Is A Machine Skiver Worth It?

[D28]

I am new to the board but have spent a lot of time reading past posts on topics. And I know that skiving has been a well visited subject.

I am in process of getting a CB 3200 from Ryan Neal. I make mostly bags and cases and have an Ultrafeed clone that handles #69 and 92 thread quite well for thinner projects. I also do some leather binding of books. On occasion I may make straps and belts and such but most of the time I am dealing with 6oz. or less leather.My question is, considering the cost and need for space is a skiving machine worth all the money and space. I have read a lot of posts here about skiving and I own every kind of "miracle blade skivers and such and find they cannot compete with a good quality English style skiving knife once it is honed to razor sharpness. Currently I use both Stohlman's and Osborne English style skiving knives and do well with them. They are great for feather edging the leather on books in particular. And I feel that it is hard to beat a head knife on heavy leather.

I like to keep it truly handmade but the sewing was killing me on bags and brief cases, satchels etc. time wise. So I researched and ordered the Cowboy.

Below are pics of a tote, a leather bound Kitchen Journal and an ostrich leg leather wallet presented as examples of things that I skive edges on. I am not a heavy production company and I do well with the sharp knives. I know its a question that only I can answer for me, but what is your guys thoughts?

Should I buy my wife of 40 years an anniversary present or say the heck with it and get myself a  skiver and her a box of candy?

Edited March 5, 2019 by D28
spelling

[bikermutt07]

I know @RockyAussie swears by his Bell skiver.

If I were doing a lot of bags and wallets I would look into one. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by bikermutt07

[RockyAussie]

I could not do without a machine for sure. Like knives though they take a bit of learning to get the right results. This link shows a video I made and if you check my profile there you can find a couple more.

https://youtu.be/1yxXV09EYHk

 

[D28]

Looking smooth Rocky. It surely is faster than making knife slices.

Great looking products that you have made.

 

[Matt S]

I love my bell skiver, though I probably don't get all the use out of it that I could. A hugely versatile machine. As well as tapering and step skives it's really handy for splitting/thinning/levelling narrow pieces of leather -- your binding strips would be a great example. I read that people are able to thin wider pieces of leather 2" at a time but I've never got it as consistent as I'd like. The problem probably lies between the machine and the chair but this was my biggest disappointment with my machine.

I've got the normal stone feed wheel fitted to mine, which does well on chrome tanned leathers under 3mm. I've used it on 4mm+ bridle leather but it didn't feed consistently. There is a toothed steel feed wheel that some users recommend for heavier veg-tanned leathers but I've never used one. Various rubber feed wheels are also around but I don't know what they're good for. 

One minor word of warning: these machines (or at least mine, a 50+ year old Fortuna) aren't plug-and-play with different feet. There's usually at least a few minutes of adjustment needed for each different job. They're a lot less complicated that they first look and I find that I can adjust for most jobs by tweaking the edge fence, foot height and foot angle. My most-used foot is a 40mm roller with fair sharp edges. Whether by luck or circumstance I can do 90% of my skiving operations using just this one foot. Also be aware that the built-in sharpening feature shoots small amounts of sparks, dust and iron filings out the left-hand side of the machine so don't put it next to where you hang your freshly laundered shirts.

Checaflo on Youtube has a great couple of videos about bell skivers, I learned a lot of the basics from them. I've got mine set with the knife moving as fast and the feed as slow as possible, which I think gives a finer result.