Thinning Down Crocodile Leather Edges To This Kind Of Results

[Nuttish]

What's wrong with a traditional angled skiving knife? Bell knife skivers are expensive and have a steep learning curve. Lisa Sorrel's Japanese knives are cheap and quite nice.

[mrtreat32]

thanks andrewchee with your feedback on the scahrf fix. I'm surprised to hear that since book binders seem to love it.

[DavidL]

bell skivers are that hard to get right? I would imagine hand skiving would be harder, just the sharpening itself is one year learning curve. I only hand skive right now but always thought bell skiving machines were on the easier side.

[lilwaysleather]

Don't get a scharf fix. I got one a while ago to do this and it cut through the leather all the time. Not easy to use. I ended up getting a bell knife skiver and I think it only cost me about $600-650. Not cheap but much better results.

Andrew

where did you get your bell knife skiver? Is it fairly easy to use?

[Andrew Chee]

I got mine used from cobra Steve. Look around and your u can find them used for a decent price. They aren't that complicated but there's definitely a learning curve. I can answer any specific questions you have about use.

Andrew

[lilwaysleather]

Thanks. Which kind did you get? I heard that they are always needing adjusting to get them working right. has that been your experience ?

Also wondering if you can split down a whole piece of leather if you skived each area bit by bit...for example the backing of a leather wallet? Something of that size.

thanks

[lilwaysleather]

I got mine used from cobra Steve. Look around and your u can find them used for a decent price. They aren't that complicated but there's definitely a learning curve. I can answer any specific questions you have about use.

Andrew

I know there is a learning curve but is it as difficult as some say? Some of the videos on youtube make it look pretty straight forward.

Do you know the differences between the machines cobra steve has and the con sew s3-s4? Also interested in using it to split leather for certain projects, you can skive 2 edges on each side correct? so a piece the total of 4 inches across could be fully skived down from what Im understanding. Is there anyway to reach the center on something larger than 4 inches?

thanks

[Andrew Chee]

I know there is a learning curve but is it as difficult as some say? Some of the videos on youtube make it look pretty straight forward.

Do you know the differences between the machines cobra steve has and the con sew s3-s4? Also interested in using it to split leather for certain projects, you can skive 2 edges on each side correct? so a piece the total of 4 inches across could be fully skived down from what Im understanding. Is there anyway to reach the center on something larger than 4 inches?

thanks

The machine that I purchased from Steve was a Consew. It was a trade-in that he had. There's basically two kinds of bell knife skivers. Bottom feed only and top and bottom feed. The latter allows you to skive really heavy leather. They aren't as precise when you get down to the really thin stuff though. The main reason being there's a wheel on top that turns so it's not as precise as a stationary bar.

As for your learning curve question, it's really not that hard at all. It's pretty easy. There's some things to keep in mind depending on whether you skiving thick or thin stuff or soft or firm but it's really not that hard at all. As for your question about doing multiple runs to thin an entire piece of leather. While yes that's doable by doing multiple runs, the results are not perfects. You may end up with some ridges and thicker spots because the knife, feed wheel, and presser feet are never exactly parallel. With that said, it's still doable. The results just aren't perfect. Hope this helps.

Andrew