Head Knife Vs. Skiving Knife

[Oldtoolsniper]

See if your husband has an extra plane blade. It's the same as a skiving knife with no handle. Sharpen it and give it a shot. A woodworker can make a simple handle from the scrap box in minutes. Not pretty but very functional.

[Wicked Welts]

I'm glad you mentioned the planer blades, I have access to several of them and never thought of it. Now I'm imagining that they would look something like the blade David shows back in post #8?

My MIL has a small trunk full of old hand planes collecting dust in her basement, all different sizes and I remember that all or most of them almost looked like the body was hand made from wood rather than something I'd expect of recent 'mass' production. Not sure if that means anything but what I'm getting at here is a suspicion that the steel in the blades might be a decent high carbon steel, perhaps dating back to the '50s or '60s?

Monica, if you don't mind the derail, I will try to get to those planes this weekend and post some pics of the blades with hope there's some agreement on suitability. There's a dozen or more there and I'd like to use them for something since nobody in the family has a need for them and I'd be glad to send you one if you thought it was useful.

[DavidL]

Wicked welts if the hand planes are small wooden blocks with a japanese plane they could be very valuable. Some go for a 150 just for the blade.

A question I want to ask is if there are any other ways a round knife can be used besides cutting and skiving. Or benefits over a regular pen knife. Using a round knife would suit cutting heavy leathers in one cut and in what I seen cut rounds on belts by cradling the knife back and forth while rotating the belt.

With a japanese or french skiving knife if you need to cut off a straight line you can press down. For long straight lines it is great, tight curves not so great.

[MonicaJacobson]

@OTSniper, the planer blade is a genius idea. Thanks! There are a lot of nice blades out there for only $40.00. I might buy a head knife and make my own skiver, if it works well enough. Thanks also for the sharpening tips

@WW - I'd love to see pictures. Old tools like that are always interesting.

[DavidL]

Monica, heres another one you might want to consider.. sorry..

Was thinking about an alternative to a skiving machine with an edge guide of some sort and saw that video. At very least it may be useful to skive roughly and finish off with a skiving knife.

[Wicked Welts]

Field report on the wood planes -

Monica, after you have a look I will wait a bit and then delete these pics so it doesn't bog things down.

It's been a while since I looked at these, forgot what was in there. I found that most where custom made for profiling trim so the blades where shaped/notched for that purpose.

I did fine two that I could probably use, one straight and one angled plus another thingy that looked more like a draw knife of sorts with an adjustable blade. That one might be capable of skiving down thick spots on a hide maybe?

Lastly there was another smaller chest with more stuff I haven't a clue about, a few production pieces that look to be cast and two other things that looked to be of Martian origin.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Wicked Welts

[MonicaJacobson]

David, thanks for the video. I have seen pictures of those, but didn't know what they were called or how they worked. Thanks a lot. Now I need one of those, too.

@WickedWelts - Very nice collection you have there. My husband (an instrument maker) thought they were awesome, too, and advises against using a blade from any of them. For the price of one of them you can buy a new blade of very good steel. Some of them are worth $30 each (he says), and some are worth $60.00 each. He was especially impressed with the one in the second to last picture with the dark wooden handles.

[bruce johnson]

DavidL, Thank you for the link to that French edger video! I keep forgetting about those clips. There were several little video clips we did for a display of saddle making tools for the local cowboy museum. The videos were done on the fly. The videographer came to my shop one night. We made some hasty scripts, shot the short clips, and did most of them in one shot in a few hours. The actual tools mentioned were all ready for display so I grabbed the closest stand-ins and used them in the videos.

[Oldtoolsniper]

Wicked welts,

I'm with Monica on that don't use those blades as the are made specific to the profile of those planes. The wood ones are profile planes. The production ones are scrapers, etc, send me a pm and I'll get you in the right direction as far as what they are. Then you can go on Ebay and see what they sell for. I've been collecting and restoring planes for years. Plane blades that are worth $150 would be a rare and I do mean rare tool.

Just get a standard plane blade and go to town learning. Don't rule out wood carving tools and chisels you can always reshape the handle. Start with the garage sale and flea market stuff. It's not wrecking it if you learn what not to do while attempting to do what you are doing!

[electrathon]

I thought I would post this simple tutorial about how to not use a round knife and the opposing, how to use a round knife. Note the Leather Wranglers knife for the purpose of, "Yea, I like cool tools".

Rule for a round knife: Always keep your non knife hand close to your body and always cut away from yourself. You will never get hurt this way. See pics.

Edited April 13, 2015 by electrathon