Hey peeps,
I would like to get your thoughts on an issue I have, namely: having too thick leather.
I'm mostly making watch straps for the time being, and usually use a maximum thickness of about 2-2.5mm in total without padding. A lot of leather is too thick, and I've tried using a cheap-ass manual splitter, but it just stretches the leather and damages it all over the front surface.
For example: I really like Zermatt by Haas as a liner, but that's about 1.6mm thick I believe (without splitting). Which only leaves about 0.9 for the top part. And I'm not even talking about the keepers, which must be even thinner.
Let me also say: this is a hobby and even though I don't mind spending money on it, there is a limit, haha!
What would you suggest to me?
- Getting a bell skiver (probably most versatile, but also costly and takes a lot of space. And how well does this work if I'm going to make a bit larger items?)
- Just buying the leather pre-split (disadvantage is that I know that RM does it, but I'm from Europe and I'd rather buy directly from for example Tanneries Haas, than buy all the way from the US)
- Just buy leathers that have the exact max. thickness I want. Disadvantage is that it limits my options quite a lot. Zermatt won't really be an option for example.
- Any other ideas?
Thanks a million!
Hi!
Do you buy Zermatt direct from Tanneries Haas? Don’t they offer spliting service (even if hey may charge you a bit for that)?
I have much of your same concern. I still keep leatherworking pretty much as a hobby, I don’t have place for a big bell skiving machine and the japanese Nippy is quite expensive DDP Spain. At list at this moment. I guess your case is more extreme since you only make watch straps. With handbags, I can still sort some things out...