Reliable splitter to split leather to 1mm thickness??

[thekid77]

Hey friends, can anyone out there recommend a leather splitter that will split leather to 1mm thickness reliably an consistently??

Thank you in advance for any info/experience you can share!

[Bob Blea]

Check with Bruce Johnson on this forum.  He collects, refurbishes and resells all sorts of tools including splitters.  He should be able to help you out.

[thekid77]

On 4/15/2016 at 10:42 AM, Bob Blea said:

Check with Bruce Johnson on this forum.  He collects, refurbishes and resells all sorts of tools including splitters.  He should be able to help you out.

Thank you very much Bob!! BTW I really admire your work.....you make tooling/lacing leather look so easy when it is anything but easy!!

[Bob Blea]

7 hours ago, thekid77 said:

Thank you very much Bob!! BTW I really admire your work.....you make tooling/lacing leather look so easy when it is anything but easy!!

Thanks, its just a matter of practice!  But I do very much appreciate the compliment.

[hitokiri8]

I'd be curious to know if you found any solutions for this as well...

[jlangham]

Bob, your work is stunning.

Has anyone seen a splitter that's longer than 8 inches?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

7 hours ago, jlangham said:

Bob, your work is stunning.

Has anyone seen a splitter that's longer than 8 inches?

I have an 18" splitter  I believe most with a stationary blade that are over 8" would be a different type than the bench top pull-through type.  They will have feed rolls and either a hand crank or pulley for power.  There may be some 10" pull through splitters, but I've personally not seen one.

[jlangham]

Thanks!! Where did you get your splitter, and what kind is it? I can't find anything online.

I'm hoping to find one that's less than 1,000$

Edited April 27, 2016 by jlangham

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

It is very old and I got it from a machinery trader here in SD named Keith Pommer.  I assure you I gave a great deal more than $1000.  Artisan sells a new splitter, 20" I think for about the same as I gave for mine. Mine just has a hand wheel, I think Artisan's has a servo motor.  You can find the old ones here and there if you travel the country.

[bruce johnson]

I've had a bunch of 10" pull through splitters and the occasional 12". Problem is that most people can pull about 3" width pretty easily and it gets exponentially harder once you go wider than that. The extra blade width just gives you more blade to use before you need to work the edge up again.

I've probably got a brother Randall to the 18" Big Sioux has in my shop right now. It is here to get a new blade put on and adjusted. It literally took two men and one large boy to unload from their pickup.  I expect he paid more than $1000 just to get the new blade made for it. The old rule of thumb on the tried and true big splitters was $200 per inch of blade. That has weakened some, but not a lot. I know of a motorized 10" splitter in a local shop that is closed, but nothing is for sale. The Artisan is a 20" and one of the best favors ever done for me was to get a crappy demonstration and condescending sales talk one year at Sheridan. I had money in pocket to buy one, and Jerry didn't think I was serious. Cobra Steve has a 14" motorized splitter modeled after the Landis #30 crank splitter, not sure where the pricing is now on the Artisan or Cobra.

.

[Bob Blea]

12 hours ago, bruce johnson said:

I've had a bunch of 10" pull through splitters and the occasional 12". Problem is that most people can pull about 3" width pretty easily and it gets exponentially harder once you go wider than that. The extra blade width just gives you more blade to use before you need to work the edge up again.

.

So forgive my ignorance, but I don't know much about splitters.  Does a crank splitter make it easier to split pieces over 3" width?  Is that why you would choose a crank model versus a pull model?

[Itch]

Try to find an old Fortuna band splitter. That is what you need ..

[bruce johnson]

9 hours ago, Bob Blea said:

So forgive my ignorance, but I don't know much about splitters.  Does a crank splitter make it easier to split pieces over 3" width?  Is that why you would choose a crank model versus a pull model?

Bob, IN a word "yes". The crank splitters have a feedwheel and the leverage of the handle and gearing to allow more force than a simple pull by hand. The common crank splitters were designed for the shoe repair trade and are 6" wide (shoe soles). The downsides of the cranksplitters - more expensive, they push the leather into the blade instead of pulling so the leather needs some body or it will wad up against the blade and split unevenly, .  

[Bob Blea]

Thanks Bruce, that clears things up.  Hadn't even considered the consequences of pushing the leather on soft leather...

[thekid77]

On 4/28/2016 at 9:53 PM, bruce johnson said:

I've had a bunch of 10" pull through splitters and the occasional 12". Problem is that most people can pull about 3" width pretty easily and it gets exponentially harder once you go wider than that. The extra blade width just gives you more blade to use before you need to work the edge up again.

I've probably got a brother Randall to the 18" Big Sioux has in my shop right now. It is here to get a new blade put on and adjusted. It literally took two men and one large boy to unload from their pickup.  I expect he paid more than $1000 just to get the new blade made for it. The old rule of thumb on the tried and true big splitters was $200 per inch of blade. That has weakened some, but not a lot. I know of a motorized 10" splitter in a local shop that is closed, but nothing is for sale. The Artisan is a 20" and one of the best favors ever done for me was to get a crappy demonstration and condescending sales talk one year at Sheridan. I had money in pocket to buy one, and Jerry didn't think I was serious. Cobra Steve has a 14" motorized splitter modeled after the Landis #30 crank splitter, not sure where the pricing is now on the Artisan or Cobra.

.

Hey Bruce,

Do you know of or have any splitters that can split leather down to 1mm reliably and consistently? Thank you

[TwinOaks]

1 hour ago, thekid77 said:

Hey Bruce,

Do you know of or have any splitters that can split leather down to 1mm reliably and consistently? Thank you

You can check Bruce's website for a list of what he currently has available.   www.brucejohnsonleather.com

[thekid77]

On 5/15/2016 at 4:19 AM, TwinOaks said:

You can check Bruce's website for a list of what he currently has available.   www.brucejohnsonleather.com

Thanks Twin!!

[BigMatt]

I have a Landis Model 30 splitter. It only has a 6" blade width, but I regularly split leather down to .7-.9mm.