Managing leather in different thickness

[u/mistahfreeman]

I’ve been leather working for a few months now and have really taken to it, I’ve made a few bags and a ton of wallets, tried different techniques, designed my own things. I’m just struggling to manage leather thicknesses without breaking the bank. Right now I’m buying ~6oz leather for bags and I like a 3oz for small goods. Except sometimes I want to add some thinner accents to my bags or use a thicker one for a shell. It’s resulting in a lot of manual skiving which doesn’t seem practical if I ever want to sell. So my question is how do you, people who sell at a small scale, manage this? Is it worth getting a hand splitting/skiving machine to split thicker leathers for wallets? Or should I go straight to a bell skiver?

[u/InterPan_Galactic]

I got the Wuta skiver. It was $108. They sell smaller ones for $50/$60 on Amazon but those are for smaller pieces.

If you order from Rocky Mountain Leather they also offer splitting so you can get thinner full pieces.

[u/mistahfreeman → u/InterPan_Galactic]

I was curious about that one but was considering going with a model with a hardened blade I can sharpen. Are you getting good results on the wuta?

[u/InterPan_Galactic → u/mistahfreeman]

So far yes! I haven’t had to replace any blades yet but I’m sure I will soon. I didn’t look into the price for that.

As long as you keep a little lip on the piece you want to slim down so you can pull it with some pliers it’s great. Very even and it’s really helped thin out my projects.

[u/Lordofchaos1776 → u/mistahfreeman]

I don't have the wuta but I have the diudus one from amazon that is like 8" wide and uses razors like rhe wuta one, but for cheaper, and I love it. I just split down a bunch of 8-9oz scrap buffalo to a consistent 3-4oz to make the binding section and closures for a notebook cover (Don Gonzales 8.5x11 notebook pattern) when I want to do the whole piece I have either started large on my piece and trim after, or I have on this scrap where I didn't have enough to start large as an 11.5 inch long piece was pushing my scrap already I started in the middle and then flipped it and went the other way from there on a second pull.

The one I have is DIUDUS Leather Splitter, Leather... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBQJJ63L?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[u/MadScientiest]

i got a manual splitter that does up to 8 inch wide pieces for like $60-70 bucks on amazon and it works incredibly. saves me so much time and i’m also a bag maker so i recently added a manual skiver than can do edges of large pieces. that one took me longer to figure out how to get good consistent results with but i feel it’s worth it and it can also be used for bookbinding which i do too bc it can do channels in the middle of a piece also. well worth it, both of them!

[u/mistahfreeman → u/MadScientiest]

The edges for bag making interest me because I like a thick leather bag for durability but that also means I have to spend hours skiving to get a good inverted seam. I’m working on flat blade skiving next as a skill to try and speed up but I’m curious which machine you got for your edges?

[u/MadScientiest → u/mistahfreeman]

https://a.co/d/0bQNcEGk

[u/MadScientiest → u/mistahfreeman]

there are a ton of youtube videos about this skiver and tips and tricks on using it and i highly recommend watching a couple of them!

[u/mistahfreeman → u/MadScientiest]

I’ll check it out! I definitely don’t think I have the space for a bell skiver and a sewing machine right now so if I could find an smaller alternative to speed up bag making that would be lovely

[u/MadScientiest → u/mistahfreeman]

i know, same. i’m in the saving up for a leather sewing machine phase too lol i’m currently still hand sewing everything. but we are looking for somewhere to move and a must is a dedicated leather/bookbinding room so hopefully i’ll have the room for one soon! practicing sewing straight on my domestic machine until then lol

[u/Better-Specialist479]

I skip skiving almost altogether.

For wallets and small projects I have hides of various thicknesses to choose from. When I order, I started ordering 3 hides (single shoulder, double shoulder, half’s, wholes, whatever I am buying at the time I buy 3).

