Craftool Pro Splitter

[DONAG]

I have a Tandy splitter, but don't pull anything wider than 28 mm through it.  Too much of a struggle.  I wrap a folded piece of leather at the end and clamp it with a vice grip to pull leather through.

I hone the blade on my water stone and then strop a sharper edge on the tip.  I've thinned leather down to .5 mm with it.

Leather has a grain (sort of) like wood.  It might stretch one way, but not the other.  I pull along the edge to see if it stretches.  If it doesn't.  I cut the leather that way.  If it does.  I cut across.  This prevents leather from stretching out which I try to avoid on leathers with patterns or it pulls the pattern out of the surface.

Leathers that are too soft will stretch regardless of direction pulled when they reach a certain manual splitting thickness, so best to have the leather split if ordering from a tannery

DON

[garypl]

I bought the Tandy Deluxe splitter on sale for $200 and my wife held onto it until Christmas.  I clamped it to my workbench and it splits leather perfectly out of the box!  I am very impressed with how easy it is to use.

Dont know how often I will have to hone the blade, but so far it has done nice clean cuts.  Widest leather I have put through it is @1.5” and pulls through with very little resistance.

I haven’t been working on any projects for the past month due to work and family activities and now I am preparing to go on a 2 week business trip, so hope to get back to working on projects in February!

Very happy with this tool.

Gary