Although since some leathers mark easily, it is best to attempt this on a scrap before applying tape to the surface of leather projects. Another handy tool when skiving leather is a leather grover. This tool works like a wing divider that cuts out a channel in the leather. Typically, this is used when sewing to allow thread to sit slightly below the surface.

The first time I attempted to skive anything was on my second project, which was a purse I made for my wife. I've referenced this purse before in a post about rivets, so I won't say much about it, other than I made it with the first piece of leather I ever bought, which was a really rough 8oz piece of veg tan. Really stiff 8oz leather may be great for, say a belt, but horrible for a purse. So instead of buying an entire new piece of leather I thought I’d be clever and skive the entire thing.

Types of Leather Skiver

Skiving is an important aspect of leathercraft; hence, leather experts and hobbyists can benefit from using a leather skiver. This tool makes cutting and trimming leather simple and accurate, allowing you to shape and modify your leather products precisely. All new things perform well. It is the level of wear and tears over years of use that tells the good ones apart from the bad. So, that is something to think about. Being sharp enough to shave small hairs off your arm or sharp enough to split a hair strand in half.Each of these tests will give you a better understanding of your knife’s sharpness. The paper test is the easiest, but is often isn’t enough when skiving a firmer vegetable tanned leather. If you’re doing very large projects, or high-volume production of leather goods, a bell skiver might be best. Hand skivers and skiver knives require the skill of the craftsperson to get accurate results, and like any craft, this can take time. That might be totally ok for one wallet, or a small bag or upholstery project. However, if you’re working on making dozens of the same design or looking at factory volume, a machine can be helpful. There are two basic ways to skive leather, and it involves the pull or push method. The pull method is when you use skiving knives like Tandy Super Skiver to skive by pulling the skiving knife towards you to skive and the push method is when you use skiving knives like Kyoshin Elle Japanese Slanted Skiver Knife to skive away from you.

If you need to do precise and high-quality jobs like leather on-lays, flat skiving, and the like, this is quite up to the task. HIGHLIGHTED FEATURES Imagine skiving is that evil predator seal and I am poor hapless Buster Blooth. And imagine the sheer horror of attempting to escape an overbearing mother, only to be apprehended by this hand eating seal. That feeling of dread, is the dread that fills my heart when I know I have to skive something. Sure it's a little dramatic, but skiving and I really did start off on the wrong foot. You can use the machine to pare the whole skin or edges. For beginners, this one is a great choice. It is easy to use and safe too.

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No such extra steps are required with this one. You can be sure it will work perfectly even without the addition of oil and avoids damage to the rotating shaft even without such lubrication. Some older tools are also great options if you can find them used. As mentioned earlier, great quality tools can last decades if properly maintained. There is talk that some of the newer CS Osbourne and Vergez Blanchard skiing knives are not made with as high a quality steel as they once were. If you can find an older one, used, it might be worth considering. Bell Skiver Machines I had no idea what I was doing. Super skivers aren’t meant to be used that way. Normal skivers aren’t supposed to be used that way either. What I really needed was a splitter. Leather skivers are a very helpful tool whenever thinning leather at locations where it will be sewn or joined together. Let’s look at some of the most useful skivers. Some recommendations include paid links to products that I trust.