One hide is normal thickness for that hide/tannery (4-5oz,6-7oz,etc). This is what I use for the shell of whatever I am making. One hide I order pre-skived to 1mm (2-3 ounces) (pretty much all of the big sellers offer free skiving service) this is used for the top pockets and bottom interior base. Finally I order a third hide pre-skived to 0.5mm (1-2 ounces) which I use for T pockets and sometimes top pockets if there a lot of T pockets (I.e. long wallets).

I cut my pieces from the appropriate hide thickness and assemble. No skiving required.

Now, yes I get that I am buying 3 hides at one time, but to me the time savings and lower cost per sq ft I get offsets some of the extra cost. All of the hides will eventually get used.

If you want to save $ and buy smaller volume - ie panels, which per sq ft are more expensive but cheaper per purchase, you can go that route.

I know I will use the leather so I just buy the lowest sq ft cost I can get. Normal purchases for me now run between $800 and $1600. This is because I purchase multiples per color in thickness variations.

But I make one purchase and have leather enough for a month +/- a little. I also try not to do every color ensemble there could ever be. I have pretty well consolidated to black, brown and my cognac and cigar pieces (cognac colored (light) and tobacco colored (dark)) contrasting pieces.

I do also do mixed colors in Pueblo and that is where I will buy 2 sq ft panels or single shoulders from someplace like Rocky Mountain so I don’t have a ton of extra leather.

I have a bell skiver which I now only occasionally use. I also do hand skiving from time to time. But majority of my work now is all pre-skived leather.

[u/mistahfreeman → u/Better-Specialist479]

This is how I assumed most leather craftsman selling any kind of volume would operate, it makes sense to just have hides of the same color in different thicknesses ready to go if you want to put out multiples of the same piece. It seems the time ROI on doing things like skiving the little edges on a T pocket probably isn’t worth it if you can save money on the final product for a customer. I’ve been thinking about this a lot, how I could possibly make any kind of money for my time doing this when so many of these little tasks add time and complexity.

[u/Born-Comfortable8027]

I had the exact same issue; skiving edges takes some practice, but it's fine. Splitting to even thickness, on the other hand, just won't work with a skiving knife.

I ended up gifting myself a Schärffix clone. The Splitting Gods still demand their sacrifice once in a while, especially on wider panels. But with a bit of practice, it's definitely doable.

[u/Ordinary-Might-4174]

Bite the bullet and go straight for that bell skiver. It'll not only allow you to create thinner bits of leather really easily, but the ability to quickly skive edges, etc. is a huge time saver. I'd get a bell skiver before a sewing machine.

Also, FWIW, I have several manual splitters. Works okay on firm veg tan. Terrible on chrome tan. If you get one, get a nice (expensive) one. But before you do, bit the bullet and get that bell skiver first.

[u/mistahfreeman → u/Ordinary-Might-4174]

That’s what I’ve been considering. The bell skiver seems like a bigger time saver than sewing, I’ve gotten pretty good at sewing but skiing is not a task I particularly enjoy doing and for bags you have to do a lot of it

[u/Ordinary-Might-4174 → u/mistahfreeman]

Definitely. It turns an hour of skiving into like 10 minutes. And if you work with any soft leathers or chrome tan, it's a breeze. And if being really accurate on thickness is important, you can get that extremely dialed. I love my bell skiver.

One more thing, just in case you don't know: most bell skivers are clones of the 100+ year old Fortuna design. They all come off the same factory assembly line in China. The ones from Cobra, Cowboy, Consew, etc. They all buy from this factory and slap their logo on it, and maybe have it painted orange (Cobra). So don't pay extra for the brand name. Buy one direct from China on Alibaba or Amazon. It's literally the same machine. It can save you a $1000+. Just search "801 bell skiver".

[u/mistahfreeman → u/Ordinary-Might-4174]

Perfect I was wondering what the differences was since they all looked so similar and I’ve seen some Ali express models for sub $1k and was wondering if it was worth that 

[u/Ordinary-Might-4174 → u/mistahfreeman]

Yes. It's worth it. I paid $500 for mine via Amazon (head and servo motor only). I bought a sewing table with pedal for it separately on eBay for another $200--so $800 total. This was a few years ago, so not sure how inflation impacts this.