Any DIY Splitters/skivvers out there?

[SilverForgeStudio]

So I came into a few industrial planer blades- 18 inches long, a bit over 1/2 inch wide and about 1/4 inch thick (see pics)

These are toss outs from an industrial lumber planer near me- I make knives out of them for the fellows in the lumber yard and use their wood scraps as handles... nice use of scrap and it is a good selling point when the salesman can pull out a sample of the wood and shows a customer how it ages "under the hand" for custom work. 

Anyway- Ive got 3 left from the last batch- and thought I would take a swing at making a splitter/skivver of sorts... Any homebrew DIY guys out there?

What I am really looking for is pictures of an older hand splitter  like an Osborne- Stay tuned next year for a potential build!

 

 

[Rockoboy]

Waiting waiting waiting ...  

[SilverForgeStudio]

OK so to make math easy I took a nod from another thread about TPI on the adjustment and 16 TPI would give easier adjusting math 

As well will be looking to reduce flex in the blade center with a hardened piece of 1075 ground to butt join and provide an attachment. 

Lower rollers out of some 304 Stainless stock with pressed bearing ends.

If I leave the thickness adjustment on a ball swivel it can be tapered end to end as well. 

Max working width looks to be about 14.5-15 inches with grub screws and brass gibs for levelling. 

Yes I have a bit more time and useless scrap lying about than most... but its fun to build. 

@Rockoboy Waiting for a response or to see the build? Hope to get some others interested- maybe cobble up a home-brew shed-shop tool kit

 

[Rockoboy]

10 hours ago, SilverForgeStudio said:

Rockoboy Waiting for a response or to see the build?

You bet, I wanna see the build, and what goes into it! I do like a good repurpose of junk, or home built tools and machinery.

Edited December 1, 2018 by Rockoboy

[SilverForgeStudio]

HA! Ok.. well it will be after the spring when I get my foundry back out and set up the forge proper (garage is holding the contents of a friends house for now). But stay tuned! As I get ideas or if others have ideas please feel free to dump them here- Generating a plan is the first step!

[Matt S]

@SilverForgeStudio Which do you want to make -- a splitter or a skiver -- and what do you wan to do with it?

Lap skivers are great at making tapered skives in firmish leathers and can be used as splitters to a limited extent but they tend to lack repeatability and consistency. Fine if you want to split down some lacing (if you nurse it through) or the odd wallet back (if you have the muscle and accept the casualty rate). There's a few DIY designs, especially if you only want to split lace, but my favourite is a design welded by a saddler that takes utility knife blades. When I bought it I immediately sold my Cowboy lap-skiver and haven't looked back.

Crank splitters are far better than lap skivers for splitting but only tend to work with stiffer and thicker leathers and can't be used for tapers. I often use mine for splitting 4mm bridle down to 1mm for wallets. I've seen one DIY crank splitter on this forum, based on a jeweller's rolling mill. Capacity was about 2" I think.

Bell-knife skivers are really flexible machines -- straight tapered, curved tapered, or flat stepped skives up to 55mm wide, which means it can split up to about 2" wide (or 2" strips across a wider piece of leather). Best used for softer leathers, though dual-feed machines can apparently be used with greater success on harder leathers. I've skived 4mm bridle with mine with promising results but not good enough to rely on yet. I'll try again once I get hold of a toothed steel feed wheel. However I primarily use mine on medium-soft chrome tanned leathers, which is where it really shines. Not a practical DIY option I think, especially when you can pick up a new Chinese one with table and motor for under a grand.

Band-knife splitters are fantastically controllable and repeatable machines to use -- typically they can split any leather up to 4mm thick to any thickness you like (even under 1mm) with a single pass and the waste "split" often being usable. However a DIY one would be very complex to build and the factory ones are apparently finicky to maintain. (Not a problem I have, I pay to use somebody else's!) Some sophisticated machines can taper different sections under computer control. (As a minor aside I would love a bench-top band-knife splitter -- 4" or 6" capacity would be just fine. I've toyed with the idea of DIYing one but keep seeing visions of band-knifing my fingers off.)

[SilverForgeStudio]

Thanks Matt! I think a band knife would be the goal of a new build- but a simple hard-knife skivver is probably where I am headed with the blade- My ignorance in using the machinery is partly to blame- as is the excitement of a new hobby on all the excess "stuff" to tinker with- I can see a porta-band being converted to a band-knife in the future potentially...

On 12/2/2018 at 4:45 PM, Matt S said:

. (As a minor aside I would love a bench-top band-knife splitter -- 4" or 6" capacity would be just fine. I've toyed with the idea of DIYing one but keep seeing visions of band-knifing my fingers off.)

Understood- even the Cremonas and other band knives on youtube I have watched only have a sheet metal cap/guard over the band- More thinking then some doing in the new year!

[bermudahwin]

On 02/12/2018 at 9:45 PM, Matt S said:

even under 1mm

In bookbinding, we often split to 0.6 mm and the band splitters at the suppliers are a godsend, hand spokeshaving is mind blowing.