Budget Leather Splitter that will also lap skive?

[NeilMott]

Hey all.

I'm very new to leather work and a total noob when it comes to some of the terms for thinning leather.  I'm looking for a budget ($200-$300 ish) leather skiver that will also do lap skives.  Right now I only make watch straps, so I don't need to skive very wide leather.  I'll be working with veg tan leather, baseball leather (from old baseball gloves) and also harder leather from old rifle slings.  I've seen these splitters on ebay and amazon, but can't figure out if they will lap skive:

ebay splitter

They look exactly like the Cowboy leather splitter 800: http://www.solar-leather.com/small-splitters-skivers which I'm pretty sure do both regular and lap skive..

I'm not sure I'd need the better 806 Cowboy model...  This one would allow me to do 2-hand pulling of the leather but for small belts and straps, I think I'm ok with one hand.  

I read in another thread that if you get a Cowboy model from them, the blade will be razor sharp, but I'd probably have to sharpen the blade from an off brand or even a Cowboy from ebay....

Am I on the right track with these options?

Thanks,

Neil

[thefallguy]

We bought one of the ebay splitters you linked to to do a contract run of exotic belts. We busted the bearings twice before getting the machine turned down for a standard size bearing of better quality. I would recommend saving for a nicer machine if I were you.

[NeilMott]

Did you end up buying another splitter?  

[thefallguy]

No, we used that one to finish the run of belts but it took two of us to do it; one to hold the handle and one to pull the strap. We haven't used it since, but we will keep it around in case we need to do another run until we save enough to buy a better splitter.