Skiving stretchy leather

[MY63]

I share your pain I also struggle with skiving.

One thing I found useful was to strop both sides of my knife, I used to strop only the front of the blade after sharpening and paid very little attention to the back of my blade.

Now that the back of my blade is polished by stropping it slides easily over the leather.

Unfortunately I am still useless at skiving but at least I can no longer blame my knives. 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I use a round knife for most of my skiving, on a big piece of glass from a 4020 tractor cab window. It works great!  I've heard of people using a curved piece of glass and I would really like to try that, but that can be tough to find in a size that will fit on a bench.  Wedgetail has it right, a slicing motion helps a lot.  I also use one of those "potato peeler" skivers, and put a new blade in for tough skiving, like the stretchy stuffy the OP was referring to. 

[Firewalker]

On 12/29/2017 at 7:16 AM, bikermutt07 said:

 I'm not a fan of spilling my sissy juice.

Hahahaha!  That's good stuff

[bikermutt07]

On 12/31/2017 at 10:12 AM, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

I use a round knife for most of my skiving, on a big piece of glass from a 4020 tractor cab window. It works great!  I've heard of people using a curved piece of glass and I would really like to try that, but that can be tough to find in a size that will fit on a bench.  Wedgetail has it right, a slicing motion helps a lot.  I also use one of those "potato peeler" skivers, and put a new blade in for tough skiving, like the stretchy stuffy the OP was referring to. 

I hadn't heard of the round glass before??? Maybe a large bottle or jug fitted to the bench in some way could work? Ooooooo or even a ceramic like a butter churn. These new ideas are endless.

[bikermutt07]

25 minutes ago, Firewalker said:

Hahahaha!  That's good stuff

Glad you liked it. I came up with it about 15 years ago. My dad's friend and I were "making knives" (putting handles on premade blanks). It was my first and so far only knife I did. Bob made sure I kept the cardboard sleeve on my blade as I shaped the red oak handle. But, he didn't need that cardboard in his way. Next thing I knew there was sissy juice all over the shop.

Edited January 3, 2018 by bikermutt07

[Firewalker]

Oh I am sure we could swap war stories for several hours on sissy juice on the shop floor!  I had a dandy when I convinced myself I could just hold a disc of rough cut  sheet metal in place while I drilled a hole in it on the drill press.  "Just right quick" right?  No stitches on that one but it took some direct pressure and time.  :D  Lesson number 19,801 learned the hard way.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

5 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

I hadn't heard of the round glass before??? Maybe a large bottle or jug fitted to the bench in some way could work? Ooooooo or even a ceramic like a butter churn. These new ideas are endless.

I kind of forgot about it, but I have used an upside down dinner plate to skive on.  Sometimes I bring work home with me at night, and while I bring a few necessary tools with, it's impossible to bring everything I might need.  I can't even remember what I was working on for sure, but it was soft, stretchy, tough-to-skive leather, and it needed skiving before gluing and of course I don't bring my skiving glass home with me. When I work at home, it's usually my on kitchen island, and I probably had supper dishes still on the countertop.  Not wanting to stall out on the project until the next morning nor go back to the shop that evening, I thought, "Hmm, I wonder how it would work if I turned one of these upside down?"  I have to say it worked pretty well!  My dinner plates are Corelle Wear and perfectly smooth (no rim) on the bottom.  Stoneware would not work so well, I wouldn't think.  Try it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  It's funny, but I only use them when I'm working in my house, but it works well enough that I should go try to find a few cheap Corelle Wear plates at a thrift store to keep in the shop.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

23 minutes ago, Firewalker said:

Oh I am sure we could swap war stories for several hours on sissy juice on the shop floor!  I had a dandy when I convinced myself I could just hold a disc of rough cut  sheet metal in place while I drilled a hole in it on the drill press.  "Just right quick" right?  No stitches on that one but it took some direct pressure and time.  :D  Lesson number 19,801 learned the hard way.

I did the same thing a few months ago.  The stupid thing was that I totally knew better, but didn't want to take the time to look for a vise grip that was not where it was supposed to be and thought maybe I could hold it with my pliers.  I was wrong about that.  I was drilling thinnish stainless steel strapping and of course it grabbed when the bit came through.  I was afraid to look at my hand.  I bled all over the place and got kind of weak and had to sit down.  I also avoided stitches, but needed some super glue and was wrapped up for a week. I couldn't work for a couple days;  it really saved a lot of time by not looking for that vise grip!

[Firewalker]

4 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

 it really saved a lot of time by not looking for that vise grip!

Yep!  That's what I meant about "just right quick"  

[bruce johnson]

One of the best guys I have seen skive used a home made blade on a turned over glass bowl. You know those honking big colored glass bowls that Grandma put potato salad in for the family reunion? His was the green color with white insides. He had cut the blade out an old saw. He was skiving boot top inlays at a cowboy trade show and fascinating to watch him work. A guy needed a mulehide horn wrap skived the length of the edges. This guy just held his blade flat so the bowl curve made the gap,  stuck out two fingers out as a guide and as fast as he could pull it through, he was skiving the edges. I mean he was ripping it through there like it was on fire with an even skive just peeling off. It wasn't his first rodeo so to speak. I didn't ask if he would sell the bowl but I did ask him about a blade. Took $20 and a while later I got it in the mail. He put a handle on mine -  duct tape.