Bell Knife Skiver

[BlakeSmith]

Hey everyone,

 

So our shop is finally in a place where we need a way to skive edges using a machine instead of doing it by hand which takes a LONG time and hasn't been consistent in thickness throughout. Does anyone have any suggestions on what type of skiving machine we should get?

 

I'm only skiving the edges of the leather, which is a 3-4 oz. Chrome Tan, so that my gussets and seams aren't so thick on the totes and messenger bags I'm making so I wont necessarily need a splitter machine yet.

 

The machine I'm leaning towards most is this one 

http://www.solar-leather.com/cb801-bottom-feed-bell-knife-skiver/

 

What do ya'll think?

[Nuttish]

The Fortuna machine is the industry standard. I would expect the Cowboy clone to be good quality. Parts are going to be easy to get from them or Campbell Randall. That's the machine to lean toward.

There really aren't any alternatives to that type of skiving machine anyway.

[David Bruce]

Hey Blake,

I was in the same position and just purchased a used Fortuna machine. I had been looking at the various Chinese clones like Cowboy, Cobra and Artisan. From what I've read, the clones are all made in the same plant and just re-badged. I would recommend buying one from whichever dealer is closer to you. Bob at Toledo Sewing has always been great to deal with, I've purchased servos, parts and supplies from him. I also have a Cowboy cylinder sewing machine, it's not as smooth as my old Singer but it works well and if it ever has a an issue that I can't deal with I will take it to Toledo for repair.

 

[SolarLeatherMachines]

On 7/17/2018 at 4:40 PM, BlakeSmith said:

The machine I'm leaning towards most is this one 

http://www.solar-leather.com/cb801-bottom-feed-bell-knife-skiver/

What do ya'll think?

Well, "I" like that machine, but you know......