Length Of Buckle End Skiving

[Flask]

Trying to order some buckles and belt blanks for my first project, and in the ordering I came across this:

Length of Buckle End Skiving

So my question is , what the heck is this, and how long would l want it?

Thanks in advance.

Flask

[JRDill]

"Skiving" is the thinning of a piece of leather. Around the buckle area you want to do this so you get a nice and clean fold over on the buckle, and it's not a big, bulky open space. It also puts way less pressure on the hardware, allowing it to stay secure longer. Does that make sense?

[Chief31794]

I use a template to lay out the buckle end, it measures 5-1/2" from the tip to the place where the folded end would be just in the skived area. So I measure 5-1/2" from the end of the buckle area and skive that distance on a bench skiver. I typically skive to about 6-7 oz thickness in the buckle area.

Chief

[TomG]

I make tons of straps with buckles. From 1/2" wide for small collars, to 2+" for belts.

The wider the strap, the longer the tab end that is skived. Like Chief, I have a set of templates that I use for each size strap that I can mark the rivet holes and the tang slot.

1-1/4" wide, I skive about 5-1/4. 1-1/2" wide, 5-1/2". If you are going to be using a keeper,

I also tend to skive it down to about 1/2 the thickness of the strap. So, a 10oz strap gets down to about 5/6 oz. It's not critical. Wide straps might get skived down to 3/4 the thickness and so on. If you are using a very wide keeper, you might go a tad longer.

[Flask]

Thanks for the reply guys, all very helpful, I do appreciate it.

Flask

[paprhangr]

which bench skiver are you guys using?

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Like Chief, I have a set of templates I made over the years that I use. They graduate in length for belts 1/2" wide up to 2" wide. That way all my belts are uniform.

Bob