be replaced because of quality and can use for a long time, yet I can not justify the high dollars for an electric one either. I am sure you folks have something that will produce a quality split and not break the bank?

If this helps the leather we use most of is a mixed tan, both veg and chrome tanned, (we use a lot of Horween leather) and we are producing bags, cases and wallets for the most part. So it needs to be able to split something wider than just a belt at times. Is there any other information that can help you help us?

Thank you for your time and trouble! rg

[Andrew Chee]

What thickness are you planning on splitting from and splitting to? If you want to split chrome tan leather then you will need a band knife splitter. A stationary knife splitter will not split that stuff well. I have owned all sorts of splitters from a pull through type splitter to a 6" crank stationary blade splitter to a 14" stationary blade splitter to a band knife splitter ( getting delivered now). Stationary blade splitters are good for firmer veg tan leathers. Since the rollers push the leather against a fixed blade, a lot of pressure is placed on the leather and chrome tan leathers generally don't have the body to stand up to it. Firmer chrome tan leathers may though. With that said, fixed blade splitters are not great for consistency. Especially as you try to split thinner. For example, I regularly want to split a 5oz skin down to 2.5oz. This is firm veg tan leather. The problem is that because of the pressure that the splitter puts on the leather, the thickness output can change from one end of the leather to the other. If you are splitting a piece that runs from the spine towards the belly, the spine end can come out over an oz or two thicker than the belly end. This is not because of any flaws in the splitter but just the inherent nature of fixed glad splitters.

Band knife splitters don't have this problem because the knife does not put as much pressure on the skin. There are other considerations with a band knife splitter and I can talk about those if you like. But basically band knife splitters will give you the most flexibility and consistency but of course they are by far the most expensive.

If you want to go with a stationary blade splitter and want to be able to split something wider than about 5-1/2" then the only choices are the Cobra 14" crank splitter and the artisan 20" crank splitter. If you can live with a 5-1/2" wide max then there are used landis and American splitters. I own an American and a Cobra. They are both good quality and work well. They just have the limitations I described inherent in the design. The quality is great though.

Now on a self serving note. Since I purchased the band knife splitter, I will be selling both of my fixed blade splitters soon if you are interested.

Andrew

Edited August 28, 2014 by Andrew Chee

[blue duck]

Thank you so much Andrew, there is a lot of information here. Never even considered a band knife splitter. What I would like to be able to do is take 4-5 oz and get it down to 2-2.5 oz for pockets and then even thinner for interior parts on wallets. So 5 1/2" limit would probably be ok. I am just always catching it for buying something to get by and then having to go buy it again to do it the right way. But think we have all been there.

Also sent a pm. Thanks, Rick

[Andrew Chee]

So a fixed knife splitter technically can do that but what I've found is that I would waste a lot of leather because the resulting thickness was often times inconsistent from one piece of leather to the next. Because of the inherent nature of the design. I originally used the smaller splitter but found that I could not split things like the main wallet panels because the limit in width so I purchased the wider splitter. It all depends on what you need it to do.

Andrew

[Itch]

What type of band knife splitter did you get ? We use an Old Fortuna 1952 vintage hard to find something built like this tank..

[Andrew Chee]

I bought the used one on campbell Randall's website. Atom gl27. You can find it on their website.

Andrew