A few months ago I received my first Bell Skiver machine. It worked pretty well but was giving the grain side deep impressions. When I would let up on the presser foot pressure it wouldn’t feed through the skiver. I then replaced the presser foot with a rolling wheel but it wouldn’t feed at all. Help? As the 90s said, I’m going insane in the membrane. :)
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@jeffjones Firstly, you're not doing anything wrong at all.
Vegetable tanned leather resists the blade more as it's much firmer than chrome tan. This means you need to apply more upward tension from the feed roller, which then pushes the gran layer further into the presser foot.
The main issue is with the toe and the heel of the presser foot, as those are areas of high pressure. Combine all this with the fact that vegetable tanned leather is the most easily marked leather, well, you get the idea.
If you are skiving the edges to turn the edge, or to create a step effect, this is not so much of a problem as the mark will be hidden.
Also if you are skiving leather that is already under 1mm, probably not much of an issue here as resistance and feed pressure is lower.
The problem arises when you are trying to use the skiving machine as a splitter, or you are trying to skive down thick firm leather.
The solution unfortunately, is to manage expectations of the machines capabilities for certain uses.
I am working on a modified presser foot where I plan to grind away the heel and the toe of the foot in order to create a much more gradual curve into the bearing surface of the presser foot, thereby removing areas of high pressure and the marks in the leather associated with it.
In the mean time, you can turn the leather over and use a hammer to lightly tap out the line on a pairing stone, or use an iron on a low heat from the flesh side on a paring stone