Tiara Report post Posted January 9, 2015 I have some scraps of horse leather from Springfield as well as some extra lengths of horse butt ie cordovan. They cut me some belt strips and I got 2 extra lengths of the butt while it was available. There is some taper in thickness which will be nice when I get to the butt strips for belts, one end thinner for the buckle. For other projects, the variance in thickness will be more problematic. Is there a good way to skive an area perhaps 3 inches by 5 to an even thickness? I have both a super skiver and safety skiver/beveler but my skills at keeping this even are poor. Would it be better to see if I can get a saddle shop or shoe repair place to do it for me? Any good tutorials on skiving/splitting larger areas? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nuttish Report post Posted March 25, 2015 You could get a French paring knife a la the Blanchard, but paring is hard to do nicely. A French edger is easier to us and works very well. Some people can do it with a skiving knife. Check out Jeff Peachey. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calait Report post Posted March 25, 2015 (edited) tiara, I would check the area saddle & shoe shops and ask, they may send you somewhere that can assist. 3 x 5 is a large area to do by hand, though not impossible, good luck Edited March 25, 2015 by Calait Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tiara Report post Posted March 25, 2015 Thank you both. I will try some of the local shops. We do have a shoe repairman as well as a saddle repair shop next to the track. Hoping not too busy this time of year. And also have some belt strips cut as cutting such a long piece without goofing it is beyond my current skill level. I did do some extensive skiving on a test piece which gave me some good practice in control as well as how to determine by the feel of the leather how far I wanted to go. Took one section down so far on the flesh side the look and feel changed. I liked the effect enough to skve the whole piece I want to use for a project. The practice is useful as well as good forearm and grip exercise. But not something I want to do very often. Thank you again! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calait Report post Posted March 25, 2015 Try to keep some of the leather which needs skiving to attempt by hand, practice will make you better. Never try never learn. Good luck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tiara Report post Posted March 25, 2015 Try to keep some of the leather which needs skiving to attempt by hand, practice will make you better. Never try never learn. Good luck I will keep some and am practicing on some of it right now for a hair slide that will have a 1" shell rose attached to the center. Leaving some thicker part under it to keep it from flexing as much around the edges yet not so stiff overall that putting the stick in is a struggle. And I found your advice to be very true when I worked on the dang hip hop hat from hell I recently finished. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=62514&hl= Sheer determination and several restarts did end up with a good deal of learning from errors and how to do some work arounds with materials on hand. And in learning some things not to do for this project I did find some of the goofs will help in other things. Giving myself permission to do things badly at first, notice the errors and try to improve but not give up in the leather projects and many other areas in life. If you are afraid to make a mistake, you will be afraid to do anything in life was something I heard years ago from a fabulous teacher. Most things in life I've found rewarding and useful have involved a lot of error, very often a good deal of dirt, sweat and strain--including skull sweat and strain, and refusing to quit just because it didn't come easily or naturally at first. Yes it is nice when things do come naturally but if I limited myself only to those things, my life would have been much less interesting. Overcoming challenges in one area boosts confidence to tackle others. Doing that damn hat gave me the confidence that dissembling the clothes dryer to clean out the lint chute and replace the seals and then the washing machine agitator dogs. Dissembling and reassembling with videos and schematics has been much easier than dissembling a hat and then assembling a new one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thekid77 Report post Posted March 26, 2015 I have some scraps of horse leather from Springfield as well as some extra lengths of horse butt ie cordovan. They cut me some belt strips and I got 2 extra lengths of the butt while it was available. There is some taper in thickness which will be nice when I get to the butt strips for belts, one end thinner for the buckle. For other projects, the variance in thickness will be more problematic. Is there a good way to skive an area perhaps 3 inches by 5 to an even thickness? I have both a super skiver and safety skiver/beveler but my skills at keeping this even are poor. Would it be better to see if I can get a saddle shop or shoe repair place to do it for me? Any good tutorials on skiving/splitting larger areas? hey Tiara, I make bifold wallets and regularly skive 3-4oz leather down to about 2-3oz with the Tandy safety beveler.... a few tips that might help... -start off with a fresh blade and have a thick strip of leather loaded with green polishing compound on it (I will strop gently in between every 5-10 cuts with the safety beveler)--you will greatly extend the life of your blades, and the beveler will cut like butter... -skive on a smooth, clean surface like glass or marble -I start by beveling down the outer perimeter of the piece of leather first....for example, if I had a 3x5" piece of leather that I needed to skive down, I would bevel the edge of one side first down to the thickness that I want.... -then, I would bevel the other three sides... -finally, begin to bevel the inside in thin sweeping passes (the beveler is slightly curved so it will create ridges in between cuts--go back later and get rid of the ridges by lightly cutting them away with the beveler as well)... -the beveler, when skiving the insides, should only cut as deeply as the sides are beveled.....that is the benefit of beveling around the edges first....for some reason, the beveled edges act as a guide for the beveler when you are making the cuts..... hope this helps!