Tandy Leather Factory has the best deal right now on their own tool, the Craftool High-Tech Leather Splitter, for $149.99.
Looking around for a cheap way of splitting leather, that is, reducing the thickness of a piece of leather, I found that the Craftool splitter is the cheapest option out there compared to the professional leather splitters that run in the $550-$1000 range. While it likely isn’t useful for a professional leather crafter, it seems like it should work for the occasional leather job within the 4-3/4″ width allowed by the splitter. No mention is made of the maximum thickness, however, nor have I found much about how well it performs.
Craftool High-Tech Leather Splitter [tandyleatherfactory.com]
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5 Responses to Dealmonger: Craftool High-Tech Leather Splitter
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Can’t help wondering what elevates this above the Low-Tech Leather Splitter.
And I can’t help but wonder what project you’ve got that might require splitting leather to reduce its thickness. Do tell.
Jim, I a lot of the older airguns I work on have leather piston seals or pump plunger cups. Seems like they all are different thicknesses of leather than what I have on hand.
Leather splitters are a must for creating precise, uniform strands for professional, high-end whips (as in bullwhips).
When you want to attach a buckle to a thick leather strap, you skive the end you want to put the buckle on, or in other words, reduce the thickness.
Tandy has a video on their site showing how it works.
The alternative is to use a hand tool, know as a skive. I’ve found then to be a pain in the butt. It’s too easy to go too deep and take a chunk out that you didn’t mean to.
If I can find a deal on this tool, I’m going to get one.