Bell Skiving Machine

Hello, everyone. Just bought 50 mm presser foot and having some problems, getting marks on leather. Presser foot is polished and good condition but looks like it doesnt match to feed roler angle, maybe it causes those marks on leather?

I don’t know why humans have to make something so heavy and bulky to make something so much lighter. Human logic takes time to progress... sigh. The Japanese spieces have to come up with the mini hand held electric skivers then the bell slivers can be used as a vintage decoration 😆

How loud is a skiving machine like this. Could i have it at home?

Mine is from Global and was around €1000 new excl. vat I believe. This one works great for me and it's the only one we ever used at school. I did once use the exact same Global machine at an internship (secondhand) and it seemed to be cursed. It would always break down and "eat" the leather no matter how often technicians came to look at it. I think it might had to do with the original owner possibly ruining the stone and knife. Buying these machines secondhand can be tricky. So if you buy it new and learn how to use it (ask the suplier all the ins and outs, write down the steps for sharpening etc, when they deliver you must ask them to show you the steps), you can definately use this one without breaking the bank with 2k+ € machines.

Thats my middle name 🤟

No secrets. is was because your screen name is Hello, and when you are tagget, is says Hallo. needles to say, im a bit childish... and tired maybe :P

hey! i have a german brand bell skiver that runs with Fortuna parts (although no speed control with a pedal) including a table and „suck in“ drawer where the skived leather goes. it has just come back from service and still has all tools/accessories. i am currently selling it, if you want ir @Dave Magic :) it works perfectly but as i do very thin stretchy leather i need an upgrade to an extremely good speed control :) it is a „cheaper“ way of using a bell skiver while still also hand skive and then find out all the features you want before you upgrade.

I bought a bell skiver about a year ago and love it. Keeping it sharp is relatively easy. There are several good YouTube videos detailing how to sharpen.

I primary use it for long pieces like gussets. The short or small stuff I still skive by hand. I find it faster to do it by hand. I also use it to split leather. For example, to make a shoulder strap, I’ll run two pieces though the skiver to thin them down then sew them together and not end up with something too thick.

im currently buying one. The company here in Denmark, rebuilds Chinese ones, with better blades ect. When I did not know when starting my researche, is that the roller, is really important, to what leather you use. The 3 main ones are. Rubber, stone or metal. Depending on what leather is to be skived. I have sent them some scraps, and they will test the best one for my use. So dont just buy a second hand one, with a metal one, if you are doing fine leathers, like goat ect.

If you are serious about working with leather professionally, you are going to need one. There really isn't a bad brand out there as even the cheaper Chinese copies are based of an old Fortuna design that is an absolute tank.

No they are not particularly easy to use for a beginner left to his/her own devices unless he/she is mechanically minded. Some people just 'get it', but those people can probably replace a fuse, change their own oil and fix a lawnmower.

Buy new from a reputable company or second hand in person (or three person, they weigh a ton!)

Mine is by Highlead which is a Mitsubishi brand.

My only advice is that you keep working on your hand skiving until you reach proficiency - then think about a bell skiver. You will always need to finish some areas by hand and often it is quicker to hand skive than set up a machine. For bags and high volume wallets and small leather goods it makes things A LOT easier.

I also use mine to split small areas which makes buying leather less problematic regarding thickness.

Thick firm vegtan is the machines nemisis, so is very soft thin skins.

Phil

I intend to get one in the near future if my current work area allows for it, cause as of now the problem (or rather one of them) is the space needed. But damn...I can't really think of any major cons of owning one, other than the upfront cost and perhaps maintenance and of course space?

If I am not wrong, most of the the pros out there or crafters intending to step up their game in full-time usually would have some form of machinery, just like Philip to quote an example, and this is one of them.

I use to think that machines such as as sewing machines and this would be a hassle to keep up with the times and would probably break down very often (coming from a general tech p.o.v like smartphones). After chatting with some pros, I found out that generally speaking it should last a long long time provided you do your maintenance right and don't do crazy stuff or abuse it, which means doing something that the machine is not meant for. The "tech" behind it does improve through time and it doesn't needed to be upgraded yearly if that makes sense? Cause essentially the improvements are mostly quality of life? And the fact that you can "upgrade" the machine via changing of motors and peripherals.

Yeah, getting the sharpness and learning how to troubleshoot the machine yourself (plus learning it of course) is indeed a challenge. Till now, I am still learning about it, though to be honest, it is still best to actually have hands-on sessions of using it to actually get a hang of it. Hopefully, Philip would like release a video course on machine such as this.

I don't own one but from my research and from speaking to different crafts people they are a good investment if you are producing in quantity and the machine will allow you to significantly improve your quality.