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tiara Report post Posted March 26, 2015 Thanks Kid, this is very useful and I appreciate it greatly. I'll save this post to hard drive. hey Tiara, I make bifold wallets and regularly skive 3-4oz leather down to about 2-3oz with the Tandy safety beveler.... a few tips that might help... -start off with a fresh blade and have a thick strip of leather loaded with green polishing compound on it (I will strop gently in between every 5-10 cuts with the safety beveler)--you will greatly extend the life of your blades, and the beveler will cut like butter... -skive on a smooth, clean surface like glass or marble -I start by beveling down the outer perimeter of the piece of leather first....for example, if I had a 3x5" piece of leather that I needed to skive down, I would bevel the edge of one side first down to the thickness that I want.... -then, I would bevel the other three sides... -finally, begin to bevel the inside in thin sweeping passes (the beveler is slightly curved so it will create ridges in between cuts--go back later and get rid of the ridges by lightly cutting them away with the beveler as well)... -the beveler, when skiving the insides, should only cut as deeply as the sides are beveled.....that is the benefit of beveling around the edges first....for some reason, the beveled edges act as a guide for the beveler when you are making the cuts..... hope this helps!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Calait Report post Posted March 26, 2015 Kid77 I will be saving that post as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thekid77 Report post Posted March 27, 2015 Thanks Kid, this is very useful and I appreciate it greatly. I'll save this post to hard drive. Kid77 I will be saving that post as well. Hey everyone, I'm glad you found this helpful...please tell me how things work out for you!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silverwingit Report post Posted March 30, 2015 I bow to Kid and anyone else who can skive a large area evenly! I'm sorry to say that after ruining a good amount of leather, I bit the bullet and bought a Heritage splitter/skiver. Costly but effective solution if you plan on doing much of this. Michelle Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blueblazer Report post Posted April 1, 2015 At some point I saw theKid's post about using the safety beveler and I've since gotten not terrible at this method. After finishing up with the safety beveler, I hit up some hot spots with a dremel to sand down some spots and run the entire piece of leather against some sandpaper then slick down the grain for waxier stuff or glue on my liner for drier stuff. I must have missed the note about stropping, Kid, how do you strop your safety beveler blades? I've been experimenting with snapping various razor blades I have around to fit the safety beveler in an effort to find a replacement for injector blades. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thekid77 Report post Posted April 1, 2015 At some point I saw theKid's post about using the safety beveler and I've since gotten not terrible at this method. After finishing up with the safety beveler, I hit up some hot spots with a dremel to sand down some spots and run the entire piece of leather against some sandpaper then slick down the grain for waxier stuff or glue on my liner for drier stuff. I must have missed the note about stropping, Kid, how do you strop your safety beveler blades? I've been experimenting with snapping various razor blades I have around to fit the safety beveler in an effort to find a replacement for injector blades. hey Blue, to strop the blades get yourself a 1" wide strip of leather and secure it to something hard and flat (flesh side facing up)....rub green polishing compound onto the flesh side of the leather....all you have to do from here is lightly strop the safety beveler in between every 5-10 cuts and you'll get a lot more life out of your blades.... hope this helps!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pip Report post Posted April 7, 2015 hey Tiara, I make bifold wallets and regularly skive 3-4oz leather down to about 2-3oz with the Tandy safety beveler.... a few tips that might help... -start off with a fresh blade and have a thick strip of leather loaded with green polishing compound on it (I will strop gently in between every 5-10 cuts with the safety beveler)--you will greatly extend the life of your blades, and the beveler will cut like butter... -skive on a smooth, clean surface like glass or marble Great advice, stropped the living daylights out of a new blade, so much cleaner and easier -I start by beveling down the outer perimeter of the piece of leather first....for example, if I had a 3x5" piece of leather that I needed to skive down, I would bevel the edge of one side first down to the thickness that I want.... -then, I would bevel the other three sides... -finally, begin to bevel the inside in thin sweeping passes (the beveler is slightly curved so it will create ridges in between cuts--go back later and get rid of the ridges by lightly cutting them away with the beveler as well)... -the beveler, when skiving the insides, should only cut as deeply as the sides are beveled.....that is the benefit of beveling around the edges first....for some reason, the beveled edges act as a guide for the beveler when you are making the cuts..... hope this helps!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SantaFeMarie Report post Posted April 8, 2015 Kid, thanks for that information, very helpful. Do you wet the leather? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thekid77 Report post Posted April 9, 2015 Kid, thanks for that information, very helpful. Do you wet the leather? no need to wet the leather, but do make sure that you skive with fresh blades.......those little injector razor blades are cheap and material is not.....the goal is a nice smooth skive actually, one thing though......if the leather you are trying to skive has a really fuzzy flesh side, this can make skiving evenly difficult.......you can apply some gum trag to the flesh side and take a roller or anything and slick down the leather. let it dry completely.....then come back and skive and this will make things easier.... ***one caveat: if you are applying gum trag to a piece of leather that you have not yet dyed, be very careful not to get any on the grain (smooth) side or it will resist the dye in the spot where the gum trag touched.....hope this helps :D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt T Report post Posted April 9, 2015 Best way to skive is with a skiving machine, especially if you ever need to skive chrome leather.. You can get one on Ebay for 1k. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thekid77 Report post Posted April 9, 2015 Best way to skive is with a skiving machine, especially if you ever need to skive chrome leather.. You can get one on Ebay for 1k. agreed, but i'm a poor ex-college student.....i'll stick with the safety beveler for now LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
