Manual Leather Skiver

This skiver works well after a little tweaking. It also takes some practice. I recommend stropping the stock blades because they are not sharp enough to make really clean skives. The tweaks: 1. Wrap the screw ends of the blade angle adjustment wheel to reduce wiggle. 2. Strop the blades to achieve sharper edges. 3. Make a mounting block with a 2"x4" to the machine doesn't twist while skiving. Chisel out for the machine on one side of the 2x4 and drill a shallow hole with a forstner bit on the opposite side for the mounting screw, then mount clamp the assembly to a workbench or very sturdy table. Better yet clamp it in a workbench vise for maximum stability. (You could even glue a leather strop onto the 2x4 for homing the blades.)

Okay, right up front I have to say the instructions were not in English (I think it's Chinese). However, there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to set this up and use it, that this is a minor inconvenience. They even have videos on how to "tune it up" to make it work even better. It's well made and shipped fast. All in all, it's well worth the price.

No replacement parts are available so if you lose a roller you have a useless machine. Rollers merely drop in place but are not restrained in any way so with least movement they come flying out and are very hard to find. The three rollers included are each made for a different purpose so are not interchangeable.

Birthday present from my wife, Considering this is from China it's made pretty well. My expectations were not very high. I have been looking for quite a while for a good way to skive Chrome tanned leather in preparation for sewing. I almost purchased the Schärffix skiver and was tossing around the idea of buying a bell skiver. I have an old Cast iron hand crank gear driven American skiver that works extremely well with veggie tan. The thicker the leather the better and it's not meant for chrome tanned leather after all it didn't really exist when the American was originally designed. I have just about every hand skiving tool you can imagine, numerous styles round knives, Head knives, dexter knives, Tandy skivers and various hand made tools for Paring / skiving. This thing really seems to be the best for me. If I skived chrome tanned leather full time all day I would have a Bell Skiver. My current needs are met with this tool. It's certainly a step up from a hand skiving/ paring tool and yet not as productive as the bell skiver. My first impression was icky, I thought the parts were practically falling off and full of slop. I had to tighten up the turn buckles adjust the slop and lock down the lock nuts. I added a drop of sewing oil to the threads and the pivot points a little dab of grease to the cam leaver that opens the jaws and everything operates smoothly with next to no backlash. Making a few adjustments was refreshing change as I had no need to completely rework the tool like I have with so many Chinese tools in the past. The machining on the blade holder could be a bit better and the blades are terrible, just absolutely terrible. Adjustment takes very little time, with a little common sense you'll get repeatable results. I personally did not experience the deflection Jeff Peachey mentions with the Schärffix style paring/ skiving machine. Perhaps with long term use this may present itself as a problem. I've dulled half a dozen double side blades so far and this is working really well. The 18 Blades that came with this were junk, maybe someone else had gotten better blades. I purchased Schärffix blades they fit and hold a good edge. Standard DE Blades (Double edged razor blades) will fit as well are the best buy. I would suggest buying a sample pack from amazon to try different manufactures before purchasing a box of a 100. The YaeTek Manual Leather Skiver works well on soft leather, thin veg tan and will cut thicker veggie tanned leather however Heavy veggie tanned leather will almost certainly destroy the tool in short order. Heavy veg tanned leather should be used in a sturdy machine like the Landis or American type skiver. Great tool and I would buy this if my wife had not gotten it for me first.

Once set up right, it works very well. Found that it works best with short shallow cuts. Do two to three passes at a bit of an angle. Work your way up to the full depth of the skive.

light weight and cheaply made. Doubt I will ever use it. It is hard to use and not at alll percise.

This is very similar to a German version that sells for over 3x the price. The finish is very nice. As you would expect, there is plenty of mechanical slop everywhere there are screws, adjustments, and clips that must be gotten rid of if you want accurate skiving. Nothing should wobble or move. There is a great YouTube video that shows how to do it. A couple of tiny nuts and circlips from the hardware store tightened it right up.

I bought this product being new at skiving. It worked very well for me. The blades that came with it didn’t work very well. I bought new double edge blades. What I learned was for each piece you skive get you angles right with the dials and keep a sharp fresh blade in it.